Well, I have survived another week and am still enjoying sitting in my garden writing this while enjoying my own company with a glass or two of mother's ruin. Of course with slimline tonic water as we must be sensible .

This week is a pot pourri of things crossing my mind. I was most interested to hear that Disney is leasing Pinewood Studios to house its forthcoming productions over the next few years. That follows on from Netflix doing the same with Shepperton and of course Warner Bros. owns Leavesden. The result is that other film and television productions are scrambling to secure space elsewhere, converting premises and even talking of new studios. It is vital that Elstree Studios now rides that wave and rapidly builds the two planned new stages as it is perfectly located and has such a great reputation. As I often say, carpe diem - not because I was educated in Latin at my secondary modern school but because I watched the film Dead Poets Society.

If you love those great ITC television series of the 1960s and 1970s, many made at Elstree, then a forthcoming event may interest you. A celebration is being staged at Elstree Studios by a company and will include guest appearances by a number of stars of yesteryear. The event is on Saturday October 19 in the evening. I am certainly attending to meet up with some old actor pals and tickets are available via www.quoitmedia.co.uk but not via the Studios. If you come along, please come up and say hello. I am easy to spot: just look out for an elderly gent nearly bald with a grey 'tache, generous waistline and a walking stick.

I have thought up an idea for a new documentary television series called The Final Curtain, which would detail the sad deaths of stars who seemed to have everything but met tragic ends. I would start with Lupe Velez, who in the 1930s was labelled the Mexican Spitfire by Hollywood and who had various affairs - including with tinseltown stud Gary Cooper. Lupe decided to take her own life with tablets and to be found in bed surrounded by flowers. Alas, she partook of a last Mexican meal which interacted badly with the drugs. In a semi-stupor she went to the bathroom to be sick and that is where her body was found. Poor Judy Garland was found dead sitting on a toilet and of course Elvis Presley suffered the same fate, albeit he was found face down in front of it.

Then we have the aircraft crash deaths of Glenn Miller, Ricky Nelson, Carol Lombard and Buddy Holly, not to mention the strange death by drowning of Natalie Wood or the lonely suicides of George Sanders and Tony Hancock in hotel rooms.

The list goes on, with Robin Williams ­— star of Dead Poets Society ­— hanging himself after a lifetime of laughter and River Phoenix dying in the street from a drug overdose, plus Hollywood star Gig Young shooting his wife then himself. Not long before that I had met the Oscar-winning star at Elstree.

It may sound macabre but such stuff sells well. Throw in the early deaths of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe and people will watch. It is also cheap to make and can be repeated forever. Well, that is enough for this week and I look forward to the new series of Strictly Come Dancing. I just wish the credits would read 'Made at Elstree Studios'.