Halloween in Northern Ireland isn't necessarily the same as anywhere else. Here the words "trick or treat" evoke the Greysteel Massacre, when loyalist killers used the anonymity Halloween provides to walk into the Rising Sun pub and randomly kill seven people, all civilian, both catholic and protestant. As such, when local taxi drivers in my hometown are warned by the police that there is an anonymous threat against one of their number, they walk out on strike en masse.
So, I spent the night indoors, just me, a bottle of a great New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend, a steady stream of knee-high trick-or-treaters (unarmed) and the remote control.
Things I've learned staying in tonight? Someone at the helm of BBC 3's LITTLE BRITAIN is a big fan of cult TV (tonight's episode featured Tom Baker from DOCTOR WHO, Paul Darrow from BLAKE'S 7, and Anthony Head from BUFFTY THE DRAGON SLAYER).
Tony Head has also shown up recently in SPOOKS, of course, as did the Emperor himself, Ian McDiarmid, a couple of weeks ago. He played a barely concealed Dr David Kelly analogue, with a Michael Parkinson-style Yorkshire accent. Can't imagine it being his real accent, though. However, tonight's SPOOKS seemed to feature no STAR WARS escapees. Although Kenny Baker may have been lurking inside a bin, unnoticed.
Also, I've just seen the video for "Hunted by a Freak" by Mogwai, on MTV2's tribute to John Peel, and found it unexpectedly devastating. Damn. I'll be dreaming of little pixellated cartoon animals falling to their deaths all night now.