Currently vying with Sir Alan Sugar for the role of the nation’s favourite craggy curmudgeon, Andrew Lloyd-Webber hasn’t always had it so...
Off the back of news that ITV is persisting in its bizarre policy of showing archive episodes of a densely-plotted, highly-cerebral detective...
What’s the best way to sign off in song? Four key changes and a slow fade? A desolate, crashing downbeat? Or what...
Wotcher! Phil 'ere. It seems those chaps at TV Cream 'ave put their noggins together and come up with a list of...
David Pascoe has written in with a pertinent cutting. “Saw this in the Falmouth Packet a few weeks back,” he explains, “and...
Bored? Depressed? At a complete loss on how to fill those nerve-mangling minutes before you feel justified in having another mince pie?...
When Britain tries to do topical late-night TV: eight-and-a-half examples For unfussy disciples of US popular culture, which nowadays is pretty much...
Steve Williams pointed out below that the edition of Pebble Mill At One shown on the same day as the raising of...
Doggedly clingling onto her slot like a petulant barnacle, it appears Radio 2’s resident Old Mrs Clutterbritches is immune to the upheavals...
Ding-dong, the witch is dead. So runs one of the more memorable lines from the film version of The Wizard of Oz....
1) THE HAIRY YEARS DATES: 19whenever-1972 FEATS: Getting here, getting noticed and getting on. Winding up Germaine Greer. Starting a TV column...
TV Cream has been lucky to come into possession of an exceedingly rare sound archive: nothing less than composer Simon May’s demo...
IT’S NOT HARD. You’ve all year to think about it. You’ve been doing it for almost a century. And it’s not like...
Granted, Radio Times has a history – a now fading history – of terrific Christmas covers, but what of its downstairs rival?...
Worried about heating your home this Christmas? Dig some of the following disgraces out of your attic, douse with a bit of...
Christmas is not all about Radio Times of course. Because whenever John Craven craned out from a festive Back Page so too...
We did the sounds a short while ago, and the politicians just before that. But what about those particular whiffs or combinations...
We've sifted the scripts of every Bond film to date in order to isolate, filter and decontaminate a dozen of the franchise's...
Hello and welcome to this convenient December blog-filling feature. Every day a seasonal puzzler, photo or pontification will be awaiting your attention,...
Why aren’t there TV bosses like this anymore?
A trio of music-related riddles are clearing their throat behind today’s door. 1) Which Christmas number one did journalist David Quantick describe...
Ah yes, the Christmas Day comedy special. A chance to wash down the excesses of the day with a dose of light...
Pretty much everything from the 1950s isn’t worth remembering, which is why TV Cream has little to do with it. The same...
Here’s the front cover of the best Christmas single ever released. Three points, as Simon Mayo used to say, to anybody who...
Just one question today: Who, in the history of television, has starred in the most number of Christmas specials?
Someone’s in for a surprise at the Thames Television Christmas lunch.
It’s guess the ident time (you knew it was coming). Can you match the logo with the correct Christmas? The years to...
Well, judging by the number of responses so far, this advent calendar thing is clearly going to be a thunderously popular feature....
It’s more than high time for an appearance from Sir Bob Monkhouse: December 1995“What a peculiar year it’s been. Tory Party Chairman...
A solitary question today. Where – precisely – does snow have to fall for it to be officially classed as a white...
This is more like it: the official BBC group publicity shot for Christmas 1991, with everyone’s favourite Santa – Clive James –...
This month’s Word magazine contains ostensibly definitive inventories of both the best and worst Christmas songs of all time. But as usual...
And a very merry Christmas to all of you at home…
The quizzery has been axed. At least for today. Instead, lurking behind today’s door are…the faces of BBC’s 1981 Christmas season! In...
Kenneth Williams is waiting behind today’s door, ready to share his memories of Christmas 27 years ago… Tuesday 23rd December 1980“Saw Louie...
Half a dozen unlikely festive telly treats from Christmas Days of old. 1) A GIFT FOR GRACIE (ITV, 1970) 60 minutes of...
Another promotional launch, this time from 1973. Benny Hill, Black Beauty, Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Danny La Rue, Jack Smethurst and Hughie...
The new edition of Radio Times features, on its cover, the promise that no fewer than six stars have been assembled to...
Where are the quizzes? Right here! TV Christmas specials is today’s theme: a) What was different about the kind of format Coronation...
Here’s Michael Palin, recalling his experiences at the BBC Light Entertainment Christmas Party: Sunday 19th December, 1976“Everything in full swing when we...
It's time for another of TVC's musical reimaginings.
A brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing means a brand new battery of celebrities for Sir Brucie to fashion brand new...
We've a brand new entry in the TV Cream Songbook.
BBC Parliament has come up trumps again. On Saturday 28th March it’s devoting an entire evening to recounting the events of the...
A guaranteed floor-filler, surely.
There aren’t that many cads on television anymore. By way of louche-sized salute to the finest blackguards ever to parade across the...
TV Cream's out of beta. Hurrah! To celebrate we've reopened the TVC sound library and dug out 10 of the most unusual...
It’s Eurovision Song Contest time again, those few days when Britain, which has offered up a few useful pop acts over the...
Tony Currie, historian extraordinaire of Radio Times, TV curator, theme tune specialist and all round good sort, has a new venture: UK...
Among the scores of reasons why the 1980s was the best decade ever, its crop of strikingly exhilarating swearwords is rarely mentioned....
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