The Outsiders
Tuesday, October 3, 2006 by Rob Buckley · Comments Off
It’s possible for a show to be doing all the right things, yet be let down by one element so badly, that watching it becomes akin to having a kidney removed by over-enthusiastic gibbons. Read more
Charlie and Lola
Monday, October 2, 2006 by Rhys Jones · Comments Off
Forget Jane Eyre, forget the new series of Extras, forget the return of Cracker; for a substantial chunk of the population, the most significant event television of this season happened on Monday afternoon, on the CBeebies channel. Read more
Cracker
Sunday, October 1, 2006 by Jack Kibble-White · Comments Off
As Jimmy McGovern himself attests Cracker‘s always been about big issues: rape, racism and miscarriages of justice, and although the subject of pensions had provoked his ire enough to warrant the full Cracker treatment, he knew it just wasn’t the kind of story that would draw Fitz back from his largely reformed life in Australia. Read more
Hollyoaks
Friday, September 22, 2006 by Ian Jones · Comments Off
Once upon a time this was the best soap on television. Once upon a time it was the only programme of its kind to successfully mix improbability and wit and come up with endlessly entertaining drama. Read more
I Smack and I’m Proud
Thursday, September 21, 2006 by Chris Lowdon · Comments Off
Are the chattering classes no longer a bunch of spankers? Or are they astute enough to recognise an ITV1 producer’s man-trap when they see one? Read more
Loose Women
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 by Chris Lowdon · Comments Off
Despite the best efforts of the government to conceal the true casualty figures, British soldiers are struggling to cope with the ferocity of Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Luckily, I have a cunning plan with which to undermine the fighting ability of those shock troops. Read more
Reader, I Married Him
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 by Stuart Ian Burns · Comments Off
One of the criticisms of the documentaries that accompanied the BBC’s Big Read event was that, in places, the autobiography of the celebrity advocates overshadowed the books they were championing. Read more
TMi
Saturday, September 16, 2006 by Steve Williams · Comments Off
Saturday mornings have always had a unique place in the history of children’s television. Read more
The One Show
Monday, August 28, 2006 by Ian Jones · Comments Off
Here we are again, inspecting the turf of post-teatime telly and kicking up the dust for traces of good play. Read more
Big Brother
Friday, August 18, 2006 by Matthew Rudd · Comments Off
“Eazamanna!” This was the Big Brother with the most weeks, the most housemates, the most twists, the most innovations, the most outside influences, the most late arrivals, the most eviction escapes by one person – and the most telegraphed winner since the first week. Read more
Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe USA
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 by TJ Worthington · Comments Off
It’s amazing how a little bit of adversity can bring out the best in some people. Only a short while ago, largely thanks to his internet-based TV listings spoof TV Go Home, Charlie Brooker was the subject of widespread media attention and tipped for great things. Read more
Property Ladder
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 by Rob Buckley · Comments Off
There are few more costly ways of making money than property development. Hundreds of thousands, are needed to be a professional developer just for the raw materials and the building. Read more
The Man Whose Arms Exploded
Monday, August 14, 2006 by Rob Buckley · Comments Off
You pretty much know what you’re going to get when you watch a documentary on five entitled The Man Whose Arms Exploded. Read more
Big Brother
Friday, August 11, 2006 by Matthew Rudd · Comments Off
Dreams can come true. Imogen is out of the Big Brother house at last, and by some idiotic quirk Nikki’s found her way back in. I’m disgusted, but only on principle. Read more
Turn Back Time
Wednesday, August 9, 2006 by Jason Cook · Comments Off
“And now for something completely different”, that familiar phrase from Monty Python’s Flying Circus would not have been the first thing to spring to viewers’ minds as they tuned in to watch ex-Python Terry Jones discuss his career in BBC2′s new offering, Turn Back Time. Read more
Big Brother
Friday, August 4, 2006 by Matthew Rudd · Comments Off
It’s been an atrocious week for Mikey, and his sudden, grievous demise and eviction sums up the ruthlessness of Big Brother. After 10 weeks of relatively effortless surfing of the wave, his fall into the drink was quick and spectacular. Read more
Top of the Pops
Sunday, July 30, 2006 by Steve Williams · Comments Off
I can’t remember the first time I watched Top of the Pops. I can’t have been any older than about three or four, because one of my earliest memories is of mounting my own episodes with my sister. Read more
The West Wing
Friday, July 28, 2006 by Ian Jones · Comments Off
It’s always tempting, when a long-running TV show that’s not as good as it once was, lumbers into the finishing straight amidst a flurry of eulogies and reminiscences, to stop fighting and just give in. Read more
Big Brother
Friday, July 28, 2006 by Matthew Rudd · Comments Off
Big Brother is a daring old stick, it has to be said. A programme which exists purely for being live and unpredictable, and still it chucks innovations our way without any cast-iron proof that they would work. Read more
Big Brother
Friday, July 21, 2006 by Matthew Rudd · Comments Off
Cruelty is something Big Brother likes to administer on its housemates if there is a danger of the series becoming a little too unremarkable in mid-run. Read more