Doctor Who

The supposed wisdom in TV circles suggests series three is when a show really gets good. The course correction and refinement of the original concept have all been completed, and the programme makers, having learned from their mistakes, can push on with renewed confidence. From a viewing of “Smith and Jones” alone, is it possible to determine whether this maxim holds true for Doctor Who? Read more

The Dermot factor

I like Dermot O’Leary on telly – I think he’s a gifted TV presenter. But I can’t really see him doing big old L.E. bollocks of a Saturday night.  Read more

“Your perm wasn’t that bad…”

Tracy Barlow’s trial is about to start on Coronation Street and so, in final preparation for an event on which the soap is pinning so much hope, we got a rare beast for the Street tonight – a two-hander. Read more

One, Who, three

So, here I am – slightly worse for wear but back from the Doctor Who series three launch in Mayfair. The only grub on offer was pistachio nuts, so don’t blame me. Read more

Running to the restaurant

Every now and then the BBC Jobs website includes details of an upcoming programme. Not too long ago a vacancy for a researcher for The One Show revealed that it would be running 50 weeks a year when it returns. The latest is a position for a “‘Location Runner” on something called… Read more

“I’m the most belligerent person you’ll ever come across”

“Sleep when you’re dead – live the dream.” Read more

Whatever Happened to our Dream of Freedom?

You’ll love this, they told me about Adam Curtis’s single-handed and quixotic attempt at reintroducing intellectualism to prime-time TV. This is your idea of telly; big ideas, big themes. Back to the ’70s. Read more

Country File

Take a deep breath. Mmmmm, springtime. The frost’s melting off the osiers. Time to get out into the big outdoors. Read more

Götterdämmerung

Okay, if it’s rude to point, it’s thoroughly bad form to nitpick when productions of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen appear on mainstream terrestrial TV every decade and a half. Whoever sweated blood to get Keith Warner’s Royal Opera House production of the whole 15-hour marathon on the box deserves a medal. But … if you stick it on TV, it had better be good. Read more

Comic Relief Night

Like smoking, photos of journalists speaking into a telephone, and speeded-up footage of trains running from London to Brighton, Lenny Henry is something you don’t see much on TV anymore. Read more

Thy Kingdom come

I met Stephen Fry yesterday. Read more

Castaway 2007

It seems I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the Beeb’s new series of Castaway. Read more

Castaway

I’m going to stick my neck out here and predict Castaway will quickly be considered one of the biggest flops of the year. Read more

Five, four, three, two, numb

Well, five has released details of its 10th anniversary week schedules, and underwhelming reading it is. The channel is embracing the whole 10-year thing in the most uninteresting way possible, by sallying forth with a suite of shows all themed around that double-digit. Read more

Sky blues

My desk at work is opposite a TV which shows Sky News non-stop. I’ve always found it to be a grisly, unpleasant and hysterical channel, and if the sound weren’t turned down on the television set I’m not sure if I’d be able to make it through each day. Lately, though, it seems to have become not just bombastic but bizarre. Read more

“Heroes will be taking a short break”…

…Those are seven words I really don’t want to be reading right now. Here I am, breathless after episode 18 of NBC’s fantastic sci fi show, and – like some sad, sappy fanboy – I log on to the official website to read that now the plot is stoked and white-hot… it’s going on holiday. Read more

This is what they want!

Sorry to just fling up press releases on here, but this one is terribly exciting… Although, I don’t know what that lowercase “i” is all about. Read more

Pokerface

Having now watched the second series of Pokerface through to its much-trumpeted million pound final, I have decided it’s been the most intriguing game show I’ve seen in a very long time. Since five’s The Mole, probably. Read more