Love Soup: Whose God is it Anyway?
I should start by saying that the best comedy on British telly at the moment is toe-curlingly rude secondary school sitcom The Inbetweeners. It’s on Channel 4, though, which means I can’t embed it here. So here’s episode 10 of Love Soup series two instead: also brilliant (and pretty rude too). Love Soup’s quite difficult [...]
The Age of Terror: The Paris Plot
Did you know this? Did you know that Algerian Islamists planned and set out on a 9/11-style attack on Paris in 1994? Did you know that the plane actually made it into French aerospace and onto French soil? Did you know that the terrorists shot and killed three passengers and were subsequently killed themselves when [...]
Doctor Who: The Sontaran Strategem
To the other delight of early evening Saturday. I’m not going to try to write much about this because I’m basically an ignorant Doctor Who neophyte who’s turned up very, very late. But surely, even for the old timers this was a special one. On top of the expected but marvellous geekery [...]
I’d do anything
I fell for this hook line and sinker with the first episode I’ve watched - this one. I love it. All. The febrile speculation about ‘The Nancys’. The overacting. The Andrew Lloyd Webbering. The pompous, shouty judging. To say nothing - or not enough - of Barry Humphries. [...]
Made in England by Seth Lakeman
Entirely satisfactory clash-of-cultures music doc from Devon folkie Seth Lakeman and Brummie hip-hop crew Moorish Delta 7 (MD7). Creativity and curiosity on both sides make for a thoroughly convincing ‘mash-up’ (I think that’s what the young people call this sort of thing). Heartwarming.
(Sorry, only two days to go on this one. Thought it was worth [...]
The Holy Show
Terrific documentary about an Irish Catholic priest with a secret. The anchor for the story is the 16mm footage taken by student film maker Alison Millar years before the secret was revealed. The story has drama, pathos, humour and some truth about Irish society. The film is a BBC Northern Ireland/RTE co-production.
Doctor Who: Partners in Crime
Dr Who returns for what will no doubt be a triumphant fourth series. Tennant and Tate seemed to be shot in a golden light, reflecting perhaps the love and esteem in which Russell T Davies and the rest of the country holds them. Whether Tate will find the same place in the nation’s hearts that [...]
Holby Blue
Early evening crime in Britain is pretty wholesome stuff: more soap than episodic drama. Later in the evening things get a bit tougher and more inventive (with, like, time travel) but before the kids are in bed it’s all nicely-starched uniforms and cheeky shoplifters. Holby Blue’s an interesting effort to bridge the gap. A pre-watershed [...]
The Apprentice
This is really good primetime TV. The kind of stuff you watch from between your fingers: a crowd of young people apparently selected because they have both low self-esteem and over-confidence issues (I think it’s called a ‘personality disorder’). Anyway, they make for utterly gripping viewing and I will certainly be glued to the screen [...]
I’d Do Anything: Auditions Show 1
I’m posting this as a test. If you can watch this show without crying you are a affectless sociopath and should surrender yourself at the nearest police station right away. My wife, most of my children, the dog and I blubbed more-or-less continuously. We’ve booked our appointment for the duration of the series. No normal [...]
