Radio Times

For me, the heat of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino joining forces in cop thriller Righteous Kill was dampened when the film company sent out a flimsy plastic wallet with their image on it. This should be a major movie event, a double header to rival Newman and McQueen or Davis and Crawford, not commemorated by something designed to keep your bus pass in.

It turned out to be apt. The film, a formulaic police procedural, was panned by critics and shunned by audiences, with the much-anticipated sparks generated by two of the greatest screen actors of their generation failing to materialise.

We should have seen...

Read more...

After watching the exhausting, excruciating Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live (24 October, Channel 4), I became convinced that Ramsay should never again be allowed anywhere near a kitchen activity that necessitated the use of the words "toss" and its cousin "tosser" (as in salad), "knob" (as in butter) and "nuts" (as in, well, nuts).

The problem was that there was a lady present (Patsy Kensit, who was cooking along with Ramsay in the studio) which turned an already febrile, leering, markedly over-excited Ramsay into an unappetising mixture of Just William and Benny Hill. I wouldn't have been in the least bit surprised if Ramsay had jumped on a...

3 comments

Read more...

The announcement that many Doctor Who fans had been expecting and most had been dreading has finally been made. Last night, live on The National Television Awards, David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, accepted the award for outstanding drama performance - and then told viewers that he is quitting the show.

In an intervew with the BBC, the 37-year-old Scottish actor described his three-series stint as "the most extraordinary time, it's been bewildering, life changing, very exciting," and explained, "I don't ever want it to feel like a job, so I want to move on when it still feels exciting and fresh and that means I'll miss...

88 comments

Read more...

With the impending release of Quantum of Solace - Daniel Craig's second outing as 007 - we asked the 21st-century Bond which is his favourite entry in the series.

"Goldfinger is the most stylish film because they married everything together - the clothes, the Ken Adams sets and the story. Fantastic. But my favourite is From Russia with Love with Sean [Connery] and Robert Shaw - not a bad pairing is it? And it still stands up today. It's seriously cool."

"What defined those early movies was that they went on location to incredible places - Tokyo, the carnival at Rio. And...

5 comments

Read more...

Racing legend, robot or giant wasp? Just who is Top Gear's faceless test driver The Stig? We've gathered together expert testimony, celebrity eyewitness accounts and bookie's nous in an attempt to gain a picture of the man behind the helmet.

The evidence

Theo Paphitis: "He's definitely English, judging from the short, Anglo-Saxon words that came out of his mouth when I nearly crashed us. That was the only time he showed emotion."

Lawrence Dallaglio: "I felt like I was talking to a Power Ranger. There was one point, though, where The Stig did lift his visor, and I saw his eyes. I'd say...

102 comments

Read more...

Want to get involved in the upcoming new series of rambunctious teen drama Skins? Well here's your chance. The producers are running a competition to win a speaking part in the show (closing date 16 November), and are also looking for writers, directors - and musicians.

Skins has always featured cutting edge music as part of its eclectic soundtrack but for series three it's going one step further and asking viewers to contribute. For the chance to have your music featured on Skins, email your best track to skinsmusic@e4.com.

And between now and Christmas the Skins team will be on the hunt for...

Read more...

Update: 5:46pm Wednesday 29 October

Russell Brand has resigned from his Radio 2 show.

Update: 11:30am Wednesday 29 October

Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, has announced the suspension of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. As of this morning, all their shows will be taken off the air.

In a statement, Thompson said: "I have decided that it is not appropriate for either Russell Brand or Jonathan Ross to continue broadcasting on the BBC until I have seen the full report of the actions of all concerned."

"This gross lapse of taste by the performers and the production team has angered...

156 comments

Read more...

With an Aussie version up and running, an American series at the pilot stage and a brand-new Russian model revving its engine, the Top Gear franchise is becoming as universal as global warming (although not, as some have suggested, responsible for it).

But success creates expectation and Richard Hammond admits it's getting harder to come up with new ideas for Top Gear stunts. "I guess it's our own fault, because we've set the bar really high," he says. "What we've discovered is that a lot of Top Gear ideas are found at the bottom of beer bottles. Trouble is, you don't know which bottles have got...

251 comments

Read more...

Little Britain's Matt Lucas and former EastEnder Sean Maguire are in the midst of shooting a new sword and sorcery comedy series - the catchily titled Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.

Maguire, most recently seen on our screens in US ensemble sitcom The Class, plays reluctant hero Krod Mandoon, the last hope in the struggle against the realm's evil ruler Chancellor Dongalor, played by Lucas.

Joining Maguire on his quest are a number of actors who already boast sci-fi/fantasy credentials. John Rhys-Davies was Gimli the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Steve Speirs had a part in...

Read more...

Have you seen Saw?

The horror movie that helped re-energise the genre in 2004 with its inventive methods of blood-letting and torture? The bit where a victim has to cut off one of his limbs? Brilliant!

What about the sequel, Saw II? Even more ingenious torture traps! The pit filled with hypodermic needles! Awesome!

Who could wait for the third part in the franchise, where the architect of the mayhem, Jigsaw, gets his skull drilled? Not me.

Actually, I did wait. In fact, I'm still waiting to see Saw III, in which a man is torn apart by hooks.

I managed to get through last...

8 comments

Read more...

We're all doomed. Nothing to do with the global financial meltdown, but with Kerry Katona. The gurning former Atomic Kitten, who appears to labour under the illusion that she's a much-loved public figure, is currently screeching her way through her latest TV ad campaign for a certain frozen food supermarket chain.

With her "friend", the shrieking Katona is seen lurching through the serried ranks of mega-freezers, both alighting gleefully on new products. And - this is the point where the world tilts off its axis - her friend picks up a box and announces, "Look, this is new: chicken tikka lasagne!" We might as well all abandon hope...

14 comments

Read more...

There are times when Coronation Street comes up with conceits of such brilliance that even those of us whose devotion has cooled over the years fall in love with it all over again. Take the idea of spreading the events of one torrid night over an entire week's electrifying episodes, culminating in the murder of Liam Connor by his love-rival Tony.

It worked beautifully, scaling heights of apprehension and dramatic irony as Carla, that bruised fallen angel with the Lady Penelope cheekbones, had to decide whether to go ahead with her marriage to suave, coal-eyed Tony, or to run off with Liam, a man with the...

1 comment

Read more...

Richard Armitage is the newest recruit to the Spooks team, as the spy drama returns for a seventh series (starting Monday 27 October at 9pm on BBC1).

Armitage plays the mysterious Lucas North, who's been released on a spy-swap after spending eight years in a Russian prison. During his time there, Lucas has gained a number of impressive tattoos. As he tells MI5 supremo Harry Pearce (Peter Firth), "Tattooing is part of the culture in there. You don't do it, you don't belong. You don't belong, you're dead."

But what exactly is the significance of Lucas's tattoos? Those on his...

16 comments

Read more...

The League of Gentlemen are coming back - but in separate projects. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton will write and appear in Psychoville for BBC2 next year, while Mark Gatiss stars in the Christmas drama Crooked House, which he's written for BBC4.

Psychoville (which is what The League of Gentlemen was called when it was shown in the Far East) is closer to League in style: it's a dark comedy mystery with characters including a one-handed clown who makes balloon animals with his hook, and a panto dwarf who's in love with Snow White. It co-stars Dawn French, Eileen Atkins and, indeed, Christopher Biggins.
Read more...

Before I mount my moral high horse about how this show glamorises prostitution, a niggle: why all the sunshine? Belle's charmed life as a call girl isn't so much glossy as luminous. Every single scene is pierced with sunlight. The obvious implication is that we're far from the grim, drug-fuelled world of streetwalkers. But, as she strolls from room to room bathed in rays, it goes further: is Belle a divine being?

She's certainly blessed. Most of her clients are winsome, wonderfully handsome chaps. True, in a rare moment of danger, one man ties her up against her will. But, lo and behold, Belle's protégé Bambi...

21 comments

Read more...