BLOGS
Top five TV bugbears
- Posted at 12:40pm
- 11 September 2009
- by LauraPledger-RT
You know those sweeping statements that people make about television that really get your goat? Now's your chance to get all that off your chest by sharing them with us. Here are my top five, most annoying observations - the ones that are guaranteed to make the steam come out of my ears:
1. Ricky Gervais isn't funny
Oh, yes, he is. Yet ever since the guy found global success, it's been the done thing to knock him. People criticise his arrogance, failing to see that the mantle of self-importance he assumes is just another joke.
But then...
The Ashes should be free to watch
- Posted at 3:05pm
- 08 July 2009
- by TomLoxley-RT
Having endured ten months of the football season living with two undersized Cristiano Ronaldos (it's not just the tantrums and diving over sofas, it's the pervasive smell of Alberto VO5 firm-hold hair gel) I was praying that with the start of the Ashes, my two young boys would become a pair of mini Freddie Flintoffs, passing me on the stairs in a blur of pads and whirring willow, on their way outside.
Then I remembered my lot won't see the England cricket team live on TV. International cricket has not been on free-to-air television since the...
Alison Graham's Bafta TV predictions
- Posted at 4:31pm
- 24 April 2009
- by AlisonGraham-RT
Who deserves to take home a TV Bafta this year? Ahead of the British Academy Television Awards (Sunday 26, 8:00pm, BBC1), Radio Times TV editor Alison Graham runs her critical eye over the 2009 nominees…
ACTOR
Nominees: Stephen Dillane The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall C4; Jason Isaacs The Curse of Steptoe BBC4; Ken Stott Hancock and Joan BBC4; Ben Whishaw Criminal Justice BBC1
TV editor's pick: Ben Whishaw
Arguably the strongest line-up of the night, with towering performances by three experienced actors. But Ben Whishaw deserves the prize for his turn as...
Is children's TV in crisis?
- Posted at 12:31pm
- 03 April 2009
- by DavidButcher-RT
"Write about children's telly," a colleague urged me. "It's in crisis - Russell T Davies said so." I may have done something rude like roll my eyes at this point, not because I don't care, you understand, but because crises (moral, financial, ratings, quality - take your pick) in children's TV are like rows about MPs' expenses or gaffes by Jonathan Ross: if you miss one, don't worry, there'll be another along shortly.
The panic used to be that children watched too much TV. My parents certainly thought so. They talked admiringly with other parents about...
Top 20 US TV dramas
- Posted at 5:18pm
- 05 January 2009
- by AlisonGraham-RT
January is the cruellest month, and I don't care that TS Eliot claimed otherwise. (April? Cruel? Pah.) It's drab, dark, bleak, miserable; Christmas has been and gone and the loft is closed on the decorations for another year.
But wait! Television has candles to light the darkness because, traditionally, it's become the time of year when the cream of US TV shows return to our screens. This week 24, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: New York and Law & Order are back, and life is just a bit more shiny.
The galvanising effect of...
TV review of the year 2008
- Posted at 1:45pm
- 16 December 2008
- by LauraPledger-RT
It's time to tell us which programmes you've enjoyed this year, and which should be consigned to the bin along with the torn wrapping paper and leftover turkey! To jog your memory, I offer my highs and lows of the TV year:
HIGHLIGHTS
Doctor Who: after a disappointing third run, the pace picked up in series four. Catherine Tate proved a strong, sparky companion. The nation held its breath to see whether David Tennant really would regenerate. The final few episodes, of course, also saw the long-awaited, much-anticipated return of…Davros. (Oh yes, and Billie Piper.) Can't wait...
Quantum of Solace: my take on the Bond film
- Posted at 5:00pm
- 05 November 2008
- by LauraPledger-RT
Quantum of Solace is a bit like James Bond himself - gets in there, does the job, gets out again. The film is done and dusted in 106 minutes, a far more enticing prospect than the leg-crossing 140+ minutes of most action movies these days. Did they have to fill those 106 minutes with quite so many stunts, though? After the exhilarating pre-titles sequence, I was looking forward to a bit of a breather, a chance for the plot of this new adventure to develop.
But no. With barely a pause to refuel with the obligatory slug of...
The Doctor Who spin-offs that will never be filmed
- Posted at 4:55pm
- 02 October 2008
- by DavidBrown-RT
Who'd have thought that when Doctor Who returned in 2005, there'd be so much scope for spin-offs? The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and now even the possibility of a Who movie being mooted. Not bad for a sci-fi show whose only previous stab at a TV offshoot was the creaky K-9 and Company back in 1981. So how long will it be before they milk a winning formula so much that we end up with the following?
The X-terminate Factor
Saturday-night entertainment as Davros and Dalek Caan audition potential...
How BBC iPlayer and podcasts can mess with your mind
- Posted at 5:00pm
- 15 September 2008
- by DavidBrown-RT
BBC iPlayer: it makes the unmissable, unmissable. Or in the case of BBC Radio 4's Quote Unquote, it makes the horrendous still tragically available. As a Radio 4 devotee, I have mixed feelings about the BBC's online catch-up service.
In Our Time has me sweating like a code-breaker at Bletchley Park hunched over an Enigma machine - I feel I'm only really understanding one word in four. So the opportunity to listen again or even download and take Melvyn on the Move gives me more chances to follow the argument. But breaking free...
Kingdom v Doc Martin
- Posted at 12:45pm
- 04 September 2008
- by DavidBrown-RT
It can't have escaped anyone's attention that for every How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? on BBC1, there's a Grease Is the Word on ITV1. Michael Kitchen successfully furrows his brow on the commercial network in Foyle's War, so Martin Shaw gets to look pensive on the BBC with George Gently. Taking successful television formats and then spinning them for your own station is common practice. But recently, there's been a case of ITV1 copying itself in the form of Doc Martin and now Kingdom.
These two programmes are the television equivalent of a fitness...
TV at the movies survey
- Posted at 9:13pm
- 24 August 2008
- by HelenHackworthy-RT
With Sex and the City and The X-Files recently having enjoyed big-screen outings, we asked you which TV series you think has made the best transition to the cinema, and which other show you'd most like to see follow it.
Over 2,200 of you gave us your opinion during August, voting Star Trek as the greatest TV-to-movie success.
The new series of Doctor Who was the show you said you'd most like to see at a cinema near you - and following the release of our survey results, the show's new executive producer Stephen Moffat said...
1990s revivals
- Posted at 1:59pm
- 01 August 2008
- by DavidBrown-RT
In this climate of economic downturn and volatile stock markets, you wouldn't blame beleaguered PM Gordon Brown for looking back on the boom years of the 1990s with a certain amount of nostalgia. The Labour Party in government on a landslide majority, Tony Blair's Chancellor earning plaudits for giving the Bank of England the power to set interest rates, the Conservatives nose-diving towards political obscurity. Ah, heady days.
But if Gordon Brown were to have a night off from his troubles and enjoy a movie he could make a choice between Sex and the City and The...
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