Sorry but your family history is too boring

A news report has emerged that a proposed episode of Who Do You Think You Are? about Eamon Holmes was dropped because his ancestors were too boring. The show which features famous people discovering all about their family history. Previous episodes have featured regular screen cockney Danny Dyer that he was related to Royalty. In the case of Holmes researchers could only find was that he was from a very long line of farmers so he was dropped. This brings mind to an Armstrong & Miller sketch in which Alexander Armstrong discovers some very unfortunate skeletons in the cupboard when he appears on it. Think yourself lucky Eamon.

Best of: Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes

The 10 best episodes of the 2 shows featuring Philip Glensiter as tough as nails cop Gene Hunt dealng with the time displaced Sam (John Simm) Tyler in the 1970s and Alex (Keeley Hawes) Drake in the 1980s.

Note as episode titles were not used for either series so for reference initials of the series then the series and episode numbers

1. LoM S1 E3.

When a foreman dies in a factory Gene suspects the union rep while Sam is not so sure. Gene also has to deal with a rival copper.

2. LoM S1 E2

Sam is uneasy over Gene's techniques to nail would be robber and tries his own methods. The opening features a funny foot chase set to Wings Live and Let Die.

3. AtA S1 E6

Gene comes face to face with an old foe when on a robbery case. When Alex finds herself locked in a freezer Gene comes to the rescue to the Ultravox's Vienna

4. LoM S1 E5

A mans death may be linked to Football hooligans so Gene and Sam go undercover working at a pub. John Simm as Sam delivers a powerful monologue about the carnage that would come to the Football stands.

5 AtA S1 E7

A charity fund raiser claims to have be mugged and all his takings stolen however that may not be the case. Matthew Mcfadyen Keeley Hawes Spooks co-star and real life husband plays the fund riser.

6. LoM S2 S1

Sam comes face to face with an old foe from the 2000's however Gene seems to be in his pocket

7. AtA S3 E8

The final episode where all the threads of the 2 shows are all tied together with an appearance by an old face.

8. AtA S1 E4

A murder investigation sees Gene and Alex probe secrets of the highest order, even at one point getting trapped in a Government building. There is a sly reference to Keeley Hawes role in spy show Spooks.

9. AtA S2 E8

Gene and Alex find themselves trying to foil a robbery by a group of crooked cops. Just when you think all the twists there is one final shocker.

10. AtA  S3 E5

2 of Genes former colleagues from Manchester come to London looking for a stand up comic who they claim has committed fraud however that may not be the case. Real life comedian Roy Hudd plays the comic.

Bobby goes for a dive

One of the most (in)famous moments in a celebrity competition came in 2003's The Games. The show feature celebs being trained to take part in Olympic events. One such event was Diving. Bobby Davro best known for his impression shows in the 1980's went to the highest 10m board. The result was a very painful belly flop. You can watch re cored off TV screen footage on Youtube.

The holiday over?

Reports have emerged that ITV's long running comedy Benidorm could be heading for the axe. It has been one of ITV's few comedy hits in the last decade even going from a half hour duratation to a full hour programme. Though the news may spark a campign to stop the axe. We shall see.

Pop promos with actors

This is a list of 3 pop promos that feature actors in them. Please note none have no connection to films.

Kate Bush - Experiment IV

This 1986 track features Hugh Laurie and Dawn French at a time when they were blazing a trail in British Comedy. The video also features veterans Peter (Porridge, Game of Thrones) Vaughn and Richard (Goldfinger) Vernon. The video was deemed too disturbing that it was one point banned.


Paul McCartney - Take It Away

Featuring a mini Beatles reunion with Ringo Starr on drums and legendary producer George Martin on piano.  This 1982 video has John Hurt playing a manager on the look out for new talent. No need to guess who he discovers.


Iron Maiden - Can I Play With Madness

A year before his death from cancer Graham Chapman appeared in this 1988 video. Chapman takes on the role of a strict Art teacher who after scolding one of his pupils for drawing Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie ends up meeting him. Chapman taking on the role of a strict teacher was an obvious play on his personal reputation as a hell raiser.

William G Stewart (1933-2017)

The death was announced this week of William G Stewart a man with perhaps the most unique career in TV. In the early 1970s Stewart was producer/director of sit-coms like Bless This House and Father Dear Father. By the 1980s he had moved into working on game shows like Family Fortunes and The Price is Right.  Before taping for The Price is Right Stewart would walk out before the audience wearing a Bomber Jacket with Rule Britania blaring out the studio pa in order to get them to get them into a frenzy. Stewart would then find himself in front of the camera when Jonathan Ross could not commit to presenting to general knowledge quiz 15-1 which would run for 15 years from 1988.  During one edition in 2001 in which a large number of contestants did not make it past the first round Stewart was faced with airtime to  fill and so decided to air his view that the Elgin Marbles should be handed back to Greece by the Royal Museum of London. The many tributes that have been paid to Stewart is testament to his legacy in the industry.

What a hair cut says

When Emilia Clarke recently posted photos on Instagram the Internet was set afire. The actress best for known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thornes was seen with her hair cut short and hair dyed white. For the past 7 seasons of Game of Thrones Clarke has worn a long white blonde wig, this has led to speculation about the 8th and final season. We will see why the drastic change in hair in more than a year.

Dumb quiz show answer of the day

On an edition of Pointless  constants were asked to name a Golfer who had won more than 2 majors ( The Open, US Open, US Masters and US PGA) since 1946. One said he did not know much about Golf and gave an answer on the basis that they were a Golfer, The answerer was John McEnroe. Do I need to go any further?

Popular programmes I have never watched

A follow up to a list from  last year as the title says this is a list that a great deal of many people have watched but not me

Doc Martin

Coming back tonight is the Martin Clunes vehicle in which he plays a grumpy doctor. Sorry Martin but I either change the channel or switch off after 5 minutes.

Monarch of the Glen

The Highland based show that for a brief time starred Richard Briers ran for 5 years but I just could not stand the shortbread tin version of Scotland,

Broadchurch

Chris Chibnall crime story set in an English coastal town was watched by millions but I was  put off by the overly grim trailers and the fact that last time Olivia Colman played a policewoman was in Edgar Wright's action spoof Hot Fuzz.

Why GoT is needed

The record ratings low that hit this year Emmys show how much missed was Game of Thrones was this year and it could get worse if the final season does not air until 2019

The Emmys 2017: Anyone watching?

Last night saw US TV's version of the Oscars, the Emmys take place. However the general public seemed uninterested as it recorded it worst ever ratings with just over 9 million viewers. Some blaming the overly politicised attempts at humour as a turn off. An another was the awards being dominated by show with rather niche followings like the winner of the Best Drama award The Handmaid's Tale. It appears that this is another case of the general public tastes at odds with the major awards.

Question Time face off wish list

The debate programme is well known for it's furious debates here are some confrontations I would like to see.

Nigel Farage vs Mark Steel

The man who came to symbolise the railing against the EU takes on the most right on person


Owen Jones vs David Starkey

The youthful left wing firebrand confronts the historian who is not shy in making his views known


Isabel Oakshott vs Mhari Black

Right wing political commenter Breexit cheerleader against SNP MP who is currently the youngest just now

Unlikely Brits in Hollywood movies

Down the years many British actors have appeared in Hollywood productions, here are 3 of the most unlikely examples


Tom Watt

Best known as lovable loser Lofty in Eastenders Watt had a bit part in Patriot Games as an electrician who on his latest job makes a discovery that tips off a terrorist.

Mark Wingett

For many years he was famous playing Jim Carver in The Bill. Wingett played a villager in Snow White and the Huntsman whose son death sees him join the uprising led by Snow White.

Jeff Rawle

Yes the Harry Potter films were filled to the brim with British actors but it takes time to take in that Cedric Diggoary father's is George the luckless editor from Drop the Dead Donkey

Many ways to end the Game

In an attempt to thwart the hackings that plagued the most recent season of Game of Thrones producers have announced that multiple endings in order to keep the series ultimate outcome under wraps. Perhaps the only programme to have stair up such fevered interest was Dallas with the who shot J.R. storyline. No firm date has yet been announced as when the 8th and final season will be screened.

The diminished appeal of The Simpsons

In today's edition of Tipping Point in the head to head round contestants were asked to name the 1991 No. 1 song inspired by The Simpsons. One of them replied they had not seen The Simpson while the other replied Doing the Bartman. The answer was Do the Bartman. It curious to think The Simpsons once had a grip on pop culture conicuness.

Brotherly clash: the first results

The first episodes of the 2 dramas written by Brothers Harry and Jack Williams Rellik and Liar went out last night and the ratings are in. Rellik got 3.6 million viewers while ITV's Liar got 4.86 million. Some ratings watchers blame Rellik inferior score on a combination of non-traditional story telling and having a low rating Panorama lead in.

Brotherly clash

Tonight's TV schedule sees an intriguing clash. BBC1 will be showing Rellik while ITV has Liar, both dramas were written by brothers Harry and Jack William who were responsible for The Missing. The 2 shows play around with narrative structure, Rellik goes back in time to discover the motive of a serial killer while Liar presents the differing sides of a rape case. Both shows have been heavily trailed in the last few weeks but the advantage is with Liar as it goes out after Coronation Street, Whatever the result there will be at least 2 people happy.

TV ratings 9-9-2017

The launch of 2017 Strictly Come Dancing more than comfortably beat The X-Factor. SCD scored 8.5 million viewers to X-F's 5.5 million. Eyes will be on how this yearly rivalry develops. Early in the day BBC1's coverage of Athletics Gateshead Games got 800 hundred thousand viewers double that of  ITV's coverage of the Horse Racing meeting at Haydock. There will be those concerned at the low ratings of Horse Racing on ITV given the expense and whether it can justified by the annual ratings boost of the Grand National.

Newspaper consolidation

The news has broken that Trinity Mirror is in talks to take over Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell group.  Trinity Mirror are the publishers of the Daily Mirror while Northern & Shell count among it titles The Daily Express, The Daily Star and OK!. There has been much speculation of the future of some titles in particular The Daily Star which has dubious record of the lowest selling national  daily newspaper. As always many eyes on how the story develops.

Where has the star commenter gone?

After the news of John Motson's retirement from commentary work the question has to be asked where have all the commenters gone? By this I mean those whose work leave a impression on you, for example those whose voice became synonymous with the sport they commented on like Dan Maskell with Tennis and Bill McLaren with Rugby Union. Then there were those who worked on various sports like Barry Davies who in a long career worked many different sports including Football, Gymnastics, Figure Skating and Hockey to name just 4. Of today's crop they are some who were quite famous before they took up the mike like Steve Cram who had a successful career at the highest levels of Athletics, Andrew Castle who is better known for his media career than that of a Tennis player and Garry Herbert whose emotional display at winning gold for the Men's Rowing Coxed Pairs has continued onto his work behind the microphone. You may get the odd exception like Jonathan Pearce best known for his exuberant football commentaries but seems to be sidelined for the big games. Perhaps we just have to wait for the current generation of commenters to imprint themselves on the public in the same way their predecessors did.

John Motson: End of an era

After a 50 year career John Motson has announced his retirement from the world of sports coverage. Motson has not been as prolific in the last decade due to him no longer doing live coverage when the BBC temporary lost the contract for FA Cup. John Motson will go down in broadcasting history as one of the most definitive sports broadcasters.

The continuing decline of The X-Factor

The past weekend saw the start of this year's X-Factor and it is not good news for ITV. The 2 episodes shown had viewing figures barely approaching 6 and a half million viewers. This is a far cry from the days when the show had 10 million viewers and had a stranglehold on the Xmas no 1 for many. It is clear that the fact the vast majority of viewers are young people who are attractive to advertisers, though they may be stating to concerned by the slide in ratings. Many people will be watching over the next few weeks to see if there is any upturn.

More skipped TOTP

As I have written before there are episodes of  Top of the Pops that are not shown for BBC4 various reasons, The most common cause being those presented by either Jimmy Savile and Dave Lee Travis other wise known as the Yewtree 2. Savile whose unpunished crimes caused the operation to come into place and Travis who was convicted because of it. This week an episode is skipped because it features a performance by Gary Glitter. A huge star in the early 1970's Glitter was convicted in the UK of sex offence before being serving a prison sentence for simaller offences in Vietnam. Due to Operation Yewtree Glitter was charged with more offences in the UK for which he was convicted and given a 16 year sentence.

A tale of 2 soap sets

What follows is the contrast between 2 settings for now defunct soaps. Brookside Channel 4's long running soap prided itself in the beginning as being more down to earth than it's rivals. No where was this more true than the soap's main filming location. An actual 13 house development was brought by Mersey Productions the makers of the soap, 6 were given over as the residence of the various character while the other 7 were taken up by the various other arms of productions like make up, editing, catering etc. Even after Brookside finished in 2003, the character houses were used for Channel 4's other (still running) soap Hollyoaks. However in recent years it has become an actual residential estate.
This brings us to the case of Eldorado the infamous BBC1 Euro soap. launched in 1992 and set around a small Spanish town it had it's own specially constructed set. Eldorado was plauged by various troubles such as bad acting, bad sound recording in houses with barley painted walls and numerous off screen troubles. Even after a radical overhaul the show was axed after just a year. Barring the odd pop promo and TV filming the town set has in effect become a ghost town. Perhaps to serve as a reminder of foolish hopes and ambitions.
I leave you to consider what was the best use of money.

The Full Monty 20 years on

August 1997 saw the release of a film that would be the highest grossing film in the UK until the release of Titanic and won awards including an Oscar. Not bad for film which centred around a group of unemployed steel workers who decide to form a striptease troupe in order to earn some money. With hardly any star names with the sole exception of Robert Caryle whose character comes up with the idea of the men becoming strippers. For the most part The Full Monty could be a Ken Loach film if it were not for the striptease element. But the film's popularity can be found that it does not like a Loach (or any film of the same ilk) film to keeping preaching the same message throughout. Come the award season The Full Monty won a large number of awards. At the BAFTAs Caryle took Best Actor while Tom Wilkinson won Best Supporting Actor. From the Oscars it had 4 noms from which it claimed 1 when Anne Dudley won the Best Comedy Film score award. Perhaps the most notable win came when it won the Best Ensemble prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards beating Hollywood heavyweights Titanic, L. A. Confidential and Good Will Hunting. So what of the cast and crew? Caryle and Wilkinson continue to maintain their screen through various screen while Mark Addy in his sole season in Game of Thrones as Robert Barathon whose misunderstanding of a personal situation leads to the great upheaval that sets up the show's premise. Writer Simon Beaufoy has been working on various projects since, including winning an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. Peter Cattaneo the director has a much more subdued career though this Monday on BBC2, he is director of Diana and I a drama about how the death of Priceness Diana affects 4 characters. The popularity of The Full Monty still maintains a hold on the British public as it is being shown on Saturday night on BBC1 at a time when the showing of films outside of the big draws like Harry Potter is very rare. Just to goes to show how some films live on for a very long time.