Things you can find on Youtube: part 1

People playing TV shows themes this includes some you may have forgotten.  Today I saw a video of someone play the theme to On the Record, the BBC1 1988-2002 Sunday afternoon political show that went out before the Eastenders omnibus which had a opening credit sequence that imagined Westminster as a giant Alligator stomping over the UK. And also the theme for Smith and Jones, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones's 1989-1998 BBC1 skecth show written by Peter Brewis

Beware of fake shaikhs bearing gifts

The news of Sam Allerdryce resigning as England manager after giving advice on how skim profits to 2 fake foreign businessmen brings to mind so many examples. In particular The fake shaikh (real name Mazher Mahmood) and his many stings. One for example John Alford, Alford had been a child star in Grange Hill and as a adult in London's Burning with some minor success in the pop charts. Mahmod in his shaikh disguise met Alford to discuss him starring in a film he was financing luring him with talk of meeting De Niro and Stallone. At some point Mahmood asked Alford if he could get some cocaine to which he duly he said yes and came up with the goods, thus giving the now defunct News of the World it and Alford was found guilty and sentenced to nine months.  Though you could say the only public interest of the story was to show how stupid and gullible Alford was. Mahmood is back in the headlines only this time he is the one in the dock accused of tampering with evidence in the case of Tulisa Contostavlos, many people are awaiting in great interest in the outcome of the case

Best of: The Mighty Boosh

The best 5 episodes charting the weird and wonderful adventures of Howard Moon and Vince Noir

1: The (Power of) the Crimp

What do you do when imposters take you place? time for a crimp off.

2. Killeroo

More fearsome than Tyson Fury, it's the Killeroo

3. The Priest and The Beast

A VHS tape monster and a hovering Roger Daltery feature in the search for the new sound

4. Jungle

To save the zoo Howard and Vince must brave mod wolves to find the missing Tommy

5. Nanageddon

The boys don't get what they expect when they try the black arts.

Gears and Tours

The BBC have announced that Matt Le Blanc is returning as host for Top Gear, this is a sign that the BBC do not want to go for wholesale changes after the muted reaction to the relaunch. Chris Evans has been pretty much singled out for ratings going downhill even if he is without a doubt Radio 2's big star. With Evans departure you can pretty much guarantee there will be some changes in the show's  content.  And so what of Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow? The Grand Tour, the trios Amazon Prime has been given a late November launch with Amazon Prime offering reduced introduction fees, it is clear there is much interest in The Grand Tour. Though it should be noted that James May has not cut off ties to the BBC as he has made a number of programmes where he disassembled and reassembled mechanical objects.

TV review: Red Dwarf XI

Channel: Dave

Starring Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn

I recently wrote about the show that was once the biggest show in BBC2 history getting ratings that producers of shows that go out on BBC1 and ITV now can only dream of. Well the new series has started so has anything changed? Lets get the bad out of the way first, the opening episode has a somewhat stiff fell to it as what seems the first 10 minutes of episode are spent in the cockpit of the Starbug. The plot does seem to be going over old ground, on the run from a race of cybernetic killers the crew find themselves on a world where technology from beyond the 1920's is prohibited by the same race, this brings to mind a number of some of the show,s most iconic episodes in particular The Gunmen of the Apocalypse. But I want to end this review with the good which is that the cast fit their characters like gloves. Robert Llewellyn as Kyrten is more human than, Danny John-Jules's Cat always putting some one else in the firing line, Rimmer as played by Chris Barrie is the by the book coward and Craig Charles as Lister provides with the everyman to cheer for.  I will be watching the rest of the series mainly for their interplay

DVD Review: Star Stories: Series 1 (2006)

TV Comedy

Starring: Kevin Bishop, Rhys Thomas, Daisy Beaumont, Laura Patch, Harry Peacock, Dolly Wells

Michael Douglas beating up a barrister in the Old Bailey, George Harrison slugging Sean Penn and Glen Hoddle taking squad selection advice from the spirit of Kurt Cobain are just some of the highlights of this irrelevant look at the rich and famous. Each episode takes the point of view of it's subject so Jennifer Aniston is painted as a almost saint like figure who is dumped by Brad Pitt to go off with the vampire like Angelina Jolie. As you can tell this a show that goes on wild flights of fancy. The cast throughout take on many different roles so for example Harry Peacock plays David Jason, Vinnie Jones and Matt Le Blanc to name just 3. If you are tired of having to read the likes of Heat magazine in dentist waiting rooms then Star Stories is the show for you

Zombie TV shows

Here is a list of TV shows that have frankly gone on far too long

Casualty

What was once a hard hitting look at the NHS has now become a turgid soap opera


Have I Got News For You

Between Ian Hislop's moral high ground posturing and Paul Merton's bored ramblings, this show has suffered since Angus Deayton's exit


Eggheads

As I said before perhaps the most tedious quiz show UK TV has ever known, the biggest question is why  in the face of sliding ratings why does it have a near permanent place on the schedules?


The Jeremy Kyle Show

Once described by a judge as human bear baiting, this is the lowest UK TV has sank to.

The lost pleasure of reading The Radio Times

In 1991 after a decree by then Home Sectary Douglas Hurd (this was when the post oversaw all broadcasting before the creation of the Culture Sectary post) all TV/Radio listings magainzes printed the schedules for their rivals, this meant gone were the days of having to buy The Radio Times for BBC listings and TV Times for ITV ones. After reading a rather garish effort by TV Times my familly decided to stick with The Radio Times. Each Tuesday I would go through the new edition picking out my viewing and listening for the forthcoming week. These days I do a brief look through the week's new Radio Times and how has this happened?  I guess the answer lies in the words stripped and standard, Back when Channel 5 started in 1997, those words were used to describe the channels schedule meaning you would get the same type of programme at the same time of day. And in a way the other channels have adopted this method. ITV screen Emmerdale at 7PM from Monday to Friday and in response BBC1 show the One Show in exactly the same pattern, Channel 4 have been showing The Simpsons and Hollyoaks  as the same block for the last 12 years and meanwhile on BBC2 perhaps the most tedious and boring quiz show in the history of UK TV Eggheads has taken root about 6PM though every now and again it gets moved half a hours to try out a show like Two Tribes with Richard Osman but it gets move back to it's usual slot pretty quickly and that is the tip of the iceberg. Given how TV schedules are almost predictable is it any wonder that all TV listing magazines have suffered sliding sales

More Bake Off fall out

So Paul Hollywood is the one regular who is staying with GBBO when it goes to Channel 4. One name that has cropped up as a possible host is Danny Baker, if he does get the job it will be his most high profile TV job. His Stand out TV credit being daytime game show Win, Lose or Draw in the 1990's. We await any more developments.

The comedy drought of BBC2

A new season of Red Dwarf starts on Thursday (20/09/2016) on the digital channel Dave. And when you look back at the history of the show this is bit of a come down for the show. For it's final season on BBC2 Red Dwarf was getting ratings of nearly 7 million which in these days of fragmented TV audiences is a figure that producers of programmes that air on BBC1 and ITV would give their eye teeth for. The fact that BBC2 can not acknowledged whose popularity was such that it was given a night of programmes dedicated to it seems to sum up the disdain that BBC2 has for comedy now. Yet this is the channel that gave us Not the Nine O'clock News, The Young Ones, The Fast Show and The Office to name just 4 programmes.. Yet you have to go back Miranda in 2009 to find a BBC2 comedy that made a mark on the viewing audience, so much that BBC1 approiated it. These days there is very little comedy shows on the channel with only the new show The Agency on. It is a sad state of affairs that used pride itself on having nights dedicated to the art now neglects it.

The dirty open secret that was Jimmy Saville

On Tuesday on Channel 4 a new drama National Treasure starts. It stars Robbie Coltrane as one half of a comic duo who is accused of sexual offences. The clear inspiration is Operation Yewtree which was established after the fall out of the Jimmy Saville revelations, an number of famous figures found themselves facing charges of similar crimes. Some were found guilty in a court of law, some were found not guilty and the case against others were found to be spurious and were not taken to court. Looking back at the aftermath of the revelations you will find certain figures claimed to have no knowledge of what Saville was doing such as Greg Dyke who claimed the alibi of not being at the BBC when Saville was working there yet in 2001 when Dyke was Director General  Saville was banned from having any involvement with Children In Need due to concerns about his involvement with children or the likes of former BBC1 controller Michael Grade who said he had heard about certain things but nothing concerte to warrant any action. Yet you will find instances of jokes about Saville's activates cropping up that now seem thinly veiled references of what he was doing. In the Only Fools and Horses episode Hole in One Uncle Albert tries to help Del and Rodney out of a financial pickle by falling down the cellar of the Nag's Head, in the ensuing court case Del takes to the stand he exaggerates the impact on Uncle Albert's life saying due to (made up by Del) his fund rising efforts he had gained the nickname of the Jimmy Saville of Peckham, it is interesting to note that John Sullivan the Writer of Only Fools and Horses had worked in the props department of the BBC before his career in writing, In hind sight one has to wonder if Sullivan had heard things about Saville during his tea break. On Youtube you can find a compilation of clips featuring the likes David Baddiel & Frank Skinner, Stewart Lee & Richard Herring and Chris Morris making jokes about Saville that at the time were probably at the time were written off as being outrageous for the sake of it though now in hind sight they were very close to the truth. Perhaps the most clear example came from Saville himself when he appeared on Have I Got News and made a joke about local schoolgirls being in fear of his wrestling abilities

The best of: Black Books

The 5 best episodes of Dylan Moran's sublime show

1: The Fixer

Rob Brydon guest stars in an episode that features among other things reading lessons and midget gangsters.

2: The Blackout

Ever get the feeling you have done something but can't  remember what it was you best hope you went to the toilet in the right place.

3:  A Little Flutter

Bernard Black gets the gambling bug and finds himself in a downward spiral and only his friends can get him out of it. Keith Allen cameos as a mouse eyed poker player.

4: Party

It is Friday and time to let you hair down though you best hope you get what you want or you will find yourself in a dancing contest set to Motarhead's Ace of Spades

5: A Nice Change

Think of your worst holiday experiences and multiply by 1000 then you will get a rough idea of what the gang goes through when they go for a break in the sun.

The perils of going commercial

The Great British Bake Off is going from BBC1 to Channel 4 next year, though without Mel and Sue and some rumours suggest Mary Berry doing the same. Here some more examples of going from the Beeb to the other side not working out.

Michael Parkinson

After suffering something of a career slip with the infamous launch of TV-AM, Michael Parkinson enjoyed a comeback in the late 90's after highlights of his 1971-82 BBC1 chat show which showed him interviewing the likes of Peter Sellers, Richard Burton and Bing Crosby led to calls for him to his chat show back. And in 1998 Parkinson was back on air on BBC1 and for the following 6 years (with the same set design) Michael interviewed the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Ewan McGregor and in one rather uncomfortable interview Meg Ryan. Then in 2004 the BBC brought back the highlights package for the English Premier League (more on that later) and seeing his show being moved from it's prime Saturday slot Michael Parkinson with great fan fare moved to ITV, despite sharing the same theme and set design as the BBC show the new ITV show was not a hit and 3 years later (aside from the odd project here and there) Michael Parkinson retired.

Des Lynam

Through years of hosting Grandstand and major sporting events like the Olympics and the World Cup, Des Lynam was seen as very much a BBC man. In 1992 he became host of Match of the Day which went on late Saturday nights, Des was not happy about this in particularly with it going out after US TV movie pot boilers. In 1999 in a shock move Des went to ITV where at first he presented live coverage of the Champions League and then when the Premier League highlights package was won from the Beeb he fronted a Match of the Day type show called the Premiership which at first went out on early evenings but after disappointing viewing figures was moved to a late night slot. Des quit ITV in 2004 around the same time as the Beeb brought back the Premier League highlights. Des has gone on record to say he wished he had not moved away from the BBC.

The Boat Race

In 2005 ITV brought the rights to The Boat Race. In 2010 without anyone in the way the BBC brought back the rights paying less money than ITV did.

Best of: Toast of London

The 5 best episodes of Matt Berry and Arthur Matthews BAFTA winning show

1: Bonus Ball

Michael Ball shows off his comic chops as he sets out to collect a poker debt from Steven Toast

2: Match Fit

Arguments conducted on the top of open top tour buses, a celebrities and prostitutes blow football tournament and more happens as Steven inflicts on his rival Ray Purchase the greatest of embrassment.

3: The Unspeakable Play

The pilot does feature an number of jokes that crop up again in the series proper but what jokes

4: Vanity Project

Amanda Donohoe guest stars as Steven's ex wife who after getting a large alimony demand from her finds himself starring in Prince Philip: Scourndel Dog

5: Bob a Job

The very much alive Bob Monkhouse enlists Steven and Ray to perform the Eygptian Sand dance which Steven is only doing to impress Kevin Spacey into giving him a role on House of Cards.

Brothers in arms but not music

UB40 are back in the headlines but for the wrong reasons, half the band came out in support of Jeremy Corbyn but the other half spoke out against Corbyn. The pro Corbyn half led by Duncan and Robin Campbell with Ali on the other side. Warring music biz brothers are not a new thing. In the 60's Ray and Davies of The Kinks had a very stormy relationship, so much that during a concert Ray punched Dave to the floor, Ray looked to see if he had injured his brother only for him to return the favour. Mark Knopfler  is so much seen as Dire Straits that people forget that his brother David was also in the but with Mark exerting so much control over even at one point Mark told David to shut up at a band meeting. And then the Gallagher brothers whose somewhat strained relationship makes you wonder how Oasis lasted for so long. And those 3 cases are just the tip of the iceberg.

Whatever happened to Pop Music on UK TV?

It is now over 10 years since the last edition of Top of the Pop aired and there seems to a massive hole in the TV listings. Outside of the specialist music channels like MTV there could be up to half a dozen music shows on air at any one time. The Chart Show that would flash up captions during videos telling us such things as where the act would be playing, hobbies etc. The O-Zone which featured reports in which the presenter would interview a current hot chart act in between doing something like abseiling. But in the last few years pop music has faded away in the eyes of TV execs. Some would say that the X-Factor is a show that has pop music at the fore but really the focus is on the pantomime antics of the judges as they try to get one up on the others. Later with Jools Holland can  rightfully claim to be more infinitely more credible than X-Factor but that is more aimed at the music purist than the main stream. Every now and again there is talk of Top of the Pops making a comeback  but given the crimes of Travis and Saville committed when working on the show this seems very unlikely. To amend the title of the Famous Buggles song did TV Kill the Pop Star.

The Best of: Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister

In tribute to co-creator Anthony Jay who has died the 5 best episodes of the show

1: The Key

Pure knock about farce as Sir Humphrey finds as he is being frozen out of the scheme of things which in the end leads to him being dragged to his lowest.

2: The Official Visit

Jim Hacker has to stop a dodgy situation as a visiting African President plans to make a speech that encourage a mass uprising and in front of the Queen as well.

3: Party Games

How Jim Hacker came to be Prime Minister which given the circumstances in which Theresa May became PM has very strong echoes.

4: A Question of Loyalty

Jim and Sir Humphrey are on the same side until Jim is called to visit no 10

5: A Tangled Web

Jim finds himself in trouble after he unwittingly tells a lie to the House of Commons and Sir Humphrey refuse to help until he himself says things when he thinks a radio interview is over

WELCOME TO LARRY VULCAN

Hello my name is Larry Conway but I have gone for Vulcan as my surname to be my blog surname to be more eye catching.  Between 1995 and 1997 I did Media Studies at the old Motherwell College so this blog will be about the subject and everything connected

Larry Conway