Andy Kershaw: The maverick's maverick

Amongst the expected messages of tribute to George Michael who died at the age of just 53, there was a lone voice that called into question into whether the level of outpouring for his death wad equivalent to his death, Andy Kershaw questioned whether Michael would be mentioned in the same bracket as Joni Mitchell and Louis Armstrong among others. This has led to Kershaw of being accused of being insensitive but anyone with knowledge of Kershaw's career and background will know that he is someone who does not stick to the conventional path. He got his first job in the media after meeting Trevor Dann, producer of Whistle Test (formerly known as The Old Grey Whistle Test) when he was working as road manager for Billy Bragg which saw him take the post of host/reporter. Kershaw brought an attitude that was sceptical of big names, one example being a very terse interview with Deep Purple members Ian Gillan and Jon Lord which when after his far more genial co-host David Hepworth opened the interview with a question about pay and then for most of the interview Kershaw constantly asked if Deep Purple had got back together just for the money, it is said that Gillan and Lord left the studio at the first opportunity. For 15 years between 1985 and 2000 at BBC Radio 1 Kershaw was a champion for World music with one programme being broadcast simultaneously on both Radio 1 and Radio 4. Among Kershaw's other television work includes Travelog, a Channel 4 travel programme which concentrated on more unlikely destinations than those seen on BBC1's Holiday or ITV's Wish You Were Here. As if to continue his reputation for going against the norm Kershaw went to North Korea. For those complain about Kershaw's remarks really should get to know what the man has done.

For those interested both the Deep Purple interview and the North Korea film can be seen on Youtube.

Matt Berry,: Jesus Christ Superstar fan

For those fans of Toast of London that Matt Berry both starred and co-wrote (with Arthur Matthews) will remember the episode Bonus Ball in which Berry's Steven Toast loses the hefty sum of twenty thousand pounds to none other than Andrew Lloyd-Webber, after being told by Elaine Paige that he stills owe Lloyd-Webber the sum of money prompting Toast to flip the finger and telling Lloyd-Webber to stick up it his Starlight Express. Toast then finds that none other than Michael (played by himself) Ball is out to collect Lloyd-Webber's money.  Now the impression you may be left with is that Berry is not a fan of Lloyd-Webber's work, however in a film for the BBC's Culture Show he sings his praises for the work that would give Lloyd-Webber and his collaborator Tim Rice their big break the album of Jesus Christ Superstar. Berry in the film notes that the presence of such talents as Deep Purple legend Ian Gillan and members of Joe Cocker's backing band gives the album a cutting edge that you would not expect. Berry interviews the 2 musical knights and Murray Head (who in the 1980's had a hit with One Night in Bangkok form an another Tim Rice hit Chess co-written with ABBA's Benny and Bjorn) who performed the role of Judas, they all testify that the album was approached with all seriousness though they were some hiccups along the way such as Gillan ad libbing the word baby during the song set when Jesus is in the temple. Berry's conclusion is that with it's blend of Rock and Classical music Jesus Christ Superstar (album version) is something that demands your attention. The film can be seen on Youtube

Richard Hammond's dubious thoughts of ice cream

It used to be the case that when the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May got together (usually on Top Gear) something would be said or done that would cause offence to a lot of people. The most famous examples being when the trio drove into a redneck town in the Southern United States in cars bearing messages like country music sucks (and that was the most subtle) designed to inflame the inhabitants which leads to the sight of the trio and film crew being driven out of town, Clarkson using a polticy incorrect version of an nursery rhyme to decide on which car is the best or when in Argentina Clarkson drove in a Porsche which supposedly had number plates that made reference to The Falklands War which again saw the trio fleeing for their lives. Now having moved to Amazon Prime for The Grand Tour following Clarkson's' bust up with a producer saw the trio leave Top Gear (though May still does some work for the BBC) in an act of solidarity. It is Hammond's turn to court the headlines for the wrong reasons. During a conversation about eating a choc ice in a car Hammond said he did not eat ice cream and then made a remark about the sexuality about those who did. This has caused a furore with some people calling him out for his comments. Since Amazon Prime is a streaming service as opposed to a regular broadcasting one it does not come under the normal regulations, though one wonders if they may a commercial price that Amazon may have to pay for Hammond's comments.

John Bonham: The Last Interview

In the 1970s Led Zeppelin had built a reputation for hard living to match their music. Stories abounded of the wild nights they spent with large numbers of willing young women, the taking of vast quantise of drugs and Jimmy Page's interest with the occult. The mystique of the band was further enhanced by their manager Peter Grant restricting their dealings with the media.  In 1980 when hosting a now long forgotten music show called Alright Now, Billy Connolly had a rare interview with John Bonham. After calling Bonham the greatest Rock drummer in the World, Connolly introduce a clip of the Led Zeppelin film The Song Remains the Same which features him spending time in the pub, racing fast cars, spending time at home with his family and performing a drum solo. The interview itself is a light hearted affair as Bonham answers to Connolly questions range from shrugs of the shoulders to no more than 2 words. Sadly later in 1980 Bonham died after an alochic bender and then after Led Zeppelin disbanded. The interview can viewed on Youtube and shows a man who did take the world all that seriously.

Unseasonal Xmas TV specials

Not all specials shown at Xmas make any reference to the holiday, in fact some will go some way to distance themselves from it. Here are 3 such specials from 1989.


Only Fools and Horses  - The Jolly Boys Outing

In the first episode after Rodney's marriage to Cassandra, Del manages to get his brother to join up the titular annual meeting even after making even after giving the most spectacular wrong answer during a game of Trivial Pursuits. The group make their way to Margate (after a delay caused by Rodney accidentally kicking a football into a policeman) during a sunny August bank holiday and enjoy their day out. However their coach blows up due faulty wiring. The group then split to find accommodation with Del hooking up again with Racquel. The episode end with Rodney punching Cassandra's after mistakenly thinking that he was making a play for her.


Miss Marple - A Caribbean Mystery

When one of her nephews pays for her to escape a extremely cold winter, Miss Marple goes to Barbados but however violent death follows her. And soon she is using her deductive skills  to get to the bottom of the mystery with the help of a tycoon played in a guest role by Donald  Pleascene. The episode went out on Xmas day night and attracted a large number of complaints over it's  depiction of murder and drug use. One such person was Richard Curtis who wrote the whimsical Lenny Henry starring fantasy  Bernard and the Genie as a response.


Bergerac - Second Time Around

Written by Ian Kenndy Martin who created The Sweeney, Second Time Around is not your usual episode of the Jersey based show. In the first 10 minutes a crook handcuff one of his former associates to a metal ornamental chair and throws them into a pool for the man to die. Made at a time when Bergerac was a show that was taking it's dues from Miami Vice, John Nettles as Jim Bergerac goes for the Don Johnson/Sonny Crockett look. the music soundtrack is of the big boomy syth variety that was poplar then, the episode was filmed during what was an obviously hot summer therefore making Jersey looking even more exotic and then there is a sequence which goes from a car chase to a speed boat chase which ends with a bad guy escaping from the clutches of the law by being picked up helicopter thereby making you wonder how it was done on a late 1980s BBC budget. Despite having a larger than usual body count the episode went out before the watershed on Boxing Day night.

Lessons learnt from Pointless picture rounds

Some surprising things can discovered about how much people know about certain things especially when they have been shown in pictures.

Jockey AP McCoy who was voted in 2010 BBC Sports Personalty of the year is not as well know as that win would  suggest.

Despite it's status as a symbol of water cooler talking subject matter, Breaking Bad is not really widely  known

Nobody recognises Simon Le Bon when he is wearing a beard.

Radio Review: Stardust

BBC Radio 4, Drama

Starring Matthew Beard, Sophie Rundle, Charlotte Riley, Frances Barber


In the mid 1990s Dirk Maggs came to be known for bringing the likes of Batman, Superman and Judge Dredd in an number of serialised dramas that played out as instalments on Mark Goodier's BBC Radio 1 afternoon show. For his latest production (which he wrote and co-directed) Maggs takes a plunge into the world of fallen stars, witches and feuding brothers in his adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel that had been previously made into a film with Robert De Niro. Maggs with his cast and use of sound effects create a rich and evocative world, one sequence worth mentioning is one with a Billy Goat turned man thinking he is still a billy goat trying to head butt a Unicorn with the expected and bloody results. Of the cast Frances Barber as a Witch out to get the heart of a fallen star turned young women so that she and her sisters can became young  again. Dirk Maggs once again cements as the man who brings the fantastical to radio with style and panache..


Stardust can be heard on BBC I-player until late January 2017

Easing chart congestion

In 2014 the British singles charts saw 42 no1s , In 2015 the number was 26 and this year it was just 11. How has this situation happened? Well the charts equate 100 streaming hits for 1 song as 1 sale, this has led to long runs at the top of the charts for the likes of Drake have had long runs at the top of the charts. Well now  action has been taken with the number of streaming hits going up to 150 to equate to 1 sale, the hope being a much greater range of artists will get into the charts. One has to remember back in the days of just good old fashioned sales that both Bryan Adams and Wet, Wet, Wet had marathon runs at the top of the charts.

BBC SPOTY 2016 round up


Sports Personality of the year

1. Andy Murray (Tennis)
2. Alistair Brownlee (Triathlon)
3. Nick Skelton (Showjumping)


Team of the Year

Leicester City (Football)


Coach of the Year

Eddie Jones (Rugby Union)


Overseas Personality

Simone Biles (Gymnastics)


Lifetime Achievement

Michael Phelps (Swimming)

What is it about Mrs Brown and her boys?

Taking pride of place at BBC1 Xmas night schedule is the show that was recently voted the best sit-com on British TV in the 21st Century beating the likes of The Office, has won awards including BAFTA and NTA wins, has hit viewership peaks of 11m and has even had a spin off film. Yet for all it's success it has been on the receiving end of some of the most vitriolic reviews that a TV show has got in recent years, so why the extreme reactions? Mrs Brown's Boy has  had a journey that has included radio, books stage shows and a prior film version that did involve creator Brendan O'Carroll. And then the TV show was launched in 2011 with little to no fanfare in a grave yard slot, from this some what muted start the show grew to become the massive hit it is today but the critics were if anything had the reverser reaction. The main charge they bring against the show is that for all it post modern trappings (gaffes are kept in, there are shots of the audience laughing at the action, musical numbers etc) it is a show that is deeply rooted in the era of the nadir of the  British sit com, the early 1970's.. This was a time when shows like On the Buses and Love thy Neighbour were massive hits at the time but now viewed through the prism of political correctness they are seen as appearing to lowest common denominator. Though On the Buses is at times repeated on ITV3, both it and Love thy Neighbour do not feature on all time great British sit-com lists. If anything Mrs Brown's Boys is seen as a massive step back when the past decade has seen the likes of The Office and The Thick of It had been redefining the language of the sit-com. The question of if Mrs Brown's Boys joins the pantheon of great British sit-coms like Dad's Army, Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses to name just 3 will judged be in the fullness of time.

CG Resurrection

The following contains spoilers for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story so look away if you have not seen it.

Final Chance


SPOILERS


Rouge One features a sub plot that focus on a power struggle between the villain played by Ben Mehdelson and Gran Moff Tarkin, all Star Wars buffs know that the role Tarkin was played in the original Star Wars film by Peter Cushing who died in 1994.  Guy Henry whose credits include numerous Harry Potter films, Holby City and V for Vendetta takes on the role of Tarkin in Rouge One but his face is grafted over with that of Cushing while he delivers the limes. This is a bit of distraction for those clear memories of Cushing's performance as a different voice comes out of his face. If you look at photos of Henry you will find a close resemblance to Cushing that you have to wonder why the filmmakers use CGI instead of prosthetics to create an image of Cushing and avoiding unnecessary confusion.

BBC SPOTY 2016: Shortlist rundown

This Sunday BBC sports personality of 2016 will be revealed. There are 16 candidates. I have split then into 3 groups.


Not a chance of winning

Sophie Christasen
Kadeena Cox


Won't win but may come second or third

Nick Skelton
Danny Willett
Dame Sarah Storey
Nicola Adams
Kate Richardson-Walsh
Max Whitlock
Adam Peaty
Alistair Brownlee


The out and out favourites

Jason Kenny
Laura Kenny
Jaime Vardy
Gareth Bale
Mo Farah
Andy Murray

Xmas Day 2016 telly

When most of us are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ some people are stuck indoors watching televison, here is a brief run down on what is on.


BBC1

The first part of a 2 part  Great British Bakeoff send off precedes a somewhat rigid schedule of Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Call the Midwife and Mrs Brown's Boys. The most interesting is Doctor Who's take on the superhero genre.


BBC2

There is a screening the Oscar winning The Artist. A Xmas edition of University Challenge and there is repeats for Dad's Army and Blackadder's Christmas Carol. Speaking of Rowan Atkinson.


ITV

Filling the Downton Abbey shaped hole in it's schedule is Rowan Atkinson second outing as French detective Maigret. Other than that Coronation Street and Emmerdale are separated by Paul O'Grady's For the Love of Dogs.


Channel 4

A couple of festive films get seasonal outings. It's a Wonderful Life and Home Alone


Channel 5

On this channel a couple of musicals. The Wizard of Oz and Singing in the Rain.

Weather Men, the golden generation

Today the death of Ian MacSkill has been announced, Macskill was one of a quartet of weather forecasters who left a huge impact the national psyche. Michael Fish who was right to refute a women who had phoned to say that a hurricane was coming the UK's way, the only problem was that the winds that did come were of near hurricane levels. John Kettley who became immortalised by the band A Tribe of Toffs with the song John Kettley is a Weatherman. Bill Giles was seen as so reliable he ended up selling retirement insurance. MacSkill himself was always enthuisnatic despite how horrible the weather was. The four of them achieved a level of fame that their predecessors and successors never achieved.

Radio Review: Thunderball

BBC Radio 4, drama

Starring Toby Stephens, Alfred Molina, Tom Conti, Janet Montgomery


The latest of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels to be brought to radio under the direction of Martin Jarvis who in the guise of Fleming himself narrates the action. Those who know Thunderball just through the film version may be disappointed that the embellishments that came with it, such as the femme fatale character of Fiona Volpe are gone as this is faithful to the novel. Toby Stephens as Bond shows us the the many facets of the character such as his determination to get one up on the enemy in whatever that may be, charming the ladies and despairing over M's obsession with his health. Alfred Molina as Blofled and Tom Conti as Largo mark for a pair of the most hissable villains as they plot nuclear blackmail. Janet Montgomery as Domino who despite speaking in a cut glass English accent is Italian makes for a tender love interest. The action is brought vividley to life through the combination of Jarvis as Fleming narration, Stephens conveying Bond thoughts and the use of sound effects. It is curious to think that Stephens as the bad guy Gustav Graves who modelled himself on Bond in Die Another Day has now become the definitive radio Bond.

Thunderball can heard on I-player until 10 January 2017

Greg Lake for Xmas no 1

It used to be the case that the United Kingdom was on the edge of it's seat about who would have the no 1 single at Xmas. However in recent years with the co-ordinated efforts of Simon Cowell , X Factor winners have dominated the past decade. There have been exceptions. A couple of choirs guided by Gareth Malone, a charity single for the Hillsbrough legal fight and Rage Against the Machine topping the charts with the seasonal Killing in the Name. For this year I would like to see I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake to be re released for many reason, first and foremost all proceeds should  go to cancer charities because of the disease he died of, as a reminder of his talents and lastly it would good to have a Xmas no 1 that was about again.

DVD Review: Game of Thrones - Season 6 (2016)

TV Drama

Starring Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Heady


This is the season that marks the point where the TV show has over taken George R R Martin's  original source material, A Song of Fire and Ice series of novels. So both readers and non-readers have no idea of what is coming next and that helps the show with it's progression towards the end game as the producers have said that there are just 2 more seasons. Each episode rattles along with no fat to weigh it down as they all have moments that have an impact on the overall storyline. In the North Jon and Sansa try to make alliances in order to drive out the ruthless Boltons out of Winterfell, King's Landing sees various factions plotting to gain power, Dany and Tyrion having to deal with the slavers and Arya contuing her assassin training. As the season progress an number of long standing characters are killed off, some deserve it and some who don't. Episode 9 Battle of the Bastards not only features the engagement at Winterfell that the title refers but also the slavers attack that is repelled by Dragon, this makes one of the most thrilling pieces of television ever made. Special mention must go out to 2 actors who both make  a big impression in very few episodes, Max Von Sydow brings gravitas to the role of the mystic Three Eyed and in just 1 episode Ian McShane makes a big impression as a warrior turned holy man. The extras include a look at the filming of the Battle of the Bastard that includes the fact that the shot where Jon Snow facing off a 40 strong Calvary charge was done for real. You are left with much antictpation for the final 2 seasons.

Career trashing moments

There are times when celebrities have done their careers a lot of harm by doing something really stupid. Here are a couple of those.


Hughie Green

From when ITV started in the 1950s, Green was a behemoth of a figure hosting numerous shows. The mos famous of these was  the talent show Opportunity Knocks which gave big breaks to the likes of Les Dawson, Pam Ayres, Tom O'Connor, Little & Large and Lena Zavroni to name a few. But behind the scenes Green was making enemies with his behaviour. Things came to head in 1978 when Green used Opportunity Knocks as a vehicle for him to air his right wing political views. Despite Opportunity Knocks popularity it was axed and Green suffered exile from British TV screens save for the odd chat show appearance. Green hit the news after his death in in 1997 when it was revealed he was the biological Father of Paula Yates


Kenny Everett

Everett made his name on the pirate radio station Radio London and was one of the group of DJs who worked for BBC Radio One that included Terry Wogan, John Peel and Tony Blackburn.. In what would be one of many occasions Everett would have with the powers that be he was sacked after making comments about the then Transport Ministers wife paying a bribe to pass her driving test.  In 1978 Everett made the move to TV with the Kenny Everett Video Show which saw him bring the characters that he played on his radio show like Sid Snot along guest appearances by the likes of Kate Bush, Freddide Mercurary, Rod Stewart and Cliff Richard. Just before the 1983 General Election Everett appeared at a Young Conservatives even where he enthused the crowd by saying Russia should be bombed and that then Labour Leaders Michael Foot's walking stick should be kicked away from. him. Everett's anti establishment reputation was in tatter. This led to a very tense interview with Sinead O'Connoer on Irish TV. Before his death in 1995 Everett focused mainly on his radio career.

True crime, purposeful or exploitation?

This week both BBC and ITV are screening dramas about notorious murderers. The BBC are showing Rillington Place about John Christie whose crimes led to one man Timothy Evans being wrongly hanged for Christie's crimes. While ITV are showing In Plain Sight about notorious Scottish killer Peter Manuel. There has been a long history of the public being fascinated with horrible crimes. Do programmes like the ones above just feed that hunger or serve a greater purpose? The Christie crimes were already the subject of a film 10 Rillington Place starring Richard Attenbourgh and John Hurt as Christie and Evans, the film was based on a book by Ludovic Kennedy who wrote it as a anti death penalty piece in response to a Conservative MP's trying to pass a bill to bring back the death penalty. The death penalty in the UK is still no longer used because of such miscarriages such as those that happened to Timothy Evans. Drama about real crimes continue to be a staple of the TV schedules. whether their withstand the charge of exploitation may be depend  on what the programme is seeking to do.

Suggestions for songs for the X Factor winner(s)

It is that time of year where the winning act make their assault on the Xmas charts. Here are some out of the box suggestions.


Big Log by Robert Plant

If we must have a ballad then lets have one by one of the giants of popular music


Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung

Up tempo number by British duo who are more well known in the US than their home country.


Street of Dreams by Rainbow

A piece of Rock Pop by Ritchie Blackmore's outfit


Heat of the Moment by Asia

Band made up of Prog Rock legends went for a more pop direction and found massive success in the US

The power of Fawlty Towers

The sad news of the death of Andrew Sachs brought much fulsome and deserved tributes to the actor. Sachs as Manuel  was one of the many components that made Fawlty Towers the classic that it is. Manuel with his eager to please approach and happy go lucky attitude to life gave us someone to root for. Ballard Berkly as the Major gave us one of the most delightful  eccentrics in UK sit com history, a buffoon he may be but he was a lovable buffoon. The plots may resemble those of standard British farces but their focus of British attitudes to class. foreigners etc. Prunella Scales as Sybil with her laugh and business sense tying to make the best of the hotel despite Basil's penny pinching. And then of course John Clesse, as co-writer with then wife Connie Booth came up with many memorable situations in which he as Basil showed both verbal comic skills in his dealings with other people like the many poor guest who suffer his ire and physical ones such famous scenes like the one where hits the broken down car with a tree branch while giving it a verbal reproach, Cleese recently revisited it for a commercial for an optician chain. To Andrew Sachs we give many thanks for bringing such joy to us.

BBC Sports Personality 2016

This years list of candidates for the prize of BBC Sports Personality has been revealed. I will go in to it in more detail closer to the event but I can say that the majority of the 16 strong field are gold medallists from both this years Olympics and Paralympics. However as it is all awards there debate about who is not on the list, Chris Froome who won his thrid Tour de France, Alistair Cook the Circket  who made a number of Test scoring records this year and no member of the England Rugby Union Grand Slam . As for who will win? Again I will leave that closer to the event to talk about but given it is a phone in vote surprises can happen. Jensen Button announcing his retirement last week brings to mind one such example,  at the start of 2009 Button at one point found himself without a team however a last minute buy out of his  previous helped to give a drive for the season and from then on he went on to win the F1 Drivers World Championship. Most times this would give Button the SPOTY prize but thanks to bloc voting from Manchester United fans Ryan Gggs won for a  average season in which they only The Premier League title.

Things you can find on Youtube: Part 3

A March 1992 edition of Points of View presented by Anne Robinson. A large number being about the treatment of Salman Rushdie during an interview. The interview and programme where this happened? Not Jeremy Paxman or Kristy Wark on Newsnight but Gloria Hunnerford on a stand in stint on Wogan. The clip shows Hunnerford accusing the author of mistreating Islam through the publication of The Satanic Verses. With viewers complaining that Hunnerford being no better than Iranian Government.

Jamie Oliver why do people hate him?

The office I used to work was run like a personal fiefdom by the management. However there came an attempt by higher management to bring in a much uniformed system with local offices no longer doing their own thing now having to work in unison with each other. To get everyone in the office to understand what was happening a video was shown called Accepting Change, an edited highlights package of Jamie Oliver's school food programme. Did people accept change? In short NO!!! Now ever since Mr Oliver appeared on the scene I can not stand him for many reasons these include.

His self-righteous zealot like social crusades. It is is one thing to try promote healthy eating but it is an other to ram it down people's throats.

The whole Mockney geezer routine.. Enough to set your teeth on edge./

His adverts for a supermarket chain which are usually sound tracked to a one album wonder.

TV review: Walliams and Friend

9:30 pm. Friday BBC!

David Wallims will always be know for his partnership with Matt Lucas, their most famous creation being Little Britain. For his new programme Walliams has decided to have a different partner each week for his new programme, hence the friend in the title. The first to take on this title was Jack Whitehall. Like Little Britain it takes a look at the many strands of British society plus there is also a rather risque take on Sherlock. the show is bit of a hit and miss affair. The 2 best sketches bookend the show The first being a mickey take on dating shows like Take Me Out with Walliams as the host and Whitehall as the constant who after giving a series of very tame answers goes for full blown smut. The another will be of particular delight to those who abhor Jeremy Kyle, Waillims plays the contesrvial host while Whitehall plays an upper middle class son who complains to his parents after they go on a skiing holiday, this leads to an number of revelations.  Overall it could have been worse yet it could have better, plus you are left wondering what it would be like with Lucas appearing.

Calling Dr Kermode

There is an ongoing campaign to get Mark Kermode to be installed as the host of the BBC Film programme. Ever since Jonathan Ross left the programme and was replaced by the pairing of Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh. Audiences complain that there is too extraneous chat that gets in the way of the point of the programme which is to talk about films. This has increased since Zoe Ball took over. Kermode has for a long time declared that he has no interest in taking over. One wonder was to pair him with another for Siskel and Ebert style format would interest him?

Top 5 most righteous kills on Game of Thrones

Every now and again a baddie gets what is coming to them. Obviously given the tiltle of the list there will be

SPOILERS




1. Ramsay Bolton 

This violence for pleasure psycho got his just desserts after the Battle of the Bastards. First Jon Snow unleashed a series of blows to his face. And for the coup de grace he is then fed to his own starving dogs by one time bride Sansa.


2. Joffrey

Most people would have put the moment when the spooled, product of incest was poisoned on his wedding day at the top of this list. Why not? Given the poor hell his uncle Tyrion goes through as he is accused of being behind his death, then for reasons for being more cathartic Ramsay's is top of this list.


3. Walder Frey

The head of the Frey clan was always a loathsome character when he first appeared. But he garnered new levels of hatred for his part in the Red Wedding. When he lusts over the serving game he does not that payback is coming for him when it turns the serving girl is Arya Strark in disguise and reveals she had been serving his sons cooked in a pie before slashing his thoart.


4. Meryn Trant

The Kingsguard thug met his end when he decided to indulge in his paedophile tastes in a brothel. Again it is Arya using her disguise skills to gain payback for her dancing master.


5. Roose Bolton

What happens when you raise your son to be a psychopathic, backstabbing loon? Yes that's he kills you. Karma provides Roose Bolton one final lesson in response for his part in the Red Wedding.

National Lottery exiled

A piece of news emerged in the last few days that a decade ago would have caused much fury in the press but has caused barely a ripple now. Camelot the organisation that runs the UK National Lottery has agreed a new with the BBC to cover the Saturday night draw, but here comes the part that will raise an eyebrow. The draw will no longer go out on it's traditional Saturday night slot on BBC1 but on the online I-player service. The story is apparently Camelot could not find any one to bid for the draw so they had to go to the BBC as they had first refusal as current rights holder so they paid a bare minimum price and to go the I-player route. To say this marks a bit of a change is the understatement of the year. When it was lunched in 1994 the National Lottery became an obsession with the country with winners of jackpots becoming subject of much media scrutiny. The TV programmes that were broadcast were ratings winners, originally they highlighted were the money was going such as restoring museums, park maintenance etc. But then the National Lottery name became a name to hang an number of game shows on to, the 2 best known examples being Winning Lines originally hosted by Simon Mayo and then later by Phillip Scholfield and Jet Set with Eammon Holmes. But ratings have declined and programmes have dropped out on the BBC1 top 30. Why has this situation came about? Well the market became so overloaded with so much completion with some endorsed by Camelot themselves that the general public has probably lost interest in watching it live and are just catching it up via other mean hence the BBC's I-player decision. This just goes to show if you overload the public with something they give up on it.

People I avoid on TV

A list of people I avoid watching on TV


Frankie Boyle

Not many people can make you feel sorry for Katie (Jordan) Price, he did so with remarkable ease.


Leigh Francis

Or to be more precise Keith Lemon. Why people find his frankly creepy and juvenile act funny is beyond me.


Michael McIntyre

His over hyper active act is enough to to make you wish you were at the dentist having root canal

Game, Set and Match. BBC

It has been announced that the BBC has agreed a deal with the All England Club to extend exclusive coverage of the Wimbledon Championships until 2024. It is a rare bright spot for the BBC's sport department in the face of an ever decline portfolio. It is now nearly 10 years since Grandstand came to an end because of a lack of sports even though the London Olympics were on the horizon. The All England Club is one of the few sporting bodies that values the BBC name in covering it's event, the organisers of both the Grand National and Royal Ascot horse racing meetings were not reportedly not happy when as part of a blanket deal involving the whole sport they found that they would be covered by Channel 4. How ever they have cases of events leaving the BBC only. As I have written about before (The Perils of Going Commercial) The Boat Race switched to ITV only to be dropped when the station decided to plough most of it's money in gaining Football rights and the event went back to the BBC who paid less money than ITV did when they brought the rights.

Best of: Bergerac

John Nettles is Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac in the the show that boosted tourism in Jersey to it's highest levels, Here are the 10 best episodes


1. A Man of Sorrows

An episode that actually takes place mostly in London and one of two episodes in series 7 to explore the greed is good mentality of the 1980's. Jim finds corruption in the highest of places. George Baker plays a menacing crook, in complete contrast to his most famous role as Policeman Reg Wexford which he had just started to play.

2. See You in Moscow

The Cold War comes to Jersey as a civil servant is persuaded by her KGB lover to go there to defect. Features an atmospheric conclusion at the German Underground Hospital. Watch out for a pre Buffy the Vampire slayer Anthony Head as the civil servants assistant.

3. Diplomatic Incident

What should have been the true end of the show, you will note no episodes from series 9 make the list. Jim finds himself called back to Jersey to protect a Swedish diplomat (played by Julian Glover) before vital talks. As is the case nothing goes to plan.

4. S.PA.R.T.A

The best episode for Lisa Goddard's Philipa Vale. The Ice Maiden finds herself on the wrong side of a group of ultra right wing thugs, but does not know why and so turns to Jim for help, The episode ends in an all action conclusion.

5, Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie

A journalist with a grudge against Charlie Hungerford returns to Jersey to thwart his political ambitions. But ends up dead when he comes across an another story involving a group of soldiers of fortune.

6. The Last Interview

A TV reporter (Barry Foster) moves to Jersey to get away from his past but finds it coming back in the form of an interview he did with a Mafia Don turned Supergrass. The Debut episode of Louise Jameson as Susan.

7. Burnt

The second series 7 critique of 80's greed is good. Jim finds himself assigned to a task force tracking the dealings of an insider trader trying to get away with his ill gotten gains. The tile comes to have more than one meaning.

8. Holiday Snaps

A Jersey woman is brutally murdered on a campsite in France and her Husband comes under suspicion. The episode prefigures the more psychological focused likes of Prime Suspect, Cracker, Luther etc.

9. Late for a Funeral

When the body of a scuba diver is found next to the wreck of a Luftwaffe plane, various parties come looking for the Nazi loot it may have been carrying.

10. The Other Woman

Susan finds herself as a suspect when the body of a writer turns up dead. Evidence then turns up to suggest that the murdered man and Susan had been having an affair.

Rules for watching Tipping Point

1. Laugh at the player who passes to a rival only for them to make a huge gain of money

2. Shake your hand as a leader in the second round puts themselves at risk by either passing or getting questions wrong

3. Look on  in disbelief as a player foregoes the prize money they have accrued to have 3 further tries only to lose out

4. Laugh as the really annoying player is knocked out with a measly sum.

Attenbourgh conquers Cowell

In the latest BARB ratings that have come out today and David Attenbourgh's new documentary Planet Earth II was seen by over 12 million viewers and thereby making it the most watched TV programme of the week. The most striking thing is that Planet Earth II was up against the results show of The X Factor in it's time slot. To add to Simon Cowell's woes it was beaten by Countryfile, a programme that was once considered niche lunchtime viewing. It is interesting to think that if you told someone that a baking contest would become a national talking point, Countryfile would become a primetime mainstay and that an Attenbourgh documentary would beat The X Factor. And people once said television was dumbing down.

Alan Partridge vs Noel Edmonds

In his autobiography Norwich's famous son takes issue with the host of Noel's House Party accusing him of trying to pile his wife with drink. This has led to a hostile rivalary between the 2 (though to be fair to Edmonds it could be doubted if he knows about it) through the years. Though the one thing both men is that they do not take criticism very lightly as though they talked to the camera on both of their shows in the mid 1990's accusing newspaper critics of being snobs, never the twain?

P.S. Yes I know Alan Partridge is really Steve Coogan but I thought I do this for fun

Book Review: Night School by Lee Child

Night School is the latest entry in the Jack Reacher series that takes a look back at Reacher's days as a US Army MP. The novel takes place during 1996 and sees Reacher being assigned to an inter-agency operation under the cover of going to a night school (hence the title) which is focused on a group of Hamburg based Middle Eastern Men among whose number is a undercover CIA agent. The reason for the concern is that the group will be involved in the payment of 100 million dollars to an American citizen. As is to be expected it is Reacher is the one who takes the lead on the operation as he uses his deductive skills to identify the mysterious American and what it is that is worth them getting a very large sum of money. An another fixture of the Reacher novels is when our hero is outnumbered by a large number of bad guys and we get his thought process as he figures how to be the last one standing. Reacher also has a fling with a US government official just to offset the bone breaking violence. Child gives us a flavour of Hamburg  in the years of after German reunification and a sub plot involving neo-nazis. On the back of the book an number of bestselling authors give their tribute to Reacher, perhaps the most relevant to this book is Frederick Forsyth as it contains international intrigue that would not be out of placed in one of his novels. Night School keeps up the hit rate of the Jack Reacher series and is essential reading for all Reacher fans.

You in the Jungle, Should I know you?

As I have written before I'm a Celebrity Get Me out of Here starts at the weekend. I go through the list goining in and seeing if they merit the Celebrity.

Lisa Snowden

Perhaps best known for going out George Clooney.  Star factor 5/10

Sam Quek

Member of Team GB's Olympic Ladies Hockey Gold medal winning team, a high achievement, Star factor 8/10

Joel Dormett

WHO!!!!!! Star factor 0/10

Jordan Banjo

WHO AGAIN!!!!!! Star factor 0/10

Carol Voderman

TV Legend Star Factor 10/10

Adam Thomas

WHO!!! 3.0 Star factor 0/10

Ola Jordan

Ex Strictly Dancer. Star factor 6/10

Wayne Bridge

Footballer with infamous personal life. Star factor 6/10

Scarlett Moffatt

And now a lady who elicits the response WHO!!! Star factor 0/10

Larry Lamb

Actor who appeared in Eastenders and 2 Superman.films. Star factor 9/10

DVD Review: The Last Kingdom - Series one (2015)

TV Drama

Starring Alexander Dreymon, Ian Hart, Emily Cox

On the first disc of the 3 disc collection of the first series is a promo for Downton Abbey, the only thing that connects the 2 shows is that they are both made the same production company Carnival Films. The Last Kingdom is a full blooded adaptation of a series of  novels by Bernard Cornwell who is best known as the author of the Sharpe novels which of course were also made into a TV show starring Sean Bean. This show is set in England 872 AD as the Saxon and the Danes fight each other for control. The main focus is Utherd (Alexander Dreymon) a Saxon by birth but raised as a Dane after his Father is killed in battle. We follow Utherd in his quest to regain his birthright and that just happens to take in  the rise of Alfred (David Dawson) the Great. This is not a programme for the faint hearted because it does not shy away from showing either sex and violence in full detail. Some may complain that this is just Game of Thrones without the Dragons but they should remember that George R R Martin uses historical events as the basis for his tome.. The stand out character is Father Beocca as played by Ian Hart, a Man of God with a tongue that is as cutting as any sword as shown in the final episode with his words to a Dane warlord before and during battle. The Last Kingdom is a heady brew of combat, intrigue and romance that will keep fans satisfied until the next series which is due next year.

Ant and Dec: masters of the unoriginal

The annual fest of watching people you will have heard of, may have heard of or have no idea who they are eating animal parts in a jungle island starts on Sunday. Yes I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here is back and is presided over as ever by Ant & Dec. It is curious to think how they career path has taken them. On the back of the popularity of their roles in Byker Gove they lunched a pop career under their character names of PJ & Duncan gaining some modest hits with Let's Get Ready to Rhumble and a cover of The Monkee's Stepping Stone, the pair even managed to receive a Brit nomination for Best Newcomer but were beaten by Oasis to the disquiet of their fans. On TV however the pair bounced around the stations doing different projects with varying degrees of until 1998 they with Cat Deeley would present 2 programmes back to back on Saturday mornings, SM:TV and CD:UK. Both programmes were massive successes but the fact is that pair of them drew heavily on previous programmes, SM:TV owed it's anarchic nature to Tiswas while CD:UK borrowed heavily from early 1980's Top of the Pop and you can see this every week on BBC4. After 3 years the pair left for other and left the Saturday morning kids show to die for good. The pair next popped on Pop Idol where Simon Cowell first displayed his nasty man act though he was not the first as Tony Hatch was even more brutal on 1970's talent show, the 3 obviously liked worked together as they would work on Britain's Got Talent. The pair then launched Saturday Night Takeaway a show which played heavily on the Noel Edmonds Trinity of Late, Late Breakfast Show, Saturday Roadshow and House Party and has been running for years. I'm a Celeb was launched quietly in the summer of  2002 and became a instant hit, however you can see elements of Survivor the US hit that flopped badly when ITV tried to launch on British shores. But the pair have had flops,  there was Slap Bang which was an early evening version of SM:TV, the forgotten pair of  Pokerface and Push the Button. Then came their third outing with Cowell, Red or Black? which saw players trying to pick out challenges in an manner reminiscent of charity game show You Bet, only the Red or Black? players were playing for one million pounds for themselves but the show flopped badly. The next time you see anything that celebrates the Geordie pair ponder on the originality of their ideas  

BBC2 stagnation?

This week's BBC2 top 30  features just 13 programmes. 5 years ago in the corresponding week it was 17. It is now clear that  the strip and standard format of scheduling has been applied to BBC2. The main problem is that the channel that could offer a wide variety of programming from current affairs, culture programming, history documentaries etc has now been turned into a de facto lifestyle channel as evidenced by the likes of Great British Menu, Antiques Road Trip et al taking pride and place thus robbing the channel of it's distinctive edge and that is a great loss to the viewer.

Paxman on Donald vs Hilary

Jeremy Paxman developed a reputation for no nonsense interviewing during his 20+ years on Newsnight, racking up a series of interviews that took no pity on it's subject with the most famous being Michael Howard in his then role as Home Sectary. Since his retirement from Newsnight has made an number of programmes with the most recent being on the upcoming US Presidential Election. However to get the full blown Paxman  you have to look to look at 2 guest appearances, one on Channel 4 satire show The Last Leg and the another on famed Irish chat show The Late Late Show. The Last Leg takes in news of one Clinton's aides Husband had been caught texting an under age girl photos of his private part but both have Paxman declaring both candidates as the worst ever. In Paxman words "Trump is a monster" and "Clinton cannot articulate her vision". On the basis of this can we expect more unrestrained Paxman soon?

Awards furore

At last nights MOBO awards there was a bit of mix up concerning who won the prize of Best Song. WSTRN were announced as winners and gave an acceptance speech before it was announced MC Abra Cadabra was the actual winner. This is not the first time that an awards event got mired in contervestry. Here are a couple of other examples.


1999 Brit awards

When the award for Best British Newcomer was announced to say that when Belle & Sebastian emerged as winners caused a bit of a shock is to put it mildly. Pete Waterman producer of hot favourites Steps demanded a recount, it turned out that the B&S used a clever internet campaign among it's large student to drum up support for the public vote.


2005 British Comedy awards

Ant and Dec won the People's Choice Award. But the Geordie pair found themselves having to give back the award. So what happened well it turns out the fault lies with the man who presented the award,  Williams said he would appear at the awards as long he would give an award to his Geordie mates. However it turned out that the actual winner of the public vote was Tate. An investigation by a law firm could not find any evidence that suggested that the mix up was a result to guarantee Williams involvement.

Terry Christensen: EU Warrior

On this morning's The Wright Stuff hosted Richard Madely one of the topics discussed was of course the decision by the High Court that Parliament should vote on whether Article 50 should be triggered to exit the European Union. One of the panelists on the show was Terry Christensen who admitted to being a remain voter. First he had a verbal set too with fellow panelist Lowri Turner (a leave voter) over a newspaper article by left wing journalist Polly Toynbee in which she urged MPs to ignore their constituents and vote against the motion and then he told a succession of angry leave voting phone callers that this was what they had voted for, in the form of a soverigen Parliament. And to think that this is the man who in the 1990's presented The Word called by some one of the programmes in the history of UK TV, having stunts involving bodily fluids, inviting Oliver Reed onto the show knowing full well he would get drunk and the female lead singer of a band revealing her private parts during a performance. As said bit of a turn around for Terry.

US TV hits that never took off in the UK

There has been a history of American TV hits (Dallas. CSI, 24, NCIS etc) replicating their success on British shores but there are some examples those only gaining a small and modest cult following in this country. Here are some examples.


Criminal Minds

This rather formulaic crime show which follows a FBI unit tracking serial killers has been a long running ratings hit in the US but when Channel 5 showed  the first season but nobody watched. The show goes out barely noticed on Sky Living.


Grey's Anatomy

In the US this is a show occupies a lot of news print. However when C5 tried to pair this with House they found that the fans of Hugh Laurie's cynical character switched over rather than stick with the much more soapy drama that followed. The show suffered the same fate as Criminal Minds


The Practice

A long running legal drama that in it's run twice won the Best Drama Series Emmy. However numerous UK stations ran the show without much success.

DVD commentaries to listen to: part 1

John Cleese on Fawlty Towers - Multi episodes

Cleese is  a mine of information when he watches his and then wife's Connie Booth classic sit-com. The name of Stubbs the good builder in The Builders episode comes from Una Stubbs Father who himself was a builder and gave them information for the episode. Prunella Scales was somewhat apperhesive when ever she had a scene where Sybil ever hit some one and some what pulled her punches. Clesse is full of praise for the various guest stars the show had, one example being Bernard Cribbens in The Hotel Inspector as Cleese salutes his comic timing. A commentary on the one of the great sit-com that is worthy of the programme it accompanies.

Colour clash

A bit of trouble has erupted over next week's World Cup qualifier between England and Scotland. FIFA has told the SFA that the Scottish team to play in the change strip of Pink. The reason for this is that the regular Scotland kit is mainly Dark Blue with White sleeves. FIFA have decided just on the basis of the sleeves alone there would be too much of a clash with the regular England kit of all White hence the change. Expect some gnashing of teeth in the Scottish press.

Remembering Ghostwatch

It is Halloween today and the ghoulies will be out in force tonight, so it is time to recall the last time that UK TV tried go for the full blooded experience. In 1992 BBC1 unleashed Ghostwatch  on the viewing public promising viewers an investigation into a haunted house with hosts Michael Parkinson, Mike Smith, Sarah Greene and Craig Charles, however the more media astute were more than aware that Ghostwatch was nothing more than a piece of fiction. Ghostwatch was going out under the Screen One banner, Screen One was at the time BBC1's single drama strand. Over the years it had shown films like Alive and Kicking a harrowing tale of addiction that starred Lenny Henry and Robbie Coltrane, A Very Polish Practice which saw Peter Davison star in the sequel to A Very Peculiar Practice and A Foreign Field starring Alec Guinness, Leo McKern and Lauren Bacall in the story of D-Day veterans going back to Normandy. To understand how Ghostwatch became a cause celebre you have to understand a few things, every other Screen One production was shot on film where as Ghostwatch was made as a standard TV production, ITV was showing Wall Street on at the same so an amount of people will have missed the announcement at the start that tried to infer Ghostwatch was not what it seemed to be and the use of professional actors to play members of the public. However after the scares started the hotline whose number posted became deluged with calls and a lot of people missing the message telling them it was piece of fiction they had been watching. And at the end of night people thought Michael Parkinson had become possessed by a ghost and Sarah Greene had been eaten by cats. Such was the fury caused by Ghostwatch it has never been repeated on UK TV, although you can get it on DVD. Ghostwatch has lived on many other ways, you can see it's influence on films like Paranormal Activity and perhaps that just shows it became a long lasting phemeon

The dangers of spy photos

In the last few days a series of spy photos of filming of the seventh season of Game of Thrones have been unleashed on the web. This has of course unleashed huge amounts of speculation especially given the presence of 2 actors in costume, given that these characters have neither met in the books or the TV show this led to tongues wagging. For the sixth season the same issue arose when pictures surfaced of what would become known as the Battle of the Bastards. Now this not a new problem for producers but given the rise of websites such as Digital Spy it is somewhat tougher to keep plot developments as a surprise. As for Game of Thrones we will just wait for next year as to see how what was photographed plays out.

Mel and Sue do the inevitable

To the great surprise of no one Mel and Sue have signed a deal with the BBC. The pair will present Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief next year. As you can guess from the title it will feature celebs performing song and dance routines.

Trouble at ITN?

After 30 years with ITN Mark Austin has announced that he is quitting. The reason? Apparently there has been a bit of an ego clash with fellow presenter Tom Bradby. Bradby has recently taken over Austin's role as News at Ten anchor. Not taking this lying down Austin bagged an exclusive interview with Prince William. But according to some this was edited down as per Bradby's request. And now Austin has gone, though Bradby will now have to deal with the equally competitive Robert Peston. What of the programme itself? Ever since ITV moved it's evening news slot from it's regular 10 o'clock slot in 1999 just to show films with out having to interrupt films, there have been numerous changes brought about scheduling. And to make matters worse BBC1 pitched up in the 10pm slot themselves and now have a healthily lead over their rival. ITV is rumoured to be lunching an entertainment news programme in the slot, though the history of shows that are based on the likes of the US's Entertainment Tonight in the UK are not very, who remembers BBC1's Entertainment Express with Selina Scott for example? ITN may find itself having to weather even more changes.

The staying power of Hollyoaks

This week sees Hollyoaks overtake Brookside as Channel 4 longest running soap which is quite remarkable when you take into account some things. The first is that apart from a brief period in 2001 Hollyoaks was always in the ratings shadow of it's older stable mate, it never had anything to match the water cooler storylines like the body under the patio. It was looked down by the critics who praised the more gritty and realistic Brookside especialy as it had given the start of the careers of 2 of the most lionised writers currently working in British television Paul Abbot and Jimmy McGovern. While Hollyoaks has been more than happy to trade on the good looks of it's cast as seen in the calenders which feature them just wearing underwear. Yet the 2 show would see differing fortunes. Brookside suffered a steep decline in popularity that saw it go from having 3 episodes a week to just 1 and in it's last few months a late night slot that saw swearing and violence in the storyline revolving around drug dealer Jack Michaelson, a character seen as a barbed reference to former C4 head man Michael Jackson seen by the producers as having run down the show in preference to property porn shows like Location, Location, Location and it ended in 2003 without any fanfare. It is worth remembering that Hollyoaks is the last UK wide purpose made soap to have lasted more than 10 years since Eastenders began in 1985. In 2014 at the British Soap Award it won the title of Best British Soap breaking the duopoly of the prize that had been held by Coronation Street and Eastenders since the awards had started in 1999. Though Hollyoaks does feature in the upper echelons of C4 ratings nowadays, the first look episode that airs on E4 after the previous episode has been shown on C4 always rates highly of the digital channels top 30. It is curious to think that a show as highly derided as Hollyoaks should outlast one as much praised as Brookside.

Sign of the times

One of the most recognisable sights in the UK has been moved. The New Scotland Yard sign has been moved to a new home. The sign became linked with the building in the public eye through news reports, films, TV dramas etc. And now it has a new home.

Channel 4 shows that are not on All 4

There are some shows that are not available on the All 4 service. Here are 3 examples.


Man to Man with Dean Learner

This follow up to Garth Marenghi's Darkplace sees Richard Ayoade reprise the role of the dubious enterpuer as each week he interviews one of his clients (always played by Matt Holness) and plug their latest venture. Darkplace is on All 4, so why this show is absent is baffling.


Who Dares Wins

The station first effort at a sketch show. Cast members include Tony Robinson who was doing this show in between playing Bladrick and Rory McGrath who later on They Think it's all Over would put on a blindfold in the hope he would get to touch a fit young lady.


Armstrong and Miller

Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller did 3 series for Channel 4. Yet there is only a compilation of the third series on All 4. This means we have go to Youtube to find classics like Force on the Case, the story of maverick bookshop owning cop Jack Force and his train driver friend Chuffy.

Changing faces on panel shows

A new series of QI starts with Sandi Toksvig taking over as host from Stephen Fry. This brings to mind the many other times there have been changes in personnel on other such shows. Here are some examples.

Call My Bluff

This classic show was revived in 1995 with Bob Holness as host with Alan Coren and (none other than) Sandi Toksvig as team captains. In 2003 Holness was replaced by Fiona Bruce and Toksvig made way for outspoken journalist Rod Liddle. Audiences did not respond well to the changes and the show was axed soon after

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

In 18 years Phil Jupitus was the one constant feature on the show that saw many changes of host and rival team captains.

A Question of Sport 

4 hosts and 14 team captains prove testament to the (nearly 40 years) long running show that many people tend to look down their noises at.

They Think it's All Over

The irrelevant sports quiz started with Nick Hancock as host and David Gower and Gary Lineker and finished after 11 years with Lee Mack, Boris Becker and Ian Wright filling those roles.

More GBBO fallout

In the latest twist concerning the move of Great British Bake Off to Channel 4, the director of TV at ITV Kevin Lygo has said the station did not make it's own bid for the show as the on screen talent were not signed up with the package. As Paul Hollywood is the only one making the move, you have to wonder what was going through the heads of Love Productions chiefs when they signed the deal with C4 without checking if the stars would going with it too.

Best of: Porridge

Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale and Fulton MacKay star in Dick Clement and Ian La Frennis classic sit-com, here are the 5 best episodes


1: No Peace for the Wicked

Ever have one of those days where you want to spend the day by yourself only for the whole world to turn up, Fletch has one only this time it is x100


2: The Harder they Fall

Fletch finds himself drawn into Harry Grout's Boxing match fixing schemes and it may mean he has to dash Godber's hopes.


3: A Storm in A Teacup

When unknown to him a tube of pills falls into his mug of tea, Fletch has to find more pills for Grout or face his ire.


4: A Test of Character

When Fletch tries to help Godbar pass his History exam in his own unique way. He is surprised to find his help rebuffed.


5: Disturbing the Peace

With Mackay gone on a training course, Fletch and his fellow inmates think that they will be in for a easy time of it. That is until a face from Fletch's past turns up.

End of the road for Noel Edmonds?

This week sees the start of the final series of Deal Or No Deal on Channel 4, the station say it is working on other projects with host Noel Edmonds. It is worth remebering that this is the show that brought back into the limelight a  man who has both a large number of  both fans and detcetors.
For 17 years between 1982 and 1999 Edmonds had a prescene on the BBC1 Saturday evening schedule. Moving from presenting kids show Saturday Swapshop he started with The Late Late Breakfast Show, a mix of music star interviews (Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and in what would be their last interview together ABBA) and audience particption. The show started off with weak ratings and changes were made for the next one with the main one being John Peel being dropped as co-host in favour of the much more youthful Mike Smith. The ratings then improved massively but there was problem with one of the regular slots, Give it a Whirl saw members of the public take part in stunts such as going down on a zip wire from a very tall height, but over the years an number of particpents had suffered from serious injury this culminated in 1986 in the tragic death of Micheal Lush who in practice for a stunt that involed bungee jumping from a box fell to his death. With the blame put on cost cutting execs the show was axed at once. For 1987 Noel's usually weekday quiz show was moved to Saturday for 1 year. 1988 saw the start of Noel's Saturday Roadshow, in this format each edition came from a different location, though this tended to be a BBC TV centre with Edmonds being joined by a special guest as co-host, for one example in an edition that was supposdly to be coming from a space station Les Dennis took on the role of an spaceman the show proved to be a success it paved the way for Edmonds biggest show yet.
Making it's debut in 1991 Noel's House Party was for much of it's run was a ratings bemoath. The show run on a diet of pranks and gunging. The biggest impact the show had  was the creation of the pink known as Mr Blobby whose pouplarity was such it had a Xmas No 1. Such was the pouplarity of the show Edmonds tried to launch 2 theme parks, but they failed amid much legal problems. The show itself ended in 1999 amid decling ratings and strained relations between Edmonds and BBC top brass.
Edmonds was in Telly exile for 6 years when in 2005 he strated to present DOND for Channel 4. The pairing seemed unlikely when you rember that the station's Brass Eye made Edmonds look a bit of fool talking about the made up drug  CAKE and the part of the brain known as Shatner's Basson. But DOND proved to be a great sucess and Edmonds would present 2 shows for Sky Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old  and Noel's HQ which saw Edmonds rail against red tape in a manner reminsct of US firebrand Glen Beck, both shows did not last long. So as DOND ends what now for Edmonds. Given some recent eccentric behaviour such as making some rather distasteful remarks about cancer, it may be a very long time before he is ever in the limelight again.

Book Review: Vicious Circle by Wilbur Smith

I decided to clear out some books and give them to charity, the first book that went was Vicious Circle and I did so without a moment's thought because it is perhaps the worst novel I have ever read. To make it clear I liked the previous novel by Smith (Those in Peril) to which this is a follow up. However this is a novel which seems to ply in some of the most ludicrous characterisation you will ever find any where, the main bad guy is the son of a Nazi war criminal so you left in no doubt that he will turn out to be a bad one and he starts to sexually molest his young half sister pretty soon as we are introduced to him.  Once he is sent to prison he becomes a partner with (in more than one way) a large African-American crimelord and when the two of them break out of prison and commit numerous crimes including the feeding of the half sister and mother to crocodiles which is filmed and watched by the evil pair in their African hideout. Now the politically correct will probably find this offensive in so many ways however I find it so in the sole count it is clumsily constructed. The plot is resolved with an assault on the hideout with our hero serving the bad guy a taste of his own medicine. You do wonder if Smith made the villain so despicable as to justify the brutal violence that is dished out by both sides. Yes Smith in his previous novels tended to deal with absolute black and white situations, but not such in a ham fisted way. Smith is now co-writing his novels and you do have to wonder what was behind the move soon after the publication of his worst novel in his long career.

TV shows I have never watched a whole episode of


The Royale Family

With apologies to the late Caroline Aherne I could never get past those droning voices


Holby City

About the same time as Casualty went into full blown soap mode, along comes Holby City to make it even worse.


Downton Abbey

This may have been perhaps the most popular show worldwide in the last few years but I could not get bothered about some Lord and his household

The best TV show fan vids on Youtube

The following is a list of fan videos set to a pop song.


1: the would be relationship between Alex Drake and Gene Hunt in the first season of Ashes to Ashes is set to Bryan Ferry's Slave to Love with great effect though the pedantic will point out the song came in 1985 4 years after the events shown.

2: Chris Cornell's Bond theme You Know My Name makes it's first appearance on this list. Here it is used to soundtrack the events concerning Matthew McFadyen's character Tom Quinn in the first season of Spooks or as is it known in the US MI-5.

3: Swedish rock band The Ark song One of Us is Gonna Die Young is used to soundtrack Peter Davison's tenure as The Doctor in Doctor Who's early  1980's period.

4: The first of 2 videos that use a Bond theme to illustrate the adventures of Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes. Here it is Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die. Effective during the Reinbach Falls sequence. On  a side note Roger Moore himself played Holmes in a US TV movie

5: Philip Glenister's memorable performance as Gene Hunt makes it's second appearance on the as Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back is used to soundtrack's the characters would be amorous encounters in Life on Mars.

6:  And lastly in a case of doubles You Know My  Name plays out over scenes from Jeremy Brett's masterful performance as Arthur Conan Doyle consulting detective.

What happened to travel shows?

There are 2 kinds of travel shows that have been on UK tv. The travelogue which features the presenter going on a trip to a location and relate to the audience certain facts, opinions and anything that will interest the audience, this has featured the likes Jerome Flynn, Michael Palin, Joanna Lumley and Michael Portillo. Some of these have themes like Portillo's railway journeys. The other kind is that of the show that would feature reports, news and opinions, the 2 most famous examples being ITV's Wish You Were Here and BBC1's Holiday (whatever the year was) although there were others that came and went. ITV axed Wish You Were Here in 2003 in order to show Emmerdale from Monday to Friday at the same time while Holiday was axed for a similar reason in order to make way for The One Show in 2007. Some will point to the abundance of Travel Channels that have presenters talking about the latest offers but they do not feature reports. The problem I have with the current crop is that they tend to be more about the presenter than the location, with the old school you got more than a flavour and you felt you were there. Perhaps with travel being more affordable perhaps that is the reason for the decline

Best of : Doctor Who - the 6th Doctor

The best 5 stories from Colin Baker's brief but eventful run

1: Vengeance on Varos

Still relevant to this day the story that made Mary Whitehouse, Michael Grade and  Jonathan Powell take notice.


2: Attack of the Cybermen

Who cares wrote the script, this is in the high echelon of Cyber stories


3: Trial of a Timelord - Parts VI to VIII aka Mindwarp

Featuring Brian Blessed doing what he does best, roaring the scenery down. The powerful ending was undermined when John Nathan-Turner got cold feet ordered a retcon.


4: Mark of the Rani

Kate O'Mara makes her debut as the cunning Timelady in a tale that sees The Master try to derail the Industrial Revolution


5: Revelation of the Daleks

Unpleasant facts about what people are eating, Rock and Roll that is very powerful and Davros showing he can get around feature in a story that had it's last line cut due to it's first axing.

TV review: The Agency

Channel BBC2:  Time: 10:00pm Monday

Starring Morganna Robinson

A mock documentary set at a fictional talent agency, The Agency sees Morganna Robinson take on the identities of various celebrities and their daily routines. For example Eastenders star Natalie Cassidy takes her Dad to an audition with Morgan Freeman, only for him to talk over the Hollywood star during it. Robinson is certainly one of the best mimics to have emerged in the UK in the last 20 years, her Joanna Lumley is spot on as the one time Purdy in a break from her usual exotic travels makes a documentary at a Premium Inn and at the entertains fellow guests and staff.   Robinson does not limit herself to her own gender, for one example she does Danny Dyer. the star of various critically derided gets news that he has won Rear of the Year much to his delight and prepares it for the ceremony only for his agent to tell him he has won the Bellend of the Year yet he is still delighted and that is Robinson's great skill in making you believe the real Dyer would behave in such a manner. One wishes that Morganna Robinson was given a much higher profile vehicle but I guess we have to make do with The Agency.

Channel 4 on the move?

With all the talk of The Great British Bake Off moving to Channel 4 another move involving the station has some what been ignored. That is the station itself is moving it's headquarters from London to Birmingham. This is not quite in the same league as the BBC's  moving a large number of departments to Salford as no programme has been made at C4 headquarters since the demise of Right to Reply in 2001. So what is behind the move? Some would suggest this is the price for the station has to pay avoid privatisation as suggested by former culture sectary John Whittingdale in view on the station's ever increasing commercial outlook. One final point, will will see the same stories in the press bemoaning the money spent on moving people as what happened with the BBC's Salford move?

Things you can find on Youtube, Part 2

TV junctions, these are the bits between programmes where either commercials or promos for programmes where shown. Remind your self of the days when Points of View was on Wednesday nights and was hosted by Anne Robinson when she had movement in her face.

What ever happened to education on TV?

The great statement of the purpose of mass media to educate, inform and entertain really needs to be looked at in these current times. Those of a certain age will recall the days of schools programmes being shown on both BBC1 and ITV but with the advent of daytime television in the UK they were shunted off to BBC2 and Channel 4 but they were silently dropped from both channels in the last few years. The days of the Open University on during weekend mornings are also long gone with students needed alerts to tell them when a programme linked to their course was on. And adult education programmes that for example taught forgien language are now gone. Some will say that in the age of the internet you can learn anything who needs to watch TV programmes but it is rather sad to see TV relinquish one of it's responsibilities in such a fashion.

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