The holiday is over

Wednesday's night episode of Benidorm will be it's last ever it has been announced. The ITV comedy about a group of tourists on the titular location has been running for over 10 years. Cast members have included Johnny Vegas, Steve Pemberton, John Challis and Sherrie Hewson. Benidorm will go down as one of ITV's few comedic high spots of the last few years.

Best of: Doctor Who - The Fifth Doctor

After Tom Baker's epic run starring on the show, Peter Davison took on the baton of the title role. Here are his 10 best stories

1. Kinda

Forget about the whole rubber snake that appears at the end, this is an engrossing tale of the fragility of the Human mind, Guest starring Nerys Hughes, Simon Rouse and British cinema legend Richard Todd.

2. Enlightenment

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough find themselves in a sailing ship race in Space as Alien beings race each for a prize (the story's title) that one is willing to kill for. Guest Keith Barron and Lynda Baron.

3. Resurrection of the Daleks

The Doctor's oldest foes return in this slam bang action tale that sees one of his companions make their departure. Davison has compared the story's body count to that of a Terminator film. Leslie Grantham the future Dirty Den in Eastenders makes an early appearance

4. The Caves of Androzani

Davison's final story in the role. The Doctor and Peri land on a planet where a brutal conflict rages. The Doctor finds that he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice

5. Eathshock

The Doctor tries to stop the Cyberman from destroying the Earth. However on of his companion makes an effort to stop their plans

6. The Five Doctors

Jon Pretwee and Patrick Troughton return to the role for the 20th anniversary special. Richarad Hurdneel stands in for the William Hartnell. Tom Bakers appears from footage in the uncompleted Shada

7. The Visitation

3 on the run criminal aliens are about to unleash a plague on the Human Race. However The Doctor stops by starting History's most famous fire

8. Castrovalva

The Doctor's regeneration proves to be troubled. So he, Tegan and Nyssa go to somewhere that may help. However behind the tranquillity lies a dark secret.

9. Snakedance

The Mara from Kinda returns for revenge. Featuring an early appearance by Martin Clunes

10. Planet of Fire

An intergalactic distress signal sends the TARDIS to a planet that suffers constant volcanic eruptions. Featuring the last appearances for 2 of the TARDIS crew.

To go where no Woman has gone before

It has been announced that S J Clarkson will become the first woman to direct a Star Trek. Clarkson has a varied track record. In her native UK she started directing soapy shows like Eastenders, Footballers Wives and Bad Girls before directing the last episode of Life on Mars. She moved to the US  where she directed such shows as Dexter, Heroes and Jessica Jones. Clarkson returned to the UK to direct the David Hare written thriller Collateral. There have been female directors on the various iterations of Star Trek on TV with the most famous being Roxann Dawson who also played the half Human - half Klingon B'Enna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager who directed episodes of both that show and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Wembly for sale?

News has emerged that the Football Association has been offered 800 million pounds by Shahid Khan. Khan is both the owner of Fulham Football club in England and Jacksonville Jaguars American Football team in the US. It is rumoured that Khan wishes to bring over the Jaguars and base them at Wembly. First he would need permission from the National Football League to do that. Some have also air their concerns that the England national Football team will not be playing home matches at their traditional home. Needless to say this story has a long way to go.

The word of Eamon

For outspoken views on Football view you can not beat Eamon Dunphy. You can see his work for RTE where he is more than forthright his views. Describing the current status of Manchester City as nothing more than a project. Though he can get it wrong, when asked to pick the winner of the 2014 World Cup Dunphy went for Colombia only for them to be beaten by hosts Brazil in the quarter finals. You can see many videos featuring Eamon airing his views on Youtube.

Music powered by streaming

In figures released today it has been revealed that Streaming is the biggest source of income for the Music industry. Outfits like Spotify and I-Tunes have helped turn around a 15 year period in which the industry has seen decline. This is is bit of a turnaround from the early 2000s in which the music sharing web site lost a law suit brought Thrash Metal giants Metallica.

Normal service disrupted

Those expecting Tipping Point found instead coverage of a pack of newspaper photographers outside a hospital . This was of course due to the birth of the third child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

TV ratings 21-4-2018

Despite featuring such big names like Sting, Tom Jones and Kylie Minouge the The birthday concert for Queen Elizabet II only manage neatly 4 million against the second week of Britain's Got Talent which got double that. However ITV did not have their own way for the night a first run Keith and Paddy Picture Show was well beaten by a Mrs Brown's repeat on BBC1.

ITV morning gameshows

The death of Dale Winton is reminder of a time when weekday mornings did not mean dysfunctional families shouting at each other as the host of Supermarket Sweep. Here are some other examples.

Crosswits

A crossword based quiz show that saw 2 teams of 2 compete against each other One team made up of a female member of the public and a male celebrity and the other vice versa. One time Doctor Who Colin Baker proved to be very good at the game.


Chain Letters

Contestants had to make new words by changing a letter in the current word. Host in including famed TV prankster Jeremy Beadle.


Win, Lose or Draw

2 teams of 3 competed in this show. One member of a team would have to draw an object for they to teammates to guess without giving audio clues or writing what it was. If they failed to do so it would be given to the opposition to guess. Hosts included Danny Baker.

Dale Winton (1955 - 2018)

The death has been announced of Dale Winton. For many he will be remembered as the host of Supermarket Sweep which saw contestants running madly around a replicated supermarket trying to fill a trolley in order to win prizes. Winton started out a local radio DJ with Radio Trent. After Supermarket Sweep launched to nationwide fame he would present many other shows among them Pets Win Prizes, In It to Win It and Hole in the Wall. Winton always presented with a smile on his face.

Dale Winton R. I. P.

Unwanted merchandise

Morrisey the one time lead singer of  The Smiths has found himself the subject of an unlikely merchandise boom. Over the years the years Morrisey has expressed opinions that people have found offensive. An recent example was that he said London Mayor Sadiq Khan could not talk properly. Now one keen enterpurer has put out a range of bags bearing the words 'Shut up Morrisey' across them. Morrisey has (for once) has yet to express an opinion on the matter.

Awful quiz show answer of the day 17-4-2018

On Today's edition of Tipping Point the question was asked in Fawlty Tower which character says the line don' mention the war. A contestant buzzed in with the answer Manuel. The answer of course is Basil. Unbelievably the contestant would turn out to be the winner.

Piers lets rip

In has latest on screen Piers Morgan has attacked both the British Government and the Opposition for failing to provide anyone to answer questions on the recent air strikes on Syria on Good Morning Britain. Added to his ire was that rival BBC Breakfast had the Shadow Attorney General on

Skidding to the question

An new promo for the revival of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? has been released. It features the new host doing what we have come to know him, which is performing high speed skids in a high powered car before finally taking his place in the chair where he will asks the crucial question. The WWTBAM starts on ITV in May.

Helen lashes out at the Net

Netflix has come under attacked this time by Dame Helen Mirren. The Oscar winning actress has claimed the streaming giant has robbed filmmakers including her husband Taylor (director of An Officer and a Gentlemen and Proof of Life to name just 2 of his films) Hackford of the chance of their films to seen propley, as in a crowded cinema screening room. Dame Helen is not the only one to share this view as The Cannes Film Festival has banned Netflix films from the main competion over their limited thertical relase policy. This is set to go on for a long time.

The show goes on for Fleetwood

Just before they went on an new tour with the classic line up Fleetwood Mac announced that they Lindsay Buckingham would not be going on the tour after all.  Replacing Buckingham on vocal duties is Neil Finn of Crowded House fame while playing guitar is Mike Campbell from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Buckingham has yet to offer his version of events.

Mike goes for a dip

BBC Sports reporter Mike Bushell found himself in a rather wet situation. Interviewing members of the English Swimming team who were sitting next to a pool. Bushell decided the best way to do the interview was to do it for the edge. However he misjudged the depth of the pool and found himself up to his neck in water. One for the blooper reel folks.

More Tolkein

It has been announced that a previously undiscovered by JRR Tolkein will be published later this year. The Fall of Gondolin was written by the author while he recovered from injuries from the Battle of the Somme in WW I in hospital. The book was edited Tolkein's Son Christopher who is 93. The book is published this August.

Worzel is back

The BBC has just announced that they are making an new version of Worzel Gummidge. The character first appeared in a series of books by Barbara Euphan Todd. Between 1979 and 1981 Jon Pertwee starred in a TV show as Worzel. Aside a short lived revival set in New Zealand this will be the first appearance on screen. Playing Worzel will be played by Mackenzie Crook best known for his roles in The Office, Pirates of the Caribbean film series and Game of Thrones. This has prospects of must see TV.

Comic Review: Xexres #1

Written and draw by Frank Miller

This is the much awaited prequel to Miller's early effort 300 (which of course was made into the blockbuster film starring Gerard Butler) which carries the subtitle of The fall of the house of Darius and the rise of Alexander. One thing that stands our is that only appearance of the title character in the first issue's on the front cover. Instead it focuses on the famed battle of Marathon in the forces of Athens faced down an attack by the Persian Empire. As to be expected with an work of Miller's there are vivid action scenes as limbs are chopped away from their owner and in one case someone is sliced in half. There is even a dig at the Spartans because rather than fighting alongside the Athenian force they are celebrating their holiday of Carneia. This first issue does a good job in setting the story that is to come.

TV review: The City and The City

Starring David Morrisey, Lara Pulver, Danny Webb and Ron Cook

BBC2  9PM Friday


Based on an novel by China Melville The City and The City is somewhat of an unique take on the Dystopia idea made famous by George Orwell. It's setting is a place where two cities exist side by side with both rarely acknowledge each other this brings up the real world example of Berlin during the Cold War. Morrisey plays a Police Detective whose latest case is the murder of a young Woman brings to the fore many tensions, first of all the political tension between the 2 cities due to her illegal travelling between the 2 and a personal one for Morrisey's character as the case reminds him of the disappearance of his wife (Pulver) who appears to him in visions. As a first episode it more than does the job of World building as see the difference between the 2 citiies with one being run down compared to the other's clean sheen. Morrisey is more than convincing as a man who is trying to make sense of the chaos that has ensmaped him. The City and The City has set itself up well for the remaining 3  episodes.

If you are so inclined you can watch all 4 episodes on BBC I-

Peter Cushing is The Doctor!!!

The forthcoming novelisation of the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special Day of the Doctor will feature a retcon. It will transpire the 2 movie versions of the stories The Daleks and Dalek Invasion of Earth starring Peter Cushing will exist in the actual Universe of the Doctor. One passage in the novel written by Steven Moffat himself has The Doctor saying that he loaned Cushing his own jacket.

Rock and Hall Fame snubs

Mark Knopfler is not the only big name in Rock music to snub the induction event. Here are just 3 more examples.

The Beatles (1988)

George Harrison, Ringo Starr and representing the late John Lennon Yoko Ono and his Son Sean. Missing however was Paul McCartney though when he was inducted for his solo career he did argue for George and Ringo to inducted in their own right.

Chicago (2016)

One person missing when the band was inducted was the most famous member Peter Cetera. With his unique voice on hit likes If You Leave me Now became famous he departed from the band on bad terms. A solo career saw him sing the Oscar nominated The Glory of Love from Karate Kid II.

Deep Purple (2016)

In the same year one of the giants of Rock were inducted. However missing the man whose guitar riffs made them legends. Ritchie Blackmore is one of the most colourful figures in Rock through stage antics like setting fire to the stage and his feud with lead singer Ian Gillan. Blackmore sticked firm to his pledge not to attend the event.

No Mark no Dire

The organisers of this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Cermonary have been left red faced by the non appearance of a couple of this year's inductees. Joining Bon Jovi, The Cars, The Moody Blues and Nina Simone into the Hall this year are Dire Straits. However it has been revealed that Dire Straits band members and Brother Mark and David Knopfler will not be attending. David who left the band after their second album has claimed that organisers refused to pay for his travel expenses, However it is the absence of Mark that has the bigger impact, it has often been expressed that Dire Straits simply became a vehicle for Mark and a band of backing musicians. The band's last studio album was 1991's On Every Street and the band was formally disbanded in 1995. Those band members who turn up for the cermonary will play an acoustic set. The cermonary is later this month.

BAFTA TV Awards 2018 nominations

The nominations for this year's BAFTA TV awards have been announced. Tim Pigott-Smith has received a posthumous nomination for his performance in King Charles III. The biggest snub is no Eastenders in the Continuing (Soaps to you and Me) Drama award. The winners will be announced next month.

DVD Review: Doctor Who - Enemy of the World Special Edition

Starring Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling

First broadcast between the end of 1967 and the start of 1968 Enemy of the World was one of those stories that either was completely missing or some episodes were still existing in the BBC archive such as one episode of this serial. Then in 2013 it was announced that the whole serial had been found and was then released as a no frills release. Now in 2018 (the year the story is set in) a much more packed release has appeared.

So what of the story? Troughton's Doctor, Hines's Jamie and Watling's Victoria find themselves on an Earth of great upheaval. And after surving an attempt on their lives they discover that the Doctor has close resemblance to the man blamed much of the World. Troughton has ball playing his usual impish Doctor and the villainous Salamander with a somewhat over the top forgien accent. Unusual for Doctor Who this story has twist and turns that are more applicable to a Spy thriller. Many fans will have given thanks that this tale has been recovered in it's full glory.

Among the extras is a touching tribute to Wating who died in 2017. There are contributions from her family and fellow Doctor Who alum including Hines, Colin (the 6th Doctor) Baker and Louise (Leela) Jameson.

Awful Quiz show of the day 02/04/2018

Today's edition of Tipping Point saw a contestant asked which is the only Harry Potter novel to contain the letter Z. The contestant's answer was The Prisoner of Zenda. The right answer is The Prisoner of Azkaban. The Prisoner of Zenda is a an novel by Anthony Hope.