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