When to warn and when not to

Former weather forecaster Bill Giles has attacked the number of storm warnings that have been given recently, saying it is nothing more than 'nannying'. Though this does recall the infamous incident in 1987 when Giles's colleague Micheal Fish when having apparently having been phoned by a women who told him that a hurricane was heading towards the United Kingdom and Fish refuted this. But what did happen was the UK was hit by a storm that killed 19 people. Many years later Fish said that there was no such female caller and the whole hurricane business was being told by a BBC staff member that they Mother was going on holiday to the USA and said to her son that a 'storm was coming'. Fish decided to use this as a opening line little knowing how history would judged him. Perhaps Giles should have remembered what happened to his old colleague.

Remembering Brass Eye

It is 20 years since the broadcast of Brass Eye, the show that dug into the increasingly sensation driven agenda of TV news gathering and along the way making fools of a large number of famous people. After being part of the ensemble efforts (most famously Steve Coogan got his big break withe the introduction of Alan Partidge)  of BBC Radio's On the Hour and it's TV spin off The Day Today, Morris got to be the main focus being backed by a company of supporting players including Gina McKee, Mark Heap, Clare Skinner and Morris's co-star from On The Hour/The Day Today Doon MacKichan, Morris fronted each episode as a Paxmanesque host introducing news report with Morris playing most of the reporters with the most memorable of these being Ted Maul who during a report performs a SAS style crash into the top floor office of 2 unscrupulous Harley Street Doctors only to get into a shouting match with one while the other gets away leading Maul to vandalise the sports car of his sparring partner. The other famed aspect was it's treatment of famous people. There were fake campaigns with the most famous being the one for 'fake' drug CAKE, others including a video for prisoners where convicted murderers would have Vanessa Feltz shout at them 'Look at me I am Marvin Gaye killed by own Father' or Steven Berkoff demonstrating the effects of heavy electricity by smashing various objects. One hopes that Morris can get back doing something in these somewhat turbulent times

Radio Review: War of the Worlds

Drama starring Blake Ritson, Samuel James

BBC Radio 4 2:30 pm Saturday

When you talk of any adaptation of H. G. Wells classic tale of an alien invasion in any medium the conversation will bring in Orson Welles famed radio version, that with it's fake radio news bulletins caused a bit of a stir when it was first broadcast. BBC Radio 4 have just started a much more traditional 2 part adaption of the novel, set in the late 19th century, it takes on ideas like the fear of emerging technologies that can capture a persons image or their voice, another being the fear of a Europe wide war being fought. Of course the main plot line is the invasion of the Martians, the production gives you the sense of the sheer terror the invaders bring through the use of sound effects, in particular the sound of those humans who make the mistake of getting to close and end up getting blasted. With the second part to come this is shaping to be one of the adaptations in any medium that they has been.

Crazy story of the week

This week Rickey Tomlinson who in the days before acting in TV shows like Brookside and The Royale Family was a leading figure in a builders union, made a somewhat extraordinary claim. Tomlinson and an number of others were jailed for illegal strike action in the 1970's., Tomlinson claims a TV programme shown during the trial made the jury to find Tomlinson and his co-defendants guilty. Tomlinson accused the presenter of the programme Richard Whiteley of being a MI5 agent. Whiteley who died in 2005 would of course find greater fame as the host of Countdown. Family and friends of Whiteley have naturally have shown a great deal of anger towards Tomlinson's claim. As for the truth of the matter we may never know.

Selina courts fate

In a Newsnight interview taped before last year's US Presidential election Kristy Wark asks Selina Scott about her opinion of future President Donald Trump. Scott made a programme about Trump in the 1990's, what Scott says does not stray too far from the much held opinion of the future President as bit of a brusque figure. Trump called Scott a loser after the interview. Wark concludes by asking Scott about Trump's chances, Scott answered that Trump would turn off female voters who proved important in Barack Obama's victories. History would prove Scott wrong.

You can watch the interview on Youtube

Nightly problems

ITV's new late night entertainment The Nightly Show has made a less than impressive start. The show that will see an new host every week has seen it's ratings  crash in just a couple of days. No word on weather there will any major changes for the forthcoming weeks the show is on. On a related note ITV late night news bulletin which was displace by The Nightly Show has also seen it's ratings suffer.

Saturday morning kids show revival?

With the news  of Ant and Dec are looking to revive their Saturday morning show SM:TV Live, comes news that the BBC are also looking to bring back their own Live and Kicking. Whether either show does come back remains to be seen and given the changing nature of TV over the years they will succeed.