Big Brother is taking a break

Ben Frow controller of Channel 5 has announced that Big Brother will be taking a break next year. The show has seen viewer figures decline in the last few years though the current Celebrity version has had steady ratings. Whether Big Brother makes an actual return remains to be seen.

We have to wait for Mr Bond

Following from the news of Danny Boyle exiting as director of the 25th Bond film news has came it has now been moved back 2020. With a 5 year gap between it and SPECTRE this represents the longest gap since the 6 year one between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye due to various legal issues. GoldenEye would turn out to be a magnificent of the Bond films. We will to see what happens with the next one.

We are not expecting you Mr Boyle

One of the reasons for the recent departanture of Oscar winner Danny Boyle from the director's chair of the next James Bond film has emerged. One of the sticky points appears to be the casting of the film's bad guy, Boyle wanted to cast unknown Polish actor Tomsaz Kot but producers Barara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson plus star Daniel Craig were dead set against this idea. Given that the villians of the last 2 films were played by Oscar  winners (Javier Bardem and Christioph Waltz) you can understand why the 3 were so reluctant to go on a less proven actor. No news as yet on who will be replacing both Boyle and scribe John Hodge who went with him at the same time.

Ladies are taking over

A few days ago this year's Hugo awards took place. Recognising the best in Science Fiction in both printed and visual media from the past year. And there was an noticeable trend among this year's winners. For genre that some consider to be Male dominated most of the prizes went to Women. One of the most striking wins was the Wonder Woman beating the Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water to Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation award, both have both have Female protagonists but the former was actually directed by a (Patty Jenkins) Woman. We shall have to wait and see if SF somewhat mysngotic image is now gone.

Goodbye St Jaime

Jaime Oliver who in the last few years had become known for his crusades for healthy eating has come under fire for his latest product lauch. Jerk Rice has been slammed for cultural apparition by one MP Dawn Butler over it's perceived links to the Caribbean. Meanwhile Levi Roots perhaps the most famous and successful person to get a deal on BBC2's Dragons Den with his Reggae sauce said Oliver had made a mistake in launching the product. After the closure of an number of branches in his restaurant chain this is the latest smudge on Oliver's reputation.

From DJ to the Doctor

Among the directors announced for the forthcoming season of Doctor Who the main name that springs is Mark Tonderai. In a previous life Tonderai was a Radio DJ even enjoying a brief tenure at BBC Radio 1 where he even appeared in a TV promo for the station along with 2 big name DJs John Peel and Simon Mayo. In recent years he has turned his hand to Film and TV directing. He directed Jennifer Lawrence in the film The House at the End of the Street and has directed episodes of Gotham and Black Lighting. Tonderai episodes will be coming up in a few months time.

The passing of radio time

Pick of the Pops on BBC Radio 2 this past Saturday featured the Top 20 of this week in years 1978 and 1991. In 1991 Pick of the Pops went out on BBC Radio 1 and featured the years 1959. 1969 and 1975. One of the songs from 1991 that was played was the Hi-Nrg dance number Move Any Mountain by The Shamen, did anyone 27 years ago expect that record to be played on BBC Radio 2 ever? I be coming back to this subject later on in the week.