There are a load of shows that those of us of a certain age and a certain degree of taste remember well. These include 
The Sandbaggers and 
Codename: Icarus. Yet for some reason, the powers that be choose only to release them in the US, not in the UK. Even stranger, these are UK shows getting this treatment, not US networks ignoring the rest of the world. What gives? Why are we not allowed access to our own TV heritage?
Year: 2005
Most Haunted isn’t a fraud – because it’s clearly made-up
Despite some of my previous comments, Most Haunted has been officially declared not to be a fraud.
Well almost. Let’s just have a look at that ruling a little closer:
The television watchdog ruled that the show contains “a high degree of showmanship that puts it beyond what we believe to be a generally accepted understanding of what comprises a legitimate investigation”. As such the show should be taken as produced for entertainment purposes, not to definitively inform the public of real incident of paranormal activity.
So, in other words, it’s not a fraud because only a moon calf would be so dim as to believe it’s anything other than cobblers from beginning to end. Completely vindicated then.
More on Threshold
Since a ridiculously large number of people come to my blog each day to know if Threshold has been cancelled, here’s the latest news available, fresh from the MediaGuardian:
“Production of Sky One’s alien invasion thriller Threshold is stopping after 13 episodes, although US broadcaster CBS said it has not taken a final decision about whether to axe the show.”
So there you go. It’s been cancelled. Sort of. Still, with the amount of interest I’ve detected from all you guys coming to my blog, I suspect the problem is one of time slot, not of fan base. Don’t hold your breath for its return though.
Incidentally, the MediaGuardian piece also hints that Joey‘s time is nigh, which isn’t too bad a thing in my opinion.
The Equalizer is back
Work on a movie of The Equalizer is back on course. For those who forget, The Equalizer was an occasionally good 80s show starring Edward Woodward as the hardest OAP in New York (okay, he was in his 50s at the time). If there was an injustice, he would right it with his CIA training and skills, usually violently. Not sure how much resonance it will have nowadays, given the plummeting crime rates in New York for the last decade: maybe they’ll shift it to Los Angeles, although changing the plot to “rich, white, English guy cleans up the violence of South Central” would make it walk a very thin tightrope, I reckon.
Woodward got the job as The Equalizer after the producers saw a few old episodes of Callan, one of the best British television shows ever made. I caught the first episode in a double bill with an episode of Danger Man at the NFT last Friday. Typical NFT audience (stop chatting, you scrotes: save it till the end) but everyone was quiet for Callan, the story of a former British government assassin blackmailed into working for his ex-employers again. Callan remains one of the most bleakly realistic shows ever made – only The Sandbaggers exceeds it as a realistic depiction of espionage. It paved the way for even grittier shows such as The Sweeney and Special Branch. Only the third and four seasons are available on DVD, although most of the first two black and white seasons do still exist and if you ever get a chance to see them, grab it. They make 24 look like the unrealistic cartoon it is, while pre-empting its theme that the “good guys” will often use the same ruthless techniques as the “bad guys”.
Danger Man, incidentally, was a slightly cartoony episode itself, improved only by the impressive Patrick McGoohan and its failure to use that tried and tested method of 60s spies dramas “everyone foreign speaks English, even when they’re by themselves”. Some of the Swiss German accents were iffy, but for the most part, the pronunciation was pretty good, giving the otherwise outlandish plot some grounding in reality, as McGoohan tries to infiltrate a dastardly plot without speaking the language of the locals.
Scary fact: Ian Hendry and Colin Blakely were identical twins during the 60s. Check it out and you’ll see that I’m right.
Wogan’s back with a chat show
The Media Guardian is reporting that Terry Wogan is going to get his own chat show on BBC1. WTF? I know that Doctor Who did well in the ratings, the Parkinson comeback was a success and there’s been a whole series of nostalgia hits on ITV, thanks to the ITV50 celebrations, but whose bright idea was this? Don’t people remember what a disaster it was? This is a re-commission too far.
Wogan’s a good DJ, but he throws such low-ball questions that his interviews are the dullest things in the world to watch. They’re not the total horror that a Chris Evans or a Frank Skinner interview are, but this is not a good idea. Stop it now, BBC!