I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider and the equally short-lived Death Ray and Filmstar magazines; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network and TV Scoop.
It’s that time again. August is nearly upon us, bearing little TV news and few new TV shows – as well as my annual pilgrimage to Greece.
When will I be back? Good question that I’ve asked myself and answered already during this week’s WHYBW?, if you want the full vague details, the general drift is:
The Daily News will be back on Monday, September 3
Everything else will be back at some point between August 16 and September 3, depending on my mood, whether I’ve been seized by Nereids, etc.
However, I may be posting the occasional bit of TV news or thoughts on the TMINE Facebook page, or tweeting (or more likely retweeting) away on Twitter. And if I spot anything televisual, I’ll bung it up on the TMINE Instagram feed.
Keep ’em peeled, anyway.
Meanwhile, keep chatting here with one another, reviewing shows you’ve seen yourselves and being an excellent to one another. Also, if you have some holiday reading suggestions, let me know.
If you’re going on vacation yourself, I hope you have a great time. See you all refreshed and ready for more TV in three to five weeks’ time!
Because then Iron Fist will be back for season two. Oh yes. Will I avoid watching season one this vacation for a fifth time in preparation? Stay tuned to find out…
As I mentioned in passing on Wednesday, YouTube’s paid-for service YouTube Red has not only renamed itself YouTube Premium, it’s been made available here in the UK.
This is good for several reasons:
YouTube Red did sound a bit porny
No one knew what YouTube Red was
It’s actually started producing some decent shows
I felt a bit stupid constantly reviewing shows that no one in the UK had a chance of watching unless they paid £1.89/episode
On point 3, we’ve gone in the space of less than a year from the “moderately okay but not worth paying money for” likes of Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television*and Lifelinethrough to the “genuinely as good as you’ll see anywhere else” likes of Impulseand Cobra Kai. That ain’t bad. There are proper TV networks that have been running for years that haven’t produced anything close to as good as the latter two.
What do you get with YouTube Premium?
However, the devil’s in the details. The current UK cost of YouTube Premium is £11.99 a month, which given Netflix is only £5.99 if you don’t mind SD, £7.99 for HD and £9.99 for UltraHD, is a big ask. However, YouTube Premium does offer three features it reckons justify the price:
Ad-free and offline: Enjoy YouTube ad-free, offline and in the background.
YouTube Music Premium: A music streaming service from YouTube. Explore a complete world of music without interruptions.
YouTube Originals: Watch new original series & movies from your favourite stars.
So basically, no ads, a music service, and exclusive TV and movies if you pay the price. The music service, if that’s your inclination, includes Google Play, but more likely, you’re interested in the exclusive TV and movies. So what has YouTube Premium got?
Approximately bugger all, unless you’re under 25. Even then, you’ve got to be really into dance.
Meanwhile, for everyone else, anything worth noting, I’ve already reviewed. Indeed, what I’ve reviewed is a super-set of everything worth noting.
Fortunately, YouTube Premium does offer a one-month free trial, so you can at least watch the good stuff and still have 28 days or so to play around with everything else on YouTube Premium, all without having to pay a penny.
Still, given how much the service has come along in just a year, this time in 2019, it might be a very different story. Assuming we haven’t all died in some horrible apocalypse by then.
Every so often, TMINE flags up what new TV events BAFTA is holding around the UK
Following on from last time, August’s BAFTA events continue with a Female Firsts exhibition. Meanwhile, September’s Guru Live events is so big and powerful, I can’t even begin to list it all, so you’ll have to have a précis.
Female Firsts: Women Making BAFTA History
Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 August, Various Times. Last entry 6pm. BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London
The last chance to see our current exhibition in its entirety. Book now to explore the work and achievements of over 90 women from the history of BAFTA and that of film, games and television in Britain.
As the British Academy of Film and Television Arts counts down to its 75th anniversary in 2022, we are delving into our archive to uncover some of the stories it contains. These stories not only illuminate the history of BAFTA, but explore the nature of our relationship with film, games and television.
Since the establishment of the Academy in 1947, many ground-breaking, talented women have steered the course of BAFTA as an organisation and many more have shaped the art forms it celebrates and supports. This exhibition, featuring over 100 images and ephemera from the BAFTA archives, plus a host of external libraries and collections, highlights a selection of these women and the work they have created.
All of them represent a ‘BAFTA first’ of some kind – from the first women to be recognised in various awards categories and the first female Fellows to the first woman President of the Academy and the creator of the iconic BAFTA mask – each of these women have not only contributed to excellence in the screen arts, they have defined it.
Entry to the exhibition is £3 – No booking required for members to view the exhibition.
First entry 13.00 – Last entry 18.00.
Tickets for this event will also be available to purchase on the door.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Only a couple of premiere-less acquisitions this week, with Walter Presents picking up Channel 2 (Iceland)’s Réttur (The Court) and C More (Sweden)’s Farang. The former will air in September, while the latter will air towards the end of the year.
Otherwise, everything’s got a date.
Premiere dates
Fangar (Prisoners) (Iceland: RÚV; UK: Sundance) Premiere date: Now
One of Sundance’s sneaky acquisitions, this Prix-Europa nominated drama sees 30 year-old Linda (Thora Bjorg Helga) accused of a deadly assault and sent to prison. She gets to know women of a different social class than her, from a broken environment. Slowly, a bond develops between her and the other women inmates and the series focuses on why things happen and how it affects the family and society as a whole.
Sounds a bit Orange is the New Black.
Carcereiros (Jailers) (Brazil: Globo Play; UK: Sundance) Premiere date: Now
The second of Sundance’s new prison shows – what’s that all about then? – is from Brazil. The difference here is that as well as being about blokes, it’s from the jailers’ point of view. Based on Dráuzio Varela’s novel of the same name, it stars Rodrigo Lombardi as Adriano, a correctional officer who endures the difficulties of prison life – both his own and those of the inmates. Adriano is charged with keeping the peace inside the jail but also faces pressures in his home life, from his wife who wants a baby, to his teenage daughter and his father, a former jailer himself. Tested daily with ethical and moral dilemmas, he lives between walls and prison bars, weapons, threats and conflicts – both human and psychological.
Created by Peep Show‘s Jesse Armstrong and with support from some The Thick of It writers, Succession follows the Roy family – Logan Roy and his four children – which controls one of the biggest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world, tracking their lives as they contemplate what the future will hold for them once their ageing father begins to step back from the company.
Cough, cough, the Murdochs, cough, cough.
It’s already been renewed for a second season, and stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Hiam Abbass, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen, Natalie Gold, Peter Friedman and Rob Yang. I found the first few episodes very funny, but it slowly switched from being a comedy with some drama to being a drama with the occasional comedy, which didn’t work for me.
