Articles by Rob Buckley

About Rob Buckley
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 the podcast Lockdown Land or 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; 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, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.
Website YouTube LinkedIn
UK TV

Playing catch up: iPlayer on the Wii

16 April 2009 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

I’ve only had a Wii for five months* and the option’s been there for a year, apparently, but it’s news to me that you can watch the BBC’s iPlayer on the Wii, so I thought I’d belatedly pass the word.

I haven’t tested it yet, and it’s not as good quality as you can get on a PC, since the Wii has an old version of Flash, but all the same, much better to be able to watch it on your TV than huddled round a computer.

* Bought at my wife’s insistence, I would point out, since games consoles and working from home don’t mix unless you’re a games journalist/professional games player

Review: The Companion Chronicles 3×9 – Resistance

16 April 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Resistance (Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles)

Polly. Everyone remember Polly?

Chances are the answer to that question is either no or "Oh yes, I remember her. I’d forgotten she was there."

Back when Doctor Who was just a kiddies show (ie the Hartnell era), Polly – together with fellow companions Ben and Dodo – were the producers’ attempts to upgrade it to a family show by introducing modern, vibrant companions that the youth of today could identify with.

Yes, Polly was the Rose Tyler of her day.

A swinging 60s kind of girl, into mini skirts, screaming a lot, using nail polisher remover to kill monsters and indulging in mildly flirtatious dialogue with cockney sailors, blonde bombshell Polly managed to survive the Hartnell era and ended up accompanying Pat Troughton on his journeys through time and space, along with new arrival Jamie McCrimmon, who joined in what was the show’s penultimate, purely historical, alien-free story.

And it’s not long after that that we join her for this surprisingly good historical set during World War 2.

Continue reading “Review: The Companion Chronicles 3×9 – Resistance”

Dick Heads

Dick Heads (from DMW): Cold Feet

16 April 2009 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Slightly later than normal, thanks to Monday’s Bank Holiday and my stupid workload, it’s the new, virile Dick Heads, full of more manly cephalic fun than any other feature on the Internet.

Today’s Dick Head is from Cold Feet, in which Richard Armitage played some kind of shop window mannequin at Primark.

Captions, haiku or anything else Richard Armitage’s head inspires in you and can be set down in writing, please.

Got a picture of Richard Armitage’s head, preferably wearing a hat? Then leave a link to it below and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Dick Heads” gallery.