UK TV

An archive of blog entries about UK TV programmes and production.

UK TV

Review: Newswipe 1×1

26 March 2009 Rob Buckley 15 Comments

Charlie Brooker in Newswipe

In the UK: Wednesdays, 10.30pm, BBC4

I think it’s fair enough to say we do loves a bit of Charlie Brooker round here. I think it’s fair to say that’s quite a common feeling.

But I think it’s also fair to say that he’s spreading himself a bit thin. He’s writing two columns for The Guardian a week; he’s on Have I Got News For You every so often; he’s got his regular Screenwipe show on BBC4; he’s got an upcoming TV reviews show for Channel 4; he’s just finished making Dead Set for E4.

Phew. That’s a lot.

Now he’s doing Newswipe for BBC4, in which he tries to tell you the news of the week, but really – as the show’s title suggests – is really just Screenwipe but dedicated to TV news.

And it’s really not very good. See? Spread too thin.

Continue reading “Review: Newswipe 1×1”

UK TV

Review: The Apprentice 5×1

26 March 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The Apprentice - series 5

In the UK: Wednesdays, 9pm, BBC1

Huh. That’s weird.

Normally, it’s very easy to burble on about the hate-inducing business slime that puts itself forward to be Sir Alan Sugar’s newest puppet in The Apprentice. Well, that’s how they appear at first – by the end of the series, you get to quite like some of them.

This year seems different somehow. Okay, there was the requisite bigging-up by everyone at the producers’ request at the start, with the usual “there’s no joy in taking part, just winning” spiel being spewed out by all and sundry as though they’d had a 100cc injection of pure evil into their veins.

But if you overlooked all that, there was no one truly objectionable. Everyone seems a bit dull. I kind of liked American woman, even if she did seem to say the bleeding obvious a lot; trainee stockbroker was a little annoying; Mona moaned a lot; Phil the geordie seems to be stuck on ‘negative’ the whole time.

Where’s the hate, I ask you?

Continue reading “Review: The Apprentice 5×1”

Thursday’s improbable Stooges news

26 March 2009 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Film

  • Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan to voice Greek gods for Percy Jackson
  • The new Three Stooges are (probably)… wait for it… Sean Penn, Jim Carrey and Benicio del Toro. Bet you were guessing that already, weren’t you?
  • Nicole Kidman joins new Woody Allen movie
  • Universal adapting The Strange Adventures of HP Lovecraft
  • Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz to star in Wichita and Trouble Man?

Theater

  • David Mamet to make Broadway directing debut with Race

Canadian TV

French TV

British TV

US TV

Sitting Tennant

Mid-week Sitting Tennant (from Rullsenberg and Sister Chastity): Comic Relief again

25 March 2009 Rob Buckley 23 Comments

Sister Chastity's picture

Rullsenberg's entry

Rullsenberg's entry

So many pictures have come flooding into the Sitting Tennant gallery over the past week – this morning, I had 19 in the pile – to get through them all, we’ve had come up with a very special edition of Sitting Tennant, in which we’ll all learn a little something about ourselves and life, I think.

Today, we’ll use up the Comic Relief pictures before we head off to some not especially spoilery Planet of the Dead shots. Now, there were quite a few similar shots to last week’s Sitting Tennants so I’ve disallowed some of them (you can view the alternates to see if you disagree: Sister Chastity 1, Sister Chastity 2, Rullsenberg 1, Rullsenberg 2). The surviving entries are above, at least one of them demonstrating how he won Celebrity Mastermind (he had a floating cheat-sheet with the answers on them).

Anyway, with topicality bonuses, that gives us the following picture leaderboard:

  1. Rullsenberg: 15.5
  2. Jaradel: 8.5
  3. Sister Chastity: 6
  4. Rosby: 2.5

Don’t worry, Sister C and Jaradel: your pictures will have a chance to flourish on Friday.

The caption competition continues to thrive and has even given birth to the Sitting Tennant anthem. You might be able to hear it if you listen carefully. But the big shock is that while Marie has been resisting her scatological impulses, Toby has given in and is now just a half point away from Marie: that’s morality for you.

Wittiest captions: Marie for her all-encompassing caption; Jane Henry for her picture two caption; Toby for picture three. And a great big warm welcome to new entrant almostwitty.com – hope you enjoy your stay with Sitting Tennant!

  1. Marie: 50
  2. Toby: 49.5
  3. Jane Henry: 35.5
  4. Rullsenberg: 32.5
  5. Persephone: 27.5
  6. Jaradel: 22.5
  7. Electric Dragon: 12
  8. Rev/Views 10
  9. Scott: 3
  10. Aaron: 2
  11. almostwitty.com: 1

As always, captions and new submissions for the gallery, please. Remember, you can submit as many (witty) captions as you like for each and every picture, with topical captions (and pictures of David Tennant in current productions) getting extra marks. The wittiest caption for each picture will get double points. And there’s a bonus point for using Gary Numan lyrics appropriately.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. You can also enter the witting and amusing captions league table by commenting on existing photos in the gallery.

Continue reading “Mid-week Sitting Tennant (from Rullsenberg and Sister Chastity): Comic Relief again”

The online Dragons’ Den dragons interviewed

25 March 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Dragons’ Den, BBC2’s investment reality show, is very, very popular. Not content with having four ‘Dragons’ to vet business propositions and sink their own money into ventures, the show now has two online Dragons, whom you can pitch to on the Dragons’ Den web site. In fact, you can view some pitches already.

Here, Dominic Byrne, more famous to radio listeners for producing Chris Moyles’ breakfast show but who’s the online version of Evan Davis for this, interviews the two online Dragons, Julie Meyer and Shaf Rasul: