UK TV

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

November at the BFI

23 September 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Time for our regular round-up of tele events at the BFI. No TV season in November but there are isolated pockets of TV-ness to be enjoyed

  • 3rd: Sir David Attenborough in conversation. Preceded by episodes of Life on Earth and Life in the Undergrowth
  • 30th: The Naked Civil Servant. Next month will feature a preview of An Englishman in New York

Members’ priority postal booking opens 29 September
Members’ online and phone booking opens 6 October
Public booking opens 10 October

There’s also a bit of a Play for Today theme this month. Every Saturday and Sunday, the Studio will be holding free, 47 minute performances of some of the best bits from plays such as Mike Leigh’s Nuts in May and Jack Rosenthal’s Bar Mitzvah Boy. And the Mediatheque has a few additions to its existing library of plays, including David Hare’s Dreams of Leaving, starring a young Bill Nighy.

As always, visit the BFI web site for more details

Tuesdays’s West Wing meets Obama news

23 September 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

Theatre

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UK TV

Review: Merlin 1×1

22 September 2008 Rob Buckley 14 Comments



 

In the UK: Saturdays, BBC1, 7.30pm
In the US: NBC, some time in the 2008-9 season. Probably

Ever since the return of Doctor Who made Saturday evenings viable viewing slots again, the onus has been on broadcasters not to fill their schedules with rubbish. ITV1 has tried to compete using shows like Primeval as well as a 1,001 singing and dancing shows; the Beeb, since you can’t have Doctor Who all year round, has done likewise but also rolled an updating of Robin Hood into the mix, to not great success. 

Now here comes its latest effort: Merlin. You remember Merlin, don’t you? Son of a demon/dragon, lives his life backwards? Welsh wizard pal of King Arthur?

Ah. Apparently, most of that was wrong. Because we’re in for a good dose of ‘Welsh washing’ here for a slightly less whimsical version of Harry Potter.

Continue reading “Review: Merlin 1×1”

UK TV

Review: No Heroics 1×1

19 September 2008 Rob Buckley 15 Comments

No Heroics

In the UK: Thursdays, 10.30pm, ITV2

There’s something that baffles me about the British. Whenever Hollywood produces a comedy where Hugh Grant turns up, being all self-effacing and a bit of a klutz and lacking in confidence compared to those powerful, strident American types who are all into self-improvement and “being all you can be”*, we get on our high horses and whinge about ‘clueless bloody Americans’.

Then we go and produce half a dozen ‘comedies’ where we live down to the same stereotype. Do we have no pride? Must we really think the worst of ourselves? Must we really hate people who are, ooh, I don’t know, good at things?

Case in point: ITV2’s No Heroics. It’s British! It’s about superheroes! Yey! So they spend all their time down the pub grumbling about how crap they are and being complete dorks.

Oh, FFS.

Continue reading “Review: No Heroics 1×1”

Friday’s product placement news

19 September 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

Film

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