UK TV

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

UK TV

Another fine mess I’ve got myself into

15 August 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

The Man Whose Arms ExplodedI’m reviewing The Man Whose Arms Exploded for Off The Telly. The question is, is it ethical to review a show you spent most of the time watching between your fingers? How about with your eyes closed and your hands over your ears so you couldn’t hear what was being described, too?

Sorry, but the guy performed operations on himself once his arms became infected and pussy…. I’m starting to feel ill again. I’ll rely on my wife’s descriptions for ‘colour detail’ then.

David Tennant being poached by Hollywood and ITV?

14 August 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

More from the “please take with a pinch of NaCl” school of journalism: David Tennant might be poached by either Hollywood or ITV, according to Sunday’s People. Plus RTD “wants to take a back seat to develop his own drama projects”, apparently.

I thought ITV had quit doing golden handcuffs deals because they ended up with Robson Green and Ross Kemp doing rubbish in exchange for loads of cash. Plus – and no offence to DT here – why would Hollywood be interested in him right now? The second series of Who doesn’t air in the US until September, and since when has British TV popularity resulted in massive Hollywood deals.

All in all, probably not true. But I thought I’d bring it to your attention.

UK TV

Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe still holding up

11 August 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Screen WipeAfter praising last week’s Screen Wipe, I was wary that it was going to be pants this week, just to spite me. Fortunately, it was just as good, if not better.

Brooker’s pretty much nailed down the right combination of puerility, extended rants and incisive commentary. And where he is using other contributors, he’s now picking the right kind, such as David Quantick and Adam Buxton. Absolutely hilarious from start to finish it was. I particularly enjoyed the slating of the extremely rubbish Are We Being Served?, which was basically a bunch of complaints by stupid people who couldn’t read and who had an extreme sense of entitlement.

But Adam Buxton’s use of his old character, Ken Korda, from The Adam and Joe Show was interesting. On Adam and Joe, Korda was rather a pathetic figure (here are some YouTube examples of Korda in action). On Screen Wipe, he was doing a faux director’s commentary on The Mint, ITV Play’s rather awful late night phone-in show. It was all suspiciously similar to Rob Brydon’s 2004 series Directors Commentary:

Continue reading “Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe still holding up”

UK TV

Sophia Myles: sci-fi groupie

10 August 2006 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Sophia Myles in UnderworldSophia (pronounced to rhyme with “hairdryer” apparently) Myles seems to be a big fan of sci-fan. Obviously, she’s dating the Doctor, himself, after meeting him while filming an episode of Doctor Who. But she’s all set to appear in a new adaptation of Dracula for BBC1, that will also feature Marc Warren (State of Play, Hustle, and, you guessed it, Doctor Who).

Dracula won’t be her first vampire effort though, since she appeared, to slinky effect, as a vampire in Underworld. She was also Lady Penelope in the movie Thunderbirds. So I have a quick question.

What is it with posh blonde women and sci-fi?

There’s that Susannah Harker of Pride and Prejudice, confessing that her deep love of sci-fi made her take on vampire drama Ultraviolet as well as the role of Sapphire in the audio Sapphire and Steel stories. They’re all over the place, I tell you.

I know it’s by no means a conclusive trend, and I know posh blonde women who hate SF, but apparently there’s a lot of them who secretly loves it. Including my wife (who’ll claim she isn’t posh, but we all know she is really). What’s up with the world?