UK TV

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

A for… effort?

3 March 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

BBC4 is four years old today. Or maybe it was four yesterday. So happy birthday or belated happy birthday to BBC4 then.

Anyway, I noticed a trailer on 4 for the new version of A for Andromeda yesterday and was impressed to see that they were good enough to get Susan Hampshire in. Hampshire played Andromeda in the follow-up to the original series – The Andromeda Breakthrough – when Julie Christie turned down the chance, and it’s nice to see 4 showing that kind of respect to the original work. Classy, really. Well done.

UPDATE: Bollocks. It wasn’t Susan Hampshire. It was Jane Asher. It’s more A for Artichoke Hearts and Angel Cakes then. Oh well.

News

Bungle’s back!

28 February 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Rainbow
Broadcast Now has some interesting news today (despite ending up in my Junk mail box).

First up, Nick Jr’s bought the rights to Rainbow! Unfortunately, it won’t be a new series of Rainbow, but the Geoffrey-free final season, which will air as part of a ‘classics’ evening block that includes Bagpuss, Mr Benn, The Wombles, The Clangers and Paddington. All the same, warm fuzzy feelings all round on that one.

Secondly, despite ABC1 already having bought the rights to air it and having turned it down once for being rubbish, More4 has bought the rights to show the awful Commander in Chief once The West Wing has finished. Not so many warm fuzzy feelings on that one. You probably won’t remember my reviews of it so I’ll just reiterate the main point: even if you’re already a liberal, you’ll end up hating liberals by the end of it, because this is the same kind of warm, fuzzy, unrealistic view of the world that so many of us are afflicted with. Not that conservative TV, like Threat Matrix, is any better, but a hint of Realpolitik might come in handy on US TV some time.

Sci-Fi Channel goes Doctor Who mad

28 February 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The US Sci-Fi channel now how its own little Doctor Who site to publicise its premiere of the new series on March 17th. It’s all Christopher Eccleston at the moment, of course, but if you’re a latecomer to Doctor Who, there’s a handy guide at the bottom of the site that gives you useful facts to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Apparently, Tom Baker’s Doctor was the most popular and he wore a scarf.

Do not worry though: it is quite possible to get through life without filling in these gaps.