Category: TV

While some might have quite enjoyed last night’s episode, it was pretty obvious where the episode was going from the outset, and even knowledge that the series is not afraid to kill off major cast members is not enough to prevent the resolution being obvious from some way off. I’m led to believe that this…

So State of Play finished last night and it didn’t pull any punches. Great performances all round, and even though it is back for another series, I can’t see all that many characters beyond the newspaper ones being able to return for it. I’d quite happily watch the whole thing again, although I didn’t feel…

The quality of this series is very up and down. More up than down, although the episode that aired on BBC1 last night (and BBC3 the week before when I saw it) was easily the worst, with a computer child prodigy apparently single-handedly bringing down MI5. Last night’s episode dealing with a stolen $20bn was…

Last night BBC4 showed an excellent episode of the rather wonderful Timeshift, covering political thrillers on TV throughout the ages. There were some that I’d seen and many I hadn’t covered, although the programme asserted that there have been fewer true political thrillers than one would have though. Particular attention was given to Edge of…

The new series of Spooks started last night, beginning precisely where the last one left off. Of course the bomb didn’t go off, although another did. I do enjoy Spooks, although I’ve yet to visit a hospital where Natasha Little was an available doctor… BBC 3 continued with episode 2, so I had a bit…

Last night BBC2 showed this documentary in the Correspondent series, going behind the scenes at Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news TV station, during the Gulf War. There’d been a lot of controversy over this screening seeing as it featured footage (albeit pixilated) of dead British and American soldiers that Al-Jazeera had screened. The Sun lead –…

I’m quite enjoying State of Play on BBC1, or in particular, BBC4, since they show the following week’s episodes, and once you get caught in that cycle, you’re not going to leave it. The fact that it stars both Kelly McDonald and Polly Walker, was always going to make it must see, but it’s a…

Finally, ITV show the next (final?) series of The Vice. I knew that it was in the can awaiting a showing, but ITV being ITV, they don’t like to air quality fare such as this. It’s nothing short of spectacular that Carlton made this in the first place. Ken Stott’s character, Pat Chappel has been…

BBC Four showed this Nigel Kneale play last Thursday, and I got around to watching my tape this morning. It followed a documentary about British TV’s use of the hidden camera – another in the very good Timeslip series. The play has incidentally just come out on DVD, and it’s especially prescient about where the…

Just been watching a fascinating edition of Correspondent detailing Israel’s secret production of nuclear weapons. No-one’s about to invade Israel over this are they? Poor old Mordechai Vanunu who has been imprisoned for the past 16 years. And this country is supposed to be a democracy, yet you cannot even talk about their nuclear industry!…

Well tonight’s supposed to be the big BBC Three launch night, with a simulcast on BBC2 to introduce this fantastic new channel for 25-34’s. At 33, I’m just within this demo, but then we’re talking about one of the four main BBC TV channels aimed at a singular ten year age range, so I needn’t…

Strange. The Michael Jackson documentary was very successful in the UK drawing 14 million, while it was also seen as doing well in the US where it was seen by 27 million. So a country five times the size of ours achieves just about double the audience. Let’s put this in context. The latest BARB…

A fascinating sounding new HBO series is on the cards, with director Stephen Soderbergh (who can seemingly do no wrong at the moment) set amongst political consultants. I still love the old HBO Tanner 88 series (I have them on laserdisc!). I can hardly wait – although since HBO aren’t even commenting at the moment,…