BBC3, 10 pm. Five acts, first, some Asian guy with a set on his Dad getting anally raped, then Alfie Packham? His routine consisted of being mistaken for black. After him a chubby dark haired female who wore a dress and won, by telling anecdotes about Monica Lewinsky. Then a black guy, and finally a female, Frankie Thompson whose five minutes were ( Read more... )

Hillary Fannin in the "Irish Times" pens a hagiography of the dwindling talent of Mrs Paphides, alias Caitlin (Catherine) Moran. Moran wishes to retire to Wales, hopefully the natives will set fire to her cottage. Moran's Dad was a workshy junkie who dabbled in music hence Catherine/Caitlin managed to win a competition and blag a sinecure at " ( Read more... )

ITV? 1971? To the best of my recollection, but if one can recall a TV programme after half a century it must have been memorable. Everyone said it was dystopian, Orwellian and get the first few minutes are eerily accurate. Also, what of "V for Vendetta"? The other night a late 70's (?) three parter "Quatermass" was on. Cities filled with crime, ( Read more... )

Poll BBC2 9pm. Apart from Romola Garai (my future wife) it had nothing to recommend it. Formulaic and pedestrian are the kindest epithets. A sinister Magyar named Tomas Kiss (or Kiss Tomas) appeared and looked balefully on as 1956 London was given the Beeb treatment. One hopes that next week it will improve.
Now to Russia. Is it true that OVIR/SVR/KGB ( Read more... )

Channel 4, 9.pm. Britain is awash with people who share their DNA with Kate Middleton we are told. One could also say the Plantagenets according to history and genetics. The chav Goldsmiths appeared and then the chav with money Harrisons. Cousin Michael works for Somerfields in deepest darkest Wales. The importance of social mobility in England was ( Read more... )

ITV 9.p.m. A rip off of "Upstairs, downstairs" it dwelt on the English obsession with social class barriers in the years before the cataclysm of the Great War. Turgidly written but with a strong cast who struggled against the stereotypes they were portraying. A bit of gay rumpy pumpy betwixt Duke and footman. All in all a disappointment. I then ( Read more... )

BBC2, (2007). A poor translation of the Russian dialogue spoiled the film slightly but a good gangster story involving the "vor v zakoni" in London's demi-monde. Strolling down Edinburgh Street just off the Lisburn Road I saw a dilapidated house from which a lot of barking came. Nosiness, is it morally acceptable to report neighbours for cruelty to ( Read more... )

BBC4 7.30pm. Verdi imbued his work with a quintessentially 19th century theme. Copied by Gilbert & Sullivan (in The Sorcerer) the eponymous heroine of Aida is a slave but in fact (of course) secretly the daughter of the King of Ethiopia. Hidden class and the empire building of Egypt and England or Italy. Tonight the use of quasi modern costume ( Read more... )

Dwelling on the Dutch origins of the reality television show, most of Part One was taken up by a retrospective of Series One, and focused on the antics of "Nasty Nick" Bateman ( Read more... )

BBC 1 9pm. Had to see it twice. Like road-kill one could not look away. First episode centred on a rip-off of Hannibal Lecter, but with a gender switch. Good cast, Saskia Reeves dropping more glottal stops than a barrel load of cockney maaahnkeys, know wot I mean? Indira Verma as the long neglected wife of the super cool but fatally flawed hero, ( Read more... )