EastEnders

When I last reviewed this august institution, my negative – though, as I saw it, constructive – criticisms resulted in me receiving a barrage of hate mail from irate acolytes of this show. Read more

The Big Read

With predictable bitchiness, I noted that a columnist in my local rag, The Herald, opined that he “hated the public’s opinion in these programmes”. Clearly, our opinion counts for nothing. Read more

BBC News Special: Concorde – The Final Flight

Growing up, virtually the only time our street would come out from behind its front doors and mingle together was when Concorde flew past. Living reasonably close to that gateway to the continent, East Midlands Airport, this tended to happen several times a year. Read more

The Politics Show

It’s been nine months since Jeremy Vine inherited the Sunday lunchtime small screen political joust from John Humphrys. Read more

Time Shift: The Kneale Tapes

One of the greatest feats in documentary-making is to track down a seemingly unknown, perhaps anonymous member of the public from a piece of archive footage and show them as they are today. Read more

When Michael Portillo Became a Single Mum

Whereas not so long ago it was the docusoap that reigned supreme in the television schedules, now it seems to be a new sub-genre, featuring people who find themselves in an environment they are unaccustomed to. Read more

Election ’74

More repeats on digital TV, then. But BBC Parliament’s real-time replays of General Election results coverage have been absolutely inspired programming. Read more