The Outsiders

It’s possible for a show to be doing all the right things, yet be let down by one element so badly, that watching it becomes akin to having a kidney removed by over-enthusiastic gibbons. Read more

Charlie and Lola

Forget Jane Eyre, forget the new series of Extras, forget the return of Cracker; for a substantial chunk of the population, the most significant event television of this season happened on Monday afternoon, on the CBeebies channel. Read more

Cracker

As Jimmy McGovern himself attests Cracker‘s always been about big issues: rape, racism and miscarriages of justice, and although the subject of pensions had provoked his ire enough to warrant the full Cracker treatment, he knew it just wasn’t the kind of story that would draw Fitz back from his largely reformed life in Australia. Read more

Hollyoaks

Once upon a time this was the best soap on television. Once upon a time it was the only programme of its kind to successfully mix improbability and wit and come up with endlessly entertaining drama. Read more

I Smack and I’m Proud

Are the chattering classes no longer a bunch of spankers? Or are they astute enough to recognise an ITV1 producer’s man-trap when they see one? Read more

Loose Women

Despite the best efforts of the government to conceal the true casualty figures, British soldiers are struggling to cope with the ferocity of Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Luckily, I have a cunning plan with which to undermine the fighting ability of those shock troops. Read more

Reader, I Married Him

One of the criticisms of the documentaries that accompanied the BBC’s Big Read event was that, in places, the autobiography of the celebrity advocates overshadowed the books they were championing. Read more

TMi

Saturday mornings have always had a unique place in the history of children’s television. Read more

The One Show

Here we are again, inspecting the turf of post-teatime telly and kicking up the dust for traces of good play. Read more

Big Brother

“Eazamanna!” This was the Big Brother with the most weeks, the most housemates, the most twists, the most innovations, the most outside influences, the most late arrivals, the most eviction escapes by one person – and the most telegraphed winner since the first week. Read more

Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe USA

It’s amazing how a little bit of adversity can bring out the best in some people. Only a short while ago, largely thanks to his internet-based TV listings spoof TV Go Home, Charlie Brooker was the subject of widespread media attention and tipped for great things. Read more

Property Ladder

There are few more costly ways of making money than property development. Hundreds of thousands, are needed to be a professional developer just for the raw materials and the building. Read more

The Man Whose Arms Exploded

You pretty much know what you’re going to get when you watch a documentary on five entitled The Man Whose Arms Exploded. Read more

Big Brother

Dreams can come true. Imogen is out of the Big Brother house at last, and by some idiotic quirk Nikki’s found her way back in. I’m disgusted, but only on principle. Read more

Turn Back Time

“And now for something completely different”, that familiar phrase from Monty Python’s Flying Circus would not have been the first thing to spring to viewers’ minds as they tuned in to watch ex-Python Terry Jones discuss his career in BBC2′s new offering, Turn Back Time. Read more

Big Brother

It’s been an atrocious week for Mikey, and his sudden, grievous demise and eviction sums up the ruthlessness of Big Brother. After 10 weeks of relatively effortless surfing of the wave, his fall into the drink was quick and spectacular. Read more

Top of the Pops

I can’t remember the first time I watched Top of the Pops. I can’t have been any older than about three or four, because one of my earliest memories is of mounting my own episodes with my sister. Read more

The West Wing

It’s always tempting, when a long-running TV show that’s not as good as it once was, lumbers into the finishing straight amidst a flurry of eulogies and reminiscences, to stop fighting and just give in. Read more

Big Brother

Big Brother is a daring old stick, it has to be said. A programme which exists purely for being live and unpredictable, and still it chucks innovations our way without any cast-iron proof that they would work. Read more

Big Brother

Cruelty is something Big Brother likes to administer on its housemates if there is a danger of the series becoming a little too unremarkable in mid-run. Read more

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