Lead Balloon
Thursday, November 22, 2007 by John Phillips · Comments Off
History does repeat itself. It’s not that long ago I was going around raving to people about the US version of The Office. I remember reiterating that, if they could just forget about the UK version and avoid spending the whole time imagining Gervais and co delivering the lines, then they’d soon come to see what a great show it is. Read more
Peep Show
Friday, May 11, 2007 by John Phillips · Comments Off
Peep Show has come to occupy a curious place in the comedy landscape. Cited by many as being the funniest sitcom of its age, it performs so poorly in the ratings it probably survives only through Channel 4′s lack of other critically acclaimed sitcoms. Read more
Pokerface
Saturday, March 3, 2007 by John Phillips · Comments Off
Having now watched the second series of Pokerface through to its much-trumpeted million pound final, I have decided it’s been the most intriguing game show I’ve seen in a very long time. Since five’s The Mole, probably. Read more
The Mark Steel Lectures
Thursday, March 2, 2006 by John Phillips · Comments Off
For me, the Radio 4 series of The Mark Steel Lectures was a delight. In each episode, he proved himself to be one of the few people who can talk passionately and entertainingly about relatively academic subjects. Read more
Little Britain
Thursday, November 17, 2005 by John Phillips · Comments Off
You always become the thing you hate. We’ve all had this conversation at some point: You’re talking about a famous band, and some tiresome individual hogs the discussion by insisting that, “They were much better before they became mainstream”. Read more
The X Factor
Saturday, October 23, 2004 by John Phillips · Comments Off
How many times can the same idea be recycled? After Popstars, Popstars:The Rivals, and two series each of Pop Idol and Fame Academy, surely there can’t be room for more wannabe singers trying to win recording contracts on live television? Read more
Britian’s Best Sitcom
Saturday, March 27, 2004 by John Phillips · Comments Off
A very, very long time ago, Britain’s Best Sitcom arrived on BBC2, and people all around this great nation of ours thought: “Oh, that might be a vaguely interesting way to kill an hour or two.” Sadly, it was not to be so simple. Read more
Still Game
Saturday, January 24, 2004 by John Phillips · Comments Off
It seems a little odd for BBC2 to follow Britain’s Greatest Sitcom with two brand new series of that same genre, suggesting perhaps that these new shows will be deemed worthy of joining such illustrious company in years to come. Read more
Robot Wars
Sunday, November 9, 2003 by John Phillips · Comments Off
“They tried to stop us!” yells Craig Charles as he walks out onto his balcony. “They tried to stop the destruction!” Read more