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

The Chatterley Affair

On Sunday night, during the closing credits of the programme which proceeded a timely rerun of Ken Russell’s once controversial adaptation of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the announcer reminded the viewer that it featured, “Joely Richardson… and Sean Bean… and Sean Bean’s bottom”. Read more

Time Shift: Sun and Moon

One of the great joys of BBC4 is that its schedulers and programme makers are never afraid to rummage around the dustier corners of the archives. Read more

The Mark Steel Lectures

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

Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe

TV shows about TV shows have a long, but not very distinguished history. Read more

The Lavender List

As they are trumpeting the fact so loudly, it would be rude not to acknowledge the happy event that is the fourth birthday of BBC4. Sitting down to watch their anniversary week, an unhappy thought was nagging away at my consciousness. Read more

“I see… well I see something”

Last night was perhaps the best line-up of programmes we’ve ever had on BBC4 (stuff about old telly notwithstanding). Read more

Arena: Dylan in the Madhouse

“Come gather round, people, and hear what I say, ’bout the time Bob Dylan was in a BBC play, we’d all like to see it but they threw it away, and the tape it is a-missing”. Read more

Arena at 30

Of all the ways to celebrate your 30th birthday, proffering viewers a couple of scanned pages from Broadcast magazine is perhaps erring a little too much on the wrong side of decency. Read more

The Thick of It

As he had been away from our screens for a while Armando Iannucci’s new political comedy had been something to look forward to, especially as the initial run had been put back due to the General Election. Read more

The Quatermass Experiment

There’s still nothing – absolutely nothing – which comes close to matching the mix of elation and wonder that surfaces in the wake of a genuine TV event. Read more

The Late Edition

Unashamedly lifting the majority of its format from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, BBC4′s The Late Edition is the Corporation’s latest attempt to recapture the elusive topical satire that it thinks it remembers doing so well in the past. 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

Time Shift: Malcom Muggeridge

About 20 years ago I received a novelty card game for Christmas. On the cards were printed a picture of a television character and a series of questions. Answer one correctly and move on to the next laying the last down to make a square and winning the game. There is a point to this. Read more

Curb Your Enthusiasm

I was never one for American sitcoms. They were always overly simplistic and aimed at the lowest common denominator, with characters reduced to a load of tics ands catchphrases so the audience could applaud wildly whenever they entered the set. That was until I saw my first episode of Seinfeld. Read more

The Falklands Play

There’s an adage when it comes to writing drama – don’t tell, show. Read more

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