Doctor Who

This year’s special ends with the Doctor accompanying a new friend to The Traveller’s Halt. Read more

Merry Christmas!

It’s long overdue, but OTT’s Christmas Logs have now been added to the site.

What are they? Our guide to Christmas Day telly, from 1970 to the present day (2008′s log will go online January 1 2009).

So find out who said: “I’ve never known a year like it. Talk about hectic … To be honest, the fuss that is sometimes made when we’re playing the theatres scares me. It’s like The Beatles” or “People actually send spies to the rehearsal rooms”.

Oh, and a Merry Christmas to everyone who’s written, commented on or even just read the site in 2008!

Heroes without hope?

With Heroes now on a break, it’s time to ask if the show is finally beyond all hope. Read more

Doctor Who’s ‘Next’ generation

Thursday 18 December 2008, and a pointedly low key press launch for Doctor Who‘s Christmas episode, ‘The Next Doctor’ held at London’s Soho Hotel.

Jane Tranter, the BBC’s outgoing Head of Drama, warned the assembled: “‘The Next Doctor’ – for the next 60 minutes or so, make of that what you like. And I’m absolutely not going to tell you anything. But by the time you’ve got to the end, you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone else what to make of that. The ability of Doctor Who is to ask big questions and keep everybody guessing. Please enter into the spirit of that, and allow everyone to keep asking questions”. Read more

Up the Creek again

After nearly five years off our screens, Jonathan Creek is poised to return for a one-off, two-hour episode scheduled for New Year’s Day.

So why has the duffle coat-sporting sleuth been resurrected now?

OTT asked the series’ creator David Renwick.  “It’s a kind of boring answer,” he said. “I had nothing else to do! I wasn’t bursting with any other bright ideas after we finished Love Soup, which I’ve been doing for the last two or three years. And, erm, it was sort of a safe decision.”
Read the full interview »

Ball of confusion

Simon Cowell didn’t get all the column inches he was expecting this morning. Read more

Oliver Postgate, RIP

It’s probably no exaggeration to say that for a generation, Oliver Postgate’s voice may well have been the first that they came to recognise after those of their immediate family. As creator, writer, narrator and director of some of the best loved and most regularly repeated children’s TV shows of all time – among them Bagpuss, The Clangers, Pogle’s Wood, Noggin The Nog and Ivor The Engine – he became one of the most instantly recognisable figures in television without ever really appearing in person. Read more

Bob Spiers, RIP

Owing to the sheer volume and quality of his work as a director and a producer, Bob Spiers was one of those people that you always pictured as being a lot older than they actually were. In a career that spanned four decades, he came in on one of the greats – Dad’s Army – and continued to produce popular and top rated shows throughout. Read more

The Next Doctor at Breakfast

David Morrissey materialised on Breakfast  this morning. Read more

Grot beckons for Clunes

On a hiding to nothing (surely!): Martin Clunes is Reggie Perrin! Read more

Spooks recommissioned

The BBC has announced Spooks will return for an eighth series next year. Read more

2008 – hate or rate?

As ever, OTT intends to publish its review of the year’s telly come the end of December.

And we’d really like you to be part of that. Jack Kibble-White will be doing the honours, weaving contributions together – so please send him your thoughts on any aspects of the last 12 months of TV. 

His address: jack@tvcream.co.uk

The deadline for submissions is December 15.

And Richard & Judy’s new position is…

…back at teatimes. Read more