Justice in Wonderland

Before commencing on a review of Justice in Wonderland (weak title, by the way) – a disclaimer. Read more

Doctor Who

The BBC’s latest scattershot repeat run of Doctor Who stories came to an end with part six of “Genesis of the Daleks”. A menacing close-up of a Dalek warning us straight to camera that this was “only the beginning” was followed by the Doctor and companions freefalling through outer space and off our terrestrial TV screens – again. Read more

Friends Like These

Early Saturday evening television is not really territory with which I have been overly familiar of recent years, not since the demise of the classic paring of Gladiators followed by Blind Date. Read more

The League of Gentlemen

Last episodes in comedy serial are often grand affairs. Read more

Queer as Folk 2

Up until that first commercial break Queer as Folk 2 felt as though it was going to deliver (in an agreeable enough way) more of the same. Stuart fucking/”fuck off”ing, Vince worthy and charming but a bit useless, Nathan enthusiastic yet on the periphery and Alexander unconcerned, uninterested and luminescent. The previous series ended with Vince and Stuart in celebration of their unchanging, tiny world; however after 15 minutes of the usual banter and soap-operatics something was different aboutQAF2. That world was no longer enough. Read more

Nature Boy

Radio Times has been a poor barometer for quality drama recently, often times appearing more like the BBC’s barrow boy (pushing shonky goods such asGormenghast and po-facedly reprimanding the competition’s Queer as Folk 2). So it is doubly satisfying to chance upon a piece of drama that is pushed by the BBC’s propaganda machine. Read more

EastEnders: The Family Album

Scurrying along in the wake of Monty Python‘s 30th, Not the Nine O’clock News (and Newsnight‘s 20th and The Simpsons‘ 10th), comes the flags-and-bunting jamboree that is EastEnders‘ 15th birthday; a bizarre anniversary to mark in itself, and one that compounds the impression of television retrospective celebrations coming round on an almost weekly basis. Read more

The Day Britain Died

As I may have said elsewhere, these are auspicious times. Read more

Life Force

Children’s drama is reborn. Read more

Newsnight at 20

Being only a few years older than Newsnight myself, it’s one of those programmes that seems to me to have always been there – always worth tuning in for, if only to check who’s refused to turn up. Now it has reached its 20th birthday and won an in-house, affectionate 45 minute tribute buried in the early evening schedules against Jim Davidson and Cilla. Read more

White Tribe

These are auspicious times, for sure. Read more

Castaway 2000

Castaway 2000 is a grandiose scheme from the avuncular BBC wherein 30 people are shipped to an abandoned island off the north of Scotland and left for a year to forge a life for themselves and – more importantly – a community. Billed as a social experiment it is, of course, far too early to mark the programme against this objective. What we can be sure of is Castaway 2000 is great fun. Read more

Trigger Happy TV

It’s half past nine on a Friday night, and there’s half an hour till the new series of The League of Gentlemen starts on BBC2. What to do? Watch re-runs of Never Mind The Buzzcocks? Do this dishes? Empty the cat litter tray? Read more

That Peter Kay Thing

The big concern with Peter Kay is whether or not he is just the male equivalent of Victoria Wood. Read more

Blue Peter

“Hello there!…” Read more

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