Election 2007

There is bad weather in the Western Isles. On Newsnight, “Radio 2′s Jeremy Vine” (in the words of Jeremy Paxman) has just exhibited a blurred map of Britain flecked with indistinct multi-coloured blotches. Read more

Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul

Do you remember the future? I do. The future was called Harry Enfield, and his stock-in-trade was remembering the past. Read more

Life on Mars

With Life on Mars falling off our screens for good, I suppose we’ll never find out why a comatose Sam bothered imagining a grain of sand on Annie’s hand. Read more

Jackie: A Girl’s Best Friend

Dear Cathy and Claire, this is not an easy letter to write. I fancy this programme on TV and so want to write about it. Please help!!!! Yours, a confused boy. Read more

Election ’92

Fame may deal an inconsistently fleeting hand to practitioners of TV and politics, but when both worlds collide you see stardom at its most ephemeral. Read more

Doctor Who

“Where are we?” exclaims Martha, near the opening of episode two as she steps from the Tardis into the midden of a Tudor street. “I mean … when are we?” Read more

The Sky at Night

Remember comedy as the new rock’n'roll? Well, maybe it’s now the new new rock’n'roll. Ricky Gervais is selling out the Albert Hall and Hammersmith Odeon (not the Hammersmith Apollo, please). Read more

Louis Theroux: The Most Hated Family in America

There’s perhaps been a feeling of late that Louis Theroux has just been treading the same old water for some time with his documentaries on the weirdness of the world. Read more

Doctor Who

The supposed wisdom in TV circles suggests series three is when a show really gets good. The course correction and refinement of the original concept have all been completed, and the programme makers, having learned from their mistakes, can push on with renewed confidence. From a viewing of “Smith and Jones” alone, is it possible to determine whether this maxim holds true for Doctor Who? Read more

Whatever Happened to our Dream of Freedom?

You’ll love this, they told me about Adam Curtis’s single-handed and quixotic attempt at reintroducing intellectualism to prime-time TV. This is your idea of telly; big ideas, big themes. Back to the ’70s. Read more

Country File

Take a deep breath. Mmmmm, springtime. The frost’s melting off the osiers. Time to get out into the big outdoors. Read more

Götterdämmerung

Okay, if it’s rude to point, it’s thoroughly bad form to nitpick when productions of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen appear on mainstream terrestrial TV every decade and a half. Whoever sweated blood to get Keith Warner’s Royal Opera House production of the whole 15-hour marathon on the box deserves a medal. But … if you stick it on TV, it had better be good. Read more

Comic Relief Night

Like smoking, photos of journalists speaking into a telephone, and speeded-up footage of trains running from London to Brighton, Lenny Henry is something you don’t see much on TV anymore. Read more

Castaway

I’m going to stick my neck out here and predict Castaway will quickly be considered one of the biggest flops of the year. Read more

Pokerface

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

Raven

A question of etiquette – how old is too old to be making serious value judgments on kids’ TV shows? I don’t mean the judgment of the pros and programme-makers – but the judgment of anyone who grew up watching and enjoying kids’ TV, especially those who maybe went on watching a bit too long and consumed too many joints and Sports Biscuits while doing so. What’s the cut-off? 30? 40? Read more

Gene Detectives

Genealogy. Historically, it’s tricky TV. Read more

Blair: The Inside Story

Much as how an entire generation of people grew up under Mrs Thatcher, so an entire generation has grown wise under the present prime minister. Read more

Celebration

The speech given by the announcer heralding More4′s presentation of Harold Pinter’s play Celebration couldn’t have been more disheartening. Read more

Primeval

Primeval isn’t really my kind of telefantasy. By that I probably mean it’s not Doctor Who. Read more

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