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

It started with a kiss… sort of

Something’s just occurred to me during the current Arthur ‘n’ Martha storyline in Coronation Street. Why didn’t the kiss outside the nightclub really happen? Read more

Back in the TARDIS

Get ready to tune in your television sets for Saturday 31 March, for that is when the third series of the new Doctor Who is apparently going to start, despite what the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine says in four different places…

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

Course correction

If you haven’t watched Sunday’s episode of Lost yet then best not to read on… Read more

If you can’t stand the heat, etc, etc

This is exciting. Just issued by ITV… Read more

“There is lots of nostalgia on the site”

Off The Telly was mentioned in The Guardian’s The Guide today: “Rallying against the BBC’s attempts to “sex up” Ski Sunday, bothered by the scheduling of Doctor Who and still angry over the axing of the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club 30 years ago, this is for people who take unserious TV seriously.”

Hyde 2612 – slight return

After some internet snooping it transpires that “Hyde 2612” – the telephone number that may prove crucial in unlocking the mystery surrounding Life on Mars is actually, the telephone number for a San Francisco Barbers from 1903, specifically “Serpa & Content, Barbers, 419 Larkin.Hyde 2612″. Read more

“Chicken, noodles and… lemon curd?”

The 21st century MasterChef is the first cookery programme on television I’ve ever liked. It’s informal, competitive and doesn’t have Loyd Grossman sniffing near the saucepans. Read more

Identity theft?

I quite like the new BBC2 idents, but does anybody else think that they seem to have taken their lead from the impressive Channel 4 ones?

Lloyd the invisible

Coronation Street has just experienced its own equivalent of the infamous and much-reported time in Crossroads when a character went out to get a spanner and never came back. The character in question this time is Lloyd Mullaney, played by one-time Red Dwarf star Craig Charles.  Read more

“I think something should go wrong with May’s air conditioning…”

I can already guess just how much sanctimonious, over-sensitive complaining will have hit the BBC Duty Log over the last 12 hours or so since the latest episode of Top Gear aired on BBC2. Read more

Primeval

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

The year of skipping

The slow way. The bizarre tradition of serial dramas and sitcoms is the attempt to mimic real life even though they’re clearly set in some alternate reality; so the ensemble cast of The West Wing, ER, Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Babylon 5, even Alias, drift onward on a yearly basis for the length of their run, as we watch five to 10 years in the life of the characters, countless Christmases and birthdays. Read more

Hyde 2612

I’ve been watching the previews discs for the first two episodes of Life on Mars series two. It’s back on BBC1 on Tuesday, with a screening of next week’s terrestrial ep following on BBC4. Read more

“You do something to me”

“You take them home, and all you see is the death of everything.” Read more

Doctorin’ the schedules

When will Doctor Who be back on telly? Well, there are a few possible dates floating around – but none of them seem to be Easter. This week, TV Times has stuck its neck out declared it’ll defo be March. I’m going to try and be more specific than that and predict March 24. This is based on various bits of gossip that have come my way and, er, some guesswork. Read more

Here is a photograph of various people looking at something over our right shoulder

Further to Graham’s post about the Comic Relief launch yesterday, PopJustice has photographs.