Noel’s HQ

You have to give him credit – it’s difficult to even remember that Noel Edmonds was ever away. Read more

Gladiators recommissioned

Sky One have commissioned a second series of Gladiators. But there’s a twist.. Read more

From Gladiators to Beadle

A couple of days spent at TV show recordings, courtesy of the relevant press offices. Read more

Half-Blaked?

Rather incredibly, Sky One have announced they’re bringing back Blake’s 7. Andrew Sewell’s involved! It’s bound to be a hit!

A big hand for Gladiators

And, lo, in Hoxton did Sky One reveal their new pneumatic line-up of Gladiators, as the show readies for its return to British telly.  Read more

Lost in the Ashes of Torchwood

The general mood surrounding telefantasy fans has been a little down of late. Read more

Me ‘on’ Sky

We’re slap-bang into ‘season’ season now, with the channels laying on beanos of varying ferocity in an effort to nab as much press coverage as possible. Sky One held their bash last night. The law of TV listings land is the digital channels do the most impressive do’s. Hence, Sky can always command pretty much a full house. Read more

“Are you smarter than a 10-year-old?”

According to this email I’ve just received, SRO Audiences are looking for punters to watch a new show: Read more

Course correction

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

Sky’s the limit

Last night saw Sky One’s launch party for their autumn season. A lavish affair, boasting circus performers, Scalectrix, a big top … and Christopher Biggins (sporting the most outrageous green clogs). The crux of the event, of course, was the screening, which revealed Sky are going celebrity-encrusted-reality-TV crazy, with the return of The Match (if Graham Taylor doesn’t win this time, he’s sacked), The Race (celebs, er, racing) and Cirque du Celebritee (celebs in the circus). Read more

The best a man can get

Simon Hattenstone has been eulogising Sky Sports’ Jeff Stelling in The Guardian this week, and rightly so. There simply isn’t a better sports presenter on British television at the moment, and Gillette Soccer Saturday never fails to deliver. Panellist Charlie Nicholas has been the star for two Saturdays now, first entering into raptures over Arsenal’s win at Fulham, then conveying at high volume the drama of Portsmouth’s last-minute winner against Manchester City. Read more

The following entry takes place between 3pm and 3.15pm

Just back from the Sky One launch for 24, series five. It’s a shame the way the show just kind of fell out of the spotlight when it moved to satellite, as it remains fantastically entertaining viewing. It’s audacious, a little bit silly and – best of all – makes up the rules as it goes along. Read more

Dream Team

I like Dream Team. There, I’ve gone and said it now. My guilty secret is out. And do you know what? I don’t really care what the soap purists think. The way I look at it, if you’re going to ask people to suspend disbelief, then you might as well go for it on a scale of Brazil circa 1970 proportions rather than the Leeds-under-Revie extent so peculiarly propagated by the likes of EastEnders and Corrie. Read more

Malcolm in the Middle

After a long wait, the second family of American dysfunctionalism finally returned to our screens, albeit on Sky One. Whilst comparisons to Homer, Marge and their brood are inevitable only in the minds of lazy slag writers, the hearts of viewers have long regarded Malcolm in the Middle as something considerably more than a live action version of The Simpsons. Read more

Baddiel’s Syndrome/Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned

Have you ever noticed how “Have you ever noticed”-type comedy is strictly “out” these days? I mean “out” to the point where Steve Coogan has seen fit to turn one of his most idiotic characters (Duncan Thickett) into a feeble observational comedian. In fact it’s probably been out since 1993 (the decline of Newman and Baddiel in Pieces). Also no one ever uses the phrase “complete and utter” anymore. That one died out with the “stonk”. Well the news is that they are back. David Baddiel has produced little straight comedy in the last few years, so Baddiel’s Syndrome would be an opportunity to check out how far he had developed since those halcyon Wembley days. Read more

Malcolm in the Middle

So there’s this new American family comedy. Its central character is a gifted child from a dysfunctional family – throw in a black kid in a wheelchair, a right-on teacher, girlfriend problems and a whole host of other clichés. Serve up with the proclamation that it’s a live action version of The Simpsons from the same network who gave us Ally McBeal. Read more

Blackadder: Back and Forth

The worst bit comes first: meeting all the familiar characters – but in the present day, dressed for contemporary times, talking and behaving in a unsettlingly modern, up-to-date, way. This isn’t right – they all look too… ordinary. Read more

Harry Enfield’s Brand Spanking New Show

On the BBC Harry Enfield’s programmes (in their various guises) always seemed like a slightly fusty, less imaginative version of The Fast Show. That’s ironic, of course, bearing in mind that The Fast Show is arguably a spin-off from Enfield’s programmes, however it cannot be denied that the offspring has supplanted the father in the annals of “credible” comedy. Read more