ITV
Agatha Christie's Marple: The Secret of Chimneys, ITV1Monday, 27 December 2010
If there’s one thing the British love on television at Christmas time, it’s a period drama, and even better, a period mystery. So what joy when there’s a bit of sleuthing by Agatha Christie's yin to Hercule Poirot’s yang, the eagle-eyed wise old... Read more... |
Come Rain Come Shine, ITV1Monday, 20 December 2010
David Jason’s toby jug of a face has been on the television screen over Christmas since the days when you had to get up and switch between three channels by hand. There was nothing ostensibly seasonal in his latest vehicle. A Yuletide... Read more... |
The Savoy, ITV1Monday, 13 December 2010
Once upon a time, just before Lord Reith began permanent rotation in his place of rest, there was a hideous botchjob of a television genre known as the docusoap. It wasn’t quite documentary and it wasn’t quite soap. It was scriptless drama with “... Read more... |
The X Factor 2010: The Final, ITV1Monday, 13 December 2010
Last week I suggested that The X Factor's rules may have been manipulated in order to lead to a more entertaining final week. I would like to apologise unreservedly for this suggestion, in the light of the absolute unremitting shower of dismalness... Read more... |
The X Factor XaminedMonday, 13 December 2010
And so we reached the climax of Series 7, long awaited by cognoscenti but greeted with mounting apathy by non-believers. Though some had held out hopes for boy - infant? - band One Direction, it was live poll favourite Matt Cardle who ultimately... Read more... |
Coronation Street 50th Anniversary, ITV1Thursday, 09 December 2010
Even as a confirmed fan of the soap, I would be lying if I said I tuned in to Coronation Street for great acting. Fantastic comedy, yes; brilliant writing - certainly. But routinely fine exposition of the dramatic art? Nah, although there are... Read more... |
The Only Way is Essex, ITV2Thursday, 11 November 2010
To vajazzle or not to vajazzle; it’s the question on everyone’s, er, lips. Thanks to ITV’s unlikeliest of hits, The Only Way is Essex, tans will be brighter, teeth whiter and bodies more diamante-encrusted across the nation this winter. It’s the... Read more... |
Downton Abbey: The Finale, ITV1Sunday, 07 November 2010
Defying predictions that there would be no audience for a period costume drama set in an Edwardian country house, Downton Abbey has become the TV event of 2010. Episode one notched 11.6 million viewers (including repeats and ITV Player viewings),... Read more... |
TV Gallery: Downton AbbeySunday, 07 November 2010
Maggie Smith Violet, Dowager Countress of GranthamHugh Bonneville Robert, Earl of GranthamPenelope Wilton Mrs Isobel CrawleyDan Stevens Matthew CrawleyMichelle Dockery Lady Mary CrawleyTheo James Kemal PamukJim Carter Mr CarsonBrendan Coyle Mr... Read more... |
The Little House, ITV1Tuesday, 02 November 2010
I realise actors must be prepared to suffer for their art, but it was truly heroic of Francesca Annis to allow herself to be made up to resemble Cherie Blair after a bout of electro-convulsive therapy compounded by a facelift by Dr Mengele... Read more... |
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hallowe'en Party, ITV1Thursday, 28 October 2010
David Suchet has been perfecting his impersonation of Hercule Poirot for more than 20 years, perhaps sympathising with Tina Turner’s maxim, “The longer I do it, the better it gets.” The way Suchet keeps finding new little tics and eccentricities to... Read more... |
TV Cops and KillersFriday, 08 October 2010
If you can’t play a cop or a mass murderer, steer clear of the acting profession. That would be the logical inference from the swarms of cops’n’killers series cramming the TV schedules. You’d think we’d have had enough, what with Luther, all the CSI... Read more... |
