Last night’s BBC2 documentary, Going Postal, looked at the horrible multiplicity of high school, campus and workplace shootings which have happened with alarming frequency in America since the late 80s when the term Going Postal was adopted in the wake of massacres committed by – primarily – postal workers.
These killers were, so we heard, prompted to do what they did in response to a number of factors; socio-economics, the availability of guns and feeling marginalised by the society within which they lived.
The film was part of BBC2’s ‘The Violence Season’ which, “explores the social, historical and psychological causes of violence” and this documentary was not only interesting – albeit somewhat morbidly – but it was produced in a non-biased, non-judgemental format by British film maker Paul Tickell who avoided many of the ‘norms’ when making films about similar subject matter… Read more & comment »
Social networking site Twitter, is coming to a television near you.
Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment Partners have announced that they have joined forces with the micro-blogging service to develop a show centred around Twitter.
Created by novelist Amy Ephron, sister of Nora and Delia Ephron, the show will feature ordinary people competing while on the trail of celebrities.
So what did you think of watching surgeon Mr Francis Wells and his team performing open heart surgery on patient David Payne last night? Was it horrible voyeurism or informative viewing? Well, I’m still not sure…
I had a personal interest in watching the operation because a mitral valve repair may be part of a larger operation that I’ll be having; my mitral valve repair will be undergone simultaneously while my aortic valve is replaced with a mechanical one. If my mitral valve can’t be repaired, it too will be replaced with a mechanical valve, so as I say, I had a particular reason to watch last night.
And it was very interesting from that regard; seeing part of what may be happening to me was useful to watch but was it interesting for anyone who isn’t imminently due to have open heart surgery or who knows someone who is? I suspect not… Read more & comment »
From the maker of British TV classics Birds of a Feather, Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Lovejoy, come a new seven-part comedy series, Mumbai Calling.
Sanjeev Bhaskar, Nitin Ganatra, and Daisy Beaumont star in this brand new comedy broadcast in primetime on ITV1. The series features a huge Indian cast as well as guest appearances by a host of familiar British faces across the seven weeks including Richard E Grant and Dennis Lawson, Indian Superstars Lilette Dubey, Chunky Pandey and Raj Zutshi (Slumdog Millionaire) and rising star Via Das.
Bradley tries to reason with Nick but is it going to blow up in his face?
It’s going to be a thrilling week as of Monday 1st June in EastEnders as Nick loses the plot when daughter Dotty reveals his dastardly plan to kill off Dot.
This sends Nick into an uncontrolled rage and he ends up taking several café patrons hostage before the place blows up… but will someone die or will they all escape?
Well, we’ll have to wait and see but in the meantime, here’s a sneeky peek at some of the scenes from the explosion at Ian’s caff… Read more & comment »
This new four-part Channel 4 series kicks off tonight with an open heart surgery procedure in which the patient – who has a leaking mitral valve – will undergo an operation to repair it, live on air. This leads me to ask one main and obvious question… What if he/she dies on the table? Then there are other issues such as, how is this person’s family going to feel if something goes horrendously wrong and millions of people are watching?
Additionally, we’re told that viewers can “interact with the surgeons” in real-time via microblogging site Twitter as well as by phone and email, live and as the operation is carried out. Viewers will even be able to speak to surgeons by phone at “appropriate points” but surely, with someone’s life in their hands, shouldn’t the surgeons be concentrating on that rather than answering viewers’ questions and possibly coping with stage fright? Read more & comment »
This man is, I suspect, clinically insane. I’ve seen bits of episodes of Born Survivor in passing before but I’ve never watch one all the way through - I don’t know why - so on Saturday, I decided to sit down and check him out on Channel 4.
Bear is a former Special Forces soldier and in this series of daring/lunatic shows, he demonstrates how to survive “in the world’s most extreme environments”. For this episode, Bear ventured into the unforgiving and decidedly human unfriendly forests of Transylvania, where he negotiated steep ravines, cavernous underground water systems and encountered a potentially deadly brown bear. Read more & comment »
Now this is what a promo clip should be! ABC are currently promoting their autumn lineup and in the clip above the show the stars of all their major shows living in one house together.
Given that the house contains McSteamy from Grey’s, Justin and Robert from Brothers and Sisters and Jack from Lost, it’s a house that I would pay BIG money to visit once in a while….
On Monday, Natasha tells Mark that they need to watch Cain as she reckons he won’t back down easily. Her prediction comes true in the village when Maisie tells Cain that his flirting won’t go “unrewarded”.
Back at Home Farm, Natasha’s interrupted from her preparations by a knock at the door – it’s Faye. After a decidedly awkward conversation about job vacancies, Faye’s horrified to discover what Natasha’s planning and preparing for. Mark’s stunned when he’s told about the unexpected visit from Faye and angrily rips up Faye’s CV in front of a puzzled Natasha. Can Mark hide the real reason behind his anger? Read more & comment »
On Monday at 7:30pm, Chesney’s still missing and Fiz is worried sick, but he hasn’t gone far and when Eddie and Anna find Chesney hiding in their garden shed, he comes clean.
Telling Sophie how Fiz has been visiting John in prison, he refuses to go home but when a relieved Fiz hears he’s safe and tells him Schemichel has been pining for him, he reluctantly agrees to go back… Read more & comment »
Yippee! It’s a long weekend and most of us are having some lovely sunshine, but, with the weather due to deteriorate next week, we might be forced indoors and what better way to pass the time than watching some great telly? Here’s what we recommend you take a look at on TV this week… Read more & comment »
On Monday, Billy accidentally bumps into a woman in the café and spills tea all over her before chatting to Phil about Jay. However, despite his best attempts, Jay wants nothing to do with Billy. Later, Shirley points out to Billy that the woman from the café who he’d spilled tea on is giving him ‘the eye’ and it’s not long before she introduces herself as Viv Bates… thug Terry’s wife.
Viv tells Billy that if he turns up in court to testify against her husband, or tells anyone about their conversation, Jay will be the one who suffers the consequences… Read more & comment »
Last night’s episode of EastEnders turned in one of the best performances from a child actor that I’ve seen in a long time; Jamie Borthwick who plays Jay played such a convincing and moving part last night when he found out about Billy’s betrayal, I actually cried as he wept on Dawn’s shoulder. I suspect he may be in for an award for that performance, just as he won Best Dramatic Young Actor/Actress at the British Soap Awards in 2008… Read more & comment »
If Gordon Ramsay’s on a show, I’ll watch it. I’d watch the man if he posed as the test card for that matter, but it’s not just because he’s a total babe who gets all macho all over the shop and makes me go weak at the knees, it’s also because he actually really does turn businesses around.
One of the things that drives me nuts though – despite the fact that it makes for great watching – is that so many of the restaurateurs who call him in to save their businesses take absolutely no notice of what he says and/or have a pop at him! This was the case in last night’s episode of Kitchen Nightmares USA: The Secret Garden, and it was epic! Read more & comment »
