I don’t know how I’ve managed to miss the previous series of The Thick of It, but I’ve employed someone to kick me up the backside for it. Just twice a day – it’s a part time position – but enough to remind me that TV critics need to be more on the ball.

However, having now watched the opener of the new series on Saturday night, the DVDs of episodes gone will be on my Christmas list.

And perhaps it’s not the worst thing in the world that I came at it with ‘new’ eyes because of course that way, I can’t mourn the passing of some of the characters but can celebrate the introduction of Nicola Murray – giftedly played by Rebecca Front. Read more & comment »

It’s a great week on TV again this coming week, with loads of classic films, new series and the return of some old favourites, so here are our recommendations for the next seven days viewing… Read more & comment »

Friday night’s TV was an embarrassment of riches, such was the quality of shows on offer, but it was also an annoying toss-up between watching the final instalment of Criminal Justice or Benidorm. As I don’t have Sky+, I decided to watch Benidorm and catch-up on Criminal Justice on BBC’s iPlayer, which is without doubt a superior on-demand service to ITV’s.

So which was better? Well, they were both equally brilliant, but I’ll start with the last part of Criminal Justice. When I first watched it and Juliet got sentenced to five years for manslaughter – to serve two-and-a-half years before consideration of parole – I felt it was a bit of an anti-climax, however, having thought about it, I can now see why Moffat wrote the ending that way… Read more & comment »

Oh it’s so good to be back with the misfits and freaks in Benidorm! The Oracle, his mum/PA, gayer than gay Gavin and Troy and of course, the leather skinned, miserable and constantly cruel Madge, and the rest of the long suffering Garvey family.

Mick’s still fighting his dislike of step-father-in-law Mel in the hope that when he dies, Mick and Janice will inherit his fortune. And Mel’s got a new business venture to add to that fortune too; selling and hiring out mobility scooters, with his selling point being, “You don’t have to be a cripple” in order to enjoy a mobility scooter; you just have to be a lazy git.

Sheridan Smith added to the going-with-a-bang start to the new series, starring as she did as gobby scouser Brandy, who’s rather inexplicably friends with the buttoned-up Martin. He’s now single, his wife having apparently gone off to be miserable elsewhere, and he fancies a snifter of Brandy… Read more & comment »

I’m so chuffed that a new series of Benidorm is starting tonight, I just felt compelled to pen a Why I LOVE about it… because love it I do, as I know millions of us Brits do.

And I suspect we love it so much because there’s someone we all know in that cast of misfits and typical-Brits-abroad who holiday year after year at the all-inclusive Solana resort.

Written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, the first ever episode of Benidorm aired on Thursday 1st February 2007 and I was hooked, along with several million others… Read more & comment »

I’ve only ever seen about three episodes of Doc Martin, and those occasions have really been by accident rather than intent, but after watching last night’s episode, I have to applaud the formula; it’s the same one that makes shows such as Jam & Jerusalem and Vicar of Dibley work.

It seems to go something like this…

Make quirkiness your main ingredient – in this instance, a people hating GP who’s also haemophobic – and lob in loads of other characters with quirks. Mix them all together in a picturesque village setting, add liberal amounts of one-liners and puns then garnish with a love interest or two.

And it clearly works, for Doc Martin has a viewership more loyal than your average Labrador. Read more & comment »

There’s a cracking line-up of telly treats this week as we say goodbye to September and hello to October.

There are brand new series beginning this coming week, such as FlashForward – which I personally can’t wait to see – and the return of some old favourites such as Benidorm, which is guaranteed to bring some much welcome sunshine into our ever drawing-in Friday nights.

So here’s what we’ve hand picked to recommend you watch in the next seven days… Read more & comment »

Can you believe we’re nearly officially into Autumn?? It’s shocking!

However, with the return of darker nights and shorter days, at least the TV line-ups tend to improve somewhat, so as we go boldly into September, here’s what we recommend you take a squiz at on telly next week… Read more & comment »

This show just gets better and better. The characters are all so believable, even the most extreme ones – such as Rosie, Dawn French’s character – that, as a viewer, I could imagine catching a train to Clatterford and meeting them all in the pub.

And Jennifer Saunders has managed to pull off that most tricksome of comedic juxtapositions; that of dropping in a bombshell of sadness spang in the middle of a laugh out loud situation. Caroline Aherne does it with aplomb too.

In last night’s episode, we saw horsey-stiff-upper-lip type Caroline – played by Jennifer – watching a video message from her son Chris in Afghanistan. Her husband had refused to show it to her, fearing she’d get “emotional” about it, but Sal insisted that she should watch it. Read more & comment »

Sue Johnston, who plays Sal in Jam & Jerusalem, has told Reveal magazine that, even though her character is soon to have a new “love interest”, she won’t be starring in any sex scenes.

Sue, who’s 65 said, “I’m no Helen Mirren” and added that TV “frolicking” should be left to younger people.

“It’s much better to show frolicking youngsters making love – no one wants to see wrinklies at it. Like in real life, it should be done behind closed doors… Read more & comment »

What an absolute joy this was, and with a cast that reads like the Who’s Who of the comedy world, it couldn’t go wrong, particularly given that Jennifer Saunders writes the script.

I don’t know quite how I’ve managed it, but I’ve missed series one and two entirely, so having watched last night’s opener to series three, I know what box set I’ll be asking Father Christmas for this year.

Everyone plays their parts marvellously; Sue Johnston, Pauline McLynn, Sally Phillips, David Mitchell, Maggie Steed, Dawn French, Susie Aitchison and Rosie Cavaliero combine to create a formidable tour de force, and it’s utterly believable and exceptionally funny. Watching the show made me want to relocate to Clatterford in Devon immediately if not sooner… Read more & comment »

Praise be! It looks like we might be getting a whole weekend of decent weather across most of the country, so you might not want to be indoors much, but later in the week, when the weather turns grotty again, you’ll want to know what’s worth watching.

Well, that’s what we’re here for! So here are our Primetime Picks of what’s coming up on telly this coming week… Read more & comment »

With yet another week of rain on the cards, you could well end up being housebound, so, in order to keep you entertained, here are our recommendations for something groovy to watch every single day next week! Read more & comment »

Is it just me or is Greg Davies – who plays Greg in this show and Mr Gilbert in the Inbetweeners – actually Rik Mayall’s twin or some kind of cloning doppelganger? He looks like Rik, talks like Rik, has the comedic slapstick thing and gurning going on like Rik… seriously, the man IS Rik Mayall! It’s positively spooky!

I realise this may be old news to people familiar with Greg, but as I never watch Inbetweeners, and have never seen him in anything else, it’s the first time I’ve encountered him and his resemblance to Rik.

Anyway, I’ll stop obsessing about that now and move on to a review of We Are Klang. Here’s what the BBC says of this new show; “Extremely clever at being stupid, if.comeddie award-nominees We Are Klang bring their unique brand of comedic high-jinks to television.

“Filmed in front of a live studio audience, their new show is the offspring of traditional sitcom and cutting-edge live comedy.”

Erm, I’d have to disagree a tad there. Are there funny scenes? Yes. Are there funny one liners? Yes. But somehow, despite having the right ingredients, the comedic cake that cooked in front of said live audience turned out rather flat… it just didn’t work. Read more & comment »

As part of BBC’s Grey Expectations – you see what they did there? Class – season of programmes about aging, the second part of Getting On was every bit as brilliant as the first episode.

On the geriatric ward, chaos is barely contained by Den and Kim – Joanna Scanlon and Jo Brand respectively – but last night, they had a male on their all female ward and Dr Pippa Moore – played by Vicki Pepperdine with utter believability – wasn’t happy…

“There’s the masturbation factor…” she told Sister Den, but Den pointed out the fact that as the young man had both arms in plaster attached to a frame, that probably wasn’t going to be an issue.

The writing of this show is awesome; dark, funny, satirical and incredibly relatable, it absolutely deserves a shed full of awards for Brand, Pepperdine and Scanlon who wrote it and of course, act the main parts.

All three of them are totally convincing in their roles and rib achingly funny. For instance, when manic depressive Ivy was brought onto the ward following a head injury, she soon displayed a plethora of unpleasant characteristics. She called Kim a “fat lezzer” to which she replied, “Well I’m fat but I’m not a lezzer”. Read more & comment »