Armando Iannucci’s political comedy returns for a new series and begins on “Reshuffle Day” at No. 10. Nicola Murray is so far down the list of prospective ministers that Malcolm Tucker doesn’t even have a file on her. But when the job at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship is turned down by everybody else, there’s no option but to promote her to the Cabinet.
It’s The Banker’s favourite time of year – Halloween is where he gets to inflict even more pain and suffering on the poor, unsuspecting contestants. And this year, he is not alone – it seems the Dream Factory has been possessed by the evil spirits of his miserly ancestors. Combining incredible costumes and makeup with state-of-the-art visual effects and breathtaking set design, the Dream Factory has been utterly transformed into a truly sinister world somewhere just beyond our own.
Whether it is Bognor Regis or Rome, it is time to put your memories to the test as 212 are running a fantastic competition which offers users a chance to win a trip for 2 to New York City. When you download the 212 SEXY PLACES widget you’ll have a chance to enter a competition to win one of two weekend city breaks to New York! Simply tell 212 Sexy your favourite ‘Sexy Places’ using the widget on this page and you’ll automatically be entered into the draw.
I’d expected this documentary on Sky1 to be depressing, and in many ways, it was, but at the same time, there was something uplifting about it, and I suspect that came about because of filmmaker Chloe Ruthven’s obvious fondness for the subjects of her film, Mario and Nini.
Ruthven first met the boys in 2003 when she was working in a London primary school. Her job was to offer extra tuition to the kids who were falling behind in class, and in order to liven it up, she brought in a camera one day and the rest became the history of the boys’ childhoods.
And it was a regrettably familiar history; poverty, a failing education system and a society entrenched in gang culture meant that as the boys grew, they reflected back what their particular society had taught them. Most notably, this was that violence is commonplace and cool, and that crime pays, if you don’t mind the odd stint in the nick that is. Read more & comment »
Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer return for a brand new series. In this edition they house hunt for two young couples in Hertfordshire. Martine Wright and Nick Wiltshire met in 2003 and are about to get married. On 7 July 2005, Martine lost both legs in the London bombings. She spent a tough year learning to walk again. Now these nearlyweds are finally able to look to the future and need a home where they can settle down and raise their family. Dina Mistry and Pradeep Patel are also making up for lost time: they have been trying to escape their cramped Finchley flat for almost a year.
Wednesday 5 August 2009
8:00pm, Channel 4
Overwhelmingly, the impression I got from this film is that the trouble with the girls who were the subjects of the film, Shona and Abbie, is that they are the sub-class that is dragging this country into the gutter and leaving it to die there.
They’re career criminals, as young as they are, and expend a great deal of energy in committing petty crimes. Petty that is unless you’re on the receiving end of their crimes. If they put as much energy and thought into getting a job as they do actively avoiding one, most of their ‘problems’ would be solved.
Abbie who’s 17 and Shona who’s 20 – though filmmaker Jo Hughes sounded like she was saying “Shauna” but the copy says, “Shona” – are poster girls for everything that’s loathable about Britain today. They’re arrogant, they’re aggressive, they have no respect for anyone or anything and believe it’s their right to have, have and have some more, without having to lift a finger – other than a light one – to achieve gain. Read more & comment »
TheManslator tells women how it really is, simply ask it what a man really means. Also catch the trailer for The Ugly Truth, a new movie starring Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl.
Made by the team behind Secret Millionaire, this new three-part series aims – in part – to show, “just what it means to grow up in poverty in 21st century Britain.” It also shows what it’s like to live on the opposite side of that coin and be financially in a position to help others who’re less fortunate.
And I have to say, based on the glimpses we’d had of the show in ads for it, I’d made several assumptions that – happily – turned out to be completely wrong.
Christine and Ken Brotherston – parents to Grace aged 9 and Charlie aged 13 – decided that they would like to sponsor a family in this country, and to that end, they chose the Gumpo family. To be honest, I think I’d expected the Brotherston family to be kind but perhaps a little smug with it, or at least, somewhat supercilious, but as I found out in the course of the show, they were far from either of those things… Read more & comment »
I spent most of this show alternately lifting my feet up off the floor and itching. The former was because the sight of rats scurrying around on the TV made me instinctively feel like they were running round me, and the latter because we were treated to a scene where big fat bed bugs were rampantly taking over a teenaged boy’s bedroom.
Welcome to the workaday lives of Ricky and Jimmy Clark, Pest Controllers. Their third team mate is terrier Charlie who loves nothing more than hunting out rats. According to Ricky, London’s rat population is booming with an increase of around 400% this year. That’s scary, and yet again, I’m patting myself on the back because I live up North where there are – I’m sure – rats, but I don’t think they out number people. I hope.
So this show took us into the heart of the action with Ricky, Jimmy and Charlie who dealt with not only rats last night but a rotting dead cat, a frenzied trapped pigeon and the aforementioned bed bugs… Read more & comment »
I tried really hard during this show to put aside my thoughts about the actual age of the women featured in this Channel 4 documentary – all of whom wanted desperately to be mothers, or already were – but it wasn’t that easy.
I had a constant running battle going on in my head about the whole thing; one part of my psyche was screaming “Nature didn’t intend a 70 year old to be a mother – that’s why we have menopause!” while another part was arguing, “Yes, but if nature had its way and medical intervention wasn’t on the cards, anyone with appendicitis would die.”
No, I’m not schizophrenic or anything and don’t normally have opposing voices arguing in my head, but whilst my debacle over nature versus science raged on, the arguments over the suitability of a pensioner to raise a baby were overwhelmingly on the side of the “it’s not right” brigade… Read more & comment »
I recently – and rather belatedly it seems – found that the BBC currently has a live beta version of its “simulcasting” service which, as you can see here, streams shows from the BBC as they’re appearing on TV. There’s a small disclaimer on the page which states, “Don’t forget – to watch TV online as it’s being broadcast, you still need a TV Licence.”
Now, in all honesty, if you don’t own a TV set or any equipment that flags you up on the Licensing Authority’s database as owning such gubbins – and therefore making you liable to pay the license fee – would you really pay the fee of £142.50, knowing that you can’t be detected watching BBC online? I have to say, I wouldn’t. In fact, were it not for the fact that I’d face a fine of possibly £1000, I wouldn’t pay it at all.
This made me question the fairness of the TV license fee given that if you have a computer and a broadband connection, you can watch the BBC for free, and you can’t be detected doing so. But if you don’t have those facilities and watch TV on a telly, you can and will be fined if you don’t buy a TV license. Read more & comment »
Michelle Collins has hit out at TV bosses for being ageist in a recent interview.
The former Eastenders actress has recently auditioned for Desperate Housewives and told The Daily Mirror:
“Do you really want to see perfect-looking men and women all the time?”
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