Sunday 27 September 2009

in spiked 24/9/2009


Not anti-war so much as anti-hope


Slaughterhouse-Five, a fatalistic, despairing work, is perfect radio listening for a Sunday afternoon.

in spiked 18/9/2009


Keith Floyd and the end of an era


It’s not the death of the wine-soaked celebrity chef that has been changing TV cookery shows, but the recession

in spiked 11/9/2009


A TV postcard from Dublin


Forget about the Lisbon Treaty vote and the economic crisis, the burning topic in Ireland is the new Late Late Show host

in spiked 28/8/2009


The Futurists’ assault on our lugholes


Most of us associate Futurism with painting, but as Radio 3 recently revealed they made music - well, noise - too

in spiked 21/8/2009


Science TV strikes back


After a decade of decline, the semi-silly science programme is making a comeback – will it inspire kids to become geniuses?

in spiked 14/8/2009


An obituary to 
a once-great station


The eclectic mix of re-runs on ITV4 remind us that mainstream, commercial television could be great.

in spiked 7/8/2009


There’s nothing wrong with good repeats


Instead of rubbish new productions, cash-strapped channels like ITV should plunder their vaults for some TV gold

in spiked 30/7/2009


Why I prefer to Wake Up To Wogan


The Irish veteran's warm-hearted whimsy is far preferable to the quarrelsome heavyweight news on Today

in spiked 24/7/2009


Why does everyone want to be Irish?


From Angela's Ashes to Who Do You Think You Are?, the Emerald Isle is still a reliable source of self-pity

in spiked 10/7/2009


British TV’s sci-fi inferiority complex


Swearier, flashier, gayer and set in Cardiff, BBC’sDr Who spin-off Torchwood shows UK sci-fi can’t take itself seriously.

in spiked 3/7/2009


NASA: ‘Risk is the price of progress’


A brilliant documentary on the Apollo missions reminds us that, yes, going to space is a risky business, but it's worth it

in spiked 25/6/2009


Letting Ordinary Joe loose on the nation


Radio producers think phone-in shows are democratic. In truth they’re stuffed with whiny, clichéd invective

in spiked 19/6/2009


Funny women need to develop some balls


If TV panel shows are confrontational and laddish, female performers should stop moaning and get stuck in

in spiked 12/6/2009


Mitchell and Webb: third time unlucky


The third series of the comedy duo’s sketch show is too self-referential and knowing to be funny

in spiked 5/6/2009


Hey, let's all have a laugh at the past!


BBC4’s Meet the British showed us how the UK saw itself in the past, but only to snigger at our forebears’ misplaced optimism

in spiked 28/5/2009


Freud: not such a moody bastard


The Radio 4 tribute to Clement Freud showed that the BBC at least still does good radio

in spiked 22/5/2009


Why are so many people blank about verse?


BBC One’s Why Poetry Matters was a noble idea, but it proved to be more patronising than inspiring.

In Culture Wars, October 23, 2008


It is a cliché that today we live in a culture obsessed by ‘celebrity’, with the lumpen proletariat forever fawning over the minutiae of talentless non-entities who are famous merely for being famous. The popularity and power wielded by Hello!magazine, the profusion of famous nobodies spawned from and spewed out by Channel Four’s Big Brother and other reality television programmes, are often cited as proof of this cultural phenomenon. Perhaps the most visible evidence of our celebrity culture can be witnessed at local newsagents, which now sell a cornucopia of cheap magazine titles devoted entirely to the inexplicably famous.

in spiked 15/5/2009


Picking fights is just as human as taking flight


This week’s Horizon programme on violence showed that even pacifists can get a kick out of a punch-up

in spiked 1/5/2009


How the bottle gets the Best of you


BBC2’s Best: His Mother’s Son was a poignant tale about how alcoholism can ruin the lives of the most unlikely people

in spiked 23/4/2009


Comedy’s man of steel


Mark Steel's sharp and self-deprecatory humour shines through in his new laugh-out-loud radio show

in spiked 17/4/2009


A freakshow dressed up as documentary


Embarrassing Bodies is only a symptom of the deeper disease of dumbing down that now afflicts Channel 4

in spiked 9/4/2009


The world’s most deadly TV genre


As yet another ‘world’s toughest job’ show, Oil Riggers feels like a substandard rip-off with a Texan accent

in spiked 3/4/2009


Unoriginal, sterotypical, geeky — and very funny


Cult comedy Red Dwarf, set on a spaceship, is returning to our TV screens, with an injection of postmodern irony

in spiked 20/3/2009


Robert Peston: the most annoying man on TV?


Forget Fred the Shred: in his weird, garbled tones, it’s the BBC’s business editor who’s been talking us into a recession

in spiked 26/2/2009


The science of sleep


As two BBC documentaries revealed this week, we really need those 40 winks; without them, we'd go mad

in spiked 20/2/2009


The Amish are more American than you think


Amish communities are often depicted as a monolithic ‘Other’ to modern society, but the truth is far more complex

in spiked 6/2/2009


The all-new Minder: a passable knock-off


It’s a nice little earner for Shane Richie, but the remake of the Eighties favourite takes a few ‘diabolical liberties’

in spiked 29/1/2009


Expletives: the good, the bad and the crude


Yes, swearing can be a substitute for real humour. But used wisely and judiciously it can also be subversively witty

in spiked 23/1/2009


The changing climate of weather forecasts


From isobars and trained meteorologists to 3-D graphics and pretty faces, the evolution of weather forecasts is telling

in spiked 16/1/2009


The boring but 
beautiful game


We should resist demands to ‘sex up’ snooker: this sport requires patience, silence, decency and dickie bows

in spiked 9/1/2009


A shooting star in the comedy firmament


True or false: the one-off Christmas special of Vic and Bob’s cult quiz show proved it still has comedy cache?

in spiked 19/12/2008


Is this the end for the TV reviewer?


Multi-channel, multi-platform TV limits moments of shared viewing - and the need for someone to write about them

in spiked 5/12/2008


How to broaden the viewer’s mind


As the BBC’s recent Horizon programme proves, challenging, thought-provoking TV just needs a little time

in spiked 28/11/2008


Survivors: we’re bad and we deserve to die


The BBC’s new series, in which millions are wiped out by a virus, is perfectly attuned to the gloom of the moment

in spiked 20/11/2008


Stalin and Hitler were both evil? Go figure!


The BBC’s latest high-profile documentary on the Second World War finds a new way to tell us the blindingly obvious.

in spiked 14/11/2008


A heartwarming display of class contempt


Channel 4’s Rich Kid, Poor Kid was a hackneyed examination of class warfare. But it was touching all the same.

in spiked 7/11/2008


World’s Largest Metaphor Hits Iceberg 


The Unsinkable Titanic told the story of the doomed liner without the usual waves of misanthropy and anti-science

in spiked 31/10/2008


How the soap kills the murder plot


Murder mysteries are titillating and intriguing in literary and cinematic forms, but TV just can’t seem to pull them off.

in spiked 23/10/2008


Your spin-off for 10…


From The Colbys to Joey, TV is known for its dodgy spin-offs. Now even a quiz show is spawning new versions

in spiked 17/10/2008


Apollo 13: a triumph over adversity


A TV doc reminds us that even failed space missions can be inspiring. Surely it’s time we returned to the moon?

in spiked 10/10/2008


Unhappy birthday 
to 
This Morning


Trite, inconsequential, and aimed at bored women: why celebrate this show?

in spiked 26/9/2008


Why I’ve changed my mind about Piers Morgan


He used to be a sleazy hack, but the formerMirror editor’s honest interviewing style is a breath of fresh air

in spiked 19/9/2008


In praise of the ‘Nazi Channel’


UKTV History shows that commercial channels can provide enlightening programming, too

in spiked 12/9/2008


The 9/11 faker: suffering as celebrity


Tania Head, who achieved fame posing as a survivor of 9/11, grasped the source of modern celebrity: victimhood

in spiked 5/9/2008


Why Metallica should never have cut their hair


Forget indie and punk and their conformist ‘anti-establishment’ views. Heavy metal is the real music of rebellion

in spiked 28/8/2008


Who does Jerry Springer think he is?


It was a bit much to watch the creator of hundreds of TV victims posing as an ersatz ‘Holocaust victim’ on BBC1

in spiked 1/8/2008


The Countdown to the end


With Des O’Connor and Carol Vorderman departing, the end is nigh for Channel 4’s words and numbers quiz