Born to Be Wild, BBC4
There's a man up a ladder, halfway up a cliff, using a long stick to grab seabirds so he can put rings on their feet and keep track of them. This is Bob Swann, a naturalist, and I suspect that when he goes to the fair he cleans up on the hook-a-duck stall. One of the enthusiasts featured on Born To Be Wild, the aptly named Swann has spent almost a quarter of a century checking nests.
His invaluable record has noted a vast decline in their numbers: in the last decade, he says, nest numbers here have shrunk from 46 to about 11, due to warmer seas and sand eel fishing taking the birds' food supply.
"My family say I'm obsessed ... but I've got a very low boredom threshold and it keeps me out of mischief," shrugged Swann, who visits them every few days. Well, if your idea of fun is ducking guano and listening to the screeches of shags, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes, I guess it does. Though come to think of it, it's not so very different from walking down Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman.
I'm taking another wee blogging break and should be back here by the 20th August. Happy watching!
Friday, 8 August 2008
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Telly News: 7/8/08
Robin Hood spoiler: I think it's great news. This series has so many problems, but for me, that's always been the biggest. I gave up watching after a couple of episodes, but very reluctantly because the basic story is so wonderful. There's just no comparison to Robin Of Sherwood.
Moving Wallpaper replaces Jason Donovan and Martine McCutcheon with zombies. Let the jokes begin!
Michael Grade appeals for ITV to be allowed to be more rubbish. Look, for all the talk of licences and contract rights, it's really very simple: if a TV channel doesn't want to make its own programmes and can't survive without cheating its viewers on phone-ins, what is the point of it?
Cilla Black leads the new Sky1 (as it's now renamed) lineup. Wow, doesn't that just make you want to rush out and get a subscription? Blind Date was terrible; Blind Date with computer gimmickry sounds worse. And more Ross Kemp, Bafta winner, Noel Edmonds, the charmless Wayne Rooney! Yet it still has lots of American shows that many will want to see, so it'll probably do okay. I'm sure Michael Grade will love it.
Sky1 has, however, nabbed the could-be-good new series from JJ Abrams, Fringe, starring Pacey and tomato-eating fiend Denethor.
The Wire's head honcho David Simon has a great-sounding new show about New Orleans.
Which American TV actor makes the most money? Keifer Sutherland, Hugh Laurie, someone from CSI or Law & Order? Nope. It's Charlie Sheen. For Two And A Half Men, a crappy sitcom. That's amazing! 'Course, it's nothing to what Will Mellor gets for Two Pints Of Lager.
Moving Wallpaper replaces Jason Donovan and Martine McCutcheon with zombies. Let the jokes begin!
Michael Grade appeals for ITV to be allowed to be more rubbish. Look, for all the talk of licences and contract rights, it's really very simple: if a TV channel doesn't want to make its own programmes and can't survive without cheating its viewers on phone-ins, what is the point of it?
Cilla Black leads the new Sky1 (as it's now renamed) lineup. Wow, doesn't that just make you want to rush out and get a subscription? Blind Date was terrible; Blind Date with computer gimmickry sounds worse. And more Ross Kemp, Bafta winner, Noel Edmonds, the charmless Wayne Rooney! Yet it still has lots of American shows that many will want to see, so it'll probably do okay. I'm sure Michael Grade will love it.
Sky1 has, however, nabbed the could-be-good new series from JJ Abrams, Fringe, starring Pacey and tomato-eating fiend Denethor.
The Wire's head honcho David Simon has a great-sounding new show about New Orleans.
Which American TV actor makes the most money? Keifer Sutherland, Hugh Laurie, someone from CSI or Law & Order? Nope. It's Charlie Sheen. For Two And A Half Men, a crappy sitcom. That's amazing! 'Course, it's nothing to what Will Mellor gets for Two Pints Of Lager.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Last Night's Telly: 6/8/08 - CSI Miami/The Secret Millionaire
CSI Miami, Five
The Secret Millionaire, Channel 4
There are times when criticism is meaningless (shut up at the back, I'm talking specifics here). David Caruso's performance in CSI Miami is such a case, so extraordinary that it's beyond any petty distinctions like "good" or "absolutely abominably awful" in having evolved into an art form in itself.
I believe that at one time, when he made his name in NYPD Blue, Caruso was thought of as a reasonable actor. He was pretty good in King Of New York, he played Broadway – so he must, one presumes, have been able to create realistic characters. But perhaps when his movie career failed to take off, something happened, something as mysterious as the crimes on CSI, but with a lot less microscopic evidence.
For now Caruso is a parody of a satire of a stereotype of himself as Horatio Caine, not so much speaking his dialogue as letting it escape.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman.
The Secret Millionaire, Channel 4
There are times when criticism is meaningless (shut up at the back, I'm talking specifics here). David Caruso's performance in CSI Miami is such a case, so extraordinary that it's beyond any petty distinctions like "good" or "absolutely abominably awful" in having evolved into an art form in itself.
I believe that at one time, when he made his name in NYPD Blue, Caruso was thought of as a reasonable actor. He was pretty good in King Of New York, he played Broadway – so he must, one presumes, have been able to create realistic characters. But perhaps when his movie career failed to take off, something happened, something as mysterious as the crimes on CSI, but with a lot less microscopic evidence.
For now Caruso is a parody of a satire of a stereotype of himself as Horatio Caine, not so much speaking his dialogue as letting it escape.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Telly News: 5/8/08
You wouldn't think that Michael Palin could offend anyone these days, but he's been ticked off about comments he made in his travel series New Europe about the Balkan Wars.
Der Bill: I don't have enough German to really make a proper joke, so I'll just link to the story about how The Bill is teaming up with a German cop show, SOKO Leipzig.
Even more Battlestar Galactica to come (maybe they'd have an easier job wrapping it up if they hadn't meandered so much in the most recent episodes, eh?).
Nigel Lythgoe is stepping down from American Idol - but it probably won't change much.
Diddy TV: ol' Puff tries to find an Apprentice.
Oh, Adrian Lester. So pretty ... so loyal ... so wrong. I must admit I did enjoy the first few episodes of Bonekickers, probably the only critic in the country not to give it a total pasting. And I happily continued watching. However the last couple of episodes (still to be shown) have broken me: the conclusion to it all is just SO stupid and annoying that I could no longer make excuses for it. It didn't work; move on Adrian (ideally to succeed David Tennant in Dr Who, but whatever).
Der Bill: I don't have enough German to really make a proper joke, so I'll just link to the story about how The Bill is teaming up with a German cop show, SOKO Leipzig.
Even more Battlestar Galactica to come (maybe they'd have an easier job wrapping it up if they hadn't meandered so much in the most recent episodes, eh?).
Nigel Lythgoe is stepping down from American Idol - but it probably won't change much.
Diddy TV: ol' Puff tries to find an Apprentice.
Oh, Adrian Lester. So pretty ... so loyal ... so wrong. I must admit I did enjoy the first few episodes of Bonekickers, probably the only critic in the country not to give it a total pasting. And I happily continued watching. However the last couple of episodes (still to be shown) have broken me: the conclusion to it all is just SO stupid and annoying that I could no longer make excuses for it. It didn't work; move on Adrian (ideally to succeed David Tennant in Dr Who, but whatever).
Monday, 4 August 2008
Last Night's Telly: 4/7/08 - We Are Together / Passage
We Are Together, Channel 4, Saturday
Passage – The John Rae Story, BBC2, Sunday
What is Agape? Let 12-year-old Slindile explain: "It's a place where children live … for beautiful children!" She giggled. "OK, it's a place for children where ... oh no ... it's a place for children who don't have parents." But she was right first time, because We Are Together – an intensely moving film about the Agape Children's Home for Aids orphans in South Africa – did indeed feature beautiful children, singing beautifully.
The orphanage, run by a large lady called "Grandma" Zodwa, offers the children "unconditional love", sends them to school and teaches them music. Slindile Moya and four of her siblings went there after their parents died; three older siblings live at home, unable to earn enough to feed them, but it was clear they were still very close. In fact, they had a song about it, which went "We are together, we are a family," a haunting, odd little refrain which echoed through young filmmaker Paul Taylor's documentary.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman.
Passage – The John Rae Story, BBC2, Sunday
What is Agape? Let 12-year-old Slindile explain: "It's a place where children live … for beautiful children!" She giggled. "OK, it's a place for children where ... oh no ... it's a place for children who don't have parents." But she was right first time, because We Are Together – an intensely moving film about the Agape Children's Home for Aids orphans in South Africa – did indeed feature beautiful children, singing beautifully.
The orphanage, run by a large lady called "Grandma" Zodwa, offers the children "unconditional love", sends them to school and teaches them music. Slindile Moya and four of her siblings went there after their parents died; three older siblings live at home, unable to earn enough to feed them, but it was clear they were still very close. In fact, they had a song about it, which went "We are together, we are a family," a haunting, odd little refrain which echoed through young filmmaker Paul Taylor's documentary.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman.
Saturday, 2 August 2008
This Week's Telly: 2/8/08
Marple
ITV Sunday 8pm
The WI Guide To Brothels
Channel 4 Sunday 10pm
EastEnders
BBC1 Friday 8pm
In movies, they say there are three roles for women: girlfriend, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy. In TV, it's girlfriend, pub landlady and Miss Marple, in some form or other. The real thing is back this week, in the last run of Agatha Christie adaptations with Geraldine McEwan before Julia McKenzie takes over, fresh from Cranford, in which nearly the entire cast was comprised of Miss Marples.
These recent Marple mysteries have played fast and loose with the plots, with McEwan's beady-eyed biddy finding herself with a sudden adulterous past and apparently unperturbed by randomly changed storylines, Nazis, various now-gay characters, a Mini-Marple in the form of Martine McCutcheon and even Louis Armstrong.
But this latest, "Towards Zero", is relatively untouched, with a much more traditional Christie plot and the usual array of familiar faces in every role: Tom Baker, Greg Wise, Saffron Burrows, Julian Sands, Alan Davies, Greg Rusedski, Jeanette Krankie, Clint Eastwood, Basil Brush, etc, etc. Not a passing postman or a teashop waitress appears but they are six-year veterans of the RSC, which does at least avoid the older adaptations' flaw that the famous actor who seemed to playing some obscure bit part was immediately obvious as the murderer.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman. (Despite the byline, it is actually one of mine)
ITV Sunday 8pm
The WI Guide To Brothels
Channel 4 Sunday 10pm
EastEnders
BBC1 Friday 8pm
In movies, they say there are three roles for women: girlfriend, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy. In TV, it's girlfriend, pub landlady and Miss Marple, in some form or other. The real thing is back this week, in the last run of Agatha Christie adaptations with Geraldine McEwan before Julia McKenzie takes over, fresh from Cranford, in which nearly the entire cast was comprised of Miss Marples.
These recent Marple mysteries have played fast and loose with the plots, with McEwan's beady-eyed biddy finding herself with a sudden adulterous past and apparently unperturbed by randomly changed storylines, Nazis, various now-gay characters, a Mini-Marple in the form of Martine McCutcheon and even Louis Armstrong.
But this latest, "Towards Zero", is relatively untouched, with a much more traditional Christie plot and the usual array of familiar faces in every role: Tom Baker, Greg Wise, Saffron Burrows, Julian Sands, Alan Davies, Greg Rusedski, Jeanette Krankie, Clint Eastwood, Basil Brush, etc, etc. Not a passing postman or a teashop waitress appears but they are six-year veterans of the RSC, which does at least avoid the older adaptations' flaw that the famous actor who seemed to playing some obscure bit part was immediately obvious as the murderer.
To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman. (Despite the byline, it is actually one of mine)
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Telly News: 31/7/08
I've been carefully avoiding all stories about The Riches (the series with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver trying to con their way into suburbia) because I so loved the first series that I wanted to be unspoilt for the second. However, the show's not yet been renewed for a third series in the US and according to this story, its showrunners seem to be moving on. What a disappointment! I hope they managed to at least wrap things up well at the end of the second series, then.
New cast member for Primeval (seriously, Douglas Henshall, get out of there too).
New cast member for Primeval (seriously, Douglas Henshall, get out of there too).
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