The TVWEEK - Saturday 8th May - Friday 14th May

Saturday
9.00pm Have I Got a Bit More Election News For You BBC2 - guest host Jo Brand, and guest panellists Lembit Opik MP and Jon Richardson.
Sunday
7.00pm The Seasons with Alan Titchmarsh ITV - Alan Titchmarsh presents a brand new four-part series in which he looks at the seasons of the year and how they define our lives and our landscape.
8.10pm Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections BBC2 - Richard Hammond investigates Wembley's record-breaking arch to discover the Engineering Connections behind the new high-tech home of English football.
9.00pm When Moyles Met the Radio 1 Breakfast DJ's BBC2 - DJ Chris Moyles looks at how the Radio 1 Breakfast Show has reflected life in Britain over the past 40 years, as he meets his predecessors in the early morning slot. Former hosts Mike Read, Mike Smith, Simon Mayo, Steve Wright, Zoe Ball, and Sara Cox reveal the highs and lows of their reigns on Breakfast, and Tony Blackburn ,who launched Radio 1 in 1967, explains why the Breakfast Show has always kept its finger on the pulse of the nation.
9.00pm The Box that Changed Britain BBC4 - Poet Roger McGough narrates the story of how a simple invention - the shipping container - changed the world forever and forced Britain into the modern era of globalisation. With a blend of archive and modern-day filming, the impact of the box is told through the eyes of dockers, seafarers, ship spotters, factory workers and logisticians.
10.00pm Blood on the Carpet BBC2 - The story of Radio 1 Controller Matthew Bannister and then Breakfast host Chris Evans.
Monday
4.35pm Junior Masterchef BBC1 - Four hopefuls, shortlisted from 2000 aspiring chefs, battle it out to be the best cook in the country. After a Toad in the Hole Masterclass from top chef John Torode, the four cooks try their hand. Whose dish will leave presenters John and Nadia Sawalha jumping for joy?
8.00pm Goodbye Blanche ITV - Friends and Colleagues pay tribute to Coronation Street's Maggie Jones.
9.00pm High Street Dreams BBC1 - 4-part series that sees Jo Malone and Nick Leslau help people with strong products market for the High Street. The Singh family from East London hand-produce their own recipe for chilli sauce within their garden shed. Can Jo and Nick help them get their product on the supermarket shelves?
9.00pm The Grumpy Guide to... BBC2 - The Eighties
9.00pm Wormwood Scrubs ITV - First episode of a new two-part documentary about the life of prisoners and staff at Wormwood Scrubs, one of Europe's largest prisons. This compelling episode focuses on the staff, and the severe conditions they work under. Cameras follow officers in the segregation unit as they attempt to manage one of the country's most disruptive offenders, and show staff trying to keep order in the aftermath of a suicide.
9.00pm Mark Lawson Talks to.. BBC4 - Timothy Spall
10.00pm Derren Brown Investigates Channel 4 - In this brand new series, Derren Brown hits the road to find out if some of the more extraordinary claims from around the world are actually true. He starts off by travelling to Liverpool to investigate the world of Joe Power, a psychic medium who claims he can communicate with the dead. Joe alleges that one of the many people he has made contact with is Liverpool's own John Lennon.
10.30pm Bizarre ER BBC3 - Freema Agyeman narrates a series focusing on the most extraordinary and eye-watering cases to come through the doors of a British A&E department. Featuring a man who accidentally barbecued his own buttocks; a builder impaled through the thigh on a metre-long metal pole; and a footballer wheeled in with his kneecap facing the wrong way
Wednesday
9.00pm The Junior Apprentice BBC1 - Lord Sugar is on the search for his first-ever Junior Apprentice. From over 28,000 applicants, 10 candidates compete for a tailor-made fund worth 25,000 pounds to kick-start a career in business. The teens are set their first business task - to sell 500 pounds worth of cheese at busy London market stalls. Working against the clock to make as many sales possible at the highest price, both teams are desperate to avoid a showdown with Lord Sugar in the boardroom.
Thursday
8.00pm Location, Location, Location Channel 4 - Return of the popular property series.
9.00pm All At Sea ITV - Three-part series in which a group of celebrity landlubbers embarks upon a journey along the south coast of England in a variety of different boats from luxury yachts to fishing trawlers. Richard Madeley, Dawn Porter, Nick Hancock, Rosemary Shrager, Bradley Walsh and Mark Durden-Smith split into two groups of three for their voyage.
9.00pm Autistic Superstars BBC3 - Two-part documentary in which Reggie Yates seeks out a cast of talented young people with autism to perform at a music event he is planning
9.00pm The Big Bang Theory E4 - The Second half of the third series of the American sitcom.

Luther - Haven't we seen it before?

Blogs such as this get a reputation online by actors which I guess is fair as it is relatively easy to sit in a chair in front of a computer and vent your frustrations at the world or in my case the television. The difference is though I really want to like any new drama, comedy, reality or documentary that any channel throws at me and I’m genuinely disappointed when something turns out to be a lame duck.

I haven’t been wowed or glued to my seat by much output at all this year and so when the BBC started heavily promoting new crime drama Luther I found myself subconsciously licking my lips. It sounded right up my alley, strong cast of familiar of names and faces, a writer with a strong lists of credits and it was new. Luther for those who didn’t watch episode 1 stars Edris Elba (The Wire) as hard nosed no nonsense copper who likes to get inside the heads of his suspects whilst fighting his own personal demons and struggling to hold his life together. Now from my short description alone you should be able to pick one key flaw of the series up. The main problem with Luther (this is putting all its little faults aside) was it wasn’t a new drama at all. In fact we’d seen it done a thousand times before.

In order to be blown away by or to just sit down and enjoy the first episode you need not to have seen any other crime drama in the past thirty years. The tormented character who would trash the office if he dropped a paper clip, whose marriage hit the rocks years ago but he somehow remains blissfully unaware and just to fit all the cop drama clichés John Luther is a maverick who doesn’t play by the rules!

Its so easy to judge a new series on its opening episode but its also really unfair but as we’ve only seen the first episode so far I must call it as we see it. Putting its clichés aside another thing that got my back up was just how irritating Luther and everyone that swarmed around him were. Luther’s boss played by the normally note worthy Saskia Reeves seemed bored by role and had somehow acquired a rough cockney ascent and other faces like Steven Mackintosh and Paul McGann were sadly underused. The only real outstanding member of the cast was Ruth Wilson as Luther’s sufficiently creepy Ruth Wilson as Luther’s new arch nemesis/murderer Alice Morgan. In some scenes I found myself wishing she would perhaps run towards Luther with a rusty nail just to give him a real a problem to deal with.

I also found the dialogue on the sloppy side but saying that it did provide perhaps my favourite line that any crime drama has ever produced. It was a simple line, but was seemingly pivotal to the plot. I am of course referring to the moment when Luther’s great mind realized the gun was in the dog! Apologies for any spoilers there but yes the gun was in the dog!

So in summary, despite all its promotion and my high hopes Luther failed to deliver on almost every level and will fall in the basket with every other clichéd crime drama we’ve quickly forgotten about in recent years. Shame really.

The Ricky Gervais Show - Is he Having a Laugh?

The cross-over between media formats frequently attract responses such as ‘it wasn’t as good as the book’ or ‘the game just doesn’t quite capture the experience of the movie’; but ‘we preferred the podcast to the cartoon’ is definitely a new one!

All credit to Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant for attempting something new and groundbreaking because that’s what they (usually) do best. However, just because they handed over their critically acclaimed and hugely popular podcast and audio book series for animation, doesn’t mean it has the right or the ability to turn to gold.

Knowing Gervais and Merchant’s reputations as notoriously hard workers and enthusiasm in their craft, it is likely that they had a high level of involvement with the production and animation of this programme. But instead, this isn’t apparent, the finished product appears lazy, shoddy and rushed-and will inevitably remain as the weak link in their long line of successful works.

As listeners to the original podcasts, we can honestly testify that they were always an enjoyable listen. Part of why they worked so perfectly was the podcast format. They are immensely travel friendly, half an hour of light hearted and surreal debates from the guys, make for great company. So perhaps the Gervais camp didn’t bare this in mind when they expected a mass Friday night audience to stare at cartoon avatars re-enact these same conversations for thirty minutes; this was then made worse by Channel 4 screening two episodes, so was therefore an hour of animated nonsense!

This show is obviously reserved for dedicated Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington followers, but to add insult to injury, they too are kicked in the nads by the fact that they are witnessing content that they are likely to have already downloaded!

In terms of dialogue, Gervais and Merchant are on good quick witted form. Whereas Karl Pilkington’s legendary status keeps us baffled. Who the hell is he? And does he realise that people are laughing at him as oppose to with? Because at points, his colleagues’ comments to him sounded like plain old bullying.

Overall, a poor effort from the Ricky Gervais camp, that results in awkward viewing as well as the general feeling that you are listening to something recorded a good while ago, a two fingered salute to many Gervais supporters. The worst thing about the series is that it didn't really need to happen in the first place. As previously stated the podcasts were brilliant as they were so if you did find yourself chuckling treat yourself to the podcasts and let your imagination do the rest.. I gaurntee it'll look better than the slap dash animation here.