As this year's series of Strictly Come Dancing reaches its final stages, Matt Donnelly looks at what makes the show special and how it has stayed relevant where other shows have long since fallen out of favour with the British public. September means many things to...
OPINION: How ‘Rectify’ brought arthouse to the TV screen and became a standout drama.
A look at one of the best dramas ever to air that you've never probably heard of. First aired Monday 22nd April 2013 2015 on SundanceTV Contributed by James Donaghy Placing murder front and centre of your prestige TV drama is a solid strategy. Nothing gets the blood...
OPINION: Why we should stop searching for more Game of Thrones and focus on ‘The Last Kingdom’
As broadcasters and streamers scramble to fill the void left by Game of Thrones, we look at how that show has been under our noses since 2015! First aired Thursday 22nd October 2015 on BBC Two Game of Thrones may have ended with a whimper rather than a bang, but its...
OPINION: Why we need to be shouting about the brilliant ‘What We Do in the Shadows’
Megan Hyland looks at the brilliance of What We Do in the Shadows and why the series hasn't caught on here in the UK and why that needs to change. My first experience of What We Do In The Shadows was watching the 2014 film halfway across the world with no furniture,...
OPINION: How Buffy formed the most important stages of my life.
"You could find yourself reflected in any of these women – or all of them – but what mattered most was that they were all powerful in their own ways, and as someone who saw themselves as more of a Tara than a Buffy, the idea that there could still be strength in...
OPINION: American Crime Story is one of the best of television and has no business being that!
American Crime Story is back. It's a show that attracts big names and asks them to play possibly bigger names like OJ Simpson, Gianni Versace and President Bill Clinton. It's also a show, in my opinion, that shouldn't be as riveting and exciting as it is. It actually...
OPINION: The Americans: Why this overlooked TV classic had me rooting for the “Evil Empire”
Over six seasons this espionage thriller dredged the psyche, setting the bar for character development and quietly changing the face of TV. Get ready to root for the “Evil Empire” First aired Wednesday 30th January 2013 on FX *The show's first two series actually...
OPINION: Why the BBC’s crime-musical drama ‘Blackpool’ still Rocks!
A Look back at one of the bravest, boldest and different crime dramas of the noughties"VIVA LAS VEGAS" - Peter Bowker's Blackpool.First aired Thursday 11th November 2004 on BBC One. Contributed by Michael Lee When Blackpool first launched on BBC...
Opinion: Why are the soaps struggling to be part of the conversation?
A look at how Soaps are struggling to create propper conversation in a wider and varied TV landscape from Alex Osborne from Walford Weekly Podcast Everyone has an opinion about soaps. What’s right? What’s wrong? If their ratings start to suffer then Streaming is...
OPINION: Cracker: A look at what made ITV’s crime drama so groundbreaking
A Look back at possibly the most important and influential British crime drama of the 90s'"I rehearsed the death of my father for years. I even got a little bored. I knew all my lines but he was still alive!" Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerlad Cracker 'The Mad Woman in the...
OPINION: Remembering the brilliance of the Twelfth Doctor
Remembering the brilliance of The Twelfth DoctorContributed by MiloDoctor Who has been experiencing a lot of change recently, but my favourite era of the revival show is without a doubt Peter Capaldi’s time as The Doctor. Maybe part of that is...
OPINION: What Can we Expect from Russell T. Davies’ Who Return?
Russell T. Davies’ return to Doctor Who was something that came as a complete shock, I wasn’t expecting it at all and it turns out, neither was anybody else – although the last few episodes of the Chibnall run seemed to harken back to the days of the Russell...
OPINION: Why ER is one of the best TV dramas ever made.
Around the same time as Boris was telling the nation, you must stay at home, I for reason, decided to finally binge US medical drama ER. It's not quite as a left-field of a choice as it may appear. My podcast colleague Matt had spoken about his love of the show on...
Opinion: Why ‘British-ness’ is a difficult to define and hard to find sometimes.
I started to write this as a response to John Whittingdale's White paper but whilst I was writing it, Whittingdale was removed from his post. It's still a worthy discussion about what constitutes 'British-ness' on television and which channels are performing the...
My vision for the future of thecustardtv.com
Those of you who have visited the site recently will know I've not been updating it. Yes, TV's been a little on the light side thanks to the football and Olympic coverage, but also I've been feeling slightly disillusioned with what the terrestrial broadcasters...
OPINION: Why the US remake of ‘This Country’ might fall foul of other US remakes.
I, of course, was one of those people who turned his nose up at the idea of a US network re-working The Office for an American audience. The show felt so British that any attempt to transfer for an American audience would unquestionably lose what made the...
OPINION: How will Line of Duty series 6 end?
Those who have been following my weekly Line of Duty reviews know that I've found this series to be a rollercoaster and not always in a positive. However, like everybody else, I am still intrigued to see how this series ends and what shocks Jed Mercurio has in store...
OPINION: The Streamers are moving away from ‘boxsetting’ and it makes for a more rewarding experience.
'Mother of God!' Such is the exclamation made by many a Line of Duty fan when they realise that they will have to wait an entire week to see how the latest cliffhanger is resolved. What kind of medieval torture is it to make the audience wait when streaming...
OPINION: Reviving Frasier is a risk and we hope lightning can strike twice.
Reviving a beloved sitcom might feel like a safe bet for TV commissioners, since the show already has an audience who will likely return to find out what their favourite characters are doing now, but it’s a much riskier move when it comes to delivering quality TV. In...
OPINION: Broadcasters risk alienating the next generation license fee payers.
There are a lot of problems facing traditional broadcaster. The first is the continual rise of streaming giants. Although, if I'm honest I'm talking solely about Netflix, as Apple TV+, Amazon and BritBox have yet to really pose any threat to the original behemoth....
OPINION: The BBC should stop trying to be Netflix.
The BBC seems a little confused at the moment. There's a consensus that no one is watching TV when it's on, which is an argument you hear constantly. It's also an argument that is immediately trounced all over when shows like Strictly Come Dancing or ITV's Des...