It’s hard to believe that, in the realm of greatest love stories told by the BBC - alongside Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, and Fleabag and the Hot Priest - we have a Welsh truck driver/sometime bouncer and a dodgy Essex plumber who never kiss, yet that’s what Gavin...
This year the BBC turns 100. Fundamental to Britain and funded by licence fee payers, the BBC has garnered a worldwide reputation for quality. For this special post highlighting the highlights of the corporation's massive contribution to television, I've decided to...
In a recent article I bemoaned returning comedies, but without wishing to step all over my well made points I think Catherine Tate has managed to do it successfully. In her one-off resurrection of foul mouthed Joanie Taylor Tate has breathed new life into the...
Earlier this year I was sent back to school. Well OK, not quite but I was sat in a room with considerably younger and cooler people than myself which was basically my school experience really. I had a chance to speak to the pupils of Bad Education. A lot of praise was...
In May I was lucky enough to find myself in a room with the cast and crew of BBC3's brilliant comedy Bad Education as they shot scenes for the upcoming second series. For those of you unlucky enough to miss out of the first series, it centres on Alfie Wickers (played...
The second series of Bad Education hits IPlayer today a full week before it returns to BBCThree. Here is my on-set interview with star and co-writer Jack Whitehall. What was it like coming back for series 2? There was a bit of pressure but it's been great. I found the...
What was it like? Like many sketch shows, it was hit and miss. Liking any parts of this particular episode feels like a guilty pleasure. It has the quotable factor; we were re-enacting lines the following morning besides the office water cooler. Therefore, this show...
Did we like it? “It’s Chriiiisssstmaaasss!” hollers Smithy down the phone to Gavin, and indeed it is. Unlike some Christmas specials whose only relevance to this time of year is the transmission date, our December date with the Shipmans and the Wests was the...
The Surgery, BBC2Dreadful youth programme with the unremarkable Jeff Leach appearing as the trendy version of Kilroy in a yawnsome discussion on dating. Harry Hill's TV Burp, ITV1 ...and we have shock news. We were unimpressed by two items (the Heartbeat shaving foam...
I Know My Kid’s a Star You’ll be happy to know I’ve found my perfect job in television. One that will guarantee me some screen time on one of the BBC’s biggest reality series but with only the one crucial line to remember. That’s right, I want to take over from...
Did we like it? We won’t lie to you – truth be told, the return of this Essex/Wales sitcom is as welcome as a Grand Slam to a Welsh rugby fan. And fair play, at the end of the day, the writers and cast have managed to keep the quality of this second series as high as...
Last week I was lucky enough to speak to actress and Gavin & Stacey writer Ruth Jones. The series which premiered on BBC3 last year has become a favourite of mine. The series scooped Ruth and writing partner James Corden the best comedy newcomer and best new TV...
Did we like it? Given the hype for this show we were half-expecting the televisual equivalent of the Second Coming, and while it’s not quite as celestial as that we are sure that if God found this excellent newborn comedy abandoned in a dustbin He would wrap it in...
The Catherine Tate Show, BBC2, Thursday 27 October 2006 Did we like it? BBC2 has delivered a strong comedy line-up on Thursdays recently (That Mitchell & Webb Look, Mock The Week, Extras) and the welcome return of Ms Tate certainly didn’t dent its highly...
Highlights • Granny Taylor is watching A Touch Of Frost. "Del Boy, he's got a moustache and become a policeman. Wears a little pork pie hat and a macintosh." • The non-gay Derek is shocked by panto director Ursula (Una Stubbs – hooray). First she forgets to tell him...