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Heads Up: Shakespeare's History Plays

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

What are we talking about? Four new films, commissioned by the BBC, of William Shakespeare's history plays Richard II, Henry IV Parts I and II, and Henry V.

My Secret Life: Jo Whiley, 47, radio DJ

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

My parents were... at the heart of everything wherever we lived; they were the ones organising the Jubilee party, the toy library, swimming clubs, fundraising...

Television choices: Do you feel lucky, punk? A right rotten retrospective

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

TV pick of the week: Punk Britannia

Grace Dent on Television: Harlots, Housewivs and Heroines - a 17th Century History for Girls, BBC4

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Once upon a time, history lessons were no place for girls. Thank you gods of telly for BBC4's Dr Lucy Worsley, vehemently shoving the "she" back into tales of yore. How I'd have loved this as a child. My GCSE Second World War lessons consisted of endless Pathé News footage of the British patriarchy, knees apart, testicles simmering with righteous glee, pondering the death of other men, with the odd perfunctory nod towards a Land Army filly moving spuds in a van from Burford to Chipping Norton.

The Week In Radio: How the cry-baby British lost their Blitz spirit

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Whatever happened to stoicism? At what point did we Brits give up on the chilliness enforced by centuries of corporal punishment and parental indifference and yield to the impulse to get everything out in the open? When exactly did we turn into a nation of cry babies boo-hooing to our therapists about how our parents never showed us affection and are thus responsible for everything that went wrong thereafter?

Frederick Delius: How a great British musical myth was born

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:00:01 +0100

Image management isn't such a recent phenomenon after all. In John Bridcut's new documentary about Frederick Delius, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth, an extraordinary history emerges, revealing the degree to which the composer's chief champion manipulated his reputation to make him appear more "British" than he really was. That champion was none other than the celebrated conductor Sir Thomas Beecham.

James Van Der Beek: New doors open for Dawson

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:00:01 +0100

The problem with interviewing former teen idols is that you have a fixed view in your head about how they'll be. Thus, before I talk to James Van Der Beek, I imagine that he'll be something like his character on infamously angst-ridden teen drama Dawson's Creek: verbose, serious, prone to weighty proclamations and intense bouts of self-examination.

Hard acts to follow: ballsy TV heroines keep on coming

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

In his book The Essential Difference, Simon Baron-Cohen, Cambridge University professor of developmental psychopathology, wrote that "the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy". Not on TV drama, they aren't – or not any longer.

Melvyn Bragg: Good to be back?

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The first time Melvyn Bragg was interviewed for this paper, back in 1990, Lynn Barber was surprised by how nervous he seemed, twitching and writhing in his chair. Who can blame him? Dear Lynn didn't exactly hold back afterwards, calling him boring, vain, transparent, smiling, simpering and smug (twice). Oh, and she said his novels had gone off.

TV choices of the week (19/05/2012): A jubilant study of our small-island ancestors

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

TV pick of the week

Trending: Character actors of the world unite!

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

In the mid-Nineties, US network NBC had one of the all-time great television line-ups, with Friends, Seinfeld and ER. Not just great shows, but record-breakingly popular ones, too.

How does Danish TV company DR keep churning out the hits?

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Only VIP fans are allowed on the set of The Killing 3. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, was presented with a 'Sarah Lund sweater' by actress Sofie Grabol when she went on location in Denmark earlier this year, but commoners – especially journalistic ones – are barred from entry. "The crew find it distracting," explains the press officer for DR, the Danish state broadcaster responsible for The Killing, the political drama Borgen, and now, our latest imported Saturday night treat, The Bridge.

TV choices of the week: Michael Cockerell considers four figureheads of the past

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

TV pick of the week

Ordinary Joe: A new HBO series satirises President Obama's right-hand man

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

No self-respecting political reporter in Washington, you would imagine, would ask to be attached to the Democrat 'B' team in this election year, as in second fiddle or Biden. Joe Biden, the Vice President, rides a mere Boeing 757 instead of the jumbo that is Air Force One – though they do have the presidential M&M's on board – and has a profile that at first sight seems as grey as the carefully combed strands that cling to his dome.

Henry Normal: 'We are doing very exciting things with Alan Partridge'

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Back when Mrs Merton was a young slip of a thing, Alan Partridge was just a twinkle in the eye and Gavin and Stacey weren't even born, Henry Normal wrote a poem ahead of his show at the Edinburgh Fringe. It was called "The Performer's Prayer" and it began, "God, let there be an audience, please let there be an audience/ Let me not have to lie about the attendance figures when asked." "Let me", it continued, "be nominated and given whatever awards are going or let awards be made up specially..."

The Week In Radio: A passionate portrait of a true gospel great

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Mahalia Jackson was a woman on fire," said Cerys Matthews in Conjuring Halie in that tremulous half-whisper of hers. "Her hair danced madly when she sang out in her rich contralto voice, and (she) moved her listeners to shout and cry."

Prisoners of War: The Israeli inspiration for Homeland

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Would the American version of The Killing have made a greater impact in this country had British viewers not already been in love with the Danish original? It's a moot point because after three months of Channel 4's Homeland being one of the most lavishly praised shows on UK television, subscribers to Sky Arts now have a chance to see the Israeli original. And having watched the first two episodes of Prisoners of War, I think that the recently concluded Homeland might have suffered somewhat in comparison had it been broadcast here second.

Television Choices: Textile boss's bid to cushion the blow of recession

Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

TV pick of the week: The Town Taking on China

The Week In Radio: Why Jenni and Jane know just what women want

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

There are people out there, or so I'm told, who believe that Radio 4's Woman's Hour shouldn't exist. These are the same people, one presumes, who talk about feminism in the past tense, referring to that silly business when women got uppity about not being able to do things like vote or have a career, and being treated as simpletons. Alternatively, they believe the programme to be patronising and maintain that if women are to attain true equality they shouldn't be given special treatment. Come again?

Blake Harrison: 'I've never had a plan B'

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:57:04 +0100

For a significant portion of the past four years, Blake Harrison has worn an expression of gormless confusion. As Neil Sutherland, the dimmest of the four Inbetweeners, he has perfected a slack-jawed, dead-eyed gawp that suggests cogs creaking into place one tooth at a time. A dial-up modem in a broadband world, Neil's reactions come with a time-delay and his questions - "How much Lego can you stick up your bum?" - come from nowhere.

Are our politicians too bland to bother impersonating?

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The recent Hansard Society survey suggesting that the public is more disengaged from national politics than ever won't come as a surprise in comedy mimicry circles. The market for David Cameron and George Osborne impressions is flatter than the eurozone economy, while anyone attempting to imitate Ed Miliband is likely to struggle now that the Labour leader is breathing more easily after his nose operation.

Trending: Are the tears of a nine-year-old what we want?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Another week, another scandal in Simon Cowell's empire. Whenever you think it might be losing its lustre, up comes something that catapaults it back into the national conversation.

CBeebies turns 10: Meet the visionaries responsible for Tinky Winky, Iggle Piggle and co

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

From time to time the life you've always imagined and the life that you actually have converge – and this is one of those moments. We are at London's Wembley Arena patiently waiting for the show to start. To fill the time, I have started to list all of the great acts I can remember seeing here over the years: Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, David Bowie, Prince, the Velvet Underground, Talking Heads... Never mind that my son doesn't yet realise the full weight of the history being imparted. He is, after all, only nine months old. And never mind, too, that the reason we are here today is the somewhat less impressive spectacle of a show called CBeebies Live: Reach for the Stars.

Observations: One to watch - Georgia Moffett, actress, 27

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:45 +0100

Doctor Who is running in Georgia Moffett's veins.

Alice Jones' Arts Diary: No ratings smash glee as Spielberg's big musical TV drama stumbles

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:22 +0100

Produced by Steven Spielberg, with a reported budget of $3.5m per episode, Smash made its UK debut last weekend.

This week's television choices: Swedish detective Saga The Bridge set to run and run

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

TV Pick of the Week: The Bridge, Saturday 9pm BBC4

The Week In Radio: The spirit sinks as Widdy has one too many whines

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Has there ever been a more glorious title for a programme as Radio 5 Live's Drunk Again: Ann Widdecombe Investigates? Prior to listening, I had visions of Britain's newest national treasure three sheets to the wind, wobbling out of a Wetherspoon in mini-dress and heels at one in the morning, and trying to snog a policeman.

Why do British TV dramas fail to match the imports?

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Sunday night television this early spring was supposed to be all about Upstairs Downstairs and Titanic, and while the BBC reboot of the Seventies costume drama managed to keep its head above water, ITV's sinking-liner epic started listing badly soon after launching. Well over half of the Julian Fellowes's seven-million strong passenger list had abandoned ship long before Titanic finally succumbed to the iceberg two Sundays ago, and if they had any sense they will have steered their lifeboats in the direction of Channel 4's Homeland, an American remake of an Israeli drama that has held up to three million viewers in its clutches. Homeland has been the most talked about new drama import since The Killing – and quite rightly so.

Louis Theroux: 'I'm not out to take advantage of anyone. I'm just being me'

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:01:33 +0100

For his latest documentary, Louis Theroux was supposed to immerse us in the world of hardcore pornography. But then nervous suits at the BBC pulled the film from its 9pm slot.

'My mum's going to see this': Actors and actresses reveal secrets of the sex scenes

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The British tabloid press had one of its regular clammy spasms of outrage in November 1986, aroused by a shot of actor Patrick Malahide's pale, naked buttocks bobbing up and down amid the bracken of the Forest of Dean. In many ways, the furore over the sex scenes in Dennis Potter's BBC masterpiece The Singing Detective marked the full extent of the Aids-panicked, neo-puritan backlash against nudity and coitus in film and on television. It is a pendulum that had been swinging since the 1970s, when Hollywood and then British TV drama started to disrobe and feign explicit sexual intercourse, and the past decade, when simulated (and un-simulated) sex returned to our screens with a vengeance.

Amy Childs: 'I don't bitch about no one'

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

When I'm first asked to interview Amy Childs I don't properly know who she is, as I have never watched ITV's The Only Way is Essex – I am much too high-brow, and will only watch BBC4 programmes about ancient civilisations presented by fusty old men in bow ties – but now I have seen TOWIE, and now I have met Amy, and here's the thing: I love her to death.

Cultural Life: Ruth Bradley, actress

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Television: I really enjoy 'Mad Men', but I'm hugely into 'Homeland'. The characters are very well drawn and complex. All too often, female characters in particular aren't multi-layered enough. Claire Danes is brilliant playing Carrie Mathison, the chemically imbalanced CIA agent. Sergeant Brody, played by Damian Lewis, is brilliant too. You're always waiting for the next thing to happen or trying to anticipate the plot twists. It's flawless.

Tom Sutcliffe: Nixon's crisis makes good drama

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

I don't know exactly how you'd establish a league table for this kind of thing, but I've occasionally wondered whether any American president could beat Richard Nixon when it comes to cultural magnetism. What I mean is some measure of the frequency with which real political figures appear in fiction and film – a way of reflecting the mark they left on our collective imaginations. And you'll have two obvious rivals right away, I imagine, in this field at least: Lincoln and Kennedy.

The Week In Radio: A rave review for this techno titan's trip back in time

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

If your legs start twitching when you hear "Jack Your Body" and the scent of Vicks VapoRub sends you into a nostalgic reverie; if you still dream of havin' it large at the Ministry of Sound at the weekend but can't stomach the cost of a babysitter; if you're an ex-raver of a certain age then you could do worse than switch on to Radio 2 on a Saturday night and listen to the network's latest appointment, the long-serving dance DJ Dave Pearce.

Being Modern: Period dramas

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The past is a lucrative country; they do things deliciously there. So runs one of the unsinkable maxims of 21st-century British television. Or at least it seemed unsinkable until ITV's Titanic: finishing tonight, the multi-decked extravaganza's ratings have drowned amid a vortex of so-so reviews and bad seafaring puns. Which might make you wonder: is the period drama set for a fall from grace to rival that of Tess of the d'Urbervilles?

Heads up: Hit and Miss

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

What are we talking about? A new drama series on Sky Atlantic, about a pre-op transsexual contract killer named Mia who discovers she fathered a child with her ex-girlfriend, now dying of cancer... well, it's original at least.

The Diary: Enquirer; Peter Adjaye; RSC's Julius Caesar; Morena Baccarin; Jessica Pare

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Hack attack

The Week In Radio: Great minds prove it's best to remain philosophical

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

You could never accuse radio of dodging the Big Questions. I'm not talking about programmes that weigh up the merits of pensions over ISAs, cabbage over kale or Boris over Ken, as life altering as these topics may be. I'm referring to the shows that confront the questions that have occupied philosophers for centuries, the ones that seek to determine why we are the way we are and invariably end up making your head hurt. Where television is often reluctant to go down such a high-minded road, preferring to explore human behaviour by getting said humans to dance in wheelbarrows in front of Simon Cowell, radio remains undaunted, continuing to ponder life's imponderables without apology.

Sir Derek Jacobi treads the Coronation Street cobbles

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:50:16 +0100

Actor Sir Derek Jacobi has joined the list of illustrious names to have appeared in ITV’s long-running soap opera, Coronation Street.

Sarah's making way for a Soprano in a new sweater

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

If you wanted any further evidence of how deeply the boom in Scandinavian crime books/ movies/ TV dramas has penetrated its homelands, just visit the tourist websites for Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Peake performance: The queen of TV drama on rugby, diets and Bolton ballsiness

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

It's half past nine on a Monday morning and Maxine Peake has been up since dawn, catching a train from Manchester just to meet me in an empty basement restaurant in South Kensington. Job done and she'll head straight back home to Salford. Maxine (I think I'll call her Maxine – she's instantly warm and likeable, although she's known as 'Max' to her friends) moved back north four years ago because of the "absolute madness" of property prices in London. And to stop recurring nightmares in which she'd give uptight southern girls a good slapping. Well, that's not exactly the reason she vacated the capital, but the nightmares are intriguing none the less.

The Diary: Matthew Weiner; Damien Hirst; M-J Delaney; Dr Dee; Mia Wasikowska

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Still mad for the idea

Horrible Histories: CBBC meets Royston Vasey

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

At their most grotesque, they possessed imagination dark enough to spew forth the village of Royston Vasey – a place populated by pen-obsessed sadists, an incestuous "local" couple and a magical man who swanned around in black-face, abducting innocent women from their homes. Now, after 10 years, the League of Gentlemen are back ... on a children's TV show.

Matt Smith: The Doctor will see you now

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:00:53 +0100

Dressed in a dark blue T-shirt and a pair of jeans, Matt Smith looks more like the 29-year-old he is and less like the tweed-wearing Time Lord he is best known as. He greets me with a hello before flopping down onto a nearby chair – it’s been a long day.

The Week In Radio: A time capsule of intimate snippets from family life

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

"Never forget what belly you came out of," cautioned a grandfather to his granddaughter in The Listening Project. The conversation lasted just a few minutes but revealed much about the social and economic shift that had taken place over three generations of one Yorkshire family. Lindsay, who had just got a place at university to study law, was born in December 1992, exactly a year before her grandfather Chick's colliery, where he had worked all his life, was closed down.

Time to put a lid on all those not so great British shows

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

If you've turned on the television lately, it won't have escaped your notice that there has been a glut of programmes extolling a conspicuously sepia-tinted view of our isles.

My Secret Life: Sharon Osbourne, 59, TV presenter

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

My parents were... horrible. They weren't really parents – they were professionals that had children.

Twenty Twelve: Back on track with Hugh Bonneville, the lord of office jargon

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

On 14 March last year, the Olympic countdown clock was unveiled at a grand ceremony in Trafalgar Square. Less than 24 hours later, it had ground to an embarrassing halt, which became known as the "Olympic clock-up". In a spooky coincidence, that very same evening the climax of the first episode of Twenty Twelve, a mockumentary about the fictional Olympic Deliverance Commission written several months earlier, featured an Olympic clock, which had – you've guessed it – ground to an embarrassing halt. A (real-life) London 2012 spokesman was forced to release a statement saying, "It could be a case of life imitating art."

The Week In Radio: Schubert shows it's easy to become hooked on classics

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

So, Schubert. He's inescapable, or at least he is on Radio 3. If you're not an admirer but a regular listener, you'll either have to decamp to Classic FM or seek refuge in silence which is, of course, unthinkable. I can't claim to be an authority on the composer since my knowledge of classical music can pretty much be summed up in Music for Babies, a CD that someone who didn't know me too well gave me when I was pregnant after it was claimed that exposure to classical music would increase my child's IQ. (To what extent it succeeded isn't clear). Pretty much all I know about Schubert is that he's the greatest songwriter since The Beatles. Hang on, that doesn't sound right....

Cougar Town: Courteney and the cat pack aren't yet past their prime

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Can a show ever live down a bad start? When Cougar Town began in 2009, I was among those who slammed it for its ridiculous premise, clichéd situations and overly broad humour. Then there was the name. If the first two episodes of Cougar Town didn't make you cringe, then the title with its intimations of silly, predatory women and young, dumb men, almost certainly did.

Joanna Page: Back on a winning streak

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask me? Because I can just talk", says Gavin & Stacey actress Joanna Page near the end of our interview, and she's not kidding.

Maggie Aderin-Pocock: A woman on a mission, proving science isn't just for rich, white men

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Maggie Aderin-Pocock breezes into the newly refurbished Royal Institution in London, where Michael Faraday and a long line of eminent scientists have communicated science to the public, and mentions that at some point in the interview she may have to breastfeed her baby daughter, Lauren.

Trending: Here's the pitch: Britain's mad men

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Say Scott Parker and most people will think of an England footballer. But it could so easily have been a name synonymous with the "Mad Men" who transformed British advertising, a London-based Sterling Cooper, if you will. Yes, Britain had its mad men. Their time came a little later than that of the Madison Avenue revolution portrayed by Don Draper and colleagues in the hit US drama which returns for its fifth season tomorrow.

Alex Crawford: 'The crying and the smell of blood don't leave you'