Doctor Who exterminated from my Sky+ planner

I’d love to comment on the progress on the progress of the new Doctor Who show for you but in an evil plot (I suspect Daleks, Cybermen, Little Ant and Dec or the BBC Chairman) it was mysteriously removed from my Sky+ planner.

It’s a shame that the news that Chris Eccleston was leaving leaked early but I’ll try not to let it spoil my enjoyment too much. I’m sure that many sci-fi fans were attracted to E4’s screening of Shallow Grave on Friday as it was a rare opportunity to see The Doctor and Obi Wan Kenobi in the same movie.

Add in Keith Allen, star of the Comic Strip’s Sci-Fi spoof The Yob, and you have anorak heaven.

The Royal Wedding

It must be difficult to provide hours of live coverage of very little happening but Sky’s plucky Kay Burley bravely stood amongst those on the pavements of Windsor, talking to anyone in the assembled throng about what they were expecting to see. It was very funny then that it turned out that they could hardly see anything at all when the Royals finally popped up. They’d have been much more entertained staying at home watching our three home-grown news channels desperately trying to fill the time with meaningless chat.

Amusingly, a CNN correspondent asked a well wisher what they thought of Camilla’s outfit, only to be told that they’d been too busy taking a photo to even notice. Joy.

The BBC seemed really determined to turn people off with commentary from the fawning James Whitaker and punditry from that much loved media pundit Piers Morgan and Penny “4 what it’s worth??? Junor. When Jools Holland and Sanjeev Bhaskar were wheeled in you knew they were getting desperate.

Even Jennie Bond popped up from time to time and just to ensure proceedings were covered in as tacky a way as possible, Trinny and Susannah were parachuted in to provide fashion comments. At one point the pair started to criticise the outfit of a guest only to be told that she was one of the photographers.

It all seemed a long way from the days of pomp and circumstance described by the likes of Richard Dimbleby and Tom Fleming.

When the Prince of Wales first married, the First Lady represented America. This time Joan Rivers turned up. I think that speaks volumes.

By the time the blessing started, I’m sure many viewers would have drifted off to the Grand National build up, the event of the weekend that everyone was talking about, although Doctor Who fans would have been intrigued by that thing on Camilla’s head which made her look like one of those tree people from episode two.

The Barlow Wedding

Oh happy day!
There were some nice touches at the Barlow wedding in Coronation Street. Jack and Vera provided a lovely running gag with Vera’s hat taking centre stage and the reaction shots as Deirdre began her vows with “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...??? were priceless.

There was also a really touching scene between Ray and Ken as Ray’s illness finally got the better of him. It could have been a gamble to bring Ray back after all this time but Neville Buswell’s performance has been both moving and true to the character he last played twenty odd years ago and it’s a shame his stay has been so short.

Have heart

Angus Deayton’s TV career may have been badly hampered by revelations regarding his personal life but given the opportunity he proves he can still shine.

While the mediocre Bognor or Bust may not be the best showcase for his talents and his hosting of Hell’s Kitchen may have caused a few toes to curl, Caleb Ranson’s latest unlikely but entertaining piece Heartless proved to be an ideal vehicle for his talents.

A lesser actor would have made Deayton’s transition from hard hearted lawyer to romantic hero treacly and unrealistic but in his capable hands the schmaltz was avoided and the piece managed to be both heartwarming and laugh out loud funny.

50 Years of ITV

This week’s ITV strike brought bad memories of 1979.

Think back to a world where there were three channels and one of those, BBC2, made no effort to be populist or accessible. Then, imagine the nightmare of losing the most entertaining of the three.

That’s what happened in 1979 as favourites such as Crossroads and Sapphire & Steel were banished from our screens along with our beloved regional news magazines and even Shaw Taylor and Police 5. It was hard to bear.

The BBC, having a captive audience, didn’t need to pull out the stops and we faced a summer of having to make our own entertainment, with hardly anyone owning a video in those days.

In the early days of the strike the Hogan telly was often left on the ATV button, hoping our much missed shows would magically come back but it wasn’t to be. Many people wrote to their favourite soap stars, asking what has happening while the shows were off air.

The only respite from the dreaded blue stike notice was a weekly engineering bulletin from the IBA.

We even missed the adverts.

Eventually, ITV returned with a fanfare from The Mike Sammes Singers (or a similar sounding troop) while Euston Films’ remake of Quatermass dominated the opening night. Sadly for the rest of week we had to suffer seemingly endless episodes of 3-2-1 while production of other shows got up to speed.

ITV was badly missed. I wonder if that would still be the case were it to vanish today.