|
|
 |
| Friday 20 November 2009 |
Never mind the guest presenters
The fashion for using a variety of hosts to replace a familiar front man reveals the BBC's indecision.
|
|
| Friday 13 November 2009 |
Communists can’t make cola
The Secret Life of The Berlin Wall was gripping, but it didn’t explain anything new, like why East German coke was so bad.
|
|
| Friday 6 November 2009 |
The Noughties: 10 years of nostalgia
The most striking thing about this decade is how much of it we spent looking back at past decades.
|
|
| Thursday 29 October 2009 |
Steve McQueen, without the car chase
BBC Radio 4’s brave choice to rework the ultra-visual Bullitt showed that old-school noir can still be entertaining.
|
|
| Friday 23 October 2009 |
‘My name’s Josie... and I have a penis’
Age 8 and Wanting a Sex Change took an unusually empathic look at ‘gender dysphoria’ amongst children.
|
|
| Friday 16 October 2009 |
Giving animals human motivations: that’s Life
Like so many nature series, David Attenborough’s latest show is visually stunning but built on childish storytelling.
|
|
| Friday 9 October 2009 |
‘To coventrate’: destroy a city from the air
A documentary about the Luftwaffe bombing of Coventry in 1940 challenged prejudices about both Germans and Brits.
|
|
| Thursday 24 September 2009 |
Not anti-war so much as anti-hope
Slaughterhouse-Five, a fatalistic, despairing work, is perfect radio listening for a Sunday afternoon.
|
|
| Friday 18 September 2009 |
Keith Floyd and the end of an era
It’s not the death of the wine-soaked celebrity chef that has been changing TV cookery shows, but the recession.
|
|
| Friday 11 September 2009 |
A TV postcard from Dublin
Forget about the Lisbon Treaty vote and the economic crisis, the burning topic in Ireland is the new Late Late Show host.
|
|
| Friday 28 August 2009 |
The Futurists’ assault on our lugholes
Most of us associate Futurism with painting, but as Radio 3 recently revealed they made music - well, noise - too.
|
|
| Friday 21 August 2009 |
Science TV strikes back
After a decade of decline, the semi-silly science programme is making a comeback – will it inspire kids to become geniuses?
|
|
| Friday 14 August 2009 |
An obituary to
a once-great station
The eclectic mix of re-runs on ITV4 remind us that mainstream, commercial television could be great.
|
|
| Friday 7 August 2009 |
There’s nothing wrong with good repeats
Instead of rubbish new productions, cash-strapped channels like ITV should plunder their vaults for some TV gold.
|
|
| Thursday 30 July 2009 |
Why I prefer to Wake Up To Wogan
The Irish veteran's warm-hearted whimsy is far preferable to the quarrelsome heavyweight news on Today.
|
|
| Friday 24 July 2009 |
Why does everyone want to be Irish?
From Angela's Ashes to Who Do You Think You Are?, the Emerald Isle is still a reliable source of self-pity.
|
|
| Friday 10 July 2009 |
British TV’s sci-fi inferiority complex
Swearier, flashier, gayer and set in Cardiff, BBC’s Dr Who spin-off Torchwood shows UK sci-fi can’t take itself seriously.
|
|
| Friday 3 July 2009 |
NASA: ‘Risk is the price of progress’
A brilliant documentary on the Apollo missions reminds us that, yes, going to space is a risky business, but it's worth it.
|
|
| Thursday 25 June 2009 |
Letting Ordinary Joe loose on the nation
Radio producers think phone-in shows are democratic. In truth they’re stuffed with whiny, clichéd invective.
|
|
| Friday 19 June 2009 |
Funny women need to develop some balls
If TV panel shows are confrontational and laddish, female performers should stop moaning and get stuck in.
|
|
|
