That festive TV reviewed in full
Doctor Who - terrific, though hasn’t Russell T Grant heard of Douglas Adams? Starship Titanic was a wonderful game - one of the very few I’ve bothered to play all the way to both of its alternative ends. We liked it. Kylie looked like the botox had worn off somewhere back at Alpha Centauri.
Extras - incredibly brave of Ricky Gervais to make his character first so horrible, and then to get rid of him. (He has got rid of him, right? Not coming back for another Christmas special.) And used Doctor Who and all that bunch in it as well to, apparently, show his disdain. Except you can never take anything in Extras at anything like face value.
Coronation Street - (yes, we watch it, OK?) Kevin the mechanic beats up wotsisname who is found out to be two-timing Fizz. Um, that’s your Christmas big show? Colour me unimpressed. Still wonderfully watchable, but that was like any week.
To The Manor Born - the 1970s were better in the 1970s, I think. The laugh track, or the audience, should have been removed. Like they do in the Office and Extras and Lead Balloon and pretty much any modern sitcom. Laugh tracks and studio audiences have become outmoded; we know they’re artificial (though we tolerate them in game shows - I guess you need them because they’re live and spontaneous and they’re really there). Peter Bowles has aged really well..
Catherine Tate show - another killing off. Mostly good, though fewer characters than before. Odd, that.
Hmm, seems to be a lot of BBC there.
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December 28th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Doctor Who was deeply disappointing this Christmas. I thought the script was a bit tired - the angel hosts were quite good, but oh dear, I’m sure we’ve had an evil mastermind hiding behind monsters before. Not only has Kylie’s Botox worn off, I think she left her acting skills in a garage in Ramsay Street somewhere. Killing her off was an act of kindness. The only problem it means Catherine Tate is back as Donna. Not good.
Extras. Sheer brilliance.
Corrie. You’d have been better off watching EastEnders, which managed to produce two cliff-hangers as well as the climax of a year-long storyline (and it ain’t over yet) plus the re-emergence of a long-ago event that has present-day repercussions. If I was in charge of Corrie, I’d have put it through the bleach and boil wash at Dot Cotton’s launderette a long time ago.
To the Manor Born. Surprisingly well done. PB has aged well. So has PK. Plot was a bit predictable and undemanding, but then who wants unpredictable and demanding at 9pm on Xmas Day? Easy viewing, especially with a bottle of wine.
December 28th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Just watched Doctor Who. My first thought: “oh my god; they’ve killed Kylie!” (Surely, I’m not the first to think of that one). Thought it was so-so overall. A cross between the Poseidon Adventure and a Tom Baker Who episode from the Seventies called The Robots of Death (the Robots even looked similar).
I thought the best bit was the trailers for the new episodes with Catherine Tate. Really, I’ve no idea why so many Who fans have such a downer on her. I thought she was great in last year’s Who Christmas special, and never understood why Russell didn’t ask her to stay on. (She’d have jumped at it, if asked). I think the show needs a change from the younger girls, Rose and Martha, who were both hopelessly ga-ga for the Doctor.
Cheers,
- Mike
December 28th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
{hijack}
Whovians don’t like Catherine Tate because while she’s a reasonably talented comedian, she can’t act. Her range is limited to shouty and angry. She has no subtlety at all. I don’t think there’s any objection to the Doctor having an older companion, it’s more a question of finding the right match with someone who knows their craft. Sally Sparrow from the Blink episode in the last series would have been far more suitable than Tate.
{end hijack}
December 29th, 2007 at 2:43 am
>> Whovians don’t like Catherine Tate because
>> while she’s a reasonably talented comedian, she can’t act.
>> Her range is limited to shouty and angry.
I have to disagree. For a start, I would call her a comic actress rather than a comedian. And the range of characters that she plays on her own show are not “limited to shouty and angry”.
Jon Pertwee was known only as a comic actor before taking on Doctor Who, by the way.
Cheers,
- Mike
December 29th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Well, you did ask why Tate’s not popular with Who fans and all I did was explain why. That’s not just my view, but the view of the many. You don’t have to agree (and you obviously don’t) but just watch the viewing figures plummet for the next series (and they will plummet even further if the rumour about James Nesbitt taking over from David Tennant turns out to be true).