Category Archive: TV

Sep
06

Mercuries – Freddie and prizes – (warning long post).

Today the Mercury prize will be awarded to one of 12 nominees and Radio 6 has been promoting this event for weeks now. If you love music as much as I do, you’ll be interested to find out who will get the award this year and the ever excitable Jools Holland will as usual present the show. I always assumed the prize was named after either the record label Mercury Records or the great Freddie (who is also the inspiration for the name of my dear cat Freddy). So when checking I was surprised that it was actually named and created by the communications company Mercury – and that was before I lived in Britain so I have never heard of them. Since its demise the Mercury has changed its sponsors to Barclaycard but kept the name.

Feb
03

Beauty and the Beast – Channel 4

When I first saw the trailer to Channel4’s “Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice” (shown Wednesdays at 8pm) I thought – oh dear another point-and-stare programme from the channel which also broadcasts “Embarrassing Bodies” (who actually watches this – and what makes people go on that programme? It surely can’t be money alone – and if so they must pay them a lot.)

Jan
24

Hugh’s Fish Fight and British Forest Sell-off

Hugh’s Fish Fight aired a couple of weeks ago and if you haven’t done so yet, you can sign his petition by clicking on the widget on the right of this blog. Of all TV chefs I like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Rick Stein the most. Hugh, though terribly posh, is someone who is putting his …

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Jan
24

From Skins to Pete Postlethwaite

Skins is back on our screens ( Thursday on E4) and being a fan of series 1,2 and 3 I will watch it The new series has a completely new cast which is a good thing, because last series became too dark and soapy and killing off Freddy was a bad decision. I’d preferred it if they’d killed off Effy –as she has been a right pain in the arse and one of Skins’ most unlikeable characters.

Nov
18

Aiden Grimshaw’s X-Factor exit

“I’ve never tried to be a pop star or thought of myself as an X Factor contestant really. I’m just a guy with a quiff who likes to sing.”

This is the impression most people had, who liked him (or not). When I saw his audition and then again his mesmerising performance of Gary Jules’ cover version of Mad World – I just thought – what on earth is this guy doing on the biggest Karaoke show on telly? Even my hubby – who hates the X-Factor, was impressed by him. Aiden always looked out of place and slightly uncomfortable with some of the songs he was given. I mean that in a good way. You always got the feeling – this guy really wants to sing different songs, which are out of X-Factor judge’s narrow musical reach.

Apr
19

Little House on the Prairie – Unsere kleine Farm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO72KBtUmHk If you are feeling blue, are fed up with depressing news and the world around you – watch Little House on the Prairie. It will cheer you up, make you think and give you back the belief in the good that exists in the world. Though a lot of drama happens to the Ingalls …

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Feb
24

Bobby loves television

Bobby watches a wildlife documentary - © Helen White 2010

  Our cat is full of surprises and the latest is that after 4 years with us she finally has discovered the joys of watching  television. Usually she doesn’t care much about it when it’s on and often  just snoozes, but for a couple of days now she is transfixed by it. She responds to …

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Aug
06

Germany has changed a lot

In my week in Cologne I visited my aunt and met an old friend of mine I haven’t seen since 1996, which was great, cause apart from the fact that he is now a happily married man with two lovely daughters, he hasn’t changed that much. It was a nice evening and it occurred to …

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Jun
03

Disturbing documentary of the week

Yesterday I caught “My Monkey Baby” on Channel 4. The programme followed three American couples who bought a monkey as a “Baby” substitute. One couple was young and the man didn’t want a human baby, the second couple was retired and the woman suffered from empty-nest syndrome, in the case of the final couple (not …

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Apr
12

Good News Channel

The other week I watched Charlie Brooker’s excellent “Newswipe” (BBC4, Wednesdays) about news anchors. It featured a short film by Adam Curtis (who directed the brilliant “The Power of Nightmares”) about the rise of  “oh-dearism”, a tool for news, which drives audiences to apathy and helplessness. This got me thinking – every day we are …

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