Category: British

  • Hewitt – The British Answer To Seinfeld
    Hewitt – The British Answer To Seinfeld

    Inevitably, during the late 1990s, British broadcasters were looking for something a bit like Seinfeld. When BBC Two launched Rhona, The Stage asked the eponymous star: So am I right in thinking British Seinfeld?‘We have more of a Seinfeldian interest,’ she says carefully. The Real Rhona, Ben Dowell, The Stage, Thursday 20th July 2000 Then…

  • It’s Slightly Rippled With A Flat Underside
    It’s Slightly Rippled With A Flat Underside

    I was slightly amazed to learn that the Cadbury’s Boost bar is older than I thought. I had a feeling it was launched in the 1990s, with the famous Vic & Bob advertising campaign. (As an aside, here’s the slightly less famous (possibly forgotten) Gladiators one they did). But in actuality, the Boost was first…

  • Kathy Burke Clippings
    Kathy Burke Clippings

    I had a little lament the other evening, that it’s such a shame Kathy Burke never appeared in The New Statesman. She would have been equally wonderful as a slick Tory backbencher, or a Labour frontbencher. Here’s an early review of Kathy’s work – a performance in the play Ghosts. In 1989, Maureen Paton is…

  • Big-Mouth Billy
    Big-Mouth Billy

    There’s a line on page 73 of Proctology: A Bottom Examination which reads: Rik also made a corporate video in 1988, but his was for John Cleese’s Video Arts production company. Managing Problem People: Behavioral Skills For Leaders was directed by Charles Crichton (who directed A Fish Called Wanda), and was written by Stephen Fry.…

  • TV50 Continuity
    TV50 Continuity

    On 1st November 1986, the BBC celebrated 50 years of television, with its themed strand TV50. Here’s some of the continuity and trails that aired on that day. And here’s some nostalgic in-vision continuity …

Buy My Books
  • Proctology: A Bottom Examination
    Proctology: A Bottom Examination

    For a long time now I’ve been wanting to write an old-fashioned programme guide. One you can hold in your hand and thumb through, make notes on, spill coffee on. So I did. Proctology: A Bottom Examination is my deep dive into Bottom, the hit BBC Two sitcom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That’s…

Follow
Most Read
  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

Sign up for my FREE newsletter