Fazzinchi

Christmas Review #3 of 12

“Happily ever after” is how Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant brought The Office to an end as Dawn and Tim finally got together and even David Brent himself found someone special in that most memorable of finales, four year’s ago.  Trying to force lightening to strike in the same place a second time has proved tricky but there were many great little moments throughout the two series of Extras that led me to think that the Christmas Special finale would be well worth watching and (more…)

Time to Say Goodbye

While the writers have been on strike over in the USA and the people who make 24, Prison Break and shows of a similar ilk have had their iMacs switched off, I wonder whether any of them will have taken the opportunity to look at the UK’s attempt at a 24-esque, season long, story arc. Admittedly the latest series of Spooks is only ten episodes long but the writers have tried to do something a little different in season six by linking all the stories together and, in my humble (more…)

Highlighter Pen at The Ready

It continues to amuse me that the greatest weekly magazine that the UK produces continues to be called the Radio Times despite the fact that almost nobody uses it for looking forward to radio listings but instead plan their TV viewing for the forthcoming week. And, of the 51 issues that get released every year, it is the “legendary” (their own word) double-sized Christmas issue that makes for the greatest read. So, for this post, with the trusty tome by my side, I will provide my own (more…)

Doctor Who Pioneer Passes

Today, is the 44th anniversary of Doctor Who’s debut on TV screens.  How sad then for news to break this afternoon of the passing of the show’s very first producer.  Verity Lambert OBE was a ground-breaking television pioneer.  Others will write better obituaries than I can and her achievements will be remebered by many.  Regular readers will know that this site has leaning towards all things Who, so I could not let this pass without mention.  Indeed, she was even cunningly name-checked in the last series during the episode, Human Nature. (more…)

Comics Brittanica Continuing to Entertain 

Friday nights are undoubtedly back to being the definitive “staying in night” of the week.  Of course, this meant that last Friday we went out to see some friends for dinner and had to postpone our viewing until Saturday but it was worth the wait.  QI made a welcome return for its fifth series on BBC2 and the second installment, as is fast becoming tradition, followed immediately on another channel (to encourage all the luddites to upgrade to digi).  Back on BBC1, I am delighted (more…)

What a Tangled Web We Weave

If ever there was ever a case study of “Dysfunctional familes as portrayed in television drama”, you would have to watch an awful lot of television drama before discovering a cast of characters that were more dysfunctional than those portrayed in True Dare Kiss. This six-part, BBC drama was reasonably watchable throughout… well, I didn’t give up after one episode at any rate and, instead, saw it through to its somewhat disappointing conclusion. The puzzling thing was that I was actually (more…)