July 2009 Archives

I'm back now from my hols, though clearly TV schedulers plan to spend the month of August in their villas in Tuscany, as they don't care about what dross they put on for those of us stuck at home.

OK, there are some pretty good dramas on, like The Street. New Tricks and House. But also so many repeats!

Saturday night is like a TV graveyard, with reruns of A Touch of Frost, Doctor Who, Outnumbered, Have I Got News For You, That's What I Call Television, etc etc.

Even when they put on new shows, I still get a sense of deja vu because we see the same old faces all the time.

Hugh Dennis, for example, is everywhere at the moment. He's in Outnumbered and Mock the Week, guest starred in New Tricks this week and checks in to Hotel Babylon next week.

Hugh's Mock The Week pal Frankie Boyle seems also to have taken up residence on Channel 4's You Have Been Watching.

One of Alan Carr's guests on his Chatty Man show on Sunday is Gok Wan, just as Alan was a guest on his fashion show and both of them appeared on The Apprentice Does Comic Relief.

Maybe if they stopped the 'jobs for our mates' philosophy (see previous blog about Holly Willoughby, too) some new faces might get a look-in?

WELL, that wasn't much of a surprise, was it?

I have just discovered, via the medium of Twitter (how 21st century am I!) that Phillip Schofield's new partner on This Morning is Holly Willoughby.

Yeah well, whatever. Yawn. She was always a front runner, and it's just a bit boring to keep seeing the same faces on TV. Having taken over Dancing On Ice, this couple are now teaming up again in the mornings.

I wish Holly all the best, as she has big shoes to fill. I'm not sure if she's a great presenter yet with the required interviewing skills, but she has potential.

And I do like her attitude towards her curves. I hope she's not now embarking on a huge weight loss campaign before her debut in September, as she promises she is in no rush to lose her pregnancy weight (she gave birth to Harry two months ago).

Holly has said: "I'm still wearing my maternity clothes. I believe in nine months up, nine months down. I'm breast-feeding Harry, so I am not going to diet.

"I have never worried about my weight or diets. I'll never be a skinny girl." Good on you, girl!

By the way, I can recommend following Phillip on Twitter. He's full of funny remarks about his day, though my favourite Tweeter is still Alan Carr. Today he's been talking about meeting Katie Price and said: "I am now swinging between Camp Peter and Camp Katie - which i guess just makes me camp."

Sorry Katie, but I'm just not convinced.

Despite your protestations, you went on TV tonight to gain sympathy because you were fed up with everyone being on Peter Andre's side.

And I was willing to be won over, but all I got from the Piers Morgan interview was a mass of contradictions.

You said "I'm shy and reserved" (yeah, right!) and then "I'm an exhibitionist".

You said "I never thought I'd get divorced" then "I knew we'd split up eventually".

You claimed "I'm over him, I've moved on, I'm happy", before talking about the "emotional torture" you'd been through and that "I still love him"

I would hope you do have some feelings towards him, Katie. I just didn't buy your emotionless act at the start of the interview, when you said you were fine and had moved on. Eight weeks is not enough time to mourn a marriage.

Your lack of feeling while discussing the split made the later tears harder to accept. I'm sorry you lost her baby, but I can't help thinking you made this revelation to get sympathy. It's hard not to feel manipulated.

What are we supposed to believe? There are far too many mixed messages here.
Piers did his best to probe her but I have no more idea what the real Katie Price is like now than I did before.

Wow! Wasn't the last episode of Torchwood fabulous?

John Barrowman complained about only having five episodes rather than 13 in the series, but I think it was a masterstroke of scheduling (and I very rarely say that) to show them every night this week, cleverly building up the tension to a brilliant finale.

Emotional, exciting, chilling, controversial, it was stirring stuff.

Russell T Davies was correct to mention Doctor Who in the script, but didn't really address the rather huge question of why he hadn't turned up to save the world. Being ashamed really doesn't cover it.

But what an exit Captain Jack made, beaming himself up into the sky! He's got to come back, surely?

Unlike Robin Hood (shame on you, BBC, for axeing it), Torchwood must continue, even if there's hardly any of the team left and Gwen will be off on maternity leave. At least they can recruit Lois Habiba, the only person alive able to put in hard contact lenses for the first time without her eyes watering. Now that's hard.

She's played by the even-more-wonderfully named Cush Jumbo, not that I was able to ascertain that from the credits which raced by at the speed of light. Slow down, please!

Congratulations to the Emmerdale producers for bagging Sian Reeves.

The West Bromwich and Staffordshire lass is a great TV actress. She was fab in Cutting It and is currently one of the best things about Hope Springs.

EastEnders let her slip through their fingers when they cast her for just a few episodes as Elaine, nasty manager of Fargo's restaurant.

But now she has a chance to really make her mark on a soap. She starts filming in Emmerdale soon as Sally Spode, an old love interest of Ashley Thomas. When she appears in August, it emerges she was the vicar's first love, so his wife Laurel is unnerved to see her in the village.

As well as being talented, Sian is a really nice woman. I've interviewed her several times and always found her friendly, chatty and open.

Last time she told me all about battling back from an horrific accident which left her bed-bound for 10 months and really knocked her confidence.

She was worried she would never work again, but this latest news really puts paid to those fears!

There are some weeks when I really love my job, and this has been one of them.

I'm still not quite over meeting lovely Johnny Depp, but I spent this afternoon in the sunshine, in the depths of beautiful Warwickshire countryside, in the company of another charming actor.

It's a tough job but someone's got to do it.

The man in question was Nathaniel Parker, star of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries who was filming a new BBC period drama, Land Girls, filmed entirely on location in the Midlands.

Nat is rather posh but not in the least bit stuck-up. A thoroughly nice, articulate and witty gent, he even made me a cup of coffee!

It seems the rest of the country has finally caught up with what we knew all along - that the Midlands is THE place to film.

I understand one Birmingham hotel is currently packed full of stars, with the cast of Land Girls breakfasting on one table while Max Beesley and his Survivors co-stars eat at another. And, of course, Hustle is also coming to town.

We're where it's at, you know.