December 2009 Archives

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Top Gear. But the best TV show of the Noughties, really?

Better than The Sopranos, better than Doctor Who, better than Life On Mars and The Simpsons and anything else on TV in the past decade?

I don't think so.

You can tell how surprised all the talking heads for this Channel 4 poll were at the result, not least the Top Gear presenters themselves, who at least had the grace to look a little ashamed. Even Clarkson.

While talking about the show, Richard Hammond said the ambitious challenges always had a point to them, other than than us watching three middle-aged blokes enjoying themselves in exotic locations.

So what was the point of the latest Bolivian challenge, to cross the Amazonian jungle and the Andes and the desert to the Pacific Ocean?

They didn't tell us. I reckon the point was for Jeremy Clarkson, not content with doing all he can to encourage global warming, to travel to the rainforest so he personally chop down a few trees.

Or perhaps the producers decided to send them thousands of feet up, where the thin air made breathing very hard and talking impossible, just to shut up Mr Motormouth.

It was as lavishly filmed and as entertaining as ever, especially when Clarkson nearly fell to his death while trying to negotiate a very narrow road and a very steep drop. Shame he survived.

NOOO! They can't have killed off one of the best characters in Spooks, can they?

It's not looking good for my namesake, MI5 agent Ros Myers, but I have faith in her ability to escape certain death.

It happened before, at the cliffhanging end of the first series, when it looked like Tom Quinn, aka Matthew Madfadyen, was blown up. He wasn't, though.

So I really hope that Ros can survive the last bomb blast.

Despite the repetition in plot lines, this was a brilliantly gripping end to a great series. There must be more, and they must have Ros, the seemingly cold-hearted assassin who can shoot someone in the leg without blinking and tell them to stop whining about the flesh wound, yet who is willing to sacrifice herself for the dashing Home Secretary.

Bring back Ros, because Spooks wouldn't be the same without her.

Sexy actress Rachel McAdams is a self-confessed couch potato.

The Sherlock Holmes star was asked by Vogue to name her perfect day, and revealed it was spent curled up on the sofa watching television.

"[It was] 1995, on a sofa - I grew up watching so much television, I was really into soap operas," she recalled.

"I'd begin with Days Of Our Lives, then Another World and finish off with General Hospital, and before dinner I'd watch Oprah."

The 31-year-old actress also reveals that she used to pretend to be sick just to take the day off school and watch more TV.

"I would fake sick all the time to the point where I'd convince myself I was sick," she said.

It was their Charleston what won it - and their showdance wasn't bad either.

I'm delighted that Chris and Ola won Strictly Come Dancing. They are the rightful champions, because that brilliant Charleston cannot fail to bring a smile to everyone's face.

Joy is what Team Cola is all about and that's why they won. When they got 50 from the judges, it meant so much more than when Ricky got yet another perfect score.

In the battle of the hunk v the hobbit, Chris's charm and humour easily won over a slightly bland personality. Ricky's main selling point was his ripped bare torso, but after a while I just though 'put it away, we've seen quite enough of that'.

Cola had an inspired choice of music for their showdance - and yes, Chris, we love you now you can dance.

Having met Ola Jordan and been won over by her sweetness, I'm delighted for her too.

Strictly may have been beaten by the X Factor this series, but I reckon this was a better final.
It wasn't unnecessarily drawn out, there was no cutting to people screaming in their home towns, and we didn't have to put up wit a former Beatle singing out of tune with a very dodgy haircut.

Though we did, unfortunately, have to put up with another OAP, Bruce Forsyth, fluffing his lines, making stupid comments and singing a cringemaking duet with Alesha who couldn't wait to get off the stage.

And once and for all Bruce, get it right. It's not pronounced Ola as in Cola, it's Ola as in Collar.

But however you say it, well done to them both!

Rhydian Roberts has blasted the X Factor duet by Robbie Williams and Olly Murs as looking like "drunken karaoke".

The runner-up from the 2007 series of the talent show said he thought the pair's performance of Angels was "tragic" and "looked like two guys doing drunken karaoke on a night out."

Sorry. Rhydian who?

Oh yes! Sorry I forgot for a second.

He was the one with the stupid hair.

For what seems like the last nine months all I have heard is 'OMG Jedward', 'Olly is a babe' and 'Danni's face doesn't move'.

Facebook status updates have revolved around it. Twitter was taken over by the hype.

But more importantly I live with 4 women who love it. Even my 3-year-old daughter.

Never have I been more happy to see a show finish.

I suppose Britain's Not Got Talent will start next week?

I'm sorry that Stacey had to leave X Factor tonight, but it was inevitable from the moment she drew the short straw when it came to guest stars.

Joe won first prize when George Michael came on to sing with him, while Olly's chances were boosted considerably by Robbie Williams, especially when he gushed about how fantastic the Essex boy was. Whereas Michael Buble couldn't really care less who he was singing with, as long as he got to plug his album.

At least Dermot has learned the difference between a gracious loser and a graceful one. Gawky Stacey could never be that graceful, bless her.

I suggest to Cheryl Cole, late back to her seat after every single ad break, that either she give up smoking or wear a dress that lets her walk at faster than a snail's pace.

So who should win now? Joe, of course, he's a lot more talented than Olly. Go Joe!

Bobby Davro reckons he would have stuck around longer in EastEnders if he hadn't got so bored playing wideboy Vinnie Monks.

Hailed as the new Alfie Moon when he joined the soap in 2007, he barely lasted a year.

"I wish it to could have been longer," reveals Bobby. "But the writers didn't develop him as much as I wanted and I got bored."

Not as bored as we were watching you Bobby....

X Factor judge Simon Cowell has branded a campaign to prevent the show's winner from having the Christmas number one single as "stupid" and "cynical".

He also said he felt it was "dismissive" of the show's viewers and that he felt the campaign was aimed at him.

Great news for fans of the real-life soap opera that is Jordan and Peter Andre - they are set to both appear at the final of X-Factor this weekend - according to The Mirror

I am very much in the camp that would like to see the pair marooned on a desert island together as far away from my tv screen as possible.

Do people really care about the plastic princess and the pop wannabe?

I don't that's for sure, I more sick of those pair than I am of hearing about Twilight.

The saving grace is that I don't watch X-Factor so I will miss the drama.

It would be too much for me. I am still recovering from when Price and Andre butchered 'A Whole New World'.

That was almost too upsetting to talk about.