Memorable TV

'Welcome to Royston Vasey - You'll Never Leave". On Channel 4 on Friday 28 December 2007 is the premiere of the League of Gentleman's big screen finale, Apocalpyse, to the characters from the TV series. The forbidding road sign that 'welcomes' visitors to England's weirdest town sees a reverse flow for some of the population. They learn that their creators, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson plan to stop writing the series and thus end their fictional lives. Mad butcher Hilary Briss (Gatiss), Herr Lipp (Pemberton) and Geoff (Shersmith) set out on a desperate mission to London to confront their creators and sabotage their latest effort, a feature film called The King's Evil , by infiltrating and disrupting the shoot. Directed by Steve Bendelack (who also directed the TV series), this hysterical conceit also sees appearances from other Royston Vasey residents, including Mickey Michaels, Pauline Campbell-Jones and Papa Lazarou....

Just a little post to say Merry Christmas to all our readers and newsletter subscribers. We've lined up some great giveaways to keep you busy over the holidays including FAMILY GUY PRESENTS: Blue Harvest THE CAMOMILE LAWN DOCTOR WHO SERIES THREE A TIME TO REMEMBER THE SAINT SET FOUR THE SAINT SET FIVE JANE EYRE I SPY VOLUME TWO E STREET - MR BAD'S REVENGE PART 2 THE OTTO PREMINGER COLLECTION THE ROMAN POLANSKI COLLECTION LOVESTRUCK WRESTLINGS No1 FAN DANIEL BOONE SERIES ONE PREMONITION BLACK SNAKE MOAN A big thank you to every one who has got in touch with us this year, we have a huge 2008 planned and some great competitions ccoming up too. Have a very good festive break and a safe New Year from everyone here at Memorable TV Towers.

Lark Rise to Candleford which begins soon on BBC1 is a star studded adaptation (Julia Sawalha, Dawn French, Ben Miles) adaptation of Flora Thompson's trilogy, here we take a look at what is store in the first episode. When a new baby arrives in the Timmins family, Laura, the eldest, is forced to leave the family home and embark on a new life. Having spent her early years in the small hamlet of Lark Rise, in late 19th Century Oxfordshire, Laura finds herself working in the Post Office, the hub of the bustling market town of Candleford, under the watchful eye of the woman who is to become her mentor, the effervescent Dorcas Lane. Just as Laura leaves behind her family and friends in Lark Rise and is beginning to enjoy the delights of Candleford, the two communities are thrown into conflict over Post Office regulations. The poor people from the hamlet take on the well-to-do folks of the town and Laura finds herself caught in the middle. Why should the poor folks of Lark Rise pay thre...

Robson Green goes stateside for a special episode of the acclaimed and hard-hitting drama Wire In The Blood, made in America for ITV1 by Coastal Productions. The feature-length thriller, filmed in and around Austin, Texas, takes talented but eccentric clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill (Robson Green) away from the familiar streets of Bradfield and pits him against the might of the US legal system, sweltering heat, and rattlesnakes. Prayer of the Bone, written by acclaimed scriptwriter Patrick Harbinson (ER, Red Cap, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) comes ahead of a sixth, eight-part series of Wire In The Blood. The action begins as Tony Hill is invited to Luther in Texas as an expert witness in the case of an American man accused of brutally slaughtering his wife and young son and daughter. Iraq combat veteran Darius Grady (Brad Hawkins) has confessed to the crimes but his defence team claim his traumatic experiences in war have left him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and th...

Amazing hour long documentary Lose 30 Stone or Die airs on ITV1 on Tuesday 18 December 2007 @ 9:00pm and tells the story of a man who is so overweight that his own body is going to kill him within a year, and his painful struggle to reclaim his life. Thirty-six-year-old Colin weighs 48 stone and is a prisoner in his own home because his weight means he can’t even manage to walk more than a few steps. He is in constant pain, has severe difficulty breathing during the night, needs someone to dress him each day and feels so low he has contemplated suicide. Doctors have warned Colin that unless he loses weight, he will die. Lose 30 Stone or Die is a poignant and moving account of Colin’s battle to lose the pounds. In emotional scenes, Colin is seen as he prepares to undergo a series of major operations to reduce his stomach and drastically cut his weight. Colin and his family talk candidly about the distress his weight problem has caused. His mum reveals how she has sold her house in a fin...

We all know that the majority of workplace uniforms are absolute tat but the dynamic duo once again set out to change all that, in Trinny and Susannah Undress the Nation - Uniform (Tuesday 18 December 2007 @ 8:00pm on ITV1). Despite being worth a massive £430 million pounds a year, Trinny and Susannah soon discover, thanks to the pink pod, that the nation’s uniforms are largely made up of ‘fleeces, shirts, and ill-fitting trousers’. In an attempt to revamp one company’s uniform, the girls have joined force with supermarket chain Somerfield to redesign their uniform to accommodate 42,000 workers. They head to Birmingham to road test the existing uniform and work alongside the supermarket’s staff. Susannah takes an instant dislike to the whole ensemble. “I’m coming out in a rash as I put this on.” While Trinny mans the deli, Susannah decides eating the produce is much better than stacking it. Fellow workers describe the uniform as ‘uncomfortable’, ‘tatty’ and ‘horrible’. After their day ...

Jill Halfpenny, Richard Fleeshman and Katy Cavanagh guest star in the Blue Murder episode Crisis Management on Monday 17 December 2007 @ 9:00pm on ITV1. The crime drama starts when K Troop are about to be redeployed overseas. A young female soldier sneaks out of a barrack party and meets her lover by the sports pavilion outside the base. The couple, Cathy Covington (Freya Parker) and Mike Blatt (Kevin Wathen), stumble over the body of Ray Pettigrew who has been beaten to death. Having escaped from a house full of children, Janine (Caroline Quentin) is waiting for her friend in a bar when a handsome stranger, Tim Fairhead (Nick Reding), offers to buy her a drink. Janine asks Tim, “What do you do?” He responds “Health and Safety. You?”, to which Janine replies “I’m in crisis management.” Janine is interrupted by a phone call sending her to the nearby army base. Before leaving the bar she gives Tim her number. Arriving at the base, Janine and the team are introduced to Major Tim Fairhea...

In a kind of spin on the Grumpy Old Men theme the Madness of Modern Families is a new series looking at the way parents parents seem to be turning into panic-stricken and obsessive perfectionists. The Madness of Modern Families (episode 2 School airs on the ABC Network on Tuesday 18 December 2007 @ 8..0pm) focuses on the absurd social pressures parents find themselves facing and caving in to in an ever-increasingly competitive world. From the day after you've given birth, the social pressure begins: if you don't get your child into the right nursery school, the right primary, the right secondary, the right sixth-form college and university, then you - personally - have damned your child to be a moron addicted to crack. It's a race. And this stomach-knotting responsibility is yours - all yours. Every panicky round must be won. Camping out overnight in the playground to be first to sign on for next term’s nursery classes - fact, not fiction. Checking the boundaries of the cat...

Sophie Vavasseur plays Little Nell in the ITV1 Boxing Day production of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. She spoke recently about working on the project. “Nell lives with her grandfather because her mother died when she was young and her dad couldn’t really cope. Although she’s only 13, I think people look up to her because she has to take on responsibilities beyond her years. She misses out on a lot of her childhood and has to be the adult because her grandfather has his problems. You can see at the start she is more of a normal 13-year-old and then has to take some giant leaps forward in maturity to take care of herself and her grandfather. “She touches everyone in the story in some way. Every time she thinks her grandfather is getting better she takes one step forward and then two steps back. It must take a lot of willpower. Mrs Jarley is the first motherly figure she’s had, and she tries to cling onto that. She’s just so gullible and vulnerable. Like with Mr Codlin and M...

Philip Pullman is now probably the most well known children's author after J.K. Rowling, this Christmas one of the big BBC highlights is an adaptation of his Sally Lockhart novel Shadow in the North BBC One - Sunday 30 December at 8.55pm) and the big movie at the cinemas this festive period is The Golden Compass which is based on the first novel in his legendary His Dark Materials trilogy. Here we take a look at his life and career. Philip Pullman was born in Norwich on 19 October 1946. The early part of his life was spent traveling all over the world, because his father and stepfather were both in the Royal Air Force. He spent part of his childhood in Australia, where he fell in love with the art of comedy and superheroes including Superman and Batman. Having moved back to Britain at the age of 11, he grew up in North Wales. It was a time when children were allowed to roam anywhere, to play in the streets and he took full advantage of it. His English teacher, Miss Enid Jones, wa...

Starting 8th January 2008 on Channel Five is this new factual series, How Do They Do It?, which puts the modern world under the microscope in order to understand the extraordinary engines, machines and structures that form the backbone of 21st-century living. As the world becomes progressively more automated and mechanised, people grow further removed from the way things are made and how things are done. To rectify this, comedian and presenter Robert Llewellyn (‘Red Dwarf’, ‘Scrapheap Challenge’) get his hands dirty in a quest to understand modern technology.

We've got another bumper crop of giveaways up and running for your delectation and delight. There's family comedy with Shrek the Third, sitcom The Librarians, drama with Rain Shadow, Johnny Depp (not the man himself but a great DVD featuring a rare interview), Burt Lancaster,gorgeous kids show Charlie and Lola, music with Tony Bennet and not to forget our mammoth classic movies contest with stacks of box sets up for grabs. As always Memorable TV for full details. See you there.

The BBC have announced plans to make archeology exciting and sexy (what haven't they seen Time Team - Phil in his denim shorts and Mick's stripey jumpers, guaranted to get any women's pulses racing!), Bonekickers promises to be a major new series for Spring 2008. Julie Graham (Dalziel & Pascoe, William And Mary) is Gillian, a feisty Celt who heads up a team of archaeologists working out of Bath University. Adrian Lester (Hustle, Ballet Shoes) is Dr Ben Akomfrah, a forensic expert who brings an objective understanding to the team, Hugh Bonneville (Miss Austen Regrets, Tsunami) is the encyclopaedic but terminally louche, Professor Gregory Parton and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Spooks, Tish Jones in Doctor Who) is the eager, young, post-grad intern, Viv Davis. As a team their skills combine under a variety of imperatives to extract bodies, books, weapons and all manner of artefacts which lead them into an investigation of the past that will unlock dangers and mysteries in the present...

Step aside Harry Potter, there's a new child hero in town! The first of a trilogy by best-selling author Philip Pullman, 'The Golden Compass' is one of the most anticipated films this year and ahead of its world premiere in London on Tuesday (November 27), cast and director spoke about the story that has already attracted controversy. The story of The Golden Compass is set in a world where witches rule the northern skies, ice bears are the bravest of warriors, and where every human is joined with an animal spirit who is as close to them as their own heart. But this world is dominated by the Magisterium, which seeks to control all of humanity and whose greatest threat is the last remaining golden compass and the one child destined to possess it. Twelve-year-old Lyra Belacqua (played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards) lives an extraordinary life as a ward of distinguished Jordan College in Oxford, tearing unsupervised through the streets with her loyal friend Roger (Ben Walke...

Blue Murder returns on 3 December and guest starring in the first episode is Kate Ford in her first appearance since leaving Coronation Street, we spoke to her recently about her role in the show. Why did you choose Blue Murder as your first role after Coronation Street? It was quite an attractive part for me to play as she is so different to Tracy. It was really nice to be working back at Granada. What sort of person is Adele and how did you find playing a character that’s so different to Tracy? Adele is very honest. What she says is the truth even though she’s been hiding a secret. She really cherishes her home-life and her children and she realises that she has everything she’s always wanted, whilst Tracy was always looking for something else. How does she end up getting mixed up with Dwayne? She’d just had her second child and wasn’t feeling especially attractive, so she started getting dressed up and going out flirting with guys. When she met him in the club she was really flatter...

Returning to ITV1 on 3 December is Caroline Quentin who reprises her lead role as DCI Janine Lewis, a single mother of four children who juggles the demands of family life with her high-profile job in a new series of Blue Murder. Filmed on location in Manchester, three brand new 90-minute episodes have been produced for the ITV1 winter schedule and feature the likes of Kate Ford, Thomas Craig, Richard Fleeshman, Jill Halfpenny and Luke Bailey. In Not a Matter of Life and Death, Kate Ford plays Adele, a mysterious witness to a violent murder who is reluctant to tell the police what she has seen. As the investigation progresses, DCI Lewis and her team find themselves drawn into the hedonistic world of professional footballers, their “wags” and hangers-on. The drama also stars Thomas Craig as corrupt football agent Chris Milligan and Luke Bailey as Caleb Kent, brother of professional football star in the making, Dwayne Kent. Desperate Measures begins with the execution-style shooting of r...

Ultimate Force star Christopher Fox is join the regulars at Sun Hill as Detective Sergeant Max Carter and his entry into the fray could be more explosive, in a two part action special Sun Hill finds itself under seige from masked gunmen. Having evacuated the station, most of Sun Hill are forced to watch from the outside with Sergeant Nikki Wright (Gillian Taylforth) and PC Sally Armstrong (Ali Bastian) being held on the inside. Unable to meet the hostage takers outrageous demands, Superintendent Heaton (Daniel Flynn) finds himself in a standoff but he has a way out. Unbeknown to the gunmen, DC Terry Perkins (Bruce Byron) is on the inside. Will he risk his life to save the day? Whilst previously working in the firearms division of C019, Carter gained a reputation for being able to make emotionless decisions in an instant. He only ever pulled the trigger twice and is responsible for two deaths. Returning to CID, Carter hits it off with his colleagues on his first day, and although he is ...

Another week another collection of scintillating DVD's for you to get your mits on. We have some major new giveaways just starting over at Memorable TV including such TV classics as The Sweeney, Minder and My Favorite Martian, scifi adventure with Battlestar Galactica, comedy with Will and Grace, music with Led Zeppelin and Tony Bennett and family fun with Shrek The Third. Truly something for everyone.

The ABC Australia network have formally announced their plans, after a period of intense speculation, for a dedicated free to air children's tv channel, set to go to air in April 2008. Helped of course by the $82 million that the government have provisionally agreed to cough up, arn't elections wonderful things! The channel will be known as ABC3, ABC Director of Television, Kim Dalton, speaking from the Screen Producers Association of Australia Conference on the Gold Coast, said ABC3, as the new channel will be known, will be a tremendous addition to the entertainment choices available to Australian families. Planning is already underway at the ABC for the provision of ABC3, which will be a digital channel, available free to viewers who have a digital television or a digital set-top box. Mr Dalton issued a caveat saying, “Provided the funds are approved by government soon after the election, we will be on air by April 2008.”

Derren Nesbitt may not be quite so well remembered now but back in the day he was very much the popular action man, cast in the same mould as Patrick McGoohan he was at the height of his powers when he starred in the first series of Thames classic Special Branch and funnily enough the Special Branch that most people will probably remember, that of the Patrick Mower and George Sewell era of kick down the door first and ask questions later era is a different kind of show altogether, much more of a police/spy procedural than a thick ear show. Nesbitt is the lead as Inspector Jordan and for the time was something of an original, his maverick womanising ways might be the stuff of every genre show you see now but back in 1969 he was leading the field somewhat, his immediate superior was initially Superintendant Eden (Wensley Pithey) (he appears in the first seven episodes before being replaced by Fulton McKay's Inman). Like all classic TV drama re-watched today the pace is much slower an...

In 1978 ITC decided to revive their much loved Saint franchise with Ian Olgilvy in the lead, this time out although The Saint is still an adventurer always ready to save the country from crisis or help a damsel in distress there was a little more realism with actual location shooting and even one or two actual visits abroad. A real treat, a nostalgia filled blast of classic seventies TV that doesn't take itself too seriously. Whilst still heavy on the Roger Mooresque suaveness and derring do Ian Olgilvy's Saint is a little more action oriented with episodes featuring a plot to blow up London, Arab terrorists, drug rings and assassinations (of course there is also plenty of Saint saving girl in peril style storylines too!). With its great 70's fashions and concerns and a feel similar to shows such as The New Avengers or The Professionals The Return of the Saint is excellent (not to mention one very funky little theme tune). There is also great fun to be had in playing the fa...

Frank Ross...is Out. Tom Bell is just one of those actors with an amazing screen prescence, very much at home playing the hard man and pretty much tailor made for the role of Frank Ross. The plot sees Frank Ross (played by Bell) coming out of prison after serving 8 years for a bank robbery that went wrong, with his marriage in tatters (his wife has had a major breakdown and his teenage son is something of a delinquent) Ross is determined to get his revenge on the ones who grassed him to the law. Opening with a great sequence of Ross coming to terms with actually being out and feeling alienated by the fast moving crowds around him. The 6 part serial, here in a nice two disc set, was a big ratings hit and also won a Bafta award. Written by Trevor Preston, Out was a Thames-Euston production and has that classic shot on location feel and is quite similar in tone to Preston's equally excellent series Fox. Although the series belongs to Bell (he dominates proceedings in much the same way...

More britcom fun from Network as we take a look at the fifth and penultimate series of Man About the House, the situation is the same as before, two sexy girls (Paula Wilcox as Chrissy and Sally Thomsett as Jo) sharing a flat with a male chef (Richard O'Sullivan as Robin) - a very risque idea back in the seventies, added to the mixture is their landlords The Ropers (George and Mildred played by Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce) who lived downstairs. With a cast that appear to get on really well and a series of plotlines that revolve around misunderstandings and frustrated attempts by Robin to get off with Chrissy Man About the House is one of the better ITV sitcoms of the 1970's. By now the formula is well set and screen time is devoted pretty much equally between the youngsters and the Ropers with George at least once in every episode trying to con the trio into something dodgy (especially when his friend Jerry, played by the brilliant Roy Kinnear, gets involved). The series neve...

By the time of the second season of this missing persons crime show Without A Trace was becoming the first show to give ER a run for its money, fast paced and allowing as much time for the personal lives of the cops as their policing Without A Trace is a much stronger show than any number of strangely unfeeling CSI clones. Anthony La Paglia and Poppy Montgomery (Australians both) play FBI Missing Persons Special Unit operatives Jack Malone and Samantha Spade and each episode sees the team trying to trace another missing person. By applying advanced psychological profiling techniques, the special task force is able to peel back the layers of the victims’ lives and trace their whereabouts in order to determine if the missing person has been abducted, murdered, committed suicide or has simply run away. The team reconstructs a “Day of Disappearance” timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to...

Having achieved almost mythic status with the genius of The Aunty Jack Show in the early seventies Grahame Bond, Rory O'Donahue et al were back in 1975 with a quartet of themed specials all designed to make ample use of the new colour TV sets that were sweeping the nation in the mid seventies. This seldom seen since collection has now been released by the always excellent Roadshow. Apart from the first of the four which is pretty much a live in concert special the team prove yet again that they are well ahead of their time with a collection of fake documentaries, mockumentaries if you will, to quote spinal tap. A style that was quite rare back in the day but is all the rage now with shows such as We Can Be Heroes and even The Office. Theres much fun to be had at the expensive of Wollongong, both the Farrelly Brothers and Norman Gunston are local boys and there is some great location footage of the city in its prime. Great fun and still essential. Distributor: Roadshow Home Enterta...

This highly culty spy-crime drama series from the mid seventies has long been on most TV fan's must see list so all praise to Network for bringing us the entire series (including the original 3 part serial which led to the longer series). Besides the fact that the stories are intriguing the show has held interest because of it featuring the first appearance of a certain Detective Sergeant George Bulman who would later go on to appear in the legendary series Strangers and his own series, here (still played by Don Henderson of course) he is teamed with DC Derek Willis (who would also go on to Strangers) Bulman is a somewhat different beast to the character he became in the later series, single minded and dogged in the extreme Bulman has none of the quirkiness that makes him stand out in Strangers but it is more than interesting to see the genesis of a character though. The star of the series is the excellent Stephen Yardley who is probably best known for having played greasy Ken Mast...

With the festive season approaching we thought it would be a good idea over the next few weeks to take a look at some great titles you may have missed over the last few months. First up is the excellent action adventure series Primeval. With its filmic sheen and some jaw dropping special effects Primeval looks quite fantastic, with storylines to match and a nice ensemble feel to the cast we have ourselves a great big slice of classic TV scifi. Douglas Henshall heads the cast as evolutionary zooologist Nick Cutter who in an opening scene flashback has never got over the disappearance of his wife Helen (the gorgeous Juliet Aubrey) 8 years before. His team are called to the Forest of Dean to investigate some strange sightings that have been occuring in the area, also there is Hannah Spearitt, a zoo worker also drawn to the area, they soon discover that prehistoric creatures from the past and some amazing creatures from the future are stepping through holes in the fabric of time and threat...

Hosted by the ebullient host, James O'Loghlin, The New Inventors highlights the spirit of Australian entrepreneurship and social enterprise and illustrates how the nation is far from sedentary when it comes to pioneering new ideas. In the episode airing Wednesday, 14 November 2007 @ 8.00pm on the ABC James is joined by engineer James Bradfield Moody, science journalist Bernie Hobbs and materials engineer Veena Sahajwalla. Inventions featured on the program: Invention 1 - LiceSuk by inventor Janina Tregambe from SA. LiceSuk is a vacuum hose attachment with a nit comb attached to the front which provides a convenient, safe and environmentally friendly way for the speedy removal of lice from the head providing instant relief for children from head lice. Removing the need for chemicals, it literally sucks the lice off your head! Invention 2 - Quantum Lift by inventors David Catford and Dirk Plug from SA. The Quantum Lift is an inexpensive hay and equipment-moving trailer which can be t...

It's the final episode of the season for the New Tricks team, this entertaining show has one of the best casts on TV. Big Topped airing on the ABC on Saturday, 17 November 2007 @ 7.30 sees the team at the circus when they are assigned to reinvestigate the suspicious death of the Great Miraculo aka Bert Dignam. In 1990, ringmaster and circus owner Bert Dignam was found burnt to death inside his caravan at Spingles Circus. Mysteriously, all that remained of him were his feet, and nothing else in the caravan was burnt. How or why he died was never discovered. To try and solve the puzzle, Brian attempts to recreate his death using a whole pig carcass as the body. It doesn't take long for the case to get twisted. With pressure from Bert's long lost daughter and a lack of leads from his old friends, the team struggle to get a break. Off the case, Sandra's trust in her team is shattered when she discovers they have hidden an important secret about her past from her. The news t...

ABC's Friday Night Mystery night is still going strong, this week sees the return of the second series of The Brief (Friday, 16 November 2007 @ 8.30pm) which sees Alan Davies return as criminal barrister Henry Farmer, in pursuit of justice and a win on the horses. In the first episode Blame, Henry's finances are still suffering as a result of his gambling addiction and alimony payments to his ex-wife and son in Australia. Newly single, temporarily homeless and juggling a heavy workload and a complicated personal life, Henry turns to his trusted friend Maureen 'Mo' Tyler (Linda Bassett) for support when he finds himself sleeping on the office floor and answering to a bankruptcy trustee. Despite his shambolic life, Henry is a formidable courtroom operator with a tremendous gift for cross-examination and a silver tongue for the vital closing speech. A gambling man, Henry's not afraid to take on the hard cases including; defending a man accused of murdering his own moth...

Australia's biggest rock band Powderfinger, along with triple j and jtv descended upon the mining town of Karratha WA in Australia's north-west for the second instalment of the triple j goes AWOL series. airing on the ABC on Thursday, 15 November 2007 @ 11.25pm Hailed as the biggest event the region had hosted in years, the gig drew thousands from all over the region with many making the ten-hour drive south from Broome. It was worth the effort as Powderfinger delivered a rocking set of old and new favourites. Director: Brendan Doyle; Producer: Deb Spinocchia; Executive Producer: Jennifer Collins

It's such a shame that this series hasn't lived up to the hype, a promising scenario but nowhere near enough laughs for a comedy, even Bob Franklin seems off form. In fact there's not a believable or likeable character in it. In the episode broadcast on the ABC Wednesday, 14 November 2007 @ 9.30pm Frances (Robyn Butler) is on a diet in preparation for Book Week and as a result is even more stressed and anxious than usual. Christine's (Roz Hammond) slimy lawyer Piero (Grant Piro) puts pressure on her to get Frances to testify in her favour if there is any chance of an acquittal. Christine knows Frances will refuse and must find a way to win her over. Christine realises how important Book Week and the Premier's visit is to Frances and takes advantage of her vulnerability by offering some beauty tips. Frances relaxes and for a moment, enjoys Christine's company, a distant memory of their school days. The pleasantness doesn't last long. When Christine inadverten...

Maybe its because we are turning into one ourselves but we do find this show funny, airing on the ABC Network Tuesdays @ 8.00pm, this week Eveywhere You Look is a treat. As Don Warrington say "What I hate is people who beep you when you're driving. You stop somewhere, and presumably you've stopped there for a reason. You're not on holiday, you're not relaxing, it's not the beach, you're trying to get somewhere. Obviously you can't get there because something's in the way. But some dick behind you thinks 'No, he's just hanging around.' " 35-to-54-year-olds are the grumpiest group of people in Britain today. Grumpier than their parents, who survived the war. Grumpier than their children, who just want to do drugs and surf the internet. Just when you thought they were finished, the Grumpy Old Men are back again to complain about modern life. Sir Tim Rice, Will Self, Rick Wakeman, Nigel Havers, Rory McGrath, Tony Slattery, John O'F...

Australia's third largest Church, the Uniting Church, is struggling to adapt in the face of a changing Australia, this fascinating documentary airing on Sunday 11 November @ 9.25pm takes an indepth look at the organisation. Born in the Australian religious community in 1977, it was a bold new experiment in Christian unity and was a culmination of three separate churches: the Presbyterian Church, the Congregational Church (with their roots in the European reformation), and the Methodist Church, derived from 18th century Britain. Overnight, the Uniting Church has become Australia's third largest denomination with two million members, standing for social justice, human rights and religious liberty. From the start, it was not afraid to mix religion and politics. The faith opposed racism, supported Aboriginal Land Rights and lobbied for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It was a community that revelled in its diversity. However, over the past decade, its constituency has divi...

Rainshadow, despite it's oh so Australian, serious McLeod's Daughters backdrop works extremely well as a strong character driven drama, this week's episode Call of the Wild (airing on the ABC Network Sunday, 11 November 2007 @ 8.30pm) sees Jill (Victoria Thaine) almost reconciled to the idea of an imperfect future with Kate (Rachel Ward), the past catches up with her when her father, brother and then Shane (Nathin Butler), the drover from episode one, all descend on them for an impromptu country lunch. All three men are there with the intention of wooing Jill away from her new life, although each has a very different motivation. Meanwhile, Kate is trying to persuade the departing Iraqi agronomist, Achmed Aziz (Panda Likoudis), not to tell the authorities about the widespread sheep disease in the district. A horrific attack on the Balfour farm by a pack of dogs distracts everyone, but it gives Jill a chance to show her true worth as well as crystallising her decision to stay...

This excellent drama documentary continues on the ABC Network on Sunday, 11 November 2007 @ 7.30pm, this week Cook continues his relentless pursuit of a Great Southern Continent, putting fable and mystery to rest. Despite his great skills sailing and navigating across the world, Endeavour runs aground and is nearly lost. As a patched up Endeavour crawls its way north again, Cook commits the most controversial act of the voyage: he claims the entire east coast of New Holland for Britain, without permission from local inhabitants. To this day, Cook's claim is still not accepted by Aboriginal people. Stopping for emergency repairs in Batavia, infected water turns Endeavour into a death ship. Until now Cook has not lost a man, but by the Cape of Good Hope, Cook has lost over a third of his crew. Back in London, enduring trials of life are also taking their toll on the Cook family. In his absence, Cook's wife Elizabeth must bury a second child. Cook's maps confirm his brilliance...

Can you imagine the chaos that would be wreaked if Australia's writers came out on strike in support of their American brothers, you can picture it now, the placards, the chants, the sympathetic glances from their colleagues on Today Tonight. But we are a hardy bunch we Australians, we happy breed, we noble few and those three writers would be out for as long as it takes. Who cares if City Homicide goes into re-runs, not they, who cares if Sea Patrol goes into dry dock, they don't. Unfortunately neither does the audience.

The cast of Grey's Anatomy gave up their lunch hour on Wednesday (7 November) to join their brothers on the picket line outside the studio in Hollywood where the drama series is filmed. "This is like 12,000 writers and ultimately way more people because it affects all the actors, it involves all the crew and many of us who can't actually strike," said Sandra Oh, who plays sharp-tongued Dr. Cristina Yang on the popular drama. "This is our lunch hour right now, we're lending our support and eventually for me I would love to be able to join them and strike along with the writers." The Writers' Guild of America represents a large population of screenwriters, some of whom make millions of dollar a year and others who barely make enough to pay union dues. The guild membership is at odds with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over their share of supplemental payments, known as residuals, for programming runs on the internet and other ...

There's a real whiff of controversy in the air with the British Comedy Awards this year, ITV have said that they will not be broadcasting the event, which takes place on 5 December, thanks to the irregularities discovered over the Phone in votes during the 2005 ceremony. Viewers were urged to keep phoning in with their votes even though the live segment had finished. Jonathan Ross is still hosting and it is being recorded by production company Unique. The other big news is that Ant and Dec have been snubbed and for the first time since 2002 haven't been nominated for a single award. Ant and Dec have failed to pick up a single nomination for the British Comedy Awards for the first time in five years. The big hitter this year is BBC Three sitcom Gavin and Stacey which has garnered seven nominations. The Full list of nominations is BEST TELEVISION COMEDY ACTOR 2007 DAVID MITCHELL Peep Show (Objective Productions for Channel 4) JACK DEE Lead Balloon (Open Mike for BBC Four) KEVIN B...

Being Human is a new one off, hour long comedy drama, for BBC Three, that focuses on the lives of three outsiders who just want to fit in, only problem is, one's a vampire, one's a werewolf and the others a ghost. Mitchell (Flanagan) and George (Tovey) are two 20-something lads who, like any of their peers, would love to hit the town, pull girls and spend evenings down the pub. Mitchell is a hospital cleaner, good looking, laid back and a hit with the ladies. Oh, and he's a blood-sucking vampire. Mitchell's friend George works in the same hospital as a porter. He's an awkward but loveable geek who was befriended by Mitchell two years ago. George was heartbroken after he had to move away from the love of his life; he had to leave before she discovered that at every full moon, he sprouts a snout, grows a very hairy back and transforms into a werewolf. Having had enough of sleeping in hostels and temporary accommodation, Mitchell and George decide to get a flat togeth...

Cranford is all set to the big BBC period drama smash of the year, an epic tales of a year in the life of a village, Cranford features an all star cast, one of whom, Francesca Annis, we caught up with recently. Francesca Annis plays Lady Ludlow in the five part drama and perhaps more than any character in Cranford, embodies the desire to maintain the old order, but progress is threatening the status quo. "She represents old conservative paternalism," says Francesca Annis. "Lady Ludlow is almost feudal but, at the same time, she's very aware of her responsibilities towards the huge number of people she employs. "She has 64 indoor servants alone and takes great care of them all, refusing to countenance cutting back because she doesn't want to see any of them end up in the workhouse. "She's determined to keep her estate intact but times are changing and she can no longer afford to. She is offered the possibility of raising money by selling land for th...

Channel Four celebrates an amazing 25 years on the air this November, over the years they've stirred up controversy but also provided us with some of the most stimulating and unforgettable shows of all time. Here we take a look at some of the best bits. 25 years ago, Autumn 1982 highlights Channel 4 opened with Countdown, with Richard Whiteley the first face to be seen on the new channel and Carol Vorderman the first woman. The first voice heard was continuity announcer, Paul Coia. Channel 4 News started with Peter Sissons and Trevor McDonald as anchors. Brookside also formed part of the launch night line-up. Comedy came from The Paul Hogan Show and The Comic Strip Presents… Five Go Mad in Dorset. Commissioned features included Walter and P’Tang Yang Kipperbang. Twenty Twenty Vision was launched as the channel’s flagship current affairs programme, alongside A Week In Politics. What the Papers Say debuted on Channel 4 after a 26-year run on ITV. The Tube launched with unknowns Paula...