Television loves a bossy expert – from Mary Portas to Kirstie Allsopp and Ruth Watson. But The Fixer’s Alex Polizzi is surely queen of them all I love Alex Polizzi. She’s like the heroine of an Angela Brazil school story, all bouncy curls and fair-minded tickings-off about school spirit...
When the most memorable moment is Adele being cut off mid-speech, it makes you wonder if awards are really good TV This morning, everyone’s talking about Adele’s acceptance speech at the Brit awards. Thanks to a rambling Damon Albarn and the imminent arrival of the News at Ten, she...
Can you leave your brain on standby for the third series of ITV1′s stupidly enjoyable neo-Victorian crime fest or are you appalled by the gaping plot holes? “What if we could use the past as a map to guide us through difficult investigations?” mused DI Chandler over a quiet...
It’s six years since Timothy Spall started sailing around Britain. That’s a lot of faffing What? He, and it – Timothy Spall: All at Sea (BBC4) – are still going? Still all at sea? It’s six years since he set off from the Thames in his beloved barge Princess...
Broadcaster George Lamb on polarising opinion, his dislike of social networking and his friendship with Lily Allen Before doing what you do now, did you ever think about becoming an actor like your father, Larry? Not really. My mum put me off it. When I was really young, Dad...
It’s the show’s 500th episode this weekend – so what are the secrets of its success? This weekend The Simpsons broadcasts its 500th episode. Astonishingly, the series has been going for 23 mainly glorious years. Recent online discussion over the “best episode ever” has already caused, depending on your...
How the flame-haired Brit became the star of TV’s heir to 24 Survey Damian Lewis’s CV and you’ll find he’s had a string of roles that required him to exude a certain kind of laconic, tight-lipped, battle-hardened maleness, holding it together as things fall apart. In 1999, he starred...
As in Downton Abbey, the inhabitants of Upstairs Downstairs are finding the decorum of aristocratic life rudely interrupted by war During the chasm between seasons one and two of Game Of Thrones, I’ve tried several other flavours of television drama and found them sorely wanting. All those actresses with...
Will you be watching international phenomenon Downton or its sumptuous, painstakingly accurate BBC1 rival? Or both? It’s an obsession Downton Abbey’s Cousin Violet (Dame Maggie Smith) would describe as “frightfully middle class.” But there is no escaping the question of whether Upstairs Downstairs is going to be better than...
A menace on the road, a hippy in the home I’d like to report Greg Secker to the police, for dangerous driving. More specifically, deliberate and dangerous distraction, in Greg’s case using a mobile phone and a laptop computer. If the police weren’t watching the programme then they’ll find all the...
