As 56 Up director Michael Apted prepares to hand over the baton, which shows have outshone their original formats There’s a tradition in sport known as “retiring the shirt”, in which the squad number worn by a particularly influential player is taken out of circulation: in American basketball, the...
The show revealed little of its new home in its Salford debut – the test will come when it needs to lure big names to the north On Monday afternoon, fat Manchester clouds turned the sky a traditional grey, the raindrops sending the city’s bank holiday shoppers scurrying for...
This weekend BBC and ITV launch their most expensive projects of the spring. Both shows repeat a recipe for success When viewers are asked by newspapers or the BBC Trust to define what they would like to see more of on British television, the answer is invariably the same:...
Television love stories have given us some brilliant couples – so why aren’t there more romantic dramas on screen? We have fallen for Ross and Rachel; swooned over Adam and Rachel, and held our breath as Carrie and Big’s relationship. And now ITV hopes viewers we will fall for...
Which is more enticing? Simon Cowell’s old-school talent show or BBC1′s newcomer where the judges can’t see the singing hopefuls? Here we go again. As if all the ratings hoo-hah between The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing last year wasn’t enough, ITV and the BBC have lined up...
If she does move to Daybreak, will Kelly adopt the harder edge required for news? Lorraine Kelly is being lined up to present Daybreak, according to reports on Wednesday. Not just the silly bit at the end with all the pink and cooking demonstrations: the un-pink sofa could soon...
Michael Parkinson is the doyen of British talkshow hosts. Since he left, things – he says – have gone downhill. Thank heavens he’s got a new series on the way Michael Parkinson is not here yet, so I have a nosey around his office. It’s a beautiful place in...
They were hailed as a glossy new addition to the reality genre. But is the appeal of one-joke, one-note shows such as Towie and Desperate Scousewives fading already? The reem is over. The fake tan is fading and the vajazzles have lost their lustre. The only way is down...
Agatha Christie grew to dislike her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but his little grey cells have made him a hit with viewers Natalie Haynes’s guide to TV detectives: #1 – Columbo For longevity alone, David Suchet’s Poirot is right up there. The first episode was broadcast in 1989, and...
What will we do with no more Wagbo, no more bits of scenery that look like faces, no more ‘there’s only one way to find out’ fights? Hopefully Burp will go out on a high After just over a decade, it seems as though the new series of TV...
