MSN TV: BBC1's BRITAIN'S BIGGEST HOARDERS - Series 1

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed the new documentary series BRITAIN'S BIGGEST HOARDERS, which is rather self-explanatory.

It isn't most people's idea of entertainment, but there's a curious fascination with hoarding right now. It started with How Clean Is Your House?, which would occasionally stumble upon someone with stacks of stinking rubbish touching their ceilings. Those discoveries have since become their sub-genre, and the latest is three-part documentary Britain's Biggest Hoarders. In each episode, Jasmine Harman (daughter of a mother she helped conquer a hoarding habit) tries to use her personal experiences and insight to help others suffering the same psychological condition.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV Review: CUTTING EDGE – IAN BRADY: ENDGAMES OF A PSYCHOPATH (Channel 4)

Today over at MSN TV, I've reviewed Channel 4's Cutting Edge documentary IAN BRADY: ENDGAMES OF A PSYCHOPATH, which appears to have started some debate from readers.

Ian Brady, psychopathic killer of five children in the 1960s: Pauline Reade, Keith Bennett, John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans. You know the mug shot; sleepy-eyed, downturned mouth, a tussle of teddy boy hair, wearing a tie-less white shirt and jacket. Along with his lover and abettor Myra Hindley, he instantly became one of Britain's most infamous criminals, and still haunts the victim's families after five decades of incarceration and increasing fragility at the age of 74 (13 years into a prolonged hunger strike, fed by nasogastric tube)..." Continue reading...

MSN TV Review: RUSSELL BRAND - FROM ADDICTION TO RECOVERY

Over at MSN TV today, I've reviewed BBC Three's hour-long documentary RUSSELL BRAND - FROM ADDICTION TO RECOVERY, where the comedian investigates the country's drug addiction problem and the prospects of rehabilitation.

"My opinion of Russell Brand has always been hard to pin down because his output runs incredibly hot and cold. For every scene-stealing turn in the likes of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, there's a heinous remake of Arthur lurking round the corner. In addition, he's undoubtedly a rampant egomaniac. However, it's impossible to deny Russell Brand as the perfect choice to present a film about drugs on the BBC's youth-skewing channel. Thanks to his background as a charismatic comic and ex-junkie, From Addiction to Recovery was both insightful and entertaining." Continue reading...

'AN IDIOT ABROAD' 1.1 - "China"

An Idiot Abroad, Sky1's brand new comedy travelogue starring Karl Pilkington (cult hero and sidekick of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant on their successful podcasts), debuted with a whopping 820,000 viewers last Thurday night. That makes it Sky1's highest-rated premiere for a homegrown show since May's adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, tripling what they expect for that timeslot.

I don't have the time or inclination to post an in-depth review of the show, suffice to say that I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't hilarious, but it was consistently amusing. I know there's still some debate about how much Karl Pilkington is "playing a character", as his idiocy often feels too scripted to be genuinely impromptu. I guess the debate will rumble on, although I just don't see how Karl could still be pulling the wool over our eyes after so many years, if he were a fraud. My guess is he has a sharp comic mind that was starved of education as a boy, pure and simple.

Anyway, this series finds Karl being sent around the world by Gervais and Merchant to report on "The Seven Wonders Of The World". First stop was China and its Great Wall, where we were treated to such scenes as Karl eating from a bag of Monster Munch as he watched a local man eat an egg containing a fetus, an old woman killing toads by whacking them on the ground to prepare Karl's dinner, the absence of doors and loo paper in Chinese public toilets, and Karl being taught Kung Fu at four in the morning.

It's not a hugely educational series (although we learned that the Great Wall was heavily restored in the '60s and '80s), but that's not really the point. It's an excuse to see a simpleton grapple with a different culture, showing us peculiar things you never get to see in serious documentaries and tourist shows. And, whether it was sometimes scripted or not, Karl's a witty person with a child's grasp of the world he inhabits, although the joke began to feel stretched after 30 minutes.

23 September 2010
Sky1/HD, 9PM

Dom Joly & The Black Island

Dom Joly, a journalist and travel writer best-known for shouting into a giant mobile phone and crawling across a zebra crossing dressed as a snail (as part of hidden camera show Trigger Happy TV), is also a closet "Tintinophile". This, we learned during Dom Joly & The Black Island, is a term used to describe fans of Belgian illustrator Hergé's seminal creation: Tintin, a quiffed teenage reporter whose globetrotting exploits Joly claims were responsible for his love of travel. This one-off documentary, prematurely commissioned in light of the fact a Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson Tintin movie is a few years off yet, could have been a wonderfully informative and amusing piece of work... but, it really wasn't. Joly's boyish enthusiasm came across as a little insincere, or at the very least embellished because this is the only TV project he's got off the ground since the flop of World Shut Your Mouth in 2005.

The premise was decent enough as a trivial piece of whimsy: Joly wanted to retrace the step of Tintin's seventh adventure in "The Black Island", starting in the character's birthplace of Belgium for some back-story on his creation, before travelling up through England into the Scottish highlands. There's certainly a great documentary to be made on Hergé and his intrepid comic-book hero, but this wasn't it. Joly's jokey persona filtered through him dressing up as Tintin (ginger hair, sky blue top, long socks) and attempting to steal a dog that resembled canine companion "Snowy", which felt like a leftover Trigger Happy TV stunt that went wrong, and wasn't funny in the first place.

Comedy pretty much extinguished with, Joly's "adventure" involved crossing the English Channel on a ferry from Ostend to Dover, catching a train at Bishop's Stortford station (which was allegedly the inspiration for a setting in "The Black Island", but which now looks nothing like its drawing), before arriving in Scotland to locate the cover's black island castle, which again didn't really look much like the drawing.

A few nuggets of information was gleamed: Hergé based all of his drawings on photos sent to him of faraway lands, as he wasn't much of a traveller; and the Japanese are massive Tintin anoraks (despite the fact their country was badly represented in one book.) Most of this trivia was dispensed by "Tintinologist" Mr. Farr during a train journey with Joly somewhere in the middle of this mercifully short half-hour.

I can imagine a fantastic documentary on Tintin being made some day, and we'll probably get one when the Spielberg/Jackson marketing muscle is in full flex, but this pre-emptive Channel 4 effort felt lacklustre, pointless, not particularly enlightening, and tragically unfunny. Joly just didn't convince me he was a genuine fan of Tintin, while the idea to follow in Tintin's footsteps just didn't work as I think it was intended. At no point did I care about Joly's trip, I'd rather have listened to Mr. Farr's insights into Hergé's oeuvre.

19 MARCH 2010: CHANNEL 4 (HD), 7.30PM

Box-Eyed: Lost Land Of The Volcano, Harper's Island & Derren Brown's The Events

This week's Box-Eyed column features capsule reviews for Lost Land Of The Volcano, Harper's Island and Derren Brown's The Events. Head over to Newslite.tv now for a look-see!

"The joy of LOST LAND OF THE VOLCANO is how it cultivates a pioneering sense of discovery and adventure. You half expect the team to stumble upon a tribe sacrificing a blonde showgirl to a giant gorilla, or for a T-Rex to explode out of the foliage and chomp the head off one of the bearded eggheads." Continue reading...

LOUIS THEROUX: A PLACE FOR PAEDOPHILES

Has the change in direction for gawky investigator Louis Theroux worked? His recent work has been a world away from the amusing snoops at fringe culture that made his name, and he continues his serious work with A Place For Paedophiles. Here, Louis spent a few months at Coalinga Mental Institute in the middle of the Californian desert, where hundreds of inmates (referred to as "individuals") are being rehabilitated after serving prison sentences for sex offensives...

Coalinga is a $400 million complex that costs the state $200,000 per year to house each of the 800 individuals detained there (and it can hold 1,500 people.) Considering 70% of them there don't participate in the therapy sessions, it's effectively "warehousing" the majority in a comfortable environment until the day they die. And, while Coalinga resembles a prison in many ways (barbed wire fences, tan-coloured utilitarian uniforms), the interior is not unlike an empty shopping mall -- containing tennis courts, gyms, a baseball field and music rooms. This is clearly because it's not, strictly-speaking, a prison; it's a maximum security hospital and none of the inhabitants are criminals.

Louis meets Mr. Rigby, a convicted paedophile trying to go straight (or is he just pretending to?), with a curious taste in photos of naked male statues and paintings of young ballet dancers that Louis believes look underage. Louis' concern is brought to the attention of Coalinga's staff, and Rigby himself takes it upon himself to contact a New York art gallery to enquire about the age of the people depicted in the painting he has a print of.

There's Mr. Lamb, one of only 13 people at Coalinga ever considered ready to be released into the community (having agreed to be castrated after molesting 50 kids), but so far they've failed to find anywhere suitable. One potential landlord backed out at the last minute when a rattlesnake was left on his porch in protest. The quiet, unassuming Lamb certainly sounds like he's been rehabilitated and doesn't pose a danger to kids, but then you have to wonder why we meet him making a Ferris Wheel out of paper...

Are these men perhaps suffering from arrested development and consider themselves children? Sadly, the documentary doesn't really tackle the mentality of paedophiles, it was more interested in the superficial oddity of a place like Coalinga -- where adults make sugar paper decorations for a Halloween party, then sing the Addam's Family theme tune together, apparently unaware of the lyrical creepiness given their background ("they're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky...")

And there's Mr. Yahn, a man who refuses to participate in the therapy sessions (which includes wearing a device to measure your erections when shown various sexual imagery), and has exhausted his legal appeals. He will now spend the rest of his life inside, adamant that he doesn't actually have a problem.

The documentary was non-sensationalist and interesting enough, but it was another example of an investigation that didn't really get to grips with anything. It was just a curious tour of a very strange place, that gave the paedophiles quite a sympathetic angle, and Louis looked unsure about how best to tackle the men he interviewed there. Should he confront them about their crimes and elicit some response that might prove cathartic for them, or the viewer? Or should he just interview them gently and see where it might lead?

Louis chose the latter, and most of the sex offenders came across as apologetic, sincere, quiet oddballs. Commendably, Louis did wonder if these men are play-acting, as they must surely be adept at appearing likeable in order to "groom" kids. And, considering only 13 people have actually been released into the community, is that a condemnation of the rehab process (some of the staff were almost as creepy as those they help), or a sign that most people don't want to leave?

Overall, this was certainly a fascinating glimpse into a weird crack of unsettling society, with the bespectacled Louis our unbiased guide. But I can't say it really changed my opinion about the subject-matter, or exposed anything very shocking.


19 April 2009
BBC2, 9pm

TV Week #37: Horne & Corden, The Big Red Nose Climb & Comic Relief Does The Apprentice

My thirty-seventh TV Week over at Newslite.tv features a reprise of my reviews for The Big Red Nose Climb and Comic Relief Does The Apprentice, but also features a brand new review for BBC3 sketch show Horne & Corden. Enjoy!

The critics have savaged HORNE & CORDEN, but it's not as awful as other BBC3 efforts with a similar format (The Wall, Blunder.) I guess everyone just expects more from this ubiquitous pair, who have yet to equal their Gavin & Stacy breakthrough. The problem with this sketch show is brutally simple: H&C are talented performers, but weak writers. I think it's safe to assume that Ruth Jones, the co-writer of Gavin & Stacey, is the real brains behind the award-winning series -- which, let's be honest, appeals to audiences more for its feelgood factor than an abundance of belly-laughs. Continue reading...

The Big Red Nose Climb & Comic Relief Does The Apprentice

A two-hour chunk of charitable programming for Comic Relief aired on BBC1 last night: The Big Red Nose Climb, where celebrities went up Mount Kilimanjaro and raised £1.6 million (and counting), and Comic Relief Does The Apprentice, where two teams of celebrities raised no money for charity, instead creating and marketing a children's toy. But don't worry, the winning toy might be mass produced and sold in toy shops, with all proceeds going to Comic Relief. Well, maybe.

Both shows were perfectly entertaining, and mostly impenetrable to snide comments. Yes, it was fantastic that overpaid celebs traipsed to the top of Kilimanjaro (facing 50% oxygen levels, altitude sickness, and -20c temperatures at times.) And, while it was less effort to spend three days playing with toys and hosting a launch party, you can't kick up too much of a stink about celebs doing something to help a charity that will saves lives in the UK and Africa.

But, as entertainment, both shows were a disappointment to me. The Big Red Nose Climb was undoubtedly the better effort, though. Thanks to David Walliams swimming the English Channel a few years ago, Comic Relief has upped the ante when it comes to celebrity involvement. It's no longer enough to host a slot on the live show, film a comedy sketch, perhaps sing on a charity single, or travel to Africa and shed a tear at a hospital treating kids with malaria. No, now we want to see celebs do some EXTREME fundraising. I have no problem with that. Going up Kilimanjaro was an excellent brainwave from Take That's Gary Barlow, who assembled his showbiz buddies to help him achieve it.

I just felt that this hour-long documentary didn't do justice to their efforts. I got more sense of the daily struggle listening to Radio 1 last week (which followed the climb most days, because DJ's Chris Moyles and Fearne Cotton participated), and the actual footage didn't live up to my imagination. It just didn't look difficult enough to me, hate to say it! I'm sure it was painful and torturous, but the documentary didn't really get that across.

I mean, they had super tents (some of which opened out into marquee's, practically), most of their gear was carried up by muscled African sherpa's (who trudged ahead and set-up camp ready to be slept in!), there was apparently 200 people accompanying the celebs (which killed the idea that a close-knit celeb team were going up with a few cameramen and guides), and a lot of the climb didn't seem particularly arduous or vertical. To get around the fact it didn't feel dangerous enough, the documentary focused on the prospect of Chris Moyles (the fattest celeb) not making it all the way. In fact, this almost became "Can We Get Chris Moyles Up A Mountain?", he was featured so heavily. And he did summit.

We also spent a lot of time with Worzel-faced Fearne Cotton (who felt sick throughout), Gary Barlow (who had a bad back throughout) and Cheryl Cole (who moaned throughout.) But it still felt relatively easy going. An hour's worth of TV wasn't long enough to make us feel the passage of time, either. Why not 90-minutes? And it didn't help that the hour was always interrupted by short films the celebs had made, highlighting problems in Africa that Comic Relief are raising cash for. I understand these were an important part of the whole show, but a longer documentary would have accommodated both strands of the doc much better. They just felt too distracting here.

Still, it was undoubtedly a huge triumph that ALL the celebs made it to the summit (Moyles didn't even come in last), and they raised a phenomenal amount of cash -- particularly considering there's a recession on. So, all good stuff. I just wish the lasting record of their amazing effort had been a bit stronger.

After the climb, it was over to Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. Again, this was all for charity, so you can't be too harsh. But, compared to previous Apprentice specials for Comic Relief, this was a terrible disappointment. The caliber of celebrities was generally quite high (Jonathan Ross, Jack Dee, Gok Wan, Alan Carr, Patsy Palmer, Ruby Wax, Carol Vorderman, etc.) and Sir Alan Sugar wisely made sure there were two business-minded people as team captains for the two teams (split into boys vs. girls.)

The show's undoing was three-fold: Firstly, the chosen task wasn't conducive to the idea of raising money for charity. Each group had to design, create and market a child's toy -- but there was no sense of actual money being raised. We were told that the winning toy could become a reality on toy shop shelves (with all profits going to Comic Relief), but is that good enough? The winning toy wasn't that brilliant (velcro suits that kids can wear to stick to each other), and I can't see it becoming a money-spinner.

Secondly, the teams got on too well. Part of the fun with The Apprentice is seeing personalities clash and argue, but the celebs barely had a crossed word. Sure, Patsy briefly walked-out after one spat with team captain Michelle Malone, but that was about it. On the boy's team, Ross' overactive man-child shtick was just too strong for anyone to dominate -- so Alan Carr squeaked the odd joke, Jack Dee played straight man, Gok Wan focused on costumes, and team captain Gerald Ratner decided to prove he wasn't a miserable git by laughing at Ross. And going along with his Swap Belt idea (a belt kids wear and hang collectible figures off -- presumably so they can be easily stolen?)

Thirdly, both teams didn't face any real problems getting their product made. And as they're all used to being in front of cameras and public speaking, the climactic marketing pitch to a roomful of industry insiders was a breeze. You had Jonathan Ross and Ruby Wax as figureheads for each team -- so it all felt in good hands. There was no tension, or fear any team would mess up. The Apprentice just isn't a good format as a one-off special, but previous efforts did a much better job with the restrictions -- by basing the task around showbiz fundraising, and ensuring the teams were chosen for how quickly they'd clash. There was nothing here to rival Trinny trying to stab Piers Morgan with a biro.

Basically, by the end of this latest effort... nobody had actually raised any cash, and nobody seemed interested in the Comic Relief cause. It was treated like a boys versus girls lark for most involved. A chance to be on The Apprentice; a show that evidently only works with regular people. Only Ruby Wax seemed to remember the point behind their task, reflecting somberly on the experience: "I'm so upset it's for Comic Relief. We could've made some money." Still, Sir Alan might get to fire Jonathan Ross in tonight's concluding boardroom scene -- fulfilling the fantasy of Andrew Sachs' fanbase. So, watch Comic Relief: Funny For Money tonight to find out who gets fired. And donate some money!


12 March 2009
BBC1, 8-9pm

LOUIS THEROUX: LAW & DISORDER IN JOHANNESBURG

Louis is back, prying under the dirty fingernails of society. In the final part of his Law & Disorder series, he travels to Johannesburg; a South African city full of slums, where an ineffective police force have given rise to "private security firms", who operate above the law to protect its citizens from criminals. But are they part of the problem?

It's another interesting episode, as Louis meets William Mayangoni, boss of a security firm known as "Mapogo" who patrol the squatter camp of Diepsloot on Joburg's outskirts. Mapogo's methods to maintain order are brutal; capturing suspects and beating them with a "syambok" (leather whip) as a means of administering "medicine". It's corporal punishment as a means of deterrent -- an "African solution to an African problem" -- but the citizens of Diepsloot aren't too happy with Mapogo, and an angry mob forces William to call the real police for protection.

In Johannesburg itself, Louis goes on patrol with a security firm called "Bad Boyz" in the poor suburb of Hillbrow. Hendrik De Klerk shows Louis a bizarre practice called "hijacking", where criminal gangs takeover entire buildings and extort rent from the residents. Bad Boyz are regularly called to flush out a hijacked building, restore order and place the residents under their protection. Louis gets to go inside a building that's been supposedly hijacked, finding destitute families living with no electricity, water or heating inside.

Unlike last week's Philadelphia special (where it was shocking to see a major western city consumed by so much crime), it was less of a surprise to see Johannesburg's lawless streets. This is Africa, after all --a continent divided into safari Heaven and tribal Hell in most westerners' eyes. The situation was worse here than in Philly, but less incongruous.

Louis was his usual self; asking questions like an inquisitive eight-year-old. I'm still unconvinced his presenting style suits his grittier documentaries of late. He's a faintly comic presence whose unbiased, gentle simpleton act seems too laidback in this context. It's a great persona to adopt when trying to endear yourself to has-been celebrities, but the way he tries to make people reflect on their own actions doesn't cut it with hardened gangsters, thieves, killers and deprived people caught in the melee.

Instead, Louis sometimes comes across as a naïve, idealistic foreigner with no real understanding of the situation. It might have been more insightful if Louis had also investigated why the Joburg police are so apparently inept -- underfunding, poor training, a lack of manpower? And what did the government have to say? If they got the cops up to scratch, it might lessen the need for private security firms, and that can only be a good thing. After that, maybe faith can be restored in the police and the crime rate will slowly go down. But I suspect the government officials are either totally disenfranchised, or turn a blind eye to the chaos because it doesn't affect them --but it would have been nice to know for sure.

Admittedly, there are no easy answers here -- it's a complicated, rotten mess, because it's a problem that's been allowed to spiral out of control. Maybe Johannesburg can be pulled back from the brink of total anarchy, but it won't be a quick or easy process, and Louis certainly didn't leave us with any rays of hope.


7 December 2008
BBC2, 9pm

LOUIS THEROUX: LAW & DISORDER IN PHILADELPHIA

Louis Theroux has the look of a gangly alien insect, dropped into a Petri dish of human fringe society. As an unassuming confidant and sly commentator on the weirder aspects of our world, he's in a league of his own. His recent forays into grittier territory (African game hunting, maximum-security prisons) were good, but he's increasingly stepping outside of his comfort zone. Law & Disorder In Philadelphia saw the geeky documentary filmmaker patrolling the mean streets with the city's police; where his doe-eyed stares, odd tranquillity, and non-judgmental manners were ill-equipped to scratch beneath the surface of the issues...

Philadelphia (or "Killadelphia" as one local termed it) experiences 400 homicides, 10,000 aggravated assaults and 40,000 thefts a year. A flak-jacketed Louis got to patrol the city with police escorts, watching them tackle "corner boys" (low-level drug dealers) and hear from various people caught up in the nightmare -- a prostitute who earns $240 a day (which she blows on 24 bags of heroine), and a young woman whose sister and boyfriend were killed in a drive-by shooting. Unlike the majority of people, she's entered the witness protection scheme and is prepared to testify against the gunmen.

The abiding problem appeared to be a tragic lack of community support and spirit. Everyone is fearful of "snitching" on the criminals that infest their streets, fearing they'll be attacked and killed for speaking out. The worrying thing is, they might be right. You can certainly understand their concerns, when just a screech of tyres have young men running for cover, expecting a hail of bullets to follow from a passing car.

Fear is a powerful weapon, and with nobody willing to help the police identify dealers and murderers, numerous cases go unsolved. You can't help those who don't help themselves. The police/citizen relationship is tenuous at best, although the cops seem to have a maddening degree of respect for the criminals -- flicking them peace sign as they drive by. It seems that both sides are numbed by the horror and accepting of the situation. It's all part of the game. One cop muses that he'll retire one day and be replaced by a younger cop, just like the dealers on the streets will be replaced when they grow old or die. It's a never-ending, generational battle of small victories and failures, having no prevailing effect.

Throughout it all, Louis' actions are restrained for safety reasons -- so he sticks close to his cop friends, and was therefore unable to really penetrate the situation. In that respect, the documentary was a big disappointment. It only managed to affirmed our preconceptions of American crime-ridden streets . Thanks to his police escort, none of the witnesses ever opened up to Louis (who looked cold and dazed throughout), although he sometimes chipped away to get at something approaching a truthful answer. Sadly, it was usually about trivial matters, like the price of a diamond necklace worn by an obese, ginger-bearded drug lord known as "Reds".

Still, the picture painted was chilly and vivid: blood-smeared, empty houses used for drug deals, a death on the street where the witnesses fell silent about seeing anything, icky blood splodges on a playground's asphalt after a shooting, etc. Most things could only be shown after the fact, as Louis' team were never "fortunate" enough to find themselves in the midst of a life-threatening situation. There was just the odd hoodlum trying to outrun the cops, being chased and dragged to the floor, where he pleaded his innocence in the face of video evidence to the contrary.

Overall, Law & Disorder In Philadelphia was a reasonably engaging hour that brought an unfamiliar world into British living rooms, but Louis Theroux wasn't the best guide for the subject matter. His gentle style bounced off the hardened criminals and despondent citizens, failing to touch their hearts. Even a simple handshake was out of the question.

I applaud Louis' attempts to explore serious topics, but he looked out of his depth here, and couldn't offer a fresh perspective on the problems (not helped by the fact he was joined at the hip to the Philly P.D.) It may have been to dangerous for a BBC employee to ingratiate himself with the gangs and dealers outright, so maybe that's why Sky1's Ross Kemp On Gangs exists.

Next week: Louis tackles street violence again, this time in South Africa's Johannesburg.


30 November 2008
BBC2, 9pm

BLACKADDER EXCLUSIVE: THE WHOLE ROTTEN SAGA

A jewel in the launch of G.O.L.D*, this two-hour documentary reflected on one of Britain's most treasured sitcoms: Blackadder. It starred Rowan Atkinson as various descendants of cynical Edmund Blackadder and his loyal dogsbody Baldrick (Tony Robinson), spanning the Dark Ages to World War I. Written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton (who came aboard for the second Elizabethan-set series), the historical comedy ran from 1983 to 1989.

For me, Blackadder was a hugely influential series from my childhood. I could recite whole scenes verbatim (no mean feat for a kid), I owned the audio cassette for Blackadder The Third, I still have "The Whole Damn Dynasty" scriptbook, and it introduced me to the work of Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, et al. The show also cultivated my ongoing fondness for British history; something that really helped during dry history lessons at school. To this day, my sense of historical timeline is indebted to Blackadder's series chronology.

Sadly, this documentary wasn't much of a 25th anniversary celebration. The material barely filled two-hours, although it was nice to see some classic clips (the show was always being repeated in the '90s, but seems to have fallen by the wayside since). The biggest disappointment was undoubtedly the absence of Rowan Atkinson himself (we had to make do with a brief archive interview), although the production had attracted nearly everyone else back for talking head duties.

There were some interesting nuggets of information unearthed, too -- which I'd either never heard before, or had forgotten. Co-writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton used to pen three episodes each (separately) and then polish the other's draft, Atkinson's humorous pronunciation of "Bob" was due to a stammer he suffered on the letter "b", Rik Mayall only agreed to guest-star as Lord Flashheart if he was guaranteed the funniest lines, and Hugh Laurie was regularly filled with terrible self-doubt and nerves before filming started.

Beyond the talking heads (in which poor greenscreen gave people a grassy head-haze!), there wasn't too much to get excited about. While it was great to see rehearsal footage for Blackadder Goes Forth (with the cast nitpicking every line, ensuring the script was in peak condition), the documentary essentially boiled down to an extended clip-show with testimonials.

This was a shame, as Blackadder deserves to have a truly essential companion documentary to its name, but the series was created in the days before supplementary material was a concern. Still, while The Whole Rotten Saga wasn't the essential and authoritative retrospective I've been longing for (even footage from the series looked horribly soft and blurred), it certainly reminded me of how much I adore this sitcom and these characters.


9 October 2008
G.O.L.D, 9pm

* Incidentally, this new channel must have the worst on-screen logo I've ever seen: a distracting white disc with a hot-pink border. It makes you wonder who designs these things, and who agrees to implement them.

BRING BACK… STAR WARS

Spoilers. West Country comedian Justin Lee Collins is back, trying to reunite the cast of the original Star Wars trilogy, following similar specials on Grange Hill, The A-Team and Dallas. To be honest, he didn't have much luck this time: Harrison Ford was obviously not interested and Mark Hamill's agent ended up demanding $50,000 for an appearance!

Undeterred, JLC did get interesting interviews with Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C3-PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Warwick Davies (Wicket). I particularly enjoyed the tragic stories: the droid double-act of C3-PO and R2-D2 famously didn't get on -- with Daniels ignoring Baker by pretending to be having conversations with non-existent people! And David Prowse was ostracized by George Lucas after leaking details of Vader's death in The Return Of The Jedi.

JLC is a likeable oaf of a man, whose sheer enthusiasm and charm wins most people over (unless they're "protected" by agents and PR people who only communicate by curt phone calls, of course.) It was just too much to expect the majority of Star Wars actors to convene in London on the whim of a man-sized Ewok working for Channel 4. Only the British-based stars (Bulloch, Prowse, Baker and Davies) bothered to turn-up for the reunion party. Why? Well, it was a local get-together them, they were familiar with JLC from TV, and (let's be honest) those guys rely on Star Wars-related stunts to make a living.

Bring Back Star Wars was an enjoyable one-off, particularly if you still have affection for Lucas' original trilogy -- although it ultimately didn't reveal anything a geeky Star Wars fan wouldn't know already. But it was still fun to see JLC rush around with his crew; sitting in a car with a walkie-talkie, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting has-been leaving their hotel… and persuade them to chat (for the zillionth time) about a film they were involved with 30 years ago.

Next up for JLC? Fame and Star Trek. Of course.


14 September 2008
Channel 4, 9pm

TV Week 14: Tonightly, Big Brother 9 & Lost Land Of The Jaguar

My fourteenth TV Week's now online over at Newslite.tv, so head over and comment if you have the time. It's Sunday, what else have you got to do? You're not seriously pretending you care about sport now the Olympics are on, are you? Hm.

This week, I take a look at the satirical "Tonightly", assess "Big Brother 9" as it trundles towards the finishing line, and go on a journey to the "Lost Land Of The Jaguar". Well, South America.

TRUE STORIES: STANLEY KUBRICK'S BOXES

Opening More4's Stanley Kubrick season, this documentary by journalist Jon Ronson (based on an article he wrote for The Guardian), explored the great director's once-secretive home and paraphernalia he accumulated through the decades. It's a treasure trove for any cinephiles and a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an obsessed, eccentric, genius perfectionist ...

Ronson had full access to the Kubrick estate at St. Albans (the New York-born director's chosen home after emigrating from his native land in the '60s). It was a fairly unassuming place; a little rundown, but otherwise rather ordinary-looking. Inside, Ronson showed us Kubrick's collection of boxes, each full of research material for his movies. And what dizzying and meticulous research! Most eye-opening were the photos of practically every shop, doorway, restaurant, costumers and apartment in south-England (the work of one photographer, sent on a year-long mission, who took over 30,000 photos.)

Kubrick apparently delighted in having the world brought to him, through willing assistants and a global network of "spies" (many of whom never knew Kubrick was pulling their strings). Fans in distant countries were asked to report on the print quality of his films being shown in backwater towns; a group of readers were tasked with devouring screenplays and books (in an effort to find the next story worth turning into a film); international press adverts were sent to Kubrick's estate so he could check the agreed measurements, etc.

It all gave the impression of a Willy Wonka-style character, crouching hermit-like in his box-filled estate, obsessing over minute detail, just waiting for the perfect conditions of movie-making to align themselves (like the planets in 2001: A Space Odyssey). Kubrick apparently spent much of the '80s and early-'90s planning a gritty WWII movie, only to abort the entire project when he saw Schindler's List and didn't think he could compete.

By the end of the documentary, our view of Kubrick had shifted somewhat. I'm sure it would have been awful to be on the receiving end of his quest for perfection (Shelley Duvall broke down in tears during The Shining, when asked to do over 100 takes of the same scene), but Kubrick wasn't a totally dour, perplexing, oddball. Footage of him filming Full Metal Jacket, discussing the frequency of the British crew's tea-breaks, proved he had a dry sense of good-natured humour. His wife and daughter were on hand to insist he wasn't the total lunatic his habits would have you believe. And you could imagine him half-giggling as he wrote his strange memos -- asking for barometric pressure readings of London or safety-collars for cats!

In the end, Ronson had begun to think Kubrick's boxes made perfect sense. It was just a shame Kubrick allowed his attention to detail to necessitate such huge gaps between his later works. But then again -- the finished products speak for themselves. Every Stanley Kubrick film is meticulously presented. You can sense the weeks, months and years of thought that went into every set design, costume, location, composition, piece of music, hairstyle, and choice of actor. It's what makes films like Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket withstand critique decades after they were made. He wasn't the perfect director (there's always a detached coldness that limited the type of stories he could tell effectively), but I can't imagine any other director bringing us such mesmerizing cinematic experiences.

RIP Stanley.


15 July 2008
More4, 10.00 pm

The season continues: Barry Lyndon (17 Jul, 1.10am), Paths Of Glory (17 Jul, 11.55am), Flying Padre (18 Jul, 12.55pm), Lolita (18 Jul, 9pm), 2001: A Space Odyssey (19 Jul, 1.30pm), Killer's Kiss (21 Jul, 11.30pm), The Killing (23 Jul, 12.05am) and The Shining (25 Jul, 9pm)

The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (2007)

Director: Seth Gordon
Starring: Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, Walter Day, Brian Kuh, Steve Sanders, Roy Schildt, Todd Rogers & Doris Self

A tale of obsession and rivalry in the arcade, as filmmaker Seth Gordon's documentary introduces us to the world of competitive video-gaming. Steve Wiebe (pronounced "Wee-Bee") is a family man living in Redmond, Washington with his wife Nicole and young son Derek; a once-promising baseball player who suffered an injury and is now a science teacher. But he spends most of his time in his garage, playing '80s arcade classic Donkey Kong...

If Wiebe's the underdog hero, then gaming legend Billy Mitchell is the "villain"; the world champion of Donkey Kong and widely considered the best video-game player of all time. He has the certificates and awards to prove it, not to mention the required taped evidence players must submit to Twin Galaxies for score authentication. Galaxies is run by bearded geezer Walter Day, who created the company back in 1981 and has seen it become the place to have your video-game high-score validated and officially recognized.

Trouble brews when Wiebe beats grandmaster Mitchell's score of 874,300 on Donkey Kong (set in 1982) -- taking it past a million points for the very first time. He has the required video-tape evidence and becomes a local celebrity overnight, but the close-knit team of Twin Galaxies suspect foul play when it's revealed Wiebe got his arcade machine from renowned Mitchell-hater Roy Schildt -- whose top-score on Missile Command was refused because of Mitchell's misgivings. History repeats itself and Wiebe's Donkey Kong score of 1,006,600 is unjustly discounted, setting the scene for bitter rivalry as the modest Wiebe struggles to gain acceptance and authentication by suspicious Walter's team...

Gordon's documentary is amusing, entertaining, yet tinged with a quiet sadness. Obviously the idea of grown men competing with each other on retro arcade games, often at the expense of their family life, has its clichés and instils a negative reaction. And yes, these guys are definitely nerds with social hang-ups -- but their passionate thirst for excellence in their pastime is totally relatable. Hey, one day I'll write the perfect screenplay! Wiebe comes across as a decent guy, whose hand-eye coordination and scientific mind, together with the spare time afforded by his sporting injury, steered him down this path of pixels.

Mitchell, a gawky Jesus look-alike in skinny black jeans, cuts a more tragic figure. He's a big fish in a small pond, who's sustained fame and reputation means there's only way for him to go: down. When someone's sat at the top of a tree for 30 years, most people perched on the branches become used to the shade. So, Mitchell being usurped by the unknown Wiebe had to sting. Despite Wiebe's score being discredited, it only fuels Wiebe's commitment to crack the million point barrier on Mitchell's home turf of Florida, in front of all his critics... as Mitchell contemplates someone officially snatching his crown as the king of Kong...

The King Of Kong walks a fine line between reality and fiction, as Walter Day later called into question a number of things the documentary states as fact, with the storyline likely tinkered to be more entertaining in the edit. It's worth mentioning that Gordon's film is currently being reworked as a "true story" drama -- a film that will likely hit the emotional highs this documentary couldn't quite achieve. You spend the movie hoping for thrilling competitive battles and a final face-off between Mitchell and Wiebe, but real life just doesn't work like that. I suspect the fictionalized version of this story will be more fulfilling, though.

A case in point: geeky Mitchell protégé Brian Kuh, a top player of Donkey Kong who has never reached the fabled "Kill Screen" (where limitations of system memory means you dies on the last screen at a random time) tries to drum-up a crowd to see Wiebe reach that stage... and gets very little reaction. It begged the question: are only the top players of Donkey Kong actually bothered about who's numero uno? The fictionalized remake will doubtless find Kuh amassing a huge crowd of square-eyed geeks, salivating behind Wiebe's shoulder. But "henchman" Kuh -- keeping tabs on Wiebe's gaming, and relating his progress to Mitchell via payphone -- should need no tinkering!

Overall, this will primarily appeal to gamers or anyone with a geeky side that needs a scratch, but there's definitely a compelling "underdog vs. top dog" storyline that everyone can enjoy and get caught up in. I suspect the drama based on this documentary will be more crowd-pleasing and an easier watch, while the evolving nature of gaming means King Of Kong is already outdated (see the DVD extra's for a post-doc catch-up on Billy vs. Steve's battle, or the Twin Galaxies website for the latest scores.) While Seth Gordon's documentary never attains greatness, it's an intriguing glimpse into a little-known world that got me psyched to test my own skill against the barrel-rolling ape...

Game over.


Picturehouse
79 minutes
www.billyvssteve.com

I AM THE ELEPHANT MAN

Wow. Those were the best special-effects I've ever seen! What? That poor guy's face was for real?! Bloody hell...

I actually didn't watch I Am The Elephant Man, because I find these "shockumentaries" very distasteful. Mitchell & Webb parodied them brilliantly with their "Boy With An Arse For A Face" sketch, essentially claiming (quite rightly) that programmes like Channel 4's Bodyshock series are nothing but Victorian sideshows dragged into our front rooms..

You can create compelling and respectful entertainment from people with deformities (see David Lynch's masterful The Elephant Man). People who live with such debilitating deformities have tragic and heartbreaking stories to tell, but they also stand as testament to the human spirit that they can somehow carve out a life for themselves. I really don't see how they manage it, or how their families cope. Behind the ugliness, these people really are marvels.

But the Bodyshock documentaries rarely offer anything beyond a cookie-cutter "story" and cheap shocks. Most episodes I've seen involve a doctor arriving in a Third World village and whisking a disfigured person to a modern hospital to improve their looks with cutting-edge surgery. But don’t expect to see Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie look-alikes by the end of the process!

It's just bad, bad television, with manipulative titles like "Half-Tonne Mum", "Megatumour", "The Man Who Ate His Lover" and "The Girl With Eight Limbs" – all designed to grab the attention of viewers who might be scrolling through their EPG. It’s like the TV circus has come to town. Roll up! Roll up!

So why do people watch? Well, it's human nature to ogle things out of the ordinary. I'll admit to sneaking looks at deformed people I sometimes spot around town. I don't feel good doing it (and I don't make it obvious), but I still find myself doing it. But at least outside in the real world, most people remember their good manners. On TV, you can stare, gawp, wince (and maybe even laugh) as much as you like...

Or maybe these shows make westerners feel better about themselves? In our culture, we're swamped by images of beautiful people all the time in the media. Many people feel "ugly" if they don’t resemble Cameron Diaz and George Clooney, with the pursuit of Victoria Beckham's figure leading many down the path to anorexia. Perhaps there's comfort in seeing people who are much, much worse off than you are on television, for a change?

But it's terrible how flagrant these documentaries have become! 10 years ago, a shockumentary wouldn't have shown a deformed person in their trailer. You'd only get glimpses and hints. The documentary itself would probably spend 20 minutes "teasing" viewers before showing the subject openly. That was how they kept you hooked for the whole hour.

These days, it's very different. This advert for I Am The Elephant Man was shown on Monday, with Huang Chuncais' facial condition in clear sight -- during an ad-break on The Paul O'Grady Show! That's at 5 o'clock in the afternoon! Kids are watching! Is that really acceptable? How many parents had scared kids to deal with after that aired? No disrespect to Mr Chuncais, but his facial tumours aren't really ideal viewing for toddlers, are they?

I find it very disappointing that stories with such potential for emotional impact are rarely told by documentary filmmakers. It's very easy to find a deformed person in a foreign country, pay them to have a camera stuck in their face, and stick in on Channel 4 to exploit them while entertaining the curious....

LOUIS THEROUX'S AFRICAN HUNTING HOLIDAY

There's a case for suggesting Louis Theroux always targets things that produce immediate reactions from viewers, and that (while still offering insight and a few twists of expectation), his documentaries generally leave people with their opinions reinforced, and only slightly punctured. Still, his documentaries are less about "changing minds", and more about peeking behind the curtains of society -- allowing the world's deluded and dysfunctional to have their say...

African Hunting Holiday saw Louis in South Africa, to meet locals who have created private hunting ranges: fenced-off countryside where wildlife are bred to be hunted by foreign tourists. Americans, usually. Prices start at $100 for a baboon and go up to somewhere in the region of $100,000 for a rhino. Bargain, no?

Louis arrived at one such business (a "Shingani Safari"), owned by hunter Riaan Vosloo, coinciding with the arrival of a group from Ohio on a hunting holiday. The Americans are all eager to take home "trophies" of their kills. Louis meets neophyte hunter Paul, there to bag himself some African beasts, but his wife Ann-Marie seems only half-interested in the experience – telling herself the dead meat will be put to good use; sold or used to feed locals.

Louis also meets part-time vet Lolly Furie (who owns a 3,000 acre hunting range) and animal breeder Piet Venter. Both old timers don't allow guns to be used -- as the noise causes distress to the animals -- so insist all hunters use bows. These two have a kinship with their animals (Lolly won't allow his graceful giraffes to be hunted at all), and Piet is adamant the operation benefits everyone: the locals have jobs, foreign hunters satisfy their bloodlust legally, and "canned hunting" has actually saved species from extinction.

Days into Louis' investigation, Ann-Marie has started to develop the urge to kill herself. She admits it's primarily down to peer-pressure and feelings of isolation on the trip -- being the only one without blood on their hands. But she won't kill zebra, as they look too much like horses. Ann-Marie takes aim at a group of impala drinking at a waterhole, and fires a bolt through one animal's heart and lungs. It's an excellent shot for a beginner ("lots of blood!"), and Ann-Marie seems overwhelmed and excited by the adrenaline rush.

For Louis, it seems clear that standing on the sidelines and making judgments on hunting isn't fair. As the hunters say; to understand it, you need to do it. Intrigued by the change in attitude of Ann-Marie, Louis takes aim at a warthog from inside a camouflaged hut. His rifle is trained on one unsuspecting pig, but he just can't pull the trigger. He leaves, feeling slightly "wet" because he lacked the killer instinct.

The best moment is reserved for the end (naturally), when Piet gives Louis a guided tour of a large barn where he breeds animals in captivity to sell them for hunting. Piet, fed up with Louis asking the same basic questions about the morality of hunting, finally explodes into a passionate speech about how it’s easy for outsiders to condemn what they do, but there's no other way South Africans can make money…

Outsiders may cringe at the idea of bloodsports, but isn't it more to do with how the killing process (which feeds billions of people every day) isn't kept out of sight behind abattoir doors here? Sure, it's a sport for rich tourists – but it's the only way to make decent money, and the demand for animals to kill has paradoxically been the salvation of many endangered species.

There are no easy answers here. While I still think hunting is a bad thing (especially when the hunters have so much advantage – so, it's like shooting fish in a barrel), I can understand why it happens. I have no problem with animals being killed to feed people, but it's unfortunate that people still find pleasure in killing animals. A sad hangover from the days of cavemen.

Still, all of the South African hunters came across quite well, and were far from the blood-crazed opportunists I was expecting. If they could make more money from activities that didn't require animals to die, I'm sure they'd pursue it. It all comes down to money, and it's very easy in the western world to condemn hunting poor, defenseless, cute animals… while biting down on a Big Mac…


6 April 2008
BBC2, 9.00 pm

SACHA BARON COHEN: NEW HERO OF COMEDY

Has it really been 10 years since Sacha Baron Cohen exploded onto British TV screens as Ali G on The 11 O'Clock Show? Back in 1998, who would have thought the Jewish comedian would become a global superstar, or that his most popular character wouldn't be Staines-based gangsta rapper Ali G -- but a misogynist, racist Kazakhstan reporter called Borat?

These New Hero Of Comedy documentaries about the cream of British comedy talent don't offer much beyond an hour of clips and talking heads (all with not a bad word to say, obviously), but I'm quite enjoying them. It's nice to be reminded the UK still impacts global comedy with Cohen one of the best examples, and deserving of the "new Peter Sellers" tag he's often given.

Of course, the problem these documentaries face is that each subject's career spans only about 10-15 years. Therefore, there wasn't much here the average fan didn't already know about Sacha Baron Cohen...

The British years: Ali G becomes an overnight sensation in the UK on a late-night comedy show in '98, he earns his own series that makes him a pop-culture icon, before cashing-in with a fun-but-sloppy film, and appearances in music videos for Madonna and Shaggy.

The American years: Cohen takes Ali G to the States on HBO, supporting character Borat makes a bigger impact, quickly becoming a cult hero and star of acclaimed docu-comedy Borat (which earns $260 million worldwide and causes controversy with real Kazakhs), co-starred in a Will Ferrell comedy, appeared alongside Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, and is currently preparing another docu-comedy as gay fashionista Bruno.

But we know all that. More interesting to me were Cohen's years before Ali G was hatched, learning that he was a student of Phillipe Gouler -- a French modern drama teacher who has classes "embrace their inner idiot". Cohen soaked up Gouler's teachings and started presenting low-budget cable shows seen by nearly-nobody -- although I have a clear memory of seeing him host a debate on F2F in '97.

As usual with the New Hero series, there wasn't much insight into the pre-fame family life or post-fame private life of its subject. It didn’t even mention he dates actress Isla Fisher! Instead, we were left to piece together a perception of Sacha Baron Cohen from what his friends, colleagues and admirers said. As expected, they all agreed he's a courageous and determined comedian, blessed with incredible self-belief, who has remained down-to-earth and hasn't succumbed to the glamour of a Hollywood lifestyle. As if you didn't realize from his work.

The choice of interviewees were quite interesting. Obviously the writers/producers who worked with Cohen creating Ali G and Borat were there, but I found it strange to hear comedian Paul Kaye wax lyrical about Cohen's greatness. Mainly because the documentary was quick to single out satirist Chris Morris as a major influence on Cohen, with no mention of Kaye's comedy alter-ego Dennis Pennis – who blurred the line between reality and fiction with assaults on celebs a good 3 years before Cohen covered similar ground.

It was also interesting to see how Americans embraced Cohen's humour; particularly in how they elevated Borat from Ali G "supporting" to world phenomenon. For Americans, Ali G was just a funny-accented idiot – but in Britain his success had depth because middle-class British youths often try to ape US culture. The funny disparity between middle-England and US ganglands just clicks better outside of the USA.

Sure, Americans have "wiggers" in their society (so the "is it 'cos I is black" jokes weren't lost), but the humour of Ali comparing Surrey's Staines to the ghetto's of Los Angeles' Compton was lost by geography. No wonder Americans found it easier to laugh at Borat -- a sexist, racist, culturally-backward, foreign reporter. Borat's attacks on class in the UK shifted focus onto race for American audiences, and the rest is history.

This was ultimately another entertaining hour, but these documentaries are little more than ego-stroking clip-shows at heart, and only the first 10 minutes offered any fresh perspectives on Sacha Baron Cohen as a person. There's a reason documentaries celebrating peoples' careers only work when they're at least middle-aged – as Cohen's career is still in its adolescence, and we don't really need reminding of it, or the impact he's had so far. But, for fans of Cohen's characters, I'm sure they appreciated classic clips from Ali G and Borat's infamous interviews.


7 March 2008
Channel 4, 9.00 pm

WALLIAMS & LUCAS: NEW HEROES OF COMEDY

Unlike many other performers, I actually remember seeing comedians David Walliams and Matt Lucas scraping their way up the ladder during the 90s. This second episode in the New Comedy Heroes season focused on the pair, now that they're household names after the massive success of Little Britain.

And, while it wasn't a particularly revelatory show for me, it was quite a thorough timeline of their careers (if not their personal lives), and refreshingly frank when it came to discussing claims of greedy cashing-in with Little Britain merchandising. It even mentioned the show's mostly-unfunny third series, that came in for harsh criticism…

But, like last week's Ricky Gervais instalment, this was mostly a glowing documentary that had friends and colleagues lining up to bestow them with praise. There's no denying both Walliams and Lucas had a stormy time trying to become famous for over a decade, both spending much of the 90s in little-seen digital-based stations (most famously in sketches for the Paramount Comedy Channel, thanks to a university friend now working on the channel), before Lucas gleamed some fame as "George Dawes" on Shooting Stars – appearing alongside his own comedy heroes Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.

Mortimer was on hand to applaud Walliams and Lucas' success, but Reeves was conspicuously absent. I remember hearing Vic was a little peeved by how Lucas and Walliams became successful for doing a show that owed a great debt to his own early-90s comedy. Indeed, after gaining some popularity with Rock Profiles in 1999, Little Britain arrived at the perfect moment in 2003; capturing the zeitgeist with characters that reflected modern and old-fashioned British culture, but with a style that built on the "zany and dark" 90s comedy preference – essentially bringing all that to the mainstream.

I certainly enjoyed this look at the comedic pair; if only to be reminded of all the instances I'd seen Walliams and Lucas throughout the 90s myself. Back then, I always sensed a strained desperation to Walliams performances, but Lucas always had that natural funnyman flair to him -- although the material they both came up with was pretty poor. I was quite surprised to see them dream up Little Britain -- which was hilarious in its first year, before becoming solid sketch show gold in its second.

Sadly, I hated the mean-spirited third series of Little Britain, and the suffocating amount of merchandising really bothered me. And don't even mention those hideous 2006 Christmas Specials, which were a laugh-free zone. I think the show has run its course, so the "permanently-upcoming" HBO series isn't something I'm expecting great things from. I hope I'm proved wrong, but it just sounds like a disaster-in-waiting to me. It might have been wiser to put Little Britain to rest after the sell-out Live Shows…

Far more interesting signs for their futures was the fact David Walliams will play comedian Frankie Howerd in an upcoming biopic (great casting there), and you still have to concede that his swim across the English Channel for Sport Relief was superb stuff. Lucas' future is less obvious, as he's a more private person that doesn't have Walliams' thirst for getting his mug on every panel show going. I'm sure he'll do well, though -- as talent always wins through in the end.

This was an entertaining look at two comedians who bounced around the multi-channel graveyard slots of 90s TV -- trading on contacts and friends to get them work in bigger shows (like Shooting Stars, Spaced and a few dramas) before all their hard work paid off in the next decade.

I have to salute their tenacity and business flair (I bet Harry Enfield is kicking himself for not bringing out tie-in toys for his characters!), but I'm just not convinced Walliams and Lucas have much else to offer us. Little Britain burned very brightly, ran out of steam, and then coasted on the fumes with Specials and a Live Show – with the endless TV repeats making it hard for casual viewers to notice the gags had dried up.

You always know you're in trouble when attempts for "freshness" involve sending your characters abroad – a cliché neatly avoided by The League Of Gentlemen in their film.


29 February 2008
Channel 4, 9.00 pm