Month: March 2005

  • Vera Drake

    I finally caught this at the weekend and it’s a stunning film with an amazing performance in the title role from Imelda Staunton. The minutiae of life is really well represented – with the family gathering at home around the dining table in a manner so different from how it is today. So polite. I…

  • Bargain Halo Jones

    While I’m on the subject of comics, I was in Music Zone the other day, and they had The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones in hardback available for a bargain £4.97! I immediately snapped up a copy, despite owning the first published collections and the original comics. (They also had Slaine the King for £2.97…

  • Constantine

    Back in the days when I read comics regularly, I was a big fan of the Alan Moore Swamp Things and it introduced the character of John Constantine. He then got his own comic, Hellblazer which I began to read at the start. On a primary level, Constantine is blond and British. So when Keeanu…

  • Idea A Day

    Idea a Day is a website that you subscribe to which sends you a daily brilliant idea submitted by one of it’s readers. OK – so some of the ideas aren’t all that brilliant. Here’s one I submitted today: Start an explosives company specialising in timebombs. The USP would be that they would have neither…

  • Virgin Podcasts

    Good news – Virgin Radio has started podcasting! Bad news – we’ve coined the term “podvertising“…

  • Rate Of Return

    I read that ITV are instituting a scheme they call “Rate of Return” on commissioning programming. It boils down to the fact that your budget will increase if you’ve included proven big name stars, and will dissipate if you include unknown actors. What a brilliant idea? How many hours of programming a year can David…

  • Downloading TV Programmes

    Dr Who appearing “on the internet” may be a key moment in time in the advent of official TV downloading systems. A good piece is on the BBC News website today. Like it or not, it’s something that TV companies have to consider. How long before downloads are officially sanctioned?

  • Dr Who Leaked

    The BBC are reporting that Dr Who has been leaked onto the internet. I thought about this for at least a minute. But then, it took me that long to find it. And now I’ve downloaded and watched it. I know I shouldn’t have. I suspect that it still has a few processes for the…

  • 3G

    All the phone companies are pushing this at the moment, and Orange is among them. Somehow, I haven’t yet felt compelled to upgrade, or be lured by the prospect of perhaps seeing who I’m calling (but probably not, since they won’t have a phone. And in any case, isn’t one of the best things about…

  • The Late Edition

    A quick word on The Late Edition (tickets available) which started last week on BBC Four. An admirable effort hosted by that work-shy Marcus Bridgestock (recently seen or heard in The Now Show, The Museum of Everything, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, Twisted Tales, Brighton Comedy Festival and Think The Unthinkable – and that is…

  • Hustle is Back

    The Hustle’s back on BBC1 quite shortly and the Beeb have put up their press pack. Inlcuded in it is a guide to the lingo and then a list of Ten Famous Cons Over The Decades. How can they miss off House of Games?

  • Letter in The Guardian

    My letter about TV ratings was published in today’s Guardian (free reg. reqd.). I hadn’t really meant it to be published with my company’s name attached as I was writing in a personal capacity – a small ticking off resulted, but no harm done (you never know if some other division of our owners would…