What I’ve Been Listening To (And Watching) This Week

Spoon Jar Jar Spoon on Radio 4
A nice little documentary about Tommy Cooper that delved into the world of magic in London during the sixties and seventies, when there were magic shops all over the place, and clubs where magicians hung out. The late Ali Bongo was also interviewed for this.
And if you’re seeing this after the iPlayer window has closed, perhaps you should check out Speechification…
ABC and the BBC Concert Orchestra on Radio 2
A live recording of last week’s performance of the whole of the Lexicon of Love album. I’ve always had a soft spot for this album, so it was great to hear it played live in such a luscious way. (My top tip is to skip the Janice Long interview at the start).
State of Play on DVD
We’re due for a spate of big screen remakes of BBC dramas and I’m not inclined to believe that the originals will be bettered. The Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck version of State of Play opens next week and it’ll be interesting to see how they’ve managed to shrink six hours of plot heavy TV into just over two hours of cinema. I notice that Paul Abbott’s name isn’t on the script, although Kevin MacDonald is directing.
Anyway, the original is only a fiver at Amazon so why not go back to that first?
Coming soon: the Mel Gibson version of Edge of Darkness directed by original series director Martin Campbell, but seemingly no longer scripted by Troy Kennedy Martin.
Newswipe on BBC Four
Charlie Brooker was great on the G20 coverage. GMTV’s John Stapleton practically insisting that there’d be trouble; Sky’s “Skyboat” from which they could see nothing; and Ben Goldacre on MMR and the media.
But best of all:
Brooker: “Still at least they didn’t try to “oomph” things up by slapping together a montage of violent looking protest material backed by I Predict A Riot by the Kaiser Chiefs.”
Cue: Montage of violent looking protest material backed by I Predict A Riot by the Kaiser Chiefs.
Spiral on BBC Four
You’ll probably need to get the DVDs of this unless you’ve already been watching. But they’re worth the cash. Roll on the second series.
Finally – is it just me, or is this series of The Apprentice really disappointing? They really do seem to have removed any intelligent people from the mix this year.


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