To lazy for DVD's

Perhaps it is that we are lazy…………..I sometimes wonder why watching films on TV is so much appealing than watching it on your DVD player……When in fact it is not easier at all, you have to watch it when someone else decides and have breaks every 15 minutes, are we just too lazy to put the DVD in the player, and often find myself staying up to watch the end of the film on TV when I already own the DVD- What’s the point? Perhaps we are all striving for the feeling of belonging and the feeling of watching Bridget Jones Diary with the rest of the country make sus feel us special I guess we can also tweet about it to reiterate that feeling!

On the 12^th of November I along with thousands of other people documented a pat of my day on this Saturday. The outcome will be Britain in a day, the project is a joint venture with BBC2/ BBC learning being produced by Ridley Scott, and will be created into a programme documenting life on the day in 2012.

 A few weeks ago I was also invited to partake in part two of the project…. Not only have the thousands of videos been narrowed down, students were invited to create there own local area playlists, to act as a online archive to compliment the programme. When the online sites go live in a few weeks and the programme next November I think it will be an interesting experiment and a great way to remember 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kqz5p

This weeks highlights:

1. Britain’s hidden homeless: Monday 9pm BBC3- Documentary exploring homeless people and how sleeping rough and sofa surfing is affecting peoples lives.
2. Jimmy and the Giant supermarket: Tuesday 9pm Channel 4- New documentary series investigating how Britain’s low cost meat products are being made so cheaply.
3. The Olympic Aquatic Centre: Mega Builders- Friday 8pm Channel 5-We all know a lot of money has gone into Olympics and it’s become a bi of hot topic, but how have they built the big wave shaped building for the games.
4. Alan Carr: Chatty Man: Friday 10 pm Channel 4- Chat show hosted by Alan Carr with guests Michael McIntyre and Kylie Minogue.
5. Notting Hill- Saturday 9pm ITV2 Film staring Julia Roberts & Huge Grant even if you own the DVD its not the same as watching it on TV. 

Events for this summer and the future

Event Tv is something of things to come many BBC employees have said that TV outputs are likely to become much more event led....We have seen channel 4 doing it for quite some time with of course their T4 on the beach yearly roadshow, where the whole of Weston- Super Mere is taken over for the day with 13 -17 year olds, highlighting all the great music acts along with TV presenter and actors will come out for a day to the beach.
In recent years the BBC has been joining in too however only amongst Children's with cbeebies and Mr Bloom doing a improve your local area roadshow, CBBC's big birthday bash! 


But of course with the country going a little bit Olympic mad, so has Blue Peter and in the saturdays during the latter part of the torch relay Blue Peter will be broadcasting live in the morning and then hosting a fun-day throughout the afternoon! 


Coronation Street have already made their 'Streets of Dreams' theatre production but soon will we be able to attend Corrie Fun-days?

This week's progress of the street!! ( many thanks to my camera assistants who kindly took this weeks photo for me) 

This weeks highlights:

1. 56 up -Monday ITV1 9pm second par of this series now the 7year olds are 56
2. 90210- Tuesday E4 9pm seems to be nearing the end of the series just as Naomi is engaged 
3. Hitler's Children- Wednesday 9pm BBC2- documentary looking at the ancestors of Hitler and what life is like with a name everybody knows.
4. Michel McIntyre Comedy Roadshow- Friday 9:30 BBC1- for a blast of comedy from McIntyre's comic genius first episode in series 2 
5. A picture of London- Saturday BBC2 9:15 eye witness accounts into how London has grown and changed over the years.

Your in charge in more ways than your remote

So TV has been going a bit interactive crazy this week, channel four have this amazing factual programme Hidden Talent I think its great but when I was explaining it to a friend earlier in the week I realised how if you have not seen it, explaining it makes it sound….RIDICULOUS. ……..But here goes again…(and don’t judge a programme by my explanation you really must give it a go yourself.)

It is Richard Bacon presents the show and him and a group of experts have an aim to uncover the public’s hidden talent, test centre’s were set up inviting people to come and be tested from that the best and most likely achiever were set a task and then the programme follows them as they train with experts and hope the achieve the goal……the thing I find must fascinating and perhaps strangest to comprehend are the types of talents they are on the search for…..were not on the look for dancers, magicians, or (the very topical and my favourite) dancing dogs…..the show is on the hunt for, somebody good at climbing, lie detecting or learning languages, to name the first few however perhaps as these are not your average talents this is where the programme gains some of its interest.

Now if this show was on TV even just a few years ago I don’t think it would have been as successful because it wouldn’t have worked interactively but of course nowadays everyone wants to join, tweeting, watching extra clips or in this case taking the hidden talent tests online to discover if like the contributors in the programme you have your own hidden talent.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hidden-talent/articles/take-the-hidden-talent-tests

And for those of you watching the Britain’s Got Talent live final did you hear the announcement and indeed see the interactive advert. Where if you have the Shazam app on your mobile you were able to get your device to recognise the music and you would be at first entered into a prize draw for Pepsi Max and Cadbury’s, I don’t think we will be waiting too long before we are able to chose using our remotes witch adverts we want to want…..or perhaps even during the break your TV will log you on to Twitter so you can tweet about the current show…….(copyright that is my idea….A.Kimberley 13^th May 2012) creating an extremely interactive experience live.

I hope that you all watched ‘Small Teen Turns Eighteen” and if you didn’t it’s still on Iplayer till Thursday-http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01hllwm/Small_Teen_Turns_Eighteen/

What a great programme it was not only was the production great, Jaz and her family were yet again inspiring and it was another wonderful insight into their lives very moving especially during the sections with her Dad as his addiction fights…….I don’t think I would ever get bored of watching more documentary’s as Jaz gets on with her life and I think it would be wonderful to see her again as she gets a job and married…….fingers crossed.

Another great documentary that works again and again, is the up series that I has always been whirling around my mind since I watched as episode at school, because I have been unable to remember what its called…but now I know I cant wait for tomorrow, originally commissioned as a one off documentary with a group of 7 years olds looking into the class system it soon turned into a longitudinal study re visiting the contributors every 7 years and now they are 56, and I wonder how their lives have been progressing.

This weeks highlights:

1. Inside Facebook: Zuckerbergs $100 billion gamble-Monday 8pm BBC2 – looking into how the social network with earn the money its expected too when it goes on the market next month- contributions from the man himself. 
2. 56 up- Monday 9pm ITV1- longitudinal study re visiting the contributors every 7 years
3. Hidden Talent – Tuesday 9pm Channel 4 – looking for someone with the natural talent for opera singing.
4. Long lost family- Thursday 9pm ITV1- Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present another episode of Long lost family where a groom to be is looking for his Dad before the wedding.
5. Piers Morgan life stories- Lulu- Friday 9pm ITV1- acclaimed interviewer piers morgan interviews Lulu about her career in the music industry and her marriage with Bee Gee band member. 

Small teen!

In 2010 there was an amazing extraordinary people documentary about Jazz a girl who has restricted growth, and her mum Bev who also does! The programme was a great success and was recommissioned as a four part series the next year! And it's back tomorrow sees a new episode "Small Teen Turns Eighteen" as the name says the programme will document Jazz as she turns 18, the show has been given an amazing prime time slot 9pm on this bank holiday Monday on bbc3 and I know it will be just great and even if you did miss the other shows now is your chance to jump on board! Tonight also sees the launch of Planet Earth Life, I think that much of the beauty of wildlife programmes is the access to the animals which could obviously be improved if there was less time pressure and the best bits could be chosen in the edit! So I will be very interested to see how they make the show exciting and what if whilst live the animals are no where to be found! And another live sensation tonight  Britans Got Talent with the finalists chosen love or hate it we are in for a full week of variety! My favourite has to be Pudsey the dog! This weeks highlights to add to the ones above:

1. Planet earth live BBC1 Sunday  8:50 
2. Small Teen Turns Eighteen monday 9pm BBC3  
3. Hidden Talent- Tuesday 9pm Channel 4 :looking for someone with a talent for languages to appear of TV in Jordan.
4. Britain's Got Talent: semi finals- Monday - Thursday 7:30 ITV1
5. Coronation Street Monday- Thursday ITV1 9pm 

Extremely Loverly Doc!

So this week has been an interesting week in Television…I have LOVED Coronation street, more so than usual….mainly because of  Shaun (Anthony Cotton) trying to work out Bettys famous hotpot recipe…… pure genius script writing. With the weight of such a well known Corrie landmark resting on his shoulders, the portrayal of those scenes was brilliant.

I have now watched Louis Theroux BBC2 series Extreme Love more than once now…and what an interesting concept, I hadn’t thought at first very much into the title, 'extreme love'…. I just took to the title as nothing more than a few words to add to his name as its not really about him so they had to add something!

I now see this was not the case and how extreme love really can be.

The documentary was a two part series, with the first episode looking into, families whose children have autism, and the second whose family members suffer with dementia.

Both episodes showed extreme love, between families, where from the parents who couldn’t cope with their children, and the wives and husbands whose partners had dementia and were watching them think they were married to someone else. 

Both episodes were great and definitely worth a viewing and are available on Iplayer till Thursday 3^rd May,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01gvt26/Louis_Theroux_Louis_Theroux_Extreme_Love_Dementia/

I have recently been re- watching some episodes of friends and it reminded me just how amazing the production team on the show must have been in particular the writers, I love how even spread out over 10 series everything links back and is intertwined….My favourite episode is the ‘one where know one is ready’ I love Ross in this episode…….I think his constant clock watching is brilliant and it is also the one where joey lunges in all of Chandlers clothes.

"Dear Blog readers I would love to know your Favourite Friends episode? So comment below???"

This week TV Highlights:

1. The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald- Monday 10:35-11:35pm, Trevor explores America from the river.
2. William and Kate: The first year. Tuesday ITV1 8pm- we all went a bit royal crazy last year, see how the year has been.
3. Piers Morgan: Life Stories- Jason Donavan- Friday ITV1 9pm- interview with the Aussie star, talking about his relationship with Kylie amongst more.
4. Alan Carr: Chatty Man- Channel 4, 10pm- episode 2 in his new series, guests David Walliams and Amanda Holden.
5. The Cube- Saturday 7:45 ITV1- cube show beat the cube’s games to win £250,000

Food and Family

Cooking shows are not something as a general rule I would ever series catch up with but when there on I do enjoy them……….however until recently I often wondered how many more different ways can they take a cooking program….of course there’s the race element like ready steady cook, and the teaching element like Saturday kitchen and the cooking extracts on This Morning and Lorraine….and there’s the competition element like MasterChef and Great British Bake off, and Come Dine With Me …..all make great viewing and not just for ‘foodies’ and then there is the food programmes that look at international cooking……..so I was surprised when I came across: The Little Paris Kitchen, cooking with Rachael Khoo, I was pleased to find a new take on a cooking programme, Rachael moved to Paris 6 years ago and is interested in Parisian cooking, she lives in a tiny Parisian flat with a two ring and hob and oven the size of a microwave but she runs a restaurant from her dinning room, of course the programme does have cooking tutorials but all from her take on Parisian food.

Well done on a wonderful new dimension on the international cooking programme. (the series is still available on Iplayer till the weekend) 

Studios seem to be coming along nicely!

Going back to a previous week where I said how I think that great TV, has the ability to make you feel every feeling under the sun…….if this is the case Long Lost Family must be amazing TV…..  again we have seen family history programmes before, and celebrities look at their family history, as well as the experts looking for the rightful heir’s to people’s estates. But the stories on Long Lost Family are so moving, and the contributors so powerful that it really is amazing watching……..The programme sets about to re unite long lost families, Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present the show and help the families find each other whether it be parents looking for children or children looking for parents learning about places and people around the country and then the so far happy endings :) …the series is so moving and with its thursday night prime time slot it is definitely worth a watch. 

This weeks highlights:

1. The Little Paris Kitchen: cooking with Rachael Khoo- Monday 8:30 BBC2- Chef who lives in Paris and has a restaurant in her tiny dinning room cooked in her tiny kitchen.
2. Waterloo Road- Wednesday 9pm BBC1 last episode in series 7 end of term and the school prepares to close!
3. Louis Theroux: Extreme Love Dementia- Thursday 9pm BBC2 following last weeks autism episode this week Theroux looks at families struggling with dementia.
4. Long Lost Family- Thursday 9pm ITV1 (or ITV1 +1 at 10pm) Reuniting families with Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, Nicky has tweeted saying this is his favourite episode.
5. Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: Carol Vorderman: Friday 9pm ITV1- Carol Vorderman opens up about her life being abandoned by her father at 3 weeks old, and how she coped with the death of Richard Whitley.

"On This Morning, This Morning"

I will be the first to admit that being a student has its benefits, and one of my favourite perks is the ability to watch daytime TV (and although the amount of time I do get to enjoy this luxury has drastically decreased since my undergrad I’m sure its still much better than most peoples so I do count myself lucky…..

I love how multi genre daytime TV is from current affairs to entertainment and helping people, of course Jeremy Kyle does get some stick, I think the show is great and although I’m not an avid viewer I think he does do some great work, and good luck in America !

I will happily watch TV all day and can sit through GMTV, Jeremy Kyle, This Morning, Loose Women and then Dickinson’s Real deal before realising its mid afternoon…..I  don’t however do this anymore. This Morning is my absolute favourite daytime viewing, I love Philip and Holly they are so entertaining whilst being so serious when it is necessary. I hate the weeks when I have no need to say "this morning on this morning" the show is perfectly current that it is always necessary to discuss with other viewers or tell people what happened, and hats off to ITV when they decided to turn the weeks highlights into 'This Morning Weekend' for all those 9-5 working people.....Genius. 

This weeks Tv Highlights:

1. The Sydicate- Tuesday 9pm BBC1 Leanne's (Joanna Page- Stacey from Gavin and Stacey) episode her past live catches up with her after the lottery win.
2. I Woke up Gay -Wednesday at 8pm BBC3 documentary about 21 year old Chris Birch who had a stroke and woke up gay.
3. Long Lost Family- Thursday 9pm ITV1- Davina Mc Call and Nicky Campbell reuniting families episode 1 was very moving and wonderful TV. 
4. Louis Theroux: Extreme Love - Autism Thursday 9pm BBC2 (Iplayer) Louis visits a school in amaerica to see how they cope with autism. 
5. The Voice UK- Saturday BBC1 7pm week before the live shows, acts get cut from 10 to 5 per judge. 

Everything's a Drama!!!

Having finally caught up on the first two episodes of ITV1's Titanic, I feel now equipped to pass judgement, and as I have already said I HAD reservations....... Firstly we all know what happened, what different spins could be put on a real life event.....Secondly ITV's budget wouldn't compete with that of Hollywood, and thirdly would it not just be Downton Abbey but on a boat?


In this instance I don't mind being proved wrong..... With Downton Abbey such a huge success of course it was going to work, the only two similarities between Downton and Titanic are firstly the characters virtually fit into staff and 1st class passengers both having separate and intertwining stories.....And  secondly exceptional script writing.... So why stop a winning formula!?!!!


I am not loyal to a particular channel and even sometimes get caught on QVC for longer than advised..... But throughout this consent channel hopping I have begun to notice how very different they are no more so than BBC1 and ITV1. When comparing Eastenders to Coronation Street, there are of course the obvious differences London/ Manchester, The Square/ The Street and The Queen Vic/ The Rovers.  But there are so many more..........Eastenders uses more point of view camera shots, and creates tension with this technique, for example Phill walking through the market whilst everyone stared at him made me feel very uneasy (presumably how they hoped) if you were to compare the overall colour of both Corrie and Eastenders, Corrie has a much warmer orangey feel whilst Eastenders more cold and blue. 
But whilst watching The Syndicate (Tuesday's BBC1 9pm and on iplayer) which is great, I found myself thinking this is very " BBC" I'm not certain why exactly I came to this conclusion.....The great writer Kay Mellor who wrote both The Syndicate and the amazing series Fat Friends, I presumed that The Syndicate was going to be more like Fat Friends, more comedy perhaps and although I love it, I presumed that Fat Friends must have been an ITV drama, because it was more light hearted and perhaps more closer to reality! 

New Coronation Street coming along nicely.

I have to tell myself that drama on tv isn't real, on a practically weekly basis! Living in Manchester means that I often bump into cast members from Corrie, and have to refrain from calling them their character names after all they are in my front room several times a week! This was more than testing when I literally bumped into John Stape in Topshop at the same time he was on the run from the police (on the soap) I was taken a back........ Then realised the whole thing is fictitious!  The lives of people on Coronation Street are crazy, and although based of reality all of the extreme events don't all happen to people who live on the same street all at once!!!!! 


This weeks highlights!! 

1.  The Matt Lucas Awards- Tuesday 10:35 BBC1 comedy awards with host Matt Lucas
2. Peter Andre- My Life Wednesday 9pm ITV2- love it or hate it Peter's life makes great TV
3. The Sinking of the Conordia: caught on camera- Wednesday 9pm channel 4- what actually happened, passenger stories!
4. The Sarah Millican Television Programme- Thursday 10pm BBC2- comedy chat show last in the series. 
5. Piers Morgans life stories- William Roache- Friday 9pm ITV1- set to be a very revelling interview start if the new series!

Just what makes good TV?

Love it or Hate The Only Was is Essex is a huge success, originally devised not for Essex at all, the program based on real people and their real lives in Essex…. And  I love it, but I believe that’s because I have watched it from the beginning, if I was to start watching it now I don’t think I would………Series 4 is long over but because TOWIE is continued though other mediums such as on Twitter and in the Papers it would make no sense for the program to pause between series. So ITV they have launched a Fresh out of Essex Webpisode……... Keeping its audience on track with what’s going on in the stars real lives.  I believe this is the trend many drams doc, dramalitly programs and documentary’s will follow soon.

This week I had my first experience of playing along with Million Pound Drop, and what a new age experience it was, and it got me thinking again about the changing way we not only watch TV but also participate in it…..and how interactive TV is taking over…….Channel 4 are the first to do this in terms of quiz shows with both, Million Pound Drop and The Bank Job offering the ability for the audience to play along at home and have their statistics read out live on TV…..of course participating in live TV shows has come into a new dimension recently with audience members have the ability to tweet and facebook and often fuel the conversation on programs such as This Morning. Have we become so dependent on the internet for TV content how would the programs suffer if the web went down?

Without working it out I guess I watch an average of 70+ hours of TV a week, not this week but as an average…….which probably means my £1 Television is likely to be destroyed very soon. This can be anything from soaps, to the amazing children’s programing that comes out of the BBC, E4’s American dramas, quiz shows, Dramality, real people documentary’s, cooking programs and drama.

            I am studying a media production masters and often contemplate… What makes great TV?

1. Makes you develop excuses as to why you can’t socialize when something ‘that good’ is on.
2.  Is constantly ticking around at the back of your mind wondering what will happen next episode?
3. Makes you want to be on TV.
4. The ability to make you feel every emotion know possible during a half an hour program.

1. Titanic: ITV1 Sunday 9pm episode 2 in the series (we know what’s going down but still worth a view nearly 100 years!)
2. The Tube: is available on Iplayer for a couple more days. Like Airport but a great documentary insight into the London underground network. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cl522/The_Tube_Episode_1/
3. The Undateables: Tuesday 9pm channel 4- the differences that disabled people face when finding love.
4. The Syndicate: BBC1 Tuesday 9pm- second episode in the series what will happen with the lottery win and more?
5. One born every minute, what happened next: Thursday 9pm Channel 4- revisiting the couples who gave birth on the program to see how they are finding parenthood one year on.

The Queen and talent for Her Majesty

This week saw the last episode in the current series of Tracy Beaker returns on CBBC, now here is an amazing example of fantastic script writing developed from a book………so good in fact that I have been watching the series since it began in 2002, and that the main character is now far to old to fit within the story so has returned as an adult carer and has been made to fit within the story. ………. Sadly this really did seem like the end of Tracy Beaker as she has left the dumping ground, we have seen this many times before and she always comes back….but maybe this time it really is the end. But it was good while it latest. For many years now, I have been wondering why it has only been Tracy Beaker that has been made into a long running series, and as Jacqueline Wilson has written so many more books, maybe that’s the future of CBBC drama, (you heard it here first) Me and the rest of the CBBC audience will have to content our need for amazing drama with the 4 o’clock club, which is a great watch the Grange Hill of today with rap.

The much-acclaimed Voice UK started yesterday, the format which has already been hugely successful worldwide…… I was surprised as I thought it was going to be a bit more of a national search, rather than looking at semi professionals and ex professionals but perhaps its filling a gap which these other talent finding shows may have missed. And it sure was great!!!  This yet again starts the rivalry between ITV and BBC for the Saturday night prime time slot as ITV too launched this years Britain’s Got Talent.

These two programs will start again the fabulous talent TV, which does so well because it appeals to virtually the whole of the channels audience range, we shall wait and see who comes out on top, and if the Queen likes the act chosen for her by the Britans Got Tallent Judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and new judges Alisha Dixon and David Walliams.

This week saw the official opening of the BBC North buildings at their new home at Media City UK, Salford Quays, and the Queen was there too. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17487195

It was an exciting day with security on high alert, and barriers and people everywhere, after the Queen had looked around BBC children’s and BBC sport she came out onto the piazza waved her flag for the crowd which signaled the start of the sport relief mile and as I helped to launch the balloons, she stood for some photos before being whisked away to the next stop on her diamond Jubilee tour. 

    

A few weeks ago I was at conference where Adam Crozier the controller of ITV gave a key note speech, where he explained the up and coming changes to ITV, he of course spoke about the move of Coronation Street…..but also about the great dramas the channel had coming up…..

This weeks progress of the street.

I was dubious at first, a drama about Titanic……we all know that’s been done… and without a Hollywood budget how can ITV compete…..but he sold it well, as did all the other speakers at the conference it was the hot topic….and has before broadcast been sold internationally to 8 different countries….I have since then decided to give it a try and if the early reviews are anything to go by, after transmission every other country is going to be after the broadcast rights.

It has been written by Julian Fellows who wrote Downton Abbey and after Downton’s success I’m sure this will be a huge hit. Definitely worth a try if like I used to be you are a bit undecided.

This week sees the start of 3 great drama series and here are the highlights: 

1. Titanic- ITV1 9pm Sunday- part 1 /4
2. The Syndicate- BBC1 9pm Tuesday part 1/5 written by Fat Friends writer Kay Mellor.
3. One Night- BBC1 10:35 Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/ Friday BBC new drama taking the story of one night told in each episode by a different character.
4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b01dcznx/My_Life_Series_3_Me_My_Dad_and_His_Kidney/ don’t forget to watch this amazing episode of My Life before it disappears from Iplayer.- Anytime
5.  Million Pound Drop- Channel 4, 9pm Friday, Live quiz show with the chance to win 1million pounds Gok Wan and Alan Carr try their hands in this episode. 

ILove IPlayer

This week Channel 4 announced their new channel: 4seven with the aim to provide an alternative way to catch up on TV from the past 7days, rather than watching it on 4od or any other catch up internet sites you can watch a repeat on your real TV.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17311528

This announcement got me thinking of the new ways that TV is being watched……last year my laptop was a bit temperamental and more often than not didn’t play audio …….so I never watched things on the internet and if I missed a program it was gone for good…….or until was played on repeat which for channels like ITV is more often than BBC.

However these days I often spend much of each day catching up on the shows I’ve missed online. Usually this is because of the 9pm slots where I want to watch something on each channel.

Its just so easy now to never miss your favorite programs and although its not quite the same, its virtually there……so make way TV for the laptop, computer, Ipad, phone.

Social media is playing a huge part in the feedback on TV at the moment, and the new 4seven channel will be showing the programs that create the most hype on social networking sites. As an alternative to watching the programs online on catch up sites. 

With audiences giving instant feedback on Television, how soon will it be before we are writing the scripts and changing plots from our very own sofas?

A very grey day at Media City UK…but the street seems to be making progress.

My Life is nearly over for series 3…….so soon I will shut up about it!! (and fingers crossed my vision for an episode will be part of series 4) But if you haven’t seen the series yet there is one more this week, Wednesday BBC1 at 4:30 about children who are born on September 11^th and the impacts this has on their birthday’s. But as expected Me, My Dad and his Kidney was fantastic even better than I thought and I had high hopes, this is available on Iplayer until, the 4^th April. Raphael was great so confident and brave a real inspiration, if you haven’t seen it yet it is so worth a half an hour viewing.

This week saw the first episode on Love Life, and with ITV set to have a great season of Drama this did not disappoint, as the title suggests and it is about peoples love life the advert gave quite a lot of the story away but it didn’t matter, there a pregnant lady, her ex-boyfriend the babies father and of course his wife…we shall wait to see what develops… It was shot using a great technique of flash backs which worked really well in telling the previous story for the audience without using the whole series to get to the action, most certainly worth a catch up lets eagerly wait for Thursday nights installment. 

This weeks highlights…….

1.     Anti Social Network. Monday BBC3 9pm- Documentary made by “Nine Lives Media’ about Richard Bacon, and how he and his family deal with negative comment via social network.

2.     Rita Simons, My Daughter, Deafness and me. Tuesday 10:40 BBC1-Roxy From Eastenders, and her partially deaf daughter and their decisions about her life.

3.     The Apprentice Wednesday BBC1 9pm- The Apprentice is back, start of the new series about Sir Alan Sugar, business and his search for new talent.

4.      Mary’s Bottom Line. Thursday 9pm Channel 4- Mary Portas as she sets up a completely British Knicker making factory and employs young people.

5.     The Voice UK. Saturday BBC1 7pm- New Singing talent show, where the judges don’t see the contestant and are just judged on their voice. 

Kids Television not just for children

A lot of adults TV programs are produced with a child audience in mind, Waterloo Road is a great example of this, as well as much of Saturday evening’s programing…….. If this is the case I am the only one who watches Children’s programs and thinks adults should watch it too?

Whilst checking the times for this weeks recommendations I came across the perfect example to back up these thoughts. Helen Skelton who is a current Blue Peter presenter. Has walked to the South Pole for sport relief her journey has been documented in a series that is shown on CBBC but it also has a prime time Friday night slot……maybe this is the start of a new beginning of cross audience programing.

I have never stopped watching children’s programs and I believe that I have watched Arthur for as long as I can remember and I still love it now as much as I did when I was 12.

I am now studying a masters in Children’s Media Production.  And this has even further developed my knowledge and love for children’s content.

Although I have been banging on about CBBC’s children’s documentary series a lot recently it is so worth it, and I have been waiting in particular for this week’s episode, and it should not be just for children……….. This Wednesdays episode of ‘My Life’ is produced by an amazing Manchester based independent production company Nine Lives and is about a boy who needs a kidney transplant. With Nine Lives behind many amazing programs for several different channels’ including ‘Small teen, big world.’  This is set to be brilliant!!!

There are of course programs that are definitely produced just for children with hilarious sketches and kids only jokes like that very few adults find entertaining, but there are some that just fit on the children’s channels but easily would work anywhere, and ‘My Life’ is most certainly one of them, the mission statement for the series is a ‘Documentary series following the highs and lows of a group of youngsters, providing an insight into the lives of different children across the UK, each with a unique story to tell.’

The 3 series’ so far have covered issues like parents in prison, children taking part in sports stereotypically aimed at the opposite sex than them, and each episode are so thought provoking and the children involved are so inspirational, they are most certainly deserved of viewings.

'New spot to take weekly Coronation Street photo.'

I will be the first to admit that I am an absolute sucker for both an celebrity headed documentary, and an extraordinary people documentary so BBC1’s Racing with the Hamilton’s: ‘Nic in the driving seat’ was of course going to be a winner in my eyes. But when I did watch it, it was brilliant it featured Lewis Hamilton and his family and in particular focused on his 19-year-old brother who was born with cerebral palsy, but who is driving and competing in competitions just like his brother. This episode is still on Iplayer until 13^th march. The episode is part of the BBC’s Beyond Disability’s season, looking at people with disabilities, their families and the challenges they face and I’m sure the whole series will be great.

1.   Letting Go BBC1 Tuesday 10:35- part of the Beyond Disabilities series to which Racing with the Hamilton’s is a part….

2.  ‘My Life’ Me, my dad and his kidney. BBC1 4:30 Wednesday & Saturday BBC1 10am

3.  Pramface. BBC3 9pm- comedy about love and pregnancy

4.  Love Life. ITV 1 Thursday 9pm ITV1’s new Drama!!! (watch on plus an hour so don’t miss Pramface)

5.  Helen Skelton Polar Challenge for Sport relief BBC1 4;30 Monday & 8:30 Friday BBC this is the final episode and seeing  if Helen reaches her final destination of the South Pole?

Why stick to what you know?

       An observation to which I often conform is sticking to what you know………I would say I am a BBC1, BBC3 ITV1, ITV2 and Channel 4 fan, and I tend not to stray to other channels ……….Until recently, there is so much great TV on other channels that only in the past few months I have noticed and so why stick to what you know? The great example of this is Channel 5, I will be the first to admit I steered clear of Channel 5, for no real reason that is until they made the strategic move of buying Big Brother and putting their upcoming great program adverts on in the break…….. Celebrity wedding planner and My Secret Past were huge ratings winners, earlier this week I went to a talk by one of the commissioning editors of Channel 5, where he discussed the wonders of the channel in particular it factual winners. I loved both Celebrity Wedding Planners and I am always a fan of formats like My Secret Past, which if you didn’t see it involved 3 celebrities looking at problems they had when they were teenagers and they met teenagers now struggling with similar problems.  It was very insightful and made me and hopefully everyone else who sticks to their favorite channels think outside the box. 

      Last week I said that working at the BBC was my dream career I have thought about this over the week and I have decided perhaps I was a little hasty with this wish………admittedly the BBC does make some great programs and yes what the children’s department produces is of such a high standard.  But it is not the only great broadcaster there are some amazing independents and other great channels. 

I have always watched and loved Coronation Street, but since moving to Manchester, I have realised just how great it is. The camera angles are believable the characters are great and the scripting often hilarious.

It has always been my favorite soap and I would often find myself watching each episode at least twice a week just to make sure I didn’t miss any of it….  But over the last few weeks I have started to notice the comedy in it! The Steve and Tracey story line has me in stiches, along with Gayle and Audrey power walking into Lewis which was better than any comedy sketch..,. I am eagerly awaiting Franks exit storyline with so much speculation about who did it? Who really did do it?

Coronation Street is moving, and next year it will no longer to filmed from its home at Granada just outside Manchester City Centre they are rebuilding the street at Media City- Salford Quays but this time its bigger.

Due to High Definition filming the street the currently is not full size, will have to be built that little bit bigger as HD holds no prisoners.

The new site of the street and the building progress so far.

I have recently got into, BBC 1’s Prisioner’s Wives, which quite frankly it blew my mind, I had seen the adverts and thought that looks good I must remember to watch that………but I forgot, fortunately the internet saved me and I managed to catch up with episode 1-4 back to back it really was that good. They are online until the 13^th of March……. I was at first a bit dubious to watch a drama about a bunch of prisoners wives….. but alas this was the wrong judgment. Each episode focuses on one particular wife, the group meet whilst visiting their beloved, jailed, husbands, boyfriends and children. The scripting is amazing and really captures presumably the fears of the visitors, not only explaining the challenges they face whilst waiting for release day but also how they cope.

This weeks highlights

1. Coronation Street; Monday 7:30 and 8:30 pm Franks murder.
2.  My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding- Tuesday 9 pm Channel 4- Following travelers preparing for their wedding and other parties that need the great gypsy outfits.
3. My Life: Boxing girls. Wednesday 4:30 CBBC on BBC1 documentary series about group of boxing girls told from their point of view.
4. Gok Wan- Made in China- Wednesday 8pm Channel 4, Gok Travels to China to find out how the country can produce the clothes we rely on buying cheaply. 
5. Benidorm: Friday 9pm ITV1- brilliant drama series and more holiday antics from Brits abroad.

Radio Times in the new age!

I have often wondered what makes people want to blog, the only publication that will give you a chance. The expressive writing where the wavy red line will check your spelling.  With the advances in technology being so huge I decided in order to not get left behind and to perhaps answer my initial question………..I would start a blog.

            I am a massive fan of TV, from the day Harry Potter scared me and I had no want to read books, I became addicted! An addiction that’s cheaper then most (I won my TV in a raffle I paid a pound, and my TV license I consider a pension scheme for when I achieve my dream and work at the BBC!)  I therefore decided to share my knowledge of the world on the box with the world…….

I decided that many people lead such hectic lives and perhaps the population is deciding against walking to the paper shop and so never buy their newspaper and therefore their copy of the radio times……..which obviously means they are missing such great TV. So why not read my blog, where I hope to highlight the best bits of the weeks TV just in time for you to catch them on Iplayer before they got lost in the vortex of the world wide web, and things to skyplus for the upcoming week.

My TV’s life this past week:

      I spend much of my time at Media CityUK in Salford, the new home of BBC children’s unfortunately I was not there however when they opened the new Blue Peter garden……..But it is said to be in the open space which will be very exciting as the general public we be able to see the garden for themselves.

I am a massive fan of Gok Wan, and was eagerly waiting for him to take his TV persona down a different route and it was worth the wait.  Tuesday saw the last in a three part series of ‘Gok’s teens the naked truth.’ Definitely worth a watch on 4od 11 days left to watch episode 1.

With similar aims as his ‘do I look good naked series’’ he used his incredible feel good personality to boost the lives of teenagers in a build up to a national body confidence class. The teenagers were incredibly brave and inspiring and the series made incredible moving and feel good TV.

CBBC has a target audience of 6-12 years old….this is too young, cbbc produces and co produces make some AMAZING content that should not just be for the under 12’s.  The channel has a documentary series called ‘My Life’ and its fabulous and a must see for every age not just the pre teens. I watch it religiously and I think you will see why…. Its aims are to follow extraordinary children with exceptional story’s to tell. An independent production company produces each episode and this has led to a perfect spread of stories from up and down the country. This week saw another episode in series 3 ‘Home Grown Boys’ ……..and it was great similar to a version on junior apprentice, it looked at a group of 6 boys from the Kings Cross area of London who have a business during the school holidays and grow vegetables in skips then sell them to local businesses. The program is always inspirational but this week especially.

Catch it on CBBC till the end on March, CBBC shouldn’t just be for kids and this is the perfect example.

Things for next week:

1.     Helens polar challenge for sport relief- CBBC on BBC1 4:30 this is the final episode on find out if and how Helen Skelton from Blue Peter will make it to the South Pole.

2.     Prisoners Wives- Episode 5- “amazing drama series following a group of wives that meet visiting a prison. BBC1 Tuesday 9pm

3.     Waterloo Road- The second episode in the new series leading to as you can imagine some brilliant drama between both the students and the teachers. Wednesday 8pm BBC1

4.     Children of the Tsunami – looking at Japans Tsunami last year through the eyes of the children effected.  BBC2 Thursday 9pm

5.     Lets dance for sport relief- this week amongst others is the turn of Scott Mills and Ollie Murs, surely they will be amazing, and all for charity. BBC1 Saturday 7pm