TV

Heather Peace interview: Multi-talented Lip Service star set for UK tour

'Like a pluckier Sheryl Crow, mixed with a rockier Eva Cassidy'

Bored on a road trip? Tired of playing I Spy? Try to think gay British actors or actresses who aren’t typecast according to their sexuality. After you get past the Stephen Frys and Ian McKellans (hello, national treasures), you might get a bit…

TV: Campus brims with offensiveness but needs more jokes

Channel 4 comedy stars Andy Nyman and Will Adamsdale

Channel 4’s Comedy Showcase project had a can’t-win look about it. Launched in 2007 and resurrected in 2009, a collection of pilot episodes was put to the viewing public and either sunk into oblivion or commissioned for a full series. Had none of them…

The Larry Sanders Show - DVD boxset

Garry Shandling's sitcom, starring Jeffrey Tambor and Jeremy Piven, gets new lease of life

In the summer of 1998, the final episode of a beloved, long-running American sitcom was aired but with a conclusion hated by so many that continuous talk of a reunion seemed fuelled purely by a desire to right some terrible wrongs. That show was called…

Beth Ditto loves cleaning shows

Celebrity Gossip

Beth Ditto loves watching TV shows about cleaning. The Gossip frontwoman wishes her favourite programme, 'How Clean Is Your House?' - in which presenters Kim Woodburn and Aggie McKenzie help people sort out their filthy surroundings - would launch in…

The James Nesbitt-starring 'Monroe' is sharp enough to keep operating (Channel Hopper)

‘Get it right and no one is impressed. Get it wrong and it’s catastrophic’. We could be flies on the wall at an ITV drama commissioners meeting, but in fact it’s one of several memorable lines from the opening episode of 'Monroe' (ITV1, Thu 10 Mar…

Profile: Richard Ayoade

Boosh, IT Crowd and Darkplace star directs Joe Dunthorne adap Submarine

Name Richard Ayoade Born 12 June 1977, Whipp’s Cross, London Background Best known for playing Moss in Graham Linehan ’s hit TV comedy The IT Crowd, Ayoade first came to the notice of cult comedy fans as writer, director and co-star of spoof…

Glasgow-set Lip Service may have more than just homophobes turning it off

Is new BBC3 drama just The L Word with rain?

A recent poll by the BBC found that one in five people felt ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘very uncomfortable’ with gay people having their stories told on television. A mere 16 years after the ‘Brookside kiss’, such a stat can either be read as slow progress or…

Limmy has a new BBC2 series on the way - interview

Glaswegian funnyman on Doop, Yazz and sounding like a fanny

First record you ever bought The Only Way Is Up, by Yazz and the Plastic Population. First film you saw that really moved you Watership Down. Last lie you told An email where I said I was too busy to do something, when I’m not. First…

Friday Night Dinner a bit hard to digest - Channel Hopper

New Channel Four comedy one of worst ever opening episodes of a sitcom

'In the best traditions of Channel Four comedy, it successfully marries the ground-breaking with the familiar and best of all, it’s really, really funny.’ Grand claims made there on behalf of Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4, Fri 25 Feb, 10pm) by a very…

Kerry Katona turns to counselling after judge's jibes

TV Gossip

Kerry Katona turned to counselling after receiving criticism from Jason Gardiner. The 30-year-old 'Dancing On Ice' contestant says the "a***wipe" judge's comments have been so "hurtful" on the ITV1 ice skating show she had to talk to psychologists to…

Boardwalk Empire gets chance to live up to ‘new Sopranos’ tag

TV series features Martin Scorsese, Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald

With the ballyhoo of its pilot being the most expensive in the history of TV and with Marty Scorsese at the directorial helm, Boardwalk Empire (Sky Atlantic, Tue, 9pm) now gets a chance to settle into its Prohibition groove and show whether it is indeed…

Scenes from a Teenage Killing profiles every teenager murdered in the UK during 2009

Morgan Matthews' BBC documentary charts aftermath of young deaths

A couple of years back, the Beeb aired The Fallen, a funereal documentary which marked the deaths of every British soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The screen was filled with names, ages and date of death, stopping every so often to focus on a…

Lily Allen snubs Piers Morgan TV offer

TV Gossip

Lily Allen has turned down the chance to appear on Piers Morgan's 'Life Stories'. The 25-year-old singer - who has suffered two miscarriages - told the chatshow host she would only consider appearing on the series if he donated £1 million to UK…

Greg McHugh on pizza, Beverly Hills Cop II and X Factor

The comedian and star of Gary: Tank Commander

First record you ever bought The Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack, aged 8. I hadn’t even seen the film. First film you saw that really moved you Philadelphia. Last lie you told That all the food on holiday was made of chopsticks. First…

'Comedy about a comedy' Episodes stars Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan

Channel Hopper

Here comes one of those ‘wonder why no one had thought of that before?’ ideas. The ever-increasing number of British comedies (from The Office to Shameless starring William H Macy) flying their way Stateside for a transatlantic overhaul is a scenario…

Jason Manford becomes a dad

TV Gossip

Jason Manford became a father for the third time over Christmas. The 29-year-old comedian - who sensationally quit 'The One Show' in November after being caught out exchanging saucy twitter messages with female fans - and his wife Catherine welcomed…

Hollyoaks to be axed?

TV Gossip

'Hollyoaks' is reportedly set to be axed. The Chester-based Channel 4 soap - which first aired in 1995 - has seen ratings drop to under one million per show, and new station chief Jay Hunt is believed to be considering terminating the programme when…

Jonathan Ross doesn't watch talk shows

TV Gossip

Jonathan Ross doesn't watch British talk shows. The 50-year-old broadcaster insists he never tunes into 'The Graham Norton Show' - which occupies the BBC1 Friday night slot his own show did for nine years until 2010 - but says it is nothing personal…

Jonathan Ross planning magic attack on America

TV Gossip

Jonathan Ross is planning to crack America with a TV magic show. The presenter and talk show host is due to fly over to Los Angeles next month to film a pilot episode with magicians Penn and Teller. The series, entitled 'Penn and Teller: Fool Us…

Whistle and I’ll Come to You and When Harvey Met Bob among Christmas TV highlights

John Hurt gest haunted and Domhnall Gleeson becomes Bob Geldof

Quite why ghost stories go hand in hand with Christmas has never been quite clear to me. Maybe Charles Dickens is to blame, but whatever the link is, don’t spooks and spectres not get enough press at the end of October? One of the British classics of…

Simon Cowell loves X Factor controversy

TV Gossip

Simon Cowell relishes in the controversy surrounding 'The X Factor'. The 51-year-old music mogul - who shocked fans by deciding to implement a semi-final sing-off for the first time in the history of the ITV1 show last weekend - admitted he welcomes…

The Day John Lennon Died - Cast of characters recount the events of 8 Dec 1980

Channel Hopper - Only Yoko Ono emerges from this documentary with dignity intact

John Lennon. Devoted husband and father. Pioneer of peace. Writer of landmark pop songs. Had a thing about round specs. Loved a good manly embrace. ‘I remember he immediately put his arm round my shoulder and said thanks for coming,’ notes Andy Peebles…

Peep Show's David Mitchell speaks out over new series premiering online

Series 7 Episode 1 now screening at 4oD

In the run up to the new series of Peep Show, David Mitchell has been left defending himself after expressing his disappointment at the decision to release the first episode online, prior to its TV premiere. Series seven of the comedy starring David…

Storyville: Mandelson - The Real PM

Channel Hopper

Winston Churchill once described Labour’s postwar deputy PM Herbert Morrison as a mix of ‘genius and venom’. A lot worse has been said about Morrison’s grandson Peter Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness (aka the Dark Lord) and key architect of New Labour…

Series 2 of Misfits features a grizzled Dexter Fletcher

Comedy-drama with a lot of heart, swathes of wit and genuinely chilling interludes

In a bygone episode of Filthy Rich and Catflap, Rik Mayall’s hapless fool inadvertently murders a series of milkmen. Flash-forward a quarter of a century and, in marginally less slapstick a fashion, the BAFTA-winning ASBO cast of Misfits (E4, Thu 11…