TV

Channel 4 show Chickens set during WW1 stars Simon Bird and Jonny Sweet

Channel Hopper

It might not have quite the resonance of ‘briefcase wanker!’ but Simon Bird’s character in Chickens (Channel 4, Fri 2 Sep, 10.30pm) has to take the slur of ‘shame on you’ like a man. But being a man is half the problem here. Or at least the kind of man…

Channel Hopper: The Hour

Taut, Abi Morgan-penned period news drama starring Ben Wishaw, Romola Garai and Dominic West

Let’s get this straight: here we have a modern BBC drama about a 1950s BBC news programme called ‘The Hour’ with each of its six episodes lasting an hour? Yes, The Hour (BBC2, Tue, 9pm) may originate from a confusing place, but through the spandex-tight…

My Comedy Hero: Mock The Week's Milton Jones discusses Rowan Atkinson

Growing up I was inspired by people in sitcoms such as Ronnie Barker and Leonard Rossiter. But, the hero I’d pick would be Rowan Atkinson. I became aware of him when he used to do sketches on Not the Nine O’Clock News and it was clear that he was the…

Michel Faber interview - The Crimson Petal and the White

The author and his wife Eva Youren on the forthcoming BBC adaptation

‘As consumers of culture, we’re both quite cold fish,’ says Michel Faber, linking eyes over the living room with his wife, Eva Youren. She’s stretched out on a windowseat a few feet away. She nods in agreement. ‘We tend to see what the author or…

The Apprentice's Stuart ‘The Brand’ Baggs to appear at the Fringe

Informal lunch chat at 2011 Edinburgh Fringe

‘I’m alive: there are so many people that aren’t alive or have died, unfortunately. I’m alive; that’s a gift, frankly. I wake up early every morning once I’ve had the sleep I need. I go out and make money. Everything I touch turns to sold.’ Oh Lord.

The Inbetweeners - We meet some real Glasgow teenagers

Are Scottish teens anything like the loveable social misfits on screen?

The old crusties amongst us probably don’t know much about ‘real’ teenagers. We get most of our understanding of the acne-addled angst-mongers when gasping aloud at the ruddy rudeness of Skins and chin-scratching over the almost impenetrable lingo in…

Celebrity Big Brother contestants enter house

TV Gossip

Kerry Katona is one of 10 housemates who have entered the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house tonight (18.08.11). The mother-of-four - who has battled drug and drink addiction in the past - was first to enter the infamous house followed by 'American Pie…

Sex and the City to return to TV

TV Gossip

'Sex and the City' could return to TV screens. The hit TV series - which ended in 2004 after six series before being turned into two movies - is being lined up for a new run after creator Darren Star and the show's main star Sarah Jessica Parker…

New episode of Doctor Who to be screened at Edinburgh Television Festival 2011

New episodes of Fresh Meat, The Killing and Comic Strip also on offer

The MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival unveiled its programme for 2011 yesterday, marking the festival’s 36th year in operation. The series of lectures, preview screenings, masterclasses, interviews and networking parties, which…

The Governor, Being Human and Traffik among DVD highlghts

The old school fares well against newbies in TV drama releases

The Governor ●●●● features a curious performance from Janet McTeer, just four years before her 1999 Oscar nomination for Tumbleweeds. In the first season of Lynda La Plante’s excellent prison drama, she switches between giggling schoolgirl and feisty…

Ben Miller interview - Actor/director on cycle crime, Thandie Newton and urine

Moving Wallpaper actor directs first feature film Huge

The Moving Wallpaper actor has taken time off from his comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong to direct a feature film, Huge. He confesses to abusing his banana privileges

DVD review - Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Uncompromising, awkward and confrontational style and content cements reputation

(2entertain) The second series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle will do very little to alter the entrenched opinions on both sides of his critical fence. Those detractors will switch off in their droves at the uncompromising, awkward and…

The Kennedys fares poorly in comparison to The West Wing

BBC TV series can only trundle its way to various fiery denouements

Were you to catch a distant earful of the string-laden theme tune for The Kennedys (BBC2, Fri, 9pm), and glimpse, out the corner of one eye, some swimmy stars and stripes, you could be half-forgiven for thinking that someone has stuck on a West Wing…

As Taggart calls it a day, we look at the stars who have been linked to the 'murdurs'

Featuring Robert Carlyle, Dougray Scott and more

After 26 years, Glasgow’s Mean City bids farewell, as Taggart gets axed. To celebrate the demise of one of Scotland’s greatest exports, we showcase the great and the good of the guest stars who helped to light up our screens. Robert Carlyle Long…

Burnistoun - Series 1

Iain Connell and Robert Florence revive the sketch show format with aplomb

(2entertain) Amid the painful nonsense that masquerades under the banner ‘comedy sketch show’, it’s a truly remarkable surprise to have a show like Burnistoun on our very doorsteps. The series is largely owned by Iain Connell and Robert Florence, two…

Wonderland: The Men Who Won't Stop Marching

Intriguing documentary subject that avoids asking challenging questions

While the men of the Shankill Road blast away on their flutes and bang against their bass drums, it acts as a stark contrast with the inner turmoil that results in many of them living in silence, the worst stirrings of their memories leaving them mute…

Richard and Judy rule out new chatshow

TV Gossip

Richard and Judy would never front their own show again. The husband-and-wife presenting team - best known for their work on ITV's flagship daytime show 'This Morning', which they hosted from 1988 to 2001 - insist they wouldn't want to face savage…

Martine McCutcheon 'too old' for TV roles

TV Gossip

Martine McCutcheon thinks she is "too old" to be a TV leading lady. The 'Love Actually' actress - who shot to fame in the 90s playing Tiffany Mitchell in 'EastEnders' - thinks she is at a "funny age" where she is not old enough to play a mum, but too…

Video game LA Noire features Mad Men's Aaron Staton

Rockstar Games’ recreate 1947 Los Angeles in latest title LA Noire

Henry Northmore checks out Rockstar Games’ meticulous recreation of 1947 Los Angeles in their latest title LA Noire. They’ve already created digital versions of gangland America in the groundbreaking Grant Theft Auto series, and of the Wild West in Red…

The TV debut of web sensation Funny Or Die is more miss than hit

Classic sketches The Landlord and Drunk History

Making the move from online cult status to small screen uncertainty, the Funny Or Die project has inevitably lost some of its initial drive. Web-watchers previously had the voting power to save a sketch or have it dumped (hence the ‘funny or dying’ bit…

DVD round-up: The Governor, Skins Series Five, Being Human, Jack Rosenthal at the BBC and Traffik

The Governor ●●●● features a curious performance from Janet McTeer, just four years before her 1999 Oscar nomination for Tumbleweeds. In the first season of Lynda La Plante’s excellent prison drama, she switches between giggling schoolgirl and feisty…

5 things you might not know about Trigger Happy TV's Dom Joly

1 Born in Beirut in 1968, Joly has claimed to have attended the same school as some kid called bin Laden. He subsequently worked for the European Commission, as a researcher and producer on political programmes across the main UK channels before getting…

Celebrity memoirs: Rob Lowe, Barbara Sinatra, Stacey Solomon, Judy Golding and Bear Grylls to publish books

While Charlie Sheen implodes in front of the world’s eyes, he could take comfort in the salutary tale of his old Brat Pack boozing buddy Rob Lowe. In 1988, grainy video footage of him having a wild time with two women became the first commercially…

Kerry Katona hopes show proves she's a good mum

TV Gossip

Kerry Katona hopes her new TV show will prove she is a good mum and has put her drug use behind her. The blonde star has been filmed for the last few months for her new reality series 'Kerry Katona - The Next Chapter' and she is confident viewers…

Top 5: Artists lending their talents to children's TV voice-overs

Featuring Derek Jacobi, Stephen Fry, Arthur Lowe and more

Ah, the life of the serious actor. All that serious acting they have to do; all the line learning, the getting into character, the understanding and channelling of the character's emotional vulnerabilities and personality traits. Its enough to drive a…