Brian Donaldson

5 Things you might not know about - John Hegley

8 May 2008

As part of comedy group The Popticians, he recorded two sessions for John Peel in 1984. Being a spectacle-wearer has been one of Hegley’s long-term points of reference. Do not get him started on contact lenses. He went off to France to revisit the place…

Also Published - 5 Travel Books

8 May 2008

Daniel Kalder - Strange Telescopes Following up his Lost Cosmonaut, this intrepid Fifer goes on the hunt for some more offbeat individuals in the former Soviet Union. Faber . Susanna Clark - A House in Fez Subtitled ‘Building a Life in the Ancient…

Midnight Man

8 May 2008

CRIME DRAMA STV, Thu 8 May, 9pm Were James Nesbitt to be handed a script featuring the worst excesses of humanity, it would be difficult not to imagine him desperately looking for the jokes. Asides from his role as Ivan Cooper, the real-life civil…

Remote Control

8 May 2008

It’s difficult not to come round to the conclusion that the BBC is utterly obsessed with teenage pregnancy. In recent times, we’ve had Baby Borrowers, Britain’s Youngest Grannies and Adolescent Brunette Mothers on Crack with Guns. OK, maybe one of those…

Jimmy Carr

24 Apr 2008

STAND-UP Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Thu 24 Apr Some people out there have looked upon his stand-up and TV work and judged Jimmy Carr to be a smug, self-satisfied posh guy who would undoubtedly be prepared to eat himself were he comprised of the…

Shrink Rap

24 Apr 2008

TALK SHOW More4, Mon 28 Apr, 10pm Alongside Billie Piper’s transformation from pop pixie and booze-sodden celebrity missus to respected TV actress, the most unexpected showbusiness career shift of our times has to have been Pamela Stephenson’s…

5 Things you might not know about - Nick Doody

24 Apr 2008

Nick Doody’s debut Fringe show in 2006, Before He Kills Again, kicked off with a disturbing song about clowns. So disturbing that the imagery cannot be repeated in a family publication. He shares a house with fellow stand-up Matt Kirshen. Noam Chomsky…

Remote Control

24 Apr 2008

It’s the end of the world as we know it and not even Hamish Macbeth or Hercule Poirot can save us. Or rather, Robert Carlyle doing a dodgy cockney accent as a hotshot engineer or David Suchet coming over all governmental as the beleaguered deputy PM in…

Also Published - 5 Sports Paperbacks

24 Apr 2008

Barry Davies - Interesting, Very Interesting Over 40 years of broadcast commentating are recalled here by a man who reached the peaks when he went on Big Train to cover the World Stare Out Championships. Headline . Eddie Jordan – An Independent Man…

Joe Humphreys - Foul Play

10 Apr 2008

SPORT HISTORY (Icon Books) With the protests surrounding the Beijing Olympics going into overdrive, disgraced sprinter Dwain Chambers seeking a new career in rugby league and the integrity of referees, umpires and line judges being called into…

5 Debut Novels

10 Apr 2008

Héddi Kaddour - Waltenberg A bumper espionage thriller between World War I and the Berlin Wall’s collapse featuring a German author, an American singer and a French journalist. Harvill Secker . Jane Kotapish - Salvage Narrated by a woman who has…

5 Things you might not know about - Ken Dodd

10 Apr 2008

Somewhat eccentric from his early years, he often walked backwards all the way from school to his home simply to prove that it could be done. When he tried this feat of nonsense while on his bicycle, it proved to be less successful. Legend has it that…

Comedy Central Collection

27 Mar 2008

DVD/CD (Comedy Central) For anyone who thinks that American stand-up comedy means Bill Hicks, Chris Rock and Joan Rivers, those wonderful people at Comedy Central are setting out to put you straight. A new set of DVDs and CDs should thrust you out of…

5 Things you might not know about - I'm Sorry I Haven't Got A Clue

27 Mar 2008

1 Humphrey Lyttelton had a top 20 hit in the 1950s with ‘Bad Penny Blues’ and played on Radiohead’s ‘Life in a Glasshouse’. The Humph appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2006. 2 Tim Brooke-Taylor’s grandfather was a parson who played centre-forward…

Poppy Shakespeare

27 Mar 2008

DRAMA Channel 4, Mon 31 Mar, 9pm The point where the axis swings between madness and sanity, the fiscal-led emphasis of modern health politics and the desire to find our place in the world are at the heart of this excellent drama based on the debut…

5 Paperback Autobiogs

Also Published

27 Mar 2008

David Coulthard - It Is What It Is From rural Scotland to a multi-millionaire lifestyle in Monte Carlo all thanks to the flashy world of Formula 1 motor racing. Orion . Mark Barrowcliffe - The Elfish Gene A memoir of a nerdish youth in the 1970s…

Gordon Burn - Born Yesterday

27 Mar 2008

NOVELISED HISTORY (Faber) Having dabbled in the world of real life Manchester United legends in Best and Edwards and fictionalised the stories of semi-real boxers and comedians for The North England Home Service, Gordon Burn’s latest, the ‘News as a…

Remote Control

27 Mar 2008

A public health warning should accompany Storyville: The English Surgeon (BBC2, Mon 31 Mar, 11.20pm ••••). Around the one hour mark, just make sure you haven’t got your dinner in front of you as the sight of hotshot London neurosurgeon Henry Marsh…

Glasgow Comedy Festival - Stewart Lee

13 Mar 2008

When a stand-up is dubbed ‘a comics’ comic’, that can usually be translated into: ‘loved by his peers and critics; not quite so loved by audiences.’ Yet, when you look at the career of Stewart Lee, the adulation of comedians and journalists may have…

5 Things you might not know about - French & Saunders

13 Mar 2008

When Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders first met in 1977 at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, they didn’t exactly hit it off. Saunders believed French was a ‘cocky upstart’ while Dawn thought Jen was ‘snooty and aloof’. French is credited…

Remote Control - TV round-up

13 Mar 2008

It’s Easter time, so there seems no reason on this ungodly earth why we shouldn’t crack open the chocolate eggs and indulge in a bit of The Passion (BBC1, Sun 16 Mar Feb, 8pm ). Anyone who remembers Robert Powell being strapped to the cross back in the…

A Toys Orchestra - Technicolor Dreams

13 Mar 2008

ROCK POP (Urtovox) Written rule in music number 14: Europeans of the continental type make horrible, horrible pop music. Of course, there are a few examples which dilute this tenet (ABBA and, um, A-ha?). And when it comes to Italians and pop, you can…

Susan Faludi - The Terror Dream

13 Mar 2008

MODERN HISTORY (Atlantic) Susan Faludi has gained a fearsome reputation for her analysis of gender politics, the state of America and political horseplay. And after making her name with Backlash and Stiffed, she has now chucked all three into one…

TV: Iraq Season

13 Mar 2008

BBC/Channel 4 With the fifth anniversary of the West’s illegal invasion and errant desecration of Iraq upon us, the networks have seen no reason to halt the stream of related documentaries and dramas which have been filling the schedules on the…

Various - What the Folk Volume 2

13 Mar 2008

FOLK (Butterfly Recordings) Following up Butterfly’s acoustic-only debut compilation of 2006, 15 funky folksters set about proving that it’s not just musty fiddling men and wizened warbling dames who can cut the folky mustard. At times, the jumpers…

Glasgow Comedy Festival - Omid Djalili

28 Feb 2008

There are a few things guaranteed about an Omid Djalili show. There’ll be spot-on regional accents, plentiful jokes about his Iranian roots, a slap or two in the pug ugly face of British bigotry and, the pièce de résistance, an energetic slab of…

Glasgow Comedy Festival - Fat Tongue

28 Feb 2008

Never mind creating characters, pulling off original set-ups and delivering a fine punchline, the toughest thing about being in a sketch show group must be finding a decent name. You can easily picture individuals sitting for hours in a smoke-filled…

Barry & Stuart

28 Feb 2008

Some magicians spend their lives trying to convince us that they can walk on water. Metaphorically speaking. With London-based, Aberdeenshire-raised double act Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod, there’s one thing you should know: they actually can walk on…

Remote Control

28 Feb 2008

What could the worlds of American contemporary mobsters and 1960s ad men possibly have in common? Actually, more than you’d imagine after you’ve seen a couple of episodes of Mad Men (BBC4, Sun 2 Mar, 10pm •••). Creator Matthew Weiner earned his stripes…

White Season

28 Feb 2008

DRAMA/DOCUMENTARY SEASON BBC2, starts Fri 7 Mar No doubt there will be chins being stroked and hands being wrung over whether the BBC is correct to be giving a voice to some of the unchallenged casual xenophobia and downright blatant racism that is…

5 Things you might not know about - Frank Sidebottom

28 Feb 2008

1 The man behind the big-headed Manc is one Chris Sievey. Frank was initially created to be a fan of Sievey’s group The Freshies, but he became so popular that Sievey soon focused his artistic energies on Sidebottom. 2 Among those who played with…

Also Published - 5 Unit Shifters

28 Feb 2008

Jeffrey Archer - A Prisoner of Birth He just can’t get free of that prison cell, can he? Belmarsh is the setting for a revenge drama where an innocent man has been sent down at HM’s pleasure. Macmillan . Louis de Bernières - A Partisan’s Daughter A…

Battle for Haditha

28 Feb 2008

WAR DRAMA (15) 96min Scottish documentary-maker Kevin Macdonald found when tackling Middle Eastern politics, as he did so memorably with One Day in September, that no matter how even-handed your approach, there’s little chance of pleasing any of the…

Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart

28 Feb 2008

INDIE (Full Time Hobby) On the public face of it, ex-Arab Strapper Malcolm Middleton may not be getting any happier, but it’s difficult to come away from one of his collections without wiping a grin off your face while the inevitable tear dampens your…

Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

28 Feb 2008

FOLK POP (4AD) While it might be cruel to say that John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats might be trying for a kind of Sufjan Stevens vibe but end up a bit too Jasper Carrott for comfort, that’s still the overriding impression given by Heretic Pride.

Surrounded - The Nautilus Years

28 Feb 2008

POP (One Little Indian) Surrounded, we are told, are ‘Sweden’s answer to The Flaming Lips.’ It’s a distinct possible that never a truer statement has been typed onto a music press release and while this is fine up to a point, that point arrives rather…

Baby Bible Bashers

14 Feb 2008

DOCUMENTARY Channel 4, Thu 14 Feb, 9pm; repeated Tue 19 Feb, 11.05pm It never fails to chill the blood to see people who claim to be working on behalf of the little baby Jesus with banners denouncing everyone from liars to homosexuals and adulterers…

Jo Caulfield

14 Feb 2008

STAND-UP The Stand, Glasgow, Thu 14–Sat 16 Feb Jo Caulfield knows that it’s good to let off some steam now and again. On her website, she allows her fans to rant on her Angry and Annoyed page. Among the more recent complaints was the woman who gets…

5 Things you might not know about - Des Clarke

14 Feb 2008

1 In 2000 at the tender age of 19, Des Clarke was runner-up in the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny awards. The victor was one Drew Rokos. He’s Australian. That’s all we know about him. 2 His first major TV exposure was on ITV’s Saturday…

Remote Control

14 Feb 2008

The internet is a wonderful, wonderful place. Where else can you tap a few buttons and see men lip-synching to Romanian hit songs or witness dogs interfering with cats or watch a yardful of hardnut prisoners do the ‘Thriller’ dance or gasp in amazement…

Also Published - 5 Paperback debut novels

14 Feb 2008

Priya Basil - Ishq and Mushq A generational novel about a Sikh mother whose secret past corrodes her life with tragic consequences for all. Black Swan . Catherine Hanrahan - Lost Girls and Love Hotels By day Margaret is training to be an air…

Talk - Reset Start Again

14 Feb 2008

ELECTRONICA (Fortune & Glory) You know that when a band are trying to create a ‘coherent mix of both digital and analogue without ever sounding disjointed’ that we may well all be in trouble. Whatever happened to writing a song from the heart rather…

Tim Minchin

31 Jan 2008

Considering the few acts who are able to pull it off without being greeted by a sea of groaning, musical comedy must surely be one of the most difficult cross-pollinations in the arts. There’s Bill Bailey, Flight of the Conchords and, erm, well that’s…

Remote Control

31 Jan 2008

Old spooky drawers is back. Whether you think that Derren Brown’s psychological illusionism is at best a cod sub-genre of the black arts and at worst a wholly pointless exercise which merely proves just how much of a show-off he is, I’d find it…

Ashes to Ashes

31 Jan 2008

DRAMA SPIN-OFF BBC2, Thu 7 Feb, 9pm The best things about Life on Mars were the entrances and the exits: Gene Hunt’s breathy welcome to Sam Tyler about looking forward to his spaghetti hoops meal; Tyler’s rude awakening in 1973 and his final…

Henry Rollins

31 Jan 2008

1 An introspective skinny lad at school who feared he would be humiliated on the sports field, Henry Lawrence Garfield tore into literature with relish. Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck and Dylan Thomas were among his early influences. Maybe…

Kenny - DVD review

Spoof documentary

31 Jan 2008

When a film comes billed as ‘one of Australia’s best ever comedies’, it’s difficult to know whether to be excited or petrified. From a nation who has given us the rank hospital sitcom Let the Blood Run Free and the gruesomely overrated Kath and Kim…

Pete Firman

17 Jan 2008

MAGIC The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh, Tue 29 Jan Can you actually imagine anything less appealing in the theatrical sphere than a magic act? All that showing off with handkerchiefs and bunny rabbits and saws and tasselled ladies is simply…

Also Published - 5 Unit Shifters

17 Jan 2008

Cathy Kelly - Lessons in Heartbreak Izzie has broken her own rules about having affairs with married men while her ageing aunt has just discovered her husband’s infidelity. HarperCollins . Monty Don - Around the World in 80 Gardens The presenter…

Eagle Vs Shark

17 Jan 2008

COMEDY (15) 84min (Optimum DVD rental/retail) With its sweet soul and crumbly heart, you’d think that Eagle vs Shark would only be fit for shooting out of the sky or being drowned at birth. But in the hands of writer/director Taika Waititi and…

Mike Dash - Satan’s Circus

17 Jan 2008

TRUE CRIME (Granta) ‘Nearly five million men and women have served the United States as police officers. Only one has been executed for murder.’ There is little doubt that Charles Becker was more than just a bad apple, in an early 20th century New…

Remote Control

17 Jan 2008

So, having kicked off the year in fine style with the inventive and cheeky Moving Wallpaper, it looked like things were on the up for all those on the good ship ITV. Well, hold your horses because normal service has been thoroughly resumed with the…

Wonderland

17 Jan 2008

DOCUMENTARY SEASON BBC2, Wed, 9.50pm Being on the margins can be horribly uncomfortable, a conscious choice or a place to inhabit in blissful ignorance. All three scenarios crop up in this intriguing new BBC2 season. The Secret Life of Norman…

Also Published - 5 Diet Books

4 Jan 2008

Theresa Cheung - The Lemon Juice Diet It’s the big ingredient in the Hollywood slimmer’s scran these days, replacing the various recent dieting fads of coconut, pineapple and cabbage soup. Vermillion . Marisa Peer - You Can Be Thin This one is aimed…

Anthony Reynolds - British Ballads

4 Jan 2008

ROCK (Spinney) Being big in France with his former band Jack may have kept him warm at nights, but it seems that Anthony Reynolds could now care less about having anything remotely like a hit. Creating records that smell of ‘abandoned cathedrals…

Dave Evans - Coolhunting

4 Jan 2008

CULT DESIGN Current adverts for DVD box sets of flashy dross such as The OC and Friends claim that these shows are ‘funny, sexy, cool’. But what, then, does it mean to be cool? The definitions have certainly changed down the years with archetypal…

Kevin McDermott - Wise to the Fade

4 Jan 2008

POP Wise to the Fade (Spinney) Having been in the biz since the early 80s and witnessed the inexorable rise of the corporate mindset, you’d think Scots muso Kevin McDermott would have shot his bolt long ago. But no, he’s still making his mark whether…

Lucie Whitehouse - The House at Midnight

4 Jan 2008

MYSTERY DRAMA (Bloomsbury) Employing a strategy inherently demanding that there’s no good reason to use one paragraph to describe paintings about Greek gods when an entire page-and-a-half will do, Lucie Whitehouse’s debut ultimately borders on the…

Matt Kirshen

4 Jan 2008

STAND-UP Jongleurs, Glasgow, Fri 4 & Sat 5 Jan Reality TV has created many a pointless monster but it’s also attracted the already talented to show us what they’re made of. If you say ‘British comedian’ to the average American (whatever that may…

Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach

4 Jan 2008

COMEDY/SOAP ITV1, Thu 10 Jan, 9pm OK, I’m confused now. Having checked and then double checked the TV schedules, it appears to be true; Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach are on ITV1. Yes, ITV1. They’re the people who last year washed us away on a sea…

Pop! What is it Good For?

4 Jan 2008

The end of pop music has been trumpeted loudly from the rooftops throughout its 50-year history. The death of the two Brians, Jones and Epstein, the final splitting of The Beatles and the soulless production line of the SAW Hit Factory are a few of the…

Preview 2008 - Books

4 Jan 2008

So, surely this year will mark a big new beginning when proper literature, you know, actual novels, replaces the ridiculously self-serving and endless charade that is the celebrity autobiography? Nah, not really. 2008 will witness little in the way of a…

Profile - Dave Ward

4 Jan 2008

Who’s he then? A self-confessed fibber, Dave Ward has gone through quite a few career shifts. He’s been a professional golfer and a waiter at a celebrity hang-out, before spending a period of time behind bars due to his extreme gambling addictions. At…

Remote Control

4 Jan 2008

Brian Donaldson finds that amid the many new Beeb dramas, the best ones have a gaggle of ball-busting females After all the rough and ready excitement of the festive Doctor Who and Extras specials, what ticklish delights would the BBC lay before us…

The Funhouse

4 Jan 2008

HORROR (15) 96min (Arrow DVD rental/retail) Originally released between his scary telly version of Salem’s Lot and the cursed Poltergeist, Tobe Hooper’s extras-free 1981 take on the teens-in-peril sub-genre takes so long to build up to very little…

What's Up, Tiger Lily?

4 Jan 2008

COMEDY (PG) 76min (Optimum retail) Despite insisting in the intro to his 1966 directorial debut (of sorts) that Gone With the Wind used the same strategy, this was the first film to remove the dialogue of one movie and dub a completely new stream of…

Extras

13 Dec 2007

For all his faults (and his stand-up and radio work make them plentiful), Ricky Gervais at least knows when a TV comedy should bow out. Having clocked off at The Office with 12 episodes and a Christmas special, he has opted for the same strategy with…

Hot 100 - 2007's hottest talent

13 Dec 2007

Scottish culture has shone in 2007, and so have Scottish stars. Throughout the year we have been working tirelessly to spot the hottest talent out there. We also invited you to nominate the people, places and events you think have made the greatest…

Review of the year - comedy

13 Dec 2007

Stewart Lee Becoming a father should be a big enough deal in anyone’s year, but British comedy’s bossman also scooped the number 41 slot in Channel 4’s stand-up comic poll. And boy, did he make hay from that, conjuring the Fringe’s comedy highlight in…

Comedy DVDs

13 Dec 2007

DVD Marcus Brigstocke: Planet Corduroy The Show The erudite satirist rails against the injustices of the world in London’s Shaw Theatre, analysing how tough it must be to live life as a corduroy-loving middle-class white chap. The Extras A stirring…

Review of the year - TV

13 Dec 2007

The Sopranos David Chase’s cryptic diner finale wasn’t to all tastes, but the doubters were, obviously, just plain wrong. TV won’t ever be the same with Tony’s passing. Life on Mars Seems that some weren’t that keen on how the curtain was brought…

Christmas turkeys

13 Dec 2007

Jamie at Home Christmas Special He may be trying to save us from rearing a nation of porkers, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to keep plaguing our screens. Out Oliver! Channel 4, Fri 21 Dec, 9pm. Parkinson It’s the final show ever! What took him…

Elaine C Smith - 5 things you might not know about her

13 Dec 2007

1 In 1987, the Baillieston-born actress appeared in the kids show Dramarama in an episode entitled ‘My Mum’s a Courgette.’ 2 Her most recent Beeb appearance was in Jennifer Saunders’ ill-fated Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle. Fortunately, Smith…

David Starkey’s Monarchy: The Windsors

13 Dec 2007

With a ‘measured voice of the historian’ and the occasional surreal hand gesture, Dr David Starkey gives us a potted dissection of 130 years of the British regal profession. Scantily digging over the landmarks, quarrels and scandals of UK monarchy from…

Remote Control: Documentary Reviews

13 Dec 2007

Brian Donaldson uncovers some fine documentaries about daredevils, dancers and daggers There’s a special poignancy about Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel (BBC2, Sun 23 Dec, 9pm) now that we know the subject of the show has since died. The Top Gear…

Remote Control: Drama & Comedy Reviews

13 Dec 2007

There’s a moment in the Extras finale when Andy Millman shows his disgust that George Michael is appearing in a certain other Christmas comedy. It initially sounds like a joke for its own sake, but you’ll discover it’s based on hard fact when you tune…

Various - The Cake Sale

13 Dec 2007

CHARITY COMPILATION (Oxfam Ireland) It is, of course, the very nature of compilation CDs that they are a mix of the good, the bad and the pointless. While The Cake Sale is a perfectly laudable charity collection, that doesn’t make it exempt from…

Baggage

29 Nov 2007

RADIO Radio 4, Wed 5 Dec, 11.30am With the Grumpy Old Women back doing their grumpy old thing on the nation’s stages, it’s good to hear of another female comic trio who aren’t just wielding rolling pins and frying pans while moaning about the…

Profile - The Wee Man

29 Nov 2007

Who’s he then? Creation of Neil Bratchpiece, smallest comedy member of the not very tall Bratchpiece Family, The Wee Man is a pure wee basturt Burberry fiend whose stage demeanour ranges wildly from quite threatening to really very threatening…

Alistair Findlay (ED) - 100 Favourite Scottish Football Poems

29 Nov 2007

POETRY 100 Favourite Scottish Football Poems (Luath) When it comes to transferring the beautiful game into the arts sphere, all we can see is a litany of own goals. Can you remember a half-decent football film? No, Escape to Victory doesn’t count…

Also Published - 5 US Crime Dramas

29 Nov 2007

Otto Penzler (ed) Dead Man’s Hand A collection of newly written poker-based tales from crime writers such as Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Connelly and Walter Mosley. Quercus. James Lee Burke The Tin Roof Blowdown A cache of stolen diamonds has floated…

Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil

29 Nov 2007

ROCK Good Bad Not Evil (Vice) OK, so it’s patently obvious that Black Lips forgot to bone up on any of the many thousands of records which came along after the day ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ was released. That’s probably unfair; they’ve obviously listened…

Coming Up

29 Nov 2007

DRAMA SEASON Channel 4, various dates and times Obviously sick and tired of BBC3 taking most of the credit for giving new writers a real shot at small screen glory, Channel 4 have taken up the cudgel big style with documentary strand First Cut and…

Remote Control

29 Nov 2007

They say that getting hitched is one of the most stressful events in anyone’s life. But what if you are sharing your big day with a woman you barely love while another 2000 weddings are going on in the same city? Probably happens in most major…

Robin Ramsay - Who Shot JFK?

29 Nov 2007

TRUE CRIME Who Shot JFK? (Pocket Essentials) Early on in this pacy dissection of the current state of the JFK assassination industry, Robin Ramsay asks why we should still be bothered about the slaying of an American president in downtown Dallas…

Charlie Brooker

15 Nov 2007

COLLECTED JOURNALISM Dawn of the Dumb (Faber) Listening to a verbose man rant on and on about the things that irritate him can be a relentless and exhausting chore at times. Put that down in print and those same demented opinions can appear more…

Boy A

15 Nov 2007

DRAMA Channel 4, Mon 26 Nov, 9pm As Channel 4 looks forward after glancing back at its first quarter of a century, there’s one area of programming where it seems to be especially strong: the one-off trauma drama. In recent times we’ve had Matthew…

DJ Vadim

15 Nov 2007

HIP HOP The Sound Catcher Extras (BBE) When The Sound Catcher came out last year, some reviewers believed that DJ Vadim, the original White Russian, was not interested in inventing sub-genres, but simply putting his stamp on the music he was in…

Profile - Matt Berry

15 Nov 2007

Who’s he then? You may recognise Matt Berry from his role as aristo explorer type Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh or for his parts in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and the recent second series of The IT Crowd. No, there’s somewhere else . . . Then…

Remote Control

15 Nov 2007

It’s probably not Jack Dee’s fault that comparisons with Curb Your Enthusiasm have been made to his Lead Balloon (BBC2, Thu 15 Nov, 9.30pm ••). Sure, Curb’s ‘Larry David’ and Lead’s Rick Spleen work in similar areas of the entertainment industry and…

Reuters

15 Nov 2007

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY Sport in the 21st Century (Thames & Hudson) Alongside the wilds of earthly nature and mysteries of the solar system, sporting endeavour and its surrounding dramas could have been created simply to be caught on camera. In this…

Torche

15 Nov 2007

ROCK In Return (Rock Action) More terrifying than Cradle of Filth coming to your house to do trick or treat and heavier than a sack of Ozzy’s spuds, Torche at least have the common decency not to take up much of anyone’s time, clocking this…

In England - interview with Don McCullin

1 Nov 2007

Don McCullin might seem like some kind of anachronistic beast among the top photographers today. Not for him the simpering vanities of celebrityhood; he has always been far more interested in the real problems that face ordinary people on a daily basis.

Bill Bailey

1 Nov 2007

STAND-UP SECC, Glasgow, Wed 7–Fri 9 Nov It seems clear that Bill Bailey has never minded looking somewhat foolish in the pursuit of his chosen career path. Back in the early days when he was a mere West Country boy trying to earn a modest showbusiness…

Remote Control

1 Nov 2007

I’m seriously starting to believe that Stephen Poliakoff has got some pretty incriminating photos in his possession. I can’t see any other reason for the BBC continuing to pour resources his way when he comes up with depressingly disappointing efforts…

Adapt or die - from page to screen

1 Nov 2007

THE BEST The Godfather Mario Puzo had three novels under his belt before he penned the tale of Don Vito Corleone and his Family/family in 1969 which was immortalised in movie form by Francis Ford Coppola three years later. One bit of advice: if an…

Hitlist - The best comedy

1 Nov 2007

• Bill Bailey The self-proclaimed hippie materialist part-troll guy worms his way back into our affections with more daft musical musings. SECC, Glasgow, Wed 7–Fri 9 Nov. * Ian Rankin's choice • Mark Watson The most energetic (yet unhealthiest…

Magicians

1 Nov 2007

A film written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb: it’s Peep Show The Movie, right? Well, not quite, though the script never asks the pair to shy too far away from their small screen personae of uptight posh one and…

The Not Dead

1 Nov 2007

DOCUMENTARY Channel 4, Mon 12 Nov, 9pm There’s always a danger that with the constant barrage of rolling news coverage, dramas and documentaries that we may become immune to the horrors of the world, particularly the terror of warfare. But while…

5 Things you might not know about - Jenny Éclair

18 Oct 2007

1 When on Room 101, she managed to get jellyfish thrown down the chute. 2 In the televised cartoon of Sid the Sexist back in 1992, hers was the voice of ‘Cilla Black’. 3 Her first dabble in showbusiness came writing punk poetry and performing…