2012 was year zero for Olympic Opening Ceremonies. It was only when we saw what could be achieved, we realised what tosh we had been watching prior to this moment. (Well truth be known, we had always known that they were tosh, but we just assumed they could never be better, until Danny Boyle and […]

And so it began.  At 9:55 on BBC1, David Dimbleby popped up on our screens looking like a startled mole at the start of what was to be a long night.  There is nothing like a good election show to lose half a night’s sleep.  The BBC are certainly getting value for money out of […]

Top Gear used to be a programme about cars.  Really, it did.  It began on 22 April 1977 and was presented by Angela Rippon and some bloke called Tom Coyne (nope, means nothing to me either). It was produced at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham because: a) Pebble Mill made a lot of programmes for […]

May can only mean one thing. Eurovison. (Well actually, Eurovision, the FA Cup, the Champions League Final and the end of the domestic football season…but mainly Eurovison). Eurovision is like Marmite; you either love it or hate it (actually I don’t mind Marmite, but I wouldn’t rave over it. I’ve pretty much just undermined that […]

Shouting at Telly was meant to be taking a holiday this week, but the TV bug doesn’t stop.  This week we are in Spain and even though we cannot understand a word that is being said, we love it all the same.  The thing about Spanish TV is that it is never off.  You go […]

Caravenners have always had an image problem and Caravanner of the Year has done nothing to dispel that image.  The two part series revolved around a competition organised by the Caravan Club (so they knew what they were getting into).  After 109 years in existence, the Caravan Club decided that they needed an answer to […]

Once upon a time (that is to say in the 1970’s), daytime telly on ITV consisted of schools programmes in the morning, pre-school shows at lunchtime, an Australian soap, the news, something farm house and kitchen like, Crown Court, something else, another Australian soap, kid’s programmes and then a quiz show.  Then in the late […]

Ever since the days of Fanny Craddock, the Galloping Gourmet and Saint Delia Smith, TV has loved a cookery programme (For those of you who don’t know who Fanny Craddock is watch here.  She is something to behold).  A few years ago Cookery became “The new rock’n’roll” (after dance, comedy and errr rock’n’roll.  I’m waiting […]

Mike Read and Terry Wogan must really have thought someone had it in for them at the dawn of 1983.  These two were the kings of breakfast on Radios 1 and 2 respectively.  Breakfast radio was the only broadcasting outlet then; but it was soon to be joined by not one, but two rivals, as […]

“Hello, I’m Shouting at Telly, and I’m an American sitcom addict”.  I know this is an unfashionable statement and really I should be binge watching box sets of Breaking Bad or Games of Thrones, but I don’t have the time.  I did have the time, but I lost it when I stumbled across and old […]

Once upon a time you knew exactly where you stood with the TV channels and drama.  In the 70’s the BBC did costume dramas such as Poldark (complete with shirts), The Onedin Lineand The Duchess of Duke Street; ITV meanwhile did tough crime and action dramas such as The Sweeney, The Professionals and The New Avengers.  Now it’s all changed.  Post Downton, the BBC […]

TV criticism is probably the pinnacle of journalism, nay literature.   Many don’t appreciate how hard wot it is and the effort wot it takes to craft pithy, constructive and relevant reviews.  Ok, regular readers of this blog will know that that statement is a load of tosh.  These TV reviews are irrelevant ramblings of a […]

There’s a new channel in town and it called W.  Or it could be Channel W.  Or the W Channel? It’s part of the UKTV family of channels that was originally formed by BBC Worldwide and Thames TV way back in 1992 when digital TV meant using your finger to change the channel.  It’s now […]

Award season is in full swing and last night we saw the music industry slapping itself (in rhythm) its back at the BRITs. Like the NTAs (see review here) the BRITs weren’t always this arena-filling showcase that it is now. The first occasion when the British music industry decided that huge profits, gold discs, public […]