‘Allo ‘Allo, he’s Putin on the Ritz

As we’re talking momentous political occasions, wasn’t it lovely to see a rather dapper Vladimir Putin trying to get pally with Ukraine’s Yulia Tymoshenko, while agreeing to a new deal over gas supplies? They’d make a great double act – even if it looks very much like it’s all been done before.

Oliver Postgate 1925 – 2008

I’ve known and loved Oliver Postgate all of my life. He’s been in my living room since I can remember and, thanks to Nick Jr Classics, his Clangers are still there too, beaming whistles and soup slurps from their little hollow planet. If my mum ever looked for someone to blame for my overtly fertile early imagination, I always pointed her […]

Postman Splat

RTÉ’s Late Late Toy Show is one of those Irish traditions that people who aren’t from here scratch their heads over intially but then get into as soon as they begin watching. I started watching at the latter end of the Gay Byrne era but I find the whole Pat Kenny experience somewhat irritating. He’s […]

Bill Cullen: Is It A Syrup?

It’s one of those things I took for granted when The Apprentice started. I assumed from the outset that Bill Cullen wore a toupée, that everyone would have known this and that it was no big deal. However, after mentioning this publicly today, both Una and Dan seemed shocked at the suggestion. People have since […]

I See Sacked People…

The papers may have done their best to ruin the surprise for us but it didn’t make TV3’s The Apprentice any less compulsive last night. OK, I’ll qualify that – it was, by far, the dullest challenge the contestants have had thus far; collecting rubbish (albeit extraordinarily valuable, recyclable rubbish) and stacking it in cages hardly makes for […]

New Ten(n)ant Required For Best Role on TV

It was inevitable really but it doesn’t make it any easier to bear. David Tennant is to leave Doctor Who after the last of 2009’s four special editions of the programme. The versatile Scots actor, who has played the tenth incarnation of The Doctor since 2005, has decided enough is enough, saying, “I think it’s […]

Harry Hill’s TV Burp is back…

Finally, the funniest man in the world is back on a Saturday night. I love Harry Hill, so I’m posting my favourite Harry Hill gags here just so that I can log on and laugh at them all over again… “I knew I was going bald when it was taking longer and longer to wash […]

Fatman Deserves a Ribbin’

Committed Batman fans have to admit that it’s a miracle the ‘franchise’ is still with us in 2008, considering what a comedy-caper crusader he was back in 1949. No harm to Robert Lowery, the second actor to portray the character on TV, but his costume and physique are nothing short of risible. Myself, I’ve never […]

Ad Break – KitKat’s “Alien Invasion”

TV adverts are supposed to be the bit where you get up off your bahoochie and put the kettle on. To do this, however, means that you could be missing some of the best material ever committed to the small screen. Take this 1980s KitKat ad as an example. It features a young-ish Gavin Richards […]

Americans… Have Talent?

America’s Got Talent, apparently – but it takes Michael Knight and two vastly unqualified British goons to separate the weird from the chavs. And what have they uncovered so far? 4-year-old Kaitlyn Maher, an impossibly cute little girl whose suitably adorable version of ‘Somewhere Out There’ (tragically, not the Nina Hynes one) melted the hearts of the audience and the supposedly ruthless panel. What […]