Out of the frying pan (Saturday's telly choice)

Posted by Remote Control on September 8, 2007 4:22 PM | Permalink

I was rather enjoying The Restaurant (on BBC 2), the programme in which a gaggle of couples compete to convince Raymond Blanc that they are the ones he should be opening a new eaterie with.

But then Hell's Kitchen returned to ITV 1 for a 15-night run, and with the charasmatic Marco Pierre White at the helm, in terms of entertainment factor, the one aimed at the mass market wins hands down.

I love the fact Lee Ryan (ex-Blue boyband member) may now finally realise he can't have what he wants all the time. I love the fact Angus Deayton is now presenting the sort of show you suspect he would have sneered at if he was still on Have I Got News For You. And I love the fact that Jim Davidson is taking it so seriously.

It's a great concept for a show, and it's one of those shows where the celebrities on it actually have to display a skill -- and surviving in a TV jungle doesn't count as a skill in my book.

The Saturday helping of Hell's kitchen is on at 9.40pm today, which is about 20 minutes after the first episode of the new series of Casualty has ended over on BBC 1.

Here's the thing. Casualty won best soap at the BAFTAs, yet this is the start of a new series? When, officially, did the last one end?

No surprises that at the start of the new series we have new characters. And no surprise that there's a dramatic plot. A bomb to be precise. Rather like not wanting to live in south London (home of the Bill) because of its crime rate and high count of corrupt coppers, any desire I have to visit Bristol (where Holby is set) reduces with each drama-packed episode.

But will it be better than the last series? Of course, it needs the drama, but it doesn't really need to lay on with a trowel its writers' opinions of NHS management so much, does it? And, annoyingly, tonight's is a two-parter which finishes tomorrow. I hate two-parters, as I tend to only end up catching one half. Silent Witness is another example. Come on, be bold, if it's worth showing, show it all at once.

This isn't America, we can concentrate for two hours. Honest.