July 2009 Archives

So, four weeks in and my doubts about Mock the Week are starting to look, at best, dumb.

Two newish comedians added into the mix, and all four of the regular comedians on fine form (even Hugh Dennis) meant it passed the Remote Control Diet Coke test - ie laugh so hard you spit your drink back out.

And below is arguably one of the funniest moments of the TV scenes of the year.

And this.. loving the gag about Adrian Chiles

Remember Sweep, Sooty's mate? Based on ability, it should have been the Sweep and Sooty Show - given that at least Sweep could make a noise while Sooty was busy whispering sweet FA into Matthew's ear.

That said, follow that logic through to the conclusion and Sue would be in charge and The Sue Show doesn't sound the same does it?

Mad ramblings aside, Sweep sometimes got his moment in the spotlight. Below, he "sings" a Stevie Wonder track, perhaps proving that when it came to picking the lead puppet, silence was golden (or a yellowy blonde at least)

Cindy might be chalk to Tony's cheese but they've been getting on like a house on fire of late - which would open the possibility of Tony complete the double over the old axis of girly evil in Hollyoaks of old: Mandy and Cind.

This week, Tony agrees to Cindy's idea of a family holiday with Holly and Harry after he praises her customer loyalty scheme business proposal at Il Gnosh.

However, Tony quickly gets cold feet and tells her their relationship is moving too fast, before suggesting she and Holly move back into their flat.

In the summer, Home and Away takes a break. That's what you get following a soap set by the sea - easy come and easy go.

Not like Neighbours. To abuse the song, they're good friends there - and don't run off at the first sign of sunshine.

They do, however, have a lot of problems this week.

Will starts school on the day the play is due to take place.

He starts a fight backstage with Declan, but it's Bridget - and possibly her baby - who are hurt in the resulting chaos.

Oh how I laugh when I see Joe portrayed as some sort of middle class junkie - addicted on painkillers.

I'm sure he's a good actor, but every plot he's had so far has been quite far fetched. But then again he is going out with Gail Platt, so maybe suspending reality is a requirement here.

Anyway, this week Joe causes a scene in the medical centre as he grows desperate for more painkillers.

Later, he gets fired for being unreliable, steals the keys to the medical centre and takes a sledgehammer to it, before smashing up the place in search of his drugs.

WHENEVER I see Chelsea on Eastenders, I always think of the legions of little Chelseas who might have been named after Chelsea Clinton in the 1990s - classy daughter of a president going to Oxford, that sort of thing.

And next week, the less classy Chelsea is back, proving her time away from Walford hasn't made her any less self-absorbed as she wonders why no one is making a fuss of her.

However, she eventually accepts that Denise has bigger things to worry about - including the fact that Libby wants her to visit Owen in prison.

Remember when life in the country was supposed to be rural and tranquil? Then there was Emmerdale, the village where emotions run so high that it's amazing they haven't triggered more plane crashes in recent years.

And it's tragedy on the agenda again next week.

It's not often Eastenders catches you off-guard, what with spoilers in advance and plots which are so heavily alluded to and built up that nothing is a surprise.

And with its heavy reliance on gangs, guns and the murky underworld of the East End which only really belongs in episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? these days, even if the plots are a bit of a shock, it's hard to have empathy with the miscreant characters.

Yet last night's beating up of Christian, the square's token homosexual, was a brilliant twist in a plot which had felt as though it was going nowhere.

Whenever MPs or BBC critics wish to have a pop at the corporation for dumbing down, they tend to point to BBC 3, the "youth" channel available on everything from Freeview upwards.

And with programmes with names like Young, Dumb and Living off Mum
, Bizarre ER, the spin-off Bizarre Animal ER and Shopping is My Life , you can see where the criticism comes from: normally from just looking at the electronic programme guide.

Monday: Bang Goes The Theory (BBC 1, 7.30pm): Remember Tomorrow's World, the show which gave us a preview of the future, a future which would have had us all eating pills filled with flavour for tea and flying around on hoverpads by the year 2000? Well, this is nothing like that - but it's the nearest thing we have to sci without the fi on TV at the moment. Basically, the presenters take a theory or myth and try and prove it can or can't work. Tonight, they try and blow a house down, a bit like the big bad wolf did, while they also find a bloke who is going round the world on a boat collecting lifeforms, presumably like Noah.