Children’s art star Tony Hart dies
Much-loved Children’s BBC personality Tony Hart has died aged 83.
Posts From Mike Watkins
Emmerdale executives ‘leave’
Soap File Special: Anita Turner the current – but not for much longer – producer of long running rural serial Emmerdale (once of the farm variety) managed to do what many thought was impossible; made the soap even more of a shambles than ever before. The unfortunate news is, the person who sent the show on its downward spiral in the first place is returning to ‘revive’ it after disastrous
ITV: Tyne Tees Television at 50
Last year we celebrated the 40th anniversaries of Thames Television, HTV, Yorkshire Television and LWT. Now we turn to Tyne Tees Television who today celebrates half a century on air.
BBC to remake classic sitcom
Martin Clunes and Fay Ripley will be amongst the cast of BBC One’s planned remake of the classic sitcom series The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin which originally ran in the late 1970s and starred Leonard Rossiter. BBC One announces today that it will revive the classic British sitcom The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin. Martin Clunes will take on the title role of Reggie Perrin and lead
Danger Man Dies
ITV’s Danger Man, Patrick McGoohan has died aged 80. He starred in many BBC and ITV programmes of the 1950s and 60s and went onto produce now cult classic, The Prisoner. McGoohan was born in New York however his family returned to their native Ireland before he reached the age of one; seven years later they re-located again, this time across to Northern England. Originally destined to become a priest;
TV Weekly Special: Countdown Past
In the first of two special editions we look back at classic Channel 4 game show, Countdown – next week we take a look at the new hosting team of the long running show. It was a tough decision for bosses at Countdown to continue the show after the death of anchor Richard Whiteley in 2005. However the team, based at Yorkshire Television in Leeds, chose to carry on with
Trisha Chopped
Long running talk show ‘Trisha’ has been axed by its current network, Channel Five. The show, fronted by Trisha Goddard, began life on ITV in 1998 when previous host Vanessa Feltz defected to the BBC after a row over pay. At the time production company Anglia Television said Vanessa had made a “completely unrealistic” pay demand of £2.75m. Vanessa’s BBC show flopped after only one series. It gained less than
Skin Colour Change for BBC Toy Character
A doll based on one of the characters in the CBeebies children’s programme In The Night Garden is to be replaced after complaints the toy version of character Upsy Daisy was too light skinned. Following a ‘handful’ of complaints the commercial arm of the BBC – BBC Worldwide – has asked the manufacturer of the doll to create a new version with brown skin; which will be issued to stores
Fred Elliott to spook Coronation Street as spirit
I say, I say, something spooky may be about to happen down Corrie way.
Ant and Dec Dropped from US TV
Having cracked the UK with their cheeky boys-next-door persona, Ant and Dec tried their luck in the US. It seems however Americans don’t want Ant and Dec living next door. Reports claim that ABC Television has ditched their quiz show Wanna Bet? The Geordie presenters had hoped the show would fling them to American stardom. A source is reported on Teletext as saying: “Ant and Dec are stunned. However, they’ve