BCG Daily Thursday 26th December 2013
Press clippings
TV review - Mel Smith: I've Sort of Done Things
A spirited tribute to a hell-raising comic who was a master of playing it by ear.
Will Dean, The Independent, 26th December 2013Mrs Brown's Boys a surprise Christmas Day ratings hit
BBC One's Mrs Brown's Boys has topped the Christmas Day ratings chart.
Danny Walker, The Mirror, 26th December 2013David Jason - back to the shop floor
"Classic comedy is classic comedy and it will go on for years," says David Jason, with all the confidence of Del Boy giving it the big one.
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph, 26th December 2013Comedy review of 2013: when stand-up found its soul
Dominic Cavendish surveys the year when thousands of Monty Python tickets sold out in seconds and comedians remembered what a force for the good their artform can be.
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, 26th December 2013Comedy: the best and worst of 2013
This year's five best (and worst) in the world of comedy, according to Dominic Cavendish. Best includes Russell Brand, worst includes I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, 26th December 2013Comic Relief to sell controversial investments
Charity says it will sell controversial holdings in arms, tobacco and alcohol highlighted in Panorama investigation while it conducts two-month inquiry.
Mark Sweney, The Guardian, 26th December 2013A w-w-worthy effort - but there's only one Arkwright
With Ronnie Barker gone, it was TV as Garfunkel without Simon, Wise without Morecambe, Hale and Pace without one of Pace or Hale.
Will Dean, The Independent, 26th December 2013Still Open All Hours, BBC One, review
This one-off revival of Roy Clarke's much-loved sitcom felt like a sad relic from another era, says Ben Lawrence.
Ben Lawrence, The Telegraph, 26th December 2013Radio Times review
Though Black Mirror sometimes lacks subtlety, that's sort of the point - we live in a world of ever-widening extremes. What the show does so cleverly is to merge this present reality with a sci-fi future so convincingly realised it seems more of a prediction than a warning. This series bettered the first, though the final episode, The Waldo Moment, suffered by comparison with the earlier instalments. Be Right Back, starring Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson, was a beautiful, haunting exploration of virtual life after death, while the horror of White Bear, where punishment became entertainment, was hard to shake off.
Radio Times, 26th December 2013Radio Times review
There's pure joy in a well-pitched family comedy, and Yonderland was a particularly good one. Set in a magic realm where puppets mix with eccentric humanoids, it was Labyrinth meets Life of Brian: the cast of Horrible Histories playing hundreds of fabulous, usually incompetent figures posing puzzles for Debbie (Martha Howe-Douglas), a housewife who's stepped through a portal in the pantry. Characters tended to appear once when they could each have had their own series; this gang have so many ideas and such skill in executing them that, in the long term, Python comparisons might not be out of place.
Radio Times, 26th December 2013Radio Times review
At first, Greg Davies' debut sitcom, about a teacher called Dan who is much less mature than any of his pupils, seemed like it would merely be very funny: Davies the disgusting, massively overgrown clown, larking about amid a cast of oddballs including Rik Mayall as Dan's bonkers dad. As the series went on, though, we began to see that the storylines, characters and relationships had been carefully constructed, so that at the point where most sitcoms start flagging, Man Down just got funnier and funnier. Davies says it took him six months' full-time work to write series one - the hard work paid off.
Radio Times, 26th December 2013Radio Times review
Thank goodness BBC bosses had already paid heed to the quality of the material, commissioning a second series of Count Arthur Strong before the disappointing ratings came in. Steve Delaney's comic creation made the tricky transition from Radio 4 to BBC Two by relocating to a café full of odd-bod friends, led by Rory Kinnear as fussy author Michael Baker - the perfect foil for the former music hall star's eccentricity. As for Arthur himself, his spirited stagger and unique ability to spit words out like cherry pips made for a character you could love like a meddling grandfather - one who had us laughing heartily one minute and reaching for the tissues the next.
Radio Times, 26th December 2013TV viewers hail the one-off return of Open All Hours
TV viewers hail the one-off return of classic sitcom Open All Hours as 'warmly nostalgic' and 'a fitting tribute to Ronnie Barker'.
Daily Mail, 26th December 2013Gangsta Granny review
Whilst not a completely smooth drama (Joanna Lumley's dancing, anyone?), Gangsta Granny delivered exactly what you'd expect from a Christmas family programme: funny, heart-warming and rollicking drama.
Patrick Sproull, Den Of Geek, 26th December 2013TV & radio
7:55am15 min
Bottom Knocker Street
Episode 47 - Dunks!The kids are challenged to a game of Dunks to save their very existence.
8:10am15 min
Bottom Knocker Street
Episode 48 - King CowdreyCouncillor Cowdrey's too good to be true brother arrives in town. It appears he is now a king.
6:05pm70 min
Gangsta Granny
Adaptation of David Walliams's children's book about a schoolboy who doesn't realise his grandma was once an international jewel thief.
6:15pm15 min
15 Minute Musical
Series 8, Episode 3 - The Last Days of FarageNigel Farage goes to Europe via Question Time with a Britpop soundtrack.
6:30pm30 min
The Secret World
Series 4, Episode 5Bishop Rowan Williams gets in deep water after deciding to celebrate Boxing Day with a game of knock down ginger, William Hague finds himself stranded in a snow drift with only some Belgian truffles for food, and John Lydon ends up killing Sir Anthony Hopkins.
7:45pm30 min
Still Open All Hours
Special, Christmas Special - Still Open All HoursGranville attempts to get a date with old flame Mavis without her terrifying sister Madge finding out; Leroy shuns the old delivery bike and finds an altogether more attractive way to deliver the orders; and a sneaky new plan to shift a lot of anchovy paste has some rather surprising side effects.
9pm125 min
The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year
Episode 16 - The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year 2013Jimmy Carr hosts the annual quiz with teams of Jack Whitehall and Jonathan Ross, Dara O Briain with Kristen Schaal, and Noel Fielding with Richard Ayoade.
10pm60 min
Celebrity Juice
Series 10, Highlights Special - Parallel Juicyverse Part 2Keith is still in the parallel universe where everything is the complete opposite. He revisits the best bits of Celebrity Juice Series 10.
10pm30 min
Bluestone 42
Christmas SpecialIt's Christmas Eve and the team are joined by Nick's new number two, Corporal Gordon House aka Towerblock. Having finished top of the class he thinks he knows it all, but things are quite different out in the field.
11pm30 min
Alice's Wunderland
Series 2, Episode 3This week, the Wunderlanders' thoughts turn to the future, and all that it could bring.