Mark Lawson
- English
- Journalist and author
Press clippings Page 6
The Rack Pack: is the BBC trying to snooker Netflix?
By screening this comedy drama exclusively on iPlayer, the BBC puts itself up against rival streaming sites such as Netflix. But what's the motivation for this off-piste transmission?
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 18th January 2016The final Peep Show and the art of saying goodbye
After 54 episodes over nine series, the El Dude brothers have reached the end of the line. Where Sex and the City and The Sopranos rounded off in style and other series crash-landed, will tonight's finale do the show justice?
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 16th December 2015Toast and Hamm: the making of great TV guest stars
The Mad Men star is on Channel 4 on Wednesday, putting a spin on a gag that stretches from Morecambe and Wise to The Simpsons and Friends.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 2nd December 2015Warm and silly or bold and filthy: family sitcoms
The genre was a staple of 70s TV viewing and has made a strong comeback, but the new shows often go into areas little imagined by their tamer predecessors.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 30th October 2015Review: Des O'Connor and Jimmy Tarbuck at the Palladium
The jokes were dated and non-PC, the delivery perfectly timed: for one night only, the showbiz survivors teamed up to create a piece of theatre history.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 5th October 2015The politicians in leading fringe roles
Edinburgh festival has a long tradition of taking on leaders and legislation as dramatic subject matter and this year sees performers' satire as sharp as ever.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 14th August 2015Islamic State replaces SNP as hot topic at Fringe
Last year, with the referendum imminent, playwrights turned their hand to the subject of Scottish independence. This year the big issue is Isis.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 14th August 2015How David Hasselhoff turned his own life into TV gold
It's not exactly Baywatch or Knight Rider... but David Hasselhoff has made a career out of appearing ridiculous.
Mark Lawson, Radio Times, 18th June 2015How do BBC's Thursday night veterans keep it fresh?
Having so far run for 35 years and 10 years respectively, the BBC's Thursday night double-bill of topical panel shows - Question Time (BBC One, 10.35pm) and Mock the Week (BBC Two, 10pm) - are both veterans by televisual standards. Mock-nervously aware of this fact, Dara
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 12th June 2015W1A: can a BBC satire about the BBC ever really bite?
If W1A were made by ITV or Channel 4, the storyline would have shown BBC executives desperately wondering whether they could get away with exonerating Clarkson for alleged violence - or, as satire works by exaggeration, even murder - because of his commercial value to the organisation. External writers might also have had fun with the negotiations between PR and legal teams that presumably led to the use of the antique term "fracas" to describe his actions.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 23rd April 2015