Just in

What’s Hot

Cathy Come Home

As I have been comparing unfavourably contemporary TV drama to that of the past I thought I should revisit Cathy Come Home which I have now re-seen. It started life as a Wednesday Play produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach, the writer was Jeremy Sandford, husband of novelist Nell [...]

September 7, 2021 // 0 Comments

Leg over… 30 years on

Can it really be 30 years ago that Brian Johnston and Jonathan Agnew ‘lost it’ on air in a fit of giggles after the description of Ian Botham losing his wicket as ‘he could not quite get his leg over’? Well it was and one of the most famous events in broadcasting was celebrated in the [...]

September 6, 2021 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on the 3rd Test

It’s been an absorbing Test of ebb and flow even if the cricket has not always been of the highest standard. Going into the 4th day India is on top looking to set a commanding lead whilst leaving enough time to bowl England out. The find of the summer has been speedster Ollie Robinson. At six [...]

September 5, 2021 // 0 Comments

Slipping off the pace (but not necessarily quietly!) …

My latest dispatch from the front line of the battle between “how thing used to be” (sensible, straightforward, logical and – albeit not perhaps not necessarily fair – at least always transparent and understandable) and the complete illogicality as to how the world works in the 21st [...]

September 5, 2021 // 0 Comments

All’s well that drains well

Last week water was settling in my kitchen sink without draining. My handyman Bert was recalled from the Western Front of my beach hut refurb and, upon dismantling a pipe below the sink, removed the remains of the ground coffee that was causing the blockage. I thought this had done the trick but [...]

September 5, 2021 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Imperial Treasure

When I was first invited to Imperial Treasure by a bon viveur in the advertising world he said the restaurant raised Chinese cuisine to a wholly new level. He could have been talking of the prices but for both he is correct. The chain, started in China, acquired Michelin stars and perhaps [...]

September 3, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is more than a page-turning who done it. The author who wrote The Undoing, which was dramatised on television with Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in the leading roles, lampoons the writers world of creative writing, publishing and best sellers. The central character [...]

September 2, 2021 // 0 Comments

And another thing …

At the risk of appearing to “suck up” to our sports editor Tom Hollingworth, I was interested to read his fascinating piece in the Rust yesterday on the illusionary “devil’s pact” between those who organise global sports, those who participate in them and the paying public – [...]

September 1, 2021 // 0 Comments

All human life is there … on West Wittering Beach

Last Bank Holiday Monday I travelled to my beach hut with my handyman. This was with some trepidation as I thought the beach would be rammed. In fact, because the weather that day was cloudy and not that warm and that most visitors arrive from midday onwards, it was largely deserted. A Chinese [...]

September 1, 2021 // 0 Comments

Vigil/BBC One

The problem with contemporary BBC drama is that it is all too predictable. There is invariably a stressed-out but assertive woman detective, normally gay, who confronts successfully the male establishment. In this case the detective Amy (Suzanne Jones) is literally dropped into a nuclear submarine [...]

August 31, 2021 // 0 Comments

1 117 118 119 120 121 398