British comedy scattershooting on a Monday….

Survived the first snowstorm of 2011, a whopping 2 inches (insert laughter from Colorado readers here) after all was said and done. Time for a periodic look around the horn at what’s happening in the world of British comedy, British television and the actors/actresses you’ve come to know and love over the years. Can’t save […]

Read more

Downton Abbey opens its doors tonight on PBS

Finally, it’s zero hour in the US. Downton Abbey premieres tonight as part of the new season of Masterpiece on PBS. Both critically acclaimed and a huge audience hit when broadcast this past Fall on ITV, this is definitely television worth watching. According to Simon Heffer of the Telegraph, the authenticity and visual detail makes […]

Read more

North Texas = BBC West on Saturdays

Ok, the BBC and Channel 4 may not have “officially” established a western division of the best of their broadcast line-up, but North Texas viewers will become a bit more anglophile beginning tonight (Saturday) on KERA with an all-new line up of the best of the best from the UK. We begin the night with […]

Read more

2011 resolution: Say no to American re-makes

Seeing as though we’re only days away from another questionable American remake of a really well-done British television import, I thought I’d immediately put in the request for my first 2011 New Year’s resolution. You know the drill. Have written about this many times. Readers in the UK, I apologize for taking up space and […]

Read more

Primeval — back from extinction….

May be a bit of a stretch to equate Primeval with the 1982 classic horror film, Poltergeist, but to quote Carol Anne, “…they’re here“. I guess in the case of Primeval, the quote should actually be “…they’re back“. The critically acclaimed series is back from extinction beginning tonight (1 January) in both the UK (ITV1) […]

Read more

Being Human, season 3 – behind the scenes

While it’s not ‘officially’ 2011 as of yet, doesn’t mean we can’t set our sights on several series that premiere during the first part of the new year. You already know about Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs, which as a reminder, transmits tonight (Boxing Day) in the UK. A placeholder note to the U.S. that Downton […]

Read more

It's a One Ronnie Christmas for all….in the UK, at least

Hard to believe that one half of the brilliant British comedy duo almost hung it up before he got started. Ronnie Corbett says he thought long and hard about abandoning show business before he met his long-time professional partner, Ronnie Barker. As the story goes, Corbett thought about giving up a career in show business […]

Read more

For Judi Dench, 2011 starts with Jane Eyre

Seems as though it has merely been days since we were getting exhausted just hearing of Judi Dench’s daily  work schedule. She’s just back from India where she spent a month filming The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is based on a book by Deborah Moggach, These Foolish Things. It follows a group of British […]

Read more

The Office — U.S. or UK?

As much as I have always liked the American version of The Office, I have to take exception with the Telegraph’s Ceri Radford and her planting of the flag for the American version versus the British original. Admittedly, the American version of The Office comes as close to being as good as the original British […]

Read more

BBC Christmas 2010 w/ Upstairs Downstairs preview

For those that reside east of the Atlantic, the BBC has given the world a hint of what you’ll be treated to on Christmas Day 2010 with a really top-notch trailer below. As we’ve talked about at great length, schedulers at The Beeb take their jobs extra serious on this day, recognizing the desires of […]

Read more