Making Nigel Tufnel proud, Tellyspotting turns 11!
It was 11 years ago on October 1, 2009 that I had this crazy idea to create a blog that would be devoted to British television, UK pop culture and, essentially, anything and everything British. Having had the great good fortune and amazing opportunity over my career in television to be associated with some of the most talented people on both sides of the camera that create some of your favorite British comedies, mysteries and dramas, it seemed like a logical next step to be able to share with everyone what I’m privileged to be a part of every day. SO, on Thursday, October 1, 2009, Tellyspotting was born. Eleven years and 3,727 posts later, here we are, still having as much fun talking about British television as we did that fateful day 11 years ago.
Seems just like yesterday that the first post announced on October 1, 2009 that it was Time for Tellyspotting! The main reason we are still here today is YOU. Your love of All Things British, our shared recognition that British comedy and drama is the best telly on telly, and your comments/feedback during the last nine years have made it really easy to look forward to year 12 and beyond.
A lot has changed since that fateful day of 10.01.09, when you think about it. Here’s where I could launch into how much a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread cost back then, but there are a just a few more important things to understand how our lives have changed. Just imagine a 2009 world where it was BD (Before Downton Abbey), BS (Before Sherlock), BRDX (Before Red Dwarf X) and we were just coming to the end of the David Tennant era on Doctor Who. There was no Scott and Bailey, no Endeavour or Grantchester, no Poldark. No Victoria or Luther, and no Call the Midwife, or even Miranda, for that matter. At the time, we only knew of Miranda Hart from a brief guest shot in Lead Balloon and a leading role in Hyperdrive with Nick Frost.
Martin Freeman was known mainly for his role in the comedy, Hardware, not to mention the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch could probably have easily taken the Circle, Picadilly, Central or Jubilee line on the London Tube and not be recognized at all. And, finally, one of the best series ever to grace the small screen, Spooks (or MI-5 if you’re in the States), still had three seasons to go!
In the last eleven years, we’ve had the great good fortune to sit down and interview a number of amazing individuals for Tellyspotting. Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) immediately comes to mind, as does Michael Palin and Eric Idle (Monty Python’s Flying Circus), Ian McNeice (Doc Martin), Colin Baker and Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Lucie Pohl (Red Dwarf XI), Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby (George Gently), Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End) and Jonathan Lynn (Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister). More recently, the we’ve had the opportunity to speak with Anne Reid, Rose Williams and Crystal Clarke from Sanditon, in addition to getting a few palace secrets from Lucy Worsley, and Adrian Dunbar and Jed Mercurio from the brilliant Line of Duty series.
We even went behind-the scenes to interview those who create and write some of your favorite series, such as Daisy Goodwin (Victoria) and Emilia di Girolamo (The Tunnel: Vengeance). There was also Nicholas Lyndhurst and Tamzin Outhwaite (New Tricks) followed by Marta Dusseldorp, Ben Winspear, Craig Hall and Sara Wiseman (A Place to Call Home).
So stick around and join us as we make year 12 the best ever. It’s going to be a great ride, but it won’t be the same without you!
A special thanks to everyone who has written to us, commented on or even read just one post in the last nine years. Thanks, also, to BBC Studios for their overwhelming support from Day One, to John Manthorpe over at ITV for all the advance press material, to Eric Luskin at American Public Television and Chad Campbell and Eddie Ward over at Acorn Media for constantly thinking of us when actors are made available for interviews.
And, finally, I can’t forget Mark Boosey, who created the British Comedy Guide, for warning me in the beginning stages back in 2009 about what I was getting myself into. Based on your feedback and daily response, it was and still is definitely worth it. Cheers!
In: Odds & Sods
