BBC | Tellyspotting

Posted April 23, 2019 - No Comment

It’s Shakespeare in a nutshell this St. George’s Day, courtesy of ‘Upstart Crow’

St. George’s Day is being moved around a bit this year. The patron saint of England is typically celebrated on April 23, the same day Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated. Which reminds me how reminiscent BBC Two’s ‘Upstart Crow’ is of old school British situation comedy.

Posted April 16, 2019 - No Comment

Lost footage of the Beatles on ‘Top of the Pops’ surfaces in Mexico

Sadly, the silent 11 second bit is all that exists of the Fab Four miming to “Paperback Writer” in June of 1966. The lost footage was shot by a family in Liverpool filming their TV set with an 8mm camera.

Posted March 5, 2019 - No Comment

Apparently there’s enough ‘Death in Paradise’ to commission 2 more seasons!

As BBC One faded to black following the final episode of season 8 last Thursday, word came down from Britain’s public broadcaster that the popular crime comedy/drama/mystery series has been commissioned for an additional two seasons.

Posted March 3, 2019 - No Comment

Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Summer of Rockets’ is pure Cold War greatness headed to BBC2 this spring

Keeley Hawes finds herself on the receiving end of MI5 spying this time around in the new Stephen Poliakoff (Close to the Enemy, Dancing on the Edge) semi-autobiographical drama.

Posted March 1, 2019 - No Comment

At 84, Timothy West joins the Home Guard for ‘Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes’

In the ’60s, it was standard practice for the BBC to record over or discard tapes of programs. Among the casualties were three “lost” episodes of ‘Dad’s Army.’ The three episodes will be remade as part of “Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes” with Timothy West joining the cast.

Posted February 24, 2019 - No Comment

Science and natural history genres at the forefront for PBS during BBC Showcase

Not to be outdone by the number of quality drama series coming to PBS stations, the genres of science and natural history were quite well represented at BBC Showcase.

Posted February 19, 2019 - No Comment

Syrian refugee comedy ‘Home’ a sweet surprise at BBC Showcase

‘Home’ is not only funny but will remind us all what the concept of home really means.

Posted February 16, 2019 - No Comment

‘Warren’ brings Martin Clunes’ career full circle with return to sitcom comedy

While there’s no phobia for blood this time around, Warren Thompson does find himself living in an area he doesn’t like, thinks the world is against him, always knows best and speaks his mind.

Posted February 13, 2019 - No Comment

A severed hand and a bag of body parts — must be the return of ‘Shetland’!

The island community of Shetland is once again rocked with the opening of season 5, this time with a brand-new case involving a severed hand and a bag of body parts found by a lone jogger on the beach.

Posted February 6, 2019 - No Comment

‘Broken’ starring Sean Bean emerges from BBC Showcase as another must-see TV drama

I have to believe if you looked up words like “gritty,” “powerful” or “gripping” in the dictionary, you would find the episode listings for ‘Broken.’