Tellyspotting's Book of Little Known Facts for the holidays

As we approach the holiday season, chances are you could find yourself grasping for that elusive conversation starter that we all desperately seek at one time or another. What better way to both start a conversation and immediately let it be known that you are intelligent AND have a sense of humor than to lob […]

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Ricky Gervais exchanges paper for mobile phones

Ricky Gervais, co-creator/co-writer of The Office, has a new job. It’s been eight years since David Brent left the drudgery and unglamorous world of selling paper in Slough. Gervais is now involved as script editor on PhoneShop, created, written and produced by Phil Bowker. Head of comedy at Talkback Thames, Bowker gave Gervais his first […]

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Pirate Radio rocks the North Sea!

From the incredibly gifted mind of Richard Curtis, who brought you the likes of Vicar of Dibley, Blackadder, and Mr. Bean, not to mention Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Bridget Jones Diary, comes the rockin’ Pirate Radio. In true British fashion, the script was spot on, the casting was perfection, headed by Bill Nighy […]

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B4 Hyacinth – 20 years B4 Hyacinth!

Patricia Routledge in Steptoe and Son In 1974, Patricia Routledge played Madame Fontana in one episode of this long-running hit BBC TV series. It’s said that in 1966, the audience was so big that PM Harold Wilson asked the BBC to delay transmission of a repeat episode until after the polls closed on election day […]

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B4 Geraldine and House

Many of your favorite Britcom stars had several series under their belts before that one classic role that we all know them for today. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll dig up some classic telly clips from the early days of British comedy stars so you can enjoy not only where they are now, […]

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Doh! Weren't you in….

That’s the question that viewers often ask when watching British comedy on public television. It’s not unusual to see your favorite British comedy actor or actress step out of the roles that we have become friends with over the years and stretch themselves using their formal training in period drama, contemporary drama, hit movies, American “sitcoms” […]

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Horror descends on Dibley

In a sleepy little British village on the outskirts of London, peace and tranquility are shattered by the horror of a town that turns on the new vicar. It’s almost more than this reporter can take, but I will endure in the interest of bringing it to you on this day.

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Happy Halloween from Tellyspotting!

A slight deviation from ‘all things British’ to celebrate tonight’s decidedly “American” holiday. That said, only the British can put a comedic touch on the traditionally scary goings on. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie first worked together when they were students at Cambridge University. This from their series, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which […]

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Ladies of Letters – Civilized cattiness at it's finest

Aptly described in the British press as “Talking Heads meets Keeping Up Appearances“, the highly successful BBC Radio 4 series, Ladies of Letters, recently made the always dangerous leap to television. Thanks, in large part, to the wonderful acting talents of Maureen Lipman (Irene Spencer) and Anne Reid (Vera Small) , Letters takes the long-running […]

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Posh Nosh – Extraordinary food for ordinary people

Only in recent years, has the British culinary scene risen like the sun over the English Channel. The Fat Duck in Bray, county of Berkshire, was named the best restaurant in the UK and the second best restaurant in the world in 2008. (FYI, their 2009 food issues have been resolved and they’ve returned to […]

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