Drama takes center stage at BBC Showcase 2014

After a healthy dose of comedy the last couple of days with Rev, Wrong Mans, Uncle, Inside No. 9 and Mr. Sloane, the focus was on drama as we are at the halfway point of the BBC Showcase screenings in Liverpool. Already armed with the knowledge that there will be new seasons of Death in […]

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Rev and Mr. Sloane highlight comedy presentation at BBC Showcase 2014

It’s like being a kid in a candy store attending the BBC Comedy presentation Monday in Liverpool. Showing a number of clips for shows that are coming up in the not-too-distant future, you get the sense that Shane Allen, Controller for Comedy at the BBC, is keen on maintaining the channel’s dominance in the comedy […]

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It's Comedy/Drama time at BBC Showcase 2014

It’s always brilliant to enter into screening overload on the first day of the BBC Showcase in Liverpool. Already in 2014, from a drama standpoint, public television viewers have been treated to new seasons of Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Mr. Selfridge, Doc Martin, Father Brown and Death in Paradise. The good news is […]

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Tellyspotting heads to Liverpool for 2014 BBC Showcase

How appropriate given that 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the first Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that, as you read this, Tellyspotting will be somewhere over New York City headed to Liverpool for the 2014 BBC Showcase. You might remember that this is annual gathering of television programming executives from around the […]

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Blandings returns to BBC One Sunday; Public television soon.

While PBS viewers in America still have two weeks left in the current series of Downton Abbey, UK viewers within the transmission signal of BBC One can look forward to the return of Blandings which is headed your way this coming Sunday, 16 February. While UK viewers will no-doubt remember, the series tells the story […]

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Sir Ian McKellen's Downton Abbey audition is 'Vicious'

As we reported this past Fall, Vicious, a.k.a. Vicious Old Queens, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi, is making its way to PBS beginning June 15 (following the return of Endeavour on Masterpiece Mystery). The British comedy, which premiered on ITV this past Spring in the UK, tells the story of Freddie and […]

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More Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon brilliance in 'A Trip to Italy'

In their 2010 film, The Trip, comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (or semifictionalized versions of themselves) embarked on a restaurant tour around northern England which quickly morphed into an opportunity to brilliantly showcase their dueling Michael Caine and Woody Allen impressions during their gastronomic exploits. Now that they have effectively conquered England, Brydon and […]

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Miranda Hart targeted for new BBC Comedy series

With her throw back to old-time BBC comedy series, Miranda, Miranda Hart has built a career around exploiting the universal truth that awkwardness lies at the heart of the human condition . After her first appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe, it was a mere 11 years later that she became an overnight success, leaving the […]

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Blue's Clues meets Sherlock

Now that we have determined that Sherlock shouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s list to watch telly with, thanks to the genius minds over a College Humor, we can also remove the need to see what would happen if Sherlock was called to the set of Blue’s Clues to solve a case. It isn’t […]

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'Mr Bean' to become more animated in 2014

While there won’t be any renewed efforts to create more live-action episodes of the iconic Mr. Bean, the word on the street is that Rowan Atkinson and Tiger Aspect, UK production company behind the original television series which is now Endemol Beyond, is set to revive the internationally famous Mr. Bean character with a new […]

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