Remembering Ian ‘Spats’ Picken, Chef extraordinaire

There’s a simultaneous joy and danger to cleaning out drawers and files as, good or bad, you never know what you might run across. In this case, it was pure joy to stumble onto a memory from our time attending the annual BBC Showcase in Brighton from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s. Each year, 500 […]

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‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ turns 48 in America today!

October 6, 1974. The day that charted the British comedy course in the U.S. for decades to come. Thanks to a ground-breakingly brilliant decision by then KERA President/CEO Bob Wilson and Program Director Ron Devillier, the legend of Monty Python’s Flying Circus had its American beginning on KERA/Dallas as part of one seemingly uneventful Sunday […]

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A 2022 Labor Day salute to the employees of Grace Brothers Department Store!

In the United States, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. We simply can’t let the long weekend pass by without paying tribute to some of the hardest working friends across the pond…the staff of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s clothing departments of Grace Brothers Department Store.

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More ‘Guilt’ on the way later this month from Masterpiece on PBS!

If you haven’t seen Guilt as of yet, consider placing it at the top of your viewing list of ‘2022 guilty pleasures list’ courtesy of PBS and Masterpiece. Sporting a brilliant cast coupled with great writing that features more twists and turns than the law allows around every corner when series 1 ran last year, Guilt pairs the talents […]

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With S1 premiering Sunday, Oct 16 on PBS, life is good as filming on ‘Annika’ S2 has begun!

From the time I was first introduced to the greatness of Nicola Walker in her role as DI Susan Taylor in Touching Evil (co-starring with Grantchester‘s Robson Green), followed by her time as Ruth Evershed in Spooks (MI5), guest roles in Luther, Being Human and Inside Men, then her more recent efforts in Scott & Bailey, Last Tango in Halifax and The Split once again I’m convinced she […]

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RIP — Bernard Cribbins O.B.E. — “….he was in one episode of Fawlty Towers” **

Bernard Cribbins, the rather fussy spoon salesman mistaken for a hotel inspector in one episode of Fawlty Towers, has died at the age of 93. **In spite of a brilliant seven decade plus career, Cribbins will be forever known as ‘being in the “Hotel Inspectors” episode of Fawlty Towers, which is a testament to the greatness of perhaps the best British comedy of all time but speaks more to Cribbins’ brilliant ability to make even a relatively minor role such as Mr. Hutchinson in one episode of Fawlty Towers so memorable.

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‘Van der Valk’ set for September 25 return on PBS Masterpiece

At long last, series 2 of Van der Valk is set to hit the PBS schedule beginning Sunday, September 25 on Masterpiece. I say ‘long-last’ because it was April 2020 when the first series transmitted and then June 2021 when Masterpiece announced that the Amsterdam-based series had begun filming their second season. Unfortunately, global shutdowns and lockdowns played havoc with any hope of series 2 being able to immediately follow series 1.

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Masterpiece to adapt Gill Hornby’s ‘Miss Austen’ for PBS!

While this is definitely not Jane Austen’s first rodeo on PBS whether it be earlier adaptations of Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Emma or even the most recent adaption of Austen’s previously unfinished work (Sanditon), news of a somewhat different type of Austen adaptation has fans worldwide eagerly anticipating the forthcoming small screen version of Gill Hornby’s critically-acclaimed Miss Austen which focuses on the life of the author herself.

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