MHyeraad’syinoiitiii oHnelyadyraijigii.i.i.ii
DRAG queen Myra DuBois brightened up Big Brother’s Bit On The Side with a caustic take-down of the housemates – or “screeching attention seekers”, as Myra rightly dubbed them.
Rotherham’s answer to Lily Savage was particularly poetic when it came to Tomasz, whose blouses, pearls and long hair make him resemble “a middle-aged librarian crossed with a Meatloaf tribute act from Hull”.
All of these kid-ults talk about “journeys”, but you suspect the only personal growth Lewis G will ever experience will be in his boxer shorts.
“Reality” TV would work better if they booked people with genuine life experience. Older stars shine on CBB without turning off younger viewers. Smarter folk would help too.
How much more gripping would The Circle be if it was cast with professional liars such as ex-spies, fraudsters and politicians?
We should stop dumbing down and start punching up.
Instead of showbiz veterans having to pretend that they’d emigrate to Cumbum in India, why not fly them over to California to meet bio-tech experts, space boffins and the pioneers planning to colonise Mars?
Celebrities Vs The Future! Imagine that. It might make better telly than a babyish 20-somethings banging on about how misunderstood they are. KATYA Jones was talking about practising with Seann Walsh when she said: M.Ashbee of Etchingham wins £35 for that howler. Keep ’em coming to the address at the top of the page. I’M cheating on Wanderlust… I’m seeing other shows.
Just kidding. Bodyguard delivered like Anthony Joshua.
True we could nit-pick our way through the tall tale’s nuttier aspects. But writer Jed Mercurio had more to wrap up than the Kardashians at Christmas and largely succeeded.
When it came to wrong-footing, Jed made Susannah Constantine look like a bungling novice. In the process, he gave BBC One the year’s most-talked about series, and 11million viewers.
For tension, thrills and unpredictable twists, only Jed’s own Line Of Duty could beat it. The only better drama on the box right now is Killing Eve, pictured, which is touched with a different kind of genius.
Veering between black comedy and psychopathic action sequences, the show pits Eve, an MI6 spook, against hot but heartless contract killer Villanelle.
The whole twisted package is held together by star Jodie Comer and the whip-smart dialogue of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, inset.
People sometimes ask me: “How can you do your job? There’s nothing on telly.” To which the only reply is: Are you raving mad? Quality shows abound. You just have to look harder. Game Of Thrones, American Gods, Stranger Things, House Of Cards, The Crown...we’re living in television’s new golden age. TV has over-taken Hollywood in its ability to hook, excite and innovate. The Sopranos fired the first shot in this war, and then came the deluge: The Wire, The Shield, Deadwood, Dexter, Peaky Blinders, 24, Vikings, Battlestar Galactica, Luther, Preacher, Goliath and scores more. Anything you want is out there. Dark comic satire? Black Mirror. Superhero action? Daredevil, The Punisher, Luke Cage. Cop shows? The Bridge, The Killing, Bosch. Miserable rich folk? Trust. Smart comedy? Inside No 9, Rick & Morty, Bojack... And okay sometimes shows promise more than they deliver – Westworld got so dazzled by its own cleverness it forgot to deliver a decent second season storyline. But the success rate is astounding.
HBO and streaming services usually set the pace. So well done the BBC, despite all their tiresome failings, for proving mainstream British TV can still compete. Just don’t mention Wanderlust.
FIVE cracking shows you should be watching now: 1) Killing Eve 2) The Marvellous Mrs Maisel 3) The Deuce 4) Vanity Fair 5) Jack Ryan.
THE all-time greatest cop show was The Sweeney. Imagine that today: “Oi Carter, stop nutting that blagger and get yerself into a rainbow-coloured egg costume, we’ve got virtue to signal...”
‘Seann, watch out – I’m going to be on top of you’
THICK-as-mince Freddie on The Circle. EastEnders writers going down the unconvincing prison route yet again – it didn’t work with Dirty Den, why would it work now? Postman Pat looked harder than wing daddy Fraser Phillips. (R.I.P. John Cunliffe.) THERE are two Wongs in the Strangers cast and sure enough they don’t make it right.
TV QUESTIONS: Why has Mick Carter dropped his slang now he’s in “the shovel”? Supergirl debuted in
1958, why isn’t she on super-HRT? When will C4 make Corbyn: The First
100 Days? (That’s right, never).