Torchwood and stuff

Well they caught me out there. I always watch Torchie and I've enjoyed every episode on some level but I would never have called myself a Torchwood fan as such. It's a good, fun show. It's a bit daft. It's a romp. That's about the level of thought involved on my part.

So where the fuck did Children of Earth come from?! There was I all ready for five nights of gallivanting and rude jokes. What do I get instead? Probably the most impressive and affecting drama event British television has seen for decades. Make no mistake this was landmark event sf happening on six million screens every night for a week. I don't know if I'm happier about the TW production team beating the shit out of Britain with such a hard hitting and devastating story or with the British public for sticking with it all week (it's ratings were not only excellent but consistent!).

Of course then the Torchwood 'fans' had to go and leave a nasty taste in every one's mouth by having a pop at TV's James Moran, hardest working screenwriting blogger in the world. Apparently they have an issue with something that happened in the story. Twats. I didn't like it when Apollo Creed died in Rocky IV but I didn't get in Stallone's face about it. Grow up. James Moran appears to have been a victim of his own availability, and the result is that we regular readers of his blog are the one's who will now miss out while the Woodies all piss off to argue amongst themselves or burn RTD in effigy. Arseholes.

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If you haven't seen any of Getting On (Wednesdays, BBC4) it's well worth checking it out on the I-player. It's a very, very funny sitcom written by and starring Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlon and Vicki Pepperdine and directed by Peter Capaldi. The BBC describe it as a "darkly comic drama series about life on an NHS geriatric ward", which is accurate.

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Last recommendation for today is Chuck (Mondays, Virgin 1). This is a great series about a young chap who works in the equivalent to a Curry's store and finds himself drawn into the world of international spies. It's great fun watching Chuck balance the demands of the NSA and CIA against those of his employers and his big sister. It also benefits from co-starring Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame who is hilarious as a hard-as-nails NSA hitman posing as a shop assistant. Check it out.

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Wow. Two posts in one day, you lucky dabs. I was also going to tell you about space flu and the rewrite from Hell but I think I'll hold back for the weekend...

Flickchart

Flickchart is really much more fun than it ought to be. The idea is that Flickchart shows you two films and you choose which you prefer. On the basis of your selections Flickchart then starts building a list of your favourite films. The more selections you make, the more accurate your list becomes, in my experience anyway.

There are a lot of films missing at the moment as the site is still pretty new. In particular non US films are currently under represented (which explains why Hell Drivers in uncharacteristically absent from my favourites).

You're also able to look at charts reflecting the choices of all flickchart users. You can view the best films of all time, or even select genre's, directors, decades etc.

I recommend you check it out, better clear an hour or so though as it's fiendishly addictive! More than the charts, or the rankings, I just love being presented with films that I'd forgotten existed (for example Megaforce or Sssssss).

Michael Jackson, 1958 - 2009

Specialist Subject: The Bleeding Obvious

Spotted two items of interest to writers on television recently...

Fawlty Towers Reopened

Last weekend there was a terrific new documentary about Fawlty Towers on (what used to be called) UK Gold. Knowing cable I'm sure there will be opportunities to catch this again if you missed it. It's well worth keeping an eye out as there were a lot of insights into the genesis of the programme, and how John Cleese and Connie Booth wrote it.

Says (not) UK Gold...

To help celebrate its 30th anniversary, G.O.L.D. is throwing open the doors of TV's most famous hotel once more after a lengthy absence.

New and exclusive, Fawlty Towers: Re-opened gathers cast and crew together to retrace the history of the sitcom from a rarely seen insider point of view. The one-off special leaves no English Riviera stone unturned in its search for trivia and nuggets of information from the Fawlty Towers guestbook, together with in-depth interviews with John Cleese, Andrew Sachs and Prunella Scales, as well as Connie Booth talking about her memories from the show for the first time in 30 years. Just don't mention the war.

Meanwhile, on ITV3...

There's a series called Beyond a Joke looking at how the British sitcom has reflected society over the years, with insights from the writers and actors (plus some irrelevant pundits). You can catch up on this with ITV's catch up telly widget here.