In many ways Suzanne Shaw was sort of the prototype of the pink-obsessed Big Brother twins (we haven’t forgotten those ‘My Little Pony’ hair extensions from the Hear’Say days!) so it’s no great shock to find that she’ll be singing the soundtrack on a new Barbie movie. She’s cute, she’s funny and we know the kids will love her. Despite the Darren Day business, the girl’s done good, let’s not mock her. Too much. Interview cut in with pictures of Disney castles over the page…
Archive for the ‘Small Screen Icons’ Category
Why I love… Christopher Eccleston
Friday, September 12th, 2008
I was watching The Second Coming yesterday afternoon (don’t worry, you didn’t miss it… I was watching on a DVD machine) and it hit me. Christopher Eccleston is my favourite living TV actor. I’ve always loved him on the small screen. Everyone I know loves him on the small screen. Despite being built like a long distance runner and having a funny face, every woman I know ‘would’. Wracking my brains, I struggled to think of a TV role I haven’t fawned over.
Former BBC Head of Comedy, Geoffrey Perkins, RIP
Monday, September 1st, 2008
Us TV Critics have to trawl through media news articles, which include loads of ins-and-outs of people moving within the industry and, chances are, you wouldn’t recognise any of them. However, one person whose face I recognise, thanks to years of making brilliant telly, has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Geoffrey Perkins, who used to be the head of comedy at the BBC, has passed away in a road accident in London.
Golden Girl, Estelle Getty, RIP
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
The Golden Girls, even as a child, was something of a guilty pleasure of mine. Quite why a seven-year-old lad from a working class Northern town would want to watch a bunch of old middle class retired women in some exotic American location is still something that puzzles me. Still, you know you’re onto a winner if you sing “Thank you for bein’ a friend…” and someone smiles back. So it’s with that, I bring the sad news that Golden Girl, Estelle Getty, has passed away at the age of 84.
Estelle played the vicious tongued octogenarian Sophia in the show. While the other characters were either grumpy or tarty, Sophia Petrillo was certainly the most fun to watch, with a mixture of quick-fire insults and a shady past. The character had suffered a massive stroke which apparently destroyed the part of her brain that acted as a censor, leaving her to be as rude as she liked. She also had mafia connections ‘back in Sicily’ and had apparently lived through “two world wars, 15 vendettas, 4 operations and two Darrins on Bewitched.”
Emmerdale’s Jack Sugden, Clive Hornby, RIP
Friday, July 4th, 2008
Soap actors come and go, but not many stay in the public memory for long. However, there are some that do that transcend mere character and become TV institutions. Ken Barlow of Corrie, Dot Cotton of Eastenders and Jack Duckworth all fit that bill. Of course, Emmerdale, the upstart to the royal soap two, haven’t had many iconic characters. If you had to choose one, then hands-down, Jack Sugden would be your man. It’s with that, that bringing you the news of his death is all the more difficult.
Small Screen Icons: Billie Piper
Friday, June 20th, 2008
It’s been a while since I reviewed an icon, but since Secret Diary of a Callgirl is doing so well in the States (which is such good news, we told you twice), and Billie, as Rose Tyler, is set to make a return to Doctor Who tomorrow, I thought it was a good time to big her up. After all, it’s only five years since she made the leap to UK television and although she generally received very positive reviews, there were some who wondered if she could “make it as an actress.” You’ll have observed how those doubters are now noticeable only by their absence.
Why I Love… Harold Bishop
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Today is a momentous day. Today is the day that Harold Bishop leaves Neighbours. Now, Harold has been a part of Ramsay Street… on and off… since 1987. Get that! There’s people drinking in pubs who weren’t around when Harold poured his first coffee. It’s with a heavy heart we’ll bid him fare-thee-well.
Mark Speight (1965-2008)
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
So, the story of Mark Speight comes to a tragic close. After lighting the screens for millions of TV watching children, Speight was found dead in a remote area of Paddington station, London, at the age of 42. Until recent events, Speight had an incredible TV career, clearly reveling in his role in children’s television (an exception to the rule). For 14 years, Speight enthused about art, history and charity work, and was loved by those that watched him in action.
His presenting style is best described as energetic and viewers will know that it was difficult to ignore Speight when on-screen. With his trademark spiky hair, Speight would leap and bound with all the giddiness of a child… and maybe this was the secret to his success? Children saw something of themselves in him and Speight likewise, saw something of himself in them. Here was a man who was built for children’s TV. Kind, enthusiastic, warm, exciteable.
So farewell then, Captain Birdseye
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
There’ll be a tear in the old bird’s eye tonight as we say farewell to John Hewer, the actor who played the role of the bearded naval captain who ate nothing but fish fingers from 1967 until 1998, when he handed over his uniform to his replacement, Thomas Pescod. Hewer died at the weekend, it was revealed today, at the age of 86.
Small Screen Icons: Karl and Susan, Neighbours
Monday, March 10th, 2008
Neighbours used to be a bit of a laughing stock, didn’t it? Shaky sets, even shakier acting… but somehow, over the last few years, it’s become perfectly acceptable to admit in public that you actually think that it’s, well, good. Sure, you can sometimes see storylines coming a mile off, but at other times they just get things bang on. Take Fraser and Rosie – they’re fully-formed, warm, witty characters who have been a genuinely great addition to the street.
But even when Neighbours was more of a guilty pleasure, there were two characters it was always ok to like – Dr Karl Kennedy and Susan Kinski/Kennedy/Smith. They’ve gone through some pretty ridiculous things, admittedly (did no-one think to mention in the recent trial that Susan once lost her memory for quite a significant amount of time…?), but there’s always been a realness to their relationship that’s endearing and utterly engrossing.
Carol Barnes – RIP
Monday, March 10th, 2008
It’s a rare thing that I should have any affection for a newsreader. Mostly, they’re just… there. They read the news and have little in the way of personality. They’ve got to be impartial and with that, are often cold and uninspiring. However, there was one exception. Former ITN newsreader Carol Barnes, who has died at the age of 63.
The broadcaster, who passed away at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton this weekend, somehow managed to convey a warmth that no other newsreader has managed since. How she did it I’ll never know. Just watching Barnes, you kinda just knew she was a good egg. Now she’s passed away, tributes to her have poured in confirming what I’ve always thought.
Small Screen Icon – Jeff Stelling
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
With the news that Jeff Stelling is up for Sports Broadcaster of the Year Award at the Sports Journalism Awards, it’s time we featured him on these pages. Super Jeff has picked up the award for broadcaster of the year for the past two years, so if he wins this year, it’ll be a sublime hat-trick for the silky anchor.
Jeff has the unenviable task of reporting on every single game in the entire universe (no matter how big or small) every Saturday on Sky Sports News, and as a result, has become famed for his catchphrases and mistakes. Jeff’s popularity has grown so much that he’s even got his own fanclub (click here to pay your dues). Read over for some of the highlights from Stelling’s motor-mouth
Set The Video: Happy Birthday, Brucie, BBC One, Sunday 24 February, 6.35pm
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
In case you missed it, Bruce Forsyth is 80 this year. The chances of you not knowing that are pretty slim, since the BBC’s coverage of it has been ubiquitous this weekend. If his appearance on Jonathan Ross was not enough, tonight they’re devoting an hour and a half to “Mr Variety” as he celebrates his birthday with a bevy of beauties. For that, in a nutshell, is Brucie’s style really isn’t it? Firstly to always be seen with a lovely young girl on his arm, preferably more than one, and secondly to wear his heart on his sleeve and conduct much of what regular people would consider to be his private life, in public.
But I’m being churlish. Bruce appeals to viewers of all ages and has been doing for the whole of a remarkably long career, so who could begrudge him this celebration of not only 80 years of life but more than 60 of those in the limelight, in a variety of high-profile shows stretching back beyond the birth of television? If you’re one who can’t then tonight’s 90-minute celebration could be just the thing for you.
My brush with fame (or ‘How I drank with Maxine Peake on a night out’)
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
We’ve said it before, but we all love Maxine Peake at TVScoop. We like her so much that our tyrannical editor once said that “frankly, I would and could watch Maxine do her washing, she’s that good.” However, it doesn’t take much to imagine that, off-screen, actors can be odious and chest-beating and leave you wondering why you bothered investing anything into them at all. So, last night, on a drinking session, I bumped into Maxine….
Now, Maxine is from the same neck of the woods as me. She’s lit up the screen in Shameless, Dinnerladies, Early Doors, Confessions of a Diary Secretary, Cinderella, Bike Squad… and man, she even managed to light up the screen in her grisly performance as Myra Hindley in See No Evil: The Moors Murders. She’s a bloody good actress… but is she a bloody nice person?
Small Screen Icons: Gene Hunt
Friday, February 8th, 2008
Gene, as of last night, is back and although he’s only been around for a couple of years I don’t think anyone would deny him his place as a Small Screen Icon, especially not on the last day of our Ashes to Ashes week and, even more importantly, because to do so would risk being called “a Southern jessie bastard” or some other similarly apposite Gene-rific shibboleth.
No, Gene deserves his status as an icon. Iconic look (different now, in A2A, but still distinctive), iconic behaviour and above all, iconic language. Shame that we only feel empowered to enjoy it because he’s firmly rooted in the past. We can secretly envy his ability to call a spade a bloody shovel while publicly claiming that is how it was back then, so what can you expect? If Gene could roll back the nauseating tide of political correctness then he’d become much more than just a small screen icon.
Is The Stig Lewis Hamilton (probably not)
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
There’s no doubt about it. The Stig from Top Gear is a bona-fide Small Screen Icon. People have scratched their bonces trying to work out who the hell he is. Some say that he’s a load of different people as he’s just too good… comedian Omid Djalili thinks that The Stig is F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Wha’?!
Djalili claims that he’s worked out that Hamilton must be the driver by questioning the show’s bosses when he guested on the show. Djalili told Nuts; “When I was on Top Gear around two years ago, I asked the The Stig how old he was and he said, ‘I’m 21′ – the same age Lewis Hamilton would’ve been two years ago. And when I asked the producers who The Stig is, they said, ‘All you need to know is that, in about two years’ time you’ll hear a lot about the person who plays him. They’ll deny it of course because they’re sworn to secrecy. I think it’s part of the contract. But I’m telling you, it’s Lewis Hamilton!” Surely Lewis has a diary a bit too full to be mucking about with Clarkson & Co?
From:Coronation Street fans apply here