The BBC iPlayer app will soon be available to Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.5 users.
The app will act as shortcut application available through the Windows Phone Store, making iPlayer available as a Live Tile, wrapping both the iPlayer website and dedicated Media Player software needed to run it together.
Windows Phone users will still be missing out on features available to Apple’s iOS devices however. Not only have iOS users had a dedicated iPlayer app since 2011, they now also have the option of saving shows for offline playback – something that will be missing from the Windows Phone versions upon release.
“We will be releasing a shortcut to BBC iPlayer in the near future which will be available in the Windows Phone Store, enabling the BBC iPlayer website to work on Windows Phone 7.5 and 8 via a live tile,” said Cyrus Saihan, head of Business Development, BBC Future Media.
“Working with the industry in ways like this helps our digital services reach more of the UK’s online population and gives our audiences ever increasing ways to access BBC services.”
The move will bring the number of devices that the BBC iPlayer app is available to to well over 650.
In these cash strapped times there really is no need to hand over your hard-earned dosh for a copy of Radio Times (other listings magazines are available), because we’ve bought a copy and have worked out which are the best shows over the holidays. It’s our Xmas gift to you.
QI: Jingle Bells
Stephen ‘National Treasure’ Fry hosts a Christmassy edition of the show with guests Sarah Millican, Danny Baker, Phill Jupitus and regular sidekick Alan Davies. Go on, admit it, the show has now been on TV for so long that most of the things you know you learned from QI.
Friday 21st December BBC2 10PM
The Snowman And The Snowdog
Altogether now: ‘We’re walking in the aaaaair. With a dog’. The long-anticipated sequel to The Snowman features a snowman and his dog. Or something. We’ve not properly looked into it because we don’t want the surprise spoilt. It’ll be ace whatever happens.
Monday 24th December Channel 4 8PM
Friday Night Dinner
Christmas with the Goodmans – a truly nerve-tingling proposition. Robert Popper’s magnificent sitcom gets its first festive special, if you’ve not got into FND yet this is the perfect opportunity.
Monday 24th December Channel 4 10.30PM
Doctor Who
You’d have thought it impossible for Doc Who’s producers to replace Karen Gillan but they seem to have done a fantastic job with Louise Coleman. Here she makes her debut proper in a storyline that sees her and the doctor take on some funny/ fearsome-looking snowmen.
Tuesday 25th December BBC1 5.15PM
Call The Midwife
Miranda Hart, Jessica Raine, Jenny Agutter et al are back for some Xmas midwifery antics. TV’s most visceral period drama follows the midwives of 50’s East London as they deliver a load of post war sprogs called Carol and Noel. Probably.
Tuesday 25th December 25 BBC1 7.30PM
Downton Abbey
Xmas. Downton. Downton. Xmas. Was there ever a time when these two words were not synonymous? One day they will stop making Downton Abbey. Now there’s a thought to chill the soul.
Tuesday 25th December ITV1 8.45PM
The Royle Family
Let’s be honest, the Royle Family Xmas special has always been a bit hit and miss. But we’ll all still be sat in front of it in the hope that it’s a vintage year. After all, it’s the Royle Family, innit?
Tuesday 25th December 25 BBC1 9.45PM
Miranda
Oh look, it’s Miranda Hart again. This time not in period costume and not delivering babies but talking to camera and falling over a lot. At Christmas.
Every other year the winner of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the year is fairly easy to spot. Usually there has been little of no British sporting success and so all anyone has to do is come second in something and they are a shoe-in to win. This year, though, is very obviously a different kettle of fish.
Normally Andy Murray’s Grand Slam win or Rory McIlroy’s PGA victory would see either of them walk SPOTY, but they are up against Olympic gold medal winners including Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Nicola Adams, Ben Ainslie, Katherine Grainger, Sir Chris Hoy and Paralympic champions Ellie Simmonds, Sarah Storey and David Weir. A ridiculous wealth of competition.
Our pick to take the title, however, is gold medal Olympian AND winner of the Tour De France Bradley Wiggins. In a year of unparalleled British sporting achievement Wiggins’ achievement is all the more remarkable and surely should be recognised.
Team GB, we also reckon, will take the team award so Wiggo will get another two titles to decorate his already-stuffed mantelpiece.
Sports Personality of the Year is on this Sunday at 7:30PM on BBC1. It is presented by Gary Lineker, Claire Balding and Sue Barker and is broadcast live from London ExCel Arena.
Although these days there are a million TV channels and programmes can be recorded or viewed on catch-up with ease, there is still a great deal of interest in what the BBC and ITV have got planned for us on Christmas Day. Well today we found out.
The BBC lead with the now-traditional Doctor Who special ‘The Snowmen’ at 5:15PM (featuring the introduction proper of new assistant Jenna-Louise Coleman) and then a special edition of Strictly Come Dancing.
The big clash of the night is at 8:45 when the BBC have put a festive edition of Call The Midwife against the Xmas Downton Abbey. Downton will win that one.
Then everyone will switch back to BBC1 at 9:45 for the Royle Family Xmas special, which apparently feature Dave (Craig Cash) pitching an idea on Dragons’ Den.
Earlier in the day ITV have a cartoon double bill either side of the Queen’s speech with Toy Story and Tangled. And then a You’ve Been Framed Christmas special and something called Paul O’Grady’s For The Love Of Dogs, which sounds awful.
Elsewhere, the BBC have Boxing Day Xmas specials of unfunny comedy Miranda and even-unfunnier Mrs Brown’s Boys and the final ever Merlin will be shown on Christmas Eve.
The BBC has launched a new Connected Red Button service.
Hitting Virgin Media’s TiVo box first, it adds a host of new functionality to the established digital TV feature.
First up, the new Connected Red Button will let you catch programmes on channels that are off-air, including the BBC children’s channels, BBC Three and BBC Four, day and night.
Catch-up TV comes baked in, letting you hit the red button to be offered up previous episodes of the show currently being watched, taking advantage of the TiVo’s web connected features. Sporting coverage gets similar features, with extended clips and coverage available through the red button.
Finally, news, headlines and weather reports get expanded for the new red button service too, offering details at a glance at a press of the button.
“With today’s launch of BBC Connected Red Button, the BBC is seamlessly bringing the Internet together with live TV, while making the technology completely invisible”, said Daniel Danker, General Manager, BBC Programmes and On-Demand.
“This is red button reinvented, and the beginning of the exciting future of television.”
Victoria Jaye, Head of IPTV & TV Online Content, added: “With BBC Connected Red Button, we’re starting with the TV audience who love our broadcast output and we’re curating online content on the big screen in ways that add value to their TV viewing. The audience can sit back and relax – the internet just made TV better.”
Virgin Media’s Executive Director of Digital Entertainment Cindy Rose was glad that her team could offer the service ahead of competitors:
“The BBC understands as passionately as we do how important connected television is for home entertainment. We’re delighted the BBC is working with us to launch another milestone in interactive services. Our commitment to this partnership of innovation means Virgin Media TiVo customers are the first to experience the latest interactive services at the press of a button.”
The Beeb’s new Red Button service will be rolling out to other connected sets and devices next year, with Sir Alan Sugar’s YouView boxes expected to be next to receive the update.
British TV institution Have I Got News For You has been piloted in a third attempt to sell the show to the US.
The BBC show, which features long-term team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, has been made by production company Hat Trick since 1990. They have made two previous unsuccessful attempts to get an American version of the show off the ground and now a third pilot, featuring talk radio presenter Sam Seder as host, has been made for US station TBS.
Hat Trick boss Jimmy Mulville tweeted: “It’s the third pilot made for US TV. Hopefully, third time lucky.”
The US pilot was shot last weekend in New York but there are no plans to show it on UK TV
Jeremy ‘Jezza’ Clarkson has reportedly pocketed £15 million from the sale of his production company to the BBC.
Clarkson owned 30% of the firm Bedder 6 which makes Top Gear and owns the worldwide sales rights. The BBC already owned 50% of the company and the purchase of Clarkson’s share leaves 20% in the hands of Top Gear producer Andy Willman.
It’s also been confirmed that Clarkson and co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond will continue to host the show for at least the next 3 years. Jezza will also continue to make money from the sale of Top Gear products like DVDs and pocket an annual wage of £350,000. Clarkson is quoted by the Sun as saying: “I’ve got the best job in the world. Why would I leave?” Quite.
Since the BBC reinvented Sherlock Holmes for the small screen there have rumours about a US version set in the modern day. Now it’s here.
Elementary stars Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock and Lucy Lui (yes, Lucy Lui) as Watson and is set in current day New York. Similarities to the UK’s Sherlock, with Benedict ‘I look like an Otter’ Cumberbatch and Martin ‘Bilbo’ Freeman, are entirely coincidental, though, if the makers of the US version are to be believed.
It seems that the producers of Elementary, CBS, approached the makers of Sherlock, Hartswood Films, about a possible US remake based on the BBC’s Sherlock a couple of years ago but talks came to nought. Now CBS have got their own modern version and anyone who says they nicked the idea is clearly a fool.
Holmes has, of course been updated and brought into the modern world before (like when he fought Nazis in the 40’s film versions starring Basil Rathbone) but to have two very similar high profile updates so close together smacks a teeny bit of copying, don’t you think?
Anyway, Elementary starts this week in the US and will be shown on Sky Living in the UK very soon so you can make up your own mind which one is better (clue: it’s Sherlock, easily). Here’s a not-very-inspiring trailer for Elementary.
For the past few years one of the later live shows of the X Factor has aired at the same time as the Sports Personality of the Year. Both shows have suffered reduced ratings as a result. With 2012 being a landmark year for British sport, SPOTY host Gary Lineker has taken matters into his own hands by tweeting X Factor boss Simon Cowell directly to appeal to him to avoid a schedule clash.
Lineker tweeted: “Be a lovely gesture and mark of respect to our wonderful athletes if X Factor didn’t run against SPOTY. What do you think @SimonCowell?”
There was no response from Cowell but Lineker later retweeted a message from Mirror journalist Mark Jefferies which said: “Good news @GaryLineker and sport fans, I’ve been told by ITV spokesman there’s “no chance” X Factor will clash with SPOTY.”
How the clash will be avoided has still not been revealed and there has been no official statement from either the BBC or ITV so the stand off may yet happen. Watch this space….
With X Factor struggling in the ratings and the new series of Strictly Come Dancing launching tomorrow, both shows need is to grab as many tabloid pages as possible to increase ratings. If only there was some way that they could do that. What’s that you say? There is? Wonderful.
Apparently, a couple of years ago, Strictly host Bruce ‘Brucie, nice to see you, good game, what do points make, not in this game, I’m in charge, hands off the wig’ Forsyth had some kind of war of words with X Factor ‘judge’ Louis ‘Louis, Louis, woah, we got to go now’ Walsh and they have decided to reignite it just in time for both of their programmes to get a tabloid boost. What fortuitous timing.
We won’t spoil your tea by going into too many details but it seems Louis thinks Bruce should retire and Bruce thinks Louis is a bizarrely coiffured idiot who’s over-reliance on botox has left him looking like a shiny-faced weirdo. Or something like that. We’re paraphrasing, obviously.
Who’s right, who’s wrong, who cares, what will happen next in this facile, manufactured war? Find out in the next exciting episode of TV Scoop.
And so it’s back, the hugely popular (but terribly titled) Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC1 for a new run this Saturday.
This year’s line up of hot-footing slebs is the usual mix of sports stars, soap stars and TV presenters and, as always, the judges include Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and Len Goodman but this year ITV-defecting Alesha Dixon will be replaced by actual dancer, ballet star Darcey Bussell. Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly are back as hosts and Claudia Winkleman and Zoe Ball will be running the spin-off show.
Here are the runners and riders and their chances of winning:
Denise Van Outen
The former Big Breakfast weather girl has proven herself very adaptable so will no doubt make a decent fist of it. Her extended stint in the musical Chicago will also have honed her hoofing skills.
Sid Owen
Ex-Eastender (or is he still in it? We can’t remember) Ricky, sorry, Sid will bring a fair dose of cheeky Cock-er-ney charm but will he be able to dance? We doubt it. He’ll likely prove to be the SCD equivalent of his ex cast mate Todd Carty on Dancing On Ice – i.e. rubbish
Victoria Pendleton
The Olympic cyclist is as fit as you can get so she’ll have no worries with her stamina. But can she do anything without her bike?
Kimberley Walsh
When she was in Girls Aloud she had to frug around in videos a bit but this is in a whole different league, we reckon Kimberley will struggle.
Dani Harmer
Who? She used to be Tracy Beaker. Oh. Who’s Tracy Beaker? Never mind, just leave it.
Fern Britton
Ex ‘This Morning’ couch dweller, now disparately-employed, thinner TV presenter. She will try very hard, cry occasionally and be lovely. But she won’t win.
Louis Smith
Another Olympic fitty, Louis’ gymnast training will stand him in great stead for all the twisty turny stuff. Should be amongst the winners.
Jerry Hall
Former squeeze of Mick Jagger and Bryan Ferry, Jerry is – ahem – an older lady but we think she’ll bring a touch of Texan class to proceedings.
Colin Salmon
Actor. Was in a Bond film. And some telly stuff. We haven’t a clue. Can you tell?
Johnny Ball
Legend. Say his name to anyone over 35 and they will go misty-eyed remembering the avuncular bloke who made maths fun on the telly. Should win simply because he has the bottle to do the show in the first place.
Lisa Riley
Ex Emmerdale, Ex You’ve Been Framed – expect lots of crying, tales of dancing causing weight loss, a twisted ankle and early retirement from the competition. You heard it here first.
Michael Vaughan
You would expect the former England cricketer to do well as sportspeople normally do, but with 2 Olympians in the line-up he may well be demoted to second fiddle.
Nicky Byrne
Was in Westlife, who’s entire dance routines consisted of them getting off a stool when the key change kicked in. Not a great grounding is it?
‘Cooking does not get tougher than this!’ – Yes, it’s back. Celebrity Masterchef starts a new run this coming Monday on BBC2 at 6:30.
Every year a new set of unlikely would-be chefs have a crack at impressing judges John ‘jowl’ Torode and Greg ‘ingredients expert’ Wallace by cooking dishes of their own invention in a big TV kitchen or on various random locations.
This year, the famous faces we’ll be seeing conjure up barely edible food will be:
Former Neighbours star Anne Charleston,
Lanky TV presenter Jamie Theakston,
Pop singer Javine Hylton,
Former Olympic swimmer Stephen ‘Steve’ Parry,
Comedian/ actress/ writer Emma ‘no, we’ve not heard of her either’ Kennedy,
Presumably ex pop star Gareth Gates,
Footballer’s Wives actress Laila Rouass,
Actor George Layton, who’ll probably recognise from 70’s sitcoms,
Telly gardener Diarmud Gavin,
Grumpy Old Woman Jenny Eclair,
Michael ‘jobbing TV presenter’ Underwood,
Olympic cyclist Rebecca Romero,
Former Bucks Fizzer Cheryl Baker,
Ex footballer Danny Mills,
Richard ‘Dick not Dom’ McCourt,
And former Blue Peter presenter Zoe Salmon.
We really can’t pick a winner from that lot. Three have food-related surnames so that might help, the sports stars know all about nutrition and Cheryl Baker did a diet advert so she should know her stuff. It really is impossible to predict.
OK, so anyone under 35-ish will struggle to remember this but there was a sports-based show in the 1970’s called Superstars and it was a right laugh. It now looks that the enormous success of the Olympics may see it return to our screens.
Superstars was presented by the late David Vine and basically involved a number of famous sports stars engaging in a number of sporting challenges in a different city each week. The ‘different city’ always seemed to be Bath, but let’s not get into that debate now.
The resulting programme was entertaining because all of the participants had to compete in sports in which they were not traditionally proficient. This meant that little know sportsmen and women regularly became household names by being better at sports than established names. For instance, judo star Brian Jacks became inordinately well known because of his ability to do an insane amount of squat thrusts, bar dips or press ups despite no-one ever knowing what judo was.
It now appears that the BBC wants to re-visit the format back in order to capitalise on the success of British athletes such as Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah.
We at TV scoop believe that if they use the original theme tune the whole shebang would be a huge hit. Here’s a reminder:
Or if they can coax Kevin Keegan to come out of retirement and fall of his boke again then the whole thing would work a treat. See this clip:
The BBC have confirmed that they are planning a biopic about the origins of the Doctor Who TV series. The show will be along the same lines of the BBC 4 Road To Coronation Street drama, which told the back stage story of the development of Corrie.
The 90-minute show, tentatively titled An Adventure In Space, will air on BBC 2 in 2013, to coincide with Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary
The show will be written by long-term Doc Who scribe Mark Gattis and produced by Stephen Moffat and Caroline Skinner. Gattis said: “This is the story of how an unlikely set of brilliant people created a true television original, and how an actor – William Hartnell – stereotyped in hard-man roles became a hero to millions of children. I’ve wanted to tell this story for more years than I can remember! To make it happen for Doctor Who’s 50th birthday is quite simply a dream come true.”
Moffat added: “The story of Doctor Who is the story of television, so it’s fitting in the anniversary year that we make our most important journey back in time to see how the TARDIS was launched.”
The BBC have announced that star of Withnail & I Richard E Grant will appear in the upcoming new series.
Grant had been touted as a possible Doctor himself before Mat Smith’s appointment an even provided the voice of the time traveller in an animated version of the show. Now the BBC are saying that he is the ‘iconic star’ they have been trailing on Twitter.
Little more is known about Grant’s appearance on the show except that it will be the Christmas special, which also features the first appearance of new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman.
Here’s a trailer for the new series of Doctor Who, which starts this month.
So, the 2012 London Olympics finally gets underway tonight. After years of excitement , anticipation, hype and hyperbole we can finally settle down on our settee with a bag of crisps and a brew and watch the fittest athletes on the world run round tracks, swim up and down pools, jump over things, bounce around on mats and generally amaze us with their physical spectacularish-ness.
But what’s on when? When is the 100 metres final, the end of the marathon or (for many of us) the women’s beach volleyball? Here is a list of when the probable highlights are on.
BBC1 from 9PM tonight: The Opening Ceremony.
BBC1 from 2PM Sat 28th: Men’s cycling road race featuring Tour De France hero Mark Cavendish.
BBC1 at 8:15PM Sun 29th: Women’s 400m freestyle swimming featuring Rebecca Addlington.
BBC1 at 3PM Mon 30th: The diving 10M platform synchro featuring Tom Daley.
BBC TV from 3:30PM Tues 31st: The C1 (single person canoe) slalom featuring David Florence.
BBC1 from 12:30PM Weds 1st: Rowing, the Men’s eight featuring Greg Searle.
BBC1 from 4PM Thurs 2nd: Team cycling featuring Sir Chris Hoy.
BBC1 from 10AM Fri 3rd: Women’s 100M hurdles featuring Jessica Ennis.
BBC1 from 9AM Sat 4th: Women’s triathlon featuring Helen Jenkins.
BBC1 at 9:50PM Sun 5th: Men’s 100M final featuring Usain Bolt.
BBC1 at 8:45PM Mon 6th: Men’s 400M hurdles featuring Dal Greene.
BBC1 from 11:30 Tues 7th: Men’s triathlon featuring Alistair and Jonny Brownlee.
BBC1 from 7PM Weds 8th: Women’s beach volleyball final featuring loads of women in lycra.
BBC3 at 7:45PM Thurs 9th: Women’s football final.
BBC1 at 3PM Fri 10th: BMX final featuring Shazane Reade.
BBC1 at 7:30 Sat 11th: Men’s 5,000M final featuring Mo Farrar.
Former Rogue Traders presenter Dan Penteado has been sentenced to 12 weeks in jail after being found guilty of benefit fraud.
Penteado fronted the consumer interest show from 2008 and 2012 and was paid over £56,000 for his efforts. During that time, though, he continued to claim housing and council tax benefits amounting to over £24,000.
His solicitor stated that Penteado was trying to ‘not interrupt the flow of housing benefit’. Not a great defence, is it?
The cabinet member for planning and environment, Councillor David Smith, said: “The amount of money stolen in this case is truly shocking. We are pleased that Mr Penteado has now been successfully prosecuted and brought to justice. The council will not tolerate benefit fraud and will always take action to ensure public funds are protected from abuse and available to support the most vulnerable in society. Anyone committing benefit fraud should expect to be investigated and action to be taken.”
Outgoing Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan has told fans at San Diego’s Comic-Con that she cried for two weeks after shooting her final scenes on the show.
Karen, who has played ‘Tardis Totty’ Amy Pond for the last 2 series, will leave the show during the next run, as will co-star Arthur Darville who plays Amy’s boyfriend Rory. She said: “I cried for two weeks. Everything set me off, I couldn’t hold it together at all. (The show) has changed my life in so many ways. And even thought I don’t want to say it, I’ve made two really good friends.”
When asked about Karen and Arthur’s departure Matt Smith, who plays the Doctor, said: “I will miss them. I miss these cats. It’s been three years on set. You develop a language with these people. It’s like two older brothers who bully their sister and I miss being able to bully Karen.”
If you’re one of those people that turns the TV over whenever the Proms are on, maybe this year you should give it a go; it’s one of the most extraordinary celebrations of music in the world and a uniquely British event.
‘Promenade’ concerts (where musicians play in parks and open spaces while listeners walk by) had been popular for many years but in the mid 18th Century, under the stewardship of renowned orchestra leader Sir Henry Wood, they became a more formal, organised series of events.
When the BBC took over the Proms in 1927 they began broadcasting them to the nation, first on the radio and then on the TV as well. There are now over 70 concerts during the 8 weeks of events, most held at the Royal Albert Hall but many in other venues and parks.
While the Proms consist almost exclusively of classical concerts occasionally there are unique non-classical events, such as last year’s Comedy Prom, where humorous songs were performed and celebrated.
The most famous event of the calendar is the Last Night of the Proms, where popular and patriotic pieces are played and the audience take the opportunity to sing loudly along while waving flags and looking posh.
The Proms may appear elitist and anachronistic but they can be tremendous fun and genuinely moving. Give ‘em a try this year, they may just surprise you.
There are rumours circulating the internet that the new BBC director general George Entwistle my be considering returning 90’s super-flop soap to our screens.
In what may be either be a bad joke, a malicious rumour or a genuine piece of crazy thinking, a former member of the show’s crew, Paul Davies, has written in the BBC’s in-house magazine Aerial of the need for Eldorado’s ‘triumphant return’.
He goes on: “Critics would argue it was hubristic, too excessive and the axe deserved to fall prematurely, I would argue it was ambitious, ahead of its time and an example of the BBC machine working at its very best. I just hope a channel controller sees the potential and commissions a revisit to Eldorado in the future.”
Whether this bizarre plea has reached the ears of the new DG is unknown but bringing the show back to the channel would certainly be one of the strangest things he could do. The programme was filmed on a purpose-built set in Spain but was derided by critics and disliked by viewers, it ran for just a year before being scrapped. The set has reportedly been used to shoot porn films since.
Our guess is that this whole story is just a gag designed as a welcome present from the BBC to their new leader.
The BBC iPlayer app will soon be available to Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.5 users.
From:Set The Video: NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, BBC Two, Wednesday, 24 June, 9pm