Tag Archives: TV

The IT Crowd are back {TV}

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The geeks are back! The IT Crowd, the award-winning sitcom written by Graham Linehan; co-writer of classics Father Ted, Black Books and Big Train; returns this Friday night on Channel Four and it’s as good as ever.

The series is about the basement-dwelling IT department of Reynholm Industries, a large company that does something that’s never explained in the show. Childlike Moss (Richard Ayoade) and his very slightly less socially inept colleague Roy (Chris O’Dowd) are managed by technophobe Jen (Katherine Parkinson), while the excellent Matt Berry is their boss, Douglas Reynholm. Unusually for a modern British sitcom, many of which have disposed of laughter tracks over the last decade, it is filmed in front of a live studio audience at Pinewood Studios. Since the first enjoyable but awkward first series, which featured Chris Morris in a regular role as the brilliantly-named Denholm Reynholm, the show has really found it’s feet and become one of the best comedy series of recent years. While it has enough references to computer jargon and internet memes keep hardcore geeks happy; particularly in the amazing set design, which you can see here; most of the clever, surreal humour can be enjoyed by anyone.

The first episode of the new series doesn’t disappoint. Titled ‘Jen the Fredo’, a reference Godfather II fans will recognise, it sees Jen take up the position of Entertainments Officer with the misconception that her role would involve planning trips to West End shows for boss Douglas Renholm’s sleazy business pals, rather than arranging the sort of “entertainment” they are used to. Of course, she ropes in Roy, upset after the breakdown of a long-term relationship, and Moss, currently obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons-style role playing games, to help out with the evening’s entertainment. Meanwhile, Douglas gets into trouble with some feminists (so, nothing new there).

Linehan’s writing and Ayoade’s performances have created one of the great sitcom characters in Maurice Moss, the lovably naive, pedantic nerd. The cast have really gelled and settled into their roles over the last three series, and here they are better than ever. There are some really funny moments throughout the episode, including Moss’ fantastic role-playing game and a scene that riffed further on the Godfather and showing some “Johns” a good time that deserved a bigger laugh. With future episodes this series featuring Moss making an appearance on the teatime words and numbers game Countdown, it looks like the quality of The IT Crowd is as good as ever and Channel Four’s decision to already commission a fifth series for next year was a wise one.

You can watch the first episode of series four of The IT Crowd this Friday night at 10pm on Channel Four, or watch it right now on channel4.com in a special early premiere.

Dappers "Bristolicious" [TV Preview]

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I do like BBC3’s approach to experimental comedy drama, so when I was offered a sneaky preview at their latest offering I jumped at the chance.
Dappers is about a couple of single mothers living in Bristol surviving on benefits. Constantly trying to come up with get rich quick schemes; Ashley and Faye; played by Lenora Crichlow (Being Human) and Ty Glaser (Emmerdale) live in council owned properties in a well-to-do part of town.
Despite the fact that the pair are “like Del Boy and Rodders in thongs”; a phrase that could depress the very soul of happiness personified; the show is being billed as “a cheerful poke in the eye to all the negativity that surrounds single-mums.”


Jealous of their smug neighbours; Ben (Darren Boyd, Smack the Pony) and Anna (Olivia Poulet, The Thick of It); who seemingly have it all; the mothers struggle to cope with their looser love interests; the Marco (Tom Ellis, Miranda) a wannabe nightclub impresario and Ryan (newcomer, Jack Ashton) who’s half a step from a stretch; trying to make ends meet with crack pot schemes whilst looking after toddlers Angel and Daisy. Not able to afford even a can of WD40, Faye has to suffer a creaky jacket throughout.

The writer and exec producer Catherine Johnson (the writer of Mamma Mia!) says “I wanted to write about living in a housing association flat and being a single parent, but I wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t grim and all about poverty.  The idea of doing it as a comedy drama, very much in the mould of Gavin and Stacey, really appealed to me.” The show’s squarely aimed at the audience of nice-comedy appreciators that Gavin and Stacey left behind. The pilot episode features something that even the most cynical of viewers will be pursuaded by. Pugs. Poor pugs, they’re the butt of every joke.

This pilot looks like it has real potential for development. The female led writing and makes it a welcome change and the strong cast and the unique storyline can only work in it’s favour.

Watch Dappers on BBC3 on the 10th June at 9:30pm

TV Preview; Japan's Wild Secrets

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The typical image of modern Japan is one of a neon-lit, high-tech futuristic society crammed into skyscraper-strewn cities. Just a short way out from the bustling human hotspots lies a completely different country. Born of volcanic eruptions and comprising 6,852 individual islands, this other land is one of incredible variety and natural wonder. With habitats ranging from snowy mountains to sun-kissed beaches and subtropical paradises, these diverse landscapes are home to creatures including brown bears, raccoon dogs, fiddler crabs and the famous hot-spring-bathing macaque monkeys.
National Geographics Japan’s Wild Secrets is a beautifully shot wildlife documentary. Taking care not to re-tread already well covered ground, the programme skips through landscape after sequence after complex shots. There are plenty of time lapse for enthusiasts (a must with today’s wild life documentary) and for those who like facts and figures, they throw them at you like you’re probably taking notes.
Highlights included a Japanese Macac (also known as a Snow Monkey) pick a bit of sleep from the corner of its eye and after inspecting it, continues to eat it. And mud skippers’ suprising ability to look adorable even thought they’re gooey, spitting out mud and blinking like a parody of a person with mental illness. Even their attempts at looking threatening was cute.
The photography is stunning and inspirational but the end message is a familiar one. That of modern developments threatening the natural environment.
Catch the show on Nat Geo Wild; Tuesday 8th at 9pm

TV Preview: Aftermath – When the Earth stops spinning

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Fox and the National Geographic channel are having an apocalypse week. Nothing says optimism like the end of the world and death on a devastating scale and this is no exception. Our planet is spinning at 1,600 km per hour but this programme predicts what would happen if that spinning stopped. Imagining an Earth that ground to a halt within 5 years we’re told of terrifying scenarios and visions of death, destruction and suffering.

To begin with the differences wouldn’t seem so large, eventually they become so escalated that there seems no corner of the Earth left unscathed. We’re shown graphic death scene after another, corpses floating in an underwater London, ficticious news reports of the unfolding horror. After more terrifying visuals and descriptions of an “earth tearing itself inside out” those who havnt suffocated, drowned, frozen, burned, starved or died of insomnia related accidents either stay in safe places or set sail for new lands.

A boat full of oceanographer/models set sail on an arc to new land. And so begins a new race of beautiful model “settlers”, fishing, farming, watering pot plants, harnessing the power of the wind, only wearing beige and shivering because they never had the need of a jumper. Only the people who previously owned floor length puffer jackets are craggy looking.

Eventually the Earth grinds to a complete stop and the remaining humans are left huddling together like penguins as they spend six months of the year in darkness. I’m not sure why the Earth stopped spinning, this is never explained, but the result is entertaining.

Watch Aftermath – When the Earth stops spinning on the National Geographic and HD channel on 7th June at 9pm

TV Preview: The Seasons with Alan Titchmarsh; Autumn

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I love a good wildlife documentary, If they’re done right they can be relaxing and informative at the same time. Frost Magazine were allowed a preview of ITV’s current offering ‘The Seasons’ so we can tell you all about it.
In ‘The Seasons’; gardening zen master Alan at-one-with-nature Titchmarsh takes us through the seasons and how we’re intrinsicly linked with nature.
This time round it’s Autumn. Mixing time lapse sequences and beautiful photography, The Seasons shows us something about our home country that we’ve forgotten about. As we increasingly move and expand our urban jungles, we’re actively trying to recapture our link to nature. Farmers markets and organic food are booming and we guilt trip ourselves and others into shunning advances in food technology. We’re increasingly seeking a more natural and simplistic way of life. It’s little wonder then that glorious early morning mists in seemingly mystical forests seem so appealing.
Titchmarsh walks us through Autumn explaining why we have seasons by using an electric globe and an orange ball and answering questions like why do leaves turn orange? and why do berries taste bitter after michaelmas?
He also talks about animal behaviour; covering hibernation, migration and how animals prepare for winter; which gives lots of opportunities to show us shots of adorable small mammals and woodland creatures as well as some less adorable insects and a snail in its very own stasis.
The Seasons doesn’t stop at animals and plants, it looks into how humans relation to nature, from Harvest to allotments to sustainable oyster fishing.
It’s a lot of information to cover in one hour long program which means that The Seasons touch upon a great deal of information but doesn’t go into any real depth. Still, it has some great photography. The episode concludes on visions of frosty fields and snowy countrysides which gives you a taste iof what will follow.

The Seasons: Autumn is on ITV1 on 23rd May at 7pm

TV: Lost – The End

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Was it really six years ago that LOST first crashed onto our screens? ‘Breaking ground’ all over the place; LOST has since picked up a raft of awards including an Emmy® for Outstanding Drama Series, a Golden Globe® for Best Television Series (Drama), and Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild Awards.

In 2007, Lindelof and Cuse made the bold decision to announce that LOST would comprise six seasons in total and reach its conclusion in 2010, allowing them to map out exactly how the series would unfold over the final two seasons, whilst also providing dedicated viewers with an endgame.

The sixth season, which debuted on Sky1 HD in February 2010, has answered many long-standing questions posed back in the early days of the show. In perhaps one of the most revealing scenes so far, Jacob (Mark Pelligrino) used the metaphor of a wine bottle to explain the importance of the Island, the true nature of the Man in Black and how and why he must be prevented from fulfilling his wish of escaping. “Think of this wine as… Hell… malevolence, evil, darkness, and here it is – swirling around in the bottle unable to get out, because if it did, it would spread. The cork, is this island, and it’s the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs.” Now with the Man in Black taking on the form of the deceased Locke (Terry O’Quinn), the final episodes are building towards his potential escape. But will Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) or Jacob’s yet-to-be-decided successor “The Candidate”, be able to stop him?

Executive producers and writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse recently put the finishing touches on the final script, and explained that answers to the mysteries will continue to unravel. Cuse commented: “It was very profound for us, as we had written a cryptic scene, and we thought, no, these characters are actually at the place where they can have a discussion about what is going on here. It was very weird to take these closely held secrets and actually put them in the scene. It was very liberating and exciting.”

George Lucas sent an open letter to executive producers Lindelof and Cuse the show on its run and offering some words of support. Poking fun at the producers he says: “Congratulations on pulling off an amazing show. Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories — let’s call them homages — and you’ve got a series.”

If you’ve never watched LOST, I’d love to give you an overview of what you’ve missed, except I’m still not sure myself. Watch this video and anyone would think that even the script writers get confused.

The final season has also introduced the concept of flash-sideways, portraying two parallel universes. The scenes on the island depict a universe where the bomb failed to detonate and the survivors remained, whereas the flash-sideways show a world where Oceanic 815 landed and the passengers never ended up living together. However, destiny appears to be drawing them together regardless as their lives end up colliding despite the reversal of history. Indeed, following a recent meeting with Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) starts to feel as if he has led another life before and plans to ‘awaken’ the other passengers on Oceanic 815 – starting with crashing his car into Locke as he crosses the road.

On Friday 28 May at 7pm, Sky1 HD and Sky1 will kick off an evening celebrating LOST with a two hour US special entitled LOST: THE FINAL JOURNEY. The documentary will take a retrospective look at the past six seasons of the series and delve into what has transpired during the current season as a primer leading into the finale.

At 9pm, it’s time for LOST: The End, a two and a half hour conclusion to a television phenomenon and an unmissable landmark event in television history. Fans need not despair as at 11.30pm, two of Sky1 HD’s specials, THE END IS NIGH and TOP 10 GREATEST SCENES will follow.

by Genevieve Sibayan

TV; Fringe comes to a head – Season Finale.

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The second season of The brainchild of LOST mastermind JJ Abrams and the creative team behind ALIAS and Star Trek; FRINGE is almost at an end.
It has established itself as one of the weirdest, action-packed and thrilling sci-fi dramas on television. The series follows the extraordinary exploits of FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), eccentric scientist Dr Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) as they cut through the bureaucracy of otherworldly atrocities.

While I don’t want to give too much away; FRINGE follows the FBI’s ‘Fringe Division’ team, headed up by Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) as they investigate ‘The Pattern’, a series of unexplained, strange and often stomach churning occurrences that are linked to an alternative universe. So far in the second season, Olivia, Peter and Walter have continued to experience their fair share of spine-tingling encounters, including a town full of people deformed by a scientific experiment and a lethal virus that causes its victim’s veins to explode.

While investigating these events, the characters have to deal with problems of their own. In perhaps one of the series’ most revealing episodes, ‘Peter’, a flashback reveals how Walter ended up kidnapping Peter’s alternative self from the parallel universe following his death in the real world. Walter had been battling with whether to tell Peter, especially since Olivia had discovered the truth, but it was not long before Peter found out of his own accord.

So what’s in store for the finale? There’s set to be another appearance of Leonard Nimoy as William Bell and more action from the parallel universe.

Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner said, “It really sets up a satisfying conclusion to what people have invested in this year, but also sort of opens up a whole other level of understanding that hopefully will propel us into season three and further. [There are] a lot of very exciting things that we’ve come up with that we’re really excited to tell.”

The second season finale of FRINGE, airing Tuesday 1 June at 10pm, exclusively on Sky1 HD and Sky1.