BBC
War of the Worlds is as bad as Doctor Who
Edwardian England deserved everything it got from those killer Martian invaders. Or so I learned from the BBC’s latest adaptation…
Patronising, clichéd and corny: BBC1’s Gold Digger reviewed
Some last taboos, it seems, can remain last taboos no matter how frequently they’re confronted. Grief, the menopause, masturbation, mental…
Hillary Clinton is right to question transgender orthodoxy
Hillary Clinton’s BBC interview in London is making headlines mainly about Russia, but students of the debate about transgender rights…
God awful: BBC1’s His Dark materials reviewed
‘Here’s your new Sunday night obsession…’ the BBC announcer purred, overintoned and mini-orgasmed, like she was doing an audition for…
Why I love a bit of death on a Sunday night
There’s nothing like a nice bit of death on a Sunday evening. Radio 4 originally transmit their obituary programme Last…
BBC wildlife documentaries are just a chance to tell us all off
Older readers may remember a time when landmark BBC wildlife documentary series were joyous celebrations of the miraculous fecundity of…
Can giving voice to the horrors of the past re-traumatise?
It is 50 years since Ronald Blythe published Akenfield, his melancholy portrait of a Suffolk village on the cusp of…
How the BBC can achieve real diversity
Exciting news from the BBC, where every employee has just received a flyer from the Director-General, Lord Hall, informing them…
The BBC’s Brexit coverage is a disgrace
Lord Patten, rejected by voters 27 years ago, is the embodiment of a smug un-elected elite. As former chairman of…
How did BBC’s Late Night Line-Up get its name?
The title of the television review and discussion programme Late Night Line-Up is a curious one. I’d be interested if…
The BBC’s latest attack on Netflix is galling
Lord Hall of Birkenhead is feeling pretty bullish about the quality of the organisation he leads. “We’re not Netflix, we’re…
Why 80 per cent of young people in this Macedonian town have turned to posting ‘fake news’
It’s such a relief to turn on the radio and hear the voice of Neil MacGregor. That reasoned authority, his…
Desert Island Discs has completely lost the plot
There’s a cultural problem at the BBC, isn’t there? The Corporation is trying to attract under-35s — the sort who…
How to talk to astronauts
Television has the pictures but the most spine-tingling moments in the recordings from the Apollo space missions are the bursts…
I admit it: I enjoyed the Women’s World Cup
I was asked on to the BBC Today programme — my old manor — last week to talk about the…
Kanye wipes the floor with David Letterman
My plan to cut the BBC out of my life entirely is working well. Apart from the occasional forgivable lapse…
Jonathan Dimbleby is right: we need to rise up and defend the BBC
There’s been a Dimbleby on air since before I was born but last Friday saw the end of that era…
Nice men make terrible leaders
The Duke of Marlborough gave a toast last week that brought the house down during a Turning Point dinner for…
Diversity’s valued — unless it’s diversity of opinion
The BBC has advised its journalists not to use the word ‘terror’ or ‘terrorist’ when some bloke blows himself up…
What would you do if you were a Syrian migrant?
‘Put yourself in their shoes,’ says Zahra Mackaoui, a British-Lebanese journalist who has been following the stories of refugees from…
Sunday night on the Beeb was an orgy of virtue-signalling and third-rate sport
After its new costume drama You Go, Girl! (Sundays) about how amazing, empowered and better-than-men women are, especially if they…
Are the ‘village idiots’ right about Brexit?
The former BBC presenter Gavin Esler has very kindly given us an insight into how BBC people think (had we…
The UN’s extinction warning doesn’t add up
Anyone watching the BBC’s News at Ten on Monday would have been surprised to learn that economic growth poses a…
Why do we still use the Qwerty keyboard layout and not Dvorak?
‘Can you fly down this evening?’ she was asked by her boss in the Delhi office of the BBC. ‘Yes,…
Why was Something Understood cut?
It was never given the choicest slot in the schedule, airing first thing on Sunday morning with a repeat at…
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