Author Archives | Plattie
Plattie is Pop Vultures’ London-based BBC correspondent. She has a deep and abiding respect for the Beeb, based on a childhood in which her mum wouldn’t let her watch any of the other channels because they ‘weren’t educational’. Now, Plattie has seen Strictly Come Dancing, so she questions the idea that everything the BBC produces can be described as ‘educational’, but she does know that most of it is good, a lot of it is great, and some of it is so terrible that it has a genius all its own.
Food, Fools and Freud: Taste of My Life
Have I mentioned how much I love the BBC’s iPlayer? Well I do. And not just because it enables me to catch up on shows I’ve missed. It also allows me to discover freaky weird little shows that I’d never normally hear about. Case in point: Taste of My Life, with Nigel Slater. The premise of [...]
Continue reading...Don’t Know Much About History?
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Excuse me for getting all intellectual on your collective asses this week, but I have for once been indulging in some television which actually has redeeming educational value. I know! I was shocked too. Don’t worry, I’m still hooked on Britain’s Next Top Model and I have yet to find a better ironing companion than [...]
Continue reading...Seeing Through The Invisibles
Thursday, May 8, 2008
When I heard that Anthony Head (best known for playing Giles in Buffy) was appearing in The Invisibles, a BBC drama about a retired master criminal trying to go straight and failing, I was cautiously optimistic. I’m a big fan of heist shows, like Hustle, in which clever types plot to steal money in ingenious [...]
Continue reading...Stephen Fry Presses On
Thursday, April 24, 2008
It is no secret that I am rather a lot in love with Stephen Fry. Basically, I want to have his erudite, sarcastic babies. Naturally, I was thrilled to find he has been branching out from hosting QI to present a documentary series about the Gutenberg printing press. The Gutenberg press, in case you don’t know, [...]
Continue reading...Examining The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I was working in a bookshop when The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith was first published, and I remember that there was some debate over whether we should shelve it in the crime fiction section or not. It did, after all, purport to be about a detective agency. But the jacket design [...]
Continue reading...What Not to Watch: Lily Allen and Friends
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Before I say anything else about Lily Allen and Friends, the flagship show of BBC 3’s new lineup, in the interests of full disclosure I must declare: I am 27, and this show makes me feel old. It is just possible this may have coloured my opinion of the programme somewhat. First of all, it’s presented [...]
Continue reading...Werewolves, Vampires and Ghosts, Oh My
Thursday, February 28, 2008
It seems that the BBC has adopted the American practice of making pilots of its new dramas before going on to produce a full series. One such pilot currently being shown on the new and fabulous BBC iPlayer (sadly not available to those reading outside the UK) is begging to be picked up for [...]
Continue reading...How the BBC Killed a Nation’s Sex Drive
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Remember, if you will, the most excruciatingly embarrassing experience you’ve ever had in your life. I know, I’m sorry to put you through this, but I’m trying to illustrate a point here. Are you doing it? Are you cringing right now? Well, just wait, because I promise you, the TV show I’m about to tell [...]
Continue reading...Our Radio Is Better Than Yours
Thursday, February 7, 2008
There are many (many, many) things that America does better than Britain: peanut-butter-based candies, Halloween, breakfast foods, and Target, to name but a few. But you know what? We’ve got you colonials beat when it comes to radio. And, unlike all the other BBC programming I chunter on about, I am delighted to tell you [...]
Continue reading...Comfort Television
Thursday, January 31, 2008
There are a few shows that the BBC makes which I have always found curiously compelling, even though, on the surface, they have very little to recommend them. These are the shows that I will watch when there’s nothing else on, or when I have to do the ironing, or when I can’t quite be [...]
Continue reading...- Fall Cleaning
- Why I Hate British Soaps
- 5 Best TV Pilots
- On the Fringe of Quality TV
- Revisiting Pushing Daisies
- They Can Be Heroes
- Why I Can't Commit to Mad Men
- Big Ideas and Humiliating Holes
- Project Runway Takes a Break
- 5 Predictions for the 2008 Emmy Awards
- Scooter McGavin: I did mst of my "Fall Cleaning" a couple years ago...
- Kate: I, too, have a mad crush on James May. I do hope h...
- Carrie: Er...I didn't know Hole in the Wall was on. I will...
- Carrie: I've only seen the opener, and it didn't do much f...
- helenf: No hate or love for Hollyoaks? It's great as a lig...
- Big Ideas and Humiliating Holes
- House Trained
- They Can Be Heroes
- Revisiting Pushing Daisies
- Fall Cleaning
- Why I Hate British Soaps
Latest Videos
Supernatural returns this Thursday, and about damn time, too.
The BBC has released the first trailer for Merlin, the 13-episode retelling of the famous fantasy saga. The series will also air on NBC this winter.
Kristen Chenoweth uses the power of song to explain exactly why crystal meth is a bad thing. Some NSFW language.
Heroes returns September 22, and it looks awfully shiny and pretty. I’m looking forward to giving it another chance, even with Sylar still in play. Stupid Sylar.
PV's TV 
Wednesday’s top picks:
Pushing Daisies visits the circus on tonight’s episode, all but guaranteeing a visual feast. ABC, 9:00
On tonight’s Bones, Brennan and Booth solve a murder. Never saw that coming, did ya? FOX, 8:00
At long last, Project Runway heads to the finale. I’m watching this, then I’m done with this show. DONE, I tell you. Bravo, 9:00
I should be done with America’s Next Top Model. I would like to respect myself again. And yet, I can’t seem to look away. CW, 8:00
Thursday, June 5, 2008
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