Talking Telly | Anglotopia

BBC loses court battle; The Stig’s identity presumably revealed

September 1, 2010 By Dana Leave a Comment

The BBC has failed to halt the publication of a planned memoir by a former Formula Three driver who claims to be Top Gear’s the Stig.

The High Court in London refused to grant an injunction against HarperCollins of an autobiography written by Ben Collins. The BBC had launched legal action last week, arguing the book would breach confidentiality obligations.

Several British publications had already speculated that Collins was the Stig, who wears a white racing uniform and does racing test runs for the BBC Two show, based on financial records from his company.

When the BBC began to seek the injunction, officials with HarperCollins accused executives of wasting taxpayers’ licence fees on attempting to keep The Stig’s identity secret. However, representative of the BBC cited confidentiality statements signed by Top Gear talent and staff and said that such a revelation violates copyright.

Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman said in a blog post on the show’s website last week that the rights to The Stig belong to the licence payers, “not to some opportunists who think they can come along and take a slice when they feel like it.”

The whole point of the Stig is the mystique – the bizarre characteristics he has, the wonderment created about what he might think, feel, do or look like. Kids adore the conceit, and I believe adults, although they know it’s a man in a suit (or is it?), gladly buy into the whole conceit because they find it entertaining.

Collins, who has not been officially verified by the BBC as The Stig, presumably took over the role in 2003 after the original “black” Stig, driver Perry McCarthy, also outed himself in an autobiography.

To see immediate reaction to the news from within British entertainment (including Jonathan Ross’ Tweet that he himself is actually the Stig) check out my British TV Twitter list.

Filed Under: BBC, British TV, Talking Telly, Top Gear Tagged With: BBC, ben collins, the stig, Top Gear

Talking Telly: Farewell to ‘The Bill’

August 31, 2010 By Dana Leave a Comment

“The Bill” is one of those British evening institution shows, kind of like “Law & Order” has been in the US. It’s Britain’s longest-running police procedural television series, beginning in 1983. And like L&O, it’s on its way out the door. Tonight is its final show.

It’s kind of interesting, because much like British soap operas, the main charm of “The Bill” seems to have been in its history and tradition, not because it’s particularly riveting television. In fact, the show was frequently a subject of many comedy skits and jokes on panel shows.

When the news broke about its cancellation in March, comments began pouring in on the Radio Times story about it and haven’t stopped. The last episode was the main topic of discussion on this morning’s Radio 1 morning show, mostly because one of the sidekicks is known to be a weekly watcher of the show and is going through all the stages of grief. And talk about it has been all over Twitter.

Personally, I never got into it partly because I’ve never really been into police dramas. But if you do watch the finale or want to get a good taste of what it was about, make sure to check out this excellent column in The Guardian that details all of the details Brits could always count on when they watched the show. Frankly, it’s almost a list of the tropes present in all crime dramas, but these have a distinctly Anglophile twist.

Filed Under: British TV, Talking Telly Tagged With: itv, the bill

Best X Factor audition of the week: Mary Byrne

August 29, 2010 By Dana 2 Comments

One of the things that makes “The X Factor” much better than “American Idol” is the lack of an upper-end age limit. The over-30′s even get their own mentor, although they usually don’t make it far once the live shows start. But Mary Byrne may.

Mary is 50 and works at a Tesco in Ireland. She had quit singing for 11 years because of low self-esteem. Yes, the story has some similarities to Susan Boyle. And like Susan Boyle, she blew me away with her rendition of “I Who Have Nothing.”

I’m happiest because the Auto-Tune scandal happened the first week and Mary was aired without any tweaks, so unlike everyone the first week (and indeed all past contestants and Boyle herself) there is no doubt that she sounds completely incredible.

Filed Under: British TV, Talking Telly Tagged With: mary byrne, the x factor

Talking Telly: C4 to debut new Boyle show; orders election night comedy follow-up

August 28, 2010 By Dana Leave a Comment

As Channel 4 unveiled their fall and winter lineups this week and continue to develop other projects, they clearly aren’t skimping on the comedy in future months as they fill the hole left by departing “Big Brother.” Nor are they skirting away from controversy or political humor, with former “Mock the Week” panelist Frankie Boyle returning to television and a rumored return by the cast of “Channel 4′s Alternative Election Night”

“Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights” was described by Channel 4 promoters as “no-holds-barred stand up” show that will feature pre-filmed sketches. Considering Boyle’s uneasy at best relationship with the censors at the BBC, one of the highlights should be a sketch described at the British Comedy Guide as “‘Untitled Street’, a new BBC soap opera which is so politically correct that actor’s faces are blanked out to avoid offence and plots are so ambiguous that the viewers have to guess for themselves what it’s about.”

Two other new shows slated for fall and winter runs on C4 feature unknown comic Morgana Robinson, who will be doing sketch-based comedy that sounds very Catherine Tate-like as well as celebrity impressions, and not-so-unknown Robert Webb, who will debut “Robert’s Web” *rimshot* where he examines the funny available online each week before a studio audience.

As for a possible return of Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne, the British Comedy Guide says that C4 has ordered an untitled show by the team that produced the special to run on either Thursday or Friday nights at 10 p.m. from Zeppotron, the production company behind Brooker’s “Newswipe,” Mitchell’s “Would I Lie To You?” and Carr’s “8 Out of 10 Cats” (which also returns this fall.) Talks are reportedly underway to bring back all four presenters, but there’s a very tight turnaround on inking deals. The show is reportedly slated to begin airing in October.

In case you actually watched regular BBC or Sky election night coverage and missed the excellence of the C4 show, it was probably the closest that “The Daily Show” has ever come to England beyond getting John Oliver to jump across the pond. Quite sensibly, they didn’t put Brooker on until after the polls closed. No problems with that on the follow-up!

Filed Under: British TV, Talking Telly Tagged With: channel 4, channel 4 alternative election night, Charlie Brooker, David Mitchell, frankie boyle, jimmy carr, Robert Webb

Talking Telly: BBC to produce more ‘Sherlock’ next year – More Details Inside!

August 28, 2010 By Dana Leave a Comment

It was a foregone conclusion after a huge debut on BBC One that more episodes of “Sherlock” would be coming. But now it’s official that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s retelling of the classic will be back on British television screens next fall.

At the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, BBC Controller Jay Hunt said that three additional 90-minute episodes of the show, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, have been commissioned. The first three episodes of the show aired on BBC One in July and will air in the US on PBS in October.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the warmth of response to our new Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and can’t wait to take them on three new adventures next year,” said Gatiss and Moffat in a statement. “There’ll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies – whether on two, or four legs. And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?”

Gatiss also took to his Twitter account with the news, although he later said to fans, “Hope you understand that the writing & production of 3×90′ films doesn’t happen overnight.” Presumably that was to squelch the frustration that there will be another year to wait now after one of the better cliffhanger endings on modern television.

At the festival, Hunt also said the network has commissioned two additional two-hour specials of “Luther” to air next year, a new comedy panel show headed by Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert, and yet another British cookery show, this one with food author Simon Hopkinson.