September 2007 Archives

Dancing with the Stars (Friday 8pm, UKTV Gold)

With Strictly Come Dancing limbering up for a new season, UKTV Gold brings us the American spin on this ever-popular format. Among the celebs you’ll find Jane Seymour (still looking fabulous), 90210 refugee Jennie Garth, Marie Osmond (gasp!) and Melanie (Scary Spice) Brown.

The IT Crowd (Friday 10pm, C4)

I’ve enjoyed this series much more than first time out, so I’m sad to see it leave the schedules at the end of the second series. There’s a lesson to be learnt here that just because something is rubbish at first, doesn’t mean the producers can’t learn from the experience and put out a decent second attempt. Will Jen leave the boys behind when she gets appointed as Douglas’s PA and, more importantly, will we get a third series?

Not Going Out (Friday 10pm, BBC1)

Work with me here, eh? Until the impending arrival of Ugly Betty and the new series of Rebus next week, I’m casting about for something halfway decent to watch tonight. And this is about the best I can do – sadly, reheated French and Saunders doesn’t quite cut it.

Strictly Come Dancing (Saturday 6pm, BBC1)

Tess and Brucie are back, but things don’t start properly until next week as this is a preview show of the contest ahead. There’s lots of backstage stuff here, and profiles of the celebrities taking part this year.

Casualty (Saturday 8.35pm, BBC1)

Surely this uprise in the fortunes of Casualty can’t last. The start of this series has made me remember just how great this show used to be, and it goes beyond the new, darker look to proceedings. Casualty has actually started concentrating on drama and story again, and this week, we focus on Guppy who has some decisions about the future to make when he is involved in an accident on a train. Good stuff, but not as good as Holby. Obviously!

The National Movie Awards (Saturday 9.30pm, ITV1)

Eh? Can somebody please explain the point of this, please? ITV has been trying to get an annual movie awards show off the ground for years, and it always stalls. I don’t see this improving the situation any. It all seems so pointless, even with the smooth Alexander Armstrong on hosting duties. We have the Baftas, so can we file this under Redundant as soon as humanly possible?

Bremner, Bird and Fortune (Sunday 7pm, C4)

An hour seems an overly long stretch for Bremner and co’s particular brand of satire – a half hour slot would sharpen the bite somewhat. However, this is always going to be well-written, well-observed stuff, and in the current political climate, a welcome return to the schedules.

Celebrity Wife Swap (Sunday 8pm, C4)

I was hoping that RDF might have secreted some footage of the Queen in here, but sadly it was not to be. Instead we get Pete Burns and partner, Michael, swapping places with ex-footie star Neil Ruddock (aka Razor) and his other half. With hilarious results. The term celebrity being used here in the loosest sense of the word.

Agatha Christie’s Marple (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)

Look, it’s quite simple. Poirot is called Poirot, right? Miss Marple is called Miss Marple. Stop trying to franchise Christie, okay? Despite the fact this naming misnomer irritates the hell out of me, these adaptations of the Miss Marple stories are great fun, although they never approach the greatness of the Joan Hickson outings. Ordeal by Innocence features the sleuth attending a wedding, but naturally, as events unfold, she finds a houseful of secrets and danger. Denis Lawson, Alison Steadman and Jane Seymour guest-star.

One of the reasons why TV listings magazines continue to sell so well, when all other sectors of the magazine publishing industry find it an increasingly competitive environment, is that taking in what’s on at a certain time of day is so much easier on paper.

Open up the print edition of the Radio Times, for example, and you easily what’s on TV tomorrow evening on the top five channels, complete with programme summaries and limited production credits. Ever since the magazine’s latest redesign, you can also see summaries of the primetime schedules for some of the bigger digital channels.

Even in print, the method of listing each channel’s schedule as a vertical column is far from ideal, though, especially now that most households have access to digital television with far too many channels to comfortably fit side-by-side in print.

26th September 1987. A date of severe cultural importance rivalled by no other. Yes, this was the date that The Chuckle Brothers arrived on children’s television. And, 20 years later, which must be something of a mystery, they’re still there.

Although Radio Times still has a schedule showing for the next few days at least, it appears that ABC1 has shut down completely. It was known that the Disney-owned channel would be leaving Freeview, but apparently the decision has been made to shut down across all platforms. The website merely says:

We regretfully announce that Walt Disney Television will no longer be transmitting abc1 on any of the UK TV platforms (Freeview, cable or satellite) after September 2007. Walt Disney Television would like to thank its viewers for watching the channel and interacting with the website. It’s been a great few years and we appreciate your viewership.

Ah, well. We’ll have to go elsewhere for the umpteenth rerun of 8 Simple Rules from now on…

After allegations of irregularities in phone voting in 2005, ITV1 announced last week that it will not be broadcasting the 2007 British Comedy Awards.

Now, MediaGuardian is reporting that Channel 4 is poised to transmit the show, after BBC1 controller Peter Fincham turned down the programme rights.

ITV’s decision not to air this year’s awards stem from public phone votig for the People’s Choice awards. While the first half of the awards ceremony was broadcast live, after a break for the news the programme was transmitted on a delayed ‘as live’ basis. In July, The Sun alleged that people were still being asked to phone in to vote for the People’s Choice award even though the prize had already been presented to Ant and Dec.

While ITV declined to transmit this year’s awards during an investigation into the allegations, it’s understood that they want to show the awards from 2008 onwards. Last year’s ceremony was seen by 5 million viewers and a 23% share of the audience over the 90 minutes from 9pm.

Via SFX’s RSS feed comes information on Terrifying Torchwood.

PJ Hammond, who created the excellent Sapphire and Steel and wrote Small Worlds for series 1 of Torchwood, has blabbed a little about the story he’s written for the show’s second series.

Warning: Possible spoilers ahead…

Some are in. Some are out. Thankfully no soap stars have been shaking it all about recently, but it’s probably just a matter of time.

Yes, it’s all go in Soapland. Your intrepid TV Today correspondent has just about recovered from Monday evening’s Inside Soap Awards, and much fun was had by all.

So Channel 3 breakfast broadcaster GMTV has now been fined a record £2 million for what Ofcom says “could not… be described as anything other than gross negligence”.

Ofcom uncovered four different types of misconduct relating to GMTV’s premium rate phone lines, which were managed by Opera Telecom:

• From August 2003 to May 2005, competition lines would remain open until midnight, with twenty finalists selected, one of whom would be chosen on air the following day. However, Opera staff were regularly selecting the finalists between 9pm and 11pm, ensuring that anybody that paid to enter after the draw time, but before the lines closed, had no chance of ever winning.

• From May 2005 to August 2006, the competitions changed so that the lines closed at 9am. Twenty finalists would be selected, out of which one winner would selected ‘out of the hat’. However, GMTV and Opera agreed that 15 of the finalists would be selected at 8:30am, with a final five being selected from calls placed between 8:30am and 9am. This meant the chance of winning was considerably reduced for anyone entering the competition after 8:30am.

• From May 2005 to August 2006 (i.e., at the same time as the ‘15/5’ rule agreed between GMTV and Opera above), Opera were sending over the list of the final five finalists before the lines closed at 9am, ensuring that some entrants had no chance of winning at all.

• From June 2005 to February 2007, Opera workers were regularly selecting winners before they ended their shift at 8am. Opera’s GMTV account manager would then ‘top up’ the list of finalists with randomly selected names before sending the list to GMTV.

Interesting news from the BBC, with a fairly severe change in format for Strictly Come Dancing, moving the results show to Sunday evenings — which, with the Monday to Friday Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, means that SCD fans will have a new fix of ballroom dancing every day of the week.

There are some major changes to the format as a result — more of that after the jump…

Although it came after Musicality, which has good claim to be the original musical theatre reality show, it was the BBC’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? which turned the selection process over to the public and triggered a series of similar shows, most successfully Any Dream Will Do.

Now, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has become the latest to buy the format from the BBC, and like the original series, will be looking for a new Maria von Trapp. To be shown in Summer 2008, the theatre production duties will be handled by Mirvish Productions.

Expect the hype for new TV channel Virgin 1 to start ramping up over the next week, in preparation for its launch next Monday, October 1.

The channel’s website has gone into preview mode right now, with a video embodying the slogan “No soaps, no makeovers, no nonsense, just proper telly”. So far, their programming seems to consist of mainly US imports — opening night launches with the UK premiere of The Riches, starring Brits Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as con artists, for example (see Rob Buckley’s verdict on the first three episodes). Later on, the channel will be showing Terminator spin-off The Sarah Connor Chronicles, starring Summer “River off Firefly” Glau and Thomas “Zach off Heroes” Dekker.

The new series of The Simpsons started in America this week. Of course, since the last series ended we’ve had The Simpsons Movie, which disrupted events in Springfield far more than an average episode does.

The opening titles for the first in the new series reflect that. Warning: don’t watch this if you haven’t seen the film yet:

[via TV & Satellite Week]

But wait — there’s more…

The BBC Trust have given their provision backing to a permanent high-definition channel on satellite and cable — with a few provisos.

After Ofcom published its Market Impact Assessment [PDF] saying that it didn’t believe an HD channel for the BBC would have a negative impact on the competition, the Trust had to decide whether the BBC would actually be providing a public service by creating the channel. Their provisional conclusion is that it will.

The trial BBC HD channel which currently runs on cable and satellite will, in effect, now become permanent. However, if the BBC wanted to provide HD over Freeview now, rather than waiting until switchover is complete in 2012, it would only be able to provide a four-hour schedule broadcasting between 2am and 6am every morning. The capacity for this interim HD broadcast would only be available by closing BBC Parliament, BBC Four and three BBCi streams during those hours.

Another problem exists with this arrangement: if the BBC wanted to be able to provide the same nine-hour HD service on Freeview after switchover as it does on cable and satellite, viewers will have to buy a different set-top box to be able to pick it up.

The Sarah Jane Adventures (Monday 5pm, BBC1)

Forget the bloated Torchwood, this is the Doctor Who spin-off we’ve all been waiting for! Elisabeth Sladen returns as the ageless Sarah Jane Smith, a character I’ve been watching on the box since 1974 (and she looks younger than me), and the fact she now has her own series gives me a real thrill. After the excellent Invasion of the Bane at Christmas, this two-parter is joyously written by Gareth Roberts as Sarah and her teen sidekicks investigate strange goings-on at the local school, where it turns out the Slitheen (they of the flatulent tendencies from Doctor Who) are hatching a deadly plan. It’s fast, funny, frightening and shares more in common with the parent series than Torchwood ever could. Just one request: where the heck is K9?

Doc Martin (Monday 9pm ITV1)

The sleepy comedy drama returns for a new run, with Martin Clunes as the grumpy GP. It’s all business as usual (which usually means not very much) in the sleepy Cornish village, and I’m often bewildered as to why this is so popular. Seven episodes to go of same old, same old, but Clunes makes it almost worth tuning in. Just.

Prison Break (Monday 10pm, Sky One)

Showing right on the tail of the American airings for this third series, Prison Break is back behind bars after being snatched from Five by Sky One. Ah well, they get Neighbours so it’s all swings and roundabouts. It’s a new prison, with Michael now in the slammer in Panama with his formerly banged up bro Lincoln having to do the freeing thing. It’s all a bit overblown, to be honest, but it’s undeniably watchable at a level, and fans will be pleased to see it back.

Tribe (Tuesday 9pm, BBC2)

Last in the current series as Brice Parry goes in search of the last remaining Penan tribe in the jungles of Borneo. Always great TV, this one seems a little more affecting than others due to the plight of the tribe.

Gavin and Stacey (Tuesday 10pm, BBC2)

As you know, we love G&S at TV Today, and this final episode contains everything that’s great about the series, and provides a great pay-off if you’ve been there since the beginning. It’s the wedding day, and while there’s no doubt that the wedding will take place, there’s still the question of what happened between Uncle Bryn and Stacey’s brother, and whether Smithy will stay sober enough to deliver his best man’s speech. Brilliant.

Heroes (Wednesday 9pm, BBC2)

A double-bill of Heroes action, and it’s all ticking along quite nicely. Doctor Who fans should pay attention tonight as waywardly brief Time Lord Christopher Eccleston makes his debut in the series.

Torn (Wednesday 9pm, ITV1)

Second in this rather taut drama about an abducted girl who is returned to her real family 12 years later. But it’s not all sweetness and light and the ripples of Alice’s return spread through the family, not to mention the effect it has on those left behind. Holly Aird, breaking away from Waking the Dead, easily proves her acting chops, and Bradley Walsh also impresses. Concludes next week.

The Whistleblowers (Thursday 9pm, ITV1)

I find Richard Coyle bizarrely irritating, but I’m not going to let that stand in the way of my enjoyment of this Tony Marchant penned drama. Coyle plays top-flight lawyer Ben who, along with colleague Alisha, witnesses something that turns their lives upside down. Together they investigate what they saw, blowing the whistle some dirty dealings. It’s all set up here, leading to our characters setting up a practice to blow the lid on all sorts of goings-on over the coming weeks. Promising.

The Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Thursday 10pm, ITV2)

It seems fitting that in the week Chris Eccleston makes his debut in Heroes, his former partner in time Billie Piper embarks on the latest stage of her stellar career. This is a steamy adaptation of the blog Belle de jour: Diary of a London Call Girl that sees Piper cavorting around in all manner of situations as the titular high class prostitute. Some will hate this, some will be unable to take their eyes of the screen, but it’s worth it for Piper who continues to impress.

Now, I love Spooks as much as the next man. Unless the next man turns out to be my mate Jim, who has written two books about the series, in which case I’m very much playing gooseberry. But still — it’s been consistently one of my favourite shows.

That said, I did get a feeling last series that the format was getting a little tired. There are only so many ways a threat to national security can be played such that everything gets wrapped up nicely in an hour, after all — and at times it seemed as if the whole series was degrading into a more heavily budgeted version of Bugs. While the introduction of Hermione Norris as the gloriously spiky Ros Myers was welcome, I haven’t been counting the days until series six, I must admit.

Until now. Now, I can’t wait. Because Spooks series six is about to get a makeover.

Instead of standalone episodes, we’ll get a single ten-episode story, plunging our favourite MI5 operatives at the heart of a global operation that will encompass the UK, the USA and Iran. At the start of the series, Zaf (Raza Jaffrey) will be working undercover in Tehran, attempting to place a bomb on a civilian train in an effort to flush out a spy. Meanwhile, Adam (Rupert Penry-Jones) is having an affair with a key assent in the Iranian embassy, while Ros finds herself questioning her own ability to carry out the demands of a government she does not support…

The new series, which also sees Gemma Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary) join as a desk officer to replace the much-missed Ruth, seems intent on examining the sort of issues which are dominating the headlines once again. And while it no longer enjoys episodes penned by Howard Brenton, the writing team for the new series — Neil Cross, Rupert Walters, David Farr, Zinnie Harris, George Tiffin and Ben Richards — will hopefully be able to provide some high-octane thrills.

Now, let’s hope that Rogue Spooks doesn’t undo their hard work…

We’ve been leading up to today with a week of features as part of High School Musical week on TV Today: the behind-the-scenes video podcast, interviews with high flying Disney Channel executives, information on see High School Musical on stage — or even act in it yourself and an interview with Kelsi Nielsen, aka actress Olesya Rulin.

But the big question remains — is High School Musical 2 any good?

[For those who need the warning, the review below contains spoilers]

High School Musical Disney Channel, Friday 6pm (repeated throughout the weekend)
Yes, it’s finally here — the record-breaking sequel to the record-breaking TV movie. There’ll be a fuller review in a Square Eyes special later today, but for now, let’s just say it’s annoyingly infectious while never quite reaching the warm innocence of its predecessor.

EastEnders BBC1, Friday 8pm
So who has been tormenting Ian with the suggestion that dead ex-wife Cindy might actually be alive? He finds out tonight…

A Bucket o’ French and Saunders BBC1, Friday 9pm The problem with the hybrid clip-show-plus-new-sketches format is that, while the trips down memory lane are able to cherry pick highlights, the new elements are just as patchy as ever, and look mighty inferior as a result. Still, the sight of Dawn French as a gurning Andrew Lloyd Webber (a sketch already available on the BBC’s YouTube channel) demonstrates that the pair can, on occasion, reach the point of genius again.

QI BBC2, Friday 9pm
It seems like far too long since the last series of this gloriously highbrow comedy quiz, but here we are at last with a fifth run. Quizmaster Stephen Fry dispenses dry, off-the-cuff humour like nobody else on the planet, while Alan Davies revels in his status of one who “rushes headlong like a puppy into the wall of ignorance.”

Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays BBC4, Friday 9pm
This story of Factory Records isn’t a full obituary of the late Tony Wilson, but it does celebrate his character and that of the city he loved.

The World’s Greatest Elvis BBC1, Saturday 6.55pm and 9.30pm
A curio in the pantheon of Saturday evening talent shows, as Vernon Kay hosts a competition to find the best Elvis tribute artist (ETA for short). Just pointing it out so that you can avoid it.

How to be a Good Prime Minister BBC4, Saturday 7pm
It’s just as well that the BBC Trust have ruled out closing BBC4 as part of its cost cutting, as recently there have been nights where I would happily watch nothing else. Saturday is a case in point: this look at what it takes to be a good premier is followed by three examples of the channel’s best: The Thick of It Special: Spinners and Losers, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe Guide to TV (a repeat of Tuesday’s show, itself a compilation of best bits from Screenwipe itself) and Flight of the Conchords Special, first shown on Tuesday as a prelude to the full series that starts next week.

Nureyev: from Russia With Love BBC2, Saturday 9.30pm
A fascinating look at the life of one of the world’s greatest ballet dancers, specifically covering the period before he defected in 1961. Featuring never-before-seen footage shot by Nureyev’s lover Teja Kremke, this is a must-see for anyone with even a passing interest in the performing arts.

Elton John: Me, Myself & I ITV1, Saturday 9.40pm
The musical legend looks back at his own life. The publicity for the show emphasises that modern technology will be used to “transport Elton back in time”, so this is unlikely to be your standard talking heads video. Notably, it’s directed by James Strong, who these days is more accustomed to directing Ood, Daleks and Kylie Minogue in Doctor Who, so if Elton’s notoriously monstrous temper shows up he should be well prepared…

Agatha Christie’s Marple: At Bertram’s Hotel ITV1 Sunday 9pm
If you want an accurate and authentic adaptation of the books, stick with Joan Hickson reruns on UKTV Drama (The Body in the Library is on Saturday at 2pm, while at the same time on Sunday you can see Hickson’s version of At Bertram’s Hotel). ITV’s version, dramatised by Tom MacRae takes numerous liberties with the script, including creating a role for Martine McCutcheon as a cheery Cockney hotel maid. As ever, Geraldine McEwan is delightful as the spinster sleuth, but I can’t help feeling she deserves a better vehicle.

Stuart: a Life Backwards BBC2 Sunday 9pm
Alexander Masters has dramatised his own biography of Stuart Shorter, a homeless alcoholic he befriended, with tremendous sensitivity. Benedict Cumberbatch (Hawking, To the Ends of the Earth) stars as Masters, but it’s Tom Hardy (Cape Wrath) who makes Stuart, and the drama as a whole, stand out. Over on the Guardian’s TV blog, Alexander Masters writes about the techniques involved in adapting his book for the screen.

As part of our ongoing High School Musical week, this animation features characters from animated series Lilo and Stitch dancing along to We’re All In This Together from the first film:

• High School Musical 2, Friday 6pm, Disney Channel

As the name for a channel goes, UKTV G2 has not only been a bit of a mouthful (all those capital letters!), but always felt as if it was playing second fiddle to an as-yet-unseen other channel (where is UKTV G1?)

So it didn’t come as much surprise to hear that UKTV is to rebrand G2 next month.

What did come as a surprise is the channel’s new name.

Dave.

Yes. You saw that correctly. Dave. (Reports that it was going to called a variant on the word ‘Puss’ should maybe be dismissed right now.)

Below is the first look at its online identity:

But here at TV Today, we think they missed a trick. Surely they’d just need to acquire the rights to rerun The League of Gentlemen?

In what surely must go down as one of the most bizarre elements of the recent discussions of TV fakery, the misnaming of the Blue Peter cat. Reports emerged yesterday that an online vote to determine the name of the new feline had been overruled by the production team, who felt that the winning name was not appropriate.

Of course, as soon as the words “not appropriate” were bandied about in realtion to a kids’ show, imaginations went into overdrive. The Times reported coyly that the chosen name had been a variant on Puss. Unfortunately, the paper’s accuracy seems to be as dodgy as the Blue Peter team’s decision making, as it was revealed today that the rejected name was “Cookie”.

Cookie.

[stares hard]

No, no, I can’t see anything wrong with it either. If you can work out why the name is unacceptable, answers on a postcard please to tvtoday@thestage.co.uk. (The Stage reserves the right to ignore the results and make something else up instead. What’s sauce for the goose…)

Anyway, the BBC is to make another on-air apology, and introduce a new kitten named Cookie to the show, when the new series of Blue Peter starts on Monday.

This, and further editorial breaches, were confirmed today when director general Mark Thompson met the increasingly-ironically-named BBC Trust. In reply, the Trust has said that it a culture has developed within the BBC Executive where “knowledge of and adherence to the BBC’s editorial guidelines was inadequate”:

The Trust is clear that these cases arose not because of an individual’s desire for personal gain, but because of some programme-makers’ misguided belief that those decisions… were more important than honesty and fairness to the audience.

Had the BBC editorial guidelines already been complied with, none of these breaches would have occurred.

One silver lining to come out of this cloud is the commissioning of a major new online project which will, in Thompson’s words, “enable the public to explore how contemporary media content is produced. The BBC believes this will be a major contribution to media literacy in Britain.” The project is being overseen by Roly Keating, controller of BBC2, and Chris Burns, executive editor of factual programmes.

Russia-born Olesya Rulin made her name in High School Musical as Kelsi Nielsen, the “sawn-off Sondheim” who composed the school’s winter musical Twinkletowne. In the sequel, Kelsi fulfils a similar role, composing songs for the other cast to sing — but she also gets to exercise her own vocal talents. I met her at the UK press launch of High School Musical 2.

How did you get into acting?

I used to be really shy when I was younger. I moved to America when I was eight, and was a little bit inhibited. It was a brand new language, a brand new culture, and I sort of got stuck in this little shell. When I was around eleven, my mother said, “That’s it! That’s enough of the shyness!” Because I used to shut myself up in my room, I read a lot and was kind of nerdy. She made me go to Model Search America — they go to malls and pick out kids, and whoever wins goes into this competition. Anyway, I got picked and flew out to Seattle, got representation and met some agents, and it kind of went from there. I did some auditioning, did a little modelling, and ended up loving what my mom initially introduced me to.

How would you say your role of Kelsi develops in the new film?

I think Kelsi is definitely the ‘floater’ of the group. You know, she is part of the musical theatre crowd, so can talk with Sharpay and Ryan on that level, but she’s also friendly with all the Wildcats. From her point of view, she gets to find her place by being more confident, and realising that she gets to watch and observe all of these big dramas.

In High School Musical 2, you get to sing a brief solo, and then a duet with Vanessa Anne Hudgens, [at the beginning of ‘You Are The Music In Me’]. Was getting something to sing something you were really pushing for in he sequel?

Not at all — it was a complete surprise when I got the music and saw that I’d be singing on my own! I don’t really think of myself as a singer, so I was really nervous. But Vanessa and everybody were so great and so supportive.

After your experiences in these films, do you fancy moving into musical theatre on stage?

Well, I’m a film girl at heart, and that’s where my interest lies. I’d love to learn more about theatre, though. And it’s been great to be around people who know so much, I’ve really learnt a lot already. Alyson Reed [the Broadway star, who plays Ms. Darbus in the High School Musical films] is great to watch — she always knows exactly where to stand to catch her light and look her best. That’s something that’s always good to know!

High School Musical 2 airs tomorrow (Friday) at 6pm Disney Channel.

After the competition to get your graffiti tag daubed on the Chatsworth Estate, the makers of Shameless are now offering a walk-on part as a competition prize to a member of the public.

To be in with a chance, you have to be registered with MySpace and then leave a comment on Shameless’s MySpace profile explaining why you should win the walk-on role. Say the competition organisers:

Extra credit will be given to people adding MySpace profile pictures of themselves dressed as one of the characters from the hit programme. The competition closes on the 24th September.

Full terms and conditions are available on the Channel 4 site.

Of course, being a walk-on is a regular, if not full-time, job for many people. And while Ricky Gervais’ Extras did its best to rid any perceptions of the world of background artists as being glamorous, it’s still something that many people aspire to.

If you want to consider earning money as an extra, read the How To… Be An Extra guide in our Advice section.

Er, yes, I know I promised one article a day. Oops. Just think of Thursday morning as Wednesday, and you’ll have something fresh and new this evening — an interview with Olesya Rulin, who plays composer Kelsi Nielsen. And then tomorrow, we’ll have a review of High School Musical 2.

Anyway, as Rob Gilby mentioned in Tuesday’s interview:

I guess the ultimate in the UK has been the more than 300 amateur productions which have been licensed to schools and amateur production groups. So they can not only own a piece of the fun, they can be it. They can be Troy and Gabriella. I wish we’d had that when I was a kid, because I would have been in there!

The professional version of High School Musical - Live on Stage! tours from January 2008:

• Churchill Bromley, January 23-February 2 2008
• Regent Stoke-On-Trent February 4-9
• Theatre Royal Norwich February 11-16
• Playhouse Edinburgh February 19-March 1
• Grand Wolverhampton March 10-15
• New Victoria Woking March 17-29
• Hippodrome Birmingham May 26-June 7
• Milton Keynes Theatre Milton Keynes June 9-14
• New Wimbledon London June 16-21
• Palace Manchester June 23-July 5

But what if your school or amateur group want to put on the show? You’ll need to get the performance rights before you can start planning auditions, rehearsals and performances. Licensing is handled by Josef Weinberger.

There is a note attached to the page for High School Musical that because of the professional tour, “only licences for performances by schools or on school premises are likely to be approved at this time”. It may be worth enquiring, though, even if your group doesn’t fit these requirements.

The stage musical as written has parts for six males and five females (including two adults to play Coach Bolton and Ms Darbus), as well as a chorus. Weinberger’s HSM page has links to companies that may able to provide set and/or costume hire if you’re not able to provide your own.

More details on how to apply for a licence can be found on this page.

If you’re planning to be a Troy or Gabriella (or even, if you must, a Sharpay), then break a leg!

It’s Day 2 of TV Today’s High School Musical week, with a HSM-related post every day until Friday, when High School Musical 2 premieres in the UK on Disney Channel.

Today, here’s an exclusive interview with Rob Gilby, managing director of Disney Channel UK, and Gary Marsh, President, Entertainment, Disney Channel Worldwide. Portions of Rob’s responses formed an interview we featured in print a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve left out a small segment that we have already covered concerning Disney’s attitude to iTunes.

High School Musical 2 has already become a phenomenal success in the US, where it’s become the highest-rated basic cable telecast ever. Were you expecting it to be that big?

Gary Marsh: With the first one, we knew we’d made a terrific movie. You can’t possibly program a phenomenon, it has to be discovered by people. What’s so wonderful about High School Musical 1 is that people made it their own. It’s not that we marketed it in an extreme fashion, which is a misperception. People found it, and owned it themselves. It was a fresh experience and a novel discovery for people. I think that’s what enabled it to become such a phenomenon. It came became part of their lives, rather tha n us telling them they should pay attention to it.

On High School Musical 2, we knew there was something brewing just by the buzz. We had heard anecdotally about viewing parties, about ten, twenty people gathering to watch HSM. We heard about a mall in Cleveland where they set up lawn chairs and sleeping bags. Five hundred people came to watch in the centre of the mall. So when you start to hear those sort of stories anecdotally, you start to get a sense that this is something larger than your standard television broadcast.

With the first film, you then produced a singalong and dancealong versions. Are you going to be doing the same thing [for HSM2]?

GM: We will have that, and more! Again, it’s really part of the phenomenon. People want to embrace it in multiple ways. Our opportunity is to give them that.

With High School Musical 2 about to grace the nation’s TV screens (well, if you’ve got Sky, Virgin, or Tiscali TV) on Friday, every day this week TV Today will be bringing you some HSM-related goodness for your delectation, culminating with a review of the new film on Friday.

The Disney Channel has, as you can imagine, been promoting the hell out of the forthcoming show. One of the ways it has been doing so has been the series The Road to High School Musical, a series of short behind-the-scenes features showing the actors and choreographers hard at work. As with most electronic press kits, the interviews themselves are quite anodyne, but you can’t help but be impressed by the sheer scale of some of the dance numbers.

The best thing is that if you’ve missed the features when they’ve been broadcast on television, they’re available as a video podcast via iTunes. From the podcast’s home page in the iTunes directory, you can download any of the 10 episodes (click on the ‘get episode’ link beside the episode you want to view, and it will download into the Podcasts section of your iTunes library). Theoretically, you can subscribe to the podcast, but as there aren’t any future episodes to come, you won’t necessarily get any benefit from that.

For your convenience, here are the ten episodes detailed:

1. We’re back!
2. Doing it Together
3. High School Musical 2 in action
4. Make a Wish!
5. Zac Efron interview
6. Vanessa Hudgens interview
7. Corbin Bleu interview
8. Ashley Tisdale interview
9. Monique Coleman interview
10. Lucas Grabeel interview

Parents should note that, while podcasts are free, the iTunes podcast directory is part of the iTunes Store. If you have turned off access to the store in the ‘parental controls’ section of iTunes’ preferences, you’ll need to turn it on in order to download the videos. Once downloaded, though, you can switch the parental controls back on and still watch the downloaded videos.

Hindenburg Monday 9pm Channel 4
Newsreel footage of the famous airship crashing in flames remains one of the most recognisable scenes from the early twentieth century. American radio reporter Herbert Morrison’s infamous expression of “Oh, the humanity!” has become a byword for over-exaggerated outpourings of emotion — but, as this drama-documentary shows, the Hindenburg’s final voyage, and the death of its 96 passengers, needed no exaggeration. Made to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the disaster, Malcolm Tierney, Mark McGann and Michael Praed star.

Clive James Talking in the Library: Victoria Wood Wednesday 7.30pm Sky Arts
This normally genial collection of arts conversations (archives of which are available via James’ own website or as a video podcast in iTunes) turns to one of Britain’s favourite comedians and writers. For the most part it’s illuminating, although Wood does turn prickly as James continually harks back to her Northern roots.

Heroes Wednesday 9pm BBC2
After last week’s blood and gore as Peter managed to save the cheerleader, we step back in time, as Hiro travels back six months to try and save waitress Charlie. We also get a good look at what life was like for the characters before we first met them. A welcome breath before the series gather steam for the second half of the season.

Torn Wednesday 9pm ITV1
Holly Aird and Adam Kotz star as Sarah and David a couple who lose their four-year-old daughter, Alice, while on a beach holiday. Eleven years later, Sarah becomes obsessed with the idea that 15-year-old Lori may in fact be Alice, all grown up… With Nicola Walker and Bradley Walsh as Lori’s other parents, this three-part ITV1 drama is suspenseful stuff.

Primo Thursday 10pm BBC4
Back in 2004, The Stage’s Peter Hepple reviewed the National Theatre’s Primo (an adaptation of Primo Levi’s memoir, If This Is a Man) saying “Jewish [Anthony] Sher is obviously the right man to interpret Levi’s words and feelings. The fact that he is also gay, which Levi wasn’t, adds another layer of understanding about life in this appalling place.” Sher and director Richard Wilson reunite for this television version. Thought-provoking, uncompromising and wise, Primo is possibly the best piece of television you’ll see this year.