January 2010 Archives

Terry Pratchett’s Nation Radio 7, Saturday 6pm (repeated 12 midnight)
First of an eight-part dramatisation of the novel about a boy who survives a tsunami, which has also been successfully adapated for the stage at the National Theatre.

Between the Ears: The Chekov Challenge - the Sound of a Breaking String Radio 3, Saturday 9.15pm
One of the most engimatic stage directions in theatre history occurs in Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard:

Silence reigns, broken only by the mumbling of old firs. Suddenly a distant sound is heard as if from the sky, the sound of a string breaking, dying away, melancholy

Different productions have varied radically in their approach to create the sound. As electro-folk musician Leafcutter John attempts to come up with an appropriate effect, we also hear from Paul Arditti, who used a mix of industrial, musical and bird sounds for Sam Mendes’ production, and Peter Kavanagh, whose recent Radio 3 adaptation opted for a slowed-down gunshot.

Drama on 3: The Seagull Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Siobhan Redmond and Paul Higgins star in the latest new Chekhov adaptation of the BBC Radio season celebrating the 150th anniversary of the playwright’s birth.

Woman’s Hour Drama: How Does That Make You Feel? (Ordinary’s Not Enough) Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am
Cathy Belton stars as Martha, a therapist who cannot understand why her clients want to be something they are not and why they are surprised that it’s driving them mad. Her clients include Richard Allam as an MP who thinks he knows why he’s not getting promoted to the front benches and Tim McInnerny as both a TV presenter who fears becoming invisible after being moved onto radio and a chef whose 31-year-old son still lives at home. If you miss the individual episodes in the morning and tune in for the usual 7.45pm, don’t worry - while A History of the World in 100 objects is now in that slot, an hour-long monibus edition will feature on Friday at 9pm in the Friday Play hour.

Afternoon Play: The Ditch Radio 4, Monday 2.15pm
A deceased sound recordist had been working on a natural history project in a remote fenland area - but the resulting soundscape has disturbingly terrifying consequences. Written and narrated by Paul Evans, this is a horror tale that is no less effective for being broadcast in the middle of the day.

Afternoon Play: The Right Ingredients Radio 4, Tuesday 2.15pm
Lisa is deep in grief following the death of her six-year-old daughter. Part of her coping strategy is to only buy things from supermarkets that she finds on other people’s discarded shopping lists. When she starts to accumulate the ingredients for the cake recipe she used to enjoy making with her daughter, she begins to reconnect with the world.

Afternoon Play: No Trampy Immigrants Radio 4, Wednesday 2.15pm
Based on events in Belfast in the summer of last year, writer Eoin McNamee tells the story of a community fractured by a shocking racist attack. Adrian Dunbar, Brid Brennan and Frances Tomelty star.

Mark Thomas - The Manifesto Radio 4, Thursday 6.30pm A new series of the show in which comedian and activist Mark Thomas looks as policy suggestions from the audience and works out whether they would actually be practical, and whether they’d make the world a better place if enacted. Transparent 4x4s? A maximum wage? A comedy with a serious edge, nobody does material like this better than Thomas.

Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4, Friday 8.30pm & 10.05pm
The final night of the seventh, and final, series. Fingers crossed the gorgeous Stephanie Beacham triumphs over the classless berks she’s trapped in with.

So You Think You Can Dance BBC1, Saturday 6.30pm & 8.20pm
We’re down to the final eight, and it’s getting harder to predict who’ll be out. As usual, join us on Twitter live during the show (I’m @scottm) and come back on Monday for my review.

Harry Hill’s TV Burp ITV1, Saturday 7pm
It may not have felt like it’s been away, with the various best of shows that have been running recently, but we get a new eight-part series of the superb take on the week’s telly. Who and what will be the targets are anyone’s guess, but I daresay Heather from EastEnders will make an appearance at some point…

Hamlet BBC4, Saturday 7pm
In retrospect, maybe early evening on Boxing Day — when most people are still in that post-Christmas stupor — wasn’t the best day for this brooding, clever reworking of the RSC’s recent stage production. Ratings weren’t particularly high then, so this repeat is welcome now. David Tennant stars as the Danish prince, with Patrick Stewart as Claudius.

Mo Channel 4, Sunday 9pm
The highlight of the weekend, as Julie Walters produces one of her best performances yet as Mo Mowlam, the forthright MP who, as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, helped to broker what would become the Good Friday Agreement while fighting her own battle with cancer. For more, read the Square Eyes Special from earlier this week.

The South Bank Show Awards ITV1, Sunday 10.15pm
As ITV1’s only highbrow arts show has gone, so goes its annual awards bash. Reports are that it turned into a bit of a wake, with the likes of Prince Charles and Billy Connolly criticising ITV for giving culture the boot — how much of those comments make the final cut will be anyone’s guess.

This morning, the Daily Mirror reported that Liza Minnelli was being considered for a judge’s role on Strictly Come Dancing.

…Strictly chiefs may be taking quicksteps to replacing Alesha Dixon. And after last year’s ageism row - following the sacking of veteran judge Arlene Phillips, 66 - BBC bosses could be about to turn on their heels and waltz back into the arms of an older woman.

Cabaret legend Liza Minnelli, 63, is said to have been lined up as Alesha’s successor after just one series - although one of her knees will have to be replaced first.

Apart from the other odd mention of her knee replacement surgery (which is going ahead anyway, but as written implies it’s a precondition of sitting behind a desk and holding up paddles with numbers on) the piece seems to be more about knocking Alesha Dixon rather than providing anything concrete.

It would be possible, one supposes, that Minnelli could be Strictly bound, although I would have thought that she would be better used as a guest judge for the final shows, in the same way that Darcey Bussell was in the 2009 series. According to Digital Spy, though, the BBC denies it:

There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in this story - Liza Minnelli is not being lined up as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing

Personally, I think there’d be a much better match for Ms Minnelli’s judging talents. Surely as the daughter of Judy Garland and having given the finalists of I’d Do Anything a masterclass, she’d be ideal for the judging panel on the BBC’s forthcoming quest to find a Dorothy for The Wizard of Oz, Over the Rainbow?

Previous series of Skins have kicked off with a lighter episode, showcasing the series’ knack for comedy as a means of drawing in its audience, before heading off into darker territory.

Not so series 4. Co-creator Jamie Brittain’s first script of the new series has its lighter moments, for sure, but it’s a much more sober storyline than we’ve seen at the start of earlier series.

The very first scene is a blistering steadicam shot following a young, drugged-up girl as she walks through a heaving nightclub, blithely walking past the series regulars, heading up towards a balcony and then throwing herself off, killing herself in the process. It’s a shocking scene that works so well partly because, in typical Skins style it doesn’t shy way from showing anything: where other series would cut away just before impact and rely upon sound and other people’s reactions, we see the whole thing (thanks to some clever use of digital compositing).

The investigation into the girl’s death — and who sold her the drugs she was taking — is something that will provide an ongoing story in at least the first few episodes. The bulk of the first episode, though, is taken up with Thomas (Merveille Lukeba) who was organising the club night at which the girl died. As he struggles internally with the desire to move away from the drug world of the clubs, his encounter with the daughter of his church’s pastor lead him to betray his girlfriend Pandora (Lisa Blackwell).

As usual with Skins, the adults are predominantly feckless idiots, none more so than new college director David Blood, played by The Thick of It’s Chris Addison as a simpering, smarmy bureaucrat. It’s a great role, if the sort of caricature that doesn’t always sit well with the wonderfully drawn teenagers who make up the central cast. But Skins was ever thus.

All in all, then, this makes possibly the show’s strongest first episode to date, and suggests that Series 4 may have the potential to be the best yet.

Oh, yeah - and Effie’s back. Things are going to get interesting.

• Skins, E4, Thursday 10pm

Last week, Channel 4 were kind enough to invite me along to BAFTA for a screening of their new film Mo, starring Julie Walters in a drama based on the last years in the life of politician Mo Mowlam. Created by the team behind See No Evil: The Moors Murders, the resulting film is, like its protagonist, by turns lovable, infuriating, funny, impassioned and ultimately heartbreakingly tragic.

Starting just before Labour’s 1997 election victory, from the second Walters walks on screen it’s clear that she has mastered enough of Mowlam’s physical and vocal mannerisms to effectively portray the Redcar MP who was renowned for her fearlessness and compassion. As the election approaches, her hand tremors lead to a consultation with a cancer specialist (Toby Jones) who diagnoses a malignant tumour on the front of her brain, with a prognosis of just two to three years.

Initially keeping her diagnosis a secret - including lying to her boss, Tony Blair, about the malignancy - so that she can help fight the general election, Mowlam endures taunts from the media about her looks as she dons a less than glamorous wig and piles on the pounds as a side-effect of the steroids she takes as part of her treatment.

But it’s after the election, once Mowlam is given the office of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, that the film really kicks into gear. Her lack of pretension breaks a lot of deadlocks and helps propel the province towards an uneasy peace. All the while, though, the unctuousness of Peter Mandelson (a delightful portrayal by Steven Mackintosh) is lurking, seen whispering in corners with David Trimble.

Mandelson, of course, took over form Mowlam as NI Secretary. Was she removed because, as her husband Jon Norton (David Haig) helped her believe, Mandelson and Blair felt she was getting too popular? The drama lets us, the audience, draw our own conclusions, presenting enough information to make it clear why Mowlam may have felt paranoid but staying short of going all out for either point of view.

Once out of office, Mowlam’s health deteriorates — and her specialist speculates that her tumour could, in the years before it was diagnosed, have helped to contribute to the disarming, disinhibited behaviour that had been her trademark for years.

From start to finish, Julie Walters puts in one of her strongest performances to date. She has so many of Mowlam’s vocal and physical mannerisms down pat, helped by superb make-up and costume work to evoke one of the most recognisable figures of recent political history. It is a funny, heart-warming, frustrating and, ultimately, tearfully sad portrayal. Keep the tissues handy for the closing minutes - you’ll need them.

• Mo, Channel 4, Sunday 9pm

After Saturday’s show Hayley and Mark were eliminated, so it’s their turn for an exit interview:

And so the big guest starring roles begin. Although Glee is blessed with Broadway performers including Lea Michele (Spring Awakening) and Matthew Morrison (Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza), episode 5 will see the first guest appearance by Kristen Chenoweth. And we’d be here all day if we listed all her theatre performances, let alone her TV roles in The West Wing and Pushing Daisies.

Here, she plays Will’s former classmate April Rhodes, who he brings on board to help spice things up in the Glee Club. Will’s plan is going well until Rachel, the star of the show, decides to leave. As the Glee Club rehearses for their first invitational performance, Quinn suffers morning sickness and Finn blames it on a bad breakfast burrito. The Club wonders how they can win without Rachel - but Will has an idea…

• Glee episode 5: Monday, February 1, 9pm, E4. Repeated Thursday, February 4 (E4), Sunday, February 7, (Channel 4) and Saturday, February 13 (Channel 4). For more information, visit e4.com/glee

Mrs Mandela BBC4, Monday 9pm
Sophie Okenedo plays Winnie Mandela, one of the most controversial figures in modern South Africa’s history. While her husband was imprisoned, she became one of the most recognisable faces of the anti-apartheid movement, whose outspoken support for “necklaces” (burning tyres placed around the necks of suspected police informants) and her network of township toughs who went under the name of ‘Mandela United FC’.

The Good Wife Channel 4, Monday 10pm
The latest US import stars Julianna Marguiles (ER) as a wife and mother who has to return to work as a lawyer when her husband (Sex and the City’s Chris Noth) is imprison on corruption charges after a very public scandal. Personally, when it comes to American dramas I find courtroom-based ones among the least appealing, but as long as the courtroom elements are secondary to the family drama, I’ll give it a chance.

Billie and the Real Belle Bare All ITV2, Monday 10pm
Secret Diary of a Call Girl ITV2, Thursday 10pm
As a prelude to the new series of Secret Diary of a Call Girl (which starts on Thursday) Billie Piper, who plays the call girl Belle de Jour in the series, meets the author of the original books, Brooke Magnanti. The series itself is as brash and blowsy as ever — and as in previous series, is neither as witty nor insightful as it thinks it is. Some fun is to be had, though, as Belle’s memoir is published and she attends her own book launch diguised as a waitress.

Shameless Channel 4, Tuesday 10pm
The seventh series of life upon the Chatsworth estate, and everything’s pretty much as usual — violence, drinking, sex, and the occasional bit of romance. The latter is provided by Pauline McLynn, whose librarian with a passion for the Byronic begins a whirlwind romance with David Threlfall’s Frank Gallagher.

Mad Men BBC4, Wednesday 10pm & 10.45pm
The most stylish show on the box returns for a third season. It’s now 1963 and the takeover of Sterling Cooper is complete. Don is back with his wife Betty, but his eye is still wandering — as is closeted gay Sal, who finds himself attracted to a young hotel worker…

And so to the third live show, and with just ten dancers the format changes slightly. As we pointed out before, couples are now selected randomly and the public would be voting for individuals — but there were more changes to come: a group dance each from the girls and the boys, plus each dancer would get to showcase their individual talents in a solo routine without having to wait for the dance-off and that ridiculously annoying countdown.

The routines started off with a solid Bollywood-style number from the girls that produced nothing to distinguish one dancer from one another (on Twitter, I suggested Lizzie may have just pipped it for me, but on review I’m not sure that’s fair on the other four).

After that dance (and the promise of a group number from the boys at the end of the show) it was on to the first couple to dance - Drew and Lizzie.

As in previous weeks, I’ve assembled the group dances into a YouTube playlist below. Unfortunately, the BBC don’t release the solo or group numbers and we won’t link to non-BBC clips for obvious reasons. However, both the main show and the results show will still be available in iPlayer for the rest of the week.

In tomorrow’s third live show, the So You Think You Can Dance rules change again. Get used to it — the UK series is so much shorter than its US parent that the format tweaks that go on throughout the season come thick and fast this side of the pond.

From now on, the couples are selected by random draw, just as the dance styles are. Also, when the phone numbers by which to vote are given out, you’ll be asked for your favourite dancer rather than your favourite couple.

Got all that? Good. After the jump, the couples and dance styles for this week’s live show are revealed. If you consider that information to be spoilerific, don’t look!

Whether or not you want to know, what you should definitely do is read our (spoiler free) interview with chief judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe from this week’s paper.

Lythgoe was also criticised in the US for his comments on So You Think You Can Dance about effeminate dancing, coining the phrase ‘Brokeback ballroom’ along the way.

Again he defends himself: “I don’t like guys to be effeminate on stage. You have to lead your partner and be strong. It’s not about being homosexual, it’s about being a weak partner. Just because they are mincing around the stage - and god knows, I have minced around the stage in my time - does not make me a homosexual.

“If I did offend anyone, I will apologise, because it is unintentional, but I will continue to say I need you to be strong, I need you to take bigger steps.”

But back to this week’s show - the couples and dance styles after the jump…

PICK OF THE WEEK: A Charles Paris Mystery: Cast in Order of Disappearance Radio 4, Friday 11.30am
Bill Nighy returns as the dipsomaniac actor who could give Jessica Fletcher a run for her moeny when it comes to dead bodies cropping up in his vicinity. Charles has got a role on a vampire movie (not Twilight but something headed straight for DVD). But his costar Jodie (Martin McCutcheon) is embroiled ina blackmail plot, and one that quickly turns to murder. As with most Charles Paris tales, it’s in the telling, and Nighy’s lugubrious narration makes this an unmissable listen.

The rest of this week’s choices are after the jump.

Arena: Brian Eno BBC4, Friday 9pm
Music producer and former Roxy Music bandmember Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is profiled in this observational documentary which shows us glimpses of the range of eclecticism that surround the man and his work. It’s followed by an hour of Paul Morley delving through the variety of singles produced by Eno in Brian Eno: Hits, Classics and Tracks.

So You Think You Can Dance BBC1, Saturday 7pm & 8.50pm
We’re now down to ten dancers, and the rules change again. The couples have been randomly shuffled around, and will continue to be so until the final. Rather than voting for couples, the public will now be asked to vote for their favourite dancer, and the bottom two girls and bottom two guys will have to dance again in the results show. I’ll probably be live-tweeting again on Twitter, where I’m @scottm, and all our online coverage is at thestage.co.uk/soyouthink.

Nerdstock: 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People BBC4, Saturday 9.45pm
It may be a month late, but this celebration of Christmas was recorded last month at the Hammersmith Apollo. A celebration of science and atheism, comedy names rub shoulders with scientists - what other show will have Richard Herring, Shappi Korsandi and Barry Cryer on the same bill as Richard Dawkins, science writer Simon Singh and Bad Science columnist Ben Goldacre?

Rock & Chips BBC1, Sunday 9pm
John Sullivan pens a one-off, 90-minute prequel to Only Fools and Horses. The Inbetweeners’ James Buckley plays the young Derek Trotter, with his parents played by Kellie Bright and Shaun Dingwall, and Grandad (played in the first two series of Only Fools by Lennard Pearce) by Phil Daniels. When Joan Trotter meets a sophisticated ex-con called Freddie Robdal, the Trotter family’s lives change forever. Given that Freddie is played by Nicholas Lyndhurst, it’s not hard to guess how… Watch our video preview.

As Matt reported back in July, Only Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan has revisited the Trotter family, with a 1960-set prequel looking at a young Derek Trotter (The Inbetweeners’ James Buckley) and his life with mother Joan (Kellie Bright) and father Reg (Shaun Dingwall).

The one-off film airs on Sunday night on BBC1 at 9pm. The BBC has released a few video clips, which you can see below. Also featuring is the familiar face of Nicholas Lyndhurst, who plays Rodney’s father Freddie Robdal in the prequel.

Watching the clips, there is a certain satisfaction at seeing the Trotters’ flat in Nelson Mandela House for the first time, in the proportions it would really have had rather than the TV studio version. But otherwise, I worry that there are so many allusions to future events that the drama could get overladen with in-jokes.

That said, there’s enough promise in the brief clips to show that John Sullivan’s writing works well in this 1960 setting. I half wish he would have written a comedy drama set in that era, without the baggage of the Only Fools and Horses link. That won’t stop me watching, though.

Rock & Chips, BBC1, Sunday 9pm

A very brief mention for tonight’s National Television Awards, which we already previewed in the week’s Square Eyes preview.

Amongst all the hoo-ha of the awards themselves (and the recipients saying how wonderful they are because they’re voted for by the public, before turning up to the BAFTAs and then saying how wonderful they are because they’re voted for by their more knowledgeable peers) will be a number of on stage performances.

Go out and make the tea while The X Factor novelty act John and Edward are on — of more interest is that choreographer and government dance champion Arlene Phillips will be dancing on stage with the ten remaining So You Think You Can Dance contestants.

Save for the odd video clip of her choreography instruction, such as on the behind-the-scenes segments of the Britannia High DVDs, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Arlene dance, so this will be a unique experience.

They’ll be dancing to Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man, which was the group number from the top of last Saturday’s results show. I’d imagine, then, it’ll be a variation of Frank Gatson’s choreography.

Either way, as long as the silly-haired Dublin twins (or Calvin Harris and his pineapple) don’t make an appearance in the number, I’ll be watching.

• National Television Awards, tonight ITV1 7.30pm

After this morning’s discussion about the impending move of Holby’s Casualty department to Cardiff Bay, it reminded me that last Saturday’s episode was the sort of episode I really wanted to shout to the world about (if you follow me on Twitter you may well have heard me do so while the episode was airing).

As I said in the weekend Square Eyes preview, it’s the kind of episode that Casualty does every so often — something that sidesteps the usual formula and gives us something unexpected and emotional.

A perfect example of this was Barbara Machin’s Christmas 2006 episode, whose non-linear approach helped the series gain its first ever BAFTA for Best Continuing Drama. Ever since then, the almost annual appearance of a high concept episode has always led me to believe that there is some intent to submit that episode for the Academy’s consideration.

It’s not quite blatant enough for the dialogue to consist of nothing but “Gritty BAFTA”, but it’s close.

Gillian Kearney excelled, as Jessica relived moments from her past while, in the present, she was prepped for surgery to relieve the hydrocephalus that risked killing her.

The surreal sight of a blue, soaking wet woman walking through her own memories, water rising up through the floor would, on its own, have been an intriguing sight. What really made the episode stand out, though, were some beautifully shot underwater sequences set in the icy lake where she first slipped into her coma, and she and her new husband lost their young baby, Harry.

The sight of an unconscious Jessica slowly letting go of her son, for him to fall into the black depths below was chilling to watch. But nothing can compare to the very last shot of the episode, as those scenes ceased any pretence of being a flashback, and the haunted Jessica, finally awake in the present, reached out for her lost son.

Mark Catley’s script at times felt hampered by the need to return to the 2010 Emergency Department, for that was when it was at its weakest. But during the flashbacks and underwater sequences, it was a truly remarkable piece of television.

Leave Me Alone is available on iPlayer for a few more days. If you didn’t catch it on Saturday, then you must. I fear that when the next episode rolls around on Saturday, Casualty will return, as the coach to a pumpkin, to the standard fare for another year.

So, after last Saturday's much-better-than-the-previous-week live show, we said goodbye to dancers Chloe Campbell and Gavin Tsang.

Below, listen to each of them talk about their time on the show.

First off, Chloe:

Followed by Gavin:

All of a sudden, the issue of television ratings, how they are measured and which ones are the most important to the licence-fee funded BBC has started to grab the headlines again.

The Corporation has always struggled to balance distinctive programming that commercial channels can't produce because it won't attract enough advertising revenue, and broader interest content that ensures that everyone who contributes to the BBC's running costs feels that they are getting value from it. For as long as the BBC continues to be funded through a universal licence fee, that dichotomy will continue to exist.

Yesterday’s announcement that BBC Wales is to establish a new production base in Cardiff Bay is undoubtedly good news for the Welsh creative community. As well as a new, permanent base for Doctor Who and Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm, it will also house a relocated Casualty, which will leave its present Bristol production base.

Which leads us to ask a question: where exactly is Holby?

At this weekend’s Golden Globe awards, Glee walked off with the coveted Best ‘TV Comedy or Musical’ award — the only show nominated where that ‘or’ could justifiably be replaced by an ‘and’.

Episode 3 aired tonight (Monday) — if you missed it, it’ll be repeated on Thursday on E4, before it moves to Channel 4, showing on Sunday afternoon and repeated on the following Saturday.

And if you’re ready for more Glee — let’s face it, who isn’t? — we can now reveal a sneak preview of episode 4, ‘Preggers’:

If you’ve missed an episode of Glee, they’ll be available on 4OD after the first Channel 4 showing. For more details about the series, go to e4.com/glee.

Glee episode 4, Monday 25th January at 9pm on E4 and Sunday 31st at 5.35pm on T4.

Only Stwpd Cowz Txt N Drive, BBC3, Monday 8.30pm
This half-hour drama, made in association with Gwent police, received lots of press coverage when first released on the internet. It’s an uncompromising depiction of the potential consequences of taking your eyes off the road while texting on your mobile. Slow-motion special effects add to the goriness.

Glee E4, Monday 9pm
The third episode of the musical sitcom sees teacher Will setup an all-male a capella group, the Acafellas (and you thought Only Men Aloud! was a naff name for a male choir). While his attention is elsewhere, the new glee club members, led by the treacherous Quinn, enlist a fierce new choreographer. Meanwhile, Mercedes has a cruch on male soprano Kurt, but his attentions lie elsewhere… Guest stars in this episode include Josh Groban sending up his own persona something rotten, plus Broadway legends Victor Garber and Debra Monk make an appearance as Will’s parents.

• View a video preview of this week’s episode

National Television Awards ITV1, Wednesday 7.30pm
New host (Dermot O’Leary replacing Sir Trevor Macdonald), new venue (the O2 Arena instead of the Royal Albert Hall), new time of year — same good old populist appraach to awards. There may not be any surprises on the scale of the last ceremony’s live link-up to the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon in which David Tennant made the formal announcement that he was leaving Doctor Who, but chances are he’ll grab the show’s only non-soap acting gong. It’s followed by a “backstage” programme on ITV2, which if similar events are anything to go by will prove to be car-crash telly.

Leverage Bravo, Wednesday 9pm
A set of con-artists do their thing in a slickly-shot, entertaining drama. Yes, it’s American television’s answer to Hustle, and none the worse for that.

Mock the Week BBC2, Thursday 9pm
A new series of the topical comedy panel show returns, with Frankie Boyle’s seat now vacated to make way for another guest panellist. Disappointingly, the first programme maintains the bloke-iness of previous runs, with an all-male guest roster of Milton Jones, Patrick Kielty and Mark Watson.

* Rab C Nesbitt* BBC2, Thusrday 9.30pm
Gregor Fisher and Elaine C Smith return as Rab and Mary, in a long-awaited ninth series of the Govan-set sitcom.

Bellamy’s People BBC2, Thursday 10pm
When Radio 4 comedy Down the Line first started, several people failed to recognise that it was a spoof of the type of phone-in that dogs the airwaves. Rhys Thomas’s Gary Bellamy, the bland host of the radio show, transitions to television to front the sort of meandering documentary that deserves the same sort of pillorying. A host of familiar comedy faces (Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Lucy Montgomery and more) portray the people Bellamy meets, with varying degrees of success. It doesn’t have the subtlety of, say, People Like Us, which lampooned a very different style of documentary, but it’s very funny nonetheless.

And so we progressed onto the second week in the BBC studios at Television Centre. And after last week’s show, which I felt suffered at the hands of some dodgy camerawork, that side of this week’s programme was much improved. In addition, the instant replays during the judges’ summaries, now that I was expecting them, didn’t jar quite as much.

Overall, then, it did feel like a more confident, more appealing show. Although somebody needs to tell Cat Deeley that, as she already towers over most of the dancers she shares a stage with, she could possibly tone down the heels a little…

Update: the playlist below shows all six couples’ dances. Watch each one in order, or use the controls at the bottom of the player to switch to your favourite

Earlier this week, I talked about Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s desire to find a ‘young Amy Winehouse’ to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, which is being cast through the BBC’s Over the Rainbow.

The Corporation has just uploaded a short YouTube video in which he explains a bit more, and seems to be aimed directly at the girls auditioning for the role. And yes, he does say the words “I want to play Dorothy” (although, as you’ll see from our transcript below, he doesn’t mean he wants to get into tthe gingham and pigtails himself):

Girls. Would-be Dorothys. I want you to think of something.

Dorothy is a kid, okay? In the books she was probably only 9 or 10 years old, but in the movie, of course, she was played by Judy Garland and was that much older. But I want you to lose all thoughts of Judy Garland, just as I asked the Marias to lose all thoughts of Julie Andrews. I want to play Dorothy slightly differently

[…]

Please give us some songs that aren’t old-fashioned musicals, old-fashioned Lloyd Webber if you like. I just want to hear something which is contemporary […] as well as, obviously, looking at the great classic songs which we’ve got in the show. I mean, we’ve got Over the Rainbow which is one of the greatest songs ever written. But I want to hear something with a bit of edge as well.

Good luck.

Nothing particularly earth-shattering, then, but still it’s another sign that the show is nearly upon us.

More notably we do get the first glimpse, behind ALW’s shoulder, of this year’s version of capital-plus-question-mark iconography that has become a running theme throughout all the BBC’s theatre talent shows. A sparkling, ruby red D, the curling yellow of the question mark picking up on the start of the Yellow Brick Road, all set in an emerald-coloured background and a hint of a rainbow.

We’re still expecting Over the Rainbow to start sometime in March or April. More details as we get them!

Popstar to Operastar ITV1, Friday 9pm
A variety of popstars are trained to sing in a classical style, mentored by mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins and tenor Rolando Villazon, and then have to perform in front of critics Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen and Meat Loaf. The show is presented by Myleene Klass (what isn’t these days?) and Alan Titchmarsh. The whole thing sounds like one of those weird dreams you occasionally have after eating too much cheese. But no, it is all too true. Contestants include Blur’s Alex James, Bernie Nolan, McFly’s Danny Jones, Darius from Pop Idol, Jimmy Osmond, Kym Marsh, Marcella Detroit and the Saturdays’ Vanessa White.

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross BBC1, Friday 10.35pm
A new series, the first after Ross announced he would not be seeking to renew his controversial BBC contract, with guests including Ray Winstone, So You Think You Can Dance judge Arlene Phillips and Catherine Tate. Speculation is still rife over who may take over this slot once Ross’s time is up. It sounds as if NBC’s Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien may be free, as former host Jay Leno is rumoured to be returning to his old slot (in response, O’Brien has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with NBC). Conan the Beebarian, anyone?

So You Think You Can Dance BBC1, Saturday 6.30pm & 8.20pm
It’s never going to be the glitziest show around — the same people who criticised last week’s show for not having the flair of the US parent’s show would then complain the BBC was spending too much on shiny floor shows — but it’s fun. And I still can’t help flicking back to watch Tommy and Charlie’s hip hop routine from last week’s show

• Follow all the latest SYTYCD comment on my live tweets on Saturday and read all TV Today’s posts at http://thestage.co.uk/soyouthink

Casualty BBC1, Saturday 8.50pm
Poor Jessica’s still in her coma after the car crash into the icy lake that meant she lost her baby. Tonight’s episode is a flashback-filled show that’s full of eerie moments (we’re in Jessica’s head, in a Life on Mars kind of way). Nice to see that telly’s most formulaic drama can still try something different.

Glee Channel 4, Sunday 5.35pm
A musical comedy drama that’s better than those three words alone can imply. The double bill that aired on Monday on E4 start a regular ‘terrestrial’ run, and will be repeated again next Saturday in case you miss it. Watch out for Golden Globe-nominated Jane Lynch as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester stealing every scene she’s in — but in my view, the far more villainous character is Jessalyn Gilsig’s Terri, wife of Glee Club teacher Will Schuester.

• Watch preview clips of Episode 1, Pilot and Episode 2, Showmance
• Watch a preview clip of Episode 3, Acafellas

PICK OF THE WEEK: Archive on 4: The ITV Story Radio 4, Saturday 8pm
Remember when ITV was a network of regional broadcasters, each with their own distinctive character and specialisms? If the names Granada, Tyne Tees, HTV and ATV ring any bells, this should be a vital listen. Mark Lawson explores the changes made in ITV over the years by specifically examining one region: Yorkshire TV. Known nationally for Emmerdale Farm, of course, the majority of its network output was light entertainment-based, from the bafflingly incomprehensible game show 3-2-1 to Les Dawson’s Sez Les and Ned Sherrin’s Song by Song series examining the works of the great musical songwriters.

For highlights from the rest of the week’s radio output, follow me after the jump…

The BBC starts the new year on the back foot as far as its much-criticised commercial wing BBC Worldwide is concerned, writes Maggie Brown.

Back in December, the publisher of Radio Times was quietly added by the government to a portfolio of public assets for sale.

A shocked Mark Thompson, director-general, responded by warning in an article - lost amid the seasonal celebrations - that the Corporation “cannot imagine a Worldwide in which the BBC does not continue to play a central role”.

If it no longer had a direct link with the BBC, to exploit its programming and assets here and abroad, he said, Worldwide would be “like an empty vessel”. Value would drain away.

The short-term implication of the government’s move is that, if a sale goes ahead, the BBC, which by right should receive the proceeds, could then make do with a reduced licence fee.

But if Thompson’s argument is even partially correct, it would also be a destructive act against a thriving business - where the BBC Trust is, anyway, curbing excess.

Also, any debate should assess Worldwide’s wider overall value to the creative community, including independent producers, especially in the drama and entertainment area. They increasingly look to it for funding, in a tough world, and respect its experience of selling programmes and formats abroad.

Worldwide’s contribution to the public good also forms part of the BBC’s latest defensive argument, that the Corporation’s total activities (leveraged off the back of the licence fee) contribute a massive £7.6 billion stimulus annually to the economy.

So what is really at stake?

As Matt reports in today’s news, BBC controller of drama commissioning Ben Stephenson is to axe several of the Corporation’s “long-running” drama series in order to free up some space in the schedules and some much-needed money for new productions.

However, it is widely understood that Holby City, Casualty and Waterloo Road are not on the list for the chop… so which long-running series could really be in danger?

Every year, American advocacy group the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation awards films, television programmes and other forms of media that have presented fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

Today, the nominees for the 21st GLAAD Media Awards have been announced — and British television programmes are included in some of the categories.

As you’ll know if you read our breakdown of the So You Think You Can Dance boys and their experience, Drew McOnie has an immense amount of choreography experience already.

At some point in the past (the videos aren’t dated, he made a series of short videos for BBC Blast, the Corporation’s website that encourages young people to explore the creative arts. Under the umbrella title of ‘Get Dancing’, they are short videos talking about the appeal of dance, and how to start getting involved if you feel dancing may be for you.

PART 1: WHAT’S THE STORY?

[link]

Parts 2-4 after the jump.

Glee

So the first full night of Glee on E4 can be deemed a success, with 1.3 million viewers for the channel once its E4+1 viewership is factored in. Considering it was up against dramas Hustle and Law & Order: UK that’s not bad going — and actually makes it E4’s biggest import launch since Lost debuted in 2005.

If you missed it, don’t worry: the double bill is repeated on E4 on Thursday, starting at 10pm, as well as hitting Channel 4 on Sunday afternoon, starting at 5.35pm — and for any stragglers, again the following Saturday (an easy schedule view is available at LocateTV).

But if you did see it, chances are you’ll be begging for more — so here’s a sneak preview of the next episode, Acafellas:

Will forms an all-male Acapella group, and the Club gets a well-known choreographer to coach them in his absence; Mercedes is bitten by the love bug, but her feelings aren’t reciprocated; and Josh Groban guest-stars as himself. Phew!

• Glee episode 3 - E4, Monday, January 17, 9pm; repeated Channel 4, Sunday January 25, 5.35pm
• E4 Glee website

The EastEnders online spin-off, EastEnders: E20, is three episodes into its twelve-episode run. Written by thirteen young writers between 17 and 22, its use of pace, handheld camerawork and liberal incidental music make it feel more like an episode of Hollyoaks (and I mean that in a good way). Of course, the traditional Albert Square sets and a smattering of cameos from the more recognisable residents help give it a sense of place.

• View episode 1 by Alex Oates / episode 2 by Emer Kenny / episode 3 by Florence Vincent

Under the umbrella of its role to enhance ‘media literacy’, the BBC is also making a four-part behind the scenes documentary about the commissioning, writing and production of EastEnders E20. The first, five-minute part is below.

Before Christmas, BAFTA hosted an event entitled The Regeneration of Doctor Who, in which the series’ outgoing executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner discussed the events and reaosing behind the series’ revival in 2004/5 with Time writer (and Doctor Who nut) Caitlin Moran.

The event is now available as a (non-embeddable) 25-minute video on YouTube, but BAFTA also supply a slightly smaller size version that we can include here, so you can watch it below. Fans of the show who consume every episode of Doctor Who Confidential, and who have read every word of Davies’ book with Benjamin Cook, The Writers’ Tale (look out for a full review of the new expanded edition shortly) will be familiar with a lot of the topics discussed. But both Davies and Gardner are always engaging, and they talk about television writing production with such warmth and passion that it’s an essential watch even for non-fans:

So now that the fourteen dancers are down to twelve, we have to say goodbye to Anabel Kutay and Chris Piper — but not before they each give an ‘exit interview’:

ANABEL

CHRIS

Next week’s show starts at 6.30pm, followed by the results show at 8.20pm. The musical guest will be 2008 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

Auditions for the BBC’s newest theatre reality/audition series, Over the Rainbow, are now underway. Last weekend saw the first set of auditions at Glasgow’s Hampden Park Stadium, with auditions in Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester and London to follow until the start of February.

To mark the first audition, Andrew Lloyd Webber gave an interview to the Scottish edition of The Sun, in which he described his ideal Dorothy:

Anyone like Avril Lavigne or a bit like Amy Winehouse or something along those lines would be great.

Which is pretty much how he described his ideal Nancy in the opening episodes of I’d Do Anything. Of course, the public decided otherwise, and out of the twelve finalists (none of whom were particularly Winehouse-like, it has to be said) they settled for the familiar image of Nancy as a busty, brassy woman in the shape of Jodie Prenger.

I do wonder if we’re going to be in for a similar ride here. We get the talking up of looking for a “new” Dorothy, and actually we end up with an actress very much in the familiar mould. On Lloyd Webber’s side is that the character of Dorothy, even as played by Judy Garland, has always been quite a feisty one, as close to a tomboy as you would get in 1900 American literature. So Lloyd Webber’s pleas for a feisty teen aren’t as off-base for Dorothy as they were for Nancy.

From a TV viewer’s point of view, if the series is as entertaining as the previous casting shows I’ll probably be happy — even more so if they include more musical theatre numbers and tests of acting ability than previous years.

And so once more we’re treated to stories about how the Coronation Street set is likely to be demolished, as ITV resumes talks to move out of its Granada Quay Street location and into Media City UK in Salford, which will also house the BBC’s relocated departments.

Talks have been resumed following recent changes at board level in ITV, which should mean that the existing cobbles could find themselves on the move.

Of course, that does mean that we get people waxing poetic about the show as a whole, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in December. As Mark pointed out in 2006, when the move was first mooted, though, there’s a little too much nostalgia around the set itself, confusing it with the programme:

It’s not the first set Coronation Street has ever occupied, starting life as a studio set, before graduating to an outside location in 1968 (following a studio based train-wreck episode to explain away any discrepancies in the move). Over the years, the external set was expanded with backyards and roofs before decanting to the bigger, much more impressive and solid construction on the backlot.

The Guardian article falls foul of the same nostalgia, talking about how “Tracey Barlow… murdered her boyfriend Charlie Stubbs on the street” (an event filmed on an indoor set and nothing to do with the exterior at all) and how the set was “the setting for some of the most memorable scenes in television history, including numerous arguments between the memorable battleaxe Ena Sharples and Elsie Tanner”.

Except, as one astute commenter pointed out, Ena Sharples left the show in 1980, two years before the existing set was built.

If production does move to Media City and a new set is constructed, it’ll no doubt look a little different to the current one, although nowhere near as drastic as when Emmerdale moved from location filming in Esholt to its current, purpose-built village on the Harewood estate outside Leeds in the late 1990s. But soap viewers are hardy creatures, and as long as the stories and characters remain solid, the new cobbles will be accepted readily.

Law & Order: UK ITV1, Monday 9pm
Touted as a second series, this is actually the last six episodes of what would originally have been a 13-part first series (a further 13 episodes have already been commissioned). The structure remains the same: we follow a crime from first police investigation to trial, which usually means that Bradley Walsh’s compellingly watchable detective, Ronnie Brooks, never gets enough screen time. Tonight, the death of a young gay police officer raises the possibility that a homophobic faction within the police could be prosecuted.

Glee E4, Monday 9pm
A double bill to kick off one of the most exciting US series to hit our shores in years. Hence why we’ve been going on about it quite a bit recently. Cracking musical numbers, great one-liners and some sweet romantic storylines are all overshadows by Golden Globe-nominated Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester, the cheerleading coach for whom glee club is a threat to her own dominance of the school.

• Watch our video previews of episodes 1 and 2

Survivors BBC1, Tuesday 9pm
Picking up from where the first series left off, Abby (Julia Graham) is still abducted by mysterious people who want to know how she recovered from the virus, Greg (Paterson Joseph) is still shot, and I’m still yawning and wondering why this series got recommissioned.

American Idol ITV2, Wednesday 7.30pm
You know the format by now: a few great singers and lots of awful ones audition, they get whittled down to a few moderately good ones and then the live shows demonstrate that they each have limited potential. With Paula Abdul surrendering her judge’s seat, this year Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson will be joined by a succession of guest judges, including comedian, talk show host and all-round good egg Ellen DeGeneres.

Emmerdale ITV1, Thursday 7pm & 8pm
It doesn’t seem that long ago that the small village of Emmerdale was rocked by a murder mystery whodunnit, with Tom King defenestrated and seemingly the whole village under suspicion. But it’s about to get another one, as Mark Wylde (Maxwell Caulfield) is the latest to make an exit by body bag. With such a high mortality rate, one almost espects Inspector Barnaby to move up to the Dales from his Midsomer home…

Material Girl BBC1, Thursday 8pm
Think Hotel Babylon but in the fashion industry instead of the hotel trade. That’s pretty much what you get here, with another series based on a book by Imogen Edwards-Jones. Light, frothy stuff that makes you yearn for the next season of Ugly Betty, which does comedy and melodrama much better.

So after last week’s race through the auditions process and choreography camp, we’re already at the live shows. That was quick. Too quick, perhaps, for the studio director and camera team to get much rehearsals in, as throughout there were fluffed shots and awkward framing. Right at the start, with the fourteen dancers being introduced to a live audience for the first time, poor Gavin drops to the floor while the camera continues showing the studio backdrop. Poor guy.

One criticism I was picking up from the conversation on Twitter is that So You Think You Can Dance’s sometimes complex structure didn’t get enough explanation. While the show will ultimately result in a single person winning, the dancers perform in pairs allocated by the production team. For the first couple of weeks, we’ll be voting for couples, with the four dancers from the bottom two couples dancing a solo routine in the results show so that the judges can send one boy and one girl home. But then, the couples will all get mixed up, and we’ll start voting for individuals, not couples.

Clear? Right. On with the dances…

UPDATE: All seven dances are now below. Use the selector button next to ‘play’ on the control bar to skip between videos, or just hit play and enjoy each dance in order.

If you missed E4’s “sneak peek” transmission of the pilot episode of Glee before Christmas, don’t worry — it’s being shown again as part of a double-bill with episode 2, Showmance.

Don’t know about Glee? It’s Fox Television’s singing and dancing comedy set in a high school where the failing ‘glee club’ is revived, and comes into immediate competition with the other factions in the school, including a moderately successful cheerleading squad (coached by the fabulous Jane Lynch).

To whet your appetite, we have a preview clip from each of the first two episodes over the jump.

Yesterday it was the boys’ turn to go under the spotlight - and today, a little over 24 hours before the live shows kick off, we look at the seven girls vying to win the first UK series of So You Think You Can Dance. As this is The Stage we’re taking a special interest in their training and professional backgrounds, rather than what their favourite DVD box set is. Other sites are just copy and pasting from the BBC press pack - only The Stage is going that extra mile for you :-) Of course, we link to each dancer’s BBC page, where you can view the official profile videos.

As before, this information is culled from the BBC press pack, some digging around the internet and, where applicable, the dancer’s Spotlight CV. If we’ve made any errors and you can help us correct them, do please email us at tvtoday@thestage.co.uk to let us know!

The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen BBC4, Friday 7.30pm
It’s a repeat, but a goodie - a 1995 look at the 1960s telefantasy powerhouse that was Irwin Allen. With Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Allen’s primary-coloured fantasy series dominated American television, and with feature films The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, he pretty much defined the disaster movie genre as well.

Dancing on Ice ITV1, Friday 9pm, Sunday 6.45pm & 9.30pm
ITV’s celebs-with-professionals dance show returns for a new series, starting with a preview show tonight before the live shows commence on Sunday night. The tabloids have been cock-a-hoop that uber-vocal divorcee Heather Mills (an alumna of the US’s version of Strictly, Dancing With the Stars) is on this year’s show: personally, TV Today is getting behind Emmerdale and stage musical actress Hayley Tamaddon, partnered with series 1 winner Daniel Whiston.

Blades of Glory BBC1, Friday 10.45pm
We don’t normally mention Hollywood films here, but whoever scheduled this Will Ferrell/Jon Heder ice dance comedy on the night that Dancing on Ice returns deserves a pat on the back.

The Good Life G.O.L.D., Saturday from 9.35am
The entire first series shown back-to-back on UKTV’s comedy channel. It’s like a box set of classic comedy, interspersed with regular pleas to turn your gold to cash.

So You Think You Can Dance BBC1, Saturday 7pm & 9.45pm
And so the dancing — the proper kind, done by professionals on stages rather than ice rinks — begins. Fourteen young professionals compete for the title. Allocated into pairs by the judges, this week and next the public will vote for their favourite couple, and out of the three lowest scoring couples, one boy and one girl (not necessarily from the same couple) will be sent home by the judges. On the panel, Nigel Lythgoe, Arlene Phillips and Louise Redknapp.

We’ll be reviewing each episode at thestage.co.uk/soyouthink. If you’re on Twitter, keep an eye out for posts including the hashtag #SYTYCD (I’ll probably be commenting live as @scottm).

Harry Hill’s the Best of TV Burp ITV1, Saturday 7pm
For those not watching SYTYCD, here’s a chance to catch up with why Harry Hill was won British Comedy Awards, BAFTA Television Awards, and in our New Year issue was declared one of the top 20 people in UK broadcasting. Of course, if you want to watch SYTYCD, TV Burp is repeated six times on ITV1 and ITV2 over the course of the week. You see? Not only is he extremely funny, he’s also good value.

Heroes BBC2, Saturday 10.10pm
A double bill of the first episodes of season four. By all accounts it’s a good opening — including the introduction a mysterious new carnival populated by superhero types — but after the last two seasons have both seen great setups let down pretty quickly by subsequent episodes being deathly dull, I’m not holding out much hope.

Lark Rise to Candleford BBC1, Sunday 8pm
Bill Gallagher’s charming period drama returns, with the two villages still as divided by class as they are by distance. This week, a messenger brings news that Emma Timmins (Claudie Blakley) may have come into some money, but daughter Laura (Olivia Hallinan) is more taken with the messenger himself. Well, he is played by Ben Aldridge, so one can see the appeal. But he’s a journalist, so there’s bound to be something nefarious afoot.

Wallander BBC1, Sunday 9pm
Bleak landscapes. Hushed tones. Miserable police officers. Perfect television.

Being Human BBC3, Sunday 9.30pm
BBC3’s best drama by miles for years returns for a second series. Russell Tovey’s werewolf, George, is wracked with guilt for having infected his girlfriend, while elsewhere the effects of his killing of head vampire Herrick at the end of last series have seen turmoil in the vampire world. Paul Rhys and Amy Manson join the regular cast as a couple of vampires eager to take advantage of the power vacuum caused by Herrick’s death; Aidan Turner and Lenora Critchlow remain as excellent as ever as reformed vampire Mitchell and ghost Annie. Unmissable.

What’s So Great About…? Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
A second three-part series in which Lenny Henry looks at topic which are either not enjoyed or just misunderstood by the public at large. Following 2008’s series (which covered Bob Dylan, method acting and life coaches), future episodes this time around include Samuel Beckett and modern art — but we kick off with an exploration of mathematics. And this being an attempt to popularise maths, it includes the compulsory appearance by former Countdown arithmetician Carol Vorderman.

Classic Serial: The Custom of the Country Radio 4, Saturday 9pm & Sunday 3pm
The festive holidays meant that we missed out on recommending the latest Classic Serial, a 3-part adaptation of Edith Wharton’s 1913 satire about the links between marriage and money in early 20th century American society. Rebecca Night stars as Undine Spragg, daughter of a family new to New York. Dan Stevens, Tom Hollander and Lorelei King also star. Catch the repeat of the first episode on Saturday evening (or on iPlayer) before Sunday’s second episode.

Drama on 3: Fences Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Danny Sapani leads a strong British cast in this adaptation of the late August Wilson’s Pulitzer and Tony-winning drama about family relationships in the shadow of the civil rights movement, which orignaally starred James Earl Jones and is shortly to be revived on Broadway with Denzel Washington in the lead role. In 1957, once-famous baseball player Troy Maxson (Sapani) is now working as a refuse collector. The Sarah Jane Adventures actor Daniel Anthony plays Troy’s son Cory, whose already tenuous relationship with his father deteriorates further on the news that Troy has been unfaithful to Cory’s mother, Rose (Adjoa Andoh - Casualty, Doctor Who).

Chris Evans / Simon Mayo Radio 2, 7am / 5pm from Monday
And so the new 2010 Radio 2 weekday schedule kicks off in earnest, with Chris Evans returning to breakfasts in Terry Wogan’s old slot (albeit starting a half hour earlier) and Simon Mayo transitioning from Five Live to Radio 2 to take over form Evans at drivetime. Expect the usual headlines about how awful the new line up is, how ratings are slipping as a result, etc., while all the time two of radio’s most effective professionals do what they do best — present damned fine programmes.

Book of the Week: Must You Go? Radio 4, Monday-Friday 9.45am & 12.45am
A little over a year since the sad death of Harold Pinter, his widow Antonia Fraser reads from her memoir of the couple’s time together - from falling in love while they were both married to other people, to her tending his bedside as he succumbs to cancer.

Woman’s Hour Drama: Six Suspects Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am & 7.45pm
Another casualty of our holiday absence: if you hurry, the first five episodes of this ten-episode serial are still available on iPlayer. An adaptation of the novel by Vika Swarup (whose other novel Q&A was filmed as Slumdog Millionaire), it centres around a murder mystery with, as you may have guessed, six suspects. The victim is Vicky Rai, the notorious son of a prominent Indian politician and who had previously shot dead a waitress at a swanky Delhi restaurant. Murdered at the party to celebrate his acquital, just who killed him and why?

Ed Reardon’s Week Radio 4, Monday 11.30am
The bucolic writer returns in a masterpiece of comedic melancholy by Chris Douglas (who also plays Ed) and Andrew Nickolds. Together with Count Arthur Strong, Ed Reardon is one of Radio 4’s finest comedy characters.

Famous Footsteps Radio 4, Tuesday 9.30am
What is it like to raise a family when one or both of the parents has a successful creative career? In the first of a five part series, Fiona Neill looks at the impact on children and adults alike, talking to husband and wife Adiran Edmonson and Jennifer Saunders, Tessa Montgomery (daughter of Daphne du Maurier) and songwriter Guy Chambers.

Towards Zero Radio 4, Wednesday 11.30am
First of a four-part adaptation of one of Agatha Christie’s lesser known detective mysteries. Marcia Warren is Lady Tressilian, an old and humourless woman who invites a curious array of guests to her seaside house for the summer. However, with tennis player Nevile Strange (Hugh Bonneville) under the same roof as his ex-wife Audrey (Claire Rushbrook) and his new wife Kay (Lizzy Watts), romantic misunderstanding ensue — until things take a darker turn when Lady Tressilian is murdered…

On the Blog Radio 2, Thursday 10pm
Caroline Quentin, Simon Greenall and Andy Taylor star in this third series of the sitcom that takes a humorous, if not always well-aimed, swipe at modern technologies as they affect our daily lives. In for a kicking this series, as well as blogging, are social networks and Twitter.

The Friday Play: Deep Cut Radio 4, Friday 9pm
Philip Ralph adapts his own stage play (winner of two Stage Awards upon its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008), a magnificent piece of verbatim theatre drawn from the public documents and statements by the people affected by the deaths of four soldiers at Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002 and the judicial review that followed in 2006. Concentrating on the story of 18-year-old Private Cheryl James, who was found in woodland outside the barracks with a single gunshot wound to her forehead in November 1995, Ralph follows the investigation with forensic precision.

Fans of the horror genre will be pleased to know that BBC3 looks set to give them something scary to enjoy in the dark winter weeks ahead.

At today’s Winter/Spring BBC3 launch, BBC controller of drama commissioning Ben Stephenson assured me that, as a big fan of horror, I am going to like Pulse, which is written by Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell and stars Claire Foy, who previously starred in Little Dorrit for the BBC.

Pulse, according to the BBC’s blurb, is set in a teaching hospital, which is home to some of the UK’s most promising trainee doctors:

But beneath its veneer of medical normality lies a secret network of dangerous experiments, pushing back the boundaries of science with potentially horrifying consequences

Now, I was a big fan of E4’s Dead Set, which, for a TV series, managed to be pretty gruesome and dark, and really provided for those who like their series a little more on the edgy side.

So I can only hope that BBC3 follows Dead Set’s lead to make sure that Pulse does something similar, and gives horror fans, who I often think are under-served by British television, something to get their teeth stuck in to.

The drama is planned as a one-off at the moment, and will run alongside two other pilots commissioned by BBC3, including a drama called Dappers from Mamma Mia! writer Catherine Johnson, and another from Leo Richardson called Stanley Park.

With just two days to go until the first live show, it’s time to introduce the fourteen professionally trained dancers who will be competing for the So You Think You Can Dance crown on Saturday nights on BBC1.

Tomorrow, we’ll introduce the seven girls, but today it’s the turn of the boys. One things that’s refreshing compared to previous BBC talent shows (especially the theatre ones), the press packs have specifically been asking contestants about their training — no “telesales girl Connie” or “concrete administrator Daniel” to be found here.

After the jump, we’ll list what we’ve been able to establish about each dancer’s training backgrounds — and, where applicable, what dance skills they have listed in their Spotlight profiles. You’ll also find a link to each dancer’s BBC profile page, where you’ll find video interviews that we can’t embed here.

So the shortlists for the National Television Awards have been announced. Public voting for the awards is now open, and closes on January 20.

As Matt notes in our news section, the Drama Performance category is contest between three Davids and a Philip, Messrs Jason (A Touch of Frost), Tennant (Doctor Who) and Threlfall (Shameless) vying with Mr Glenister (Ashes to Ashes and, um, Demons).

Save for David Jason’s anorak-clad detective (who didn’t actually broadcast any new episodes in 2009, if Wikipedia’s episode list is accurate), all the characters are larger-than-life, explosive personalities who, while they may not have been the most subtle or engaging of performances, certainly stick in the memory. Which is maybe why they rise to the top of a category in the publicly-voted NTAs.

And maybe that’s why it’s an all-male shortlist. Where is the recognition for women?

In last week’s edition of The Stage, which came out when TV Today was still on holiday, we look at all aspects of the year ahead in the branches of the performing arts that we cover as a newspaper. Below, we reproduced the TV & radio sections from that preview. Obviously the 2010 programme seasons have already started, so the first couple of programmes have already begun.

TELEVISION: The talent show genre remains a lucrative one, with the new year seeing further developments in this section of the light entertainment slate. Prior to the BBC’s fourth theatre hunt series, finding a Dorothy for the Wizard of Oz in Over the Rainbow, the emphasis will be on dance. BBC1 will air a British version of US format So You Think You Can Dance, judged by Nigel Lythgoe and Arlene Phillips, while Sky 1 will produce a rival version entitled Got to Dance, featuring judges Adam Garcia and Ashley Banjo, lead dancer and choreographer of Britain’s Got Talent 2009 winners Diversity. Sky 1 will also air a documentary going behind the scenes at Pineapple Dance Studios, while BBC3 will showcase wheelchair dance sport, with wheelchair users pairing up with celebrities in Dancing on Wheels.

On the drama front, the fantasy genre looks to be in rude health for 2010, with the BBC’s Being Human, Merlin, Survivors and Doctor Who all returning, the latter with a new cast including Matt Smith as the Doctor and a new production team led by Steven Moffat. BBC4 will continue its run of dramas based on real-life events, with Brian Cox and Anna Maxwell Martin starring in Bringing Down the House, centring on the rows over MPs’ expenses, and Christopher Eccleston and Naoko Mori starring as John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Lennon Naked. Literary adaptations will not be ignored, however, with new versions of DH Lawrence’s The Rainbow and Women in Love and John Braine’s Room at the Top all commissioned for 2010.

Meanwhile, BBC1 will air two new feature-length episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs, written by Heidi Thomas and starring the series’ original creators Jean Marsh (who reprises her role as Rose, now promoted to housekeeper) and Eileen Atkins. Also of interest will be The Silence, a four-part thriller with deaf actress Genevieve Barr playing a girl who witnesses a murder, and Luther, a dark crime drama about a police detective who hunts serial killers. A lighter side of crime drama is promised from Sherlock, a contemporary take on Conan Doyle’s creations with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman pairing up as a modern day Holmes and Watson.

Following the success of the RSC’s screen adaptation of Hamlet starring David Tennant, 2010 will see Rupert Goold’s Macbeth with Patrick Stewart receiving the same treatment. Contemporary stage drama will also get a look in as Kay Mellor’s A Passionate Woman, originally developed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1992, is adapted into two films starring Billie Piper, Andrew Lee Potts and Sue Johnston.

Comedy will undoubtedly continue to have a key place in the schedules next year. Returning series will include Channel 4’s Fonejacker and BBC’s Miranda, which may have divided critics, but secured a steady following for comedian Miranda Hart’s solo outing. Hart’s other TV sitcom, Not Going Out, will also be returning, with new BBC controller of comedy commissioning Cheryl Taylor reversing a previous decision to cancel the series.

It’s not all recommissions, though – BBC2 has green-lit a pilot sketch show for comedy duo Ingrid Oliver and Lorna Watson. And Stephen K Amos, the comic who used to joke that, as a black man, he’d have to wait for Lenny Henry to die before he’d get a BBC show of his own, ends up with not one, but two – his own self-titled sketch show, and a sitcom written by Men Behaving Badly scribe Simon Nye entitled My Country.

RADIO: Gone are the days of idly turning a knob on your radio in the vain hope of finding the station you’re looking for, writes Nick Smurthwaite. Soon you will be able to pinpoint any accredited radio station in the country on your PC or mobile phone using UK Radioplayer, a pop-up console enabling listeners to search more than 400 national, local, community and student stations by subject, musical style or even song title.

The aim of the service, says Tim Davie, the BBC’s head of audio, is to increase listening across the industry and help preserve radio’s unique position in UK culture. Absolute 80s, the new station from Absolute Radio, offering non-stop music from the era, recently launched online and on London DAB, replacing Absolute Xtreme. So if you’re into Prince, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Human League et al, this could be the one for you.

While Absolute 80s will have no DJs, Radio 2 is inclined to put the disc jockeys before the music, certainly in terms of their listener pulling power. The king of the crop, Terry Wogan, having relinquished his breakfast show to Chris Evans after 27 years, will be moving to a mid-morning Sunday slot in February. Apparently it will include some live music and guest interviews.

Jack Dee and Peter Capaldi have teamed up for News at Bedtime, a new comedy series scripted by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, responsible for the TV series My Dad’s the Prime Minister. It filters new analysis through the unlikely channel of nursery rhymes and fairy tales.

Radio 4 will shortly be launching its History of the World in 100 Objects, presented by the British Museum’s Neil Macgregor, in which, each week, a single artefact will be selected to throw light on one chapter in world history. There will be a companion TV programme on CBBC and lots of other connected output.

Sir David Frost returns with another series of The Frost Collection, looking back on his illustrious career as the man who became as famous as the people he interviewed. No shrinking violet, he invites guests to reflect on the significance of various key interviews with people such as Idi Amin, Indira Gandhi. Nelson Mandela, Billy Graham and George W Bush. Hopefully interviews with Bob Hope and John Gielgud will provide some light relief.

If you saw the New Year’s Day conclusion to David Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor in The End of Time Part 2 (quick review: little too long, miles better than part 1, loads of great moments, loved the hat tip to the late Howard Attfield aka Geoff Noble, John Simm brilliant, arise Sir Bernard Cribbins, still not ginger!) then you saw Matt Smith’s first few seconds in the role, running around the burning Tardis with glee as it hurtled on a crash course with Earth.

What you may have missed, unless you stayed tuned throughout the days’s second epsiode of EastEnders, was the full-length teaser for the new 2010 series complete with new companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan, who is ginger), new Tardis-shaped DW insignia and an abundance of quick peeks at some of the friends and foes the Eleventh Doctor will encounter in the spring.

Thankfully, it’s now on YouTube for all to see — and for us to embed below:

In case people don’t want to be spoiled I’ll refrain from speculating on the trailer’s contents here — but feel free to do so in the comments!

Missing BBC1, Monday-Friday 2.15pm
A welcome repeat for last year’s daytime series starring Pauline Quirke as a detective in charge of a Dover-based missing persons unit. This week’s repeat run should whet the appetite for the forthcoming second series, which has been bumped up to ten episodes in length.

Hustle BBC1, Monday 9pm
The comedy drama returns for a sixth series, with the grifters out to con a banker who has recently been hit by a very public pensions scandal. But they also have a new DCI to evade. Lucy Britford (Indira Varma) has a 95% conviction rate and is all too aware of what Mickey and the team are up to.

Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia ITV1, Monday-Wednesday 9pm
Lynda La Plante adapts the second of her Anna Travis books into a three-part crime drama for ITV1. Kelly Reilly and Ciaran Hinds are reunited as DC Travis and DCI James Langton. In modern day London, a copycat killer recreates the notorious Black Dahlia murder that scandalised 1940s Hollywood.

Nurse Jackie BBC2, Monday-Friday 10pm
In their wisdom, BBC2 has decided to show this latest quality import stripped across the entire week, which I’m not sure does it justice. Edie Falco (The Sopranos) plays Jackie Peyton, a nurse in a busy New York emergency room who is addicted to prescription painkillers and has only a passing acquaintance with ethical practices. It’s a bleak comedy that has been making impressive waves in the US and should hopefully do the same here.

Silent Witness BBC1, Thursday 9pm
An incomprehensible thirteenth series for the pathology drama starring Emilia Fox, Tom Ward and William Gaminara. I’ve never managed to get back into this show since Amanada Burton left — will this series be the one to do it?

If there’s one thing about talent shows on the BBC as opposed to their ITV counterparts (other than the lack of Simon Cowell) it’s the Corporation’s reticence to dwell on the audition process. And while one can applaud their decision to only skim past the ranks of no-hopers that are the bread and butter of The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent’s first weeks, I can’t help feeling that an awful lot of dancing babies were thrown out with the bath water in the debut episode of the UK version of So You Think You Can Dance.

The breakneck speed at which we went through the process also meant the selection procedure rules weren’t immediately obvious to anyone who hadn’t seen the original US version, at least if the discussions on Twitter were anything to go by. Judges Arlene Phillips and Nigel Lythgoe, joined by a guest judge (depending on audition day, choreographers Sisco Gomez or Priscilla Samuels, or popstar-turned-Thomson Holiday Rep Louise Redknapp) had three choices after each performance: a straightforward ‘no’, a decision to call the dancer back for a group choreography session the same afternoon (‘yes to choreography’), or a decision to let them skip that step and give them one of 100 “golden ticket” passes to “choreography camp”.

To be honest, I think it was that name (the equivalent of the US show’s ‘Vegas Week’) that had been causing confusion - when the judges were saying, “yes to choreography”, they weren’t saying yes (yet) to Choreography Camp. And couldn’t they have come up with a name that conveyed the sort of glamour and excitement that “Vegas Week” does in America? Okay, so they were holding the intensive course in Television Centre, and “White City Week” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but still…