December 2010 Archives

Kenny Everett and Lionel Bart remembered, Bruce Forsyth turned into a 15-minute musical, and Michael Grade going in search of the ghost of the London Palladium are among the treats for radio listeners over the Christmas holiday, writes Nick Smurthwaite

For those who remember Kenny Everett in his radio heyday, nothing has ever quite lived up to his blend of technical ingenuity and comedy mayhem. As presenter Paul Gambaccini says in Wireless Kenny Everett (Christmas Eve, 7pm, Radio 2), “Kenny was a master of both preparation and spontaneity, he was the only one of us who used the studio instead of just tolerating it.”

Everett relished all “the fiddly bits,” his term for editing, sound effects, splicing, phrasing and all manner of stereo trickery. Within his music show, he created a spoof sci-fi serial, Captain Kremmen, based on the fifties radio adventure, Journey Into Space. He went on to become even better known for his TV shows, but Everett purists will be delighted by this long overdue tribute to his pioneering radio work.

Lionel Bart would have been 80 this year and to mark the occasion, his old pal Barbara Windsor hijacks Friday Night is Music Night (Christmas Eve, 8pm, Radio 2). Bernard Cribbins, Lee Mead, Bradley Walsh and others will join her to remember Bart’s work — from the early Cliff Richard hit, Living Doll, to the familiar score from Oliver! The show comes from the Hackney Empire, apparently Bart’s favourite venue.

A new series of Radio 4’s 15 Minute Musical kicks off (Christmas Eve, 6.15pm), taking Bruce Forsyth as its inspiration. Future pocket musicals in the seven-part series will feature The Queen, Ed Miliband, Fabio Capello and the Coalition.

On Christmas Day, Radio 2 brings us The London Palladium Story (7pm), marking the iconic venue’s centenary with a look back at its colourful history and an investigation by the soon-to-be ennobled Michael Grade into ghostly goings-on backstage (see also our feature in this week’s Christmas issue of The Stage).

Boxing Day’s must-listen is French and Saunders making their Radio 2 debut (5pm) with the first of three two-hour music and chat shows, featuring records from their personal collections. Their first guests will be comedian Miranda Hart and her real-life mum. French says, “I can’t wait to go to work in my negligee, kitten heels and no make-up.”

Also on Boxing Day (Radio 4, 11.15am), sixties pop star Sandie Shaw, now a psychotherapist, will be Kirsty Young’s guest on Desert Island Discs, and Australian-born comedian turned psychologist Pamela Stephenson, lately a rather impressive contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, will be Michael Berkeley’s guest on DID’s posh cousin, Radio 3’s Private Passions (12pm). Her musical choices include Joan Sutherland, Lotte Lenya singing a Brecht/Weill song, and a Balinese gamelan instrumental.

Former Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist Slash celebrates his Guitar Heroes on BBC6 Music (Boxing Day, 6pm) from Jimmy Page to Jimi Hendrix, while over on Radio 2 (6am), Aled Jones presents a pick of his Good Morning Sunday programmes, including Omid Djalili on the Baha’i faith, Geoffrey Durham on being a Quaker, Kate McCann on the power of prayer, and Lynda Bellingham’s comments about the trauma of domestic abuse.

Fans of crime thrillers will no doubt be pleased to know that David Suchet’s portrayal of Hercule Poirot has reached the Belgian detective’s most famous case, Murder On the Orient Express (Christmas Day, 9pm, ITV1, pictured). Ending with one of Agatha Christie’s most famous denouements (save for the identity of the murderer in The Mousetrap) it’s perhaps understandable that this production concentrates on more than just the crime, with a focus on how being trapped in a snowdrift affects Poirot’s deportment and judgement. The resulting film doesn’t veer too far away from the source material, though.

Rather more liberties are taken with ITV1’s Marple (December 27, 9pm), which takes a 1932 short story, The Blue Geranium, and fashions it into a two-hour story. For Christie purists, digital channel Alibi is showing a season of the definitive Joan Hickson films made by the BBC (December 24-31, various times).

Some Christmas specials have become part of the television furniture in recent years. The Royle Family (Christmas Day, 9pm, BBC1) returns for another seasonal outing, while Only Fools and Horses prequel Rock and Chips gets a second helping (December 29, 9pm, BBC1).

The big drama event of Christmas Day for the last several years has been Doctor Who, and 2010’s is no exception, with a guest starring role for Michael Gambon (Christmas Day, 6pm, BBC1) as a curmudgeonly miser who is shown the error of his ways. If that sounds a familiar theme for the time of year, the title of the episode - A Christmas Carol - leaves no doubt as to the inspiration.

Family drama continues with Simon Nye’s new adaptation of Richmal Crompton’s Just William stories (December 28-31, various times, BBC1). Outnumbered’s Daniel Roche stars as the precocious child who gets into scrapes with his gang of Outlaws, including his own unique rendition of Hamlet. Younger viewers should also be entertained by the CBeebies Panto (December 17, 4.20pm, repeated various times and now available on iPlayer) starring some of the channel’s most familiar faces.

Grown-ups will get a taste of stage entertainment too, with Don Giovanni from Glyndebourne (Christmas Eve, 2.45pm, BBC2), Birmingham Royal Ballet’s new production of Cinderella (Christmas Day, 3pm, BBC2), teen musical Rules of Love (December 18, 12.35pm, BBC2 - now on iPlayer) and a documentary following comedian Matt Lucas as he takes on the role of Thenardier in the O2 Arena’s 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables (December 29, 8pm, BBC2).

Lucas is joined by Little Britain partner David Walliams for new mockumentary series Come Fly With Me (starts Christmas Day, 10pm, BBC1) in which the duo play a variety of male and female characters set in an airport and the low-budget carriers that use it. While the docusoaps that clearly inspired the setting have long since fallen out of favour, the initial previews suggest that the duo’s comedy is more finely judged than their last few Little Britain outings. Elsewhere in the comedy schedules, Ronnie Corbett marks his 80th birthday by returning to sketch comedy with The One Ronnie (Christmas Day, 5.10pm BBC1), joined by a number of BBC comedy stars.

Traditionalists will enjoy a new telling of the Christmas story in Tony Jordan’s four-part adaptation of The Nativity (December 20-23, 7pm, BBC1) starring Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany as Mary and Andrew Buchan as Joseph. Told across four nights, the serial promises to shed new light on some familiar aspects of the story of Jesus’ birth, with supporting roles from Neil Dudgeon, Peter Capaldi and Jack Shepherd.

And a newer tradition, that of the Christmas ghost story, is continued with MR James’ atmospheric Whistle and I’ll Come to You (Christmas Eve, 9pm, BBC2) starring John Hurt and adapted by Neil Cross. Jonathan Miller’s 1968 version, which starred Michael Hordern, is rightly regarded as a classic so the new version has a lot to live up to.

But the big draw for drama fans this season may be to a couple of programmes with little or no actual connection to Christmas. Toast (December 30, 9pm, BBC2) sees Freddie Highmore play the young Nigel Slater in an adaptation of the food writer’s moving and mouth-watering autobiography, with Helena Bonham Carter taking the role of his stepmother. And Heidi Thomas’ long-awaited new version of Upstairs Downstairs (from Boxing Day, 9pm, BBC1) sees the Bellamys’ former housemaid Rose (series co-creator Jean Marsh) return to 165 Eaton Place to help a new generation of occupants find staff. Eileen Atkins, who created the original series with Marsh, joins a cast that also includes Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard, Anne Reid and Adrian Scarborough.

• This preview is included in The Stage’s Christmas double issue, on sale now. For more details, see our In the Paper blog

The 82nd Royal Variety Performance will most likely be remembered as the one at which the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were attacked, writes Alistair Smith.

On their way to the event, the royal couple’s car was stopped by a mob and a window was smashed by those protesting against the hike in university tuition fees.

Clearly, it’s a shame for Prince Charles and Camilla, but also for the Royal Variety Performance, which enjoyed one of its strongest years in recent memory - something which could now be overlooked.

Staged at the London Palladium, celebrating its centenary this year, the line-up was a well-judged mix of pop stars, comics, large musical theatre numbers, imaginative speciality acts and even a little ballet.

The evening was book-ended by pop royalty - kicking off with Kylie Minogue - flanked by nine dancers - performing Better Than Today and climaxing with Take That (at full strength now Robbie has returned) performing one of their latest hits - The Flood - as around 100 buff, semi-naked male dancers writhed around on the stage in front of them. It proved a wonderfully camp and theatrical finale to an excellent evening of entertainment, although heavens knows what the Queen would have made of it had she been in attendance.

He has one of the most distinctive voices on television, from E4’s trailers to The X Factor. But with that series over for another year, poor old Peter Dickson has suddenly got a lot of spare time on his hands - so he’s looking for acting work…

The video comes from the BBC Comedy website.

Miranda BBC2, Monday 8.30pm (repeated Tuesday 10pm)
It’s what I call good, slapstick fun.

Accused BBC1, Monday 9pm
Marc Warren is the latest actor to descend into crime in Jimmy McGovern’s series of modern morality tales.

Imagine… Ben Hur BBC1, Tuesday 10.45pm
When actress Margot Boyd (best known as Marjorie Antrobus in Radio 4’s The Archers) died, she left a bequest to the people of Bath, enabling 180 local people to take part in a mammoth production of Ben Hur at the city’s Theatre Royal. Imagine… follows the year-long production process.

• View the BBC local TV report about Ben Hur

Grandpa in my Pocket Christmas Special CBeebies, Wednesday 4.20pm
We’re heading into that festive special time of year, but I think this is one of the first, with James Bolam’s incredible shrinking grandparent trying to convince Great Aunt Loretta (Susan Jameson) of the magic of Christmas.

Mad and Bad: 60 Years of Science on TV BBC4, Wednesday 9pm
Raymond Baxter. Magnus Pyke. Heinz Wolff. Johnny Ball. David Attenborough. Our modern idea of science has been shaped by its portrayal on screen, from Tomorrow’s World to Think of a Number and with a smattering of sci-fi dramas thrown in. Robert Webb narrates.

The Royal Variety Performance BBC1, Thursday 8pm
Already the event itself has been overshadowed by the troubles the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall faced on the way to the Palladium, but it’s the acts that are important. It’s a singer/comedian heavy lineup this year, but there’s still space for Britain’s Got Talent winners Spelbound, Over the Rainbow’s winning Dorothy, Danielle Hope, and a celebration of Les Miserables on its 25th anniversary.

Dirk Gently BBC4, Thursday 9pm
Douglas Adams’ holistic detective is brought to life by Stephen Mangan, with Darren Boyd and Helen Baxendale in support. Adapted by Howard Overman (Misfits), this pilot could, if successful, transfer into a longer series.

Radio 2 Comedy Showcase: Fare Trade Radio 2, Saturday 10pm
Richard Wilson takes a break from the flowing robe and wig in Merlin to play Frank, a teacher turned cab driver. Starved for cash, he is reduced to working for his ex-wife’s new husband. Julia Deakin and Ralf Little also star in this one-off pilot.

Drama on 3: Gilead Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Roger Allam stars in a play set in the 1950s American Midwest, adapted by Marilynne Robinson from her novel of the same name. The Rev John Ames (Allam) is collecting his memories and those of his father and grandfather to pass on in turn to his seven-year-old son, who he knows he will never live to see become an adult. When the charming Jack Boughton arrives, it appears that he may have designs on Ames’ wife.

Uncle Gwyn’s Posthumous Curse Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am & 7.45pm
This week’s Woman’s Hour Drama is a comic tale written by Lynn Truss, set on a rainly golf course in Wales. The curse in question is that if anyone ever breaks one of the club’s many rules, they tend to end up “spikes up” in short order…

Afternoon Play: Chequebook and Pen Radio 4, Thursday 2.15pm
An imagined version of the behind-the-scenes moves on cheesy BBC game show Blankety Blank, when Terry Wogan left the show to be replaced by Les Dawson. Johnny Vegas co-writes the play with Andrew Lynch, and also stars as Dawson. Nicholas Parsons, Shobna Gulati and Mick Miller provide support.

Friday Night is Music Night Radio 2, Friday 8pm
This week’s edition of the Radio 2 staple concentrates on film, musicals and operas in which the lead character is a masked man. Verdi’s Masked Ball, Danny Elfman’s work on movies from Batman to Spider-Man, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera and its sequel Love Never Dies all feature. As, oddly, does music from the 1938 Errol Flynn movie The Adventures of Robin Hood. Even though Flynn didn’t wear a mask in that role. Maybe whoever programmed the concert was too busy looking at his legs in those tights to have noticed?

The Friday Play: Banished - Mugabe of Zimbabwe Radio 4, Friday 9pm
As a companion piece to the previous week’s Friday Play about the formation of Zimbabwe as an independent state, Andrew Whaley has written a drama set in 2000 in which a Zimbabwean woman returns to the country from London after the death of her father. He had worked with President Mugabe years before, and Aurelia discovers the premier intends to attend the funeral.

Coronation Street ITV1, Friday 8.30pm
Coronation Street: The Big 50 ITV1, Friday 9pm
The last episode of the big tram crash week, after last night’s triumphant live hour was watched by an estimated 14 million viewers. It’s followed by a quiz show hosted by Paul O’Grady, with celebrity fans and cast members pitted against one another.

Strictly Come Dancing BBC1, Frdiay 9pm, Saturday 6pm, Sunday 7pm
It’s semi-final weekend, and for the first time Strictly stretches into Friday night’s schedules at the end of the series rather than just the beginning. Gavin, Kara, Matt, Pamela and Scott vie for that all-important place in next week’s final.

The X Factor Final ITV1, Saturday 7pm, Sunday 7.30pm
Every year the contestants get more boring, every year ITV bosses roll their hands at the ad revenues being brought in. Well, if it keeps them afloat for the rest of the year that’s something, I suppose…

Macbeth BBC4, Sunday 7.30pm
I’m the sort of viewer that watches any channel, terrestrial or digital, without prejudice — but I can’t help thinking it’s a crying shame that this new staging of Rupert Goold’s 2007 production of Macbeth is relatively tucked away on BBC4. Filmed by Illuminations, the company that so effectively brought David Tennant’s RSC Hamlet, Patrick Stewart stars as the battle veteran who finds himself a slave to ambition, both his and his wife’s. Kate Fleetwood’s calculating Lady Macbeth and some magnificent witches make what should be an unmissable production.

John Wyver, co-producer, has blogged about the film on the BBC’s TV blog:

This is Shakespeare’s bloody drama reimagined in the midst of a mid-20th Century war zone. The witches are deadly nurses and Banquo is assassinated by handgun and silencer.

Rupert Goold’s Macbeth started at the Chichester Festival Theatre, transferred to the West End and then had a triumphant run on Broadway. The film came together after my production company Illuminations worked with Sir Patrick on the film for the BBC of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet with David Tennant.

As with Hamlet, shown on Boxing Day a year ago, we transplanted the stage production to a richly visual location and shot it across three weeks just like a feature film. Our setting was the eerie below ground world at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire.

This warren of tunnels, claustrophobic cells and a vast windowless ballroom was created in the mid-nineteenth century by the reclusive fifth Duke of Portland. His descendants still live in the main house, but they seemed content as Macduff’s invading army fired off round after round of exceptionally loud blanks from their automatic weapons.

Although his production began life on the stage, Rupert Goold has crafted a fast-moving and highly cinematic version for the screen. Yet I believe it demonstrates a deep respect for Shakespeare’s drama, and a full text (including the often-excised “England” scene) is played with very few cuts or additions.

Coronation Street ITV1, Monday 7.30pm & 8.30pm, Tuesday 8.30pm, Wednesday 7pm, Thursday 8pm
A week of 50th anniversary episodes starts with the stag and hen parties for Leanne and Peter’s impending nuptials — but the trams over the viaduct may have other plans. Yes, it’s the long awaited tram crash to mark the show’s half century (we’re fairly sure a slice of cake and a few streamers would have done, but never mind). With episodes every night this week, including an hour-long live episode on Thursday’s formal anniversary, it’s certainly going to be very dramatic — and producer Phil Collinson’s chance to stamp his mark on the series.

Coronation Street: The First Episode ITV1, Monday 8pm
A chance to watch a youthful William Roache amongst a cast including Doris Speed, Violet Carson and Pat Phoenix in the original 1960 episode, which went out live on December 9 that year. As an introduction to the setup of the street — corner shop at one end, pub at the other — it uses a format that’s still in use on new shows today: a newcomer (in this case, new shopkeeper Florrie Lindley) acts as our eyes and ears, hearing about all the various characters that would become part of the nation’s fabric over the decades to come.

Come Dine With Me: Coronation Street Special Channel 4, Monday 9pm
It’s just as well this cash-in from Channel 4 is being slotted in at the start of the week, as I suspect even the die-hard Street fans will be all Corried out by the end of the week. Former cast members Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch), Ken Morley (Reg Holdsworth), Tupele Dorgu (Kelly Crabtree) and Philip Middlemiss (Des Barnes) compete to host the best dinner party.

Coronation Street Uncovered: Live ITV2, Monday 10pm
A behind-the-scenes look at the soap, and especially the execution of the tram crash, is hosted by Stephen Mulhern.

Coronation Street: 50 Years, 50 Moments ITV1, Tuesday 9pm, Thursday 9pm
It’s a clip show, but with Victoria Wood on voiceover duties and fifty years’ worth of footage to cherry-pick from it should still be worth watching. Fifty classic scenes and storylines from the soap’s history, ranked according to public vote, are presented in conjunction with reminiscences from past and present cast members.

For the non-Corrie fans, of course, telly goes on — with Miranda (BBC2, tonight 8.30pm), A superb episode of Accused with Andy Serkis and Neve McIntosh (BBC1, tonight 9pm) and repeat of Lennon Naked (BBC4, Wednesday 10pm) among much more. But really, if you’re not a soaps fan, this week might be the one to take yourself and see a good panto instead…

Opera on 3: Adriana Lecouvreur Radio 3, Saturday 6.45pm
A live performance from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, with Angela Gheorghiu in the title role of Cilea’s opera. Adriana is a French actress who has her heart set on winning the affections of Maurizio (Jonas Kaufmann) — but as you’d expect, she has a rival. And her nemesis is a wealthy princess, to boot…

Classic Serial: I, Claudius Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
Robert Graves’ classic story continues (if you missed last week’s opening episode, it’s repeated on Saturday night and is on iPlayer). As Claudius is growing up, he realises the extent of his grandmother Livia’s ambitions.

Drama on 3: Perpetual Light Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Melissa Murray writes a tale about a woman who has her dead husband recreated as an avater and uploaded to a virtual memorial site. Is his soul now digital? If so, what does death really mean? There’s a mass of philosophy and religious dogma mixed in with parallels to how we live our lives increasingly online.

Heel, Toe, Step Together Radio 4, Monday 11am
Bob Hill is a former dance champion — and at 86, he is now giving dance lessons to a 28-year-old radio producer who he met by chance at an East London market. The same producer, Katie Burningham, has made this documentary about their relationship. Whether this’ll be charming or merely self-indulgent, I couldn’t say, but I’ll be listening to find out.

Great Lives Radio 4, Tuesday 4.30pm
PR guru Mark Borkowski looks at the life of punk svengali Malcolm McLaren. Not so much a life as a larger-than-life, it’s a great start to another series of the show that looks at figures of the recent past.

The Friday Play: God’s President: Mugabe of Zimbabwe Radio 4, Friday 9pm
No, you’re not seeing things: there really is a Friday Play this week. Kwame Kwei-Armah has crafted a tale of how Rhodesia passed from British hands to become the independent republic of Zimbabwe. Lucian Msamati plays Robert Mugabe, while the playwright himself also stars as Sir Shridath Ramphal.

Strictly Come Dancing BBC1, Saturday 7.40pm
Generally, I’m quite liking the more relaxed attitude to the dance repertoire in this series of Strictly. There are occasions when I get all Len Goodmanish and just wish they’d get on with doing some basic steps already, but accepting that the show is light entertainment first and a dance competition second means that I can be quite sanguine about the over-reliance on props. Ann Widdecombe, though, there is no excuse for. This week has a movies theme, and if they were to reprise their Titanic-themed Rumba I only hope that the iceberg gets her this time.

Merlin BBC1, Saturday 7.40pm
The final episode of the series, and Camelot is under the grip of Morgana and her even more wicked sister Morgause. With an army of immortal soldiers at their beck and call, Arthur needs all the help he can get. And so, he gathers a collection of knights — and gives them a particularly shaped table… As the series has begun to embrace the more familiar aspects of Arthurian mythology, Merlin has shown every sign of a series that is more confident in its own skin than it was in its first series. Roll on series four!

The Road to Coronation Street BBC4, Saturday 9.30pm
In preparation for Corrie’s big 50th birthday celebrations next week — and what says “happy birthday” better than crashing a tram and killing off several long-running cast members? — here’s a welcome repeat for Daran Little’s dramatised account of the series’ creation, starring David Dawson, Jessie Wallace, Lynda Barron and Celia Imrie.

Operation Mincemeat BBC2, Sunday 9pm
A documentary, so normally outside our remit, but it tells the story of one of the most elaborate fictions. In 1943, as the Allies prepared to invade Sicily, a plan was hatched to convince the Germans that their forces were instead focussed on Greece. The deception, in a plan devised by one Ian Fleming (then an intelligence officer, and later to create James Bond), involved dressing a dead man in RAF uniform, putting top secret ‘plans’ in his pockets and then letting him float ashore as if he had been shot down. The extent to which this plan affected the outcome of the war is examined here.