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Simon Hoggart

Forgotten laughter

Simon Hoggart 8 January 2011 12:00 am

The Radio Times now lists 72 channels, and that’s not all of them.

Top of the pops

Simon Hoggart 18 December 2010 12:00 am

The most watched programme on British television this year was the special live edition of EastEnders, broadcast in February to mark the soap’s 25th anniversary.

Street life

Simon Hoggart 4 December 2010 12:00 am

It is the 50th anniversary of Coronation Street and there seems to be as much celebration and feasting as there was for the Queen’s own golden jubilee, in 2002.

Hard times

Simon Hoggart 20 November 2010 12:00 am

Courtroom dramas filled the schedules this week, with Jimmy McGovern writing a series for the BBC called Accused (BBC1, Monday).

All over the shop

Simon Hoggart 6 November 2010 12:00 am

I’m writing this near Ludlow, a town which has miraculously kept its centre.

United Nations

Simon Hoggart 23 October 2010 12:00 am

There have been the usual moans about the BBC spending £100,000 on coverage of the Chilean miners.

All about sex

Simon Hoggart 9 October 2010 12:00 am

The Song of Lunch (BBC2) was a rum old go. Christopher Reid’s poem, about a publisher half-hoping to rekindle a past love affair over an Italian meal, was read out by Alan Rickman, who acted the publisher and recreated the lines on film.

Hosed down with artificial cream

Simon Hoggart 25 September 2010 12:00 am

Highgrove: Alan Meets Prince Charles (BBC2, Thursday) brought us two men who are not quite national treasures, though who would certainly like to be.

Sex lives and videotape

Simon Hoggart 11 September 2010 12:00 am

Him and Her (BBC 3) is the BBC’s notion of a really edgy sitcom.

The price of fame

Simon Hoggart 28 August 2010 12:00 am

The X Factor is back on ITV, and it’s fascinating, being a paradigm of British life.

Facts and fantasy

Simon Hoggart 14 August 2010 12:00 am

The Unforgettable Bob Monkhouse (ITV1) might be thought a slightly coat-trailing title, though not perhaps as much as its follow-up, The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle.

Beauty and the beasts

Simon Hoggart 31 July 2010 12:00 am

Some 13 years ago, a six-year-old girl called JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in Boulder, Colorado.

In deep water

Simon Hoggart 17 July 2010 12:00 am

What a strange organisation the BBC is! Imagine the meeting at which they discussed the cancellation of Hole in the Wall, the world’s most mindless game show.

Character building

Simon Hoggart 30 June 2010 12:00 am

Years ago, not long after Tony Blair’s first landslide, I was asked by London Weekend Television to co-write a sitcom.

Game for a laugh

Simon Hoggart 16 June 2010 12:00 am

In spite of the hype, I enjoy the World Cup. But I don’t enjoy the omnipresent James Corden, who played the clingy, footie-loving, curry-scoffing, lager-glugging, belly-baring, deeply annoying best friend in Gavin and Stacey.

Shakespeare in school

Simon Hoggart 2 June 2010 12:00 am

I really wanted to like When Romeo Met Juliet (BBC2, Friday).

Emotional ties

Simon Hoggart 19 May 2010 12:00 am

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

Leaders of the pack

Simon Hoggart 5 May 2010 12:00 am

Two programmes about singing this week, and they could scarcely have been more different.

Cookery class

Simon Hoggart 21 April 2010 12:00 am

The other day there were four cookery programmes in prime time on the terrestrial channels.

Modern living

Simon Hoggart 7 April 2010 12:00 am

The sublime Outnumbered (BBC1, Thursday) is back.

Sweet and sour

Simon Hoggart 24 March 2010 12:00 am

Lewis Carroll invented the word ‘mimsy’, probably soldering it from ‘miserable’ and ‘flimsy’.

Guilty pleasures

Simon Hoggart 10 March 2010 12:00 am

I am, I hope, still too young to watch daytime television, but conversation can be slow in the care home where I visit my parents every week.

Recipe for success

Simon Hoggart 24 February 2010 12:00 am

Things you never hear on Masterchef (BBC1, passim).

Past perfect

Simon Hoggart 10 February 2010 12:00 am

Last week I had the pleasure of lunching with Michael Medwin, who is the only surviving member of the cast of The Army Game (ITV, 1957–61).

Perfect pitch

Simon Hoggart 27 January 2010 12:00 am

Our attitude to the past of our own youth is like our feelings towards an old grandfather: we love him, admire him for what he’s done, but, goodness, we don’t half patronise him.

« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 … 11 »

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