Take a tour of the British Isles in accents

From a drama standpoint, have you ever wondered as you were watching the likes of MI-5, Doc Martin, Scott & Bailey, New Tricks, Case Histories, Call the Midwife, Father Brown or Eastenders how where the show is set will dictate the accents used in the show? How about from a comedy standpoint with Last of […]

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BBC 2's Line of Duty commissioned for third series

As if I needed yet another reason to solidify my belief that the UK invented good telly. Put aside Hustle, MI5, Life on Mars, Endeavour and Call the Midwife for a minute and take a look at Line of Duty. The police procedural from BBC2 premiered in 2012 and quickly became the BBC2’s best-performing drama […]

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BBC revives Comedy Playhouse with 'Over to Bill'

This Spring will see two brilliant returns to the telly. Not so coincidentally, brilliance will collide when Doug Naylor’s Over to Bill launches as one of three pilots scheduled for the revival of the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse strand. Comedy Playhouse began in 1961 and ran until 1975 as an anthology series which served as the […]

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Drama takes center stage at BBC Showcase 2014

After a healthy dose of comedy the last couple of days with Rev, Wrong Mans, Uncle, Inside No. 9 and Mr. Sloane, the focus was on drama as we are at the halfway point of the BBC Showcase screenings in Liverpool. Already armed with the knowledge that there will be new seasons of Death in […]

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Tellyspotting heads to Liverpool for 2014 BBC Showcase

How appropriate given that 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the first Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that, as you read this, Tellyspotting will be somewhere over New York City headed to Liverpool for the 2014 BBC Showcase. You might remember that this is annual gathering of television programming executives from around the […]

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'Call the Midwife' returns Sunday to BBC One, March 30 to PBS

While the U.S. counts down the hours until the return of Sherlock on Sunday, January 19, the UK has its own reasons to settle in for some great telly following this week’s traditional Sunday roast. Call the Midwife, series 3, returns Sunday following the mega-popular Christmas Day special which saw Shelagh marry Doc Turner and, […]

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Bletchley Circle returns tonight on ITV1 and April 2014 to PBS

At great personal peril, and at the risk of being the lone ranger in the U.S. today that has put aside last night’s 4th season premiere of Downton Abbey on PBS for the moment, I bring you word of the second series of the brilliant Bletchley Circle, which premieres tonight at 9pm on ITV1 in […]

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