public television | Tellyspotting

Posted November 19, 2014 - No Comment

Harry Pearce returns to the grid in 'Spooks: The Greater Good'

Television is a funny piece of furniture. There are times when a series comes to an end and you know it’s time for it to go before it passes its sell-by date. Sadly, there are times, more often than not, that you think a series should come to an end yet it continues for several more seasons. There are those magical times, however, where you endlessly wish a series would go on forever but instead it comes to an all-ends-nicely-tied-up ending. The last scenario, for me, would define my thoughts on Spooks or MI-5 as it was titled in America, which went out on a perfect note in 2011.

Posted November 2, 2014 - 2 Comments

PBS getting more 'Vicious' in 2015

Following a new Christmas Day special this coming December on PBS, Freddie Thornhill and Stuart Bixby are headed back to PBS in Summer 2015 for the second series of Vicious, the story of two aging partners who have lived together in their Covent Garden flat for 48 years. Vicious first premiered on PBS this past Summer bringing together two of the finest actors on Planet Earth, both very familiar to public television audiences, Sir’s Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.

Posted October 27, 2014 - No Comment

Sans powdered wigs, BBC's Silk headed for U.S. remake on ABC

This just in…a U.S. television broadcast network will try, yet again, to re-invent the wheel and adapt a British drama for American television. Surprise! ABC will re-make Peter Moffat’s British legal drama, Silk, the Bafta-nominated BBC drama which revolved around the lives of barristers at Shoe Lane chambers, and the lengths they went to to […]

Posted October 18, 2014 - No Comment

U.S. networks to adapt 'Moone Boy', 'IT Crowd'

You might remember NBC’s fatal 2003 attempt at adapting the Steven Moffat/Sue Vertue situation comedy, Coupling. I say fatal because even though there were 11 episodes produced (which is still a miniscule number of episodes for an American sitcom), it was cancelled after only 4 episodes with 7 of them having never seen the light of day to this day. 180 degrees in the other direction, however, was NBC’s re-make of Ricky Gervais’ brilliant series, The Office, which ran for 9 seasons largely due to the talents of Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and Ed Helms.

Posted October 11, 2014 - 1 Comment

More 'drama' than the law allows in New Orleans at BBC Syndication Showcase 2014

It was drama overload this past week in New Orleans at the BBC’s annual Syndication Showcase (insert how much you feel sorry for me being in New Orleans for three days screening brilliant telly here). I say drama overload in the nicest possible sense. Seems as though ever since that fateful day in January 2011 […]

Posted September 20, 2014 - No Comment

Last original 'old dog' to leave 'New Tricks' in 2015

Dennis Waterman, a.k.a. Gerry Standing, will leave the British comedy/drama New Tricks part way through the long-running series’ 12th season, which will begin filming in November. As the last original member of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS) of the Metropolitan Police Service, Waterman has appeared in every episode of the series’ first 11 seasons and will bow out after appearing in two episodes of the upcoming series which will transmit in 2015.

Posted September 16, 2014 - No Comment

'W1A' to return to the halls of BBC's New Broadcasting House in 2015

While the world carefully watches the historic “Yes Scotland” vs. “Better Together” vote this coming Thursday that will determine if Scotland is to remain part of the United Kingdom or become an independent country, there is another extraordinarily critical issue on the table that is just around the corner and, most likely, going virtually unnoticed. The 2016 BBC Charter Renewal is inching ever so close with the ultimate outcome quite possibly in the hands of Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), the BBC’s Head of Values.

Posted August 14, 2014 - No Comment

New 'old dogs' set for 'New Tricks' series premiere

What started as a simple one-off special back in March 2003 has morphed into one of the best series on television in 2014. With a mere 10 seasons and 87 episodes under their belts, New Tricks has weathered the kitchen sink of reality and talent competition shows thrown at them to become one of the BBC mainstays when it comes to police procedurals.

Posted August 9, 2014 - No Comment

'Being Poirot' is a delight for current and future Poirot fans

When the phrase Must See TV was coined by NBC years ago for its’ Thursday night comedy/drama lineup it must have had an upcoming public television special in mind some 30 years later. Being Poirot, which recounts Sir David Suchet’s last days as that ‘funny little man’ born in the mind of Agatha Christie, will […]

Posted July 23, 2014 - No Comment

Monty Python, 1969-2014

Dressed in white suit jackets befitting the occasion, the five surviving members of Monty Python, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, closed out their run of reunion shows Sunday evening by bidding farewell with the 1979 song from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Always Look on the Bright Side of […]