The eventual defeat of The Voice by the Cowell war machine- compounded by that too perfect final story about the crew watching BGT in the gallery- has far more to do with the BBC’s mentality than it does with the show. Once again, the beeb has shown itself to be something of a shrinking violet,…
In the wake of Cheryl Cole’s turbulent relationship with the media since her sacking from the American X Factor, here are some tips, inspired by Andy Green, that might help her through any other media difficulties that may come her way in future. Cheryl’s recent sacking is an opportunity to re-evaluate her identity and learn…
Chat show couple Richard and Judy are considering bringing the curtain down on their TV partnership. Richard Madeley said he was looking at some “tantalising” solo opportunities after believing there is now little left for them to do together as broadcasters. Speaking to Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs show, he said: “I think we both…
“Dying is an art,” wrote Sylvia Plath, in her poem Lady Lazarus, and the very public final weeks of Jade Goody are reinforcing Plath’s point remarkably well. Jade Goody has moved on from the unthinking, mouthy persona that brought her to national attention with a sudden aplomb, becoming, in her need to make a better…
That is the risk Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King seems prepared to take after leading his supermarket through the economic storm to record its best Christmas ever while most rivals struggled. With King tipped to return to his old stomping ground of Marks & Spencer to replace outgoing Sir Stuart Rose as chief executive, the…
On Friday morning, hours after Lesley Douglas’s resignation, the controllers of all the BBC radio and television networks were called together, and asked to look carefully at everything they were broadcasting. “We’re all jumpy. We’ve not been told to change or become more conservative. But we are being encouraged to talk about any shows which…
When Shane Richie popped in to see me three or four months ago to talk about an idea for his forthcoming drama called Whatever It Takes, I was intrigued to know more. His visit to my office was to research the modus operandi of a celebrity publicist. Although I thought the script was more Max…
The latest figures for Big Brother suggest that audiences for this year’s show, Big Brother 9, are down. I’m sure that the channel and broadcaster will argue about the statistics, but the point is, no one is talking about Big Brother this year, not in the office, on the tube or in the street. It’s…
I was at a meeting the other day where some people were discussing Channel 4 and its rationalisation of Big Brother’s success. Channel 4 has explained that the show originally started off as an experiment, watching a group of strangers interact with each other in close proximity for a number of weeks without any outside…
Another year, another bout of IACGMOH, addictive mind candy satisfying our latent lust for the guilty pleasures of a reality TV series. Please drop the faux intellectual bollocks that it’s corrosive, we all take a sadistic pleasure in watching it! Before I judge Lynne Franks’ first few days in the comfort of the Australian bush,…