…this not only takes the biscuit but snatches it right out of the hand of sensibility.
Without a degree of irony the BBC today reports that Jade Goody (you know the one) is set to join the Indian Big Brother house. To make matters even worse the show is hosted by - you’ve guessed it - Shilpa Shetty. Common sense anyone?
What next, Kerry Katona being signed up by Waitrose for ‘The Perfect Mother’s Guide To Slimming’?
THE VISIT: BBC1, 22:45
This prison visiting room comedy, like so many others, debuted on BBC3, but fortunately hasn’t suffered the curse of Tittybangbang.
Based around the now popular Royle Family mould, and indeed borrowing one its finest actors in John Henshaw, The Visit is a mostly single-room, very much lo-fi sitcom.
Inevitably it has been compared to Porridge and although you won’t find any canned-laughter gags here, there are a few Barker-esque moments of brilliant writing from Tony Burgess. Known largely for his work with the quickly fading Johnny Vegas, the standard of script here is thankfully a million miles away from the dreadful Ideal.
Unlike the Vegas bandwagon, each character in the bleak visiting room is given real depth. Centring loosely around Michael (Iain McKee) who has taken the fall for his idiotic brother’s robbery and his typically hapless dad (Henshaw), there’s a sense of charm to this comedy that is lacking from the plethora of stuff BBC3 usually churns out. Indeed it’s no surprise that BBC1 have picked it up.
Other highlights include relationship dud Clint, excellently played by the now everywhere Steve Edge, and his awkward relationship with his wife (Naomi Radcliffe) and unseen and exceptionally camp nine year old son. Also psychotic drug-addict Splodge is equally brilliant, seeing Stephen Martin Walters pretty much recreating the same character he played in Skins to great effect.
While the gag count may be low, the pace of this prison-based comedy is perfectly judged with truly interesting relationships that develop between the characters, making The Visit a perfectly entertaining 27 minutes of viewing. For all the rubbish that BBC3 has produced in the last few years, this one certainly won’t go down as one of the more criminal ones.
A breathtaking Opening Ceremony in Beijing shows what can be done with a bit of forward-thinking, hard work and, er, a few hundreds of millions of dollars.
Whatever the political opinions flying around at the moment, you couldn’t help but be amazed at the sheer scale of the performance in the newly-built Birdsnest stadium in China today. The BBC has all the highlights if you missed it.
London 2012 already has a lot to live up to. Better cancel Chas ‘n’ Dave then…
