And The New Doctor Who Is…

The wait is over for Doctor Who fans, and those who have a cursory interest. The man who’s taking the baton from Matt Smith and going on to new adventures as the 12th Doctor was revealed last weekend. His name is Peter Capaldi, a seasoned actor currently best known as the very sweary spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker from the BBC political satire The Thick Of It. Looks like those who were hoping for a female, or black Doctor this time round will have to wait a bit longer.

Gerry Anderson R.I.P

Thunderbirds Are GO! Gerry Anderson has gone. He was 83.

The Inbetweeners, Movie: Could This Be A Rare Thing… A Good Spin-Off?

One of my favourite TV shows is going big this week. The Inbetweeners is a comedy from Channel 4 about four suburban sixth form boys, with sixth form boy obsessions, mainly sex (or lack of it). They are Will (the nerdy one), Simon (the neurotic one), Jay (the boastful one, who has the least to boast about) and Neil (the thick one). The comedy is extremely filthy and very, very funny. And now they’ve made it to the silver screen.

It’ll probably do very well, but the road is littered with TV shows adapted for film that tanked, because the thing that made the show fabulous in the first place got lost in translation once committed to celluloid. For some reason, many of our favourite British shows of the 60s and 70s stank to high heaven on film. Let me list a few. If you want to seek them out, on your head be it.

Just One More Thing… Peter Falk R.I.P

This is starting to turn into a Pie obituary blog.

Peter Falk, best known as lieutenant Columbo died in his Beverly Hills home at the age of 83. Columbo was one of my favourites among a clutch of fantastic American shows, which featured on our British TV screens in the 70s. This included Ironside, Cannon, Kojak, McCloud and Starsky and Hutch.

Top Of The Pops Is Back On The BBC!

You’re reading the words of a very happy Pie today, because Top of The Pops returns to the BBC. Yes, indeedy. Five years after the show was axed, the corporation has dusted down the archives of this iconic British show and will air them in the original time slot of Thursday 7.30pm on BBC4, from April 7. Although it started in 1964, the BBC famously lost or taped over many editions until 1976. This is the year we’ll be watching when the re-run starts.

© BBC