Another manufactured band here in the series about break-ups, and one manufactured in the most public fashion in Popstars alumni Liberty X. You could certainly suggest they did a lot better out of the series that its actual winners, releasing some rather more creditable material (along with a load of disco covers, natch) and certainly getting better press, and they had hits for four years which is a lifetime for a band like that. They’ve split up a few times since, and while they’re back together again it’s just the girls and they’re a live act only, while one of the blokes is now the lead sin ..read more

Wave a flag, shout hooray, BBC2 is sixty years old… today! What with the Beeb’s centenary being fresh in the memory – and indeed BBC4 still appear to be celebrating that – we’re not getting masses to celebrate but they are making a bit of a special occasion of it this weekend. These days a theme night is so often just two or three programmes shown back to back, not like the old days when BBC2 would devote hours to a single subject with a marathon broadcast, including the Rock Around The Clock specials in the eighties which were a revelation at the time for running from mid-afternoon to the mid ..read more

“PUT a BIT of SELLOTAPE on the FRIDGE!” Rik and Ade always used to say that the thing that disappointed them most about the critical reaction to Filthy Rich and Catflap was that the reviewers all said it wasn’t a patch on The Young Ones, when they’d all said they hated The Young Ones at the time. If Bottom got any critical attention at all it was mostly being written off as juvenilia, but it was hugely popular at the time and we reckon the first two series (not the third, that was a bit crap) are really great, stuffed with wonderful jokes and endlessly quotable lines. Rik and Ade said they wro ..read more

Been some intriguing things on this channel recently, including their first ever Disney films in the shape of The Black Hole and The Cat From Outer Space. Not Walt’s finest, we admit, but certainly hitting the nostalgic sweet spot for many viewers it seems. This is about as far removed from those as you can get, though intriguing in its own way, as it’s an LWT production from 1973 starring Frank Finlay as Hitler. Seemingly it’s a particularly thoughtful and intense performance from Finlay, who won a BAFTA for it, while also appearing is Michael Sheard as Himmler ..read more

Interesting to see again the whole of Eurovision 74 including David Vine’s delightful commentary, until the Dutch takeover before the end. We liked him repeatedly pointing out that the scorecard on page sixteen of the Radio Times was inaccurate as France had pulled out due to “domestic difficulties” which is a curiously euphemistic way of referring to the President dying a few days earlier, while he was very excited by, of all things, a “pop group” from Israel which clearly seemed pretty radical, only for them to be blown off the stage two songs later by another “pop group” who were a bit more ..read more

There’s been plenty of docs about Andy Warhol over the years, but this one’s a bit different as it seemingly darts through the pop art years in a matter of minutes and instead reflects on his work during the seventies and eighties. By that point he was no longer the wunderkind that won him all the column inches, but seemingly that suited him fine as, after an assassination attempt that left him with life-changing injuries, his work became increasingly more abstract. Some of it wasn’t very good and it’s certainly not the most celebrated part of his career, but there’s been a bit of a reappraisa ..read more

This week’s subject is chosen by the distinguished political columnist and broadcaster Steve Richards, so you can be sure it’s a heavyweight figure, and indeed it is someone who dominated British life in the seventies and had a major impact on everyone’s lives. That’s right, it’s Brucie! No, it really is, honest, Richards saying he was his absolute hero when he was growing up and in a decade when everything seemed to be falling apart and people were having a shit time, he was an absolute rock for everyone and the Gen Game genuinely lifted people’s spirits. Richards also rightly points out that ..read more

It’s fifty years to the day that ABBA won Eurovision, hence the numerous programmes about them all on channels this week. We like to think we’re pretty cool by saying we prefer More ABBA Gold to ABBA Gold, but doubtless much of that is because we rarely feel the need to hear the likes of Dancing Queen again as we hear them everywhere, and it’s not really their fault they’re among the most famous songs ever recorded. But also we really love the more awkward, gloomy ABBA behind The Visitors and, of course, The Day Before You Came, and so you’d assume this compilation will serve up some of that ..read more

Lee Evans used to tell a great story about being about to go on at the Comedy Store one night only to be told someone else had turned up who wanted to do a few minutes, only for Robin Williams to be on stage for over an hour, improvising wildly to the delight of a rapturous audience, and then after about twenty encores the manager said, “so, Lee?” and he finally got on and died on his arse. It’s a famous sadness-behind-the-smiles story, though, as those tales of his endless stand-up shows and his derailing of any chat show are often accompanied by memories of him being much more thoughtful and ..read more

Here’s a sitcom you probably haven’t thought about for thirty years or so, but it was a staple of the BBC1 schedule for much of the eighties, running for five series between 1983 and 1987. This is the one where William Gaunt and Patricia Garwood assumed that since their kids have all grown up and fled the nest, they’d have the house to themselves, only for their complicated love lives and hapless attempts at finding a job to see them all promptly move back in, which almost seems like a topical premise these days. Not one of the greats, perhaps, but it was likeable enough, though it probably we ..read more