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Based on a true story, this four-part drama tells the story of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Croxteth, Liverpool, in 2007. It explores Melanie’s and Steve’s ordeal, and tells of how Rhys’ murderer and associates were eventually brought to justice.
Four friends who become multi-millionaires when they sell their video game company for a clean £246 million and overnight, the four friends are transformed from “people who play games” to “serious players in the game…” – or are they?
Britain’s Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent franchise. The show is a Thames production distributed by FremantleMedia and is produced in association with Syco TV. The show is broadcast on ITV and its sister show Britain’s Got More Talent is broadcast on ITV2. Anyone of any age with some sort of talent can audition for the show. Acts compete against each other in order to gain the audience support while trying to win the title of “The winner of Britain’s Got Talent”. Each year, on the morning of the first show of the new series, Britain’s Got Talent has a special program titled “Most Talented”, featuring interviews of the winners from the previous series and their progress since winning.
Throughout the show, contestants must perform in front of the judges, and each year initial auditions have been held in front of a live audience. Auditions precede live shows, where the final 40 contestants perform nightly for a week in order to impress the British public. There have been seven winners to date: Paul Potts, George Sampson, Diversity, Spelbound, Jai McDowall, Ashleigh and Pudsey and Attraction. The winner of each series is given the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of members of the British Royal Family, including Queen Elizabeth II. The winner also receives a cash prize, which from series 1 to 5 was £100,000, but was increased to £500,000 in series 6 and then lowered to £250,000 in series 7. Britain’s Got Talent is known as one of Britain’s biggest television talent competitions and has also proven popular throughout Europe. The series 3 live final brought in 17.3 million viewers,. On 18 October 2010, ITV announced that Cowell had signed a new three-year contract renewing Britain’s Got Talent until 2013. He then announced on the final episode of Britain’s Got More Talent in 2013 that he had renewed the show again until 2014.
Extreme angler Jeremy Wade is on the hunt for fish with a taste for human flesh. This rip-roaring ride mixes action and adventure with mysteries, edge-of-the-seat chase and a battle of wills between man and nature.
Set against the backdrop of one of the most explosive times in U.K. history, Guerrilla tells the story of a politically active couple whose relationship and values are tested when they liberate a political prisoner and form a radical underground cell in 1970s London.
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious Wernham Hogg Paper Company. Gervais also stars in the series, playing the central character, David Brent. Although fictional and scripted, the programme takes the form of a documentary, with the presence of the camera often acknowledged.
Two six-episode series were made, along with a pair of 45-minute Christmas specials. When it was first shown on BBC Two, it was nearly cancelled due to low ratings, but has since become one of the most successful of all British comedy exports. As well as being shown internationally on BBC Worldwide, channels such as BBC Prime, BBC America and BBC Canada, the series has been sold to broadcasters in over 80 countries, including ABC1 in Australia, The Comedy Network in Canada, TVNZ in New Zealand and the pan-Asian satellite channel STAR World, based in Hong Kong. The show began airing in The United States on Cartoon Network’s late night programing block, Adult Swim on 18 September 2009 until 2012.
A group of up-and-coming hustlers stumble upon a truckload of stolen gold bullion and are suddenly thrust into the high-stakes world of organized crime.
Relic Hunter is an anglophone Canadian television series, starring Tia Carrere and Christien Anholt. Actress Lindy Booth also starred for the first two seasons; Tanja Reichert replaced her for the third. It was inspired by the success of the video game Tomb Raider.
It centers around Sydney Fox who is a professor but primarily a globe-trotting “relic hunter”, looking for ancient artifacts to return to museums and/or the descendants of the original owner. She is aided by her linguistic assistant Nigel and occasionally by her somewhat air-headed secretary Claudia. She often ends up battling rival hunters seeking out artifacts for the money. The series includes fantasy and science fiction elements, with many of the relics featured having genuine supernatural powers or being pieces of unusually advanced technology.
It ran for three seasons in the U.S. between 1999 and 2002 after fulfilling its initial three-season, 66-episode contract, from which it was not renewed. In both Ireland and the United Kingdom, it is aired on Sky1 and subsidiary channels, while in Canada, it is aired on CityTV and Space, CTV’s sister network A-Channel and recently Showcase. The series was shot in the Toronto area, explaining Carrere’s frequent attendance in courtside seats at Toronto Raptors games during the time.
The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show followed the life of suburban teenager Will McKenzie, and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The episodes involved situations of school bullying, broken family life, indifferent school staff and largely failed sexual encounters.
The show has been nominated for ‘Best Situation Comedy’ at BAFTA twice, in 2009 and 2010. At the British Academy Television Awards 2010, it won the Audience Award, and in 2010 the show won the Best Sitcom award at the British Comedy Awards. In the 2011 British Comedy Awards, the show also won the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Comedy. The Inbetweeners Movie was released on 17 August 2011 to box office success. On 2 August 2013, a sequel to the movie was officially confirmed for release in August 2014.
Teletubbies is a British BBC children’s television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 31 March 1997 to 5 January 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll’s creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show’s 365 episodes. The programme’s original narrator was Tim Whitnall. Teletubbies was also aired internationally in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service public television on 6 April 1998 and aired until 19 June 2005. It would continue to air reruns until 29 August 2008, when it was pulled from the schedule along with Mister Rogers Neighborhood and Boohbah. In 2002, production was cancelled and it was announced that no new episodes would be produced, with the last episode being aired on 5 January 2001. However, a total of 365 episodes had been produced – enough for a full year.
Teletubbies, particularly notable for its high production values, rapidly became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad and won a BAFTA in 1998. Teletubbies Everywhere was awarded “Best Pre-school Live Action Series” at the 2002 Children’s BAFTA Awards.
Although the programme is aimed at children between the ages of one and four, it had a substantial cult following with older generations, mainly university and college students. The mixture of bright colours, unusual designs, repetitive non-verbal dialogue, ritualistic format, and the occasional forays into physical comedy appealed to many who perceived the programme as having psychedelic qualities. Teletubbies was controversial for this reason. Other critics felt the show was insufficiently educational.
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC science fiction programme Doctor Who and focuses on the adventures of Sarah Jane Smith, a middle-aged investigative journalist who, in her youth, had numerous adventures across time and space. The series debuted on BBC One with a 60-minute special, entitled “Invasion of the Bane”, on 1 January 2007. A full series of ten 25-minute episodes followed, beginning on 24 September 2007. The first series consisted of five two-part stories, and a second series, comprising six two-part stories, began airing on 29 September 2008. A third series, once again comprising six two-part stories to make a total of twelve episodes, with Russell T Davies serving as executive producer, aired from 15 October 2009 to 20 November 2009.
The fourth series aired from 11 October 2010. An episode of another spin-off series, Sarah Jane’s Alien Files, was shown immediately after each of the first episodes of the stories. Filming for three of six two-part serials planned for the fifth series was completed prior to Elisabeth Sladen’s death on 19 April 2011. Although some UK media, including the Sun, reported in early May 2011 that production of the series was to continue, the BBC has stated explicitly that no further episodes will be filmed. The fifth series was broadcast starting 3 October 2011 on Mondays and Tuesdays. It finished just two weeks later on 18 October 2011.
Rosemary & Thyme is a British television mystery series starring Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris as gardening detectives Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme. The show began on ITV in 2003. The third series ended in August 2007. The theme is murder mysteries in the setting of professional gardening jobs. It was created by Brian Eastman to entertain his wife, Christabel Albery, who is an avid gardener. The show was directed by Brian Farnham, Simon Langton, and Tom Clegg. Clive Exton, who helped create the show, contributed 10 of the 22 scripts.
Set in 1996 in Lincolnshire, the show tells the tragic and humorous story of a very troubled young girl Rae, who has just left a psychiatric hospital, where she has spent four months after attempting suicide, begins to reconnect with her best friend Chloe and her group, who are unaware of Rae’s mental health and body image problems, believing she was in France for the past four months.
Inspired by the original novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Jekyll and Hyde is set in 1930s London and follows Robert Jekyll, the grandson of Henry Jekyll, on his quest to discover his real identity, his true family history and the nature of his ‘curse’ – which his foster father, Dr Vishal Najaran, is controlling with medication. His journey takes him into a dark and unforgiving place, as his alter ego seems capable of anything. At the same time there are shadowy forces trying to find Jekyll and the source of his powers.
Psychoville is a British dark comedy television serial written by and starring The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It debuted on BBC Two on 18 June 2009. Pemberton and Shearsmith each play numerous characters, with Dawn French and Jason Tompkins in additional starring roles. The first series was followed by a Halloween special, broadcast on 31 October 2010, which saw Imelda Staunton added to the main cast along with previously supporting actors Eileen Atkins and Daniel Kaluuya. The second series started broadcasting on 5 May 2011 and ended on 6 June. Reece Shearsmith has officially announced that there will not be a third series.
Bedlam was a British supernatural drama television series created by David Allison, Neil Jones and Chris Parker. It first aired on 7 February 2011 on Sky Living and Sky Living HD. The series finale was aired on 15 March 2011. In December 2011, it was announced that a second series had been commissioned for airing in Spring 2012 with an updated cast. Series 2 began airing in June 2012 with Lacey Turner taking the lead as a suspended paramedic who can see dead people.
On 13 November 2012 Jack Roth who plays Max in the series revealed that Bedlam may return for Series 3 and that a decision on the shows future is to be made around Christmas 2012. On 11 March 2013 Roth announced on Twitter that Bedlam would not be returning for a third series.
Young Dracula is a British teenage horror drama television series airing on CBBC, loosely based on Young Dracula AND Young Monsters, a children’s book by Michael Lawrence. Directed by Joss Agnew, the first series was broadcast in 2006, and the second series, which started in late 2007, concluded in early 2008. A third series was commissioned three years later and began airing on 31 October 2011, and a fourth began airing on 29 October 2012.
The first two series follow the Dracula family, a family of vampires: Vladimir, his father Count Dracula, and older sister Ingrid. Having lived in Transylvania, they move to Stokely, a small town in Wales after various incidents involving angry peasant mobs. It was filmed in various locations around Wales, including Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, Caerphilly Castle, Tretower Court and parts of Llantrisant. The third series, commissioned three years after the second, sees Vlad and the Count flee both vampires and slayers, while the Count is determined that Vlad should fulfil his destiny to become “the Chosen One”. This series was filmed in Liverpool during 2011, in various locations including the disused Margaret Bevan School, Croxteth Hall and Stanley Docks. The fourth series follows on from season three’s predicament and was helmed by a new director.
Wheeler Dealers is a British television series produced by Attaboy TV for the Discovery Channel, fronted by Mike Brewer and mechanic Edd China. The premise of the show is that Brewer and China are on a mission to save repairable enthusiast vehicles, by repairing or otherwise improving an example of a particular make and model to a budget, then selling it to a new owner. While Edd spends large amounts of time repairing each car, that time is not included in the final cost of the repairs.
There have so far been ten series of the programme and three different theme tunes have been used; the current one being Balaclava by The Wideboys. The previous theme was from V-The Production Library by Music 4. Series 1 originally aired in 2003. The second half of Series 6 was aired in Autumn of 2009 on Discovery Real Time. Series 5 was renamed to Wheeler Dealers: On the Road; in this series Mike and Edd expanded their car search by heading out into Europe hoping to find classic cars to buy and restore. Beginning with part 2 of Series 8, Mike further expanded their horizon by touring the United States.
In April 2013, a spin-off series titled Wheeler Dealers Trading Up was launched. This series has Mike traveling around the world to buy and sell used cars in different countries on a set budget.
The story of the Medici family of Florence, their ascent from simple merchants to power brokers sparking an economic and cultural revolution. Along the way, they also accrue a long list of powerful enemies.
Now Karl’s turned 40 and has officially hit middle age, it’s time for him to re-assess his life. He’s not married, he doesn’t have kids, he’s got a job where he’s known as an ‘idiot’, and he’s known for being miserable. He’s classic ‘mid-life crisis’ material. As Karl attempts to put his life in order, he’ll be dispatched around the world on a crash course to find out how other cultures deal with life’s big questions. The ups and downs of Karl’s experiences will be contrasted against the beautiful geography of the countries he visits, captured on HD with stunning aerial photography.
A look at the people in charge and on the front lines of a contemporary police force.
Fly-on-the wall documentary series following the ups and downs of Swansea call centre CEO Nev Wilshire and his staff of extraordinary characters.
Set at the outbreak of WWII – mischievous playboy Ian Fleming is untroubled by the specter of impending war – chasing women, collecting rare books and living off his family fortune. Forever in the shadow of his brother Peter, and an eternal disappointment to his formidable mother Eve, Fleming dreams of becoming the ‘ultimate’ man – a hero, a lover, a brute and the one who always gets the girl. He is finally given some direction in his life when he’s recruited by the Director of Naval Intelligence to help in the effort against the Nazis. Suddenly, Fleming finds his chance to shine and prove his worth.
A military attaché at the French embassy is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. A classic tale of spying, intrigue, and romance, based on the novels of Alan Furst and adapted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
Ross Kemp travels around the world talking to people involved in illicit trades, locals who have been affected by violence and hardship, and the authorities who are attempting to combat the problems. In each episode he attempts to establish contacts within the groups in order to get close to the ringleaders.
An Idiot Abroad is a British travel documentary television series broadcast on Sky1 and Science, as well as spin-off books published by Canongate Books, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Karl Pilkington. The ongoing theme of both the television series and the books is that Pilkington has no interest in global travel, so Merchant and Gervais make him travel while they stay in the United Kingdom and monitor his progress.
Andy Millman gave up his day job five years ago in the hope of achieving the big time, but he’s yet to land a speaking part, let alone saunter down the red carpet to pick up an Oscar. He remains optimistic however, as rubbing shoulders with the A-list on-set only serves to reinforce his belief that the big time is just a job or two away.
Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with or experience up close. In most cases this means interviewing people with extreme beliefs of some kind, or just generally belonging to subcultures not known to exist by most or just frowned upon. It was first shown in the United Kingdom on BBC2. In 2001, Theroux was awarded the Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter BAFTA for his work on the series.
Louis Theroux’s view on Weird Weekends:
Set in the near future, Oasis tells the story of priest Peter Leigh, who is called to a remote planet where a mysterious multinational company is building the first permanent off-Earth human colony. The planet, Oasis, is humanity’s last chance to escape from Earth’s impending collapse, but it quickly becomes apparent that it may not be as hospitable to humanity as it seems..
It’s the late 19th century, and the mysterious Dracula has arrived in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. He’s especially interested in the new technology of electricity, which promises to brighten the night – useful for someone who avoids the sun. But he has another reason for his travels: he hopes to take revenge on those who cursed him with immortality centuries earlier. Everything seems to be going according to plan… until he becomes infatuated with a woman who appears to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.
Top UK comedians relate their favourite historical stories while getting absolutely bladdered on a mixture of beers, wines and spirits. Their slurred versions of history are then acted out, word for word, by a host of well-known actors, celebrities and comedians including Johnny Vegas, Russell Kane, Joe Lycett, Rob Beckett, Alex Horne and James Acaster. Luckily, Jimmy Carr is on voice-over duties to restore some order if the drinking sessions get out of hand.
Match of the Day is the BBC’s main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day’s matches in English football’s top division, the Premier League. It is one of the BBC’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 22 August 1964, though it has not always been aired regularly. The programme is broadcast from MediaCityUK in Salford Quays on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Greater Manchester.
MOTD is presented by former England captain Gary Lineker, who is usually joined by England teammate and former Newcastle United captain Alan Shearer and Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen as well as Mark Lawrenson. Over the years many famous and respected sports broadcasters have fine-tuned their skills on the programme, including Kenneth Wolstenholme, David Coleman, Barry Davies, John Motson, Jimmy Hill and Des Lynam.
Gardeners’ World is a long-running BBC Television programme about gardening, first broadcast in 1968 and still running as of 2013. Its first episode was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners’ World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have been 30 minutes in length, although there are many specials that last longer. The 2008 and 2009 series used a 60-minute format.
