The Visit
Clarissa Tan, who wrote articles and TV reviews for The Spectator, has died of cancer aged 42. She came to…
If BBC3 was allowed to keep its hits, perhaps it wouldn't be getting booted online
So BBC3 will be online-only from next autumn. If the Beeb had presented this news as the channel being the…
A quietly stunning quest for Bonnie Prince Charlie
What if Bonnie Prince Charlie, as he swept down from Scotland towards London to lay claim to the throne, hadn’t…
Britain has many major problems - racism isn't one of them
Britain has less prejudice than the countries where I’ve lived before – and more people taking offence
So long, Scandinavia. Bonjour, Benelux!
So long, Scandinavia. Bonjour, Benelux! BBC4, your subtitle-friendly channel, has filled the hole left by Nordic-noir The Bridge with Belgian…
Jeremy Paxman's Great War is great. But is 2,500 hours of WW1 programming too much?
Why are we so fascinated by the first world war? As its 100th anniversary approaches, we’re already mired in arguments…
Clarissa Tan's Notebook: Why I stopped drinking petrol
Florence was in fog the day I arrived. Its buildings were bathed in white cloud, its people moved as though…
After Sherlock, TV will never be the same again
You know the holiday season is over when, instead of being torn between The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing…
Is Sherlock starting to suffer from ADD?
Sherlock’s not dead. A good thing, since on New Year’s Day BBC1 launched its third series of Sherlock, and it’d…
Are events in Last Tango in Halifax too bad to be true?
Does love run out when life runs out? Or does it intensify, touching and changing all around it? Two series…
Why doesn't Doctor Who travel far from Britain?
If I could go back in time, I’d watch Doctor Who from the very first episode. I wasn’t born in…
Come to the Spectator office, Gareth Malone, and hear our 'Carmina Burana'
They’re now televising proceedings from the Court of Appeal. Great. As if I didn’t have enough to do already, keeping…
Will the women of The X Factor stop perving?
Will the women on ITV’s The X Factor (Saturday) stop perving? I suppose there are two ways to tackle the…
Introducing the celebs of Victorian reality TV
Did Dr Jekyll turn into Jack the Ripper? Besides becoming evil Mr Hyde, did Robert L. Stevenson’s fictional creation morph…
Downton Abbey is now a weird parallel universe of the royal family. Except with less action
Are you following the world’s most watched aristocratic family? If you recall, they recently took into their ranks a member…
The ideal death show
I am in a yurt, talking about death. Everyone is seated in a circle, and I am the next-to-last person…
The Wipers Times - 100 years on, this newspaper still lives
Funny what rises from the rubble. In 1916 British army officer Captain Fred Roberts was searching the bombed-out remains of…
The sight of a rose-and-pistachio cake with lychee flavouring, strewn with petals, makes Clarissa Tan’s heart lift
I’m not crazy about cookery shows. I suspect they indicate how little we are cooking, rather than how much. We’re…
Big School left me po-faced
How did our comedies become so sad? BBC1’s new sitcom Big School (Fridays) opened with a scene that would probably…
You’re never really on holiday with a smartphone
Why not give your smartphone a holiday?
Clarissa Tan experiences the greatest show on earth, and laughs
I watched Top Gear (BBC2, Sunday) for the first time in my life last week (the rock under which I’ve…
If you’re craving some Kiwi bush angst, Top of the Lake fits the bill
I sincerely hope you’re not watching television. With the glorious summer sun we’re having, you should be having picnics and…
TV review: Get out of my way, Tessa Jowell. Women are not all touchy-feely
Luther is back, in Luther, and so is Donny Osmond, of Donny & Marie fame. Could there be two more…
