Television
Why I don’t regret leaving the BBC
I have just had my second jab and it poses a dilemma. As an assiduous Covid rule-taker, I have been…
The islanders who met their god – Prince Philip
Some time around 2006 my then flatmate, a filmmaker, had a good idea: why not make a programme of reverse…
My painstaking preparations for Prince Philip’s funeral
The files arrived marked ‘STRICT EMBARGO’ and ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ and ‘FORTH BRIDGE REVISED’ and stamped with various crests and insignia. My…
The deafening rise of ‘background’ music
The unstoppable rise of ‘background’ music
Why I’m glad to see the back of Call My Agent!
For the past few weeks I have been binge-watching the Netflix series Call My Agent! (or Dix pour cent, as…
Is Jed Mercurio bored with Line of Duty?
When a drama begins with news of a ‘Chis handler’ receiving ‘intel graded A1 on the matrix’ that causes a…
Why I won’t be replacing Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan may have been the UK equivalent of a TV shock-jock, but there’s another side to him. I’ve known…
Joan Collins: The politics of Christmas trees
To say that the past nine months have been tough is like saying a hurricane felt like a spring shower.…
The Co-op Bank isn't worthy of its name
We’ve heard a lot this week about infrastructure spending, and how much more will be needed if the UK is…
Sets appeal: the distracting beauty of TV backdrops
The distracting beauty of TV backdrops
In defence of Emily in Paris
A frothy new drama called Emily in Paris arrived on Netflix last month. Starring Lily Collins — daughter of Phil…
Spare us David Hare
Having not watched television for nine months and already growing bored of the 1,000-piece jigsaw of General Alfredo Stroessner (part…
The end of the line for the rail franchise fiasco
Good riddance to the passenger rail franchise system which has finally been killed off by Covid, though a majority of…
The bluff and bluster of Boris’s bland boy Brexiteers
From the balcony where I take my daily exercise there is a view of the commercial centre of London that…
Movie-makers should look to the Athenians before cashing in on this crisis
Covid-19 has not yet reached its peak but already the moguls of the small screen are plotting how to monetise,…
How I fell out of love with the BBC
One of the many technological things I don’t understand is, how come I’m paying to watch television? I know why…
Why the BBC licence fee makes sense
A consensus seems to be forming that the BBC licence fee is for the chop. In a digital age, the…
Joan Collins: I’m an actress, not an actor. And yes, it matters
I recently tried to put my profession down as ‘actress’ on Instagram, but the only option available from the drop-down…
This year’s top gadgets – according to my inner chimp
I’d hoped to spend this week writing about my new Geberit Japanese-style toilet, but since the grout is not yet…
No one else has the weird levels of self-regard shown by people who appear regularly on TV
One of the more tedious tropes of recent years is for journalists to bemoan the rise of populism while busily…
With these documentaries, the BBC has lost any claim to impartiality
Because the rise of the Nazis is a topic so rarely mentioned these days, least of all in schools, the…
How to be a man
Gstaad I was reading in these here pages Julie Burchill’s review of Candace Bushnell’s Is There Still Sex in…
Why are there so few Polish people on British TV?
Have you ever seen a Pole on British television? Poles are the biggest immigrant group in Britain, numbering between 900,000…
Letters: Stop and search is messy, confrontational and absolutely necessary
Support for stop and search Sir: Mary Wakefield is rightly exasperated by fatuous comments over police use of stop and…
What I’ve learned from 20 years without a TV
In the summer of 1999 I did something radical. Spurred on by my husband’s universal loathing of television I took…
