From The Guardian: The Lush Life of James and Ruth
With the return of Gavin and Stacey for a third and sadly last series The Guardian took a trip to Barry Island to see “what’s occurrin’?” with the stars and writers of one of the best comedy shows of the noughties.
They’re friends and co-writers but around these parts they’re simply Nessa and Smithy, the characters they created and play in Gavin & Stacey, which is filmed here on Barry Island where they’re welcomed back like the homecoming king and queen.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
From The Telegraph: 100 TV Shows That Defined the Decade
With the noughties drawing to a close many of the newspapers are doing decade reviews. The Telegraph took a look at 100 shows that defined the last ten years. At first I was a bit angry with the rankings but soon I realised this is not a ‘best shows’ list, these are the shows that defined where we are going as a nation. Surely if it was a ‘best of’ list the top five would have looked like this:
- The Wire
- The Sopranos
- Six Feet Under
- Family Guy
- Dexter
The two most important television trends of the past 10 years couldn’t be more different. In America, the decade has proved a golden age for drama. Bold, brilliant series such as The West Wing, The Sopranos and The Wire have brought novelistic storytelling and Hollywood production values to the small screen. These groundbreaking, “high-end” dramas were watched in a new way, too: downloaded from the internet, or bought as a DVD box-set, they were viewed “on demand” and helped turn television into an increasingly solitary pastime.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE AND SEE THE FULL LIST
From The Times: Gavin & Stacey’s Joanna Page
The Times features an interview with the wonderful Joanna Page who plays Stacey on the hit BBC show Gavin & Stacey. Reading it I discovered that the actress is not all that different from the character on the show.
Joanna Page talks a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Ask her a question and she’ll natter on non-stop, possibly without breathing, until you ask her another. So much comes out that some of it gets lost along the way.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW
From The Times: Caitlin Moran the return of I’m a Celebrity
Without question Caitlin Moran is the best commentator or television. She views and reviews shows in a way that the rest of us could only dream of, and this week she is on top form taking a look at the return of the celebrity jungle adventure that is I’m A Celebrity…
“There’s eels in there.”
Those are words that — as my friend James pointed out — alert celebrities to the fact that their career is going through a rather thin phase. Particularly if, at the time they’re uttered, it’s in proximity to a trapdoor opening on to a 15ft pit, at the bottom of which is your only hope of a meal that day, and Sam Fox — still picking giant spider legs out from between her teeth — is bawling “Gwan, mate! You can do it!” from the sidelines.
Yes, it’s the return of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! — the show that brings celebrities and eels together, often in the same item of clothing, as demonstrated in the amazing “Eel Trousers” task of 2006. And who is going to be donning the Eel Trousers of 2009? Well, thanks to a series of ferocious tabloid leaks, it was absolutely no surprise at all when the full line-up appeared on the opening show on Sunday.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
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Young ‘Gavlar’ and Smithy are back, and for me it feels like they have never left. Sure Gavin has moved from Essex to Wales, and the series has made the jump from BBC3 to BBC1, but other than the geographic co-ordinates it all just feels the same.
