All 2 entries tagged BBC One

MI5, not nine–to–five

Leigh Holmwood over at The Guardian takes the words out of my mouth.

Is it just me or is this series of Spooks turning out to be the best yet?

It’s not just him. Last night’s episode was fantastic and recent ones have been brilliant too. I can’t think of one this series that has left me indifferent. It’s like a season of 24 condensed into an hour.

New-boy Richard Armitage is the only disappointment for me. He’s not been given an awful lot to say, and he’s not disarmed quite enough Russian ‘badasses’ for my liking. Maybe next year he’ll get something interesting to do. Ros Myers (Hermione Norris) is getting all the good scenes.

The series finishes, tragically, next week. It’s only eight-episodes long (previous series were ten). Leigh’s article on Organ Grinder drops a cliffhanger by suggesting the next series could also be the last. Let’s hope not! I can think of several BBC shows I’d scrap to make room in the budget for more Spooks.

Incidentally, another show well worth watching is Outnumbered – it’s probably the funniest thing on TV right now and yet no-one knows it. Semi-improvised, the stars of the show are the children.

: 02 Dec 2008 11:47 |  Tags: BBC One Spooks Television TV |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I Don't Feel Like Dancing

No, it’s not a reference to the Scissor Sisters’ latest track, but to the end of the fairly poor BBC One idents that have graced our screens for the past four years. When the former BBC One controller, Lorraine Heggessey, introduced the ‘dancers’, no-one much liked them. True, the hot-air balloons that preceded them were slow and didn’t exactly make the channel pacey, but at least they were well shot and easily identifiable as BBC One.

So when Peter Fincham announced the end of the dancers, many believed the only way was up. And they were right.

The new idents, based on the theme of a circle, are far better shot than the last batch. Apart from ‘Hippos’, there’s minimal use of CGI, and they’re all in HD. And with the exception of a football-based one, they’re all fantastic. My personal favourites are Surfers, Hippos and Bikes.

As well as this, the general presentation of the channel has changed (left picture). Trailers for upcoming programmes are very nicely done, with a much better graphics effect than the previous – very lazy – shutter effect.

Generally the channel looks a lot nicer, and rather than some meaningless ‘cultural’ idents, we’ve now got something that’s a) nice to look at, and b) has a common theme which gives the channel a much-needed identity which has been missing since the balloons burst.

: 08 Oct 2006 18:24 |  Tags: BBC BBC One Branding Dancers Idents Marketing Television |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem