8 articles

1 hour ago

This is a programme that both celebrates country life and holds it to account. Now it has an 8 million-strong constituency – David Cameron, take note

Countryfile is my guilty secret. On a Sunday evening, when I want to sit back and not think too much, BBC1 offers me an hour of alternative reality. It offers a Britain that is beautiful yet real, hard-working yet leisured, a place without streets, housing estates or crowds, yet unmistakably British. Its star presenter, Adam Henson, does not lie in the grass contemplating the view with a piece of straw in his mouth. He works. But round him people are allowed to play.

This year, Countryfile broke through 8 million viewers, putting it in the same league as Downton Abbey and Strictly Come Dancing. The appeal of the programme to Britain’s overwhelmingly urban population is undeniable. But is it what Henson claimed this weekend, that Countryfile offers not only space, »

- Simon Jenkins

2 hours ago

The results are in. How many questions did you get right – and did you outwit any contestants?

Earlier today, the University Challenge question setters gave you the hardest quiz they could muster. Here are the answers, along with their feedback:

1. According to the Us novelist Vicki Baum, what institution “always demands the greatest understanding of the art of insincerity possible between two human beings”?

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- Guardian Staff

2 hours ago

Actor who found fame as the irascible news anchor Henry Davenport in the TV newsroom satire Drop the Dead Donkey

The actor David Swift, who has died aged 85, found fame as Henry Davenport in the TV sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey, which achieved a sense of authenticity by including real-life topical events in the stories covered in the television studios of the fictional GlobeLink News. Swift revelled in the role of the irascible, vain Henry, a seasoned reporter turned news presenter who wears a toupee and constantly bickers with his fellow anchor, Sally Smedley (played by Victoria Wicks). He is contemptuous of the company’s largely unseen media tycoon owner, Sir Royston Merchant (Roger Hammond) – and away from the studio, he drinks, gambles, chases women and struggles to make alimony payments to his former wives.

Over six series of the Channel 4 newsroom satire (1990-98), written by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, »

- Anthony Hayward

8 hours ago

Crackdown on popular reality shows featuring stars’ children, amid concerns over the growth of celebrity culture

China is banning the children of famous entertainers from appearing on hugely popular reality shows, as the country continues efforts to prevent the manufacture of child stars.

The ban by the government’s media regulator also covers appearances by the stars’ children on chatshows and reports about them on entertainment programmes, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

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- Associated Press in Bejing

8 hours ago

Comedian’s new variety show beats ITV gameshow Bang on the Money, but the night is dominated by Simon Cowell contest

The debut of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show on BBC1 on Saturday pulled in 4.8 million viewers for the BBC, comfortably beating ITV’s new family gameshow Bang on the Money.

The 4.8 million audience for McIntyre’s new series was slightly more than the 4.5 million who tuned into to the final episode of The Voice, which is moving to ITV from next year. It was comfortably ahead of the average of 3.2 million who watched Bang on the Money, which is fronted by DJs Rickie and Melvin.

Related: TV is packed with drama as hunt for the Next Big Thing goes on

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- Jasper Jackson

10 hours ago

Gentle musical nostalgia from an entertaining and amusing guide. Plus Jim Carter’s love affair with Lonnie Donnegan and fun from Michael McIntyre

We are all about the 1950s today, and music, and Wales, among other places, and tuberculosis. Watching Tom Jones’s 1950s: The Decade That Made Me (BBC2, Saturday), I’m a bit confused about what they – the 1950s – were like. A grey, boring, grown-up world, says Sir Tom, at least until rock’n’roll came along. Grey, boring and flat, agrees Francis Beckett. Wrong, says Joan Bakewell, not grey and gloomy and depressing at all. There was no sex; there was sex … You can understand my confusion.

Maybe it was about who you were, where in Britain you were, where in the 50s you were. Tom – who wasn’t grey back then, or boring, or grown up – was in Treforest, Pontypridd, which being in a valley in »

- Sam Wollaston

11 hours ago

Ahead of tonight’s final, we asked the show’s question setters to share their trickiest starters for 10. How many can you get right?

• The results are in. Did you beat the boffins?

1. According to the Us novelist Vicki Baum, what institution “always demands the greatest understanding of the art of insincerity possible between two human beings”?

2. “Of unexcelled usefulness to historians … (its) intricate realism recorded with the restraint of a Jane Austen and the depth of reflection of a Proust.” These words describe which 11th-century novel, the work of the Japanese princess Murasaki Shikibu?

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- Guardian Staff

15 hours ago

Nick becomes an apocalyptic Mvp, we get a predictable moment, and the kids remain the worst thing about the show

Spoiler alert: this blog is published after Fear the Walking Dead airs on AMC in the Us on Sundays. Do not read on unless you have watched season two, episode two (which airs in the UK on Monday)

At long last, we meet some people who aren’t the survivors on the Abigail – a family, a past, some mystery – and then they’re gone, like a cast of characters from Scooby Doo. And they would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those pesky walkers.

Related: Fear the Walking Dead recap: season two, episode one – Monster

Related: Can zombies swim? Fear the Walking Dead sets sail for season two

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- Brian Moylan

8 articles

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