Friday, March 14, 2008

Good Sports

CHARITY! Sport Relief, BBC One, 7.00pm & 10.45pm and BBC Two, 10.00pm

What are your favourite TV charity marathon moments? This correspondent is torn. Would it be Comic Relief 1987 where she got to go to school dressed as a clown, which somehow meant being able to wear pyjamas, which was absolutely ace? Or ITV Telethon 1990 where Grimsby theatre group Stage One released a dreadful single, 'Power to the Pupils' in league with Jive Bunny that sold so badly every household in Grimsby ended up with at least three free copies? Or could it be Children in Need 1993 with the Doctor Who and EastEnders er, classic, crossover, Dimensions in Time? Or, you know, that time when Dawn French songged Hugh Grant? One thing it's not likely to be, though, is any Sport Relief moment.

We are veterans of the charity telly marathon here, and yet we cannot remember a single moment of any previous Sport Relief event. Other than David Walliams swimming the channel, which we are assuming was for Sport Relief. That doesn't mean we are against the idea of sport and charity collaborating. After all, we totally remember Sport Aid with its 'Everybody Wants to Run the World' theme tune. It just means this event has been less than memorable in the past.

Still, this year it seems they are pulling the stops out a bit with the telly extravaganza. Highlights include Jonathan Ross v Parky in a 'battle of the chat shows' (Wossy, obviously), Jimmy Carr hosting A Question of Sport Relief, the unlikely collaboration between Top Gear and the long dead Ground Force (that's the bit on BBC Two when the 'main' channel goes to the news), and, best of all, the climax of Sports Relief Does the Apprentice when one of the hapless men gets fired (our money is on Kelvin MacKenzie - Sralan doesn't seem so keen on former tabloid editors) and Sport Relief Does Strictly Come Dancing which includes Gemma Bissix (Dame Clare Devine/Bates) and Elaine Paige, although given that they would be in our dream line-up for Strictly proper, we have mixed feelings about them being here.

Anyway, lest we forget, this is all for a good cause - supporting a variety of projects in the UK and overseas. So don't forget to go and donate.

Labels: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC1, BBC2, charity, Jonathan Ross, Michael Parkinson, Sport Relief, Sport Relief Does The Apprentice, Strictly Come Dancing, top gear

By Rad :: Post link :: ::  
1 pop-up comments :: Discuss on messageboard

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Funny Business

SRALAN! Sport Relief Does The Apprentice, BBC1, 9.00pm

We are sooooooo excited about this we can barely contain ourselves. In the name of Sport Relief (we were going to put call '0800 whatever' here, but the BBC website doesn't appear to have a number for the donation hotline on yet), ten celebrities get to play business with Sralan Sugar and get their egos well and truly deflated by Nick and Margaret in the process, before one of them, presumably during Friday night's telethon extravanganza, gets fired.

They'll have to go something to beat last year's stonking Comic Relief Does the Apprentice which featured Rupert Everett throwing a hissy fit and leaving, Trinny Woodall calling the whole world to help out, Cheryl Tweedy Cole being ruddy marvellous and Sralan struggling to only choose one to fire out of Piers Morgan and Alistair Campbell. But the format is always telly gold, so we are hoping for an early highlight of 2008 here.

The line-up this year may not be *quite* as star-studded as last, but it should still be entertaining. The boys' team consists of reality TV veterans Phil Tuffnell and Hardeep Singh Koli (who was ROBBED by Matt Dawson in Celebrity Masterchef), former Sun man Kelvin Mackenzie, slightly faded TV presenter Nick Hancock and Cheeky-Girl-lover and MP Lembit Opik.

The girls' team consists of token telly businesswoman Jacqueline Gould (we only hope Sralan will give her a bit of a ribbing over ITV's late, unlamented, begging show, Fortune), former George Clooney flame (and, er, model?) Lisa Snowdon, Claire Balding (who is always a little school-teacher ish and therefore will rule at this kind of thing) and LC faves Louise Redknapp and Kirstie Allsop (somewhat unexpected of Channel 4 to let her do this when they apparently have always refused permission for her to do Strictly Come Dancing, according to some Kirstie interview we read once. Maybe we should start a Facebook group for her or something).

Going on those team line-ups, we assume that the boys do not have a hope in hell.

Labels: BBC One, BBC1, charity, Sport Relief Does The Apprentice, The Apprentice, TV

By Rad :: Post link :: ::  
0 pop-up comments :: Discuss on messageboard

Friday, March 16, 2007

Amusement crusade

GIVE! Comic Relief - The Big One, BBC1, 7.00pm

It's that time again! It seems like only two years since a bunch of the most talented, hilarious and generous people on British television pooled their resources to produce some of the most ground-breakingly brilliant, innovative, fresh television comedy ever seen in the UK, and now they're at it again! All in the name of charity and goodness, naturally. So, if you've got a spare eight hours tonight, you could do a lot worse than switching over to BBC1 for a laugh (ha ha!), a spot of stargazing (ho ho!) and the chance to make a hefty donation in excess of three figures (lowculture does not necessarily endorse the use of a decimal point) as a thank you to all the wonderful people involved in tonight's event, as well as Davina McCall, Kate Thornton and Fearne Cotton.

Of course, there's no better way to gauge a sense of the passing of time than by comparing the comedic names involved in successive Red Nose Days. New faces from 2005's show such as Henry, Wossy, Frenchy, Atkinsony, Nortony and Gervaisy now jostle for attention alongside lowculture favourites Mitchelly and Webby, who'll be putting Vordermanny and Bally (Snr) through their paces in a Special Red Nose Day edition of Numberwang, not to mention a Special Red Nose Day "surprise" from Kayey (probably a song, unfortunately), Hilly presenting a Special Red Nose Day edition of TV Burp (thanks, ITV!), and Tennanty in a Special Red Nose Day sketch with Tatey, followed by some other sketches from Tatey minus Tennanty a bit later on which probably won't be as Special. The big news (if you're Frenchy or Curtisy) is a Special Red Nose Day edition of BBC sitcom jewel The Final Ever Vicar Of Dibley, this time with young up-and-comer Stingy on hand to really force the chuckles from our throats. Frenchy's also due to pop up alongside Lucasy and Walliamsy, as are Brandy and Watermany, AND IF ALL THAT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR YOU COMEDY LEECHES there's the winner of Comic Relief Does The Apprentice to be revealed, not to mention the joyous prospect of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy being brought to an end in the name of charity and goodwill to the starving and unfortunate.

Finally, post-midnight, Peggy and Frosty draw the short straw / are the lucky bastards who get to do the pre-recorded links without having to be there on the night during the lengthy post-midnight Comic Relief clip anthology, which this year seems to drag on even longer than usual and almost certainly won't have O'Leary sitting in a sauna wearing a towel like it did a few years ago. Unless that's one of the clips. It's unlikely, but, you know, they could have snuck it in there. If they're feeling charitable.

Labels: BBC1, charity, comedy, Comic Relief - The Big One, Red Nose Day, TV

By Nick :: Post link :: ::  
0 pop-up comments :: Discuss on messageboard