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

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Shut up and Drive

VROOM! Top Gear Night In, BBC2, 7pm

Just before we go on: WOO! Thank goodness last night's result was better than last week's. Go Alesha and Matthew. Woo!

Anyway. We haven't mentioned this series of Top Gear much, but that's not because we are a bunch of gays and girls. Well, OK, we are (mostly), but we refuse to be categorised in nasty stereotypical ways. We can appreciate this programme as much as anyone. No, the reasons we haven't bothered with it are a) we only recently started doing Sunday updates and b) this series hasn't been as good as the last couple.

OK, so Simon Cowell smugging his way to the top of the 'Star in a Resonably Priced Car' was fun, as was Jennifer Saunders coming within a milisecond of stealing the title. Some of the challenges were fun, too, but not anything to compare with the limo task of yore. And the cars were... umm... cars.

Anyway, to mark the end of the series, BBC2 have scheduled comletely unrelated shows featuring Hammond and May (and a repeat with Clarkson in) around the final episode and made it a theme night.

First, and most excitingly, we haveJames May: My Sisters' Top Toys at 7pm, which we are very happy about because we might see some of the toys we used to play with: Major Morgan! Spirograph! That treehouse thing! (which he blows up). Sod the cars, this is where it's at.

At 8pm, we have the finale of Top Gear itself, with David Tennant taking the 'star in the reasonably priced car' challenge. There is also some car stuff, yadayadayada, and the Top Gear awards.

9pm brings us Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel (and there is a film, Viva Knievel! at 11:30pm). In this, Hammond meets his childhood hero, not long before his death earlier this year. Apparently this is a moving portrait that is of interest to people who don't just care about motorcycle stunts. But it's probably even more interesting if you do.

As for Clarkson, he didn't do an interesting one-off doc, so there's just an episode of Have I Got Old News For You, at 10pm, but if you haven't been watching Dave obsessively, it maybe a few months since you last saw this.

Oh, and in case we didn't mention it before: YAY for team Alesha victory!!!

Join us tomorrow for a bumper festive edition... bet you can't wait.

Labels: BBC2, evel knievel, james may, jeremy clarkson, my sisters top toys, richard hammond, top gear

By Rad :: Post link :: ::  
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