TV
Brideshead Reductus
The new movie version of Waugh’s classic fails to match either the novel or the TV series
What Do We Mean by ‘Art’?
Art is not culture or entertainment, it is complexity, the ‘I’ in life, ambition, the ambiguity of humanity, serious about itself
ONLINE ONLY: Genius in the Streets
The Wire may be the best television ever made, but is it truly Dickensian?
Self-Censorship And The BBC
The London Bombers was a major drama-documentary about 7/7 of which the BBC should have been proud
ITV’s Last Gasp
Savaged by a regime that sacrificed quality for cash, the network needs to return to striking and original programmes. Can Michael Grade pull it off, or is ITV’s decline terminal?
Operatic Passions
High Court Judges may not like it but The Jeremy Kyle show has a consistent underlying morality
Jon Snow and the Gilded Cage
Channel 4 News’s anchorman has to disguise his political bias as neutrality, a pretence that is both insidious and unmanly
All Satirical Passion Spent
Thatcherism provoked great TV but the makers of Headcases are too liberal, too condescending and not nearly angry enough
