Call the Midwife's Jessica Raine has spoken about her experiences working on the new series of Doctor Who. Raine will guest in an upcoming episode of the popular long-running BBC family SF drama as a character called Emma Grayling. Speaking to the Radio Times about her role, Raine said: '[It is] very different from Midwife. On Doctor Who it was all mind machines and strobe lighting. 
But it was a magical experience and something I was very happy to do. It's a very different character and genre - you have to throw yourself into it and take it very seriously. I hadn't realised what an institution Doctor Who is. I got offered the part and didn't think that much about it. Then you go on set and you see this blue police telephone box, and suddenly the weight of what you're doing hits home.' She also praised yer actual Matt Smith his very self for the 'darker edge' he has brought the series. 'He's a brilliant actor. He has a very long career ahead of him,' she said. Raine's episode is expected to be titled Phantom of the Hex.
An overnight audience of just under six and a half million punters watched the second episode of the new series of Death In Paradise on Tuesday. Although marginally down from the 6.8 million audience for the opening episode, the figure is still an astonishingly impressive one in this day and age where four to five million (on final, consolidated figures, much less overnights) is considered a more than decent one for most dramas.
Up against it, a repeat of an episode of Agatha Christie' Marple on ITV took a real hiding, being watched by but 1.9m viewers. Holby City also won its - 8pm - slot for BBC1 with an audience of 5.2m, whilst, at the same time, Winterwatch was pulling in a very impressive 3.2m on BBC2. It was a good night all round for BBC2 with Dan Snow's History of Railways managing 2.5m in the 9pm slot (beating ITV's offering into the bargain). Later, The Sarah Millican Television Programme was watched by 2.4m. Channel Four's new dark drama, Utopia began with an above-slot-average 1.1m. Overall, BBC1 easily won primetime with 24.8 per cent of the audience share, beating ITV's 11.7 per cent. BBC2 commanded a strong third position with 9.8 per cent.
The revival of classic 1980s comedy Yes, Prime Minister has been met with blistering criticism from reviewers and an almost complete lack of interest from viewers. Which this blogger is actually rather glad about after Jonathan Lynn made his mouth go and arrogantly tried to create some pre-series publicity by bemoaning the fact that the BBC had asked for a pilot episode to be produced before they would give a green light to the project. In the event, the authors - snootily - refused and then, publicly, whinged about it, so the sitcom remake was rejected by the BBC (who are probably quite glad about that right now, seeing how rotten it's turned out) and commissioned, instead, by digital channel Gold. Where the audience for its first episode was a risibly, laughably low two hundred and eighty thousand punters instead of the three or four million the programme might have expected on BBC. Good. This blogger is glad that such rank arrogance have been slapped down, hard, by the great viewing public. Maybe the next time you're asked to produce a pilot, Mister Lynn, you won't quite be so big of the gob. Written by original creators Lynn and Antony Jay, the updated version stars David Haig as the befuddled Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, and Henry Goodman as scheming Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby. Critics panned the first episode if the six-part series.
The Torygraph said the show was 'a beat or two off,' adding 'further consultation' was required. 'For one thing, you just can't pretend that The Thick of It never happened, as this seemed to do in featuring a scene of political advisers wincing as their boss flounders through an interview,' Tom Sutcliffe wrote. 'For another, Henry Goodman can't quite expunge the memory of Nigel Hawthorne's silky perfection.' In its detailed comparison of the original series against the new, the Radio Times concluded the remake was 'not even close' to the 'untouchable classic. Stagey and unsubtle, with nothing new or relevant to say about modern politics and with weaker one-liners,' Jack Seale said. 'The new Hacker seems much more aware of Sir Humphrey's scheming, which takes away a key dynamic of the original: Hacker mistakenly thinking he had outsmarted Sir Humphrey and made his own decision,' he said. 'Far less artfully constructed and written than the 1980s series.' The website Digital Spy savaged the show, saying: 'Sadly, what could have been a triumphant return for one of the best British sitcoms is undone by bad decisions and ruinous execution.' Although it said the first episode contained lines that would make one laugh, it was its only praise. 'Classic Yes, Minister's strength was its timelessness. This reboot feels like its struggling to keep up,' Mayer Nissim said. 'They've recycled not only the characters and their mannerisms but also snippets of dialogues and - on occasion - the odd gag. Its creators have sadly strangled the revival at birth.'
This week in the US saw the broadcast of the single worst episode of Hawaii Five-0 since the format was revived three years ago. It's usually a pretty decent little generic cop show with some good actors, gorgeous locations and plenty of humour. Yer actual Keith Telly Topping is something of a fan under normal circumstances. But, not even Grace Park in a wet tee-shirt could save this week's episode or hide the fact that the show's writers appeared to have, simply, run out of ideas. Thus, they engineered a story with three potential ending and then left it up to the audience to decide - online - which one it should be. Lazy, guys. Very, very lazy. Providing climaxes to episodes is your job, not the audience's.
The BBC boosted the UK economy by more than eight billion smackers – nearly twice its licence fee spend – but gains in the North of England were offset by a decline in economic benefits to Wales and elsewhere in the English regions, according to a new report which the corporation commissioned. Published on Tuesday, the report said that the corporation generated more than eight billion quid of economic value in 2011-12 by spending £4.3bn on its TV, radio, online, commercial and other activities. The bigger, 'gross value added' figure, totalling £8.3bn, includes the knock-on effect of BBC spending further down the supply chain. But while the GVA in the North of England grew 19.7 per cent on the previous year to three hundred and ninety one million smackers on the back of the BBC's investment in its new BBC North premises in Salford, the Midlands region, including the East and West Midlands and East Anglia, saw its GVA fall 21.7 per cent to one hundred and ninety nine million notes. Wales also saw the economic benefits slip back, by 6.2 per cent to two hundred and seventy six million knicker, as BBC spending in the region fell to one hundred and fifty four million quid from one hundred and sixty two million smackers in 2009-2010. 
The South, including the South-East and South-West of England, was also down, 18.8 per cent year-on-year. BBC 'insiders' have previously 'expressed concern' that the emphasis on BBC North might see other regions suffer, with the axing of the TV and radio factual department in BBC Birmingham in the West Midlands, part of the Delivering Quality First cost-saving measures. However, despite the move of out of London to Salford of services and departments including BBC Sport, BBC Children's, Radio 5Live and BBC1's Breakfast programme, the bulk of BBC spending remains in the capital. Total BBC expenditure in London, of £2.98bn – generating GVA of £5.65bn – was nearly three times the total spent in the rest of England and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined. John Tate, the BBC's director, policy and strategy, said the wider benefits of BBC spending were a strong argument against Ofcom's plans for a spectrum tax on broadcasters, due next year after they were put back from 2006. 'The wider benefit of the licence fee provides an extra reason for Ofcom to think again before it implements a spectrum tax next year: a levy on the spectrum broadcasters use to transmit their programmes,' said Tate in a BBC blog post. 'As well as hitting licence fee payers, such a tax would remove much-needed cash from the UK's creative sector.'
Radio 2's Jeremy Vine and newsreader Sophie Raworth will host The Andrew Marr Show as the BBC presenter recovers from his recent stroke, the BBC has confirmed. Marr has been in hospital since taking ill last Tuesday. Former Newsnight presenter Vine will front the BBC1 show on Sunday 20 January, with Raworth stepping in on 27 January. Political journalist James Landale hosted last weekend.
The BBC said that Marr 'is continuing to make progress.' A statement said he 'is working on his physiotherapy with his customary determination.' It added the presenter's 'family would like to thank everyone for the fantastic support they have received in terms of cards, e-mails, texts, tweets, flowers, etc. They would like to repeat their request for Andrew's privacy to be respected while he recovers.' Marr's sudden illness prompted messages of support from his colleagues and public figures including Labour leader Ed Miliband who tweeted: 'My thoughts are with Andrew and his family. Hope he gets well soon.' Vine himself said: 'Thinking of my friend Andrew Marr and hoping he gets better soon.'
BBC News correspondent Helen Fawkes has revealed that the ovarian cancer she has been in remission from twice before has returned in an advanced form. She was diagnosed with the disease on Christmas Eve and told she may only have months to live. 'The worst case scenario is that I have six months to live,' she divulged in her blog at the weekend. 'So little time. I've been told that it's a good idea to "get my affairs in order." As you can imagine I'm utterly devastated. I feel upset, angry, emotional, sad. It's just so unfair,' wrote the woman who fought off the disease eleven years ago at the age of thirty and then again last year, after being diagnosed in March. 'Right now,' she continued, 'the world seems pretty meaningless and irrelevant. Nothing really matters.' She explained that although she can never be rid of the cancer, attempts to shrink each tumour may be able to prolong her life. It was only a few weeks ago that she was celebrating a return to work after surgery last March and six sessions of chemotherapy resulted in the all clear from doctors. 'It was such a fantastic feeling walking into BBC TV Centre,' she wrote on 6 December. 'Almost as soon as I got to the correspondents' desk I was handed a story - it was great to be back.' Helen will begin a new round of chemotherapy on Tuesday in an attempt to destroy the nine millimetre tumour detected by the latest scan. She plans to compile a new 'List for Living', similar to the 'five year plan' she drew up upon her first diagnosis, of things she always wanted to do. 'Thanks to the list I became a BBC foreign correspondent and had the most amazing adventure abroad,' she wrote. 'Now that the cancer is back for good I'm so glad that I followed my dreams.'
Her new set of ambitions will include getting a book published based on her List for Living. Friends and colleagues have sent the journalist messages of support via Twitter. 'You are a very brave, strong and inspiring woman. I salute you,' tweeted presenter Kirsty Lang. Presenter Sonali Shah called Helen's List for Living 'an inspirational idea. Shows how much power you have to kick some more stupid cancer ass.' And Radio 4 announcer Corrie Corfield tweeted: 'Have only just caught up with your heartbreaking, honest and humbling blog and sending you much love. You are remarkable.' Helen accepts the reality of her situation. 'With this stage of cancer my treatment options are limited. There are only a few types of drugs that can help me. This is terrible news but it could be worse. I could be terminally ill.' And she refuses to rule out the possibility of quality life ahead, saying that 'most likely' she can expect five years. 'Maybe ten or more if I'm very lucky. Once I have my affairs in order I'm not going to dwell on the dying,' she insisted. 'I will soon have a new list and a whole lot more living to do.' This blogger sends the sincere best wishes of all at From The North to Helen and her family and friends at this most difficult of times.
Prince Albert of Monaco has, very satisfyingly, accepted a high court apology and 'substantial' damages from billionaire tyrant Rupert Murdoch's The Sunday Times over 'seriously defamatory allegations' that he had entered into a so-called 'sham marriage' with Charlene Wittstock. The prince sued the News International paper following the publication of the article in July 2011 for damages of more than three hundred grand, but the high court heard on Tuesday morning that the exact settlement has 'yet to be agreed.' The Sunday Times will also pay Prince Albert's - not doubt significantly huge - legal costs. Rupert Earle, a lawyer representing The Sunday Times, grovellingly said that the paper offered 'its sincere apologies to the claimants for the damage, as well as the distress caused.' In a statement read out in court, it also agreed that the paper had 'falsely' alleged that Prince Albert had 'turned a blind eye to corrupt activity by his courtiers and had done nothing effective to curb the activities of mobsters and money launderers in the principality.' The article was published on 3 July 2011, just two days after the couple were married – it was headlined The Full Monte and Curse of the Grimaldis. It wrongly alleged that Prince Albert's wife had agreed to take part in 'a sham marriage' because he had paid her so much money to go through the pretence of an extravagant wedding, despite her discovering that he had fathered an illegitimate child with another woman during their relationship. The prince and princess said the story had caused 'considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment.' Mr Justice Eady, presiding over the case in the high court, heard that the article also wrongly alleged that Prince Albert had granted residency in Monaco to foreigners on the request of friends and advisers for fear they would disclose 'embarrassing secrets' about his past love life. 'It also accused him of having Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene's passport confiscated at Nice airport in order to prevent her from leaving Monaco, so that she would marry him for appearance's sake,'
Prince Albert's lawyer Mark Thomson said in court. He added that The Sunday Times also made the defamatory suggestion that Princess Charlene had attempted to flee the principality because she had discovered the existence of a third love child by another woman and she had, reluctantly, agreed to marry the prince in exchange for money with a view to 'obtaining an annulment after a seemly interval.' The final libel, Thomson told the court, was the allegation that Prince Albert 'had paid his allegedly reluctant bride for going through with the marriage with the intent of allowing her afterwards to annul the marriage quietly. None of these allegations are true,' said Thomson in the statement agreed with the paper. 'The article caused the newly-wed couple enormous upset and embarrassment,' he added, particularly in view of the worldwide interest in their marriage. Prince Albert has launched a second lawsuit against The Sunday Times over further allegedly false allegations. The prince is suing the paper and its editor, John Witherow, and the author of the article, Matthew Campbell, in France over the publication of the article on 3 July 2011 in the paper which is distributed in France. Papers lodged in the French court show Prince Albert is seeking one hundred thousand Euros in damages and a legal notice in The Sunday Times in English, along with one in French, in three French newspapers and the Monaco Matin Express. A hearing on the case is scheduled for the Paris courts on Wednesday.
The BBC will continue to run Big Screens around the country until September, six months after it was due to hand over control to local councils. The councils, which own the twenty two screens, have requested the extension to give them more time to put alternative arrangements in place.
The BBC announced last September that it would close its Big Screens department as part of DQF savings, resulting in the loss of twenty three roles. Staffing and production currently cost the corporation almost £1.4m a year as major events, such as the Olympics and the Royal Wedding, are brought into the heart of communities. The team also reformats other BBC content for the big screens. A skeleton staff of five will remain after March to run a basic service. The BBC says that it has agreed to the extension 'in order to protect the legacy provided by the Big Screens'. The screens, which are based in cities such as Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Liverpool, Newcastle and Dover and have become a focal point for community activity, are expected to remain in place after the BBC ends its involvement. A twenty third screen, based at MediaCity in Salford, is owned by Peel Media who will continue their partnership with the BBC.
Die Hard director John McTiernan has lost his appeal to have a one-year prison sentence overturned for lying to the FBI in a wiretapping case and will now, in all likelihood have to do some serious jail. The sixty two-year-old was sentenced in 2010 after pleading guilty to lying over hiring a private investigator to wiretap a film producer. He had been free on bail while he appealed the conviction, however the US Supreme Court declined to review it. A judge is now expected to order McTiernan to go to prison. Go directly to prison. Do not passed Nakatomi Plaza and, under absolutely no circumstances, say 'yippie-kai-aye, motherfucker' when faced with Hans Gruber and his gang. After serving a custodial sentence, the filmmaker - who also directed The Hunt for Red October (in which the world's first Scottish-Russian 'shhhhailed into hishhhtory') and Predator - will be on supervised release for three years. McTiernan was originally accused of lying about hiring former celebrity private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap film producer, Chuck Roven, after they both worked on the movie Rollerball.
The director initially pleaded guilty in 2006 after the FBI obtained a recording in which the men discussed the wiretap, but he later withdrew his guilty plea. After failing in his attempt to suppress the recording, he pleaded extremely guilty again in 2010 to allow him the opportunity to appeal, however he was then sentenced by a District Court judge and fined one hundred thousand dollars. Although McTiernan is likely to be ordered to report to The Big House, his lawyer said that there was 'still a motion' before the judge to reduce or eliminate his sentence on the grounds there has never been any evidence presented that Pellicano actually wiretapped Roven. However, the charge McTiernan was found guilty of was lying to the FBI and not wiretapping itself. Pellicano was convicted of seventy eight crimes at two separate trials in 2008 for obtaining the private records of a number of Hollywood stars including Sylvester Stallone. He is currently serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for racketeering, conspiracy and wiretapping.
British playwright and screenwriter the great Sir Tom Stoppard is to be honoured by the Writers Guild of America next month. Sir Tom, whose recent credits include Anna Karenina and Parade's End, will receive the Laurel Award for Screen at its 17 February awards in Los Angeles. Howard A Rodman, vice-president of the Writers Guild of America West, said Stoppard brought 'wit, elegance and heart to all he composes.'
Previous recipients of the accolade include US playwright David Mamet. Sir Tom shared an Oscar in 1999 for the screenplay he co-wrote with Marc Norman for the film Shakespeare in Love. His many stage plays include The Real Thing, Arcadia and the Hamlet-inspired Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. In a statement, Rodman said Stoppard's screenplays - which also include those for Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun - and numerous acclaimed TV plays including Professional Foul, Another Moon Called Earth and Squaring The Circle, 'delight, disturb [and] entrance. Whether adapting the masters or crafting his own tales, Stoppard brings dignity and coherence to the act of imagination.'
Graham Norton is planning a seven-hour chat show to raise money for Comic Relief reports the Sun. The show, which will take over the entire BBC3 schedule, will feature up to fifty guests and singing acts and is set to be the 'most exhausting thing Graham has ever done.'
Anthea Turner - remember her? She used to be somebody twenty years ago - has reportedly suffered a rib injury during her Twatting About On Ice training. Although, initial reports that it was actually an injury to another part of her body appear to have been untrue. Which is a shame as every time this blogger sees Anthea Turner (or, indeed, anyone else connected with Twatting About On Ice) he usually thinks 'oh, pain in the neck.'
The TV presenter is said to have 'popped a rib' in rehearsals, but hopes to 'battle through the pain' in order to compete on Sunday night, reports the Sun. Don't put yourself out on our behalf, Anth. Turner apparently spent Tuesday in bed after she 'felt the bone ping' out of place while rehearsing. The alleged 'source' allegedly said: 'Anthea popped a rib during her duel routine on Monday and has a hot water bottle on her ribs all day, but she hasn't missed any training - yet. She is really worried about it, as she is in a lot of pain, but she's a real trooper and is insisting that it will be all systems go for this weekend.'
Horse DNA has been found in some beef burgers being sold in UK and Irish supermarkets, the Republic of Ireland's food safety authority has said. The FSAI said the meat came from two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in Yorkshire. It said they posed 'no health risk' although one imagines, the horses in question aren't feeling over clever after being minced up. The burgers were on sale in Tesco and Iceland in the UK and Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they were on sale in Dunnes Stores, Lidl, and Aldi. The FSAI said the retailers have stated that they were removing all implicated batches of the burgers. A total of twenty seven products were analysed, with ten of them containing horse DNA and twenty three containing pig DNA. Horsemeat accounted for approximately twenty nine per cent of the meat content in one sample from Tesco. In addition, thirty one beef meal products, including cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne, were analysed, of which twenty one tested positive for pig DNA. The chief executive of the FSAI, Professor Alan Reilly, said that while the findings posed no risk to public health, they did raise some concerns. 'Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process,' he said. 'In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger,' Professor Reilly added.
'Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable.' Tesco's group technical director, Tim Smith, said his company was informed of the test results by the FSAI on Tuesday and they 'immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question.' In Tesco's case, two frozen beef burger products that are sold in both the UK and Ireland were found to contain horse DNA. In a statement, Smith said: 'The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco. We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell. The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious.' He added that Tesco was 'working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the supplier concerned, to urgently understand how this has happened and how to ensure it does not happen again. We will not take any products from this site until the conclusion and satisfactory resolution of an investigation,' the statement said. Iceland said that it has 'withdrawn from sale the two Iceland brand quarter pounder burger lines implicated in the study.' In a statement, the company said it noted the FSAI's findings 'with concern' and 'would be working closely with its suppliers to investigate this issue and to ensure that all Iceland brand products meet the high standards of quality and integrity that we specify and which our customers are entitled to expect.' Aldi said only one of its products - which is only on sale in the Republic of Ireland - was affected. In a statement, Aldi Stores said: 'Following notification this afternoon from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland of an issue in relation to our Oakhurst Beef Burgers (eight pack) we have immediately removed the product from sale and have launched an investigation into the matter.' The company said it 'takes the quality of all its products extremely seriously and demands the highest standards from its suppliers.' Meanwhile, Silvercrest Foods said it has 'never bought horse product,' and has launched an investigation into two continental European third party suppliers. Anyone with any concerns about eating horse is advised to gallop down to the doctors for a quick rub-down. This blogger once backed a horse at twenty-to-one, dear blog reader. It came in at ten-to-four. Now it's on sale at a Tesco meat counter for £1.99, Bah-dum. Nah, lissun ...
Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, best known for his sexually explicit film, In The Realm of the Senses, has died at the age of eighty. The 1976 film, also known by its Japanese title, Ai No Corrida, featured unsimulated sex between the actors. Oshima also directed singer David Bowie in the WWII prison-camp drama Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. 'My father died calmly,' his son Arata told the AFP news agency, adding that the film-maker had died of pneumonia. Born in Kyoto, Oshima made his début feature, A Town of Love and Hope, in 1959. A series of politically charged films followed throughout the 1960s, in which Oshima aimed his keen director's eye at issues including capital punishment and racism, in films like The Catch and Death By Hanging. His most controversial project reflected his lifelong criticism of censorship. In The Realm of the Senses, a film based on a true story of obsession in 1930s Japan, was incredibly explicit for the time, with the two protagonists engaging in increasingly intense, graphic and bizarre sexual practices. In the final scenes, the male protagonist has his genitals severed by his lover, a prostitute-turned-hotel worker.
The film fell foul of censors in Germany, the UK and the US - where it was seized by customs officials ahead of a planned screening at the New York Film Festival. Oshima's companion film, the more restrained Empire of Passion, won him the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978. He followed that up with Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, starring Bowie and Tom Conti as prisoners of war, interned in a Japanese camp. It was shortlisted for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and its influential score, by Ryuichi Sakamoto, won a BAFTA. The Cannes jury also shortlisted his next film, bizarre comedy Max Mon Amour, which featured British actress Charlotte Rampling as the wife of a philandering diplomat, who takes a chimpanzee as her lover. During the 1980s and 90s, he served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan but in 1996 suffered a stroke. He recovered and directed his final film, 1999's Taboo, which was set among Japanese samurais in the mid-Nineteenth Century and concentrated on the issue of homosexuality. At his death, 'he was with members of his family, wife Akiko and elder son Takeshi,' said his son Arata, speaking from his late father's home in Fujisawa, outside Tokyo. 'My father had been in hospital since late last year and died of pneumonia.'
An ex-teacher has sued her former school district, alleging that she was 'discriminated against' for her fear of children. Maria Waltherr-Willard had been teaching French and Spanish at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati since 1976. Sky News reports that when the sixty one-year-old was transferred to the district's middle school in 2009, the seventh and eighth-graders she was required to teach triggered her paedophobia (an extreme fear of young children).
This in turn caused her blood pressure to rise and led to her retirement in the middle of the 2010 school year. The lawsuit states that Waltherr-Willard's paedophobia is covered by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and that the district violated it by transferring her and refusing her a move back to the high school. School district attorney Gary Winters claimed that Waltherr-Willard simply 'wants money' (hey, don't we all?) and added: 'Let's keep in mind that our goal here is to provide the best teachers for students and the best academic experience for students, which certainly wasn't accomplished by her walking out on them in the middle of the year.' The suit is seeking unspecified damages, but Waltherr-Willard claims she has lost out on at least one hundred thousand dollars of potential income as a result of early retirement.
Police in Crook, County Durham have warned that people who throw snowballs may be arrested. No, I'm not making this up, there really are such utter glakes in the world in, seemingly, nothing better to do with their time than crap like this. Authorities have made it clear that they may not tolerate 'anti-social behaviour.' The Crook neighbourhood police team posted on Facebook:
Crook Beat Team are aware that it has been snowing and that people are going to have fun in it. [However], if anyone throws snowballs at person's homes or at people who do not want to be involved in the snow games, they could be arrested and it will be classed as anti-social behaviour.' The message also stressed that people should not 'hurl snowballs at vehicles' or 'onto the road.' According to BBC News, a local police spokesman explained: 'Every year when it snows, we get a number of complaints from members of the public concerning young people throwing snowballs at their cars. The obvious concern for us is that if it distracts the driver it could cause an accident. We thought that this year, we'll get a warning out in advance of all the problems to let people know that it isn't behaviour that we want to accept in this area.'
For today's Keith Telly Topping's 45 of the Day we have a twenty four carat post-punk classic from Howard Devoto and Magazine.
But it was a magical experience and something I was very happy to do. It's a very different character and genre - you have to throw yourself into it and take it very seriously. I hadn't realised what an institution Doctor Who is. I got offered the part and didn't think that much about it. Then you go on set and you see this blue police telephone box, and suddenly the weight of what you're doing hits home.' She also praised yer actual Matt Smith his very self for the 'darker edge' he has brought the series. 'He's a brilliant actor. He has a very long career ahead of him,' she said. Raine's episode is expected to be titled Phantom of the Hex.An overnight audience of just under six and a half million punters watched the second episode of the new series of Death In Paradise on Tuesday. Although marginally down from the 6.8 million audience for the opening episode, the figure is still an astonishingly impressive one in this day and age where four to five million (on final, consolidated figures, much less overnights) is considered a more than decent one for most dramas.
Up against it, a repeat of an episode of Agatha Christie' Marple on ITV took a real hiding, being watched by but 1.9m viewers. Holby City also won its - 8pm - slot for BBC1 with an audience of 5.2m, whilst, at the same time, Winterwatch was pulling in a very impressive 3.2m on BBC2. It was a good night all round for BBC2 with Dan Snow's History of Railways managing 2.5m in the 9pm slot (beating ITV's offering into the bargain). Later, The Sarah Millican Television Programme was watched by 2.4m. Channel Four's new dark drama, Utopia began with an above-slot-average 1.1m. Overall, BBC1 easily won primetime with 24.8 per cent of the audience share, beating ITV's 11.7 per cent. BBC2 commanded a strong third position with 9.8 per cent. The revival of classic 1980s comedy Yes, Prime Minister has been met with blistering criticism from reviewers and an almost complete lack of interest from viewers. Which this blogger is actually rather glad about after Jonathan Lynn made his mouth go and arrogantly tried to create some pre-series publicity by bemoaning the fact that the BBC had asked for a pilot episode to be produced before they would give a green light to the project. In the event, the authors - snootily - refused and then, publicly, whinged about it, so the sitcom remake was rejected by the BBC (who are probably quite glad about that right now, seeing how rotten it's turned out) and commissioned, instead, by digital channel Gold. Where the audience for its first episode was a risibly, laughably low two hundred and eighty thousand punters instead of the three or four million the programme might have expected on BBC. Good. This blogger is glad that such rank arrogance have been slapped down, hard, by the great viewing public. Maybe the next time you're asked to produce a pilot, Mister Lynn, you won't quite be so big of the gob. Written by original creators Lynn and Antony Jay, the updated version stars David Haig as the befuddled Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, and Henry Goodman as scheming Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby. Critics panned the first episode if the six-part series.
The Torygraph said the show was 'a beat or two off,' adding 'further consultation' was required. 'For one thing, you just can't pretend that The Thick of It never happened, as this seemed to do in featuring a scene of political advisers wincing as their boss flounders through an interview,' Tom Sutcliffe wrote. 'For another, Henry Goodman can't quite expunge the memory of Nigel Hawthorne's silky perfection.' In its detailed comparison of the original series against the new, the Radio Times concluded the remake was 'not even close' to the 'untouchable classic. Stagey and unsubtle, with nothing new or relevant to say about modern politics and with weaker one-liners,' Jack Seale said. 'The new Hacker seems much more aware of Sir Humphrey's scheming, which takes away a key dynamic of the original: Hacker mistakenly thinking he had outsmarted Sir Humphrey and made his own decision,' he said. 'Far less artfully constructed and written than the 1980s series.' The website Digital Spy savaged the show, saying: 'Sadly, what could have been a triumphant return for one of the best British sitcoms is undone by bad decisions and ruinous execution.' Although it said the first episode contained lines that would make one laugh, it was its only praise. 'Classic Yes, Minister's strength was its timelessness. This reboot feels like its struggling to keep up,' Mayer Nissim said. 'They've recycled not only the characters and their mannerisms but also snippets of dialogues and - on occasion - the odd gag. Its creators have sadly strangled the revival at birth.' This week in the US saw the broadcast of the single worst episode of Hawaii Five-0 since the format was revived three years ago. It's usually a pretty decent little generic cop show with some good actors, gorgeous locations and plenty of humour. Yer actual Keith Telly Topping is something of a fan under normal circumstances. But, not even Grace Park in a wet tee-shirt could save this week's episode or hide the fact that the show's writers appeared to have, simply, run out of ideas. Thus, they engineered a story with three potential ending and then left it up to the audience to decide - online - which one it should be. Lazy, guys. Very, very lazy. Providing climaxes to episodes is your job, not the audience's.
The South, including the South-East and South-West of England, was also down, 18.8 per cent year-on-year. BBC 'insiders' have previously 'expressed concern' that the emphasis on BBC North might see other regions suffer, with the axing of the TV and radio factual department in BBC Birmingham in the West Midlands, part of the Delivering Quality First cost-saving measures. However, despite the move of out of London to Salford of services and departments including BBC Sport, BBC Children's, Radio 5Live and BBC1's Breakfast programme, the bulk of BBC spending remains in the capital. Total BBC expenditure in London, of £2.98bn – generating GVA of £5.65bn – was nearly three times the total spent in the rest of England and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined. John Tate, the BBC's director, policy and strategy, said the wider benefits of BBC spending were a strong argument against Ofcom's plans for a spectrum tax on broadcasters, due next year after they were put back from 2006. 'The wider benefit of the licence fee provides an extra reason for Ofcom to think again before it implements a spectrum tax next year: a levy on the spectrum broadcasters use to transmit their programmes,' said Tate in a BBC blog post. 'As well as hitting licence fee payers, such a tax would remove much-needed cash from the UK's creative sector.'Radio 2's Jeremy Vine and newsreader Sophie Raworth will host The Andrew Marr Show as the BBC presenter recovers from his recent stroke, the BBC has confirmed. Marr has been in hospital since taking ill last Tuesday. Former Newsnight presenter Vine will front the BBC1 show on Sunday 20 January, with Raworth stepping in on 27 January. Political journalist James Landale hosted last weekend.
The BBC said that Marr 'is continuing to make progress.' A statement said he 'is working on his physiotherapy with his customary determination.' It added the presenter's 'family would like to thank everyone for the fantastic support they have received in terms of cards, e-mails, texts, tweets, flowers, etc. They would like to repeat their request for Andrew's privacy to be respected while he recovers.' Marr's sudden illness prompted messages of support from his colleagues and public figures including Labour leader Ed Miliband who tweeted: 'My thoughts are with Andrew and his family. Hope he gets well soon.' Vine himself said: 'Thinking of my friend Andrew Marr and hoping he gets better soon.'BBC News correspondent Helen Fawkes has revealed that the ovarian cancer she has been in remission from twice before has returned in an advanced form. She was diagnosed with the disease on Christmas Eve and told she may only have months to live. 'The worst case scenario is that I have six months to live,' she divulged in her blog at the weekend. 'So little time. I've been told that it's a good idea to "get my affairs in order." As you can imagine I'm utterly devastated. I feel upset, angry, emotional, sad. It's just so unfair,' wrote the woman who fought off the disease eleven years ago at the age of thirty and then again last year, after being diagnosed in March. 'Right now,' she continued, 'the world seems pretty meaningless and irrelevant. Nothing really matters.' She explained that although she can never be rid of the cancer, attempts to shrink each tumour may be able to prolong her life. It was only a few weeks ago that she was celebrating a return to work after surgery last March and six sessions of chemotherapy resulted in the all clear from doctors. 'It was such a fantastic feeling walking into BBC TV Centre,' she wrote on 6 December. 'Almost as soon as I got to the correspondents' desk I was handed a story - it was great to be back.' Helen will begin a new round of chemotherapy on Tuesday in an attempt to destroy the nine millimetre tumour detected by the latest scan. She plans to compile a new 'List for Living', similar to the 'five year plan' she drew up upon her first diagnosis, of things she always wanted to do. 'Thanks to the list I became a BBC foreign correspondent and had the most amazing adventure abroad,' she wrote. 'Now that the cancer is back for good I'm so glad that I followed my dreams.'
Her new set of ambitions will include getting a book published based on her List for Living. Friends and colleagues have sent the journalist messages of support via Twitter. 'You are a very brave, strong and inspiring woman. I salute you,' tweeted presenter Kirsty Lang. Presenter Sonali Shah called Helen's List for Living 'an inspirational idea. Shows how much power you have to kick some more stupid cancer ass.' And Radio 4 announcer Corrie Corfield tweeted: 'Have only just caught up with your heartbreaking, honest and humbling blog and sending you much love. You are remarkable.' Helen accepts the reality of her situation. 'With this stage of cancer my treatment options are limited. There are only a few types of drugs that can help me. This is terrible news but it could be worse. I could be terminally ill.' And she refuses to rule out the possibility of quality life ahead, saying that 'most likely' she can expect five years. 'Maybe ten or more if I'm very lucky. Once I have my affairs in order I'm not going to dwell on the dying,' she insisted. 'I will soon have a new list and a whole lot more living to do.' This blogger sends the sincere best wishes of all at From The North to Helen and her family and friends at this most difficult of times. Prince Albert of Monaco has, very satisfyingly, accepted a high court apology and 'substantial' damages from billionaire tyrant Rupert Murdoch's The Sunday Times over 'seriously defamatory allegations' that he had entered into a so-called 'sham marriage' with Charlene Wittstock. The prince sued the News International paper following the publication of the article in July 2011 for damages of more than three hundred grand, but the high court heard on Tuesday morning that the exact settlement has 'yet to be agreed.' The Sunday Times will also pay Prince Albert's - not doubt significantly huge - legal costs. Rupert Earle, a lawyer representing The Sunday Times, grovellingly said that the paper offered 'its sincere apologies to the claimants for the damage, as well as the distress caused.' In a statement read out in court, it also agreed that the paper had 'falsely' alleged that Prince Albert had 'turned a blind eye to corrupt activity by his courtiers and had done nothing effective to curb the activities of mobsters and money launderers in the principality.' The article was published on 3 July 2011, just two days after the couple were married – it was headlined The Full Monte and Curse of the Grimaldis. It wrongly alleged that Prince Albert's wife had agreed to take part in 'a sham marriage' because he had paid her so much money to go through the pretence of an extravagant wedding, despite her discovering that he had fathered an illegitimate child with another woman during their relationship. The prince and princess said the story had caused 'considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment.' Mr Justice Eady, presiding over the case in the high court, heard that the article also wrongly alleged that Prince Albert had granted residency in Monaco to foreigners on the request of friends and advisers for fear they would disclose 'embarrassing secrets' about his past love life. 'It also accused him of having Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene's passport confiscated at Nice airport in order to prevent her from leaving Monaco, so that she would marry him for appearance's sake,'
Prince Albert's lawyer Mark Thomson said in court. He added that The Sunday Times also made the defamatory suggestion that Princess Charlene had attempted to flee the principality because she had discovered the existence of a third love child by another woman and she had, reluctantly, agreed to marry the prince in exchange for money with a view to 'obtaining an annulment after a seemly interval.' The final libel, Thomson told the court, was the allegation that Prince Albert 'had paid his allegedly reluctant bride for going through with the marriage with the intent of allowing her afterwards to annul the marriage quietly. None of these allegations are true,' said Thomson in the statement agreed with the paper. 'The article caused the newly-wed couple enormous upset and embarrassment,' he added, particularly in view of the worldwide interest in their marriage. Prince Albert has launched a second lawsuit against The Sunday Times over further allegedly false allegations. The prince is suing the paper and its editor, John Witherow, and the author of the article, Matthew Campbell, in France over the publication of the article on 3 July 2011 in the paper which is distributed in France. Papers lodged in the French court show Prince Albert is seeking one hundred thousand Euros in damages and a legal notice in The Sunday Times in English, along with one in French, in three French newspapers and the Monaco Matin Express. A hearing on the case is scheduled for the Paris courts on Wednesday.The BBC will continue to run Big Screens around the country until September, six months after it was due to hand over control to local councils. The councils, which own the twenty two screens, have requested the extension to give them more time to put alternative arrangements in place.
The BBC announced last September that it would close its Big Screens department as part of DQF savings, resulting in the loss of twenty three roles. Staffing and production currently cost the corporation almost £1.4m a year as major events, such as the Olympics and the Royal Wedding, are brought into the heart of communities. The team also reformats other BBC content for the big screens. A skeleton staff of five will remain after March to run a basic service. The BBC says that it has agreed to the extension 'in order to protect the legacy provided by the Big Screens'. The screens, which are based in cities such as Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Liverpool, Newcastle and Dover and have become a focal point for community activity, are expected to remain in place after the BBC ends its involvement. A twenty third screen, based at MediaCity in Salford, is owned by Peel Media who will continue their partnership with the BBC.Die Hard director John McTiernan has lost his appeal to have a one-year prison sentence overturned for lying to the FBI in a wiretapping case and will now, in all likelihood have to do some serious jail. The sixty two-year-old was sentenced in 2010 after pleading guilty to lying over hiring a private investigator to wiretap a film producer. He had been free on bail while he appealed the conviction, however the US Supreme Court declined to review it. A judge is now expected to order McTiernan to go to prison. Go directly to prison. Do not passed Nakatomi Plaza and, under absolutely no circumstances, say 'yippie-kai-aye, motherfucker' when faced with Hans Gruber and his gang. After serving a custodial sentence, the filmmaker - who also directed The Hunt for Red October (in which the world's first Scottish-Russian 'shhhhailed into hishhhtory') and Predator - will be on supervised release for three years. McTiernan was originally accused of lying about hiring former celebrity private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap film producer, Chuck Roven, after they both worked on the movie Rollerball.
The director initially pleaded guilty in 2006 after the FBI obtained a recording in which the men discussed the wiretap, but he later withdrew his guilty plea. After failing in his attempt to suppress the recording, he pleaded extremely guilty again in 2010 to allow him the opportunity to appeal, however he was then sentenced by a District Court judge and fined one hundred thousand dollars. Although McTiernan is likely to be ordered to report to The Big House, his lawyer said that there was 'still a motion' before the judge to reduce or eliminate his sentence on the grounds there has never been any evidence presented that Pellicano actually wiretapped Roven. However, the charge McTiernan was found guilty of was lying to the FBI and not wiretapping itself. Pellicano was convicted of seventy eight crimes at two separate trials in 2008 for obtaining the private records of a number of Hollywood stars including Sylvester Stallone. He is currently serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for racketeering, conspiracy and wiretapping.British playwright and screenwriter the great Sir Tom Stoppard is to be honoured by the Writers Guild of America next month. Sir Tom, whose recent credits include Anna Karenina and Parade's End, will receive the Laurel Award for Screen at its 17 February awards in Los Angeles. Howard A Rodman, vice-president of the Writers Guild of America West, said Stoppard brought 'wit, elegance and heart to all he composes.'
Previous recipients of the accolade include US playwright David Mamet. Sir Tom shared an Oscar in 1999 for the screenplay he co-wrote with Marc Norman for the film Shakespeare in Love. His many stage plays include The Real Thing, Arcadia and the Hamlet-inspired Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. In a statement, Rodman said Stoppard's screenplays - which also include those for Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun - and numerous acclaimed TV plays including Professional Foul, Another Moon Called Earth and Squaring The Circle, 'delight, disturb [and] entrance. Whether adapting the masters or crafting his own tales, Stoppard brings dignity and coherence to the act of imagination.'Graham Norton is planning a seven-hour chat show to raise money for Comic Relief reports the Sun. The show, which will take over the entire BBC3 schedule, will feature up to fifty guests and singing acts and is set to be the 'most exhausting thing Graham has ever done.'
Anthea Turner - remember her? She used to be somebody twenty years ago - has reportedly suffered a rib injury during her Twatting About On Ice training. Although, initial reports that it was actually an injury to another part of her body appear to have been untrue. Which is a shame as every time this blogger sees Anthea Turner (or, indeed, anyone else connected with Twatting About On Ice) he usually thinks 'oh, pain in the neck.'
The TV presenter is said to have 'popped a rib' in rehearsals, but hopes to 'battle through the pain' in order to compete on Sunday night, reports the Sun. Don't put yourself out on our behalf, Anth. Turner apparently spent Tuesday in bed after she 'felt the bone ping' out of place while rehearsing. The alleged 'source' allegedly said: 'Anthea popped a rib during her duel routine on Monday and has a hot water bottle on her ribs all day, but she hasn't missed any training - yet. She is really worried about it, as she is in a lot of pain, but she's a real trooper and is insisting that it will be all systems go for this weekend.' Horse DNA has been found in some beef burgers being sold in UK and Irish supermarkets, the Republic of Ireland's food safety authority has said. The FSAI said the meat came from two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in Yorkshire. It said they posed 'no health risk' although one imagines, the horses in question aren't feeling over clever after being minced up. The burgers were on sale in Tesco and Iceland in the UK and Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they were on sale in Dunnes Stores, Lidl, and Aldi. The FSAI said the retailers have stated that they were removing all implicated batches of the burgers. A total of twenty seven products were analysed, with ten of them containing horse DNA and twenty three containing pig DNA. Horsemeat accounted for approximately twenty nine per cent of the meat content in one sample from Tesco. In addition, thirty one beef meal products, including cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne, were analysed, of which twenty one tested positive for pig DNA. The chief executive of the FSAI, Professor Alan Reilly, said that while the findings posed no risk to public health, they did raise some concerns. 'Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process,' he said. 'In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger,' Professor Reilly added.
'Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable.' Tesco's group technical director, Tim Smith, said his company was informed of the test results by the FSAI on Tuesday and they 'immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question.' In Tesco's case, two frozen beef burger products that are sold in both the UK and Ireland were found to contain horse DNA. In a statement, Smith said: 'The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco. We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell. The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious.' He added that Tesco was 'working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the supplier concerned, to urgently understand how this has happened and how to ensure it does not happen again. We will not take any products from this site until the conclusion and satisfactory resolution of an investigation,' the statement said. Iceland said that it has 'withdrawn from sale the two Iceland brand quarter pounder burger lines implicated in the study.' In a statement, the company said it noted the FSAI's findings 'with concern' and 'would be working closely with its suppliers to investigate this issue and to ensure that all Iceland brand products meet the high standards of quality and integrity that we specify and which our customers are entitled to expect.' Aldi said only one of its products - which is only on sale in the Republic of Ireland - was affected. In a statement, Aldi Stores said: 'Following notification this afternoon from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland of an issue in relation to our Oakhurst Beef Burgers (eight pack) we have immediately removed the product from sale and have launched an investigation into the matter.' The company said it 'takes the quality of all its products extremely seriously and demands the highest standards from its suppliers.' Meanwhile, Silvercrest Foods said it has 'never bought horse product,' and has launched an investigation into two continental European third party suppliers. Anyone with any concerns about eating horse is advised to gallop down to the doctors for a quick rub-down. This blogger once backed a horse at twenty-to-one, dear blog reader. It came in at ten-to-four. Now it's on sale at a Tesco meat counter for £1.99, Bah-dum. Nah, lissun ...Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, best known for his sexually explicit film, In The Realm of the Senses, has died at the age of eighty. The 1976 film, also known by its Japanese title, Ai No Corrida, featured unsimulated sex between the actors. Oshima also directed singer David Bowie in the WWII prison-camp drama Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. 'My father died calmly,' his son Arata told the AFP news agency, adding that the film-maker had died of pneumonia. Born in Kyoto, Oshima made his début feature, A Town of Love and Hope, in 1959. A series of politically charged films followed throughout the 1960s, in which Oshima aimed his keen director's eye at issues including capital punishment and racism, in films like The Catch and Death By Hanging. His most controversial project reflected his lifelong criticism of censorship. In The Realm of the Senses, a film based on a true story of obsession in 1930s Japan, was incredibly explicit for the time, with the two protagonists engaging in increasingly intense, graphic and bizarre sexual practices. In the final scenes, the male protagonist has his genitals severed by his lover, a prostitute-turned-hotel worker.
The film fell foul of censors in Germany, the UK and the US - where it was seized by customs officials ahead of a planned screening at the New York Film Festival. Oshima's companion film, the more restrained Empire of Passion, won him the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978. He followed that up with Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, starring Bowie and Tom Conti as prisoners of war, interned in a Japanese camp. It was shortlisted for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and its influential score, by Ryuichi Sakamoto, won a BAFTA. The Cannes jury also shortlisted his next film, bizarre comedy Max Mon Amour, which featured British actress Charlotte Rampling as the wife of a philandering diplomat, who takes a chimpanzee as her lover. During the 1980s and 90s, he served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan but in 1996 suffered a stroke. He recovered and directed his final film, 1999's Taboo, which was set among Japanese samurais in the mid-Nineteenth Century and concentrated on the issue of homosexuality. At his death, 'he was with members of his family, wife Akiko and elder son Takeshi,' said his son Arata, speaking from his late father's home in Fujisawa, outside Tokyo. 'My father had been in hospital since late last year and died of pneumonia.'An ex-teacher has sued her former school district, alleging that she was 'discriminated against' for her fear of children. Maria Waltherr-Willard had been teaching French and Spanish at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati since 1976. Sky News reports that when the sixty one-year-old was transferred to the district's middle school in 2009, the seventh and eighth-graders she was required to teach triggered her paedophobia (an extreme fear of young children).
This in turn caused her blood pressure to rise and led to her retirement in the middle of the 2010 school year. The lawsuit states that Waltherr-Willard's paedophobia is covered by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and that the district violated it by transferring her and refusing her a move back to the high school. School district attorney Gary Winters claimed that Waltherr-Willard simply 'wants money' (hey, don't we all?) and added: 'Let's keep in mind that our goal here is to provide the best teachers for students and the best academic experience for students, which certainly wasn't accomplished by her walking out on them in the middle of the year.' The suit is seeking unspecified damages, but Waltherr-Willard claims she has lost out on at least one hundred thousand dollars of potential income as a result of early retirement.Police in Crook, County Durham have warned that people who throw snowballs may be arrested. No, I'm not making this up, there really are such utter glakes in the world in, seemingly, nothing better to do with their time than crap like this. Authorities have made it clear that they may not tolerate 'anti-social behaviour.' The Crook neighbourhood police team posted on Facebook:
Crook Beat Team are aware that it has been snowing and that people are going to have fun in it. [However], if anyone throws snowballs at person's homes or at people who do not want to be involved in the snow games, they could be arrested and it will be classed as anti-social behaviour.' The message also stressed that people should not 'hurl snowballs at vehicles' or 'onto the road.' According to BBC News, a local police spokesman explained: 'Every year when it snows, we get a number of complaints from members of the public concerning young people throwing snowballs at their cars. The obvious concern for us is that if it distracts the driver it could cause an accident. We thought that this year, we'll get a warning out in advance of all the problems to let people know that it isn't behaviour that we want to accept in this area.'For today's Keith Telly Topping's 45 of the Day we have a twenty four carat post-punk classic from Howard Devoto and Magazine.
