Property Ladder
A number of programmes regarding house renovations have sprung up over recent years, but Property Ladder is one of them. It is hosted by Sarah Beeny who dispenses practical advice on budget setting, selling a property and installing rooms/features which will add value and make a house saleable. Unfortunately week after week, the would-be property developers ignore her advice and this can affect their finances.
This episode featured two couples. One couple (Milan and Tai) were converting a cottage to a huge family home. They had a number of objections to their application for planning permission – the neighbours were concerned about the proposed size of the property, the sun being blocked and the effect on trees. There was a delay to the work as the planning application needed to go to Committee. The couple were planning to add a side extension to form a new kitchen and Sarah though this was unnecessary.
When the work eventually started, the builders were working to an old set of plans, which meant that a tiny single garage was built on a plot were there could have been a large garage. Having saved money on the building work, the couple decided to go on a spending spree and placed expensive composite worktops in the kitchen, utility, bathrooms and dining room. In all the couple spent £203,000 on renovations against a budget of £125,000. The house was valued at over £600,000.
The other couple (Leanne and Andy) had a more modest development but had a case of subsidence of the garage area. They had based their development on having money from their neighbours insurance to rebuild the garage and have an extra bedroom. However, this was not forthcoming but Sarah advised them to apply for planning permission (which would increase the value of the house). The couple spent £50,000 on the development and were told that the house was valued at £300,000 and would be £350,000 if only the garage was sorted out.
One day, the developers on Property Ladder will take heed of Sarah’s advice.
Guess Who’s returning?
Freema Agyeman is to resume her role as Martha Jones in the forthcoming series of BBC1 hit Doctor Who, it has been revealed.
The Doctor already has a new assistant - Donna Noble, played by comic Catherine Tate - but Martha Jones will return in five episodes to be screened next year.
“I am delighted to be back filming on Doctor Who with David and Catherine,” Agyeman said. “Martha Jones returns in a fantastic storyline and the fans will get to see her in a whole new light!”
The Doctor is currently played by David Tennant, who is into his fourth series as the Time Lord. However, he is already on to his third assistant - Billie Piper was his original sidekick, Rose. Also returning in one of episodes in which Agyeman appears are the Sontarans, villains which were last tackled by Jon Pertwee’s Doctor in the 1970s.
BBC plans to go-ahead with controversial Royals show
The series which led to the resignation of two senior members of the BBC is to be screened before Christmas, it has been revealed.
BBC1 controller Peter Fincham and head of publicity Jane Fletcher stepped down after it emerged that a trailer to promote the five-part documentary Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work was doctored.
The public had been led to believe that the Queen had stormed out of a photography session with leading photographer Annie Leibovitz when she was in fact walking into the shoot.
A subsequent independent inquiry led by Will Wyatt, a former BBC executive, was critical of both the BBC for allowing the edit to be broadcast and of the role played by Stephen Lambert, the CEO of the production company responsible for the programme.
However, Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, has subsequently confirmed that despite the controversy the documentary will now be broadcast.
“I am delighted that we are going ahead with this series and bringing it to BBC1 this year,” she said.
“There has never been any doubt about the integrity of the films themselves: they are a serious and important look at the way the monarchy works. With exceptional access, viewers will get a remarkable picture of the work of the royal family over the course of a year.”
Profits from the programme are to go to a number of charities nominated by the royal household.
This World – The Goddess and The King
Nepal is situated between “two tigers” – India and China, and is experiencing a period of limbo, being neither a republic nor a respected monarchy. There had been 15 years of Civil War in Nepal, until there was a military coup in 2003. The King was in charge of the army and ordered many atrocities. Since that time, he has never been forgiven and many, including the Prime Minister had been asking for his abdication. King Gyanendra has no powers, palace nor powers.
This World examined how the Royal living Goddess (Kumari) and the King are interlinked in Nepal. Spiritually, it is important for the King to receive the blessing of the Royal Goddess so that the House of Shah can continue to rule. Once a year, the Royal Kumari blesses the King in the temple by placing a red symbol on his forehead (a tika).
The Royal Kumari is believed to be a living goddess rather than a child and is respected by both Hindus and Buddhists . She is 9 years of age and has held the position since the age of 4 (taken from her family). Unlike her sister, she is not allowed to walk or play freely and is transported around (her feet should not touch the ground). There are a number of living Goddesses but only one is Royal. Each Goddess needs to beautiful (without any deformities or marks) and believable as a Goddess. There have been calls for the process to be abolished as it was thought to be cruel to a child (many being uneducated).
In Nepal, there is peace but chaos and many would like to have elections. Many of the people want changes and development of the country. This year the King was not expected to attend the annual ceremony.
On the night in question, the Prime Minister turns up at the Temple and receives the tika – this is the first time in history that it has happened. Braving the crowd, the King turned up and also received a tika. Nepal again was left in limbo as the elections were postponed once more.
EastEnders to stay at 4 times a week
The BBC has decided against increasing the number of EastEnders episodes broadcast on its channels each week and will stick with its winning four-times-a-week formula, it has been revealed.
Consideration was being given by BBC bosses to the idea of having five instalments of the popular soap shown each week, but the proposal has been shelved in an effort to ensure that programming schedules remain “distinctive”, reports the Associated Press.
Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, said: “There is always a tension for the BBC here, between distinctiveness and competitiveness - since it is much easier to gain competitive edge by concentrating on certain genres than others, but only with a loss of distinctiveness.
“That’s the challenge we’ve put to the executive and the executive’s recent decision, for example, not to commission a fifth weekly episode of EastEnders, reflects their response to our challenge to them to keep BBC schedules distinctive.”
EastEnders was named Most Popular Serial Drama at the recent National Television Awards and Lacey Turner picked up the award for the Most Popular Actress for her portrayal of Stacey Slater.
Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News For You is a satirical panel show , where two teams chaired by Private Eye Editor Ian Hislop and comedian Paul Merton are quizzed on the week’s news. Since the departure of regular host Angus Deayton five years ago, the programme has had a guest presenter. It is hard to believe that this is now the 34th series, but Have I Got News For You has been running since 1990. Over the years, the guest presenters have included Boris Johnson, Bruce Forsyth, Charles Kennedy, Alexander Armstrong and William Hague.
The show has a regular format with footage of the week’s news, odd one out, spin the wheel, caption competition and guessing the remaining words in a headline (which usually includes a lesser known periodical such as “Goat World”).
This week’s guest presenter was comedienne Jo Brand and the team captains were joined by journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer on Ian’s team, and comedy writer Andy Hamilton on Paul’s.
This week’s guest presenter was Jo Brand and there was no shortage of news stories about King Abdullah’s state visit to the UK (controversial because of Saudi Arabia’s history on human rights issues); the changing number of immigrants and a member of the Royal family being blackmailed (they clearly knew who that was). There was the regular amount of sarcasm and hilarity and Andy Hamilton quipped that he could not get used to these metric MPs such as David Miliband and preferred it when they were imperial – such as Michael Foot.
For one of the odd one out rounds, the link was “in love with a wizard” and the revelation this week that Dumbledore – fictional wizard from the Harry Potter books was gay.
Have I Got News For You is a great programme for a Friday night and works because of the knowledge (or lack of it of the teams), Ian Hislop’s political sarcasm and Paul Merton’s off-the-wall observations.
Celebrities to help teen Debutantes
Half a dozen UK teenagers are to be given the chance to learn from the experts and make their career dreams come true as part of a new T4 talent show.
Debutantes, which debuts over the weekend, will see the teenagers get professionals advice from a host of celebrity experts.
The show is being made in partnership with Transport for London and follows on from its recent ‘Don’t die before you’ve lived’ road safety campaign, which showed imaginary stars of the future killed on the capital’s roads before they realised their true potential.
Among those taking part will be aspiring celebrity journalist Alex Barham.
The 22-year old, who harbours ambitions of rising to the post of editor of Heat magazine, will be mentored by GQ editor and newspaper columnist Dylan Jones, while budding DJ Sophie will be given tips and encouragement by Radio One regular Nihal.
“I’m mentoring an up and coming artist Floss,” said MOBO winner MC Kano
“He’s willing to learn which is the most important thing and is enthusiastic and keen and he’s got a lot to say. He’s really done a lot with his life, in terms of working with youth centres and stuff. I’ve given him some tips on recording and helping getting him into the industry.”
Celebrity Scissorhands
Celebrity Scissorhands is a celebrity reality tv show about 9 celebrities who are learning how to cut and style hair and administer beauty treatments. The programme is part of a series to raise money for the BBC “Children in Need” campaign which airs on November 16th.
Top stylist Lee Stafford manages the salon with Steve Strange (winner of the first series of Celebrity Scissorhands) as Assistant Manager. The celebrities include Tamara Beckwith, Javine, Warwick Davies (who needs to stand on a chair) and Aled Hadyn Jones from the Chris Moyles Radio One show. The format of the show is similar to “The Salon” and the celebrities have 3 weeks to get as much practice as possible before they cut hair in front an audience of professionals.
Clients book a session at “The Academy” online and pay however much they think their hair do or beauty treatment is worth (with proceeds going to Children in Need).
Tonight’s programme showed that the celebrities have improved a little in their skills, although they still do not cut hair well – Tamara took and hour and a half over one client and Lee Stafford though she was making excuses when she ignored his advice. She is actually one of the more methodical of the celebrities and knows how to section the hair. She also consults the clients and explains what she will be doing.
Lee Stafford asked Steve Strange to assist in managing staff and he needed to determine why Ninia had turned up 45 minutes late (traffic) and why Tamara ignored advice and made most of her clients less than glamorous. He demonstrated that his management skills were as poor as his cutting skills and quoted Lee’s criticisms “word for word” without actually having observed the problems themselves!
A few members of the Eastenders cast turned up at The Academy for facials and manicures (not trusting their hair to be cut). Would you trust a celebrity with the scissors?
Ant and Dec’s Wednesday night award takeaway
Geordie duo Ant and Dec emerged as the biggest winners at this year’s National Television Awards, claiming with three top prizes.
The pair were named as best hosts, with their hit show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here scooping the top reality programme award.
In addition, despite the recent phone-line scandal surrounding the show, their Saturday Night Takeaway was named as the best entertainment programme.
Though neither Ant nor Dec could be at the ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall as they are currently in Los Angeles en route to Australia to film the next series of I’m a Celebrity, they managed to send in a recorded message of appreciation.
Ant sent out “a massive heartfelt thank you to everyone who voted for us”.
Other awards given out included for one for the best talent show, which went to the X-Factor, while Catherine Tate took the best comedy show award and Lacey Turner picked up a best actress gong for her role as Stacey Slater in the hit BBC soap Eastenders.
