Never Better

Never Better Keith is a recovering alcoholic whose life is in a mess. He is self-centred but has a family and a job. He has started going to Alcoholics’ Anonymous to help him on the way to sobriety. Sounds like the most depressing kitchen sink drama but is instead the situation in BBC 2’s Thursday night comedy, Never Better, starring Stephen Mangan of Green Wing, Jane Hall and Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years.

Mangan seems to enjoy playing dysfunctional losers but this time his character is seemingly more unpleasant than even Dr Guy Secretan from the Green Wing. Keith mocks everything and cannot take the AA meetings seriously, often ridiculing to the point that they descend into farce. The twelve steps that they use to recovery are a particular focus for his ire.

This week he is on step three which is about Faith, whereupon he ridicules religion and claims that it cannot apply to him, as he does not believe in God. Another member of the group, Marianne, is very religious and is very offended by his attitude. It does not help that she is quite attractive and Keith cannot keep his eyes of her bust. She is also a cat lover and takes solace in her cat, Chairman Miaow, thus receiving more ridicule from Keith.

Keith is encouraged to show faith in humanity instead and help others in order to help instead. When Chairman Miaow needs to go to the vet’s he needs to be taken aside to help Marianne take him there. Her obsession with telling him a religious poem means that they miss the appointment and prompts Marianne to go off the rails in a fit of swearing in a drink binge as she is convinced the cat is dying. Keith notices Chairman Miaow coughing and out pops a furball. Marianne falls asleep in a stupor and believes that Chairman Miaow has been cured by her faith. Keith keeps quiet showing a good side to him that he keeps under wraps.

The programme is a nicely acted black comedy with a superb lead in Stephen Mangan who can switch between nastiness, farce and pathos with ease. Not for everybody but Never Better brings the subject to the fore without making fun of it. Keith is the fall-guy not the AA and it works well.

Neighbours Round Up

Hit-and-run victim Bridget may be out of hospital, but her recovery is proving far from easy. Determined to go back to school without her crutches, Bridget’s confidence takes a knock this week when she falls at home. Humiliated, she insists she’s not feeling well and will be staying home. Rachel assures her that no-one at school is going to give her a hard time about the crutches, but Bridget is adamant. It seems her mental scars may be slower to heal than her physical ones.

Meanwhile Susan, the driver of the car that hit Bridget, is still facing problems of her own. Convinced that she deserves to be punished for the accident, Susan is determined to go ahead with her guilty plea - to the consternation of Karl, Zeke and Rachel. Can they talk Susan into defending herself in court.

Elsewhere, a bitter Declan decides to cut his losses and leave Erinsborough - sparking a mad rush by the Napiers to the train station to bring him home. Frazer surprises Rosie with his new job as a cabbie, and Carmella has a ‘business meeting’ with Marco and denies Rosie’s suspicion that romance is in the offing. But is she protesting too much?

Hollyoaks Round Up

Michaela finds herself looking for a new home when a shocked Myra finds a bag of heroin hidden in her drawer. Michaela is adamant the drugs are nothing to do with her, but is promptly kicked out and ends up lodging with - of all people - Niall, the one who secretly injected her with heroin in the first place after she passed out at a party. Enlisting Elliot to help prove her innocence to her family, Michaela makes the mistake of revealing her plans to Niall!

Exam time brings stress for the students with an already worried Sasha less than impressed when Fletch turns up for the English exam. Meanwhile, Newt and Lauren’s plan to cheat in the geography test backfires when Russ doesn’t give them the questions they asked for.

Elsewhere, Summer is excited about moving, but O.B. is worried about losing the girl he loves. Love is in the air for Gilly too, as he tells a shocked Rhys that he’s going to propose to Beth. Rhys, on the other hand, insists his relationship with Mercedes is purely physical. But a tender moment leaves him wondering if there’s more to it.

EastEnders Round Up

Relationships are about to be rocked in this week’s visits to Walford. Minty and Garry come over all sensitive and have a heart-to-heart about fatherhood. Meanwhile, Hazel is struggling to come to terms with her heartbreaking news. Minty falls into despair and discovers that he doesn’t cope well without Hazel around. The flat is a complete cesspit and to top things off he falls out with Garry. Even a picture of Hazel in the flat makes him cry. Can he resolve things with her?

Clare makes her mark in the Square while job hunting, and Ian and Christian experience being business partners. Deano returns from prison but his ordeal has changed him. He is not the same person. Heather is chucked out of Shirley’s flat to make way for Deano.

Elsewhere, Stacey arrives back in the Square after a night out. With no money to pay the cab driver, she has to do a runner from him and is shocked when he chases her.

Emmerdale Round Up

The prospect of getting their hands on Scarlett’s money - sorry, becoming Scarlett’s trustee - has Lexi, Carl and Jimmy at Loggerheads in Emmerdale. Lexi wants Carl to ring the solicitor to lend his weight to her becoming the youngster’s representative in all things financial. Jimmy, meanwhile, is stunned when he invites the solicitor over to press his own case, only to discover that he has already spoken to Lexi and is under the impression that she already has Carl’s support. All three are left reeling though, when the solicitor reveals who he has chosen - Matthew. And there’s another surprise in store, for an unseen Scarlett at least, when she sees the resulting row.

Val is due in hospital for an operation that will rule her out of the charity loop-the-loop plane ride. Not that she’s bothered to let Viv know, mind you - much to sister Diane’s disgust. Val insists that she’ll tell Viv when the time is right, but pretty soon Diane and Viv are putting their heads together to teach the unrepentant Val a lesson.

Elsewhere, Gray insists to a worried Diane that he knows what he’s doing with Katie. When he kisses her and tells her he’d like a future together, will Katie feel the same way? Victoria is furious when Jack mentions her psychiatric assessment in front of new farmhand Jake. However, Victoria is later delighted when Jake asks how her appointment was and seems to be showing a genuine interest in her.

Coronation Street Round Up

A lovelorn Jason makes up his mind to go to Italy to win back wife Sarah this week. Mind you, his timing could be better. He’s just had a one-night stand with Becky which the whole Street knows about thanks to a farewell kiss on the doorstep the following morning. Audrey is horrified when she witnesses the kiss and later relates the story to a furious Gail. Later in the week Jason arrives back from Italy with a split lip and his dreams of a reunion in tatters. Looking to Becky for sympathy turns out to be a wrong move as he promptly receives a punch in the mouth from his spurned lover.

It’s Maria’s hen night and she’s having a great time with all the girls until Carla turns up and puts a downer on things. But things could be set to go from bad to worse for the bride-to-be. Carla corners Liam on the morning of the wedding and tells him that they have to face facts - there’s something between them and they have to face their feelings. Can she convince him that he’s about to make a big mistake?

Elsewhere, a worried Sean discovers via Lauren that Violet is seeing the midwife about the possibility of a home birth. Michelle plucks up the courage to tell Ryan that Alex has changed his mind about seeing her and she’s already met up with him. When a furious Ryan runs off, Michelle is left devastated.

Shaun The Sheep

When you are an adult there are certain programmes that you look back on with fondness. Children’s programmes such as The Wombles, Dangermouse and Roobarb and Custard evoke a warm glow and Shaun the Sheep is one of these programmes.

Shaun has been created by the hugely talented and Oscar winning company Aardman Animations who created the Wallace and Gromit series; Creature Comforts; Morph and Chicken Run. He was first introduced to us in the animation film, “A Close Shave”. The film featured Wallace and Gromit who had created a machine to shore a sheep, collect the wool and then knit it into some item of clothing such as a jumper. Wallace fell in love with wool shop owner, Wendolene but her dog Preston, was a sheep rustler. One of the flock – a rather shy and endearing sheep fell into Wallace’s machine and his fleece was cut a little too close for comfort. He was named “Shaun” (or shorn) as a result and wears a woollen jumper (knitted from his fleece) to keep warm.

Shaun the Sheep is a spin off from the film and is now in its second series and is shown on CBBC (the Children’s version of BBC). The programme usually has a moral of some description and relies upon a mixture of silent and slapstick type comedy – such as trying to get the flock to diet and get fit and a particularly fat sheep being wheeled in a shopping trolley. It is an enjoyable programme for adults and children alike.

Holby City

Holby City cast members Holby City was once seen as Casualty’s poorer relation. It started off by featuring actors from Casualty flitting in and out. However, it is now able to stand on its own two feet and attract actors from Soap Opera such as Brookside , Eastenders and Coronation Street and those from the Bill ( a regular circuit of work for jobbing actors).

Like Casualty, the programme is based in Holby City Hospital in a fictional city in the South West (similar to Bristol). It is a medical drama series which focuses on realistic medical procedures and operations . It looks at all departments in the hospital and not just the Accident and Emergency Department (as Casualty does). The focus is on both the patients and the surgeons, nurses and doctors and the decisions they need to make on medical conditions and on their personal lives. There is also conflict between admin staff and managers (who want to meet various targets ) and the medical staff.

Holby City has just opened up a ward for private patients and this is causing problems as there are surgeons and staff assigned to the private patients, who were formerly with the NHS patients. One of the surgeons was accused of sleeping her way into the top jobs (Jac) and wanting to work on the private ward.

This week we saw Faye (Patsy Kensit) confess to Joseph that she had been questioned by police about her husband’s death. However, he had his own issues to contend with as his brother had been transferred to Holby City (after being unconscious for years). Faye came across Joseph as he was about to inject himself. Later they shared an intimate kiss.

Holby City is fast becoming a favourite soap opera.

Messiah 5

Messiah Marc Warren has taken over from Ken Stott for the leading role in the “Messiah” series. He played DCI Joseph Walker in this second programme of the two-parter (the first took place yesterday).

The story began yesterday by the police finding 4 family members sat around the dinner table, all having had a bloody death. Their hands were tied together with rope and they seemed to be praying. The father ‘s face was totally white as he had been stabbed through the neck. There was some sand on the table. The second victim was found in her car on the car park. Sand was found with a triangle, eye and some Hebrew lettering. The third victim was found hanged to death and was a female dressed in a man’s suit. The murders were all linked in that they were Christians, Jews or Muslims – all three religions being traced back to Abraham.

According to a follower, there were 7 signs from Abrahamic scriptures from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and from the Qu’ran. The next sign was Violence and Lawlessness and 7 of 9 would be killed. The murderer was thought to have a fundamentalist faith and the victims were representing the various behaviours outlined in the Signs. The Rapture was the last judgement or Armageddon.

The next victims also had a violent death but a woman and her baby survived. The woman was Martha Wallace who’s sister Lea had accused their father of raping her and there was a large trial case. The next sign was “bear false witness” and this turned out to have been Lea (the next victim) who had falsely accused her father of rape (although he did rape Martha).

There were many twists and turns in Messiah 5, which also showed some of the personal life of the police and lawyers. They discovered that there were tapes of events that had taken place in a car park – a row between Lea and her father, a couple making love on a car bonnet , kids breaking into cars and a solicitor Mark Moore was arrested.

DCI Walker’s own girlfriend was a victim representing “Wars and rumours of War” and “Abandonment of faith”. The wrong man had been charged with the murders.

Gordon Ramsay Cookalong Live

Gordon Ramsay Cookalong Live is part of the Big Food Fight Series between Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall with a set of programmes on animal husbandry, free-range hens and preparing healthy. The cookalong was publicised in advance of the programme, urging people to buy and prepare the food ready to follow Gordon in a live cookalong. The idea was for budding chefs to watch Gordon on their televisions in the kitchen, whilst following his instructions to prepare a three course meal.

As expected, this was a fast paced event and Gordon had Chris Moyles joining him in the studio. There was a bank of television sets where Gordon would also how teh other chefs were getting on – one was a naturist (who was quickly urged to put some clothes on) and Janet Street-Porter also joined on screen.

Instructions were fired out in Gordon’s staccato manner such as :

“Chop cherry tomatoes, olive oil in pan, add black olives, add seasoning, chop herbs and add some lemon”.

The three course meal consisted of the following:
- Pan roasted scallops, with salsa ;
- Steak and oven-cooked chilli chips with rocket and parmesan cheese;
- Chocolate mousse.
The programme also featured 3 recipe challenges where Gordon and a guest prepared the same meal which was tested by and audience (this part was not live). Gordon cooked with Alan Car, Mica Paris and Max Beesley. He was upset to be beaten by Alan Carr.

The cookalong was an interesting way of cooking as long as everything was ready in advance.

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