Reviews

Chaos personified: Stephen Mangan (centre) was a joy to watch as Dirk Gently, with Darren Boyd and Helen Baxendale

Dirk Gently, BBC4, Thursday
The Apprentice, BBC1, Wednesday

Douglas Adams' 1980s crime caper was set in the present, but you wouldn't know it from the jokes

Inside Reviews

The Great British Faith, Radio 2, Monday
No Angel, Radio 2, Saturday

Sunday, 19 December 2010

It's an odd world when 2 becomes 4

Last Night's TV: Dirk Gently/BBC4
Jamie Christmas Lock-in/Channel 4
Nigella Kitchen/BBC2

Friday, 17 December 2010

I have no idea how loyal the makers of BBC4's Dirk Gently were to Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, though I'd hazard a guess that a few liberties have been taken. The iPhones and Blackberrys were one giveaway; the various references to East 17 another. And, of course, the book's title has been truncated. Does it matter? Probably, to some of Adams's more devoted fans. In the context of last night's viewing, though, I'm inclined to think that for most of us it doesn't. Not a jot. Gently was so jolly, so rollickingly good natured, that to complain over such trivialities seems terribly poor form.

Last Night's TV: Mad and Bad: 60 Years of Science on TV/BBC4
The Apprentice/BBC1

Thursday, 16 December 2010

All secular societies are ruled by repressed religion. Faith in the supernatural and godly has receded in modern times, but it has been replaced by faith in a different idol: progress. The cult of progress, like the religions that went before, sees history as rectilinear and purposeful, and as a moral drama whose final act is salvation. In religion, salvation comes from death and heaven. In secular terms, it comes from science. We think science can save us from ourselves, by eradicating the causes of human conflict and suffering. But it can't, and won't.

Last Night's TV - Imagine, BBC1; Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town, BBC2

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Faith, hope and chariots

Last Night's TV - The Savoy, BBC2; Art of Germany, BBC4; Ian Hislop's Age of the Do-Gooders, BBC2

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

A taste of the suite life

The Weekend's TV: Macbeth, Sun, BBC4
Take Me Out, Sat, ITV1

Monday, 13 December 2010

A thrilling tale full of sound and fury

Will Hawkes: Hodgson provides angry young men with a lesson in fury

Monday, 13 December 2010

Newcastle United v Liverpool, ESPN

Accused, BBC1, Monday
I Was Bin Laden's Bodyguard, More 4, Tuesday

Sunday, 12 December 2010

Thanks to all-round quality, McGovern's latest helping carried great emotional weight despite a shaky storyline

Shake, Rattle and Roll, Radio 2, Tuesday
The Phone, Radio 4, Tuesday

Sunday, 12 December 2010

If Mark Lamarr's worried, then so am I

Last Night's TV: The House That Made Me/Channel 4
Kirstie and Phil's Perfect Christmas/Channel 4

Friday, 10 December 2010

The most – in fact, post editing (on which more later), quite possibly the only – interesting thing about The House That Made Me was the story of Boy George's coming out. He was only 14 when he told his mum that girls weren't his thing; only 15 when he yelled "I love cock" at his dad.

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