Beyonce Knowles? No, Nick Knowles!

By | September 25, 2017
2 Comments

First there was Alexander Armstrong. Then Bradley had a go.

But this year the race for Christmas Number One is even hotter than before because, yes! Nick Knowles, host of Who Dares Wins and DIY SOS is joining in with doing promo shots involving moody lighting and listlessly staring off into the middle distance by releasing an covers album of his own, Every Kind of People, out November 3rd. From The Official Charts Company:

“Music has always been a major part of my life since I picked up a guitar when I was 14 but it’s always been a private thing”, explained Nick. “I’ve turned up at gigs without anybody knowing and plugged in my guitar.

“Weirdly when I’m away filming with the BBC, lots of the crew play guitars and we sing when we are in hotels rooms. I even found myself on the rooftop of a Soho hotel with Biffy Clyro after the NME Awards and ended up playing songs until 5 o’clock in the morning.”

Nick is the latest TV star to swap small screen stardom for hopeful Official Chart success. The likes of impressionist Alistair McGowan, actor Sheridan Smith and comedian Jason Manford are releasing their debut albums later in 2017, while TV personalities Alexander Armstrong and Shane Richie will also release new material.

As far as we’re aware, Alexander Armstrong not only has Peter and The Wolf coming out but an album of Christmas songs, In A Winter Light, out November 24th. Bradley Walsh has a follow-up to last year’s biggest selling album of the year which Amazon have down as Album 2, but it can’t be called that surely. Rose d’Or winning gameshow host Jason Manford, as alluded to, has A Different Stage coming out October 6th.

I asked on Twitter:

YOU said:

Meanwhile, after a suggestion of Paul Coia:

I’m sorry this post is “a bit Digital Spy”.

One Man and His Dog

By | September 25, 2017
4 Comments

Struggling for inspiration a bit after the recent bout of new show excitement, I note that Bother’s Bar favourite Countryfile was doing its annual One Man and His Dog special last night.

OMaHD is a sheepdog trial competition where a shepherd and his dog must guide a flock of sheep round a course using nothing but teamwork, strategy and cunning. It ran as a competition on BBC Two between 1976 and 1999 and then run as a series of Christmas specials every year before merging with Countryfile in 2013. Flockstars is unaffiliated.

Unfortunately footage of the original series is hard to “come-by”, so here picked at random is last year’s special on Youtube.

Schlag den Henssler next Saturday #bbsdh

By | September 23, 2017
16 Comments

One ‘n’, two ‘s’s, next Saturday ProSieben’s Schlag den… returns with a new full time antagonist, competitive German celebrity chef Steffen Henssler and God willing we will also be back with our watchalong offering up a live commentary and some entertainment of our own.

So join us for that! Unless they postpone it again.

William G Stewart

By | September 21, 2017
12 Comments

We’re sad to hear about the passing of legendary producer and 15 to 1 host William G Stewart this afternoon. He was 84.

Whilst most people will best know him as the stern long-running host of the aforementioned quiz, we’re a bit more interested in his producer work, producing some of the finest light entertainment quizzes of the 80s and 90s. The Price Is Right was my favourite TV show as a kid (even if I did find Cliffhanger unbearably scary to watch) – the games, the glitz, loved it. And lest we forget he helped turn around Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush from pre-production limbo-hell to one of the most important and influential light entertainment shows of the last 30 years.

Here from Youtube is the first episode of 15 to 1 from 1988.

It’s the Rose d’Or’s tonight

By | September 19, 2017
11 Comments

One of entertainment’s biggest prizes, tonight it’s the 56th award ceremony for the Golden Roses in Berlin.

I made some predictions for the gameshow category last month when the noms were announced. My opinion’s not really changed. I’ve backed the last three winners, I hope Bigheads will continue my streak. The judges usually pick quite good winners out of the final nominations list, I’ll be pretty content as long as the genuinely terrible but pretty Babushka doesn’t win.

Here’s their website, and here’s their Twitter.

Edit: Bigheads won. Well done Primal Media.