We Need Answers Spawns No More Women

BBC4 devotees should be quite familiar with the trio of Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne, the three-headed monster host of We Need Answers - the most outlandish TV quiz since the heady days of Channel 4's Remote Control in the early 1990s. Every Tuesday they invite two celebrities of varying quality to fathom out the responses to the 'wackiest' questions sent to text answering services - including those concerning themselves. Outraged Daily Mail readers should look away now as, not only have the BBC thrown licence-payers' money at such a vehicle (and not at something nice like My Family or The Green Green Grass) but they've even allowed them to come up with the only game show even less intelligible. Try it, it's fun!



Eagle-eyed viewers may recognise Tim (on the right) as the bloke from the Strongbow advert who is left paralysed and oblivious by the sheer taste of his first sip of fresh cider, but we won't hold that against him. He's also been at the helm of several popular stage shows, the excellent Radio 4 shows Cowards and All Bar Luke and has an amazing second life as 'poet' Tim Key. Mark's no slouch either: he famously runs 24 hour comedy performances, has had success on Radio 4 and 5 and has three published books to his name. Currently he is wetting himself on Twitter at the prospect over turning 30. Alex Horne (playing the commentator) is something of a multimedia expert, providing idiosyncratic graphics for the trio's endeavours as well as his own live shows including his current tour 'Wordwatching' which comes highly recommended and is also available in book form.

BBC Name Top 5 Ones to Watch in 2010

The BBC Sound of 20xx poll has been runniung since 2003 and has successfully predicted some of the biggest names in pop over the coming twelve months on many occasions.  Of course, this mere association and pre-release hype does wonders for a fledgling act, but none can deny that there is the raw talent to back up these claims for the most part.  Well, I guess we won't mention The Bravery or Sadie Ama...

This year's poll result is in, collating the views of over one hundred critics and broadcasters (i.e. the best of whatever was on their desk in December) and the top five looks like this.

1. Ellie Goulding
2. Marina and the Diamonds
3. Delphic
4. Hurts
5. The Drums

So, these are the artists to hit the blogs for now - ensuring your iPod is the one most lauded in February and most criticised come November.

Interestingly the BBC describe winner Ellie Goulding's sound as as "If Kate Bush, Bjork and Stevie Nicks shared a flat in trendy Shoreditch in 2010, this noise would emerge."

Three middle-aged women living in a flat in Shoreditch? Sounds more like a modern, musical pitch on the Golden Girls - now if they can just convince Duffy to join them I think the BBC might have a true winner here.

Steve Lamacq Launches Old T-Shirt Day 2 - Hooray!

For some it takes little encouragement to wear washed out, threadbare, mis-shapen band t-shirts to work - and not just on 'dress down' Friday.  But tomorrow Steve Lamacq is encouraging everyone to raid their wardrobes for the oldest, weirdest band t-shirts you can find for national 'Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day'.

More information and a great promotonal video can be seen here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/steve_lamacq/tshirts.shtml

See how Steve shows his true early 90's indie colours with a selection of Carter USM, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Wonder Stuff and Kitchens of Distinction shirts.  He won't wear Kingmaker though, oh no, he leaves that up to Elvis.  Meanwhile a selection of Radio 6 buddies show just how far back they go with such ancient bands as Metronomy and Grizzly Bear.  Ooh, retro!

Sadly I have tomorrow off work but, if I was going, then a suspiciously musty Back to the Planet t-shirt would be my attire of choice.

We Want Our Jackanory Back!

Bernard Cribbins would like to see Jackanory return to its original format, and who can blame him?  The popular, although admittedly less than it had been, show which featured a guest storyteller relate a classic or contemporary tale to camera in short chunks over five episodes was finally removed from Children's BBC schedules in 1996 after thirty one years on air.

Ok, we're probably all a bit old to be watching children's programming now - and, in some cases, so are our kids - but didn't we have it a bit better in our day?  Kids could get a pang of excitement at the notion that the wonderfully expressive and captivating Kenneth Williams may soon be nasally narrating one of their favourite books and, for many, it was an introduction to such wonderful talents as Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Cribbins himself.  For me it was Rik Mayall and his legendarily frantic re-telling of Roald Dahl's 'George's Marvellous Medicine'.  I doubt I have ever looked forward to a serialised show as much as I did that week and remember audibly cheering when I found out it was to be repeated.

It's such a shame that technology so frequently has to get in the way.  Disney movies now come exclusively in CGI and, while they're almost universally entertaining, some of the old 2D line-drawing magic is sorely missing.  Sadly, children's programming has also been forced to "move with the times" with show formats changed to involve heavily-edited reality sections, classic swashbuckling animation replaced with gross-out lewdness and even the good lady Blue Peter looking less shipshape and in danger of retirement with every year.

I'm not asking for a second appearance from Prince Charles, presumably to read the compelling sequel to "The Old Man of Lochnagar" - the most famous, yet most boring passages to make it to the show.  I simply think there is still a place for tradition on television - parents still read to children in bed so why should their day be full of bangs, zaps, farts and sob stories?