Pop Buzz UK

When television shows end, it can be hard on the viewers, especially if the show ends in an unsatisfactory way, with plot holes left unfilled, and strands left open. And it’s not me saying this, but the British public who responded to a poll by Tiscali TV.

1,586 people were questioned in the poll over their favourite programmes, how they felt when it came to an end, and how they felt toward the characters.

According to Digital Spy, 22% of British viewers suffer what is called TV Trauma when a programme comes to an end. Amongst the younger generation of 16 to 24-year-olds, the proportion rises considerably to 32%.

If that wasn’t bad enough, 29% of respondents claimed to have fallen in love with a TV character, including 50% of the younger generation. The most popular choices were Doctor Who’s Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Cold Feet’s Adam Williams (James Nesbitt).

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We already knew that Doctor Who is going to take a break after this series finishes, with just four specials over the course of 2009 before a full fifth series airs during 2010. But now it has been announced that Russell T. Davies is leaving the show, with acclaimed writer Steven Moffat (pictured) taking over his role as lead writer and executive producer.

Davies was the man charged with, and credited with managing to, bringing the cult show back in a new updated format for the 21st century. He has now decided to leave, a decision which after the mediocrity of this latest series I am actually quite pleased with.

Moffat will now take over his duties from the end of this series, and foresee the development of the next full Who series, due to hit our screens in 2010. Moffat was already an integral part of the Whoniverse having written some of the best episodes from the first four series, including the brilliant Blink, with the strangely scary weeping angels, and the two-part The Empty Child which had one of the most endearing catchphrases in “Are you my mummy?”.

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Stories about the Beckhams are like London buses, there’s none for ages, and then 3 come along at once. One is about David Beckham, one is about Victoria, and one is about that shadow on their marriage, Rebecca Loos who David allegedly had an affair with a few years ago.

We start with David, who has apparently agreed to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for children’s charity UNICEF. The 19,340ft African mountain is now on Becks agenda after U2 front man Bono is reported to have badgered him in to climbing it to raise money.

No date has been set for the climb, with Becks having commitments with LA Galaxy and insurance issues needing to be worked out. It’s thought the climb will take six days, and Beckham will have to be at the height of fitness to even attempt the feat.

Meanwhile, proving their life isn’t all about football and charity, Victoria Beckham has revealed that she likes to get drunk all the time.

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Catherine Tate is currently appearing in Doctor Who, and some would say ruining the show. Although I’m still enjoying the series, it seems to have been turned in to a combination of a bad sitcom and a bad Sci-fi show since Tate’s arrival. And what is it with all the running? I know David Tennant is fit, in more ways than one, but does he really need to run in every episode?

But Tate may soon be returning to her comedy roots, as reports suggest Mathew Horne and James Corden want her to appear in their newly commissioned sketch show for BBC Three. Horne and Corden are the two geniuses behind Gavin and Stacey, and Horne also appeared as a multitude of characters in two series of The Catherine Tate show, including the grandson of the sweary grandma.

Mathew said:

“I would love to find Catherine a role and I’m sure she would do it,”

Meanwhile, Corden has denied the rumours that Lily Allen, his new love interest/best friend (no-one is quite sure whether they’re together or just playing with the press) will be involved in the show. Having seen Allen’s own BBC Three show, which while having some good ideas, fell down due to Allen’s own crappy presenting style, I personally hope she isn’t involved.

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Last week it was reported that Davina McCall was planning to quit being presenter of Big Brother after the forthcoming ninth series had finished. She’s now come out to deny this, and claim that she’d only leave in her coffin.

The News Of The World newspaper had claimed that McCall had eventually decided the time was right to move on, and was eyeing up a serious acting career instead. However, it seems now, after Davina’s denial, that the story was concocted from the fact that McCall has recently changed agents.

Speaking at the London première of the Sex And The City movie, she told reporters:

“I’m not leaving Big Brother. They would have to kill me before I’d stop doing it.”

This will please some but others will be wishing the rumours were true, and that she was indeed going. Her interviewing technique has always split fans right down the middle.

The new series of Big Brother is set to kick off on June 5th, and a few details are being fed to us addicts to try and increase the anticipation. First of all we have the new eye logo, which changes every year, and is pictured above. It shows the same eye as always but in a splintered effect, all coloured black except one slice of red.

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The Eurovision Song Contest is a once yearly music (if you can call it that) competition between various countries who are active members of the European Broadcasting Union. Outside of Europe it’s probably unheard of, and even in Europe itself, the general view of the competition is one of a bit of amateurish fun.

However, some countries take it deadly serious, and fight to win it with all their might every year. They put up their biggest singers and musical artists, and instruct them to bring home the glory for their country. Here in the UK, it’s slightly different - we see it all as a bit of a joke. Oh, we put a competitor up every year, and many of us sit at home and watch the fun unfold on our televisions, but the general view is one of hilarity rather than a serious desire for victory.

A big part of that is Terry Wogan, who has provided the commentary for the competition for the last God only knows how many years, and rather than act all dour, spends the evening having a few glasses of wine and generally taking the piss out of all the competitors. Unfortunately this hasn’t gone down very well in some quarters, and now the boss of Eurovision, Bjorn Erichsen, has criticised the wise-cracking Irish radio and TV presenter for undermining the contest and making it look ridiculous.

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For eight years now, we’ve been watching Davina McCall presenting the UK version of Big Brother, but it seems that finally, after this next series, Big Brother 9, she’s going to call it a day and quit the hit Channel 4 show.

While the reality show is much more about the contestants, and the interplay which goes on between them while in the house, Davina has definitely added something to the show, and made it her own. When she had to have the odd day off, and another presenter stood in for her, it just wasn’t the same.

But everyone was a fan, and all the while the show has been running, Davina has had her critics, and had to endure many accusations of being lazy or just plain dull on the show. Many people on Internet forums dedicated to the show roundly criticised her interviewing skills, as she’d often let the big questions escape unasked, and the viewers screaming at the television.

So why is she quitting? Well, according to the News Of The World, she has decided that the time is ripe for a change of career, and no longer wants to be a presenter. She’s giving up in an attempt to forge a serious acting career instead.

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Last October saw the Fox television network in the US announce plans for a Spaced remake. At the time I wrote a piece urging the network to get the original creators involved, but it turns out the pilot for the remake is being made by an American team instead.

The original show was created and written by such luminaries as Simon Pegg, who has gone on to be a big-time Hollywood comic actor with Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and the upcoming Star Trek movie to his name, Nick Frost, who appears with Pegg as his fat sidekick, Edgar Wright, who directed Shaun and Hot Fuzz, and Jessica Hynes (formerly Stevenson) who went on to appear in the Royle Family.

With people as creatively genius as these involved in the original show, it seems madness not to involve them in any remake. But more than that, Fox failed to even credit them for the UK made sitcom.

Pegg and co. do not own the rights, and so Fox were able to sneak in and steal the whole concept from under their noses, but they could have at least offered some kind of involvement or bit part to the creators.

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