Pop Buzz UK

The witch is dead, long live Big Brother! Alexandra De-Gale has been booted out of the Big Brother house ahead of her inevitable eviction on Friday after she is said to have threatened some of the house mates.

This is the first Big Brother post I have done since launch night so I have yet to have my say on the woman that will always be remembered for thinking “Memba, I tol’ you” was a suitable way to prove her point, and end an argument. And arguments are what Alex spent most of her short time in the house engaging in.

She was booted out last night at around 8pm after having a conversation earlier in the day with various house mates. She had recently found out that she was up for eviction along with Mario the fake Italian, and clearly took it badly.

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Blackadder was one of my favourite television shows growing up in the 1980s. Featuring Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder, and Tony Robinson as his sidekick Baldrick, the show also had the cream of British comedy talent providing back-up, including Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, now a huge success playing House in America.

Now, it could be about to make a comeback, with Tony Robinson revealing the possibility of the show returning to our screens in 2010. Before that happens though, the cast are meeting up later this year to celebrate he 25th anniversary of Blackadder II - I assume they just forgot to celebrate the first series last year…

According to Digital Spy, Baldrick told Teletext:

“We always had a fantasy of doing it again in 2010, so we’ll be having that conversation. I would love to do it and suspect Rowan Atkinson would too.”

However, it seems Atkinson may not be as keen as Robinson had hoped because it has now emerged that he is refusing to attend the reunion, which was to form the basis for Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga and Blackadder’s Most Cunning Moments, two shows set to be aired on UKTV Gold.

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Here is the second batch of seven housemates to enter the Big Brother house on this, the ninth series, and my initial impressions of them all.

Alexandra

My least favourite house mate on first impressions. She thinks she is it. Was proud of getting pregnant at 15, and seems to think getting a job is something she should be applauded for. The new Charley?

Rex

yet another vain show-off, but I actually think a lot of it was just show to get in the house. If he settles down and let’s his natural personality shine through, he could be okay. But on first showing, it’s a big if.

Mohamed

A black guy with an afro, which is always good. He’s a Muslim who isn’t practising except when he’s at home, which means he isn’t a Muslim surely? Seems to be quite settled, able to have fun, without being annoying.

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Big Brother 9 launched tonight with an hour and a half long première that introduced us to the usual bunch of weirdos that always seem to be chosen. I’ll be covering the series a lot here on Pop Buzz UK, but we start with my initial thoughts on this year’s sixteen housemates. Here are the first 9 in the house…

Lisa and Mario

They both seem to be very fake, and indeed her breasts are. They grew on me once in the house for an hour, as they came across as terribly shallow and obsessed with their looks in their audition footage.

Luke

A bit of a freak, but I actually quite like him. He might start to grate on the nerves a bit after a few weeks, but it’ll be good to watch as he annoys his house mates so much they want to leave.

Stephanie

A horrible girl who seems to think she’s the hottest, most intelligent person ever to have walked the planet. She’s not. She’s an average looking blonde bint who walked the wrong way when she got out of the van.

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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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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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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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Blake’s 7, the cult sci-fi series which ran on the BBC between 1978 and 1981 is set to be remade by Sky. A revival has been asked for by fans for years, and now that Doctor Who has proved science fiction can work on prime time, Sky are keen to bring it back.

The show was originally launched after the worldwide success of Star Wars, but proved to be a much darker storyline with cynical characters.

In the original show, Blake was a political dissident who formed a gang of rebels (Blake’s 7) to escape deportation to a remote planet. The series ended with the whole crew being massacred. However, Blake, his lieutenant Avon, and Servalan, the Supreme Commander, are all set to be revived as part of the new series.

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I’ll tell you right here and now that I am not a journalist. I am a freelance writer, and a professional blogger, and some of my work comes close to be what you’d describe as journalism, but still I would never assume to call myself a journalist. I don’t earn enough from what I do for starters.

However, I am more of a journalist than Coleen McLoughlin ever will be, which makes it slightly absurd to learn that is what she has entered as her occupation on the wedding banns for her forthcoming marriage to England footballer Wayne Rooney.

This is a joke right? Coleen McLoughlin is a WAG, nothing more, nothing less. Good on her for bagging a young footballer who went on to become a great player for Manchester United and England, but I think its time for a reality check.

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With the first news on the next UK Big Brother just being revealed, it appears that Poland is just about to dose of Big Brother 3, after programme makers Endemol sold the series lock, stock and barrel to the Polish broadcaster TVN.

While we in the UK are looking forward to the ninth series of the biggest and best reality television show, Polish people are just about to experience what is rightly considered the best ever series.

If you need a reminder, BB3 was the one where Jade Goody, the most successful Big Brother contestant ever, appeared, and showed off her flabby body for all to see in a late night drunken game.

She didn’t end up winning it though, with Kate Lawler proving to be the most popular house mate at the end of the 12 week series.

Endemol has until now just sold the rights to the show’s format rather than a whole series in its entirety, so this is an unusual move on their part.

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Regular readers of Pop Buzz UK will already know of my love for Big Brother, the granddaddy of all reality television shows. This is about the time of year when the rumours start flying about the next series, with fuzzy shots of the house, and countless false unveilings of the new contestants.

There’s not been much of that so far this year, but there are some concrete facts that have now been revealed, making it prime time we had our first preview of the forthcoming series, Big Brother 9.

The biggest news is that for the first time ever the series won’t begin its summer run in May, having had its start date put back to Thursday June 5th.

This is a clever move on the part of Channel 4 bosses, as it prevents it from overlapping with the second series of Britain’s Got Talent, the Simon Cowell led talent show which got huge ratings last year when amateur opera singer Paul Potts finally emerged victorious.

Davina McCall will once again be back to do the main presenting duties, which will please and anger a fairly equal amount of people I guess. She’s not the best interviewer in the world, but Big Brother just wouldn’t be the same without her, and she is at least also a huge fan of the show.

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The new series of Doctor Who begins on British television this coming Saturday, with the first episode showing at 6.20pm on BBC One.

There’s been debate over whether the BBC have done the right thing in moving the cult series from its 7pm timeslot. I personally think it’s a bad move, especially when you consider it’s only been done to allow the God awful reality show I’d Do Anything to nab the prime time slot instead.

Regardless of when it’s on however, I and millions of others will be glued to our screens week after week for the next few months, so here is a short preview of the upcoming series.

David Tennant once again returns as the Doctor, although he does have a new assistant in the form of Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate.

I wasn’t too keen on her character, and performance in the Christmas special but having seen previews of her in the new series at the cinema over the last few weeks, I think she’s upped her game, and become more of a traditional assistant.

Martha Jones, the Doctor’s last full-time assistant will also be making an appearance in a few episodes, as will Rose, played by Billie Piper, after she somehow manages to bypass the previously closed void between her and the Doctor.

Also returning for brief appearances will be Captain Jack, and Sarah Jane Smith, as well as Rose’s mother Jackie Tyler, and the lovable Mickey Smith.

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