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Andy Gibson TV Journalist
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SEND OFF FIT FOR A. KING

5/26/2016

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Alison King's first appearance as Carla.
After nearly a decade of drama in Weatherfield, Alison King waved goodbye to the cobbles in an emotional farewell to the ITV/STV/UTV viewers and to her character, Carla Connor.
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With 1160 episodes of Coronation Street as Carla (and one as Mrs. Fanshaw in 2004) under her belt, she has been at the epicentre of some huge storylines leaving us in floods of tears, fits of laughter, stunned silent and everything in between. 

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Large and in-charge
Successfully taking the reigns of Underworld in 2007 until her short but failed marriage to Nick Tilsley in 2016, she has had her fair share of Corrie chaos.
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Nick & Carla: The happy couple
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​The most memorable for me has to be Carla's rape storyline.  Alison King was epic in that, showing sensitivity, vulnerability, and providing the audience with heartbreakingly gripping drama.  We were all on Carla's side during her ordeal and when Frank was murdered (in probably the worst whodunnit in Coronation Street history) we cheered and bid good riddance to bad rubbish. 

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Her relationship with her on-screen father, Roy Cropper (David Neilson), will have a special place in all of our hearts. Alright, Roy may not be genetically Carla's Dad, but, lets be honest, we all feel he was and is, don't we?  She looked after him when his wife Hayley (Julie Hesmondhalgh) died in a loving daughterly way.  Roy's caring attributes towards Carla when she had a miscarriage made our hearts melt. 

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After an emotional goodbye to Weatherfield, Carla got driven off by Johnny into the sunset... okay, the sun wasn't setting but we can all pretend, right?  How fitting for Carla to leave in a classic sports car, at least she can get out of one wearing 7 inch heels without showing her knickers.

What will Roy do without Carla?

How will Michelle cope without her daily catchup?

Will Coronation Street ever be the same again?

Well... Alison King's fan base, who call themselves Ailettes, certainly doesn't think so.  Here are some of the lovely comments I've received about Alison:
Amy @BrookeAndCorrie:

​To be honest, i don't know what i am gonna do with myself. I just want to say that i will support you until the end Ali. Thank you for 10 years of Carla Connor. I love you!! Good bye Carla Connor and good luck Ali !
Chloe @AlisonKingFans_:

Carla has now left and I feel so many different emotions - sad to see her go, but also excited to see what Ali King is going to go onto next. After having watched Corrie for years, I've never been so attached to a fictional character as I have been to Carla Connor. Ali has played her so, so brilliantly and perfectly over these past 10 years and I have loved watching Carla's storylines over the years and seeing Ali act them so amazingly well. Would like to wish Ali the best of luck for the future in whatever she goes onto next and I can't wait to see what it may be!
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Kate @katiiieeeexox:

Going to miss Carla/ Ali sooooo much! She's my all time favourite character and Ali is such a fabulous actress, she plays every role so perfectly, Corrie won't be the same any more! Such a lovely beautiful lady and every time I've met her she's been the nicest person in the world going to miss her so much but I wish her all the best for the future!

.Lily @AKing_154:

I'm so sad Ali's left Corrie as I loved seeing her in it. But, I'm so so looking forward to seeing what she does next. I wish her good luck for the future. I know she'll be amazing in whatever she does and I can't wait to watch whatever it is. She's such an amazing actress, she'll no doubt find something amazing in no time and I hope she has the most amazing break with Daisy as she so deserve to have one. She's worked so hard over the last decade! As gutted as I am to have seen Carla go, I'm so excited to see how her future jobs pan out! Best of luck and lots of love to Ali.
Chloe @Chloe_DEathx:

I am incredibly gutted Carla has left but I wish Alison King all the luck in the world for the future.
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Julz @ThatGalAliKing:

I'm beyond devastated that Alison King has left Corrie, she was absolutely phenomenal. As she is such a fantastic actress, there is no doubt whatsoever she'll be in something else & play another character spectacularly! Carla was iconic and will be missed by many, but we still have the 10 years of memories to remember Best of luck in the future Ali & I am more than blessed to have met her!

Katie @AliKingIsQueen:

From the first moment Carla walked into the factory, as if she already owned the place, a corrie legend was born. Alison King is a phenomenal actress, her talents are endless, and just when you think you've seen it all Ali tops it. Best actress corrie have seen it years, one of the best actresses on British television, Alison King really is incomparable. Carla Connor will go as a soap icon, our generations Elsie Tanner. The cobbles will never be the same again, queen Carla Connor is irreplaceable.
Erin @_erinz_:

I just think that corrie isn't going to be the same without Carla, she has made such an impact on the show and even though she's left, she will not be forgotten. Alison King is such a talented actress and can only go on to bigger and better things in the near future. I love Carla, and I have been able to talk to others who love her as much as I do, and because of this I now know people who I consider to be some of my closest friends. This is the legacy that Carla leaves, for me.

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Orla @AliKingFan4:

Coronation Street will never Be the same again this is such a Huge loss. Carla Connor is one of the most iconic Coronation street Characters of the last two decades and she is adored by so so many!
​
Carla always brightened up an episode for me and she really did bring drama wherever she went but that's why we Love her !! Alison King has always portrayed Carla so well her performance is always outstanding and I firmly believe she is one of the finest actresses on British Television. I honestly cannot find the words to describe just how much a will miss Carla Connor but maybe just maybe we will see her back on the cobbles once again in future ...

Thanks to everyone for sending their comments in.

As we just saw Alison King's name has just ran on the famous Coronation Street credits for the very last time leaving Tracy Barlow wondering who she'll pick on now.
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PROBLEM WITH PUBLIC VOTING AWARD CEREMONIES

4/14/2016

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A few minutes ago, I completed my online ballot for the British Soap Awards (English Soap Awards - they don't include Pobol Y Cwm (Wales) & River City (Scotland) only the five from England).

At the end of the voting screens, I was asked to verify my email address so my ballot can be counted.

Fair enough, I can do that, no problem, then BritishSoapAwards.TV offers me to tweet or share on Facebook about them.  I click on #SoapAwards which directed to a popup window, this popup window.

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I'm sorry, what?
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Favourites?  No, it should be the most deserving, right?

​ This shows that the organisers of and people who own the award show, British Soap Awards, has no interest in awarding the people who rightfully deserves recognition.

Last year (2015), EastEnders won "Best Single Episode" for their fully live production.  Why? - Andy Goes To The Brink on Emmerdale was so much better.

Hollyoaks also won Best British (English) Soap in 2014, and to this day, I have no idea why.  Bryan Kirkwood mentioned the other soaps has had all "amazing years" - what would he know?  It's taking EastEnders more than four years (and counting) to get themselves out of the mess he left it in. - Axing Pam St. Clement by killing off Pat Evans.  Bryan, when legends such as Pam St. Clement asks for a break, you're not meant to kill off their characters, a break means they need a rest and want to come back.  Also, introducing us to Joey Branning (played by David Witts) who was a complete waste of time and had no potential as a seasoned EastEnders character.  There was a reason Diederick Santer axed Kim Fox in 2009, Bryan, you weren't meant to bring her back. - So don't dare talk about "amazing years" when all you did was try to turn EastEnders into Hollyoaks, but, that's another story for another time.
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The National Television Awards are no different.  This is another award ceremony based on viewers votes which makes me question the integrity of the gongs.

If it's the same people voting then surely that would mean both ceremonies are effectively the same thing?

Danny Dyer has done pretty much nothing since Dominic Treadwell-Collins brought him into EastEnders as Mick Carter.  The only piece of acting I've seen from him is when Mick & Johnny Carter (Sam Strike) was in the living room of the residential quarters of The Queen Victoria Public House when Johnny came out as being gay to his Dad on the sofa.  Why has he won multiple awards when Rakhee Thakrar (Shabnam Kazemi in EastEnders) deserved it so much more for her epic portrayal of stillbirth?  He did play Mick very sensitively throughout Linda Carter's rape storyline, but, lets be honest, Kellie Bright was the star of that performance.  As I've mentioned, Rakhee Thakrar was massively overlooked by the people voting for their favourites.

Speaking of David Witts earlier, how on earth did he win "Best Newcomer" in 2013 over Natalie Gumede (Kirsty Soames in Coronation Street)?  David Witts did nothing in EastEnders apart from bring a certain look to the programme.  Natalie Gumede worked so hard in the domestic violence storyline with Alan Halsall, she deserved the trophy so much more than that pretty boy.

The constant badgering from each soaps twitter account's needs to stop, there should be a rule for the amount of times they are allowed to tweet the award show's link and that includes cast members from their respective programmes as well.  There's asking us to vote for you and there's ramming it down our throats.

If you vigorously look at each of the soaps twitter account's you can figure out who they want to win and will do their best to carefully work the Internet.  They will purposely tweet or post on Facebook for their chosen winner more times than any other person from their programme.

If Person A is their winner, they'll tweet/Facebook post about them more than Person B, C, & D.  They will also ask you to RT tweets which has their chosen winner to gain maximum exposure and, as I have said, work the Internet to their chosen winner's advantage. - Don't be fooled and sucked in to their way of thinking , you vote for who you honestly truthfully feel deserves to win. - NOT always your favourite or most popular.

Why do soaps get especially dramatic around the time of British (English) Soap Awards?  I get it's a competition, but, the programmes should be at that level the entire year round, not just for when you want us to vote for your show. 
Sometimes in life, your favourites don't do a lot throughout the year which means they shouldn't win, it should be the people who give incredible dramatic performances.  Just because someone is sexy doesn't mean they should win an award either.
Start voting for people who DESERVE it than the people who you fancy or admire the most. 
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GOING UNDERGROUND - MY REVIEW OF THE TUNNEL: SABOTAGE

4/9/2016

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First impressions can be deceiving, you think it's going to be a warm and friendly series about the British & French Connection, but, The Tunnel: Sabotage throws that thought right out of the window from the very beginning. 
​Taking a look at the cast, what an incredible wealth of talent the series has, including faces who you will recognise from other productions.
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Emilia Fox; as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway dubbed her; "the fit one from Silent Witness".

She portrays Vanessa Hamilton.  We are used to seeing Emilia in "good guy" roles which makes her appearances in The Tunnel: Sabotage very interesting viewing as Vanessa is heavily involved in the human trafficking world.  She is an entrepreneur in pretty much everything that is not legal.  She's ruthless in her ways and will do whatever it takes to get her paycheque from whoever is pulling her puppet strings.  When we're first introduced to Vanessa on-screen, I had to double-take as I did not realise it was Emilia Fox straight away.

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​William Ash; who is better known for playing Deputy Head Teacher Christopher Mead in Waterloo Road, Nick Anderson in Clocking Off, Jack Stubbs in Soldier Soldier, and has made appearances in Where The Heart Is, Coronation Street & Heartbeat to name a few.

​William Ash plays a lovable rogue in The Tunnel: Sabotage.  His character is called Boleslaw Borowski, or BB for short, as he's that damn cool and that's how he rolls.

He's very, sometimes overly, enthusiastic in his job as a Junior Detective.  He takes a shine to a new French Police Officer, Lieutenant Louise Renard (Juliette Navis), and is not shy on letting everyone know as subtlety isn't one of his attributes whatsoever.  He's good looking and knows it. 

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THEY ARE BACK.

Clémence Poésy; who played Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter movies.

Stephen Dillane; who played Stannis Baratheon in Game Of Thrones.

Clémence Poésy  & Stephen Dillane are in a lot of scenes together and has quite an amount of dialogue.  The two actors compliment each other like fish does to chips.  There are numerous programmes out there which has actors who look unenthusiastic, but, not Clémence Poésy & Stephen Dillane.  The two have chemistry on-screen which shows their passion for their craft in professional acting and always making you want more.  Besides the writing, they are testament as to why The Tunnel is a roaring success & The Tunnel: Sabotage will be even better.

They play Commander Elise Wassermann & Detective Chief Inspector Karl Roebuck respectively just like they did in The Tunnel's first series.
The programme is bilingual (English & French), which leads me to the one small - the French subtitles.  They are all in white, sometimes it is difficult to make out who said what.  If they were in different colours/font for each person talking then that would have been easier as my French isn't up to scratch.  Apologies to Mr. Thomson from Dyce Academy for that.
The Tunnel: Sabotage is like a fine wine, it grows better with age, and as the series progresses you'll see first-hand exactly what I mean.

In each episode there's at least one shocking twist which will keep you on the edge of your sofas.  

I'd describe The Tunnel: Sabotage as one of those programmes where you have to put everything down and watch because at a blink of an eye you will miss something paramount to the storyline.

Don't worry if you can't keep up with the drama, there's a handy "previously on The Tunnel: Sabotage" video package at the beginning of each episode past the first one. 

No tunnels were sabotaged in the making of The Tunnel: Sabotage... but, the same cannot be said for this aeroplane. 
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You can see The Tunnel: Sabotage all kick off this Tuesday (12 April) at 20:00 on Sky Atlantic & Sky Atlantic HD.  Sky customers can click this link to Sky+ the series and watch a preview: http://bit.ly/1RY4bon.
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The Tunnel: Sabotage on Sky Atlantic & Sky Atlantic HD is sponsored by Volvo.
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Images in this article are used with permission from the copyright holders apart from Volvo's emblem. 
Many thanks to Sky Atlantic & Byte London for entrusting me with the pre-release of The Tunnel: Sabotage. 
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​HOW THE MANDEVILLE SISTERS CAN BE IN BBC's DOCTOR WHO

1/16/2016

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Amelia Mandeville (left) / Grace Mandeville (right)
PicturePeter Capaldi as The Doctor
Before you read any further; although I may watch Doctor Who, I am in no way a whovian, so I may not get things accurately correct as far as the technical side is concerned.  If I am not whovian correct then I do apologise.

As Peter Capaldi is the current incarnation of The Doctor I'll use his version as a base to go from.

Over the past few series, The Doctor has had countless battles with The Master who we now know is a woman called Missy.  As Missy is a woman, this does not rule out the fact a lady could be The Doctor.
PictureMaisie Williams as Me/Ashildr
If you look further, Ashildr is female, if you break her name down:

A SHIL DR

A; meaning simply A for A person.

SHIL; An old word which basically means filler. - This part of the name should be ignored.  In my opinion, it's only there to add mystery... and not the Sparticle kind as that's another programme altogether. 

DR; Dr is an abbreviation for Doctor.

A - (shil) - DR = A DOCTOR

Here's where it gets interesting... of course, you've been interested all throughout is blog, haven't you?

In a battle to end all battles, The Doctor & Missy fight all over time & space, we know Missy/The Master is evil but has a heart (two of them, being a Time Lord) in there somewhere.

As the war finally comes to an end, The Doctor is drained of his last remaining regenerations.

Missy, at this point, now holds the fate of The Doctor, quite literally, in her hands. 

There has been some subtle and not so suble comedic lines in Doctor Who over the years.  He, being exhausted & emotional, tells Missy: "I'd give my right arm to come back".

With the zap of a sonic screwdriver, Missy allows The Doctor to regenerate but at the price he just claimed.

CUT SCENE TO TARDIS (not sure if that's procedural scriptwriting talk but you know what I mean - I hope)

Missy's army have broken into the TARDIS and looked into the heart of it - much like Rose did back in the Bad Wolf days.

No-one is meant to look into TARDIS' heart, as we all know.

CUT SCENE BACK TO MISSY/THE DOCTOR

The Doctor screams during regeneration because of this, he's in pain.  Due to the fact TARDIS' heart has been looked at, the regeneration goes wrong.

With the use of clever CGI, The Doctor's arm comes off and we see the regeneration glow in the shape of an arm next to The Doctor.

Capaldi tilts his head back.

Through the magic of television.

BOOM
PictureThe Doctor will see you now?
Grace Mandeville's face appears. We now have a female Doctor. After doing a quick check of herself. Grace looks at her right arm then looks up with a gloweringly petulant facial expression and shouts "I WASN'T BLOODY SERIOUS ABOUT THE ARM, MISSY!" - Realising there's no time to dwell on her missing arm issues she has to jump into action.

A She's now at one with the TARDIS so she knows there's something wrong.

Missy has now disappeared - she's gone we'll see her in a future episode... probably.

Looking around her for the first time, she sees the regeneration glow of an arm shape. - "That better be mine!" 
​
The Doctor, who is now Grace, realises Missy has left the screwdriver on the floor so she picks it up and presses a few buttons on it.

ALTERNATE ENDING 1:

After buttons being pressed, she zaps the mysterious regeneration arm shape glow. The TARDIS is still not right, The Doctor still needs to fix that but can't have a random regeneration particle going about as a rouge would be dangerous and can't get into the wrong hands (pardon the pun).

The particles then start to alter in shape and then we see a human slowly materialise.

BOOM

Amelia Mandeville is The Doctor #2.  We now have dual 50/50 Doctors. Each as the same "powers" as the other. Everything one has, the other apart from Grace's version as the right arm is missing.

-

Next episode there's an Adam & Eve theme where the two Doctors discover that poetically, Grace's doctor gave up her right arm so her sister could be "born" - Much like Adam is alleged to give up one of his ribs for Eve to be his girlfriend.
PictureThe Doctor & her assistant?
ALTERNATE ENDING 2:

After buttons being pressed, she zaps the mysterious regeneration arm shape glow. The TARDIS is still not right, The Doctor still needs to fix that but can't have a random regeneration particle going about as a rouge would be dangerous and can't get into the wrong hands (pardon the pun).

The particles then get sucked into the screwdriver.

Back in the TARDIS - which is now Grace's Doctor's version - Grace manages to re-establish the system and restores it back to normal.

As she selects The Doctor's next destination. The TARDIS whooshes, whooshes whooshes.  Just before the TARDIS disappears into space, the particles escape from the screwdriver and floats away through the keyhole of the TARDIS' door.

Grace's TARDIS disappears and another one materialises in the same place. Looking exactly the same inside apart from slight colour changes here & there for effect on TV, we hear a girl's voice.

Camera pans around as if to say "we're looking for where the voice is coming from".

Starting from the feet, the camera pans up to Amelia's face. - The Doctor now has an evil sister who is also a Time Lord, who also has a TARDIS.

How can Amelia's Doctor work?

Be used in the "current series" Grace's version is in.

Be used in a series all of her own where we discover how a nastier Doctor does things... leading up to a merger with Grace's series when the two doctors collide.


At the end of the series, the two Doctors will collide at an undisclosed location in Gallifrey to unravel damming secrets about themselves which will rip the fabric their lives live on.

To cut a long story short, The Doctors enter Gallifreys government headquarters to discover they're not The Doctor, there's been only one doctor the entire time and he's been controlling the two girls for an eternity.


The Doctor, The Real Doctor is, as worked in this YouTube video by Grace (click the link: bit.ly/1UXpKHQ), their real life actual brother, Henry Mandeville.


If this was EastEnders, a Doof Doof would go here.
How would Grace Mandeville & Amelia Mandeville's names look in a Doctor Who opening titles? - They would looks something along the lines of this.
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USEFUL LINKS:

Click here to follow me on twitter

Click here to watch the Mandeville Sisters on YouTube

Click here to follow Grace on twitter

Click here to follow Amelia on twitter.

Click here for their blogs which are better than mine

Click here to follow Amelia on instagram

Click here to follow Grace on instagram

Click here for my official facebook page

Click here for Grace & Amelia's official facebook page

Click here for all things Doctor Who on the BBC

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WE NEED THE JOB

12/25/2015

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Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 22:00 we said goodbye to The Bill as it came to an end on ITV/UTV thus leaving everyone without the most realistic police procedural television programme and none after have come close in comparison to the realism of the series originally entitled Woodentop.
We are now in 2015, and within five years the Television audience is considerably different than it was half a decade ago which is why we need a good & relistic police procedural series back on the box.

A new TV show has been created by actor, Adam McNamara, who you may recognise from his appearances as PC McCormick in River City and PC Evans in EastEnders on the BBC.
A little bit earlier this year, a pilot of a new police programme was released on YouTube and this one is much different than it's predecessors. For one, this is situated in Scotland and focuses on Police Scotland - something British Television networks have rarely done. Sure, there's Taggart but that's through the eyes of scriptwriters, directors & actors which is good but it doesn't show us what really happens as the dramatisations are all watered down.

The new TV show is entitled 'The Job'. And why is it called that? Well, I spoke to the show's creator, Mr. McNamara, himself to find out why.

Andy: What is the reason behind calling it 'The JOB' for those who may not be aware?
Adam: OK, it's called the Job because that's what cops refer to policing as. There's a famous saying "The Job's fucked"

It's a phrase used all up and down these islands.

Since I had a chance to speak to Adam, I thought I'd be cheeky and ask more, here's what Adam had to say:
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AG: The pilot has many elements of what I'd imagine to be a regular day on the beat, and in detail. You're the creator of this programme, how come you know so much about the police force?

AM: I was a police officer in Tayside (before Police Scotland) for seven years. What sets The Job apart from other cop dramas is that I can convincingly put a realistic voice into these characters. I feel other cop dramas, albeit entertaining ones, miss that key feature.

AG: Is 'The Job' based around on your experiences within Tayside Police?

AM: Each character is based on experiences in my own life from when I started in the Police to when I resigned.

The situations the characters find themselves in are elements of calls I experienced rather than verbatim.

I used a certain degree of poetic licence however they are incredibly realistic situations and the characters respond in realistic ways.

AG: What makes 'The Job' special and different than any other British cop show we've ever seen?

AM: I think the main difference will be the insight into how the Police really is. They way they really talk, opinions they hold, politics they live by, reactions to the public and conclusions they come to about them.

I've been lucky enough to play a cop a few times on telly but the thing I come across time and time again is that writers have a pre-conceived idea as to how Cops articulate their feelings...it's funny to me and its most definitely accepted by the public at large but it's not real. The Job peels back that façade.

-

Speaking to Adam, this does sound very exciting as he himself was a police officer, he has been in the frontline for many years so unlike your average scriptwriter who bases their scripts on a little research, Adam's writing & direction of the show can show us what the Police go through on a daily bases.

The Job would be an ideal prime time TV show for the whole of Britain to watch as it will let us see that the Police aren't robots, they aren't the monsters which the press lead us to believe, they have feelings too and the way they react to the various troubling scenarios matter as well.

Cuffs on the BBC has been axed just days after the eighth & final episode of the series. Cuffs was described by The Wright Stuff's TV Critic, Kevin Sullivan, as being The Bill which hadn't given the series a good start in life as we've been there and got the t-shirt as far as The Bill is concerned. The fact that Cuffs was centred in Brighton, another English city like The Bill was filmed in. The JOB is made in Scotland. That gives it a fresh feel which we need in a TV show.

Adam McNamara is a Scotsman and not only that, he's a proud Scotsman. His Twitter feed is full of passion for the north of the border. This means The JOB will be particularly friendly to Scotland's culture and quite possibly bring new interest to the country.

So what I implore TV Networks in the UK to do is: Give The JOB a chance. Adam has a fantastic team of actors & crew who are thriving to deliver excellent drama.
USEFUL LINKS:

The JOB pilot (taster episode) on YouTube

The JOB on Twitter

Adam McNamara on Twitter

Andy Gibson on Twitter
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PHILIP MARTIN BROWN ON CORRIE

1/7/2015

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PictureSteve McDonald (Simon Gregson) in Coronation Street
Earlier today, I spoke to my first hall of fame inductee, Mr. Philip Martin Brown, regarding his upcoming appearances on ITV/STV/UTV's Coronation Street.

Here's the conversation in full.

PHILIP:  Hi, Andy, are you alright?

ANDY:  I'm doing fine, thanks, how are you?

PHILIP:  Fine too, whereabouts are you?

ANDY:  I'm in Aberdeen.

PHILIP:  Ahh, I've been to Edinburgh & Perth but never that far up.

ANDY:  No-one ever does to be honest.

PHILIP:  *laughs*

ANDY:  Where was you when you found out that you were going to be on Coronation Street?

PHILIP:  I was at home.

ANDY:  What can you tell us about your character?

PHILIP:  The part, he's a psyche guy, he's a therapist that Steve McDonald visits to try and help him through his depression but he's a bit sort of off the wall, this particular therapist because he has various tricks up his sleeve to get his clients to open up because a lot of them come, Steve included, and they're not very willing to talk and, so, he tries to put them at their ease in a variety of ways.  I sometimes thought that perhaps it was the therapist who needed a therapist and not the client.

ANDY:  *laughs* Can you tell us what those tricks are?

PHILIP:  Oh, erm, it's probably best I leave that until it airs.

ANDY:  Yep, that's fair enough.  You work with many people in a group setting, like on The Bill & Waterloo Road.

PHILIP:  Aha...

ANDY:  How different was it to work with Simon Gregson so closely on a one-to-one basis?

PHILIP:  Oh, it's always nice to work with people on a one-to-one basis and Simon is a delight to work with, he's just really good and we found things in the script, I can't remember what they were now, Andy, but we found things there that perhaps weren't obvious and he has lots of ideas which he brings, yeah, he's great fun.

ANDY:  What can we expect to see from your scenes with Simon?

PHILIP:  Erm, I think they'll be some comedy.

ANDY:  Okay...

PHILIP:  But I do hope at the same time that the subject of depression does get the serious treatment it deserves however this therapist, he's a one off finally.  So, erm, yeah, a bit of a mixture between the serious side of it and the comic side as well.

ANDY:  I suffer from depression and I think I'd appreciate some comedy in some of my sessions.

PHILIP:  I'm sorry to hear that, Andy, it must be very difficult.

ANDY:  It is sometimes.  When will we see you on the cobbles?

PHILIP:  Oh, on the 30th of January & 4th of February.  We filmed that ages ago, I think there's about a nine week gap in between shooting and transmission.

ANDY:  I didn't realise it was that much, I thought it was about six weeks.

PHILIP:  It used to be six weeks, the last time I was on it was six weeks.

PictureDI Pinnock (Philip Martin Brown - right) in April 2005
ANDY:  Oh yes, in 2005 as Detective Inspector Pinnock.

PHILIP:  That's right, yeah.  Pillock of the yard I used to call him.

BOTH:  *laughs*

PHILIP:  Yeah, that was six weeks then but it's somehow stretched to nine now.

ANDY:  Between D.I. Pinnock & your character now, are the character's personalities different?

PHILIP:  Very, yeah, very, but they are both a lot of fun to play.  It's a joy, I mean it's great to work on Coronation Street, everyone's so friendly and I know a lot of the crew from Waterloo Road when it was shot in Rochdale.  And of course Ian Puleston-Davies & Katie McGlynn were in Waterloo, and they're now in Corrie so it was a lot of familiar faces.

ANDY:  So, it was a Waterloo Road School Reunion for you then?

PHILIP:  Yes it was, yeah, it was really nice to do.

ANDY:  Speaking of Waterloo Road, can I have your thoughts about the programme ending this year?

PHILIP:  Erm, all things must come to an end.  I think it's run it's course, it was hugely popular but everything has a sell by date.

ANDY:  You didn't originally think it would last any more than a couple of series, right?

PHILIP:  No I didn't, no, so it was an enormous bonus for it to go on so long and I had a great time doing that as well.  I can't think of a job that I've done where I've really disliked.

ANDY:  I admire your work so much, in Casualty & The Bill as well.

PHILIP:  Thank you, yeah, The Bill was lots of different characters.

ANDY:  Seth Mercer was the main one.

PHILIP:  Seth Mercer, yeah, I think I did six episodes as Seth and in Casualty, I was Will Mellor's father, a villainous type, that was from Bristol, it's a beautiful city, so I had a lot of fun doing that and it was during the summer so there were lots of music on the streets & The Café Society, it was lovely to do.  Before that, I've been very fortunate, I've managed to travel a lot with work, I've gone around the world really, so I've been a very lucky boy.

ANDY:  That's our interview drawn to a close.

PHILIP:  Oh, right...

ANDY:  Thank you very much for your time.

PHILIP:  That's okay.  Thanks very much, Andy.

ANDY:  No, thank you very much for your call.

PHILIP:  Pleasure, take care.

ANDY:  Have a lovely day.

PHILIP:  Bye bye.

What a wonderfully lovely man Philip Martin Brown is.  I could have spoken to him forever but I didn't want to take up too much of his time as he is a very busy man.

As Philip mentioned, his scenes in Coronation Street will be shown during the Friday 30 January & Wednesday 4 February episodes.

Coronation Street is every Monday, Wednesday & Friday on ITV/STV/UTV.

If you're in to Coronation Street's depression storyline, make sure you vote for everything Weatherfield in the National Television Awards at NationalTVAwards.com, voting closes at 12:00 GMT on Wednesday 21 January and the ceremony itself is live later that day on ITV/STV/UTV at 19:30.

Thanks again to Philip Martin Brown for his time, I'm extremely honoured to have spoken to him and all the best of luck to Simon Gregson & the Coronation Street team in the continuing depression storyline surrounding Steve McDonald. 
If you, like Steve & I, suffer from depression, please know that help is available for you.  Depression isn't something to be ashamed of or to hide away from everyone with.  All it takes is to talk about it to someone you trust, it doesn't have to be a family member, and the rest will fall into place.  There are organisations who can help and are ready to take your call situated all over Great Britain.  Please see the bottom of the page for links of places in your region.
Useful links:

Scottish Association for Mental Health:  SAMH.org.uk.

Depression Alliance: DepressionAlliance.org.

Philip Martin Brown's Website:  PhilipMartinBrown.com.

Philip Martin Brown's Twitter:  @PhilipMartinB.

Coronation Street's Twitter:  @ITVCorrie.

Coronation Street on ITV:  ITV.com/CoronationStreet.

Coronation Street on STV:  STV.TV/corrie.

Coronation Street on UTV:  U.TV/CoronationStreet.

My Twitter:  @AndyGibsonTV.
Images in this article are used without permission of ITV.
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SITUATIONS VACANT - SEEKING THIRD SERIES OF THE JOB LOT

12/5/2014

1 Comment

 
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On Monday 29 April 2013 at 21:30, Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis & Stuart Lane introduced the ITV/STV/UTV audience to a quirky workforce at Brownall House on a brand new comedy known as The Job Lot.

The programme got my attention when I saw Martin Marquez, who I loved in as DS Danny Pearce in The Bill back in the early 1990's, appear on the screen as lovable Security Guard, Paul Franks.

Other members of the cast are also fantastic, Sarah Hadland who portrayed Linda Radleigh in Waterloo Road.  Russell Tovey who played George Sands in Being Human.  Jo Enright from Ideal to name a few.


Series 1 and Series 2 were only six episodes each which is not lengthy enough for such a unique and unusual comedy programme.

There isn't a comedy programme today in a setting such as a Jobcentre.

There isn't a comedy programme like The Job Lot apart from Trollied in the earlier seasons but series 4 has been a letdown which is why ITV need to recommission The Job Lot for a third series so we, the viewers, can enjoy a comedy with the wit and intelligence the writers and cast bring to life on our television screens.
CAST/CHARACTERS
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Paul Franks (played by Martin Marquez)

Paul is one of the two security guards at Brownhall House, he is the first face visitors see when entering the building.

Don't take his exterior of a law abiding citizen lightly as he uses Brownhall House's facilities to run his carpet fitting business on the side and with his golden tongue, he has gotten away with it, but we love him so we won't tell scary Angela.

Martin Marquez has played Paul Franks in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

He is half-Spanish and half-British, born in the city Coventry, West Midlands in England and began his acting career in 1993 where he made his on-screen acting début as a policeman in the classic comedy, Desmond's (Humphrey Barclay Productions/Channel 4).

Other credits are; The Bill (Thames Television), EastEnders (BBC Drama) and Hotel Babylon (BBC Drama).

His Daughter, Ramona Marquez, was in Outnumbered as Karen Brockman.

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Janette Hodgkins (played by Angela Curran)

Like Paul, she is at front-of-house as another Security Guard although she does more cleaning and tidying up than keeping a watchful eye on the front doors, it is a wonder Trish hasn't spotted this but we know she is busy.

Janette tries hard to fit in with the 2014 crowd by using all the latest gadgets and trends but she lives her life nostalgically and prefers the more old school ways of doing things.

You wouldn't think of it to look at her but she's very passionate about the beautiful game of football and has shown fighting talk whenever The Great Barr branch is the topic of conversation.

Angela Curran has been in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot as Janette Hodgkins.

Angela Curran has been working in drama since 1977, she's the seasoned veteran of the cast.

Other credits include; Where The Heart Is (Anglia Television), This Is Jinsy (The Welded Tandem Picture Company), Press Gang (Central Television/Richmond Films & Television Production).

She was also involved in The Calendar Girls movie, working with Julie Walters CBE & Dame Helen Mirren.

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George Dhot (played by Adeel Akhtar)

George likes to over exaggerate his stories in so many ways.

He is the resident fraud officer of the team, he investigates all the suspected benefit cheats of Brownall, spending hours on surveillance in dark places gathering all the evidence he needs.

Strangely enough, his unorthodox methods actually work and he has been very successful in stopping benefit cheats on numerous occasions.

Adeel Akhtar has only been in nine episodes of The Job Lot as George Dhot.

Adeel Akhtar originally pursued a career in law but later decided to follow his dream as an actor.

He trained in the Actors Studio Drama School in New York, his skills learnt there were put to good use as he is commended for his role as Faisal, a Muslim Extremist, in the film, Four Lions (Film4 Productions/Wild Bunch/Warp Films).  The movie is distributed on DVD by Optimum Releasing & Alamo Drafting Cinema.

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Trish Collingwood (played by Sarah Hadland)

The mother hen of the coop.

Trish is not as sharp as she should be, she does have the wool pulled over her eyes a lot but she does her best to ensure her staff are happy.

She is the Centre Manager who struggles to manage... everything, as much as people should respect her authority, she does cave in too often.

Sarah Hadland has been in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot as Trish Collingwood.

Sarah Hadland is probably most known for her role as Linda Radleigh in Waterloo Road (BBC Drama/Shed Productions) and has appeared in other programmes such as; Bad Girls (Shed Productions), That Mitchell And Webb Look (BBC Drama) and as a voice actor in children's programme, Fireman Sam (BBC Cymru).

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Graham Pleck (played by Tony Maudsley)

Graham is a harmless lovable man who has been coming to the Jobcentre for years, mainly to have a chat with the staff as he is a bit lonely and straightforward minded.

No-one knows where his shirts are, I don't even think he knows he's not wearing one.

He has an iconic charcoal blazer which he wears in hope to impress potential employers and occasionally customises his attire with a tie.

Tony Maudsley has been in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

Tony Maudsley's biggest role to date is of Grawp in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Heyday Films/Warner Bros. Pictures).

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Bryony West (played by Sophie McShera)

Bryony has no intentions to get a job, she is opinionated and has an answer for everything, usually with unwitting comedic remarks.

In the past she has applied for a job in MI5 with no realistic chance of actually getting it.

She has self-confidence issues, I have no idea why as she's quite hot, which affects her in going for job interviews but has all the capability in the world to wrap Karl around her little finger in order to get what she wants.

Like Graham, Bryony has no sense of fashion but we love her.

Sophie McShera is far from Bryony West, if you look at the other roles she portrays.

Her other works are; Downton Abbey (ITV Studios) and Waterloo Road.

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Karl Lyndhurst (played by Russell Tovey)

Karl is easily bored and distracted.

He doesn't like working in the Jobcentre and has made that clear on a number of times.

His biggest accomplishment in life is an Art Degree, he may have mentioned that once or twice. 

Karl is awkward around everybody, he does his best to please everyone.

He loves his extended lunch breaks to go off on escapades.

If you're ever down in the dumps, Karl is always on-hand to cheer you up with his (not-so) secret stash of biscuits.

Russell Tovey has portrayed Karl Lyndhurst in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

Russell Tovey's other credits include; Looking (HBO), Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who (BBC Drama).

He is also an accomplished playwright and screenwriter, three of his plays have been performed.

Russell was considered to replace David Tennant as The Doctor in Doctor Who.

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Angela Bromford (played by Jo Enright)

Every workplace has an Angela, driven by the rulebook and clued up on all the loopholes in policies.

Trish fired Angela but to no avail, Angela won her tribunal and was reinstated as a result of that, she has a power struggle with the Centre Manager on a daily basis.

She feels that she should be the Centre Manager, in Angela's world only Angela matters and everyone else should bow to her feet whenever she enters a room.

She's very workshy and makes it extremely difficult for any job seekers to gain any employment with all the hoops she makes people jump through.

You know the type of person Angela is, she's the awkward one at the end of the phone telling you that you have got the wrong form and she cannot help you out for unexplained reasons.  She's the one you'd spend at least four hours on hold for, for her to come back saying "I'll need to transfer you to another department" - we've all dealt with an Angela at one point in our lives, she's the one who we yell profanities at the phone after she hangs up on us, maybe before depending on your humour.

Jo Enright has played Angela Bromford in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

Apart from acting, Jo Enright is also a stand-up comedian.

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Danielle Fisher (played by Tamla Kari)

Danielle is a new mum who skipped full maternity leave in favour of returning to work.

As much as she loves her baby, she could do without the stress her child brings.

She's up for a laugh and is rather impressed with her new improved cup sized breasts post-birth.

Loves catching up with the latest gossip around the staff room. 

Tamla Kari only appeared in the first series of The Job Lot and is in all six of it's episodes.

Tamla Kari has also been in both Inbetweeners movies.

She trained as an actor in Drama Centre London.

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Natalie Mason (played by Laura Aikman)

Natalie is the new kid on the block with a business mind.

She is the Deputy Manager in a world she's not familiar with but has settled in quite nicely.

Natalie was headhunted by Denise Madden, the manager of the Kingstanding branch, but turned it down to be with Karl at Brownall.

Laura Aikman has been in all six episodes of series 2 of The Job Lot as Natalie Mason.

Laura Aikman's other credits include; Casualty (BBC Drama), Trial & Retribution (ITV Studios).

In 2015, Laura will be another deputy, this time a Deputy Head Teacher, in Waterloo Road.

What The Job Lot does that most comedies don't is they have no canned laughter, and that is something all comedies should take note on.  It doesn't force it's viewers to laugh when the writers want us to. It allows us to find our own comedy within the programme.

Television in this day and age is monopolised by over-produced rubbish like X Factor, The Only Way Is Essex and far too much sporting event programmes, The Job Lot allows people like me to escape from all that and laugh at what is typically an everyday situation, looking for jobs.

There are programmes for actors to learn in that are no longer around, programmes like The Bill, London's Burning and Steel River Blues.  It's programmes like those which create fantastic performers.

The Job Lot does the "job" perfectly for those people, actors like Delroy Brown and Zahra Ahmadi to name a couple.

It's a fantastic platform for people to learn and I don't think ITV should take that away from us all.

We also need to see how the relationship between Karl & Natalie blossoms as well, we can't leave it as it did.

I would just like to thank all involved for keeping the format of the programme exactly the same as series 1, that was my main concern when I found out that series 2 is coming on and it did not disappoint.

If ITV continue to partner with Big Talk Productions on The Job Lot, all I can say is, teamwork makes the dream work.

Thanks for reading, if you liked it, give me a follow on twitter: @AndyGibsonTV.
Images in this article are used with permission and are copyright ITV / Big Talk Productions.
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NO LONGER RAMBLINGS - THIS SECTION WILL BE FOR COMMENTING ON COMEDIES

12/5/2014

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I'm restructuring this site and any article below this is from the old section which was for ramblings and news stories. 
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WWE STATE OF AFFAIRS WITH CM PUNK

1/29/2014

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If the rumours are true and CM Punk has indeed left the WWE, I personally do not blame him for doing so.

It's professional wrestlers and personalities like him who keep WWE Monday Night Raw & WWE Friday Night SmackDown being a fantastic programme each and every week.

Did CM Punk make the choice to be a professional wrestler and to make a the sacrifice to not see his family for the majority of the year?  Yes he did, however that doesn't excuse the fact that he (and the other Superstars in the WWE Locker Room) put in all the work for The McMahon Family & Triple H day in and day out, working for matches on Pay Per Views such as WWE SummerSlam & WWE WrestleMania to be told (or probably discover through the pipeline) that he won't be wrestling in the Higher Card matches or for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship because the likes of Brock Lesnar, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson & Dave Bautista are to have a bout on the card and that means CM Punk having to take a back seat for the performers who does not appear on the weekly television programmes (dubbed part-time wrestlers).

This is made even worse when Undertaker comes back, conveniently just at the time when WWE WrestleMania is within a few weeks away.

Personally, I don't think The Undertaker deserves any match on the WWE WrestleMania card, he hasn't done enough during the past 12 months to validate his appearance on the card.  Yes, people (including those with strong connections to the Professional Wrestling world) say that he's a legend, he's done enough during his career to give him the match at WrestleMania, which are highly predictable as he wins every single one of them.  Brodus Clay, Lord Tensai, Naomi, Cameron, Damien Sandow, Cody Rhodes & The Bella Twins all missed out on their WWE WrestleMania moment due to The Undertaker's apparent selfishness in having to have a match at the aforementioned Pay Per View and for it to run over the time allocated.

CM Punk hasn't been treated well by WWE in the recent past, he worked his ass off, defending the WWE Heavyweight Championship for 434 consecutive days and to lose it to a People's Elbow from The Rock, only for the belt to be used by The Rock, in a shit feud leading to a mediocre match with John Cena at WWE WrestleMania, what made matters worse, The Rock wasn't appearing on the WWE's weekly television programming as the WWE Champion.  The Rock pissed on the legitimate full time WWE Roster by doing that.

I get that Dave Bautista is close personal friends with Triple H, but he shouldn't have won the Royal Rumble Match last Sunday, the fact that CM Punk & Daniel Bryan didn't win shows me that Stephanie McMahon & Triple H have zero clue in what they're doing as WWE Management, it wouldn't have been so bad if they did something different, have Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, or someone who has never been WWE/World Champion before win it. That would have been such a refreshing change.

As for Brock Lesnar only working Pay Per Views and being called "a member of the active WWE Roster" is a joke. 

CM Punk has always said, he doesn't care if he works for WWE, ROH or elsewhere, his only passion is wrestling.

I know my article hasn't really got much structure to it, however, I do hope you get the point in which I am making. 
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END CREDIT SQUASHING IS DISRESPECTFUL

12/8/2013

1 Comment

 
I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of Television Networks squashing end credits and talking over the theme music.

Here’s why.

The Television Networks are disrespecting the theme tune composers by talking over their work, the continuity announcers wouldn’t appreciate being spoken over, so there’s no need to do it to other people, as they’ve taken a lot of time to piece the music together and they do not deserve their work to be ruined by someone that is only telling us what is on next or when the next episode of the programme is on.

PictureSTV
There are more people that the credit squashing is disrespecting, and they are the people who worked on the programme, as their names cannot be read when the Television Networks squeeze the credits and, in my opinion, therefore are not being credited for their work.

PictureBBC Points Of View
When the credits are squashed, it could be anything written in the credits as they are so small.

Talking over the theme music and squashing the end credits ruin the mood of the programme that the viewers have just seen, which spoils the feel for the programme.

PictureBBC Three
Doing the Credit squashing & talking over the theme music is also highly patronising to the viewers as they have Electronic Programme Guides (EPG), Television Listings Magazines and the internet to give them information in what’s on next.  People shouldn’t be treated as being stupid by having a graphic that takes over the majority of the screen, basically shoving it in people’s faces that “Programme X, Y or Z is on next”, as the majority of the audience would already know this and those who don’t are intelligent enough to have a look at their EPG’s etc. to decide for themselves. 

In short, Credit Squashing is not needed and Television Networks should cease them. 
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