Christmas Day crackers
Downton Abbey, Christmas Day, 9pm, ITV1 We can’t wait for one of Maggie Smith’s frosty lines to warm us up this winter! Set in 1919, we can indulge our fantasies in a very aristocratic Christmas: shooting parties in the frosted parkland, gowns for all occasions, a servant’s ball, a lavish Christmas party. However, this is Downton, and with its (slightly unrealistic) upstairs/downstairs relationships, the arrest of Mr Bates and the unspoken magnetism between Mary and Cousin Matthews, we can anticipate …
Holiday Highlights
Great Expectations The BBC has undertaken a new three-part adaptation of his classic Great Expectations to celebrate the bicentenary of Dicken’s birth. BBC1, December 27, 28 and 29th, 9pm Make sure you’re armed with a full stomach and a roaring fire before you sink into the terrifying and gritty opening scene: a dark, cold and terrifying graveyard. The plot follows the life of Pip (Oscar Kennedy), whose early destiny is to follow his brother-in-law as a blacksmith’s apprentice. However, a …
Films for the festive period
About a Boy: Comedy in which Hugh Grant strikes up an unlikely friendship with a geeky schoolboy. ITV1, December 17, 1.15pm Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: For those who didn’t receive the boxset for Christmas ITV1, December 17, 6.35pm Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Break-up comedy starring Mila Kunis, Russell Brand and Jason Segel. ITV2 Saturday 17, 9pm The Boat That Rocked: Comedy set on a pirate radio station stars hilarious Bill Nighy. ITV1, Saturday 20, 10.05pm Tomorrow Never …
Farewell: Downtown Abbey
Sophia Fairhead waves a Sunday evening favourite goodbye
Chandler predicts Gaddafi’s death
Did the Friends star unwittingly anticipate the late Libyan dictator’s death?
Hottie of the Week: Gary Barlow
Sophy Fairhead discusses her favourite TV crush…
Young Apprentice
From blackboard to boardroom… Last week, 12 aspiring sixth-form students left the classroom to face a real life lesson, courtesy of Lord Sugar. These hormone fuelled adolescents fought it out over ice cream flavours and squabbled over basic arithmetic. As a result we are about as convinced of their self-assured talent and ruthless ambition as we are of Johnny Robinson’s chance of winning X-Factor. Nevertheless, it is far more entertaining than its senior counterpart and has a guaranteed feel-good factor …
