Charlie Brooker’s been rather busy over the past couple of years, what with being on the Beeb’s list of top-quality talent, whilst also doing several things for Channel 4, making a whole heap of programmes, writing his columns and books and spending lots of time on Twitter. The chances of someone trying to make him ‘big’ and giving him unsuitable formats/scheduling at some point in the not too distant future are surely high, so that makes the new series of Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe even more of a cause for rejoicing.
For the uninitiated, each week, Charlton looks at television news, from across the channels (and sometimes across the world) and picks out some of its more, um, eccentric qualities. It’s usually a mix of current news and ongoing trends within news broadcasting (last series there was an excellent section on the graphics used in news TV, and a brilliant piece on the news media’s response to Jade Goody’s death). It’s laugh out loud hilarious, whilst also bitingly cutting and insightful, something not many people can manage.
There’s even a nice little poetry bit in the middle where you can go and make a cup of tea – public service at its best.
