Posts by author:

Nick Holland

Post image for Assurance policy

Previewing from today, the National Theatre’s big comedy for the Spring/Summer season is Dion Boucicault’s 1841 romp London Assurance. Starring theatre stalwart Simon Russell Beale (no relation to Ian,) you’d think the presence of Celebrity Lesbian Fiona Shaw playing a character called Lady Gay Spanker would be the main attraction here. In fact you should [...]

{ 0 comments }

Post image for Take this and Party

When he appeared as a guest on Never Mind the Buzzcocks last year, a lot of us here at LC Towers were rather taken with Tom Basden. So you’d think the London debut (running for just two weeks) of his award-winning play Party, in which he also stars, would be an easy recommendation. However this [...]

{ 2 comments }

Post image for Spooks and the City

Just like buses, you wait ages for a London theatre opening with a lowculture connection then two come along at once. (Actually they came along yesterday but Damages deserves a day to itself.) First we’re in the West End where Kim Cattrall stars in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. Cattrall is of course best known for [...]

{ 0 comments }

Skin and bone

by Nick Holland on January 28, 2010

in Comedy, Drama, TV

Post image for Skin and bone

Oh noes! Two of the big digital channels are launching the new seasons of their signature drama series tonight, and they’re both on at the same time! Which one to watch? Obviously both ITV2 and E4 have +1 channels, not to mention umpteen reruns, so it’s perfectly easy to watch both shows. But let’s pretend [...]

{ 0 comments }

The not-quite-as-fast show

by Nick Holland on January 21, 2010

in Comedy, TV

Post image for The not-quite-as-fast show

A few years ago, Radio 4 phone-in show Down The Line caused no end of controversy as the complaints flooded in, from listeners who hadn’t quite cottoned on to the fact that it was a spoof. It’s taken its time getting there but the character-based comedy show has finally arrived on TV, as Bellamy’s People, [...]

{ 0 comments }

Post image for So: Popera

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: There’s these celebrities, right, and they’re best-known for doing one thing, right, only they’re being asked to do a slightly different thing. Ah, who says variety’s dead? Anyway this one’s called Popstar to Operastar because operastar is totally a real word. The lineup includes Jimmy Osmond, that one [...]

{ 0 comments }

Post image for The Little Show That Could

It started out as the show whose pilot was considered “not as good as Phoo Action” and had to be rescued by a fan campaign. Now it’s got a worldwide fanbase, is on the cover of magazines and an American remake is in the works (now let us never speak of that again, it’s already [...]

{ 0 comments }

Dog days

by Nick Holland on January 9, 2010

in Comedy, Other stuff

Post image for Dog days

First up in 2010’s big-name productions in the West End is the British premiere of a big US hit, Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed, previewing from tonight. While Keira Knightley continues with her stage debut, her boyfriend Rupert Friend (who is totally famous in his own right and not just as Mr Keira, [...]

{ 0 comments }

Post image for 2009: High culture goes lowculture

LOWCULTURE THEATRE REVIEW OF THE YEAR
We’re near the end of 2009 so time to look back on the high and lowlights of the year. The others will be here with more traditional lowculture categories like TV and film, but this year we also started looking at how proper telly talent was appearing on stage in [...]

{ 0 comments }

Post image for Not occurin’ for much longer

It’s gone from the BBC Three backwater to official National Treasure status in a couple of years, and its popularity even seems to have survived the abomination that was Horne & Corden. Now Gavin & Stacey returns for its third and final series. The first series saw the titular couple fall in love and get [...]

{ 0 comments }