Years ago, in my capacity as a TV producer, I became obsessed with a gameshow called Craft Corner Deathmatch. It was a show on the Style Network where vaguely arty people went up against each other in macramé-type challenges, with a crochet hook twist that the whole thing was done in the anarchic, high-octane tone of a WWF wrestling match. It was MAD, and I loved it. I tried to get the BBC to buy it as a format, but they thought I was as insane as the show. Read More…

I’ve watched some great stuff in lockdown. Save Me was incredible, the latest series of Unforgotten was fabulous, Killing Eve 3 was brilliant fun though spiralled a bit at the end, White Lines was sublime… I’m kidding. White Lines was crazy shite, but I enjoyed it anyway. What else? Normal People was, I would say, wonderful in its own way, which was a kind of beautiful, meaningful monotony. I like that twelve-part structure though; gives a show much-needed time to breathe. Read More…

Last month, there was a spectacular 174% jump in online searches for property on Ibiza. You can probably understand, stuck at home trying to engage your offspring in a BBC Bitesize on Iron Age roundhouses while simultaneously resisting the lure of the 24-pack of stockpiled Wotsits, why you might be tempted to have a teensy Balearic browse. Certainly I’ve hit Rightmove hard during the last few weeks, flitting between my regular targets – crofts in Argyll versus fixer-uppers in North Cornwall – and occasionally dabbling in something in a little more exotic, like a Provençal gîte or a Tuscan villa. Read More…

Just after lockdown started, various notable figures like Stephen Fry and Floella Benjamin urged us to turn on the subtitles during children’s TV shows to encourage literacy. As a result, when our boys watch Teen Titans Go on the Alexa while they have their dinner, they can read along as Beast Boy says ‘I'm diggin', I'm diggin'. Diggin' like a pro, yo.’ I’m fairly sure that’s doing them some good on a deeper level, and it allows me to feel better about myself as I ignore them, pour myself some wine and doom-surf on my phone until my retinas melt. Read More…