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Category: Life: TV and Movies

Who was in Victoria Wood with all the Trimmings

After watching “Victoria Wood with all the Trimmings” last night, I wondered how many actors had been in Doctor Who, Eastenders and Coronation Street (three extremely popular UK TV shows) and therefore, being the geek I am, decided to find out.

It turns out (according to the IMDB and a Google Spreadsheet: where the formula “=CONCATENATE((ROW()-1)-COUNTBLANK(F2:F54),”/”,ROW()-1)” came in handy), that out of the 54 credited actors, 14 (25.92%) were in Dr Who, 11 (20.37%) in Coronation Street and 6 (11.11%) were in Eastenders (with some in two of the three shows). Quite a hefty overlap!

Actor Dr Who Eastenders Coronation Street
Victoria Wood
Caroline Aherne
Bruce Alexander Mr Burgess
Susie Blake Bev Unwin
James Bolam Sir Achibald Flint (audio book: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
Betty Boothroyd
June Brown Eleanor (The Time Warrior) Dot Cotton
Richenda Carey
Craig Cash
Helen Coker
Roger Cook
Lindsay Duncan Adelaide Brooke (The Waters of Mars)
Andrew Dunn Max (Scream of the Shalka) Roger Stiles / Laurie Dyson
Richard E. Grant “The Doctor (The Curse of Fatal Death)
The Doctor (Scream of the Shalka)
Doctor Simeon (The Snowmen)”
Hannah Gordon Kirsty McClaren (The Highlanders)
Shobna Gulati Ameena Sunita Alahan / Parekh
Charlie Hicks
Nichola Holt
Adrian Hood
Celia Imrie
Philip Jackson Smitty
Derek Jacobi Professor Yana (Utopia)
Hugh Laurie
Robert Lindsay
Geraldine McEwan
Bob Monkhouse
Deborah Moore
Roger Moore
Michael Parkinson
Bill Paterson Bracewell (Victory of the Daleks / Pandorica Opens)
Maxine Peake Belinda Peach
Billie Piper Rose Tyler (2005-2010)
Pete Postlethwaite Detective Sergeant Cross
Anne Reid Florence Finnegan (Smith and Jones) Valerie Barlow / Tatlock
Alan Rickman
Paul Rider Howard
Angela Rippon
Amy Robbins
Emma Robbins
Kate Robbins
Ted Robbins Officer McAlister / DJ
Delia Smith
Kathy Staff Vera Hopkins / Customer
Joe Starrs
Imelda Staunton Interface (The Girl Who Waited)
Alan Titchmarsh
Julie Walters
Ian “H” Watkins
Jim Watson
Honeysuckle Weeks
Penelope Wilton Harriet Jones (2005-2008)
Anna Wing Anatta (Kinda: Part One) Lou Beale
Bernard Wrigley Chauffeur / Comedian
Totals 14/54 6/54 11/54

[Movies] Brave or Braver

Is it really non-commercial “piracy” “killing” the movie industry, or is it due to things like this which I saw in Sainsbury’s a month ago.

Yep, Disney/Pixar’s “Brave” has only very recently gone in the cinema, yet “Brightspark” has “Braver” out about the “Bravest Princess in all time”..

Hmm…

TV: BBC Apologies for Graham Norton IPP in Doctor Who

Last night, myself and many others had our experience of Doctor Who interrupted due to an “In-Programme Promotion” for Graham Norton’s “Over The Rainbow” which followed Doctor Who. The BBC has, via their news site, released an apology headed “Doctor Who fans angered by trailer for Over the Rainbow” which said:

Thousands of Doctor Who fans have contacted the BBC to complain that the ending of Saturday night’s episode was ruined by a trailer for the next show.

The on-screen caption featured an animated cartoon of presenter Graham Norton, host of Over the Rainbow.

It appeared as The Doctor, played by Matt Smith, was making an emotional speech during the story’s cliffhanger ending for The Time of Angels.

The trailer was seen by millions of viewers watching on BBC One in England.

Fans have also been complaining on social networking site Twitter. One wrote: “Why is the BBC treating its audience like idiots?”

Another said: “Don’t blink or Graham Norton will catch you.”

The BBC often promotes programmes in this way but the corporation has acknowledged that in this case the scheduling was inappropriate.

A BBC spokesman said: “We apologise for the timing of Saturday night’s trail.”

When I sent in my complaint regarding this matter, I did ask for the BBC to contact me regarding this matter, but I still haven’t received even an acknowledgement from them. This is the first time I have seen an IPP on the BBC – I know I don’t watch a lot of TV now, but I’m sure I would have seen them before now if they “often promote[d] programmes in this way”…