Author Archive for Heather

Heather’s Pick of the Day | Thursday 2 July

 Reaper series 2

9pm, Reaper, E4
NEW SERIES Sam, Sock and Ben are back, but Sam’s still reeling from the news that he’s the son of Satan. As if life couldn’t get any worse, he manages to lose his job and his apartment tonight. There is light at the end of the tunnel though, courtesy of another escaped soul who wrangled his way out of a devilish deal…
catch it again at on E4+1, 10pm/Saturday, 6pm

9pm, My Own Worst Enemy, Sci-Fi & HD
Henry thinks he’s meeting with an FBI agent, but when he admits that Edward works for Janus, the agent pulls a gun on him, and it leads to some very interesting information about Norah Skinner.
• catch it again Saturday, 8pm

9pm & 10pm, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Hallmark
The first of tonight’s episodes is entitled Please Note We are No Longer Accepting Letters of Recommendation from Henry Kissinger’, unless you haven’t got a widescreen telly, in which case it’ll just be ‘No Longer Accepting Letters of Recommendation’ which just sounds like they’re fed up with aspiring scriptwriters.
• catch them again tomorrow night, 8pm & 9pm

9pm, The Mentalist, Five
A socialite is murdered at a party at her home, and a napkin with a particularly vicious message is found at the scene. Unfortunately, for all the social niceties of her circle of friends, there’s really not a lot of love lost between the ladies, and it’s not easy to narrow down the list of suspects.  
catch it again, Sunday, 7pm on Five US

10pm, Lie to Me, Sky1 & Sky HD
In an eventful episode, Cal reveals things about his past when he becomes obsessed with a series of suicides, and Torres notices that the case is taking its toll on him. Meanwhile, Gillian and Eli help the Feds determine whether the head of a Wall Street investment firm really did ‘lose’ hundreds of millions from investors.
• catch it again on Sunday, 11pm

10pm, Private Practice, Living
A couple come to the clinic to find out why they can’t conceive, but there’s a shocking outcome. Brace yourselves, it’s even crazier than you might imagine. Cooper turns to estranged pal Violet for help when he realises he has head lice, and during a touching moment of hair-washing he confesses about his affair with Charlotte. It’s like one of those ads that try to make lice shampoo sexy. 
• catch it again on Living+1, 11pm/Living+2, 12m’t/Wednesday, 8pm

Competition time | Fill that Lost-shaped void in your life with Messages from the Island

Lost- Messages from the Island

No Lost, no Fringe - life without a regular dose of JJ Abrams is unbelievably dull at times, but we’ve found something which may help to stave off the withdrawal symptoms we’re going through… Messages from the Island!

Thankfully we’re not undergoing traumatic flashbacks, and there’s no sign of any nosebleeds yet - Messages from the Island is actually the official retrospective of the show so far, compiling the best bits of Lost: The Official Magazine into one big bumper book, with features on how the show came into being, interviews with cast and crew members, publicity shots and behind-the-scenes photographs. That’s more than enough to help you get through the months until series six begins.

The wonderful chaps at Titan Books have given us 3 copies of the book to give away. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one is answer this extremely diffiult question:

Q. What is the name on the hydrogen bomb that was on the island in 1954?

Email us your answer, with ‘Lost competition’ clearly marked in the subject line, at tvspy@ipcmedia.com. The competition will close at midnight on Thursday 9th July.

PLEASE NOTE: We cannot accept entries submitted via the comments section of our blog. All entries must be via email.

We will collect your personal email data solely to process your competition entry. Prize will be awarded to the first correct entry drawn at random under independent supervision after the competition closes at midnight on Thursday 9th July.  We will notify the winners by email within 21 days of this closing date. The prize consists of one copy each of Lost: Messages from the Island. Promoter: IPC Media. Prize Supplier: Titan Books.

For full terms and conditions see here

In the latest issue of TV & Satellite Week…

WK28 cover - Torchwood

Captain Jack is back at the helm in Torchwood, and we’ve got the lowdown on the latest alien invasion in a special week-long five-part series.

Charlie Brooker takes on a new role, hosting a comedy panel quiz about the weird and wonderful world of telly called You Have Been Watching.

• Fans of Drop the Dead Donkey will be pleased to hear the Beeb has a new satirical comedy all about the world of TV news crews, Taking the Flak, starring Martin Jarvis and Doon Mackichan.

TV Spy has its regular weekly round-up of all the big events in this week’s US dramas, including the nail-biting finale of Dexter.

• We preview brand new drama Defying Gravity, starring Sex and the City star Ron Livingston as one of a group of astronauts who unravel a sinister mystery on their latest out-of-this-world trip.

Plus, the best listings for Sky, Virgin and Freeview readers, complete with a dedicated HD section. Get it before the aliens invade!  Click on the pages below for a closer look…

An apology to all our readers

Dear readers

We are extremely sorry for the production error that’s occurred in this week’s edition of TV & Satellite Week (listings dated 20-26 June 2009), which resulted in the previous week’s film listings pages incorrectly appearing in the magazine.

PDF versions of the correct pages can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

Please be assured, everyone at TV & Satellite Week does their utmost every week to produce accurate, up-to-date listings for you. We know that you rely on us for this, and we are very sorry to have let you down on this occasion.

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In the latest issue of TV & Satellite Week…

WK27 Cover

David Caruso talks about being a dad, being impersonated by Jim Carrey, and what’s coming up in the brand new series of CSI: Miami.

Reaper star Bret Harrison tells us why life’s about to get even more hellish for his character, Sam.

• Remember 1980s teenage heart-throbs like Baywatch’s David Chokachi, The Blue Lagoon’s Christopher Atkins and TJ Hooker’s Adrian Zmed? They’re all preparing to relaunch their career via the wonders of reality TV in Confessions of a Teen Idol. You won’t believe what they look like now!

• We find out what actor Lisa Edelstein is really like when she’s not putting up with nonsense from House.

Plus, all the latest on the runners and riders including Dexter, Ghost Whisperer and Ugly Betty, and top quality listings (yes, the film pages are definitely the right ones this week!)

As always, click on the images below for a closer look.

Missed Virgin1’s new show The Life and Times of Tim? There’s still time to catch up

Life and Times of Tim

First and foremost, apologies to those of you who rely on us to flag up the hidden gems on cable and satellite - we completely forgot to mention Virgin1’s new animated comedy, The Life and Times of Tim, which debuted on Tuesday night.

The good news is you can catch the first episode again tonight, on Virgin1, at 11pm. Tim is one of those blokes who always finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ends up in heaps of trouble with his girlfriend, his co-workers and just about everyone he meets. He’s like a younger cartoon version of Larry David - and if you like that sort of humour, you’ll like Tim.

Check out Virgin1’s website dedicated to the show, watch the trailer below (NSFW - not even on a Friday), or cringe along with Tim tonight at 11pm.

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Heather’s Pick of the Day | Thursday 11 June

My Own Worst Enemy

9pm, My Own Worst Enemy, Sci-Fi & HD
NEW SERIES Christian Slater gets his first big telly role as a mild-mannered family man who is horrified to discover he’s got a government-implanted micro-chip in his brain that means he turns into a violent superspy when his controllers flick a switch, and his life gets exceedingly complicated as his two worlds collide.
• catch it again Saturday, 8pm

9pm & 10pm, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Hallmark
Hallmark are speeding things up with their new Thursday night double-bills of the show. Goren tries to win brownie points with an undercover op at a prison psychiatric ward where his nephew’s an inmate; and Logan and Falacci investigate the execution-style murder of three young college freshmen.
• catch them again tomorrow night, 8pm & 9pm

9pm, The Mentalist, Five
Jane’s sceptical when a local witch is suspected of being responsible for the murder of a local teenager who had terrorised her cat, but the normally cynical Cho gets caught up in her spellbinding ways.  
catch it again, Sunday, 7pm on Five US

9pm, My Name Is Earl, E4
Earl tries to make amends with a man he once bullied at school, but it turns out little Wally is now a muscle-clad bodybuilder… Meanwhile, Randy injects some shark adrenaline to help him stand up to Joy.
catch it again at on E4+1, 10pm/Saturday, 7pm

10pm, Lie to Me, Sky1 & Sky HD
A notorious gang leader claims to have turned his back on a life of crime, and wants to be freed from jail, but Torres finds it hard to keep her emotions at bay as they interrogate him since he’s responsible for so many ruined lives in her community.
• catch it again on Sunday, 11pm

10pm, Californication, Fiver
Hank decides to do some digging on Ashby, so he tries to find his lost love, Janie Jones, and Charlie comes up with the genius idea of turning his home into the set of his movie, becoming a part of the film.
• catch it again on Wednesday, 10pm

10pm, Grey’s Anatomy, Living
It’s not so much ‘bring your parent to work’ day at Seattle Grace, more ‘find a way to get your parent to leave again’ as Meredith’s dad turns up begging for forgiveness, and Izzie’s mum (guest star Sharon Lawrence) makes an unscheduled stop at her sick bed.
• catch it again on Living+1, 11pm/Living+2, 12m’t/Wednesday, 8pm

10pm, Brothers & Sisters, More4
Holly and Sarah lock horns dring Ojai’s so-called unity party, and as Kitty continues to toy with the idea of having an affair, she’s haunted by memories of her philandering father.
• catch it again on More4+1, 11pm

US shows we’re looking forward to | True Blood

 True Blood

We’ve been waiting for True Blood to cross the Atlantic since Spring, but it’s probably for the best that it didn’t come along earlier, what with Lost and Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters and Dexter and everything else that we had to watch!

Anyway, it’s going to be on FX this July, and we’re very very excited about it.

In a small Louisiana town, vampires have gone mainstream, thanks to the creation of synthetic blood, and have a fragile co-existence with the humans there. Anna Pacquin seems to be channelling Holly Hunter in her portrayal of Sookie, a young woman who has an ability to hear other people’s thoughts. Sookie draws the attention of a vampire called Bill, and the two develop an unlikely relationship. Unfortunately, not all the local vampires are keen on drinking fake blood, and their attacks on humans lead to a vigilante group forming against the bloodsuckers.

The show is extremely dark (visually and emotionally!), and was one of the lucky shows that got the green light for a second series in the US, so you can rest assured that you’re not going to get addicted to something that gets canned!

Here’s the trailer. FX will also be showing it on their HD channel, so you can enjoy all the blood and gore in detail. Nice.

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This week’s ‘WTF???’ moment - Patrick Duffy chatting with a stuffed crab

Every so often at TV Spy HQ, something comes along that makes us go ‘what the figgy pudding???’ (what did you think I meant?)

This series of clips has elicited just such a reaction. Patrick Duffy, the man who melted women’s hearts all through the 1980s with his portrayal of loving husband and scrupulous oil baron Bobby Ewing in Dallas, finds the time to hang out with a big stuffed crab puppet, shooting the breeze and mulling over such dilemmas as whether it’s safe to eat a dime, what Facebook is, and whether or not he’d have a threesome with Courtney Cox.

Enjoy - we’ll put more of these up as we find them. Right now I’m off to see if that crab really is on Facebook. I could do with a new ringtone…

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Is Dominic Monaghan returning to Lost as Charlie?

ABC have been running teaser trailers for some of their new shows and their returning dramas, including Courtney Cox’s new vehicle Cougartown (more of that anon), Grey’s Anatomy and, of course, Lost… So when we saw THIS trailer, we thought they were giving us a sneaky heads-up on season six of Lost.

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How could they bring Charlie back? Would he be a ghost in Hurley’s head? Or were the gang going to have time-travelled to a bygone era before the munchkin rocker was consigned to a watery grave?

What we have now learned is that we really need to calm down with our fevered speculations! Word on the street is Monaghan is going to be joining the cast of another ABC show as a series regular.

Oh dear, pass the paracetamol - I can feel some more feverish guesswork coming on… What show will it be?