tonycorsini

I found the first series unexpectedly funny. The writing is fresh and delightfully obscene! The young writer has had the courage to put lines and topics into a sitcom that have not been used before, but which people make jokes about all the time in real life. The cast, particularly the girls are superb and seem the fit the roles like a glove. So what if the show is a little like Friends, set in Runcorn - so long as it's funny! The show is let down by the laughter track - in an odd reversal of the usual criticism - it is not strong enough. I have been creasing myself with laughter with some lines only to hear silence from the recorded audience. The repeated viewing of the first series was even better - which is always a good sign. I am glad that the Beeb has agreed to a second series despite the criticism.

I have not seen the new series yet but I am looking forward to it coming to terrestrial soon.

I remember watching this, knowing it was a piece of fiction, and still being more scared than any other TV programme. Goodness knows what those people who believed it to be a live factual programme thought. (To be fair it was not the BBC's fault - there was a warning before the programme and I seem to remember the word "drama" in most listings). I can understand the Beeb not wanting to put the programme out on air again - but they could release it on video/dvd to satisfy the fans, surely that would not cause any panic and it has been long enough not to be an embarrassement to them anymore?

Film made during a tour of Japan by the pop band Frank Chickens (a Japanese band based in the UK since the early 1980s). We start with the marriage of leading band member Kazuko Hohki to her boyfriend, record producer Grant Showbiz. Through a series of interviews, principly with fellow band member Chika Nakagawa, we see the different attitudes to marriage in modern Japan. We also get a fascinating glimpse of Kazuko's mother: an eccentric priestess of her own religion who also sang and told jokes. Kazuko has been touring the UK and Europe with a one-women multimedia show about the life of her mother ("Toothless") since the late 1990s.