Brilliant game of tennis on the telly tonight as Andy Murray messed up the BBC schedules with a four hour, prime-time thriller under the new roof and lights of Wimbledon. Can’t believe we have to sit through three more games like that if we’re to finally have a British winner.  Also, very happy that it’s not Torchwood this week… you don’t want to upset the Who-fans, ya know.

He was never going to be a person who died quietly in his old age. His eccentric, contraversial life was never out of the headlines and very often for all the wrong reasons. It has now been confirmed, after a couple of hours of internet fuelled speculation, that Michael Jackson has died. I can’t say I was a huge fan of his music despite there being some fantastic tunes sprinkled through his back catalogue, but I’m certainly feeling a little shocked at the news. I get the feeling that this “story” is going to go the way of Diana’s death, where all semblance of proportion will disappear. Expect much wailing, fields of flowers, a slew of sick jokes on the internet, and more column inches, online and on paper, than you ever thought possible. Rest in Peace, Wacko.

Do You Remember
When We Fell In Love
We Were Young
And Innocent Then
Do You Remember
How It All Began
It Just Seemed Like Heaven
So Why Did It End?

I must point out though that when I see John Barrowman in character he remains solely as Captain Jack to me, never straying in to his Mr Saturday Night persona from those interminable talent shows and quizzes, which I guess is some kind of testament to his acting ability. As an aside, I saw him on stage once in “A Few Good Men” at the Haymarket with Rob Lowe, and he was brilliant in that too. The rest of the cast also deliver, especially new mum-to-be Eve Myles whose wide-eyed but steadfastly honourable Gwen Cooper acts as the heart and soul of the programme.

The next series will be something of a departure. One story in five, one-hour chunks… Children of Earth will arrive in the next couple of weeks and I think, purely judging from the trailers, it’s going to be amazing. I am not usually one to judge in advance of seeing the show but I am willing to make an exception this time. In turns moody, dramatic, creepy and spectacular, the various virals doing the rounds on the web are incredibly satisfying and appetite whetting for what’s to come. BBC Press Release yesterday announced that Torchwood: Children of Earth will be shown over five consecutive nights in the week commencing Saturday 4th July but no indication so far, of whether that will be a Mon to Fri, Sun to Thu or even Sat to Wed. Whatever happens I will be tuned to BBC HD for the whole event. At the official launch, it was discovered that a 13-part “full” series 4 was ready to go if CoE gets the necessary bums on seats and it would seem that RTD is happy to continue to operate in this corner of the Whoniverse. So tell all your friends to tune in.

What are your expectations for Children of Earth? Looking forward to it or dreading it?

Guess who’s back to ruin/make* your summer? (*delete as applicable)

Well, the sun came along, gave us all a few days of warmth and sunshine and then disappeared to shatter those early promises of a long hot summer. Not to worry though because, if there’s one thing Brits like to talk about as much as the weather, it’s Big Brother.  Or Big Bloody Brother if you prefer. It’s always had a reputation as one of those love it or hate it “marmite” shows but this time around I get the sense that it’s missed its traditional polarising position in the schedules to become a little, so what?!

I took the opportunity to utilise Twitter through the launch show last week (with my unedited first thoughts about the housemates collected below for posterity) which gave the TV event a new twist for me. Use of hashtag, #BB10, is recommended if you want to join in. Charlie Brooker’s tweets were a particular treat and since then, Grace Dent (who hosted the Decade in the Headlines doc) has been hysterical.  Even Queen of BB, Davina herself, has been tweeting like a goodun and there are also a growing number of ex-housemates on there too, which gives the whole thing a faintly odd perspective. Usually, I like to say what I like about these people who put themselves up for this annual freakshow but it seems weirdly fitting that they now get to answer back, albeit only after they’ve left the house. Imagine my surprise when Nick “don’t call me nasty” Bateman started following me.  Hi Nick!!

This interaction and reaction is all well and good but Endemol / C4 / E4 seem to have committed a faux pas this year by removing the “live feed” for most of the day and limited it to a few overnight hours.  Given that the object of the exercise is to give viewers a voyeuristic opportunity to indulge in some people watching, it seems like an odd call. Campaigns are afoot to get it re-instated but who knows if they’ll be successful? The powers-that-be are quoting the fact that the cost of providing the live action is not worth it considering the small number of people who actually watch. Fair enough you might think but that misses the point… it is these uber-fans who watch and document and post and report on the goings-on that give the “average” viewer like me the reassurance that we are not being unnecessarily duped by unscrupulus editing of the evening show.

On the plus side, Little Brother and Big Mouth also return, with George Lamb and Davina respectively.  George is far better on his own than with the awful whats-her-face from last year and the one-hour format for both is much better. In the house itself though all seems a little flat.  The first night “twist” was a little low-brow, which I realise sounds like an exercise in stating the bleeding obvious but really, when did shaving eyebrows off become in any way entertaining? The housemates are perhaps a little less extreme than we have been used to or may be hoped for: may be this is a consequence of Rachel’s unmemorable victory last time out. Anyway, as always there is the potential for anything to happen and some interesting cracks are starting to appear along with some even more interesting alliances. Without further ado, here’s my first night tweets that prove nothing if not the fact that first impressions are rarely accurate….

#Siavash = “I don’t have any nicknames”…. I bet you do now. Splendid moustache though.

#Sree = Wearing a Geri Halliwell shirt. Could be an interesting one to watch. A real United Nations of BB this year.

#Saffia = “I hate everyone”…. slightly troubling that she’s a mother and a dental nurse. Chariot Saffia.

#Charlie = Isn’t he a bit like that nameless Geordie fella that won it a few year’s back? Well done on getting in the house quickly!

#Rodrigo = “I think England is turning me gay”. He seems like a nice, happy bloke.

#Sophia = Already has a career as a Blue Peter presenter lined up after she is evicted in week 5. Now hyperventilating on runway.

#Beinazir = She is so “street” she may as well be called Beinazir Avenue .

#Marcus = FOR THE WIN. That is all.

#Karly= Isn’t she already in the house?

#Angel = She’s not from round here, in a Chris Eubank kind of way.

#Cairon = “I feel weird wiping my own ass” riiiight. #BB10 I like him too…. what’s wrong with me?

#Noirin = Love the Irish. Teeth specially whitened for the event, need to turn down the contrast!

#Kris = Obviously asked to act like a tit for his promo (aren’t they all?) but I kind of like him.

#Sophie = Surely the public will turn against her quickly, haven’t we seen a million like her before?

#Lisa = will be interesting to see when the defences come down. Or may be Kitten re-incarnated

#Freddie seems like he’ll be good at winding the others up.