100 Best Repeats

‘THERE are few things the papers like more than those “100 greatest” polls.

‘Gis some credit’

They are a ready-made “talking point” which fill up half a page and allow the reproduction of a load of old archive pictures, usually including at least one nice deep cleavage.

Today’s cleavage is Alison Steadman’s, which immediately alerts you to the fact that Abigail’s Party is in the list, and that this must therefore be The Nation’s Best Programmes.

And just in case you were in any doubt about it, Civilisation is on the list, so it must be – even though nobody under 30 has ever seen more than a thirty-second clip of it on some “100 Greatest” show.

”From A (for Abigail) to Z (for Cars) are these the best programmes ever made?” asks the Independent. And at this point we here at Anorak must apologise to readers by rising to the bait and say: “No.” Or rather: “NO”.

In fact, make that: “Aaaaargh! NO-O-O-O-OOO!”

And, since everyone else seems to have had their two penny’s worth, here are three reasons to be getting on with.

1) Abigail’s Party is very good, but it looks like an old sitcom when compared to his brilliant Nuts In May. 2) Alan Bleasdale’s The Boys From the Blackstuff is the most over-rated programme ever, apart from his GBH. 3) And possibly The Singing Detective.

The End’

Posted: 27th, August 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink