As the country is swept up in Jubilee Fever it’s starting to feel like there’s not a lot on TV again, aside from Jubilee celebrations, sporting events, endless Olympic preparations and the same advert again and again for the millionth series of Big Brother (starting on Tuesday.)
It’s normal that the best TV winds down over the summer to give us time for holidays and BBQs without missing our favourite shows. Two such historic events as the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics will only make this even more true in Summer 2012, but it’s nice to know there’s some light at the end of the TV tunnel.
So here are just a few recently-announced new series we have to look forward to:
Superstar, ITV1
After Holly Willoughby was poached by the Beeb, ITV have responded by stealing Andrew Lloyd Webber (a comparable pair in so many ways) complete with his latest search-for-a-leading-man/woman [delete as applicable] show Superstar. Soon we can expect live shows containing the melted-wellington-boot-faced Lord, flanked by comedienne Dawn French and Jason Donovan hoping to discover the Messiah. Or at least someone to play him in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has switched sides
My Fat, Mad, Teenage Diary, Channel 4
No, this isn’t the latest look-at-this-freak “documentary”. Adapted from a book based on the real diaries of Rae Earl, Channel 4 promises us ‘a warm, hilarious and honest’ new drama series, following the story of an overweight sixteen-year old girl growing up in mid-90s Lincolnshire. It’s ‘a coming of age show about a fat, funny girl who – despite a bonkers mother and her own mental health issues – has a huge lust for life, love and Liam Gallagher.’
The Bletchley Circle, ITV1
This four-part WWII drama will star actresses Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House, South Ridings etc) and Julie Graham (Survivors) as two Bletchley Park code-breakers, plucked from their post-war lives to solve a murder. It’s billed as combining ‘a vivid portrait of postwar Britain with a taut and original thriller’.
The Voice KIDS??? BBC1
It’s hard to believe this will actually happen but The Voice‘s Dutch creator John de Mol is trying his best to pitch The Voice for 8-14 year olds to the Beeb. Apparently it’s been a massive hit in Holland and he thinks it’ll make up for disappointing ratings of the regular version here. It’s a fairly hideous thought though, Will.i.am telling a poor little 8-year-old ‘you were dope’. But these days, who knows? Watch this space!