A couple of Christmas treats...

Despite my initial reservations, BBC1's reboot of Dracula turned out to be a corker. I was dubious about many of the changes to the original novel - Jonathan Harker not escaping Transylvania, Lord Holmwood's links to a secret society being the cause of Dracula actually coming to England, and Van Helsing not being the super demon-hunter he usually us - but they all worked beautifully and were necessary to condense Bram Stoker's weighty tome down to an hour and a half.

Marc Warren was brilliant as the Count, though Dan Stevens was excellent as the feckless interpretation of Holmwood, whose desire to find a cure for syphilis resulted in the bloodbath.

The night before, The Ruby in the Smoke offered similar chills to a more family-friendly audience. Having not read Philip Pullman's source novel, the story seemed confused with rather too much going on in too little time. A two-part adaptation would perhaps worked better, or would taking a few liberties with the plot as Dracula chose. Still, it was a rollicking story, not afraid to shy-away from death, full of adventure and intrigue. Billie Piper was, as ever, brilliant , Matt Smith was a great cockney clerk Jim, and Julie Walters aced as the murderous Mrs Holland I wasn't always entirely sure what was going on, but enjoyed it from start to finish.

The follow-up, The Shadow in the North, is due later in 2007 and I'll be looking forward to it. Though it may be a good idea to read the novel first...

Yawn, it's Corrie

Corrie's got problems. A couple years back, it was great at doing big plots with a myriad mini storylines going on around them. Now, the big plots have become absurd, taking EastEnders-style liberties with character development, and the mini-stories are just dull.

The biggest fault is that the writers are building up supposedly huge plots that are either not very interesting or just totally untrue to the characters they involve. Not only was Danny Baldwin's exit storyline a vast anticlimax, the idea of Frankie accepting Jamie is a lover was just implausible. Now we have Tracy Barlow plotting to frame Charlie for domestic violence (which should be a great plot), before killing him. Turning Tracy into a killer is just as stupid as turning Katy Harris into a killer. It's a waste of a good character and does nothing to showcase the skills of a great actress.

Let's hope 2007 sees a return to a more realistic, character-based soap which rewards viewers with great storylines for a great cast.

So, was the extremely lacklustre demise of Pauline Fowler really all it seemed?

There's much speculation about Sonia's part in Pauline's death, but could a quick slap really be enough to fell a soap matriarch? Perhaps, and I'm hoping there is more to this story. Though Sonia seems the most likely scapegoat for the death, and will be leaving the Square in quite a hurry in a few weeks time (though that won't be the last we see of her), I can't help thinking that a far better plot would see Pauline's dull, former criminal husband Joe being responsible, paving the way for a happyish ending for Martin and Sonia.

Then again, when I really think about it, I don't actually care either way...

Not long to go now...

The Big Issue...

...why isn't Little Britain as funny as it used to be?

Have the characters just become too familiar? Is it the show's growing dependence on typical BBC1 viewers finding all references to anything gay slightly risque and thus not bothering with a punchline when there's any implied homosexuality? Is it that there are now fewer, but longer, sketches each edition? Have Walliams and Lucas just given up on trying to put anything amusing into Tom Baker's commentary?

I just don't know, but watching an edition from series one on BBC3 before last night's Little Britain Abroad just made the drop in quality distressingly apparent. There are still touches of genius, and the throwaway references to popular culture (Lou and Andy getting Jeremy Kyle and Trisha mixed up, Vicky Pollard reading tacky Reveal magazine) do set Little Britain apart from the myriad new sketch shows clogging up BBC3/E4 schedules.

Last night's highlights were Steve Coogan joining Lou and Andy in a Lost spoof, Bubbles taking on Ronnie Corbett, mad Ann at the Louvre and Carol Beer becoming a holiday rep. But it's time to wield the axe to other characters, especially one-joke Daffydd, the WI pukers and the interminable Sebastian. Quite a few series one characters have never been seen again, and thus the likes of Little Dennis Waterman, crazy Scottish hotelier Ray McCooney and Molly Sugden's bridesmaid haven't been ruined by lack of new material and overkilled catchphrases.

I hope there is a fourth series of Little Britain, but with a host of new characters and new ideas for old favourites.

Over the TOTP

Just briefly, we were treated today to a Top of the Pops Christmas special. Why? Presumably to remind us why it was axed in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, TV needs Top of the Pops, life isn't the same without it. But the show was in a very bad way, dating back to the arrival of Chris Cowey and his belief that despite what the record-buying public may be snapping up, all that counted on TOTP were bands with guitars who could sing along live to a recorded backing track. TOTP died when decided to take the pop out of it.

So today, we treated to a variety of artists including many I love such as the Automatic and the Feeling - neither of whom had number one singles this year. SO WHY WERE THEY ON? Sandy Thom did have a chart-topper but is now so univserally derided that she should have her broadband disconnected to avoid avoid another faux record-breaking net concert. There was no Robbie, no Take That... The producers just have no idea how to make good pop music into good TV. Please bring back TOTP, but bring in someone who cares about pop to run it.

The King is Dead

Christmas Emmerdale was fantastic. And not just because of it's special Harry Potter-esque music and murderous conclusion.

Unusually for a soap, there were lots of references to the programmes past - Robert and Sarah Sugden, Vic Windsor, Zoe and Jean Tate all being remembered by the locals. And the time taken to (successfully) try to make husky minx Jo more sympathetic was also well spent. In an episode billed as being the start of the biggest murder mystery in soap history, small touches such as these proved why Emmerdale is a better all-round soap than any other.

But it wasn't just about the past. Linda Thorson as conniving lady of the manor Rosemary is simply brilliant, demonstrating a sense of self-preservation and inane fashion taste that would do Steph Stokes proud. And I'm surprised how Perdy has become a fully fleshed character, looking set to step into that Zoe Tate-sized gap left in the village.

As for who did it - I really don't care as I know the show's writers will have the perfect solution up their sleeves.

Russell's Out of Control

I know I'm not meant to think, let alone say, this... but, isn't Doctor Who becoming rather, well, bad?

Supposedly we're now supposed to look on the festive specials as the main Christmas treat (in much the same way Only Fools and Horses used to be thrust upon us), and indeed, last year's effort was rather good. This year's, however, was rather poor.

Which makes me angry for two reason. One: I really, really, really want to love Doctor Who and become absorbed in new and old episodes - I'm a geek and I would love to be geeky about British sci-fi. Secondly: I've always argued that it's impossible to make a bad piece of TV if Sarah Parish is involved.

Please could someone reign Russell T Davies in. Slapstick can be good, but only if it's balanced with real drama and a sense of danger. I want to be the tinsiest bit scared and have my brain challenged just a smidgen. The first series of the rebooted Doctor Who was smashing, but there's a sense of complacency now which really needs to be eliminated. And while David Tennant should be the ideal Time Lord, he's just turned into a gurning know-it-all. Following the loss of Rose, we were promised the Doctor would be in a 'dark place' and it would have been great to see a dark, disillusioned Doctor in this episode, struggling to care about humankind. And let's not even start on Catherine Tate's performance...

Come on series three, please be really good. I want to be proved wrong on this one.

Duet: Very Impossible

How bad was Duet Impossible.

Veeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy bad, if that's even an answer.

Is being dead not even enough of an excuse to get out of appearing on dreary Vernon Kay fronted shows? Stars of yesteryear were collectively rolling in their graves as modern popsters were given the chance to sing over vintage performances by some of the world's toppermost stars.

Basically, someone at th BBC saw that self-agrandising advert for Radio 2 and thought, let's make a show out of that and persuade some grinning ninny to host it.

Aaarggh, I still furious about it and I've had five hours to recover. Worst bit? Vernon's sycopahntic intro for Boy George who apparently was the biggest star in the world in the 1980s. On what planet? The very fact that George was dueting with himself only adds to the creepy, grave-robbing feel of the whole show. Please don't let them make a series of this tripe.

Never Mind the Old Men

Amstell's doing a fine job on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. For the first time in five years, the show appears to be even slightly contempory and the guests are actually given a chance to chat and be funny. The only remaining problems are the grumpy old men team captains - Jupitas and Bailey (who in any other circumstance, I love) need to given their marching orders. It's embarassing to see them attempting to understand what's going on and trying to crowbar their age-old material into the show.

Christmas Eve Casualties

Now, I've not watched Casualty for ages, believing it to be in the doldrums and never likely to recapture the whole Patrick/Lara era that pretty much died when Dr Spiller keeled over into soup a good few years back. But last time Casualty was good, it had just had a reboot and fancy new opening credits featuring the cast in a variety of mean and moody poses. And guess what, Casualty now has fancy new opening credits featuring the cast in a variety of mean and moody poses, albeit only a few of medics have made it onto the new intro and the music has been composed by satan.

Never-the-less, tonight we discovered why Ellen hadn't made it onto the opening when, while chasing a Munchausen-by-Proxy-suffering Holly Aird out of the hospital, she ran into a motorbike (curiously from three different angles) and her skull caved in. Naturally the ED staff were a tad traumatised, especially as they had just saved Josh from injuries sustained during a knife attack by the aforementioned mad Ms Aird. Josh, however, was always going to be safe as he does appear on the opening titles (despite soon to leave in happier circumstances).

But yes, Casualty appears to finding it's feet again, despite an influx of pixie-faced paramedics, familiar looking northern doctors and apparently inbred, tinsil-haired nurses. The whole episode was filled with a sense of dread, not least because I wanted rumours of Ellen's demise to be greatly exaggerated. Poor Ellen - you were an evil immigrant involved with the mafia/triad/some other eastern European cartel, who forced people to marry you, stole from them and then had cancer. But then you went on Strictly Come Dancing and had a nice new haircut and all was forgiven. Why were you sacrificed thus?

A couple of final thoughts - is Holby so big that the area where Josh was stabbed was snowy, but the location of Ellen's running down could be so sunny? Why do all patients in Holby A&E appear to be from Bristol, but all those in the wards upstairs are cockney? And who'd have thought Josh would have had such a lovely hairy chest?