YOU have to take most TV awards ceremonies with a large pinch of salt.
The decision to give an award to one person, and not another, can often be baffling.
Take, for example, the case of Life On Mars’ star John Simm.
So far he has been shamefully neglected when it comes to awards.
But sometimes the people who vote for these things get it right.
Today it was the turn of the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) at a glitzy event in London.
Coronation Street’s Kym Ryder was named Soap Personality of the Year.
Life On Mars was voted TV Crime Programme of the Year.
And the equally marvellous Cranford took away the prize for TV Drama Programme of the Year.
Author: ianwylie
HE denied the rumour last year after speculation in the tabloids.
And James Nesbitt again ruled it out when asked this afternoon if he was the next Doctor Who.
“Definitely not. No.”
But would he like to play a guest role?
“No. I don’t know if they were ever interested in me as Doctor Who.
“The problem is, you kind of read these things in the paper and you begin to believe them.
“I’m the last person that should believe everything I read in the papers, and yet I do.
“No, I couldn’t follow Chris or David. I thought they were both brilliant.
“But also it’s not really something that was my…I didn’t really grow up with it.
“Although my kids love it now.
HE’S hardly recognisable as the man who fell from a tree in Cranford.
But watch out for Andrew Buchan, who played carpenter Jem Hearne in the BBC1 costume drama.
He takes the lead tonight in a new ITV1 drama series – after an impressive performance at the press launch early last month.
The Bolton-raised actor was relaxed, articulate and handled the media like an old pro.
He plays hired killer John Mercer in The Fixer, as you can read in Friday’s MEN interview with Andrew, 29, here.
Some actors are naturally defensive when being interviewed, fearing the press are out to expose them in some way.
Others go with the flow and recognise most of us simply want to report the facts accurately and spark the interest of readers.
THERE’S a real treat this week for Gene Hunt fans.
It involves The Guv, a gun and a plate glass window.
Someone, somewhere, just has to turn it into a poster.
It’s an iconic moment in another great episode of Ashes To Ashes.
Episode six, written by Mick Ford, might just top everything we’ve seen before.
After a scintillating start, it’s a spine-tingling, scary and emotional ride to the end titles.
Then, just as the hairs on the back of your neck are pleading for rest, there’s a real shock in the trailer for episode seven.
Fans of the sexual chemistry between Gene and Alex should order in catering packs of pink wafers.
Philip Glenister is at his imperious best as DCI Hunt roars off to solve a Post Office blag.
THE police search continues at the former children’s home in Jersey at the centre of an abuse investigation.
I’ve taken a particular interest in the story since it first broke last month.
Later series of BBC1 detective drama Bergerac used the building to depict the HQ of the fictional Bureau des Etrangers.
And it’s a remote spot in the parish of St Martin that I know well.
I visit Jersey at least once every year and usually make my way along the winding country roads to Haut de la Garenne.
Not to visit the building itself – used in recent years as a youth hostel.
But to park in the quiet country lane directly outside.
That’s my hire car in the below pic, parked where Jersey Police deputy chief officer Lenny Harper now stands to give press briefings.
Walk a short distance along that country lane, behind where I stood to take the photo, turn right and you find yourself at the top of a private road.
THE jeans are tight and the hair big when you step back in time on the set of hit TV drama Ashes To Ashes.
It’s 1981, nearly dinnertime and former Sheriff of Manchester Gene Hunt is wearing in his cowboy boots as Alex Drake adjusts her perm.
The job of ensuring actors Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes look the part, along with the rest of the cast, is down to costume designer Rosie Hackett, who spent months researching the era.
There’s an interview with Rosie in today’s MEN but, like Chris Skelton in his white jeans, it was slightly squeezed for space.
So I thought fans might like the option of reading this fuller version online.
Rosie’s father Bert Hackett is a celebrated cartoonist for The Birmingham Post but started as a graphic illustrator at the MEN.
She began her own career as a fashion stylist on music videos in the later Eighties, including several for Annie Lennox. “You can work off memory, which is exciting because it all starts to come back to you,” explains Rosie.
ALEX Drake walks with dinosaurs in this week’s visit to 1981.
We’ve already seen her dead on a 2008 slab in the trailer, with that single bullet wound to the forehead.
There’s more to see as those visions and flashbacks continue in Ashes To Ashes.
Episode five – surely we can’t be over half-way already? – is destined to be known as “The Gay Episode”.
It’s yet another great hour of TV. Well, 56 minutes and 13 seconds if you’re being pedantic.
Dan Fredenburgh guests as ruthless killer and drug dealer Simon Neary with Russell Tovey as his young boyfriend Marcus.
Highlights? There are many:
*The fury of Gene Hunt, making his mark.
THE TV world can throw up stories which have to be treated with caution.
It’s an old game played by certain sections of the media.
Speculate about something that may happen – even if you have no real facts to back it up.
Then weeks or months later you can run another report saying whatever it was is not going to happen after all.
Take the tale last year about Michelle Collins making a possible return to EastEnders.
The fact that her character Cindy Beale is dead didn’t get in the way of the speculation.
Her death could have been faked – or she might even return as a ghost, it was claimed.
All of which left the actress herself totally baffled.
“That was a bit weird,” said Michelle.
THE flight from Manchester touches down next month for a new series of a rare sight on ITV1.
Benidorm is back for a second spell by the pool with a sunshine script from Derren Litten.
ITV has struggled in recent years to produce a decent sitcom.
But while not to everyone’s taste, Benidorm might just have cracked the problem.
We saw the first two episodes in the second series at the press launch in London yesterday, ahead of interviews with the ensemble cast.
Many return from the first series, including Johnny Vegas, Steve Pemberton, Siobhan Finneran, Janine Duvitski and Abigail Cruttenden.
And there are also guest appearances from ex-EastEnder Wendy Richard and Margi Clark.
Wendy is sprayed with squirted sun cream during a duel by the pool.
She later ends up being pushed into the water.
STEADY now, ladies.
Gene Hunt looks particularly windswept and interesting as he emerges from his red Audi Quattro this week.
Even better, The Guv has finally got Luigi to serve him a pint of beer.
Episode four of Ashes To Ashes is, in my humble opinion, the best yet.
To cut a long story short, it’s a tale of murder, spooks, feminists and that shock for Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes).
Gene (Philip Glenister) reckons murder is always about “money, sex or bloody women”.
Writer Mark Greig gives him some great lines, including one that should become standard issue against conspiracy theories.
There are poignant scenes as Alex goes back to her 1981 childhood home, filled with precious memories.
Life of Wylie 