Strictly Come Dancing

Top entertainment TV for 2016

David Walliams, Lip Sync Battle, UK, Mel B, Professor Green

The year is coming to an end, it is time to remember fondly the past year’s television treats, and look forward to what 2016 will bring in TV entertainment.

 

Lip Sync Battle UK - Channel 5

This American import is being given a very special British makeover. Hosted by former Spice Girl Mel B and rapper Professor Green, the show will have all your favourite celebrities miming their hearts out for the studio audience’s votes. 

Lip Sync Battle UK starts on 8 January 2016

Bake Off rises to the top of 2015's most watched shows

Nadiya Hussain, Mary Berry, Bake Off, Paul Hollywood, Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc

Over half of the top 40 TV shows of 2015 aired on BBC One, according to research compiled by the Press Association from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb).

Despite an increase in viewers over the year, Channel 4 does not make the list, as BBC One fills 27 spots, and ITV takes the remaining 13 places. 

Strictly Come Dancing appeared 13 times in the list, making it the most consistently viewed show so far this year.

Lorraine Heggessey: Crises never go away

Lorraine Heggessey at the RTS London Christmas Lecture 2015

Top Gear was “an accident waiting to happen”, said Lorraine Heggessey, who told the audience enjoying her RTS London Christmas Lecture that she would have dealt with the programme’s presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, more quickly.

“Jeremy is a bit like a spoiled toddler,” she said. He had “crossed the line several times with quite racist remarks and got away with it”, added the former BBC and TalkbackThames executive.

Five things to look out for at this year's Children in Need

1. A brand new Star Wars sketch

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is out in December, but if you can't wait until then, there'll be an exclusive sketch tonight. R2-D2 and C-3PO will be joined by Warwick Davis (who played the Ewok Wicket in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) and Lord Sugar as they "attempt to find a worthy winner to help trigger the first BBC Children in Need totaliser of the night."

BBC unveils new heritage trail

Tony Hall, Tess Daly, Bruce Forsyth, Claudia Winkleman and Tim Davie unveil plaque at Television Centre (Credit: BBC)

The BBC has created a heritage trail celebrating its landmark buildings in London.

Director-General Tony Hall and BBC Worldwide CEO Tim Davie were joined yesterday by entertainment legend Bruce Forsyth and Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to unveil a heritage plaque at BBC Worldwide's new Television Centre headquarters.

Five further plaques will be unveiled at other London locations over the coming months, all recognising key moments in British broadcasting history.

Tony Hall: On a Rescue Mission

Tony Hall

For an insight into the day job of the BBC Director-General two years into his role, I pop into Tony Hall's plate-glass eyrie at New Broadcasting House. I arrive in the aftermath of one of the regular encyclicals that DGs dispense.

He's sung the praises of the BBC's place in a "thriving, free and competitive market", an alternative to what a colleague terms the "Joni Mitchell" school of heartstring-tugging about the Beeb's innate brilliance.

Stephen Lambert on revolutionising television

Stephen Lambert

Stephen Lambert looks a bit like Lenin – bald, with steely blue eyes and a bit unyielding. He can claim to be the man who revolutionised factual television, bringing us so many of the formats that dominate the schedules, from Wife SwapThe Secret Millionaire and Undercover Boss to Faking It.

His most recent hit is Gogglebox, the Channel 4 offering that united David Cameron and Nick Clegg in admiration, when asked during the election campaign which shows they enjoyed.