Shouting at the Telly

Description

Is Freddie from Scooby-Doo a colossal pervert? What does Howards' Way tell us about the eighties? How do you win America's Next Top Model? Which programmes do you only watch when you're off sick? And if you play the theme from Inspector Gadget in a nightclub, will people dance? A host of comedians, actors and writers wrestle with these and other weighty issues in Shouting at the Telly, a book of outrageously funny and heartfelt rants and raves on everything from soaps to sitcoms, sci-fi to reality shows, HBO to QVC. All of TV is here: Juh-neen's 'evil hug face' in EastEnders; the age-old rift between BBC and ITV that tore families apart; the secret shame of crying at adverts. Richard Herring has a controversial new theory about Goodnight Sweetheart, Boyd Hilton shares his all-time comedy top ten and Rebecca Front demolishes the cliches of news reading. They're joined by a list of fellow telly addicts with axes to grind, including Jim Shelley, Andrew Collins, Kevin Eldon and David Quantick. So, if you have ever rooted for the most offensive candidates in The Apprentice or repeatedly corrected SuperNanny Jo Frost's pronounciation of 'unacceptable' then this book will give you and your spleen many happy memories of the hours you've spent shouting at the telly.

John Grindrod was born in 1970 in Croydon and still lives in South London. He recently contributed to Hang the DJ: An Alternative Book of Music Lists.