The report below was originally written on July 7, 2012. Corrie was featuring domestic violence in one of the Street's couples.

Once again the matter of domestic violence, female on male, is back in Corrie's story line. It is the same couple as before, namely Tyrone and Kirsty.

Just like in real life domestic violence can drop from view for a while but that does not mean that it is over. On the contrary it is more often true that once a wife or husband beater, always a wife or husband beater.

I'm a Celebrity Get Me out of Here returned to UK TV screens on November 13, 2011. It is now November 1, 2012, and the show is about to kick off again.This wacky reality show was never on our viewing list until a couple of years ago when somehow or other we watched part of one episode. Laugh? we thought we would choke we laughed so much.

So what is IACGMOOH about.

John Bishop has joined the ranks of popular mainstream comedians in the UK. With a fairly strong Liverpudlian accent and a knack for observational humour he is very funny. We say observational humour as in line with so many modern comedians he does not tell jokes as such. Rather his act involves recalling or describing situations, and events, albeit in a humorous fashion.

John Bishop's Britain launched more than a year ago on the BBC and the rest as they say is history. Since those early shows John has appeared on many UK TV shows. He has also released a fair few DVDs.

It could be that a John Bishop DVD or DVD set would be a perfect gift for your Dad, son, brother, but perhaps not your Mum, this Christmas. He does appeal to a wide audience but his concert or tour DVDs are no holds barred. They are not as blue as some comedians, when they appear live, but they are not child friendly.

We loved John Bishop's Sunshine Tour. The 2011 DVD was recorded at the Liverpool Echo Arena in front of an audience of 10,000. It is rated 15 due to the bad language. It is not offensive humor though at all.

As Christmas draws near John may release a new DVD. If he does not the 2011 Sunshine Tour or 2012  Rollercoaster Tour may still prove a good gift or stocking filler.

The Best of Men turned out to be one of the best BBC 2 drama documentaries for some time. It was aired on Monday September 3, 2012, perfect timing for the Paralympics. The drama centred in and around British hospital Stoke Mandeville during and after the Second World War.

This hospital was where the Paralymics began after forward thing Doctor, and Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Ludwig Guttmann began working at the hospital in 1944. When he arrived to start work the severly injured patients, many suffering spinal injuries from the War, were resigned to their beds. It was generally believed back then that bed rest was appropriate.


It was also widely believed that these patients would no longer have an active life in society. This included many believing that they should not marry nor have children. As so many of the patients were very young they would have been destined for one dreadful life but for the Doctor. He provided hope but so much more.


Dr Guttman made sure that the medical staff treat the patients as individuals and above all people. Pain medication was withdrawn in many cases, as so many patients were just numbed into oblivion. Games involving the patients brought life into their bodies and fresh air into their lungs.


Dr Guttman was played by Eddie Mardon. He played the seemingly authoritarian Dr Guttman who in truth was a caring and compassionate doctor. Comedian Rob Brydon, (Stacey and Gavin) was another well known face.


The Best of Men ran for 90 minutes and was shown earlier in the year. If it is repeated again it is well worth viewing. The cast is superb and the subject matter humbling. The drama ends with footage of the Paralympics and the Games participants. 

Without Dr Guttman though, his radical ideas regarding treatment and his determination to stand up to those who disagreed, the Paralympics would not exist. Neither would many of the patients who would have simply shuffled off this mortal coil heavily sedated oblivious to the fact that life for them was still possible.

Recommended viewing
10/10

The irreverent Mrs Brown is appearing on BBC1 again. The series is a repeat but as funny as ever. At times it is rude, full of obscenities, and more, but it is always funny. I defy any person to not find at least something to laugh at in each episode.

Since this wacky series was first aired it has grown in popularity. It is now shown earlier at 9.30pm on a Friday in spite of the bad language. In many ways the show is innocent  which is odd as it is adult humour.

The lead character Agnes Brown is played by male Irish performer and writer Brendan O'Carroll. Agnes is the matriarch of a fairly large family. Her children may all be adults but they have not flown the nest. Those that have spend more time at their parental home than elsewhere it seems.

The show was first aired as a radio show back in 1992. It went on to be shown on Irish TV and as a stage production toured the UK.It made it to the small screen in England in the last couple of years and soon became hugely popular.

Mrs Brown's Boys is a family affair in every sense of the word. Many of the cast have close family links to Brendan O'Carroll including "Cathy Brown who is played by his wife, Jennifer Gibney; Winnie McGoogan by his sister; Maria Nicholson by his daughter and her real-life husband is the show's director; Buster Brady by O'Carroll's son and Betty Brown by his daughter-in-law"

If you have not checked out Mrs Brown's Boys yet do so. If you are easily offended though you best stay well clear
10/10 on the laughter scale.

On Monday night the BBC aired the first episode of a new comedy series. Aired after the watershed it did not contain the level of obscenities so many other so called comedy shows do. Compared to the irreverent Mrs Brown, which we happen to think is very funny, it was tame. It did however attract some complaints.

The show centers around the Khan family. A British Muslim family. Unlike earlier multi-cultural shows which have caused offence it did not have white British actors playing Asian roles. In the past too many shows were downright offensive and thinly masked racism.

The series was created by British Muslim, Adil Ray, It poked fun at some aspects of the Muslim faith supposedly in a harmless good natured way. We did find that we shuddered at times and wondered how an Asian family living in Britain might view such a show.

It is easy to think that such shows are fuel for racists but it can be the reverse. Warren Mitchell when he played the racist Alf Garnet always maintained that the writer Johnny Speight was poking fun at the narrow minded racists of the UK.

We could not decide with Citizen Khan whether we liked the show and how funny it really was. When One Foot in the Grave was first aired it was a flop. In time it became a national treasure. The more recent Queen's Bodyguard was a flop because in spite of a great cast it was just not funny. It was daft but not comical.

The BBC has reported that it has received over 185 complaints about the Citizen Khan. The BBC says it has evidence to prove that some of the complaints are by way of concerted lobbying. OFCOM has received around 20 complaints.

The complaints have included comments that the show ridicules and stereotypes Muslims. On the whole members of the Asian community have expressed mixed feelings regarding the show. Some could see the humour in the day to day life situations of the Khan family but others thought the jokes were a step too far at times.

We tend to agree with the latter. Parts of the show were simply not funny whilst other parts made us cringe. Nit one of the BBC's better comedy ideas.

Channel 4 aired an interesting documentary on Monday, August 21, 2012. It detailed the life of a forgotten "royal". Princess Alice was Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh's Mother.

Alice lived a strange life. Eccentric and unusual, her life was spent in a mental hospital at one time and as part of a religious community at another.

She was born in 1885 at Windsor Castle and her name was Alice Battenburg. Classed as more German than other members of the British Royal family the program showed the foreign links royal families in Europe share.

She married Prince Andrew of Greece and soon after her marriage moved to Greece. She had four daughters in ten years and became a popular member of the Greek royal family. In the 1912 war between the Greeks and the Turks Alice became embroiled in the war effort in the worst possible conditions. She saw the "real world" in all its glory.

The first world war saw more conflict in Greece and then in 1922 a revolution of sorts in Greece resulted in Prince Andrew being arrested. Philip was a new born baby when his father was arrested. Facing execution and then a stay of execution Andrew grabbed his family and fled into exile.

In 1923 the family were living in Paris in relatively meagre circumstances. The films of the family at that time show that Prince Philip looks very much like his father.

Princess Alice was stone deaf and this disability began to take its toll on her. She began to be isolated and strange becoming preoccupied with religion. Ultimately she was hospitalised in a mental institution where pioneering psychiatrists used the patients as virtual guinea pigs. Princess Alice went from a patient to a prisoner and her existence began to be kept a secret.

She was locked away in Belle Vue, in Switzerland, attempting to escape more than once. She remained there for more than two years abandoned by all, including her husband. Prince Philip, still  a boy, spent a great deal of time with his uncle, Lord Mountbatten. It was he who ultimately groomed the Prince for marriage to Elizabeth, changing his surname to one accepted by British citizens.

In 1932 Alice finally was freed from Belle Vue. When she realised her supposed loved ones had kept her imprisoned in Belle Vue she turned her back on them. She "vanished" from society living the life of a traveller.

By the late 30s she wanted to be reunited with Philip but War was coming. Some of his relatives were tied into the Nazi movement in Germany whilst others where linked to the UK Forces. It was interesting to see how intertwined the royal families of Europe were. It almost felt incestuous at times.

During the Second World War Princess Alice was "hands on" as far as helping people who were starving. The Cohen family were a wealthy Jewish family in Greece. Alice chose to help them endangering her own life. She hid the Cohens in her own home.

Once the War ended Alice came to the UK to visit her son Philip. By now his wedding to Elizabeth was on the horizon. She remained unconventional and true to herself. The young couple married and Alice disappeared from the scene again. This time she turned to religion completely.

By the time Elizabeth was crowned Princess Alice was a "nun". She founded her own religious order called the sisterhood of Martha and Mary. in Athens. She is visible in some footage of the Coronation appearing as a ghostly figure in grey.

For Alice it was peace at last.

She was a figure of fun to some in the Royal Family but helped many poor children in Greece. She sold what she had to support her new faith. After the Greek Royal Family were removed in a coup she finally came to the UK and Buckingham Palace.

She remained eccentric to the end. On December 5, 1969 she died, just two years after arriving in the UK. She had no worldly goods. She left instructions that she wanted to be buried in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. It took years for her wish to be played out. In the eighties she was rewarded for her courage during the second world war by the people of Israel and buried in Jerusalem.

If you get chance to watch the documentary do so. Already it is the most watched show of its kind in the UK for 2012.

Running tine one hour, including commercial breaks.

Soham: A Parent's Tale aired Friday August 3, 2012 on ITV. Tomorrow it will be ten years since 10-year-old friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went missing in the village of Soham. One of those who helped the search for the girls was school caretaker Ian Huntley, their killer.

When the girls bodies were found and ultimately Huntley was arrested, tried and sentenced the families of the girls were rocked to the core. How on earth do people manage to pick up the pieces and begin to live again?

Soham: A Parent's Tale, featured the parents of Holly Wells. It included footage of Holly as a young child, along with her brother, parents and friends and family. Mr and Mrs Wells shared memories of Holly in happier days and those of the day when she went missing.

The photo of the girls resplendent in Man U red shirts was taken a little after five on the afternoon of the day they went missing. That image is etched on many people's minds in the UK. People around the UK were touched by the murders of these two, pretty, young girls. The grief of the families must have been terrible to bear.

The dignity of the parents of Holly and Jessica made people take a step back ten years ago. They have remained dignified down the years and continue to honour the memory of their daughters.

The program explored the relationship between the victims families and police liaison officers. It told of the improvements that have been made to databases, to prvent a person like Huntley killing in similar circumstances. If Ian Huntley's details had been available to the school he would not have been employed as a school caretaker.

Helping their 12-year-old son Oliver was one priority for the Wells parents. He is now 22-years-old and works with his father. A close family, ever closer through tragedy.

Soham a parents tale was a view of an inspiring family. A family that has survived tragedy and grown stronger. Ten years on Holly lives on in their lives.

ITV has been running a short series called Superstar. A singing contest in which Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber will ultimately cast the man who will play Jesus in his latest production of Jesus Christ Superstar. A similar production has aired previously on BBC when Webber was on the look-out for a female singer able to take on the role of Maria in the Sound of Music.

Aired every night this week, lasting 11/2 hours, has Superstar been a success? We are not sure but we do find the whole show rather odd.

It began with auditions and eliminations, before this week when the live shows kicked off. The show's host is the beautiful Amanda Holden. However much as we know that she is a stunner she may not be the best host for this show. She appears more often than not to resemble a tarty young woman about to go out for a Friday night on the booze than the host of a TV show.

The live shows have a panel of judges which is made up of Jason Donovan, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Dawn French and former Spice Girl, Mel C, who is set to star alongside whomsoever is finally selected to play Jesus. Now there is another odd ball. Mel C does just not gel as a judge. We are not sure why but she is like a fish out of water.

The show is mighty strange at times. Take for example at the end of each show when one act is eliminated. After the viewers at home vote the two with the lowest number of votes wait for Lloyd Webber to decide which act he will save. Which ever act is saved is then told by Amanda Holden to join the other Jesus's on the stairs. This constant referral to the other Jesus's and the like is unsettling, somehow.

Superstar is actually so odd that it could become a huge success. After all we Brits are strange ourselves. It could be so kitch that it becomes cult viewing. We doubt that though.

The acts are being whittled down and the series will only run another week or so. The people who vote in such shows and the British sense of humour could mean that the winner will be a peculiar Jesus, to say the least.

Tags: Jesus Christ Superstar, Superstar, TV, singing contest, ITV, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber

Rogue Traders airs on the BBC and makes for interesting viewing. The two presenters often go under cover to trap company workers who have proved themselves to be far from honest dealing with customers. Homes wrecked, lives turned upside down and money lost all at the hands of disreputable companies. All in all satisfying viewing as those proved rogues are named and shamed.

News that today co host of the show Dan Penteado has been found guilty of fraud is somewhat ironic. 40-year-old Dan has been jailed for eight weeks after being found guilty of wrongly claiming benefits. Whoops.

The Court decided that Dan had knowingly cheated the housing and council tax benefits system to the tune of £24,000. Dan has appeared alongside the show's main host Matt Allbright since 2001. The offences date back to 2007, when they began, and relate to the non declaration of a secondary bank account.

Having claimed once and gotten away with it presumably Dan thought he was on to a good thing. The fraud continued even though he was earning well working on the BBC show.

In defence Dan claimed that he made the decision not to break his benefit claims as the BBC contract for each series of te show was brief. In the end a member of the benefits team recognised him. What a fool. Mr Penteado has now shot himself in the foot as a BBC spokesperson said: "In light of the prosecution, Dan Penteado will not be returning to Rogue Traders." No he hardly could,could he?

Tags: Rogue Traders, Dan Penteado, BBC, fraud, benefit fraud