January 15, 2008

BBC HD highlights this week


Sorry, a little late with the regular update this week - hope the Mel Gibson groupies caught last night's showing of Signs.
Anyway, nothing new tonight (repeats of Cranford, Hotel Babylon and the excellent Earth: The Power of the Planet) but tomorrow sees the first episode of the second season of Torchwood, followed by an HD repeat from the third season of Hustle. I have to admit I didn't warm to the Doctor Who spin-off's first season, but they're promising it'll be more engaging this time around. PQ will be excellent though and it will no doubt be repeated ad nauseum for the rest of the year if you miss it this time around.
Thursday's only new HD programming is the dire Fairy Tales. Last week's was, as I've already posted, unwatchable. This week's cast of Maxine Peak and James Nesbitt suggests an improvement, but I won't be watching.
Friday night is comedy night, with new Jam & Jerusalem and HD repeats of Vivienne Vyle, Saxondale and Lead Balloon. The latter isn't the one to blow your neighbour's socks off with the picture quality but is good for a laugh or two - smarter than the average sitcom.
Robin Hood double bill on Saturday followed by musical repeats. On Sunday Lark Rise to Candleford moves to its regular 8pm time and Mark Warren debuts in Messiah, the highlight of the next seven days by a long shot. Concluding episode is on Monday at 9pm. Fans of the outstanding Damages shouldn't panic over its absence from Sunday's schedule - it has a new slot on BBC HD of 10.35 on Mondays.
There's no doubt that the BBC HD programming is picking up now that the new series are arriving on BBC1 and BBC2. Still limited hours though, which is disappointing. Next week sees Holby Blue in HD and the following week sees David Attenborough's final megaseries arriving - but will it be shown in HD? Stay tuned...

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