Brad's blog

Is Randy Jackson’s departure from American Idol today the final nail in the coffin for the once mighty series?

The show certainly isn’t the behemoth it used to be. It was unstoppable in the days of Jackson, Cowell and Abdul, owning the #1 position in its US timeslot from 2003-2011.

Nowadays, the show pulls an average of 11 million per episode, which is less than half of what it was managing a few years ago.

Modern Family now regularly beats it head-to-head. Continue reading »

Miranda actor Tom Ellis has had his new American TV project turned down.

The pilot for the fantasy drama Gothica will not be picked up for a series by the ABC network.

Ellis was due to feature as Doctor Frankenstein in the project alongside Home and Away’s Chris Egan as Dorian Gray and Fringe’s Seth Gabel.

Melissa George was also due to appear as Fiona Hunter while Janet Montgomery was to play Grace van Helsing.

Beyonce has unknowingly picked out former X Factor winner Joe McElderry to sing during one of her shows in Manchester.

The American singer directed her microphone at McElderry during part of her song ‘Love On Top’ with him contributing his own vocals.

She appeared pleasantly surprised by his ability to sing and offered the microphone to him again to sing more.

There will be two Sherlock Holmes in London soon with news today that CBS is bringing Elementary to our capital to shoot the second season premiere.

The American series will be in town this July to film scenes Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock) and Lucy Liu (Watson).

“We couldn’t be more excited to have this opportunity to see Sherlock’s old stomping grounds and take a closer look at a life that, until now, we’ve only been able to glimpse through the lens of his recovery,” said Executive Producer and Creator Robert Doherty. Continue reading »

The pairings for the first round of Battles on The Voice UK have been revealed.

This Saturday’s episode will see each of the coaches pit their artists together in order to see who they prefer.

will.i.am will match up Matt Henry and Jordan Lee Davies with Stevie Wonder’s ‘Do I Do’ before Nu-Tarna and Cleo Higgins battle with CeCe Peniston’s ‘Finally’.

On Team Jessie J, Katie Benbow and Sarah Cassidy will do battle with Katy Perry’s ‘ET’ while Ash Morgan and Adam Barron sing James Morrison’s ‘I Won’t Let You Go’. Continue reading »

BT Sport has confirmed that its new sports channels will be available free to BT Broadband subscribers.

The broadcaster this week launched three channels in BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN and has announced that they will be available free of charge to its broadband users.

BT Broadband users can access the channels through Sky, YouView and BT Vision.

BT chief exec Ian Livingston said: “UK sports fans have had a rough deal for too long. Many have been priced out of the market but we will change this by giving away BT Sport for free with our broadband. Sports fans are the winners today.” Continue reading »

Home and Away actor Steve Peacocke will be seen alongside the likes of Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt and Rufus Sewell in a new movie from Brett Ratner.

Peacocke, who plays Brax in the Aussie soap, has nabbed himself a role in the new action movie Hercules: The Thracian Wars.

He will return to his Home and Away role after taking a couple of months off to film the movie.

He said: “This is an incredible opportunity for me to experience film on a massive scale, work with a world-class director, actors and two of the biggest studios in the world. I’m grateful Seven is allowing me time out to get a taste of that world.”

Outgoing BBC One controller Danny Cohen has announced a raft of commissions for the channel.

Danny Cohen, the new Director of BBC Television says: “It has been a joy and privilege to commission programmes for BBC One. I hope audiences enjoy the range and creative ambitions of these new dramas for the channel.”

Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning adds: “An exciting clutch of authored drama for BBC One – Debbie Horsfield richly reimagines a literary saga, a beautiful new drama series from award-winning playwright Matt Charman, Peter Bowker returning to BBC One for his first drama since Occupation, and Tony Jordan’s ambitious multi-part, multi-series ‘world of Dickens’ drama.” Continue reading »

We all know Twitter is rife with TV spoilers so wouldn’t it be great if someone came up with something that would eliminate the threat of seeing stuff you don’t want to see?

An American teenager has done just that.

17-year-old Jennie Lamere has designed a plug-in called Twivo that blocks tweets if it detects keywords that may reveal important details.

If one of your shows is about to screen, then you activate the plug-in and designate keywords or tags that tells Twivo what to block. Continue reading »

Tamzin Outhwaite has been added to the cast of BBC One drama New Tricks.

Outhwaite – who has appeared in the likes of EastEnders, The Fixer and Hotel Babylon – will appear on screen mid-season this autumn.

She says: “I’m delighted to be joining the cast at such an exciting time – I’ve been a huge fan of the show for years – and can’t wait to be working with the amazing cast and crew.” Continue reading »