Usually the best of the TV columnists, Hyland reached new heights in last Sunday's News of the World with a brilliantly observed attack on ITV's latest programming. He laid into Rock Rivals using its sponsorship by Nivea deodorant as a hook to call it a stinker. "It might even be worth floating a call to those Glade Plug-In boys and the dudes at SC Johnson because the nasty, nose-blistering niffs from this steaming great TV turd will take some neutralising," the rant continued. A must-read for TV fans.
BBC PULLING ITS SPONSORSHIP SITE
The Beeb has been getting a kicking in recent weeks from commercial rivals for advertising sponsorship opportunities across its broadcast programming. Amazingly, given its remit and charter commitments, it was brazenly promoting these via a website offering sponsorship for properties including Children in Need and Young Musician of the Year. Now pressure from the likes of ITV has paid off and the BBC has taken down the site. Let's hope it doesn't continue to sell these deals more surreptitiously.
SKY'S MONDAY-NIGHT COP SHOWS
Sky One could be accused of giving up after its ratings winners Ross Kemp in Afghanistan and Prison Break recently ended their Monday-night runs. However, these brilliantly scheduled cop shows make for curiously riveting viewing. At 9.00pm is the welcome return of Road Wars, a well- produced take on the traffic cop genre with madcap driving, police chases and spectacular crashes. This is followed by Night Cops, a nightmarish vision of British policing around major cities. Undemanding, but enjoyable, action on a Monday night.
LE CAFE ANGLAIS
We're usually loathe to spend our own money in top London restaurants, but made an exception for Le Cafe Anglais, the recently opened vehicle for the talents of Rowley Leigh, formerly of Kensington Place. We were impressed. Location aside (the restaurant is in Bayswater in Whiteley's Shopping Centre rather than Soho or Mayfair), this scores on all counts. The food was excellent, the art deco room is both grand and comfortable and the prices aren't extortionate. More a place for a long lunch than a quick business meeting, let's hope it's on the London restaurant scene for a long time.
AND ONE THING WE DON'T ...
LUXX
We're not fans of The Times' quarterly luxury supplement Luxx, which ran in last Saturday's edition. The size is unwieldy, the layout is dull and the design is bizarre in parts - a spread featuring models backed by painted-on "shadows" jarred, as did a shoot featuring a model and a horse. The articles read like promotional copy for the fashion houses, which surely is not going to interest the kind of aspirational readers Luxx is aiming for - and at the moment, the ads are the most attractive thing in the mag.