Free Republic

A sculptor has expressed renewed hope for a large-scale memorial to Benny Hill, on the centenary of the comedian's birth. The Benny Hill Show ran on BBC and ITV from 1955 to 1989, making the Southampton-born star a household name. Barnsley sculptor Graham Ibbeson was commissioned to make a fibreglass mould of the late comedian in 2004, but it has remained in storage ever since. He said a public statue would be a fitting tribute to Hill's talent. Mr Ibbeson said: "He was a comic genius. His stage was everybody's living room.

Phillip Schofield has admitted having an affair with a much younger male ITV employee while he was still married and revealed he is stepping down from all roles at the broadcaster. His admission of the relationship, and that he had lied about it, came in a statement published in the Daily Mail shortly before his agents also revealed they were parting company with him with immediate effect. ITV confirmed they have accepted his resignation and that he will no longer be appearing on the channel. A spokesperson for the broadcaster said on Friday: "We are deeply disappointed by the admissions...

VIDEOTake a look at Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley attempt to interview union leader Mick Lynch about rail strikes leading into Christmas. Actually it is pretty much a one sided interview since Madeley sounded like he was interviewing himself with Lynch only barely able to get a word in edgewise.This could go down as the WORST television interview disaster since Brock Linehan interviewed Bob Hope.

A British news anchor accidentally declared Pope Francis in an utterly brutal live news blunder, magnified by the fact that it took place on Christmas Day. Kylie Pentelow, an anchor for the British network ITV, made the flub during her newscast Saturday evening. It happened as Pentelow was informing her audience about the Pope’s Christmas remarks at the Vatican. “The Pope’s festive address focused on his prayers for the pandemic to come to an end,” Pentelow said. “He said vaccines should be made available to those most in need.” Then, Pentelow said, “His death was announced…” The anchor promptly caught...

Famed TV host Piers Morgan quit “Good Morning Britain” on Tuesday‚ just hours after his co-star confronted him over relentless criticism of Meghan Markle. “Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain,” the network said in a statement. “ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.” Morgan, 55, stormed off the set Tuesday after his co-star Alex Beresford called him out for continuing to “trash” Markle following her bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview with husband Prince Harry. “I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle. You’ve made it so...

The Prisoner: Season 1 Episode 1 - Arrival (Full Episode)

Many publications are falsely claiming Trump is totally ignorant and blank on whether Britain should leave the EU or not ("Brexit"). The logic is that Trump saying "huh"? to a single word verbal question (that might not have been enunciated well or heard clearly with Trump's 69 year old hearing) is proof of ignorance on the subject, showing a lack of foreign policy concern and awareness. Yet a 10 second google search reveals that Trump has commented on "Brexit" several times in the recent past. It seems a 10 second net search is too high of a journalism standard when...

In a bird-vs-tiger death match, the winner might seem obvious - but one courageous crane managed to fight off his attackers after accidentally getting trapped in the big cat enclosure at a zoo in China. The red-crowned crane was blown into the tiger garden by a sudden, strong wind during a public display at the Fuyang Wildlife Park in Zhejiang Province. Two of the resident cats immediately took an interest in the possibility of an afternoon snack, and began chasing the bird down. Not to be defeated, however, the crane squared up to the predators and began chasing them instead....

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- After two failed attempts to reinvent the set-top box and a go-nowhere monthly "best of TV" subscription plan, Apple(AAPL) is now hoping a buck-a-show rental service will be a winner. But so far, only Disney(DIS) seems willing to play along with Apple's idea to use iTunes to charge users 99 cents for two-day rentals of some TV shows, according to Bloomberg Businessweek and a number of follow-up reports. Kudos to Apple for repeatedly banging its head against the TV industry, but unlike the sweeping success that iTunes was for the record business, video programming is an...

Foyle's War: "Masterpiece Mystery." "The Russian House," 9 p.m. Sun. "Killing Time," 9 p.m. May 9. "The Hide," 9 p.m. May 16, on KQED. World War II did come to an end in 1945, and so did "Foyle's War," sort of, in 2007. First it was canceled by ITV, proving that idiocy reigns as supremely in British TV as it does so often on these shores. After viewers complained and the supposed finale, "All Clear," drew significant ratings in its 2008 British telecast, ITV wisely saw the error of its ways and came to Horowitz, hat in hand, to ask...

Even though I guess I shall be glued to the screen, I can’t say I’m thrilled to see that ITV is about to launch (on January 15) a new “classical reality” show entitled Pop Star to Opera Star. The basic idea isn’t a bad one - pop performers like Kym Marsh, Darius Danesh (now Darius Campbell), and Alex James will be trained and ‘mentored’ to sing opera arias...

Britian's postal service has rejected "Benny Hill" for a stamp because his girl-chasing ways are no longer politically correct. Royal Mail, as the post office is called there, had been considering a stamp to honor the famously naughty British comic as part of group of stamps to mark the 40th anniversary of his network, ITV, according to a report yesterday in London's Daily Telegraph. But, according to the minutes of a committee making the decision, the PR arm of the Royal Mail raised an objection saying Hill's antics were "in direct opposition to [the] company's policies on harassment in the...

In a move that was universally described in the British press as a surprising "coup," ITV, Britain's largest commercial broadcaster, announced today (Tuesday) that Michael Grade, chairman of the rival BBC, will leave the BBC and join ITV as executive chairman. Negotiations with Grade had been carried out in complete secrecy. Newspapers duly noted that he had not even been included in any analyst's list of candidates for the job. The ITV board of directors were described as thrilled with the appointment. The Financial Times described the mood at ITV as "euphoric." On the other hand, the London Telegraph, which...

Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq Claire Cozens and agencies Tuesday August 24, 2004 Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who has been missing in Iraq since last week, has been kidnapped by militants, according to a video broadcast today on al-Jazeera television station. His driver was found dead at the weekend in Najaf and today an Islamist group said it had abducted an Italian in Iraq, giving Silvio Berlusconi 48 hours to announce it was pulling his troops out of the country.

Follow up to earlier thread. KMOX radio St. Louis confirms that Lauren Longo of O'Fallon Mo. has been flown and expensed to London, GB. to participate in the AMERICA ON TRIAL TV SPECIAL. This is to be recorded on 2-21-03 in the ITV studios and will be presented to the public at "an a appropriate time". Our lovely flower of American youth is accompanied by her family on a gratis. This person is to represent the "main stream" American FEELINGS on the decisions of America going to war. This POS is being produced by Granada TV.

Satire ads banned for Bush 'insult' Broadcasting watchdogs in the UK have banned adverts for the satirical cartoon 2DTV after ruling that they were insulting to US President George W Bush. The commercials were to be broadcast to promote a Christmas video for the ITV1 show. Uisdean Maclean, TV ad watchdog The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) ruled that the ads were offensive because they questioned the president's intelligence, and without having asked his permission.