Shivoncarla

HOLBY CITY - SEASON SIX

After the early 2000's, Holby City became one of the most boring TV 'dramas' I have ever had the misfortune of watching. The plots started to turn insipid, tedious, and cliched beyond belief. Does it possibly exist as some sort of retirement home for washed-up soap-opera actors?

EMMERDALE - SEASON TWENTY-EIGHT

Emmerdale first screened on ITV on the 16th of October 1972, which makes it one of the longest running soaps in British Television History. Emmerdale always misses out on the awards but I still think they have the balance right. They are the best soap at comedy, and also combine that with tragedy, deceit and action.

CORONATION STREET - SEASON FORTY

Coronation Street is credited as being one of the longest running soaps in the world and the longest running television soap in Britain. Tony Warren idea about producing a television program based on life in a Salford/ Manchester community was brilliantly conceived superbly, cast and perfectly executed. It generated a fan base of millions and realistic storylines which people could believe in and to which they could relate. The present storylines are an insult to both his vision and his memory. The whole project has degenerated into a hotchpotch of half baked storylines which have absolutely no connection with reality. More murders per episode than even Vlad the Impaler could have envisaged and more complicated neighbourhood sex interactions and begetting than even the bible. Most of the characters have as much depth or credibility as Micky Mouse, but less impact. God knows why we stay loyal, to this idiocy, maybe it's in the hope that all the writers will be replaced by someone with a little more ability and hopefully even a slight sense of what story Tony Warren was trying to tell.

HOME & AWAY - SEASON TWELVE

Home and Away was good from back in the 80's when the storylines tended to be centred more around the lives of teenagers, but the creative writers these days are proving that they've lost the plot. Pun intended. They seem to be following more along the lines of Neighbours, recycling the storyline with new actors.

NEIGHBOURS - SEASON FIFTEEN

"Neighbours", contrary to many peoples' opinions, is a well acted and well crafted soap opera. It is its timeslot in the UK among children's programmes which has been a caused for some critics to label it "cheap teens soap" - but in many countries "Neighbours" earns a prime time slot. "Neighbours'" daily screening in more than 57 countries with a daily audience in excess of 120 million viewers is testament to its success. In a television world dominated by soap operas, "Neighbours" has always remained close to its original concept by soap-master Reg Watson.

"Neighbours" has produced a host of actors who have graduated from "Ramsay Street" to become world-wide celebrities, most notably Kylie Minogue (Charlene Mitchell); Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson); Guy Pearce (Mike Young); Natalie Imbruglia (Beth Brennan) and Holly Valance (Felicity Scully). Its mix of children, young adults, parents and grandparents has ensured fascination for all generations, and the show has succeeded far beyond its creator's expectations - especially in Britian where it was bought as a daytime 'filler' programme for the BBC in 1986.

HUSTLE - SEASON EIGHT

Stylish, intricate and entertaining. Has the sharpness of the recent remakes of "Italian Job" and "Ocean's Eleven."

DEAD SET - SEASON ONE
Vulgar and noisy, and often disgustingly hilarious, Dead Set is the perfect pop-culture poison for those of us convinced the world of Big Brother and its spawn is an endless night of the living dead, turning participants and fans alike into craven zombies

THE LONG SONG - SEASON ONE

There is so much that’s good, almost great, about The Long Song, not least a fabulously charismatic turn from rising star Tamara Lawrance, that it felt odd to come away from the opening episode of its three-night run feeling rather tuned out. There’s something about this adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel about the final throes of slavery in Jamaica that plays off key. For example, none of the plantation ruling class is presented as anything other than a caricature and reducing the plantation owners and their henchmen to outlandish and brutish cartoon-like villains. For that reason, I can give 'The Long Song' nothing more than four stars.

YOU - SEASON ONE

“You,” checks off many of the stalker-drama tropes. “You” won’t win any Emmys, but it will be interesting to see how the story evolves over the course of this season. It’s already been renewed for a second season ahead of Sunday’s series premiere, so someone has obvious faith in the project.

THE BI LIFE - SEASON ONE

The Bi Life isn’t perfect. Hopefully as it continues, we’ll learn more about the group, and they’ll become closer with one another – right now they have the kind of quickly formed closeness of people on an 18-30 tour which, to be fair, they sort of are. Besides, we need some love triangles for this to be thrilling as well as gamechanging. The idea is for the housemates to date outsiders but, of course, if two members of the group took a shine to each other and paired off? In a show that’s all about challenging stale norms, it seems the possibilities are endless.