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42 Articles

FROM THE EDITOR

Once every ten years the Government gets the chance to decide the future of the BBC. Over the past three months, politicians, experts and commercial rivals have all weighed in with their tuppence worth. The BBC itself cut a secret deal with the Chancellor, accepting huge cuts of maybe 20 per cent by agreeing to pay for free TV licences for the over-75s. But what do viewers and listeners want – the people who actually pay for the BBC? We asked readers of Radio Times. And you replied in force, with great passion. Nearly 9,000 of you took the time and trouble to answer our long, detailed questionnaire modelled on the government’s official consultation. To ensure your voices are heard in the national debate, we will submit your individual responses to the…

ITV’s greatest show

Move over Coronation Street. Step aside Downton Abbey. Radio Times readers have spoken and your favourite ITV programme of all time is Auf Wiedersehen Pet. More than 5,000 readers voted in our poll to mark the 60th birthday of ITV and Auf Wiedershen Pet — the comedy following the lives of an itinerant band of British construction workers — received nearly three times as many votes as the second-placed show, Thunderbirds. Auf Wiedersehen Pet, which starred Timothy Spall, Kevin Whately, Tim Healey and Jimmy Nail, first aired on ITV in 1983 for two series, before transferring to the BBC for two further series. One of its lead writers, Dick Clement, says he’s “astonished” by the news: “I’ve always known it had a strong following in the North East, but I didn’t…

ITV’s greatest show

Change the tune

BEYONCÉ, COLDPLAY, JAY Z and Pearl Jam make for quite a concert line-up. They are all due to perform at this year’s Global Citizen Festival in Central Park in New York. By all means enjoy the great music and glamour, but don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. The concert is the flagship event for the United Nation’s Global Poverty Project, whose stated aim is to end poverty by 2030. It’s well-meaning. But it’s also wrong-headed and, 30 years after Live Aid, out of date. I spent nearly a decade in Africa as a foreign correspondent and in that time met thousands of aid workers and heard hundreds of aid agency presentations. A decade ago, aid workers liked to declare their ultimate goal was to put themselves out of business. It…

Change the tune

FACE OF CIVILISATION? Two years ago BBC director-general Tony Hall said he wanted the BBC to reboot Civilisation, Kenneth Clark’s magisterial 1969 analysis of western art and culture. And I hear the BBC may be close to getting a presenter, with Simon Schama believed to be near the top of a BBC wish list. Schama, who will be appearing at the Radio Times Festival on Friday 26 September to talk about his new BBC2 series The Face of Britain, is passionate in his belief that art history and world history are linked, but is coy when asked if he’s been approached to front Civilisation — “You better ask the BBC about it,” he chortles. GATISS ON BOARD Mark Gatiss is the latest star to join the Women of Sherlock panel on Sunday 27…

Meet the movers & shakers

Strictly Come Dancing Saturday 6.15pm BBC1 MY CAB PULLED up outside the secret location. A man with a very long zoom lens arrived simultaneously in a Mini. He jumped out, aimed the camera and asked, “Where are the celebrities?” I had no idea – which turned out to be a bit of a theme. This was my first Strictly day. Walking into the building, I could feel my brain trying to tell me something… something to do with online poker? But for now, all I had to do was go through the big double doors and say hello. Smile at Daniel O’Donnell and Anita Rani (not difficult), drink tea with Katie Derham and Helen George, wave to Peter – wait, is that really Peter Andre? He’s here, too? I’d been on holiday…

Meet the movers & shakers

‘Make me smile’

The Face of Britain by Simon SchamaWednesday 9.00pmBBC2 (not Scotland) SIMON SCHAMA IS talking about Sally Soames’s 1992 photograph of himself that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London. “It was taken a long time ago, when I had a beard and my glasses on and it’s incredibly dark. My wife said, ‘That’s a great picture of you as a serial killer!’ – which made me feel quite pleased, actually.” This is said with a great whoop of laughter, something the historian does a lot. For a man who is so erudite, he is a lot of fun. He describes his dancing style, for instance, as John Travolta doing David Brent. “Yes, that’s it pretty much, exactly… hahahah – or the other way round, but certainly that combo.” His laconic, slightly camp…

‘Make me smile’

Your BBC verdict

THE DEBATE OVER whether to save or change the BBC has so far been limited to politicians and programme-makers, but Radio Times wants to make sure that the voice of the viewers is heard. In the 1 August issue of RT we launched a extensive survey to ask readers your views on the future of the BBC. It echoed the questions raised in the Government’s public consultation on the corporation, so we can ensure your views shape the debate. Nearly 9,000 of you responded, including 3,000 who sent back their meticulously compiled questionnaires through the post, putting a heavy strain on the RT mailroom! Our data-crunchers have worked around the clock to analyse your responses. Here are the results: RT readers back the BBC as a bastion of quality broadcasting. A staggering 96…

Your BBC verdict

A long way from the White House

You, Me and the ApocalypseWednesday 9.00pmSky1 ‘I think The West Wing is the best show ever made’ ROB LOWE AS ROB LOWE welcomes me into his Winnebago, it’s a bit like entering the confessional. Lowe is on a break from filming Sky1’s You, Me and the Apocalypse, in which he plays a Vatican priest, and he’s still in full costume – a floor-length black cassock. “Why are there so many buttons down the cassock?” he asks brightly. “One for every year Christ lived.” (That’s a total of 33, in case you were wondering.) We’re taking shade in Lowe’s trailer from the bright Maltese sun. Lowe asks if the air conditioning is too cold for comfort, before offering refreshments that include nuts, chewing gum and fizzy water. It’s a winning combination of good cheer…

A long way from the White House

‘ROB WAS VERY CHARMING’

Best known as Sharon in Birds of a Feather and Susan Wright in Broadchurch, Pauline Quirke has a habit of playing women who look (at best) ordinary and (at worst) dowdy. Her role in Sky1’s You, Me and the Apocalypse is no different — Quirke’s character, Paula, languishes in shapeless cardigans and lots of beige. But, says Quirke, she never yearns for sequins and glamour. “God, no,” she says firmly. “The first conversation I have with the costume department is, ‘Please, can I just be comfortable?’ I’ve got enough to think about, learning lines and standing in the right place.” In Apocalypse, Quirke was certainly given some choice words to remember — especially in her scenes with Father Jude, played by Rob Lowe. “I had the immortal line, ‘Would you fancy another…

‘ROB WAS VERY CHARMING’

Cider with Rosie Sunday 8.30pm BBC1 ‘I got to a certain age and decided that education was my right’ SAMANTHA MORTON SAMANTHA MORTON SAYS she found a kind of solace in portraying Laurie Lee’s beleaguered mother Annie in the bold new TV version of Cider with Rosie. The vivid tale of life in rural England almost a century ago is part of a BBC season that aims to represent, through its treatment of the period’s literary classics, the condition of society at times of momentous change. Though removed by time and place, there was a common ground in the sense of isolation – Annie in the countryside of Edwardian England; Morton through her Nottingham childhood that was riven by divorce, parental violence, alcoholism, foster care and homelessness. The Baftawinning actress has also said…

A master villain

Doctor Who Saturday 7.45pmBBC1 ‘As soon as you make the Master the Mistress, it blows open possibilities’ MICHELLE GOMEZ I DID HOPE,” SAYS Michelle Gomez darkly, in a pleasantly bland BBC conference room in Cardiff, “that there was life in the old Missy yet.” This recent Doctor Who development, in which the Doctor’s nemesis and fellow Time Lord the Master became the Mistress, has reached a plane of unhinged menace that previous incarnations could only have dreamt of. One journalist, a Whovian from a Doctor Who magazine, asks 49-year-old Gomez shyly how deep the sexual chemistry was between Missy and the Doctor. “You’re reading into it something I’ve never even thought of,” she replies. But… doesn’t she snog him? “Oh, she’ll snog anything! She’d snog a Dalek.” This is a surprise after Missy’s…

A master villain

The Kennedys Friday 9.30pm BBC1 YOU WAIT FOR ages for a series set on a council estate in the 70s and then three come at once. TVs across the land are awash with eye-boggling wallpaper, dodgy morals and shoes that made us question our very existence. Lenny Henry’s Danny and the Human Zoo, Danny Baker’s Cradle to Grave and now my effort, The Kennedys, are all based on childhood experiences growing up in the 70s. So what’s going on? Nostalgia used to be considered a medical condition, a bit like homesickness, where a melancholy for the familiar left the sufferer racked with emotional pangs – proper grown-up misery: hand on forehead, slumped on a chaise longue and with nothing to offer anyone other than a sense of overwhelming ennui. That’s how bad…

Taking on Twickers

Rugby World Cup: England v WalesSaturday 7.15pm (kick-off 8pm)ITV,8pmRadio 5 Live IN 2008, SHANE Williams was part of a Wales team that did what their compatriots had not managed for 20 years: they beat England at Twickenham. The hoodoo was banished – Wales had beaten the 2007 World Cup finalists at home, and went on to win two Six Nations grand slams. As Williams says, “I realised I couldn’t use Twickenham as an excuse any more.” However, as the most anticipated match of the Rugby World Cup approaches, Twickenham has become a fortress once again. Unbeaten at home in the year leading up to the tournament, England coach Stuart Lancaster has underlined the importance of the Twickenham factor: “The fans create an unbelievable energy – they help the team, they carry them, and…

Taking on Twickers

You’re not talkin’ to me

Don’t miss... Salman Rushdie adapts his own Booker Prize-winning novel forMidnight’s Children, premiering on Saturday BBC2 ROBERT DE NIRO, the original tough guy, has a hard time with things that other actors find easy. Small talk is not his domain; self-publicity irks him, with its requirements to smile and make eye contact and pretend to be interested. One morning earlier this summer, the 72-year-old sits at a conference table next to Anne Hathaway to talk about The Intern, the Nancy Meyers comedy in which he plays a pensioner on work experience to Hathaway’s youthful head of a successful internet start-up. When the actress starts weeping at what an honour it was to work with him (“Excuse me,” she says, sniffing. “I hate it when this happens!”), De Niro looks baffled and vaguely appalled. As…

You’re not talkin’ to me

The DuellistsTuesday 6.45pmFilm4 Whether Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane is the best film ever made is perennially open to debate but one thing is for sure: it’s the best film ever made by a debutant director and that’s no small praise. To hit the jackpot first time out is a rare achievement. Welles did that most spectacularly but any list of remarkable first-timers must also include Ridley Scott and The Duellists. Scott’s movie is a little masterpiece, brilliantly lit by cinematographer Frank Tidy, a tale of obsession, machismo and a twisted sense of honour. It was adapted from a short story by Joseph Conrad, itself inspired by a true event. Over a period of 19 years from 1794, two officers in Napoleon’s army fought 30 duels, by which time it’s doubtful whether either of…

My literary treasures

I REALISED MY HEART wasn’t in Cider with Rosie, the final adaptation in the BBC’s brief 20th-century classics miniseason, in the very first scene, as Laurie Lee’s family trundled up to their new home in the Cotswolds. “Blimey,” I thought, “what a pretty house, it must be worth £1 million, maybe £1.25 million, Cotswolds property prices being what they are. I wonder if it comes with much land – do all of those sun-dappled meadows belong to it? Is there decent access because I doubt anyone would approach it in a cart any more. More like a four-by-four. I bet it’s hell to get to in winter. Where’s the nearest Waitrose? Probably Stroud…” This wandering attention was entirely a defence mechanism because Cider with Rosie is, for me, one of those books.…

My literary treasures

SEE THE SERIES 1 The Ascent of Woman iPlayer (BBC2) Amanda Foreman’s stirring series gives us the history of how women have fought abuse and oppression, finding one astonishing story after another thanks to a bold, wide scope, in terms of time and geography. It improves on the narrative you might be expecting, of total subjugation gradually fading towards equality, by giving examples of women who didn’t wait for permission before taking their power. Ep1 available until 2 October UP AGAINST DOWNTON... 2 The Go-Between iPlayer (BBC1) The latest in BBC1’s “hiding to nothing because we’ve all seen previous dramatisations” season was given a further handicap by going up against Downton Abbey. It’s worth catching even if you’ve seen the 1971 film: this is beautifully shot, and strong on both the drab misery of the upper classes,…

Go inside the mind of a killer – but stay stylish

American crime dramas can, broadly, be dumped into two categories. There are the posh ones, where the detective wrestles with existential crises, the bad guys win and the whole thing crawls along like Dostoyevsky. These tend to be on Sky Atlantic. Then there are the others, which have a vast team of sleuths with amazing skin and hair, led by a man who keeps putting sunglasses on and removing them again. These resolve themselves neatly every week and are usually on Channel 5. Somewhere between the two is CRIMINAL MINDS, so you might have overlooked it — although they don’t in the States, where it has been renewed for an 11th season. Meet the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, top criminal profilers, all with different skills, all with excellent tailors. They hunt mentally disturbed…

Go inside the mind of a killer – but stay stylish

How to avoid being hacked

As more highprofile hacks hit the news, it’s time to accept that your passwords might be exposed at some point. What do you do? Step 1 First, be vigilant. See unfamiliar films in your Netflix “watched” list, or strange bids on eBay? It could be your partner’s late-night shopping binge, or something more sinister. It’s important to keep an eye on all your accounts in case of an old bugbear: reused passwords. You might not mind someone accessing your defunct eBay account, but you’re in trouble if you’ve used the same password for your email. Step 2 If you can’t access your account — perhaps because hackers have changed your password — tell the website. There’s usually a link in the “forgot password” page. Step 3 Some services like Netflix don’t require a…

How to avoid being hacked

SATURDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Rugby World Cup 7.15pmITV(kick-off 8.00pm) SPORT This is the night that rugby goes primetime. Singing, dreams, pride, tears — who needs The X Factor when you have England v Wales on Saturday night? Twickenham will be ferocious. England captain Chris Robshaw has an absolute belief that England’s home advantage will carry them home, but one Welsh break will brings gasps instead of chants from the massed crowd. Centre Scott Williams scored the try that secured the win over England here in 2012. England have to stop Wales’s midfield smash and grab. Other matches this Saturday remind you this isn’t just another home nations skirmish. Earlier on ITV there’s Italy v Canada (kick-off 2.30pm) and South Africa v Samoa (kick-off 4.45pm), but these are warm-up acts to the main event. Yes, England…

SATURDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Cider with Rosie 8.30pmBBC1 DRAMA OF THE WEEK Young Loll Lee and his tumultuous family arrive on a cart at their new home, a cottage in the Slad Valley in Gloucestershire. The First World War is limping to an end and for so many people, life will never be the same again. Loll, or Laurie, is a sickly child but he grows, helped by fresh air and seemingly endless sunlight, into a teenager formed by the fecundity of the nature that is all around him, personified by the wanton, knowing Rosie. Anyone who has read Laurie Lee’s classic autobiography will doubtless feel protective of it, and will possibly be disappointed by this episodic, shrunken adaptation, which effectively boils down to rapturous shots of meadows. Samantha Morton is Laurie’s mum, newcomer Archie…

PICK OF THE DAY Global Citizen Festival Concert 10.35pmBBC1 MUSIC You may have seen news coverage of this great big, consciousness-raising one-day festival, which took place on Saturday in Central Park, New York. You might even have watched the live stream on YouTube or listened to the radio coverage. But the chances are you didn’t, so here BBC1 has collated highlights to enjoy in HD. It’s not just any festival, mind you. Chris Martin has signed up as a curator for the next 15 years. Richard Curtis is creative director. There are near-Live Aid levels of superstar involvement. The event is timed to coincide with the launch of the United Nations’ new Global Goals, designed to “fight inequality, protect our planet and end extreme poverty” by 2030. Pearl Jam, Beyoncé, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran among…

TUESDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY The Naked Choir with Gareth Malone 9.00pmBBC2 MUSIC Four more singing groups compete in a heat to be decided via a concert in Liverpool. Interestingly, two of them have gone for risqué names; it’s almost as if, regardless of Glee and Pitch Perfect and so on, they worry choral singing is uncool so they show they are cool via heavy puns. Hence among others we have the Sons of Pitches, a slick pop a cappella group from Birmingham, and we have Choral Stimulation, a bunch of Glasgow students who were once described as, “a drinking group with a singing problem.” The latter’s version of ELO’s Mr Blue Sky promises to be sensational, if they can ever finish the arrangement. As ever, the best bits are when Gareth Malone gives advice on…

TUESDAY Choices

WEDNESDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY The Face of Britain by Simon Schama 9.00pmBBC2 HISTORY New seriesIt has been a while since Simon Schama gave us one of his waspish art history lessons. In this new five-part series he looks at portraiture, “combing through the family album of our nation”, but always with an eye on the scurrilous tale or revealing snippet. Schama is like an erudite gossip, telling the tales that lie behind images of kings, queens and prime ministers. He opens the first episode with the ill-fated portrait of Winston Churchill, painted for his 80th birthday, and ends with the glowering photograph of him in 1941, taken moments after the photographer had snatched away his cigar. Both are great examples of the testy tug of war between sitter and painter that Schama likes to focus…

WEDNESDAY Choices

THURSDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Who Do You Think You Are? 9.00pmBBC1 DOCUMENTARY Anita Rani of Countryfile (and now Strictly Come Dancing) was born two years after her maternal grandfather, Sant Singh, died. So she could be forgiven for knowing nothing about him. But all her mother knows about her own father is that he married twice and his first wife died in the partition of India in 1947. She can’t tell Anita his date of birth or exactly where he was born, let alone his first wife’s name. It’s an emotional journey for Anita as she learns about the brutality of that tragic period of India’s history. Her tearful anger is quite understandable. However, it’s also exciting for her when, against all the odds, she finally uncovers some fragments of information about her Punjabi…

THURSDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Have I Got News for You 9.00pmBBC1 COMEDY OF THE WEEK Another year of political turbulence, another series of HIGNFY trundles scabrously onto our screens. But there’s no suggestion that this veteran panel show will get voted out of office any time soon: this is the 50th (count ’em) series. Captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton were fresh-faced young scamps when the show first aired back in September 1990. In those days Angus Deayton was the resident chair, Margaret Thatcher was still PM, East Germany was still a country, and hardly anyone had heard of Tony Blair. Now Hislop and Merton are targets of satire in their own right, with Harry Enfield perfecting a very good impersonation of his mate Hislop. Still, they’ll never turn establishment as they size up a…

Desert island risks…

Desert Island Discs Sunday 11.15am and Friday 9.00amRadio 4 CALLING ALL HOPELESS ROMANTICS, travel junkies and music fans. The greatest radio biographical format ever invented is back; and with it, its honey-voiced host Kirsty Young, who was once chosen as a luxury on Desert Island Discs by none other than David Dimbleby. Not allowed, of course, but what a charming gesture to the presenter who has made this national institution a show of her own since she began hosting it in 2006, thanks to a brilliant mixture of Scots propriety and a disarming ability to ask probing questions. “Well, they have to agree that no area is sacrosanct. We never agree to any questions beforehand, or any areas that are out of bounds,” says Young, 46, severely. “As a result, there are…

Desert island risks…

PICK OF THE WEEK

BBC Music John Peel LectureSunday 7.00pm6 Music When Charlotte Church (below) walked off the stage of the Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays back in October 2013 the audience at the BBC Music John Peel Lecture was left reeling. She had started out nervously, her hands shaking — to be fair, giving lectures is not her chosen field of performance — but once she hit her stride you could have heard the proverbial pin drop as she launched a thoughtful, personal and headline-generating attack on the sexing-up of young female artists to drive sales in the music business. (Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball video, as if proof of her point were needed, had been released in August of that year.) The lecturer at this year’s live event is Brian Eno, who’ll look at “the…

PICK OF THE WEEK

Here is the news

BRITAIN IS AT peak Jeremy Corbyn. There’s no getting away from it or him. From when I sleepily turn on the radio in my bathroom at 7am until I switch off the news at 11pm on my bedroom set (rock ’n’ roll, I know), Mr Corbyn is the topic du jour. The only time Radio Corbyn is interrupted is with news of the mindboggling refugee crisis – a disaster of such proportions, it could actually split Europe. We may have emerged from the supposed silly season of summer headlines, but the news still appears to be stuck in a rut. However, I’m always guaranteed a fresh menu on my Sunday-evening show, The 5 Live Hit List, simply because no one who works in news decides the agenda. Every week I count down…

Here is the news

IS THIS THE WAY TO AMA-SHRILLO? Literally minutes before sitting at my desk to write these words, I was taking the air on the Piazza de Stan Ogden at Media City, Salford, when who should walk by me but singing legend Tony Christie. Tony had clearly made the short trans-Pennine journey from his home base of Sheffield and was striding purposefully toward the BBC’s Quay House, doubtless for a TV or radio appearance, resplendent in sharp black suit and white shirt. I’d only met Tony once several years ago so I didn’t bother him, tempting though it was to remind him of the time. He was chatting and singing live on a radio show I was hosting and hit a note so stentorian that the safety decibel meters cut the power…

Lamb rumps with spiced yogurt

Anyone who worked the grill section of Quaglino’s between 1993 and 1995, like I did, will recognise the inspiration for this dish. We would marinate whole boned legs of lamb, 60 at a time, in huge tubs and then, once marinated, we would thread the tenderised lamb onto huge skewers that fitted in the massive rotisseries. The result was delicious: spiced, sweet and tender lamb with little bits of charred yogurt. This is the version I do at home. FEEDS 6— • juice of 2 lemons, plus extra to finish • small bunch of thyme, leaves stripped • 4 rumps of lamb, about 250—300g each • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric • pinch of cloves • 250ml thick natural yogurt • 2 red chillies, de-seeded and diced • 2 garlic cloves, grated • 1 lemon • salt and…

Lamb rumps with spiced yogurt

‘We all like to feel superior’

UNLIKE MANY OF his colleagues on Gogglebox, Dom Parker never eats in front of it. Even during the long hours of filming with his wife, Steph. Boozing, yes. But munching? Never. “We don’t eat on camera because we don’t think it’s a good look – for anybody,” says Dom crisply. “And we have our pride. I don’t want to watch anyone else eating their food, so why should anyone watch me?” Any other proscribed activities? “Well, living in a Grade I-listed house, as we do, we are not the kind of people who would ever be seen wearing tracksuit bottoms.” Indeed, Steph and Dom’s smart attire is now so familiar to the viewing public that Dom often gets packages of smart shirts and yellow socks sent in by besotted fans. How about his…

‘We all like to feel superior’

Read and hear all about it!

LOOK WHO’S BACK TIMUR VERMES Reading Europe — Germany: Look Who’s Back Sunday 3pm Radio 4 Though many would consider the return of Hitler a nightmarish scenario, not so author Timur Vermes, whose comic novel Look Who’s Back (£8.54, plus £1.25 p&p) opens with Hitler waking up in modern Berlin. His views (and his appearance) are unchanged — except this time he is rendered impotent because no one takes him seriously. David Threlfall is the man with the moustache for this dramatisation, part of Radio 4’s Reading Europe week, which includes five special programmes in the Book of the Week slot at 9.45am every weekday. A STRANGENESS IN MY MIND ORHAN PAMUK Open BookSunday 4pm Radio 4 It’s seven years since Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk published a novel. But he has a good excuse — he’s been…

Read and hear all about it!

‘At Strid Wood spot everything from hogweed and hazel to badgers and butter_ies’ Oak Tree: Nature’s Greatest Survivor Thursday 9.00pmBBC4 THE BBC4 PROGRAMME Oak Tree spends a year in the life of a 400-year-old English oak. If you haven’t got 12 months to spare, we’ve rounded up the best of Britain’s ancient woodlands for an autumnal stroll through the falling leaves. PUZZLEWOOD GLOUCESTERSHIRE Fern-filled gullies, tangled tree roots, mosscovered branches… If you can catch it without the crowds, there’s an otherworldly feel to Puzzlewood, an enclave of the Forest of Dean that’s riddled with strange passages that were created when the Romans broke into an old cave system in search of iron ore. And exposed yew roots create more passageways for children to explore in search of elves and fairies. The forest was one of…

Satisfaction – or your money back

SHOPPERS THIS WEEK gain the right to a full refund if something they buy goes wrong within 30 d a y s . T h e n e w Consumer Rights Act 2015 comes into force on Thursday 1 October and its wide-ranging provisions clarify our rights as customers. If you buy something from a retailer it will have to be as it was described to you and of reasonable quality. It also has to be suitable for your purpose. So if you ask a salesperson if a power drill will bore holes in masonry and it turns out it won’t, then it isn’t suitable. If the item you’ve bought fails one of these tests or develops a fault within 30 days, you can take it back and demand a full…

Satisfaction – or your money back

Pay it all – or pay a penalty

If you pay your credit card bill in full every month, then no interest is normally charged. About half of us do that and it makes credit cards a very good deal, especially if the card pays cashback on purchases. However, if you do not pay the bill in full, credit cards are expensive. David emailed to ask, “If I pay, say, 95 per cent of the debt, will the company still charge me interest on the whole of the amount?” The answer is yes. If you pay 100 per cent of the balance on the card, no interest is charged. If you pay 95 per cent of it, you are charged interest on all the outstanding debt, not just the 5 per cent that you have not repaid. With the average…

Pay it all – or pay a penalty

PRIZE CROSSWORD One reader receives a Waterstones £75 voucher; five runners-up get a £15 voucher. All six receive a voucher for Waterstones Book of the Week, Upstairs at the Party by Linda Grant — a wonderful and perceptive story about secrets and moments that change our lives. WORDFINDER Find the name of the show in the shaded squares to win the prize below. EASY CLUES For fun! Email your answers to xword40@radiotimescomps.co.uk PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 7 City contains grand instrument (5) 8 Haughty devil won’t open grave (9) 10 Wader for granny, perhaps (4) 11 Room for archers is a long way off (5,5) 12 Influx of fans willingly help as vino is spilt (5,8) 15 Unlimited as camp without parking? (7) 16 Corrupt suitor hides line by Shakespearean prince (7) 18 Carelessly slip on berries being thoughtless (13) 20 Teen…

Only Connect with Victoria Coren Mitchell The connecting wall from the BBC2 game show Only Connect is an inventive combination of general knowledge, word play and lateral thinking to give your brain cells a workout! How to play Your task is to sort the 16 seemingly random words/phrases below into four groups of four connected words. You may find some clues fall into more than one category, but there is only one complete solution. If you get stuck, have a look at the clues, on the side of the page… Countdown with Rachel Riley Welcome to our new numbers quiz from Countdown. Using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, try to get as close to the top target number as possible in 30 seconds. You can use each of the six numbers only once, but you…

WHAT WE WATCHED

2000 30 SEP—6 OCT Jill Dando was on the cover as her favourite performers, from Lesley Garrett to Lionel Richie, joined forces to perform in her memory 18 months after her shocking murder. A Song for Jill aimed to raise money to establish the Jill Dando Insititute of Crime Science, which her fiancé Alan Farthing helped set up. RT readers were encouraged to help support the initiative by planting Forget-me-nots in honour of the former Crimewatch host. “Forgetme-nots encapsulate what we’re trying to achieve” said Farthing. “We don’t want Jill forgotten.” 1990 29 SEP—5 OCT David Attenborough revealed the secrets of his landmark series The Trials of Life, which took three years to make and had a cast of millions of animals. Terry Wogan, meanwhile, caught up with Harrison Ford in Hollywood. “The…

WHAT WE WATCHED

The BBC answers the call

EMAILfeedback@radiotimes.comOR WRITE TO Letters Editor, Radio Times, Vineyard House, 44 Brook Green, London W6 7BT Those detractors and bean counters should be ashamed of their criticism of the BBC and their desire to reduce the corporation when drama of the quality of its Sunday evening productions is considered. An Inspector Calls (13 September BBC1) was sublime. The intensity of the music, the brilliant photography and the superb ensemble performances, led by the perfectly cast Ken Stott, brought home with a vehemence JB Priestley’s searing attack on the hypocrisy of the Birling family, and reminded us that we are responsible for each other. Could there be a more forceful and timely reminder of such an important tenet today, when we need to show our humanity in the face of the current refugee crisis? Peter…

The BBC answers the call

Our reader with the Hollywood touch!

When RT invited readers to send in a cake recipe that’s special to their family, we had some excellent entries — our thanks go to everyone. We’re delighted to announce the winner is Emily Lewney (below) for her delicious Poppy Seed Bundt Cake. Emily wins a pair of tickets to the event Paul Hollywood Unbaked at the RT Festival on Saturday 26 September, and will also get to meet the Great British Bake Off judge. A school secretary in Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire, for 17 years, Emily is modest about her culinary skills — but the baking gene clearly runs in the family. “I was born in Massachusetts, but my grandparents were all immigrants to the USA. My grandmother Fannia, my father's mother, was born in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and,…

Our reader with the Hollywood touch!

You’ve done This is England in the 80s and now the 90s. Which was the best time to be young? Probably the 90s. I was a kid of the 90s: we didn’t have mobile phones, we did hang out in parks and lived like kids should live, dossing with mates, getting muddy and all that stuff. It was a great childhood. This is England ’90 is set in the rave era. Do you have to dance on screen? I think it’s more of a jumping up and down on screen. That I can do. There weren’t any major moves. We’re in the Madchester era now so the gang are getting involved in all that. My character, Lol, has settled down, she has a kid, she’s working as a dinner lady – but she…

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