How else am I going to know what's on? (TV times)

Member Name: caz-3124

Product:	TV times
Date:	20/06/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good features

Disadvantages: Not enough terrestrial listings

Where would I be without my TV Times? I know there's Teletext but you can only go one day ahead on that so it wouldn't be much use if you wanted to plan an evening's viewing a week in advance. There is also the option of the internet of course but you don't get all the extras that you do with a magazine and it's nice and relaxing to sit and have a read for half an hour.

The TV Times begins with a section called TV Times news where we get all the latest gossip about new programmes coming up, new actors in town including a column called 'what's next for...' where it tells you what your favourite actors are up to next. T

hen there are normally quite a few pages of features, either a single sheet or a double spread. This is often interviewing soap stars or introducing brand new series of things like Doctor Who or giving us the lowdown on the latest awards ceremony. There is normally a feature on sports too.

Then we have the soaps pages which dedicates 2 pages to Corrie, 2 to Eastenders, 2 to Emmerdale and one page to Hollyoaks, Neighbours and Home and Away. These cover upcoming events in soapland like murder or weddings and give you a day by day analysis of what's happening.

Next are the film pages. These tend to be a bit crammed in I find and there often isn't enought space to put sufficient information in there for me to work out whether a film is worth watching or not.

After that you have the main part of the magazine which is the TV listings. These are colour coded so Saturday is green, Sunday is lilac and so on which makes it easier to find your place. Each day has four double pages. Firstly comes the Highlights page which tells us what they think are the pick of the day. There are certain things which always feature here such as The Apprentice. For each one there is a paragraph telling the reader about the programme and a picture. I find this section quite helpful and have often found that I discover new programmes through these recommendations. On the following two pages are the terrestrial TV listings. This is where TV Times loses out in comparison to Radio Times because they devote three pages to the listings which means you get more details for each programme. The last sets of pages cover the digital channels.

At the back of the magazine there is a small letters page. I really feel it is a shame they don't devote more space to this section. They also have a horoscope column and a page with a sudoku and crossword to solve. On the back page they open up a star's photo album. This week it is Andrew Sachs's turn.

In all I do like this magazine. It costs £1.05 which isn't too bad. I only wish they would devote a little more space to their terrestrial listings. Look out for the bumper Christmas issue because that's a cracker!

Summary: Good