UK Gold - The Best Of British (UKTV Gold)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	UKTV Gold
Date:	24/03/01 (282 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of good TV, Dr. Who, episodes you might have missed first time round, nostalgia!

Disadvantages: Some programmes disappear after a while, but usually come back later...

UK Gold was our main reason for getting Digital TV installed. It is a brilliant channel, with a great many of my favourite programmes being shown throughout the week.

First of all, one of the whole family's favourites is Doctor Who, which is shown on Sunday mornings. They are currently showing the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) episodes, but usually go through the Doctors in rotation. I know I saw many of the Hartnell and Troughton stories for the first time on UK Gold. This is a wonderful programme, suitable for all the family.

Another of my great loves is for 1970s sitcoms and UK Gold has plenty of these too, although Granada Plus is my preferred channel for these. There are some classic sitcoms on UK Gold though - 'Allo 'Allo, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Dad's Army, Are You Being Served? - all from the Croft and Perry camp.

Yes Prime Minister must be one of the all-time greats of comedy series and is also being re-run on UK Gold. It is just as funny as ever, with the incisive political wit still as relevant to Blair's government as it was to Thatcher's.

You can watch the old episodes of the soaps, reminding yourself of great (or not so great) storylines of the past or getting to see episodes you missed the first time round. Neighbours and EastEnders are both in a timewarp here, although fans of Coronation Street and Emmerdale will need Granada Plus for their fix, with Brookside fans tuning in to Living for their repeatfest.

For more recent sitcoms, UK Gold regularly shows The Vicar of Dibley - starring the wonderful Dawn French as the irrepressible vicar - and Gimme Gimme Gimme, starring Kathy Burke as a sex-crazed loud mouth and James Dreyfus as a bitchy gay wannabe actor.

But if that's not to your taste, how about the late, great Gary Olsen in Two Point Four Children? Or Nicholas Lyndhurst, showing his talent away from being David Jason's sidekick, in the time-travelling sitcom
Goodnight Sweetheart? Or the always hilarious Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes in Men Behaving Badly?

Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) is currently being shown on Saturday evenings. Although not pleasing everyone, I enjoyed the series a lot, even though I can't usually stand Vic Reeves! I do like Bob Mortimer though and with a cast also starring the beautiful Emilia Fox and the eccentric, but brilliant, Tom Baker, no wonder I love it.

If you are more interested in drama, UK Gold regularly show the best of British - Casualty and Holby City (my two favourite medical dramas)are stalwarts of the channel, along with occasional appearances by such excellent programmes as Hearts and Bones - a series about a set of friends whose lives are intertwined - and Real Women. This stars Pauline Quirke (Birds Of A Feather), Michelle Collins (EastEnders, Sunburn) and Gwyneth Strong (Only Fools and Horses)as women facing problems in their life - adultery, infertility, growing older, etc. It is very realistic, not a "glossy" kind of programme, but the acting is excellent and you will sympathise and empathise with the characters.

All this and I haven't even mentioned the repeats of The Bill, Birds Of A Feather and All Creatures Great And Small. The programmes regularly change, showing complete series of some before resting them for a while, so do check your television listings guide. But there's bound to be something you'll like. Do yourself a favour, flick over to UK Gold and enjoy the feast !

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