Innocent Until Proven Guilty

In the television this week... my parents were on the news.

And I missed it. My mum and dad were on the BBC Breakfast show.

Basically, because of all this Royal Wedding tedium bollocks, various people at the BBC sent out a series of emails to as many people as they know asking if anyone knows any other couples that got married as a result of going to St. Andrews University together (which my parents did, that's where they met and got married) and it just so happens that one of my mum's dog-walking friends was a former BBC News Foriegn Correspondant, so she gets this email and immeadiately shows it to my mum and dad. They get interviewed and it was on the news on saturday morning (09/04/11).

And I missed it. I was in a car.

If you drastically wish to see it, I believe that it's still on the BBC News website, search for 'St. Andrew's Matchmaker' when you get there.

So, new series of HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU. I've always, always loved Have I Got News, it's probably my favourite panel show, ahead of Buzzcocks, Would I Lie To You and any others that I stumble upon. And they got Jon Richardson back for the opening episode of this series, which is great, because I think he's one of this country's brightest young comedians.

Other than that, all I can say is that I'm ridiculously looking forward to the return of a certain madman in a box, and can't really be thinking about other things right now. WHITE VAN MAN is actually getting better, while TWENTY TWELVE seems to be sagging a litte, but comedy is always difficult to do, so I shall reserve judgement until later on, when it's done.

GARROW'S LAW.

So this was another BBC Courtroom Drama that I started avidly watching. In fact I watched the second series before I bought the first, but hey, continuity is flexible enough to allow that. I figured that since I did Silk last time I could get away with doing something that's largely the same show, just set in a period where Sean Bean is quite at home (Which reminds me that I must do one of these on Sharpe).

But of course the main difference is that Garrow's Law is historical in the sense that most of these characters actually existed. William Garrow, John Southouse, Judge Buller and Sir Arthur Hill were all real people and all the cases brought before the court of Old Bailey are indeed real cases straight out of the history files. Obviously some artistic licence has been taken, but I'd only hold that against them if it were a bad show.

And this is no way a bad show.

A stellar cast led by Andrew Buchan (or Sean Bean mk2 as I like to think of him), with the legendary nose of Alun Armstrong, current BBC royalty of Rupert Graves and the multi-talented Lyndsey Marshall who was last seen wasting her time in Being Human.

All I can really say about Garrow's Law is that both seasons have so far impressed me so much that I made sure to recommend it to everyone I know, just in case they missed it. This is a show that will suit many audiences, which I could only hope to match.

So next time, something more retro: JONATHAN CREEK.