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While watching ‘Felix and Murdo’ (Channel 4, Wednesday 28th December 2011), the pilot starring the uber-posh and lovable Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong, I crossed my fingers and hoped with all desperation that a full series would be commissioned. Discussing it with my husband we considered that on paper, it probably wasn’t something that a programme commissioner would really be turning cartwheels about in these times – a sitcom featuring two Edwardian gentlemen with a penchant for drink and drugs while attempting to compete in the Olympics. I know, not exactly the sound of TV award audiences uproarious applause and thank you speeches but on viewing said sitcom I was pleasantly surprised. My reasons for watching it were two-fold 1) I adore the whole Armstrong/Miller fusion and am inclined to watch anything with either or both and 2) I miss ‘Blackadder’. I realize that ‘Felix and Murdo’ was nothing like ‘Blackadder’ but to be honest, I have missed historical comedy and flicking through the TV guide, this may be the best I am going to get.

I grew up watching comedy gems such as 'Blackadder', Victoria Wood, 'Red Dwarf', 'The Nightingales', 'Shelley', 'Bread', 'The Golden Girls' and 'Only Fools and Horses'. Admittedly we had very few channels in those days and most of them closed down at night therefore requiring less televisual stock. Now, perhaps due to the large amount of channels at our disposal, it is harder to find the diamonds in the rough. These days there is a slew of reality shows, structured-reality shows as well as panel shows and talent shows, it is difficult to see the programmes with true longevity.

Back in the Eighties and Nineties, 'Only Fools and Horses' was a nationwide event. Who could fail to stifle a sob when Del Boy first held baby Damien in his arms with his usually dysfunctional family looking on. 'Red Dwarf' was a delightful treat, I remember sitting watching the end of the fifth series holding hands with a friend of mine – completely devastated when we thought that they had been in a virtual reality game for many years only to find that it was a hallucination induced by the despair squid. My childhood is peppered with memorable TV moments. Who wouldn’t be moved at the final episode of 'Blackadder Goes Forth' watching the soldiers going over the top, the haunting music not quite covering the sniffling in the room from the unbidden tears.

In 2011 the TV shows most talked about seem to be 'The X Factor' (ITV), 'Britain’s Got Talent' (ITV), 'I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!' (ITV) and 'Strictly Come Dancing' (BBC). Every weekday on daytime television, analysis of the contestants, their personalities, dress sense seems to take place until I feel that I know more about people such as Frankie Coccoza than I do about my friends.

Televised talent shows are by no means a new addition to our TV diet, 'New Faces' and 'Opportunity Knocks' had already paved the way for several stars in the 70’s and 80’s but in the Noughties there seems so many chances for people to achieve their 15 minutes of fame that said fame in already diluted by the time they have won the competition. Such a huge amount of people seemed to achieve celebrity that it was difficult to keep track and the limelight is only big enough to encompass the precious few in the public’s affections. With exception of people such as perhaps Susan Boyle, I seriously wonder if I will even give a thought as to where some of the contestants are now in my twilight years (and I mean my old age rather than the sparkly vampire obsession). This saddens me as some of the contestants in these talent shows are actually very gifted with similarly interesting personas but unless they shine brightly enough they risk being eclipsed by other more notorious offerings.

The fascination with celebrity certainly isn’t a new thing either, chat shows with Terry Wogan and Michael Parkinson at the helm showed us the other side of the stars, their personalities away from their professions. With enormous viewing figures it was fairly clear that the public wanted to know as much as possible about these remarkable people who lived their life in the spotlight. The main difference in the 21st century is the advent of wide access to the internet allowing us a fenestral view into the lives of the rich and famous.

Nature documentaries have been a staple of TV for decades and few have been as well loved as those from David Attenborough. Recently, 'Frozen Planet' (BBC) showed awe inspiring footage of a caterpillar that froze every year for 14 years until becoming an adult – truly mind blowing TV. Pretty much anything with David Attenborough tends to end up as TV Gold and rightly so due to the informative dialogue and spectacular imagery.

The 21st Century has seen the revival of fabulous dramas such as 'Doctor Who', the introduction of lavish costume dramas such as 'Downton Abbey' and the passing of amazing shows like 'Arrested Development' (although there are rumblings of this being revived).

My love affair with television stretches right back to my very early childhood, I voraciously devoured TV shows; I would run indoors from ‘playing out’ to watch 'Blackadder', spent summers watching 'WACADAY' with Timmy Mallet and 'California Dreams', 'Saved by the Bell', 'Secret World of Alex Mac', 'Clarrisa Explains it All'. I loved Saturday morning television, I watched films with my mum, adored magic shows, quiz shows – basically anything on TV, I would watch.

The relationship wasn’t always without trauma, Paul Daniels' Iron Maiden trick in around 1987 had me absolutely terrified for his safety. In fact, despite him saying that "anyone with a nervous disposition should switch off now" and I definitely resided in that category even then, I watched it and was so upset that I couldn’t watch the TV for weeks. The spoof documentary ‘Ghostwatch’ was so distressing that I didn’t sleep properly for weeks afterwards and even on purchasing the DVD and attempting to watch it as an adult in broad daylight – I found that the fear was still too great and couldn’t get past the DVD Menu! I’ve shouted at the TV, cried at it, yelled ‘oh no!!!!’ at moments of fear and laughed until I cried – there are very few other objects I can say that about.

As a child, we had cable TV which meant that at a certain point in my childhood we had more than 4 channels and this was something of great pride to me – I think we even had MTV and so we could happily munch our breakfast listening to ‘Send me an Angel’ by the Scorpions, which was nice.

The introduction of Satellite TV brought Sky – the home of 'The Simpsons' and this filled me with so much excitement. I adored The Simpsons, owning the album, slippers and various other merchandise, oft quoting the now ubiquitous ‘D’oh!’. Satellite TV also brought with it a channel that I think was German called RTL, my grasp of German is non-existent and even without understanding a word that was being said, I would still watch American shows in German with my Nanna. I actually have very fond memories of lying full length on the furry rug that was right in front of the fire in my Nanna’s house, chin in hands, watching something like 'T.J. Hooker' in German. There was also an odd sort of gameshow called ‘Tutti Frutti’ which seemed to contain a large amount of nudity but the songs were very catchy.

I remember my astonishment at watching ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ for the first time in my teenage years. The story was along the lines that two sisters were seeing one guy and were fighting over him but it turned out that not only was he seeing the two sisters but he was seeing a gay man who was also sleeping with the man’s best friend who ultimately fancied the gay man’s boyfriend – still with me? I remember discussing it with friends and trying to explain it and people exclaiming how wild it was! These days, I have been witness to so many stories similar to this on talk shows that very few things genuinely shock me anymore which somewhat worries me.

I loved The Royal Institute Christmas lectures and was enthralled with their lecture 'The Cosmic Onion'.

As a teenager I had a TV set that was part of an ‘entertainment system’ of the time – it was a huge VCR shaped box with a tape recorder, radio, small alarm clock and a TV that was black and white and about 4 inches by 4 inches. The screen was tiny but considering my TV addiction it was just a way to get my fill of late night TV. I suffered from terrible insomnia (then and my entire life) so I ended up watching a vast amount of late night Channel Four TV. My Dad managed to buy me a Betamax video from a car boot sale and I searched similar sales for Betamax tapes, eventually buying around 40 tapes at around 20p each.

In my twenties, cable TV and Satellite TV was expensive and as a student at University sadly I had to limit my viewing to 5 channels but I still wrung as much TV goodness as possible out of every channel. I have been an avid 'Eastenders' fan for the longest time and imagine my glee when it was on for four nights a week. Despite the often, overly beautiful and outlandish storylines (there have been at least two serial killers in the village, how often does that happen!) of 'Hollyoaks', I found myself sucked in at an early stage and it is a programme that I still watch in my thirties – I count it as a guilty pleasure. I drift in and out of 'Holby City' and 'Casualty' and my current soap opera delight is the effervescent ‘River City’ showcasing the banter of Glasgow.

Oddly, my displeasure at having to sit through 'Top Gear' as a child has somewhat changed as I reached adulthood and now I happily watch the show, mainly for the antics of the presenters admittedly but to be honest who wouldn’t like to build an aquatic car or watch someone making a hash of the task?

I love detective shows – 'A Touch of Frost', 'Cracker', 'Inspector Morse', 'Jonathan Creek' etc and BBC and ITV were on hand to deliver these during the cable and satellite TV drought of my twenties.

Now, in my thirties, with cable TV I have a wealth of TV channels at my disposal but for some bizarre reason I still seem to end up watching ‘Friends’ episodes that I have seen at least 10 times each. With the event of cable TV in my life I have welcomed some brilliant American shows such as 'House', 'Sons of Anarchy', the fabulous and highly recommended ‘Burn Notice’, 'American Horror Story', 'Pan Am', '30 Rock', 'Scrubs' – the list is huge. As well as wonderful documentaries and science shows such as 'Mythbusters'.

My love of TV has inspired me to write this blog, I hope to be able to discuss shows with you all. The large amount of time I spend alone leaves me desperate to discuss shows with someone, if only to spare my husband the pain of having to discuss shows that he has no interest in. Look out for reviews and features coming your way.

Much love,
The Viewing Pleasure Principle x