No, Prime Minister - TV Debates

The TV leaders debate has ended in stalemate, with David Cameron refusing to partake and the broadcasting companies standing their ground, will we ever get these debates?- James Sullivan

It began as a novel  method of educating the British public in politics before a crucial general election.

Viewed by 9.4 million people, the 2010 debate between the party leaders Gordon Brown (Labour), David Cameron (Conservative) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) proved an avid spectacle before a crucial general election. So why not do it again?

Yet since 2010 British party politics has changed.

There are no longer only three major parties in Parliament; the Green party won a seat in 2010, nationalist parties continue to be popular in Wales (Plaid Cymru) and Scotland (SNP). Plus who can forget the rise of UKIP, who now have two seats in Parliament.

So, when the plans for this years debate were announced, which only had Nigel Farage (UKIP) added, it caused outrage among the smaller parties and David Cameron refused to partake without these smaller parties.

The plans changed; seven leaders would now feature. There were to be three leaders debates, one with a head-to-head between Labour leader Ed Miliband and Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. The other party leaders would feature in two other debates.

Even with these plans there was continued disagreement.

Broadcasters failed to include the Democratic Unionist Party (from Northern Ireland) despite including all other major parties. In fact the BBC has rejected the DUP’s appeal on the matter.

Now David Cameron is refusing profusely to partake in all but one of the debates, and in response the broadcasting companies are continuing their plans with or without the Prime Minister.

After all the struggle and toil, we end up  with debates that don’t feature all the relevant parties and may now not feature the Prime Minister. Are these debates worth the effort?

The lack of DUP seems a major oversight. After the Scottish Independence referendum it’s clear the Union is close to pulling apart, so it’s not the best time to start excluding small nationalist parties.

But I don’t think it’s a major reason to postpone the whole debate, seven parties will still be informative to the public as they begin to contemplate who to vote for in May.

David Cameron is a slightly more pressing issue. Whatever his reasoning is, it’s clear he believes these debates will be damaging. 

Other party leaders have been quick to criticise his decision, with Nicola Sturgeon (SNP leader) saying we should “stick with that, rather than allow a Tory prime minister to dictate the terms of debate."

There has already been enough conflict in organising these debates, so the BBC is justified in pressing on without him. It’ll only serve to damage his reputation.

It’s a shame, because in an age where political interest is dwindling, the debates served a purpose of capturing the interest of the public. Yet David Cameron’s refusal reinstates the negative view people hold about politicians.

The upcoming general election will be closely contested according to opinion polls, so these debates prove crucial for all parties to influence the public. Yet Cameron may have left the door wide open for Ed Miliband. I can hardly see him losing a debate to an empty chair.

TV debates schedule:

April 2: Debate between all seven party leaders– Broadcasted on ITV

April 16:  Debate between all seven party leaders– Broadcasted on BBC

April 30: Head-to-head debate featuring David Cameron and Ed Miliband - Broadcasted on Channel 4 and Sky

Series Spotlight: Once Upon A Time

From the writers of Lost and One Tree Hill comes an award winning fairy-tale drama series set to change the way we see our favourite characters and childhood classics. Here are our top 11 reasons why you should give it a try...

1. The Cast: The key to Once Upon a Time’s success in America—and hopefully soon it’s success in the UK—is the amazing acting talent that makes up the ‘Once’ ensemble. With multiple nominations and four award wins, it’s becoming a beloved series. TV Guide’s award for ‘Favourite Villain’’, for instance, was given to the well-deserved Lana Parrilla who plays The Evil Queen alongside People’s Choice Award nominee Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White). With the highly praised Jennifer Morrison playing the all important main character, Emma, and Thor actor Josh Dallas playing Prince Charming as well—and if that’s not enough to tempt you, then Bucky’s (or Sebastian Stan as he goes by) guest role appearance could just make you want to give it a go.

2. The Perfect Balance of Mythology: The show keeps a great model  of storytelling, balancing dual story-lines in a single episode: one from the pre-cursed ‘Enchanted Forest’ and present day ‘Storybrooke’. 

3. Storylines: The show has a way of keeping you hooked on a story: with twists and turns on classic fairytales, but also with favourite heroes not always playing the good guy, and vice-versa. You might just be surprised as to who your favourite character’s might turn out to be.

4. The First Season: As the show’s slowest season in terms of pace in storyline, which some may find a little infuriating (but hopefully that’s only a few), the first season gives viewers a chance to fully and truly understand the story and introduce the main characters properly. 

5. Strong Female Roles: Once’s extensive cast, many of which are women, play interestingly flawed, independent and strong characters that you wouldn’t expect to see in a fairy-tale world. They’re relatable and interesting personas that almost seem like they could be real people.

6. The Dialogue: Be careful or you’ll miss this one. The witty, sassy and ironic dialogue is extremely engaging and will have you smiling like a Cheshire cat. 

7. Aesthetic Appeal: Not only do the actors all have visual appeal, the Primetime Emmy Award nominated costumes and make-up will have you wishing you were from one of the classic tales.

8. Continuity!: You might not always spot it, but the show is extremely clever at making little references, whether it be with home design for characters or the mention of specific things or places (ahem, Tallahassee)... 

9. Your Favourite Characters Coming to Life: You’ll be meeting: Snow White, Prince Charming, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Mulan, Peter Pan, The Mad Hatter… Need I say more?

10. It United Prince Charming With His Snow White: The chemistry that the main couple present is far from fake as the show united Goodwin and Dallas, and they are now happily married with a child. How’s that for a real life fairy-tale?

11. Future Appearances: With Frozen favourites, Cruella DeVil, Maleficent and Ursula on their way in season 4, you know you’re in for a good ride.

By Lucy Baker

TV CHOICE: TEEN WOLF, OUAT AND AHS FREAKSHOW

Reviewed by Franki Dean

The first show I have chosen to review is Teen Wolf. This program has grown in popularity since it first started out in 2011. I want to start off by outlining why season 4 doesn't quite match up to the previous seasons. Every season has an opening plotline that gives away the story of the main one, but in this season, the Benefactor plotline was SOOO ambitious that it required too many episodes to clear up. No TV show really dwells on the idea of real life logic, especially not Teen Wolf. Teen Wolf is a show that should be appreciated for the impact of its emotions and visuals. Although season 4 was nowhere near as good as the previous, it was jam-packed with fantastic ideas, however, I don’t feel like the producers gave us enough mentions of the tragedy that happened at the end of 3B for fans of the show to truly get over Allison’s death. In the final episode, a showdown between Kate and the teenagers erupted. It didn’t last long though and soon enough, everyone was gathering outside waiting for the sun of Mexico to set. The final moment where Coach yelled at the boys for going to Mexico instead of lacrosse practice before reminding them that they needed to watch out for each other was touching and really indicates to me and the viewers of the show, the true meaning of friendship. That final scene taught us all that you don’t need to smother each other and never leave each other’s sides to be a true friend, but when your friend is in danger; you’ll fight to the death for them.

The second show I want to talk about is American Horror Story or AHS for short. There have been 4 seasons so far, this one being the fourth. This season, the plotline is all about “freaks” working together as circus acts to earn money for themselves.    

The promo poster above portrays a screaming woman with blood over her face, indicating the real horror of the show.

 Although we aren’t able to watch AHS in England (well we can but we’re like 3 weeks behind), the show is available to watch on Netflix. This whole season is based on real life “freaks of nature” such as the two headed woman and lobster finger man. Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) plays a young man with a charming personality who is able to win the hearts of all the women in the town. However, he isn’t able to show his hands to these girls as he has “lobster fingers”. Jimmy faces the most struggles throughout the season as he battles to keep the freak show going so he is able to earn money and also fights to be a normal person. Just when he’s given up hope of ever being accepted for who he truly is, Maggie Esmeralda (a fortune teller) turns up at the show begging for a job. Jimmy is infatuated with her and makes it clear to everyone that she is to be offered a job. Unfortunately, later on in the episode we meet her; we find out that she is working alongside the man who is trying to shut the freak show down. The man has lost all hope of ever being able to just shut the show down, so he hires Maggie Esmeralda to win the trust of the acts so she can kill them and earn herself some of her own money. Though the season has not yet ended, I doubt very much that she will go ahead with the man’s plan, despite the gruesomeness of the show itself.

Captain Hook is featured above looking strong and fearless, although that is not the case.

Season 3 of Once Upon a Time isn’t recent, although it is my favourite season, purely for the fact that it features one of my favourite Disney characters, Peter Pan. However, the producers of the show created a twist and decided to make Peter Pan evil. I also found out recently that the character of Peter Pan is also supposed to be the Pied Piper. The intriguing character played by Robbie Kay brought an entirely new personality for Peter Pan which left fans of the show on the edge of their seats throughout the entire season. Although most of the characters stay the same; we are also led to view them as completely different personas as well. Wendy still portrays the same personality as the Disney character; however, she isn’t as feisty and definitely doesn’t talk back to Pan like she did in the Disney films. Tinkerbelle has no connection to Peter Pan whatsoever and helps the other characters try to destroy Peter Pan in the end. Finally, there’s Captain Hook as shown in the promo poster to the left. I feel that he is one of the truest personas to come from the Disney film (although no one ever walks the plank) as we see the ongoing feud throughout the season between Peter Pan and Hook. Hook is also proven to be very weak and doesn’t seem to like much confrontation. Even when the fighting scenes are happening, he still manages to keep out of the way until it’s just him and Peter Pan left. The only thing that upsets me about Captain Hook’s character is that his sidekick Captain Smee wasn’t ever shown and there was no crocodile constantly haunting the poor man. In the end, all of the Storybrooke characters work together to kill Pan, but there’s only one problem; for Peter Pan to die, Rumpelstiltskin has to die too. Both characters die in a brutal way and vanish in to thin air leaving the rest of the characters to pick up the broken pieces of their lives. However, in the second half of season 3 (which has nothing to do with Neverland), Rumpelstiltskin reveals he didn’t ever die, so the viewers are left wondering what this means for Pan. Is he still alive?

THIS DECEMBER, YOU SHOULD WATCH…

Fringe (Season Three) 

Brooklyn Nine Nine (Season One) 

Sleepy Hollow

Once Upon a Time (Season Four)

The Walking Dead (Season Five)

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

The Doctor returns for the 50th anniversary, but will it live up to fans expectations? WARNING contains spoilers! By Hannah Brown

On November the 23rd 1963, William Hartnell and Carol Ann Ford stepped onto television screens for the first time as the Doctor and his granddaughter, now 50 years  and 1 revival later The Doctor is back to celebrate his 50 years with a special 50th anniversary episode “The Day Of The Doctor”.

Since the BBC announced there would be a special 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who, expectations and excitement have been running high, but will it live up to the expectations of Doctor Who fans everywhere?

Currently little is known about what will be happening in the episode, however the BBC have announced some of the people who will be appearing in the episode. David Tennant and Billie Piper will be returning as the 10th Doctor and Rose Tyler to accompany Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman as the 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald (Impossible Girl).

The monsters who will be returning are the Zygons, who haven’t appeared in Doctor Who since its revival, and the Daleks. Steven Moffat (executive producer) commented “The Doctor once said that you can judge a man by the quality of his enemies, so it’s fitting that for this very special episode, he should be facing the greatest enemies of all.”
 
Excitement has also been brewing after the final episode of the last series, where John Hurt has been introduced as The Doctor. No one knows what this part of The Doctor did and why it “wasn’t in the name of The Doctor,” but fans hope that answers will be given on the 23rd November.
 
Not only is there  the 50th anniversary episode to be excited about, but there is also the Christmas episode where The Doctor will regenerate.
 
Fans will be sad to see Matt go, but there are mixed feelings towards the new Doctor. Some are optimistic, whereas others are still hung up over David.

 When asked how it feels to have been given the part of 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi (pictured above) said “Being asked to play The Doctor is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight.”
 
There is a lot of curiosity over how Peter will interpret the part, but fans are just going to have to wait and see, while enjoying the excitement ahead.

New Girl: Zooey Deschanel

New Girl, Zooey Deschanel, is making a massive impact on our screens now. She has been up and coming for and while but recently come into the big time.

Zooey Deschanel, 32, was born into showbiz. Her father, Caleb Deschanel, is an Academy Award nominated cinematographer and her mother, Mary Jo Deschanel, is an actress. She got her first big break playing a model in a TV sitcom Veronica’s Closet. The following year she got a role in her first movie, Mumford where she played Nessa Watkins. She then made the decision to drop out of university and pursue her dream of full-time acting, a move which has clearly paid off. Zooey’s distinctly unique acting style found her voted Best Actress at the Mar Del Plata Film Festival in 2003.

After her role in 500 Days Of Summer, in which she played Summer Finn, a quirky young woman who does not believe in love or fate, her fame level shot through the roof. Since then she has stared in Bones, Funny or Die Presents…,    Drunk History,  Our  Idiot Brother  and Your Highness, before now taking up her leading role in the US sitcom New Girl.

In keeping with Zooey’s unique style, she now plays Jess, a very quirky woman. Jess breaks up with her boyfriend of six years and moves in with three guys she met on the internet. The show tells the comical story of how they get along living together and her life. Zooey brings to life the character beautifully.

New Girl is on Channel 4, Fridays 8.30pm  

By Jess Embrey