Front Row Dress Circle

Right, so Big Brother in series form has now ended after eleven series with hefty Bristolian Josie winning the big prize. Now we are being treated to two extra weeks of Ultimate Big Brother whereby former housemates from both BB and CBB spend 14 days back in The BB House to no doubt try and have a second shot at the fame and fortune that eluded them after their first respective appearances on the show. Josie will join them for the next two weeks - well, she has already won 100K so what has she got to lose?

We have transsexual winner Nadia from BB5 in 2004, the now-emaciated Ulrika Jonsson from CBB 2009, Makosi from BB6 in 2005, Rapper Coolio who rubbed everyone up the wrong way in CBB 2009, whining Nikki from BB7 (voted the best BB series ever), infamous Nasty Nick from BB1 in 2000, and the awful bum-scratching, nose-picking chauvinist John McCririck from CBB 2005 - which makes you think that this show could actually have it’s moments…but when I saw that the famously married and then divorced Chantelle Houghton and Preston from CBB 2006 enter the house I had the feeling that something predictable was in the making…get ready OK! magazine for the ‘reunion’ exclusive…?

But you have to feel a little sad that the most famous, successful, and entertaining BB house-mate of all time will not be there in the house tonight, and we know she would have if she could have…Jade.

Jade Goody - she enjoyed the best side of Big Brother…and also suffered from the worst side of it.

Popularity: 25% [?]

It goes without saying that a major aspect of the appeal of the early stages of tv show X Factor is the entertainment provided by the untalented contestants who make it through from the first audition rounds. Let’s face it, they are put through to boot camp stage simply to keep the tv viewing audience watching - one last laugh at how deluded many of these people are about their abilities before the more serious task of sorting out the good from the bad and creating the actual talent show it is meant to be.

In past years many of these hapless people have been used as the modern day version of ‘court jesters’ to bolster the ratings and most played along with it, just happy to be getting their fifteen minutes of fame. Some though - guided by their own delusions and misguided advice from family and friends - were serious enough about their non-existent chances that they took their inevitable rejections personally. As such people do…in earlier series there were even one or two rather nasty ‘evictees’ who took their news quite badly.

It has seemed as though there are now more jesters than serious contenders due to the judges habit of putting these people through for no reason other than entertainment value. This new series is no different and has taken quite a dive in the area of good taste with the judges placing ’singer’ Shirlena Johnson through to the boot camp phase. Shirlena on first sight presented as someone with an odd character and proved even more so during her bizarre rendition of Duffy’s hit ‘Mercy’. She moaned, she whined, she squealed and squirmed on the floor - all to the amazement of the audience and the obvious amusement of the judges, particularly Simon Cowell. It was uncomfortable viewing. It has been revealed that this lady, a single mum of a little girl, has mental health issues and her continued participation in the show looks set to be stopped. Yes, she was unusual to say the very least but with this news coming to light is it right to offer her to the public as a laughing stock - and what does it say about the way this and other reality tv shows are heading nowadays.

Back in medieval times the mentally ill were presented at royal court to provide laughs for the courtiers, free entertainment at their own expense. Why has Simon Cowell, an astute businessman with an undisputed eye for real talent, allowed his star vehicle to become the modern day version of King Arthur’s court - and why do so many people enjoy it…?

Popularity: 22% [?]

Everyone loves a good cry and what better way to get some cry-therapy than to sit down and enjoy your favourite tearjerker? We all have our favourites and there are plenty of moments captured on celluloid guaranteed to bring a lump to your throat.

Here are just a few of my own favourites…

Titanic - who didn’t have a blub into their hankies towards the end of this film? for me it was the moment when the elderly Rose walks the deck towards the edge of the ship and leans over the side to gaze down into the depths of the ocean above the site of the wreck of the Titanic. She thinks back to that fateful night and then opens her hand to reveal the precious stone that she carried on her when she was rescued from the water all those years ago. She takes a deep breath and then lets it fall down into the black depths. Then she is shown in her bed and we know she has passed on - the camera lingers on photos, moments from her life after the tragedy. Then for major lump-in-the-throat stuff we are whisked back to the Titanic in all it’s glory, as Rose, young again, meets Jack on the staircase under the clock and kiss to the applause of all those friends who perished that night so long ago. 

On Golden Pond - I blubbed when I first saw it in 1980 and I still get choked up when I watch this film starring the irreplaceable Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn. Two moments for me in particular: 1) when Norman is dispatched to pick some strawberries for Ethel and he becomes lost and disoriented after walking just a few feet from their home. He finds his way back and breaks down when he tells her he ‘forgot the way’. Ethel then tells him that, no matter what happens, he will always be her ‘knight in shining armour’. 2) right at the end when Chelsea is saying goodbye to her parents and for the first time calls her father ‘dad’ instead of ‘Norman’. He takes her in his arms and holds her and she relishes the moment between them. 

Terms of Endearment - three moments for me in this one. The first is the famous ‘give my daughter the shot!!!!’ which any mother can surely identify with. I think any mother would ‘do an Aurora’ if the need arose. The second is the scene which, once again, would tear at the heart of any mother - where Emma says goodbye to her two little boys in the hospital knowing her death from cancer is imminent. The third, and the one which makes me almost choke to death each time I watch it, is Emma’s death. The finest ‘death scene’ I have ever watched in a film - Emma slips away silently after turning to look at her mother.  Aurora leans in close expecting her daughter to say something to her and then realises she has died - her anguish and tears at her daughter’s passing…”I never thought it would be this hard, this is too hard, oh my sweet, sweet baby…”

Lassie Come Home - sorry, but it just does something to me does the final scene. After being sold and sent away because her owners could not afford to keep her, Lassie has finally limped home to her village and makes her way to her spot under the tree to wait for her little master to come out of school. When the young Roddy McDowell sees his beloved long-lost dog waiting for him he runs to her and throws his arms around her with joy…”You’re my Lassie come home”. Sniffle…

Philadelphia - this wonderful film has a final sequence which breaks my heart. Andy has died from AID’s and at his wake his family and friends gather around a television to watch home movies featuring Andy and his younger brother as little boys. Playing on the beach, opening Xmas presents, blowing out candles on a birthday cake, being normal healthy children…with the music of Bruce Springsteen accompanying the footage the images are a powerful and at the same time heartrending portrayal of past happiness and immense loss. The first time I saw the film this final sequence devastated me.

Waking Ned Devine - I just love this delightful film starring the late, great Ian Bannen. Shot on the Isle of Man, we see the touching relationship between two elderly men who have been friends all their lives and now must put not only their friendship to the test but their principals as well when they conspire to collect the Lotto winnings of a friend who died of shock during the televised draw. The moment I love is when the village is burying old Ned and the lottery agent comes into the church during the funeral. Micheal Sullivan has pretended to be Ned to the agent and is seated in the front pew - his friend and co-conspirator Jackie is giving the eulogy and has to decided whether to maintain the charade or not…and begins to eulogise instead about his ‘very dear friend Micheal Sullivan’. He talks about their friendship and how “the words spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who has died” - he is paying tribute to his lifelong friend sitting in front of him, still very much alive, and who gets the rare chance to hear words spoken about him which he would never have heard otherwise.

Up - what a revelation this animated film is. In the early part of the film the beautiful and moving montage of the life of the elderly man and his wife, showing them across the years from their marriage to her death. Just gorgeous.

Ghost - ah come on, everyone has a blub at the last scene when Molly at last is able to see her beloved Sam as he bids farewell to her moments before he is finally taken to heaven.

Blossoms in the Dust - the moving 1941 film about Edna Gladney, the wonderful woman who opened an orphanage in Fort Worth Texas for ‘foundling’ children in the days when illegitimacy was a stigma that destroyed many innocent lives. Continues to pack a powerful punch even today - Mrs Gladney fought the terrible social stigma so many children carried throughout their lives as the word ‘illegitimate’ used to be stamped on one’s birth certificate and even passport. She successfully fought to have this word removed from all official records. In this film Greer Garson plays Edna Gladney and this film has many moments of deep emotion. For me it is the scene when Edna must finally relinquish the little boy Timmy whom she has cared for since he was an abandoned baby with a disability. Edna prepares Timmy for adoption by a couple who have recently lost their own child, packing his suitcase and telling him about his new home despite the agony she feels in her own heart at giving him up. This is the one film my own father could not get through without a box of kleenex!

Popularity: 37% [?]