• William Shatner: James Tiberius Kirk, captain of the Enterprise throughout the original 1960′s shows and subsequent movies. And the man responsible for the best pop cover version of all time.
• Sir Patrick Stewart: Jean-Luc Picard in the Next Generation series and films. Empirically and unarguably the best Star Trek captain ever. There is no debate. No, sorry, shut up.
• Avery Brooks: Commander then Captain Benjamin Sisko in the eventually brilliant Deep Space Nine.
• Kate Mulgrew: Captain Kathryn Janeway, in the marmite Voyager.
• Scott Bakula: Captain Jonathan Archer from Star Trek: Enterprise. Also fondly remembered as Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap.

The latest Captain, Chris Pine playing a youthful Kirk in the recent movie, is not on the announced bill…but you still get the five main skippers off of the TV. Other stars have yet to be revealed, but expect a fine farrago of the Federation’s finest from all five series. Interactive sets, personal autograph sessions, parties, props, talks and more are promised.

Destination Star Trek London takes place at Excel from 19-21 October. Tickets range hugely in price, from £29 for a simple one-day pass, right up to a staggering £3,000 for the VIP pass, which presumably gives you access to all areas, including Shatner’s Bassoon.

Today is the final full day of analogue TV for most Londoners. From tomorrow, the region begins the switch to digital-only, when the signal for BBC2 is extinguished. The final curtain comes on 19 April when the remaining four channels are kiboshed.

According to Digital UK, the body overseeing the shift, one in ten London households are not ready, and will lose their TV signal. If you use Freeview, BT Vision or Top Up TV you’ll need to retune your set or box. If you have Sky, Freesat or Virgin, you don’t need to do anything. If you only have analogue sets, you’ll need to get some form of digital box or a new TV pronto. Or you could just live without TV.

To mark the televisual milestone, a 200,000W light show will take place at the Crystal Palace transmitter on 18 April. Art exhibitions inspired by the switchover are also taking place at Ambika P3 and the ICA.

Those looking for more information about switchover can visit the Digital UK website or, in meatspace, any of a series of community roadshows throughout the region.

David Hall, 1001 TV Sets (End Piece) 1972-2012. Photo: Michael Maziere

If you are one of the millions who already watch digital TV, you may be unaware that the analogue signal will stop between 4 and 18 April.

To mark this occasion David Hall has placed 1,001 old televisions upturned in the massive space that is the Ambika P3 gallery. Even before you enter you can hear the cacophony of the TVs all tuned to one of the five analogue channels.

From above, the installation is a sea of bright colours and it feels like an assault on the senses. Visit the exhibition when the analogue signal stops and all you’ll see and hear will be static and white noise.

The smaller rooms are used to display some of Hall’s earlier works but they aren’t as captivating as his centrepiece.

As Hall has based his artistic career around television, there is a personal touch about his art and you too will feel some nostalgia for the days when there were no flatscreen TVs and the picture quality was grainy.

Rather than an art installation, Hall’s exhibition feels more like a memorial for days gone by. It’s great that technology has progressed, but this is a fitting tribute to the end of an era.

David Hall: End Piece is on at Ambika P3, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS until 22 April. Entrance is free.

Simply called The Tube (and absolutely nothing to do with Jools Holland) the series follows Underground staff of all flavours, as they go about their merry business.

The debut episode, tonight at 9pm, focuses/unfocuses on how staff cope with inebriated passengers. The show follows hot on the rails of Channel 4′s Confessions from the Underground, which, despite a controversial billing, exposed pretty much nothing of note about the network. Annie Mole has more commentary on the opening episode.

The New England Patriots will be taking on the New York Giants on Sunday

Has there ever been a sport that looks after armchair fans as well as American football? Big fellas slamming in to one another, speed, skill, cheerleaders, all American showmanship, pop stars performing at half time, wardrobe malfunctions and watered down, tasteless beer (ok, perhaps not the last one then).

Super Bowl XLVI (46) is almost upon us and an estimated global audience of over 90 million people will be tuning in on Sunday night to watch the New York Giants battling the New England Patriots for the right to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy and be crowned champions.

With the game being played in Indianapolis and tickets selling for eye watering amounts, it’s probably a fair assumption that you won’t be jetting over the Atlantic to be in the crowd. So if you fancy heading out on Sunday night until the wee small hours to watch the best sporting action America has to offer, here’s a round-up of some of the best Super Bowl events happening around London. Hut hut, 29, 48, hut!”

IndigO2 (The O2)
The official Super Bowl party for NFLUK, Super Bash has been going for years and is immensely popular — which is probably the reason it’s sold out. But if you’re lucky enough to already have a ticket, then you’re in for a good time, with cheerleaders, classic American food and punters in fancy dress.

What to look out for: Cheerleaders, ‘American fare’, four free Budweiser drink vouchers, (Pepsi and Gatorade for those driving/needing to get up to do a day’s graft on Monday).

Costs: Sold out. More info here.

Clapham Grand (Clapham Junction)
Do you get sick of standing at the back of a crowded bar squinting at a tiny screen? Not so here, where you’ll be able to gawp/scream obcenities at the 24 foot screen as well as the many plasmas adorning the walls. This night-club venue (and now home to the infamous ‘The Church‘) should pull in a big crowd so if its a party atmospere you want, this may well be the place for you.

What to look out for: Larger-than-life-size players on the massive screen, American beers, hotdogs and cheerleaders (not neccesarily in that order).

Costs: Standard admission £10 with the first 100 through the door enjoying a free beer. VIP £20 for a table (minimum of 8 people) which includes a hotdog and beer upon arrival. More info here.

Famous Three Kings (also known as ‘F3K’)
This sports-mad boozer, located next to West Kensington tube, is one of London’s stalwarts when it comes to televised sports. It is, therefore, no surprise that it will stay open into the early hours of Monday morning to screen America’s premium sporting event. Tickets can be bought in advance, which secures you a seat and a free beer, or bought on the door (which does not secure you either of the aforementioned seats or free beers).

What to look out for: Swathes of fellow sports fans cheering on the Giants/Patriots (delete as appropriate), beer, staff and punters who are into their sport.

Costs: £10 in advance with guarenteed seat and free beer, £5 on the door. More info here.

Bar Kick (Shoreditch)
A venue that is probably better known for its foosball tables, Bar Kick has shown the Superbowl a few years in a row, and again hosts another party for 2012.

What to look out for: Super Bowl without the tackiness, table football at the end of each quarter and a slightly more discerning crowd.

Costs: FREE! More info here.

The Social (W1)
If you fancy watching the Super Bowl AND raising money for a worthwhile charity, then you could do worse than to head to The Social off Great Portland Street for their party, in aid of the charity Shelter. As the venue usually hosts gigs, expect the audio to be deafening!

What to look out for: DJs before kick-off and the half-time show by Madonna being pumped vigorisly through The Social’s ample sound system (metophorically).

Costs: £6. More info here.

Sports Cafe (Picidilly)
If you were to ask 100 random people to name a bar showing the Super Bowl, the words ‘Sports’ and ‘Cafe’ would crop up pretty often. With so many screens that you literally can’t help but see the game, there’s no chance that an idiot wearing a jester hat will be stuck between you and the goggle box.

What to look out for: TVs, lots of them. Random sporting memoribilia on the walls.

Costs: From £15. More info here.

Roadtrip (Shoreditch)
This rock and roll bar situated in the heart of Old Street is not only showing the game, but is also serving up its usual range of American cuisine to satiate you in to the early hours of Monday morning.

What to look out for: …or should we say what to listen out for? The venue has surround sound so you can hear those tackles come crunching in from all over the pitch.

Costs: FREE! More info here.

Featured image by Only Lines from the Londonist flickr pool.

See also: How to get tickets for October’s NFL game at Wembley.

221B Baker Street

Holmes and Watson give their address as 221b Baker Street, but exterior shots were actually filmed a half-mile north-east in North Gower Street, where filming conditions are quieter. The fictional pair live above Speedy’s Cafe, which is a genuine sandwich bar. It was renamed Mrs Hudson’s Snax for the pilot episode, but regained the Speedy’s name thereafter. According to The Mail, the tiny eaterie has seen a marked increase in footfall since the show began. The detective’s flat is (or was in 2010) occupied by a pair of Korean students, with no reported sleuthing skills. Had Holmes and Watson lived here in their canonical late-Victorian period, they might have heard tales of their late neighbour Giuseppe Mazzini, the Italian exile and patriot who once lived next door (as attested by the blue plaque). Wonder what the boys think about High Speed 2, whose construction later this decade would wipe out some of the neighbouring streets.

Diogenes Club

This stuffy gentleman’s club first appears in the Conan Doyle story The Greek Interpreter. Sherlock Holmes’ idle but brilliant brother Mycroft is a regular visitor, and its location is given as ‘just opposite his rooms’ on Pall Mall. In the BBC version, the Diogenes has moved to nearby 10 Carlton House Terrace, in reality home to the British Academy. John Watson causes a scene by speaking loudly inside the club, where, according to Conan Doyle, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed. Our picture above, lazily taken from Google Street View, shows the building in scaffolding, but a better photo can be found here.

St Bartholomew’s Hospital

The ancient Smithfield infirmary features in most if not all episodes of Sherlock. Watson first meets Holmes here in both the Conan Doyle original story A Study in Scarlet, and in the BBC series. Without wanting to add spoilers, the roof of the shown building and the pavement below also served in the unforgettable climactic scenes of the final episode to the second series.

View Sherlock in a larger map

See also:

• Our map of all the London locations from the original Conan Doyle stories.
• The excellent Sherlockology website, which has London locations from the first series, with a series 2 update promised soon.

Hip hop artist Jester Jacobs sings a 7-minute tribute to the late Albert Square resident. In his own phrasing: “The words you are about to hear were not written, they poured out of my soul. Most of this was done in one take since the emotion is still so raw.”

You’re not a proper Londoner unless you listen all the way to the end. Seriously. Rest in Peace, Pat Butcher 1942-2012.

Dimblebot, yesterday.

It might have taken a satirical drubbing in Charlie Brooker’s end-of-year roundup, but the habit of tweeting along to the BBC’s Question Time still holds many in thrall.

So much so that Hackney Picturehouse runs a monthly live screening of the political show, where tweeting is encouraged.

The next one is tomorrow night (12 January). Expect shouting, booing, texting, beer and ‘Dimbledancing to the theme music’. Tickets are £5.

Beginning on 4 April, you’ll need a digital TV or set-top box to access TV via the airwaves in London. Those with FreeView boxes will need to do a retune. The message is keenly pedaled by Digit Al, the perfunctorily named mascot for the switchover (we wonder if he has a sister, Di Gital). Here we see him riding the pink train (so to speak) between Hainault and Gant’s Hill, to the minor bemusement of fellow passengers.

The ‘Digital Express‘ will operate for the next three months. It’s the brainchild of Digital UK, the not-for-profit charged with helping consumers during the transition period. Their website has everything you need to know.

Doctor Who’s TARDIS is a design classic. The iconic time machine was based on the once-familiar police call boxes, from a more innocent time when the words ‘police’ and ‘phone’ weren’t used in the same sentences as ‘News of the World’ and ‘tapping’.

For a fictional device, there are quite a few TARDI about town. Here’s a roundup.

Earl’s Court Station

Image by Tezzer57 in the Londonist Flickr pool.

What, at first, appears to be an original police call box can be found outside the eastern entrance to the Tube station. It’s not all that old, though. The lantern-topped facility was installed in 1997 as a local security experiment. More info here. Suggestions about what the hell the guy in the photo is doing are welcome.

Television Centre, Wood Lane

Image by Ariedana under Creative Commons licence.

We’ve little information about this TARDIS, which appears to have materialised in the BBC’s televisual home of Doctor Who. Is it permanent? Is it shifting up to Manchester with half the Beeb’s staffers? Let us know if you have more info.

Sci-fi Exhibition, British Library

Image by M@.

This one’s not hanging around for long. This temporary TARDIS forms part of the BL’s free Out of This World exhibition, which ends on 25 September.

Winston Churchill’s Britain At War Experience, Tooley Street

Image by M@.

Apologies for the ropey photo. It was dark, and there were Nazis after us. The little-known Britain at War Experience is a pricey, slightly touristy attraction, but holds some interest…especially for WHO fans, because of this battered up police box model in the final Blitz exhibit.

Doctor Who Experience, Olympia

Image by M@.

The Doctor Who Experience, as you might expect, contains a fair few TARDIS models, including several interiors and this version from the filming set. You’ve got until November to catch this exhibition (which is actually pretty good, once the cheesy bit is out of the way).

Hendon Police Training College

Image by Luigi Rosa under Creative Commons licence.

This original police box can be glimpsed near Hendon from Northern Line trains. It appears to be used as a sentry box for traffic coming into the police training campus.

There are also a few slimline TARDISs around town, such as this one. Complete geeks might also seek out other work by the police box’s architect Gilbert Mackenzie Trench. He designed this rather impressive block of flats in Finsbury, for example.

The historic studios were first used by the BBC in 1960. Series such as Fawlty Towers, Top of the Pops, Strictly Come Dancing and early Doctor Who were all filmed here. Much of the Corporation’s news and sports coverage is recorded on-site. The Blue Peter Garden is out back. Many memories, happy and sad, have their roots in that building.

The ‘electric donut’ will be cleared by 2015, with many staff (and the Blue Peter garden) moving up to the BBC’s Salford site or the refurbed Broadcasting House in central London. Much of the building, which was supposedly planned on the back of an envelope, is listed and likely to be retained in any future development.

The announcement has prompted an outpouring of grief on Twitter. Danny Baker, fresh from being given the all-clear after a recent battle with cancer, led the charge: ”From the company that brought you Restoration – saving the nation’s heritage. Soulless, soulless bastards.”

The Guardian has a roundup of public reaction, including fond memories of the Broom Cupboard and even nostalgia for the Wood Lane address. You’ll find plenty more wisecracks and reminiscences under #TVC.

Image by Tezzer57 in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Set meal times are for most of us a thing of the past. This is especially true in London, where long commutes and busy schedules force the home cook to be flexible and creative. What we cook, and when, is decided by how we feel and who is sharing the meal…and even what’s on TV.

The site is looking for recipes that fit into these eight mood food mealtime categories:

The rebooted detective show plonked Conan Doyle’s duo into a modern setting, using mobile phones and internet searches in pursuit of villains. This conceit could have sucked big-time. Instead, writers Mark Gatiss (League of Gentlemen) and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who) delivered a (mostly) sparkling and inventive script, while leads Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman proved themselves worthy inhabitants of that famous address in Baker Street.

A second series of three 90-minute episodes will appear in Autumn this year. The titles all allude to original Holmes stories: A Scandal In Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville and The Reichenbach Fall. Filming just got underway, so keep an eye out for any London location shoots.

The Doctor Who Experience is an exhibition of two halves. The first section puts the visitor in the middle of a live adventure, moving from room to room at the instruction of a telepresent 11th Doctor (Matt Smith). The pace then eases, with a more traditional exhibition of props and costumes from the series’ 48-year history.

The walk-through adventure draws heavily from the recent series with cameos from the Weeping Angels, the Pandorica, Starship UK and, inevitably, the Daleks. Along the way, you can help pilot the TARDIS, pass through a crack in the wall and recoil as various monsters leap out from a 3-D screen. The plot is a hammy cauldron of holes and MacGuffins, with more wrinkles than the Face of Boe. But if you switch off your scruples, the overall execution is pretty impressive. Even a cynic would grin as the TARDIS materialises and beckons you inside. Small children will grin all the way through.

The second half of the experience has fewer bells and whistles, but will be more satisfying to older visitors. Costumes from all 11 incarnations offer a sartorial walk down memory lane, while the actual set from the Ecclestone/Tennant TARDIS control room makes a cracking set-piece. The rest of the experience offers more costumes, gadgets, props, and a couple of interactives for the kids.

With nearly half a century of heritage to draw on, the Doctor Who Experience really will appeal to all ages. While the kiddies were crowding round the Weeping Angels, those of us of older vintage gathered next to the Davidson-era TARDIS console and felt a shiver down the spine.

The Doctor Who Experience runs at Olympia 2 until 4 September 2011. Ticket prices vary.

Disclaimer: Our visit was under invitation from the Doctor Who Experience, but the content of the review is our own opinion.

My sister is my mum. My Dad is my granddad and my uncle is my dad. Who am I?

The answer is, of course, Zoe Slater, in one of EastEnders’ many labyrinthine storylines. We bet you thought the BBC soap was a gritty and realistic depiction of life in the east end of London but it turns out it isn’t. Who’d have thought it?

Although it hasn’t quite reached the nadir of soap unreality demonstrated when Bobby Ewing dreamt a whole series of Dallas which included his own death and the memorable beaming up of Dynasty’s Fallon into a alien spaceship, EastEnders has certainly had its moments – long-lost relatives appearing, characters coming back from the dead, the controversial cot-death/baby-swap saga, Ian Beale being irresistible to women and the mystery of the Queen Vic’s kitchenless food service.

One of the biggest complaints about EastEnders’ lack of parallel to real life is that it doesn’t represent a true picture of the multiculturalism found in east London and is predominantly white save a few token black and Asian families – though the current Asian family, the Masoods, at least fared better than their predecessors, the Ferreiras, who were panned for being unrealistic and tokenistic. The BBC’s John Yorke says;

‘EastEnders may be significantly white compared with the real East End but it’s considerably more multicultural than it was even five years ago and is easily the most multicultural show on telly now.’

Now that all our illusions about life in east London have been shattered, we fully expect to hear that the tans in The Only Way Is Essex are fake, though presumably at least they all have washing machines.

Photo by Fin Fahey

The show combines CGI graphics and Dan Snow’s gameness for wallowing through shit to recreate the noisome conditions of 14th Century London.

He spends the night as a medieval muck-raker shifting a staggering six tonnes of excrement, and has a go at medieval butchery to find out what the authorities were up against.

The Telegraph has put together a list of ten disgusting facts about the medieval city…in no particular ordure.

Filthy Cities: Medieval London is on BBC2 at 9pm tonight (5 April).

With the first series tackling a Ripper copycat and the far-fetched sequel depositing a fresh pair of Kray twins on the streets of E1, it’s interesting to speculate which East End legends might be resurrected for this third outing.  A modern take on the Ratcliff Highway murders? A star turn by Spring-Heeled Jack? A reborn Elephant Man demanding 21st Century human rights? There’s no shortage of inspiration from the district’s history.

The teasing press release suggests three stories, each of two episodes.

Whitechapel viewers will be taken back over three hundred years as the present day investigations preoccupying Chandler and his team begin to echo crimes from the city’s darkest recesses.  Murder in the tunnels under Whitechapel, body-snatching, poisoning and grisly discoveries are amongst the tales to be told as the East End again provides fertile ground.

The first two series both had moments of brilliance but were often let down by flabby scripting and implausible plot points. With luck, the two-episode-per-story format should offer something sharper.

Channel 4 recently repeated the episode of Father Ted in which the permanently inebriated Father Jack apparently dies. Well, we’ve discovered a memorial to his good name, on the side of a church in Islington. Feck, Arse, Bum, etc.

On sale today from 9am via Live Nation.

BAC held a special 20th birthday Twin Peaks Weekender for David Lynch’s TV series over the weekend. All 30 episodes were shown in the Grand Hall. And the audience, in costume, in sleeping bags, in fortresses of pillows, lay down and watched. And watched, and watched, and watched some more. For 32 hours. As tribute, as celebration, as durational artistic endeavour, the Twin Peaks Weekender was what fans love to do and what BAC is good at organising: the pairing was as successful as damn fine coffee with cherry pie.

Twin Peaks is still gripping, weird and scary TV; David Lynch’s small town mystery stands the test of time, possibly better than the X-Files, Lost, Flashforward and other ‘freaky’ TV shows after it. It also stood the BAC Weekender test of time: the unbroken screening made the tangled loves, business double-dealing and horrible truth of Laura Palmer’s murder easier to follow – and much scarier to rediscover. Bleary-eyed individuals in pyjamas tiptoed through the echoing corridors of BAC looking for the toilets at 3.45am. Cold tiles underfoot, flickering lights overhead and far too many free coffee refills enhanced the creepy sensation that we were between worlds, in Agent Dale Cooper’s dream and Bob was coming for us too. The Weekender could have felt like a large-scale indulgence in a DVD boxset at home but watching it this way was a grander and more rewarding gesture of Twin Peaks worship.

Lynchian unease combined with lower back ache from 20 hours (the length of Londonist’s effort) on a slowly deflating airbed was eased by the hot food, doughnuts, coffee and cheerfulness in the specially set-up Double R Diner in the BAC cafe. The artist shrines to Laura, log lady life drawing class during the dinner break, plus live action oddities in The Black Lodge during the night were nice touches too. As a weekend getaway still within Zone 2, we thoroughly recommend Twin Peaks via BAC. Let’s hope there’s another one soon.

Read Twitter updates from the event with the #lynchlockin hashtag

Want more? There’s also the Twin Peaks UK Festival at Hammersmith Riverside Studios next month.

Be the first to see the new series opener, meet the stars of the show and enjoy a free drink in a themed East End location, with our ticket giveaway.

Whitechapel, for our money one of the best dramas to come out of ITV in years, is back. The second series begins on ITV1 next month and sees Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis and Steve Pemberton reprise their roles, as the East End is plagued once again by violent murders. And this time, someone seems to be fixated on the Kray twins.

A special screening of the first episode in the series will be held at the Mile End Genesis Cinema on 7 October, close to the Blind Beggar pub so intimately associated with the Kray brothers. The venue will be transformed into an investigative crime scene, so the audience will feel like they are walking through the Krays’ London. There will also be a free bar and the chance to meet stars from the show.

We have 20 pairs of tickets set aside for Londonist readers to attend. All you have to do is send an email to ITVWhitechapel.london@mindshareworld.com with your name, and the subject line ‘Whitechapel Interactive Screening – Londonist’. The first 20 entries received will bag a pair of tickets.

Sponsored post on behalf of ITV, Carnival Films, Mindshare and film specialist elevenfiftyfive. Your details will only be used for the purposes of this Giveaway and will not be stored or passed on to third parties.

Alas, there’s no Shrek Avenue, Wrath-of-Khan Alley or Airwolf Close, but London is replete with roads that share their names with films, TV shows and other cultural nods. We asked for your suggestions about a week ago, and here’s a roundup of the best. We realise this is only scratching the surface, though, so fire away in the comments…

Streets sharing their names with films, but in an unconnected, coincidental way

Arlington Road, Camden Town

Elm Street, Finsbury

The Ring, Hyde Park

Batman Close, White City (NEW)

Streets sharing their names with TV shows, but in an unconnected, coincidental way

Knightrider Street, City of London

Brookside, Southgate

Grange Hill, various locations and Tube stop

South Park, Fulham

Albert Square, Stockwell (OK, not quite the name of a show, but had to be included)

Peyton Place, Greenwich

Little Britain, City of London

Dallas Road, Ealing

Sherlock Street, Hackney (NEW)

Hemans Street, Vauxhall (NEW)

Streets sharing their names with films in a wholly connected way that we find less interesting

Brick Lane

Lavender Hill (Mob)

And the same for TV shows

Waterloo Road

Paddington Green

Up the Elephant and Round the Castle

Streets sharing their names with silly Radio 4 wordplay

Mornington Crescent

Streets sharing their names with mostly forgotten bands

Amen Corner, City of London

Savage Gardens, City of London

Streets sharing their names with popular songs

By the chin of Suggs, we’d be here all day. Let’s save this one for another post.

Image by Bob The Binman in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Q. Why did Sherlock Holmes measure the Monopoly Board?

A. To see if the game was a-foot.

With humour like that, it’s no wonder we were passed over as script writers for the new adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, which begins on BBC1 this Sunday at 9pm. The show is scripted, however, by two of Britain’s finest: Steven Moffat of Dr Who fame, and Mark Gatiss, late of the League of Gentlemen.

Sherlock punts the famous detective into our own times, with ponderously syllabled Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role and The Office’s Martin Freeman as Dr Watson. Rupert Graves also features, as Inspector Lestrade.

It’s not the first time the duo have sleuthed outside their customary era. The execrable Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century saw Holmes revived, Futurama-style, in the far future and paired with a robotic Watson. And then, of course, there was the patchy and canonically troubling Young Sherlock Holmes, set a couple of decades before the Conan-Doyle stories.

This new set-up begins with a three-part adventure cheekily dubbed ‘A Study In Pink’. You can watch the trailer, which features numerous eye-candy shots of modern London landmarks, here.

See also:

All the Sherlock Holmes stories mapped.

Our interview with Lionel Wigram, creator of the recent Sherlock Holmes movie.

Proof that Vladimir Putin is Sherlock Holmes.

A genuine and touching letter from a fan to Sherlock Holmes.

An official BBC stage version of Dr Who will begin its 25-date tour at Wembley Arena. Dr Who Live will see the time travelling fringemeister and companion Amy battling against Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels.

The story, penned by Who supremo Steve Moffatt, will be partly set in wartime London (again!) and feature on-stage special effects and a 16-piece orchestra.

Sadly, lead actors Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will not be there in person, but will pop up in specially filmed sequences throughout the show.

The Wembley performances (assuming they’re not actually in Cardiff, made up to look like Wembley) run on 8-10 October, before the moneyspinner moves off on a nationwide tour. Tickets go on sale first thing on Friday morning.

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An official BBC stage version of Dr Who will begin its 25-date tour at Wembley Arena. Dr Who Live will see the time travelling fringemeister and companion Amy battling against Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels.

The story, penned by Who supremo Steve Moffatt, will be partly set in wartime London (again!) and feature on-stage special effects and a 16-piece orchestra.

Sadly, lead actors Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will not be there in person, but will pop up in specially filmed sequences throughout the show.

The Wembley performances (assuming they’re not actually in Cardiff, made up to look like Wembley) run on 8-10 October, before the moneyspinner moves off on a nationwide tour. Tickets go on sale first thing on Friday morning.

]]> http://londonist.com/2010/05/dr_who_stage_show_coming_to_wembley.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2010/04/the_whitechapel_pillar_that_looks_a.php http://londonist.com/2010/04/the_whitechapel_pillar_that_looks_a.php#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:20:05 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=17129

As previously noted, the Sci-Fi-London film festival begins today. We think the excitement might be getting to reader Vicki Garner’s head:

Have you noticed that the design of the Dalek “skirt” is strikingly similar to the columns at the end of the platforms at Whitechapel station. Maybe these columns were the inspiration?

Or maybe not. Either way, it’s good to know we’re not the only ones who watch too much space drama, having already noted the likeness between the concept Routemaster and the Aliens off of Alien.

So anyone else spotted a sci-fi icon lurking round London in disguise?

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As previously noted, the Sci-Fi-London film festival begins today. We think the excitement might be getting to reader Vicki Garner’s head:

Have you noticed that the design of the Dalek “skirt” is strikingly similar to the columns at the end of the platforms at Whitechapel station. Maybe these columns were the inspiration?

Or maybe not. Either way, it’s good to know we’re not the only ones who watch too much space drama, having already noted the likeness between the concept Routemaster and the Aliens off of Alien.

So anyone else spotted a sci-fi icon lurking round London in disguise?

]]> http://londonist.com/2010/04/the_whitechapel_pillar_that_looks_a.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2010/04/blitz_street_new_look_at_wartime_br.php http://londonist.com/2010/04/blitz_street_new_look_at_wartime_br.php#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:30:20 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=16996

It’s now 70 years since our city and other parts of the UK came under nightly attack from the German air force. It’s a story that will never grow old for the telling. Tonight, Tony Robinson begins a new show looking at civilian life during the onslaught. Blitz Street, on Channel 4 from 9pm, seeks to recreate the conditions endured by the populous. A realistic 1940s street, specially built on an airbase, is subjected to various bombs, rockets and munitions to show the effects of bombardment on civilian targets (minus the civilians, we assume).

Although the Blitz is often associated with London, major bombing raids were suffered by many towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom. Industrial cities and ports such as Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol paid a particularly heavy price (with 7,500 fatalities in those three alone). Other towns, most notably Coventry and Exeter, were targeted for their historic and cultural worth, in reprisal for raids on German cities such as Lubeck.

We’ve lent a hand over on Channel 4′s web site by creating this map of major UK targets during the Blitz. We’ve also extended our existing map of V2 rocket sites to include attacks elsewhere in the country. As always with our maps, feel free to suggest additions and corrections if you have reliable information. The site also includes videos, pictures and interviews with survivors.

Or so it seems watching this four minute montage of exploding buildings, slithering monsters and flashing ray guns. The clip forms part of the campaign to bring the World Science Fiction Convention to London in 2014. Trying to identify the films and TV programmes is a cracking way to use up a bit of a long Friday afternoon, as long as you don’t mind a clichéd soundtrack.

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Or so it seems watching this four minute montage of exploding buildings, slithering monsters and flashing ray guns. The clip forms part of the campaign to bring the World Science Fiction Convention to London in 2014. Trying to identify the films and TV programmes is a cracking way to use up a bit of a long Friday afternoon, as long as you don’t mind a clichéd soundtrack.

]]> http://londonist.com/2010/04/video_every_alien_invasion_of_londo.php/feed 0 http://londonist.com/2010/03/sherlock_holmes_returns_to_televisi.php http://londonist.com/2010/03/sherlock_holmes_returns_to_televisi.php#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:00:36 +0000 M@ http://londonist.com/?p=16710

Anyone who holds a spyglass to such things has long known that a new TV version of Sherlock Holmes is in production. But we seem to have missed a press release somewhere. Every newspaper is today running a story about the show, which will feature Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson.

The stories are very loosely based on Conan Doyle originals, but respun and set in the 21st Century (Watson, for example, is still an Afghan veteran, but more War on Terror than War of Empire). If that concept opens up a whole valley of fear for traditionalist Holmes fans, take consolation in the pedigree of the script writers. Steven Moffat is the highly acclaimed writer of some of the best Dr Who episodes (remember Blink, with the then unknown Carey Mulligan?), and now Executive Producer of that show following the departure of RTD. Mark Gatiss, meanwhile, is a League of Gentlemen alumnus. Nuff said. In any case, it has to be better than the last time Holmes and Watson were cast forward in time.

As with Dr Who, much of the show is being shot by the BBC in New London, or Cardiff as it used to be called. Three 90-minute episodes will screen in autumn this year.

Image knitted by Heather Brown.

The most Londony shows on TV and radio this week.

Monday

A History of the World in 100 objects (Radio 4, 19.45-20.00) Relics from the first attempts at cookery, from the British Museum.

Inside Out (BBC1, 19.30-20.00) Dan Cruickshank investigates the archaeological remains of Shakespeare’s first theatre while, improbably, Linford Christie traces a connection between a Peckham youth club and Elizabeth Taylor.

Tuesday

A History of the World in 100 objects (Radio 4, 19.45-20.00) One of the earliest depictions of sex in art, from the British Museum.

Send In The Dogs (ITV1, 20.00-21.00) Following the Metropolitan Police’s dog unit around the streets of London.

Eastenders: The Greatest Cliffhangers (BBC3, 20.00-21.00) Altogether now: “Dum, dum, dum, dumdumdum”.

Wednesday

A History of the World in 100 objects (Radio 4, 19.45-20.00) Egypt before the Pharaohs, at the British Museum

Thursday

Open country: Eel Pie Island (Radio 4, 15.00-15.30) The culture of the notorious Thames island.

A History of the World in 100 objects (Radio 4, 19.45-20.00) A Mayan maize god, from the British Museum.

Friday

A History of the World in 100 objects (Radio 4, 19.45-20.00) A 7000-year-old Japanese pot from the British Museum

Shaun of the Dead (ITV2, 21.00-23.05) Yet another chance to catch the London zom-com.

Saturday

Dr Johnson’s Dictionary of Crime: A for Assassin (Radio 4, 14.30-15.30) Johnson and Boswell romp through the Georgian underworld in what, from the title at least, sounds like a long, long series of adventures.

Bringing you the most Londony shows on TV and radio over the coming week.

Monday

Inside Out (BBC1, 19.30-20.00) The local magazine programme looks at light pollution in London, and how to join the Queen’s Household Cavalry.

The Queen in 3D (C4, 21.00-22.00) Even the telebox is turning against one-eyed Gordon Brown, as Channel 4 kicks off a week of three-dimensional TV. To get things started, here’s London’s most famous resident as you’ve never seen her before – in slightly out-of-phase amber and blue.

Our Mutual Friend (Radio 4, 19.45-20.00) Radio adaptation of Dickens’ most London-filled novel continues with part 6. Further installments each night at the same time.

Tuesday

Grimefighters (ITV1, 19.30-20.00) More unmissable stuff, including a blocked drain in Twickenham.

John Sargeant On The Tourist Trail (ITV1, 20.00-21.00) The affable journo-dancer probes the mysterious attraction of the Trooping the Colour ceremony, so beloved of tourists. He also takes a peek inside an exclusive London hotel room.

The Queen in 3D (C4, 21.00-22.00) The multidimensional Windsor wonderwoman is back, and coming at ya.

Imagine (BBC1, 22.35-23.30) Alan Yentob profiles Anish Kapoor during the artist’s landmark exhibition at the Royal Academy.

Wednesday

Spooks (BBC1, 21.00-22.00) More London-based espionage.

In The Line Of Fire (ITV1, 22.35-23.35) Following London’s armed police as they go about their controversial business. Just to play havoc with digital recording boxes, the film of the same name is on the following night.

Thursday

Confessions of a Traffic Warden (C4, 21.00-22.00) It must be a stressful job, especially when you consider – as this Westminster-based programme does – that many traffic wardens are new to the country as well as the job.

Sunday

Garrow’s Law: Tales From The Old Bailey (BBC1, 21.00-22.00) New drama set in 18th Century London, where justice often meant a trip to Tyburn Tree.

An oil drum stuffed with wires and other highly realistic bomb paraphernalia caused problems near Deptford train station last week. A hawk-eyed passenger spotted the suspect barrel in a yard close to the station, and rightly alerted authorities. But, and you’ll have guessed this from the headline, the drum turned out to be a prop from popular BBC drama Spooks. Around a dozen Southeastern trains were delayed by the subsequent investigation, some for up to 40 minutes. The show, whose cast change more frequently than a weekend Tube traveller negotiating line closures, is largely filmed in Bermondsey studios close to the station.

Bringing you the most Londony shows on TV and radio over the coming week.

Monday

Chelsea Flower Show 2009 (BBC2, 20.00-21.00) Tickets are all but sold out but you can catch the highlights, sans attack of the hay fever, courtesy of Titchmarsh and Co. Same time every day this week.

Ashes to Ashes (BBC2, 21.00-22.00) More time-travelling/coma-induced shenanigans around 1980′s London.

Tuesday

Making History (Radio 4, 15.00-15.30) The Story of John Bellingham, the only person to assassinate a British Prime Minister by shooting Spencer Percival in the Palace of Westminster.

New Tricks (BBC2, 21.00-22.00) If Battersea Power Station were an actor, it’d have an IMDB record longer than an AT-AT’s brake cable. Here it is again, forming the backdrop to a 50-year-old murder mystery.

Wednesday

The Apprentice (BBC1, 21.00-22.00) The wannabe execs visit the UK’s biggest baby show at Olympia, where they must compete with other vendors and each other to sell baby products. Bunch of dummies, anyone?

Thursday

Emergency in the Womb (C4, 21.00-22.00) London is a world leader in medical science. This programme joins doctors at King’s College Hospital, London, who use pioneering techniques to save two critically ill unborn twins.

Bringing you the most Londony shows on TV and radio over the coming week.

Monday

Ashes to Ashes (BBC1, 21.00-22.00) Back to the 1980s in the time-travelling, Bowie-referencing cop show set in London.

Friday

English Heritage (BBC2, 21.00-22.00) Unmissable documentary for anyone who regularly uses Kings Cross station. The programme examines the balance between conservation and modernisation as the Victorian station and goods yard undergo a major reworking.

Saturday

Arena (BBC4, 21.00-22.00) Biography of drunken Londoner Dylan Thomas.

Sunday

Chelsea Flower Show (BBC1, 18.00-19.00) Preview of the annual gardening event from the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.

Fans of the returning space comedy might like to meet their heroes in the flesh (and, in Kryten’s case, aluminium) tomorrow night. The cast of Red Dwarf will make an appearance in costume in Berkeley Square from 5pm tomorrow. No Craig Charles, though. The first 500 people will get special goodies, including a 5 minute trailer for the new series on USB stick. Sounds a little naff, but the show clearly has plenty of fans who’ll lap this up. Read all about the new episodes, which screen on Dave over the Easter weekend, here. Thanks to Mayfair Blog for the tip-off.

Bringing you the most Londony shows on TV over the coming week.

Bite-size edition. We might just give up on this column.

Monday

Chelsea Pensioners: Girls Allowed (BBC4, 20.00-20.30) Sadly, that’s Girls Allowed (as in they’re letting female veterans into the Royal Hospital Chelsea), not Girls Aloud. We’ll probably never know how the old timers would react to the fab five.

Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant (C4, 21.00-22.00) Here we go. It’s raining Henry from today as the great Tudor onslaught to mark 500 years of the porkster king begins. David ‘you’d never have guessed’ Starkey makes the TV show, writes the book, curates the BL’s exhibition…

Thursday

Timeshift: the North-South Divide (BBC4, 21.00-22.00) Are the economic differences between north and south England really as pronounced as between East and West Germany during the Cold War. Provocative viewing.