Being Human began as part of a BBC Three pilot trial, and was successful enough to garner a commission. The first series of the programme comes to an end on 1st March, and it's now confirmed the sci-fi drama will return for another eight episodes. Following the lives of a vampire, werewolf and ghost co-habiting in Bristol, the RDF Media Group show has proved a hit in it's BBC Three …

Yesterday, it was announced that Barbara Slater is to take over the Director of BBC Sport role, from Roger Mosey. Slater comes from the Head of Sport Production role, and brings plenty of experience looking after Wimbledon, Golf, the Olympics and the Grand National. Mosey is moving on to be Director of London 2012. The Director of Sport has a lot of challenges ahead, primarily with the intended move from …

Elbow have been having a stellar couple of years, with the Mercury Music prize under their belts, plus the Best British Group gong at the 2009 BRITs. Now it seems their popularity translates to the Red Button Music Sessions. The Red Button service often provides coverage of music festivals and events throughout the year, and also screens performances that are usually recorded for radio. Elbow were playing for Radio 2, …

Today, the BBC announced exactly how they plan to cover the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship, after the sport returns to the channel after 12 years. The press release promises the coverage is the "most comprehensive in the history of the sport", and capitalises on red button facilities, and the online platform. The idea behind the coverage is for it to be as customisable as possible, with fans getting the …

In the latest update on Franck's official site, there appears to be a new nickname in there for our favourite guy. Instead of just FKM, we can now call him: "Franck the Tank". I'm not entirely sure I'm on board with this new name, so I chose to ignore it and move on. The rest of the entry simply tells us that Franck will be visiting AGR before training hard …

With the upcoming release of Lindsay Duncan's new drama, Thatcher, the BBC Archive are releasing a collection of programmes focused around the first female Prime Minister. The collection will be available online and follow Thatcher through her career to being a front-running female MP through to becoming the longest-serving PM of the 20th century. Some of the programmes have been broadcast on terrestrial TV, but others are unseen records dating …

First impression: How dare they??? Second impression: Could be worse. Thoughts? Update - Third impression: As with most covers, it seems to miss out on the emotion of the original, however, it is growing on me.

I accidentally started a new blog: The BBC Blog. Because what I need right now is more on my to-do list. However, what they say is the more you write, the better you get, and I find it helps when I write about things other than F1 sometimes. So, here is my newest blog, and it's all about the BBC. For some reason, and I can't figure out why, I …

The latest controversy at the BBC comes from a leaked email from the editor telling his staff to avoid using the phrase "as seen on screen" and instead to read out telephone numbers, email addresses and URLs. A couple of newspapers picked up on the story and claimed this was insulting and unnecessary. The Editors blog explained the situation. Commentators, and one reported "BBC insider", have said: "This is political …

I first heard of ChannelFlip.com when Wil Harris mentioned it on TwiT with Leo Laporte. It sounded like a great project and I was enthusiastic about it until they adopted the tagline: "The UK's Finest Video Channel for Switched On Men." Thanks. Anyway, I ignored the site for ages, but couldn't help noticing when they started showing up on the iTunes chart. First it was a series with Robert Llewellyn …

Paul Gambaccini is a respected writer, broadcaster, knowledge on music, and is quite a presence on Radio 2. However, he holds nothing back when it comes to opinions on his colleagues, particularly when they hit the headlines over potential wrongdoings. Back when the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross saga was ongoing, Gambaccini was quick to suggest the pair of them should be taken off air permanently. He had a case …

I noticed it yesterday, although I'm not sure when it first appeared, but the BBC have tweaked the News homepage slightly. Now, instead of five most read stories, you get ten. The most emailed section remains the same. The Editors blog has more information about the upgrade here, with the aim behind the feature described. The journalists writing for the site keep a close eye on the ever-changing "most popular" …

It's been on the cards for a while now, with subtle hints being left every now and then, but the long-lost son of the Masood family is about to show up in Albert Square. Syed Masood will appear in May, and looks set to be a sophisticated chap who will find it hard fitting back in with his family. From the BBC Press Office: A natural charmer, a smooth talker …

Okay, it's not exactly a catchy title, but why not? There are plenty of meme's out there, and this one is, in my opinion, the best. Mostly because I thought of it, and also because it has pandas in it. Pandas on a slide!!

Following the BBC's decision not to show the Gaza Appeal commercial, the matter went to the trust for review. However, the Trust have agreed with the decision, and the appeal will not be shown. From the statement: We recognise that the Director-General's decision was a matter of great controversy for many members of the public. However, having carefully examined the Director-General's reasons, the Trust believes he acted correctly throughout, and …

I'm not really a big gamer. I'm obsessed with The Sims franchise, but have no time to play. I steer clear of driving games because I am beyond useless. Occasionally, we play games over on Sidepodcast and they are fun little flash games on the web. I am even worse at those. However, I recently found a game I both love and am pretty good at. It's called Skywire. You …

I occasionally tune in to the Chris Evans podcast, although sometimes skip through the more obscure callers. There's only so many times I can stomach listening to people talking about sheds. Nevertheless, the show seems to be a nice cosy affair, with plenty of chatter and interaction with the listeners. I didn't know Evans from his television days, but am told that he has matured into a much better presenter, …

There are only four Doctor Who specials to keep us amused this year, and so we've been desperately trying to find news for the first. All we know is that Lee Evans and Michelle Ryan feature, and they'll be disappearing off to the Dubai deserts. Now, before that one has even screened, we're starting to get information about the second special. It was announced today that Lindsay Duncan will play …

There's a great new post on the Internet Blog regarding the BBC's use of Flickr. They've got a group for users to add and source pictures that show up on the all over the site, specifically on the iPlayer and the homepage. I find it fascinating that not only is amateur photography becoming a mainstay for the most professional of organisations, but also that they can be so open and …

I just realised that I didn't share the video I made of Franck at Autosport. There are other clips in there as well, as my Sidepodcast Diaries audience have a wider variety of tastes than Mr M. Silly people! The whole thing tells a story, but if you only want to see FKM, visit 1:42, 2:53 and 3:12. Yum!

There has been a lot more information released about the upcoming third series of Robin Hood. The Tiger Aspect Production programme returns with 13 episodes in the Spring, and this time Robin is mean. He's out for revenge after the death of wife Marian at the hands of Guy of Gisborne. He's dumped the others after their return from the Holy Land, and his only goal is to kill Sir …

I don't know the extensive details of the Digital TV Transition in America. I don't know much about it here, either. I know there are coupons involved. I already have digital TV, and barely watch anything on the actual box as it is, so the stories have been washing over me for months. Of course, the time has been ticking ever onwards and the US switchover was supposed to happen …

My little Franck-obsessed corner of the web turns one year old this month. We started on the 5th February, in an attempt to follow the Frenchman as he navigated his way through Champ Car. Of course, that didn't happen, but I was not deterred. We've followed Franck through A1GP, ALMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and hopefully, there is plenty more to look forward to in 2009 and …

I know someone who finds life a little bit... surprising. For instance, a mobile phone sits on the desk. It obviously belongs to them, and they have set the ringtone/volume/vibrate options. It rings. The novelty of a phone ringing makes the person jump so violently, they knock the phone from it's holder, and the noise it makes as it hits the desk makes them jump all over again. I wonder …

The official Franck site has recently uploaded some more pictures to the gallery, featuring photos throughout the man's career. Whilst perusing these pictures, it reminded me of something from Autosport International. We were busy stalking FKM, as expected, and he was asked to pose in front of the Peugeot car, with fellow driver Nicolas Minassian. The photographer said: "Let's see some smiles." And Franck muttered something like: "I am smiling." …

Peugeot Sport announced their lineup yesterday for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, confirming that Montagny would join them for the second year in a row. He'll also turn up for a couple of prepatory events, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and 1000 Kilometres of Spa. I've never heard of either of these events but am now very excited about them. FKM's team mates for Spa and Sebring have been …

The BBC seem to have gone a bit doolally over Twitter. First it was Jonathan Ross spending at least ten minutes discussing the micro-blogging site with Stephen Fry. Then Radio 1 picked that up and ran with it, with at least three of the DJs signing up for Twitter accounts, maybe more. Whilst it's good to see radio branching out even more into the online world, this seems like a …

With iTunes now starting to roll out HD versions of some TV shows, alongside the standard def versions, we had to investigate. Given the option, it feels wrong to buy a lesser quality version, even if it is slightly more expensive to do so. LOST returned to our screens recently, and by screens, I mean monitors playing the HD show with the help of an Apple remote. I wasn't sure …

It'll be a while before I'll be able to get those images of a plane in the Hudson River out of my mind, but at least it's one of those feel good stories where it all ended happily ever after. The passengers were safe, the crew were heralded, the pilot called a hero. It's all good. But aren't they forgetting someone? Today, the audio from the black box on the …

Thursdays are rubbish, aren't they? I'd go so far as to say they are worse than Monday. With that being the case, I need a little bit of cute baby panda goodness to cheer me up. In case anyone feels the same, here you go: If that's not enough, here's something else: Credit: ErikaMCz/Flickr And if after all that, you're feeling generous: IKEA: Klappar Panda Well, I certainly feel better. …

IT SNOWED!! Of course, I am much too unorganised to have snapped a picture of this momentous occasion. It is a bit of a phenomenon where I live, but of course, it's also a bit of a nuisance. The snow covered my car, soaked through my gloves, and caused random pedestrians to slip off the road. It also took three times as long to get to work, for no apparent …

A few days ago, a new update appeared on the news section of Franck's official site, and I have just got round to translating it and having a read. There's not much in the way of news, Franck's in training for the new season, and will apparently be getting in the Peugeot soon. The bit that interested me, though, was this: You may have noticed that the stories were more …

I've never really understood Lollipop Ladies/Men. (Have never seen a lollipop man before, though.) In this day and age of excruciating Health and Safety, it's acceptable for the council to pay someone to step out into the path of oncoming traffic. Seems odd. I also think it's better for children to learn how to use actual street crossings. Those traffic lights are put there for a reason, you know. Otherwise, …

During his second day at Autosport International, Franck chose to talk about his prospects with Peugeot Sport. Having worked with them for the 24 Hour Le Mans race in 2008, Franck quickly signed up to continue racing with them this year, but at the moment, he doesn't know to what extent his workload will be. I am with the team for 2009, I don't know exactly what my programme will …

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, Mr M turned up at the trade show in Birmingham, and he had plenty to say for himself. He's been pretty quiet recently, after finishing up his year with ALMS, and he turned up at the show on behalf of Peugeot Sport - his Le Mans team. He wasn't the only member of the squad there, but of course, he was the most …

I've just found this and had to share. Utterly amazing. Aside from the fact it's scary how many songs are alike, I'm very impressed with their ability to switch from one to the other. I'd just get carried away and at least finish the chorus of one song. How do they manage to control themselves to just do one line of each?

It's Franck's birthday today. I am ashamed. I didn't forget, but I did not actually know when his birthday was. This is terrible and I now have the date burned into my mind for future reference. Happy Birthday, Franck! As it turns out, I was reminded by Scott Woodwiss, who has written an excellent blog post on the subject. I will point you in that direction, and simply say: What …

Matt Smith is the new Doctor Who, facing the daunting task of replacing David Tennant. It's an unenviable task, especially from someone I'm sure not many people have heard of. I'll reserve judgement until I've seen him in action, but on first impressions alone... he doesn't look the part, and he certainly doesn't sound the part. What do you think?

Browsing through the iTunes TV Programmes store yesterday, I came across this little gem: That's one single TV episode, that lasts for an hour and is £2.99. Is this the first time that iTunes have given in to the variable pricing pressure? I haven't seen it before. When NBC said they'd be returning to iTunes, we all assumed they'd had to give in and admit that Apple's platform is a …

As am I! According to this story, Peugeot Sport will be showing off their cars at the Autosport event next weekend - with the details as follows: Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle will be on the Peugeot Sport stand on Thursday 8th for interviews. Nicolas Minassian and Franck Montagny will also be available on the Peugeot Sport stand for interviews on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th. I'll be there on …

I'm all for the return of Top of the Pops and TOTP2, and I don't really think they should have disappeared in the first place. There are very few decent music programs on TV as it is, I'm pretty sure the Beeb could have adapted Top of the Pops to remain mainstream if they'd really wanted to. Of course, they didn't, and then they announced it wouldn't even be back …

I don't usually make resolutions, as I know I'll either break them or have forgotten them by the end of January. However, I had already been talked into doing so over at Sidepodcast.com, so I thought I might as well share my three very simple resolutions for 2009. Try and stick to a Wii Fit schedule. I enjoy it when I do it but quite often forget and only remember …

The Mac doesn't really have any cheap and cheerful image editing software. You've got the very limited features of iPhoto, and then you've got the expensive software of Fireworks and others. I don't do that much image editing, as I let the other half invest in the software. However, as I intend to blog more, I at least want the ability to resize and crop as needed. I discovered Picnik.com …

At some point, if you're looking at Smarter Than Your Average, it should change from a Wordpress.com template, to a rather more customisable design. While the web is gradually making it's way towards 3.0, STYA has taken that great leap into the world of web hosting and FTP for it's very own version 2. I'm not going to make any rash promises about hundreds of posts and lots of fascinating …

The Boxing Day sales certainly were popular, especially at the Westfield Shopping Centre. The BBC have a short video of the mass hysteria as the doors to the centre opened. One woman even discusses the fact that she has travelled from afar, stayed overnight in a hotel, and was looking forward to her shopping trip more than Christmas Day itself. Needless to say, this freaks me out. Our cupboards are …

Whilst it is the norm to not even open presents until Christmas Day, nothing about me is normal. That would explain why I bought the present for myself, wrapped it, gave it to myself during a live stream of a party, and have now finished up with the present already. You know how it is. The gift I bought myself was the Mega Bloks Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Pit Stop - …

It never ceases to amaze me what a small world it is. My mother called me up and said a temp at her work had asked if she knew me (same name and all), and it turns out he's a temp I had to train up at my last job when leaving for this one. When she said he worked with me for two days over there, I immediately said …

A colleague gave me one of those desk flip things, that should be a calendar, but actually is labelled as "30 Hilarious Desktop Signs." I actually found it on Amazon, but I'm not recommending it. They're really not all that hilarious but there are a couple I like, so I'll share them with you. They are written as though they are motivational posters, all big fonts, with a little sub-message …

I was listening to a recent episode of Get-It-Done Guy and he talked about how to keep your desk tidy. This is a real bone of contention at home, as my desk is always in complete chaos. It's weird, really, because at work I have the tidiest desk of everyone. If only I could bring that mentality home with me as well. The Get-It-Done Guy, Stever Robbins, talks of folders …

We went to Paris at very short notice a weekend or two ago, and one of our main aims was to snap a picture of the FIA headquarters. Yes, fine, people go to Place de la Concorde for the history and the beauty, but we went for the F1. Obviously. Anyway, it was a brilliant trip, but there were just a few tips I wanted to share with the class. …