Must see TV

Next Tuesday Heston continues his Mission Impossible onboard a British Airways flight. His aim to revolutionise airline food, but with no kitchen, no pans, sharp knives or naked flames, Heston soon realises that cooking gourmet food in a metal tube at 37,000 ft might be tricky. Can the Michelin star chef develop a menu that pleases all palates and get BA bosses to buy into his final plan?  CH4 @ 9pm.

Dancing on Ice

Don’t give up on your day job Corky, was the overwhelming message on last night’s DOI as Dominic fell victim to the programme’s first Ice Pick, loosing three votes to Jeff Brazier’s six.

Only Johnson, Denise and Comedy Dave saved Dominic, while the others shown their loyalty lay with Jeff, including Vanilla Ice, who appeared on the Farm with Jeff a few years back, and flipped a coin to decide, however he failed to mention which contestant was heads or tails?

It was only last week that Dominic was saved by the judges in the skate off, but his performance last night has ‘deteriorated’, said Jason, with the ‘end being the part of the routine he looked forward to the most’, seems his wish came true.

At the other end of the leader board last night was once again Sam Attwater with 25/30, who Jason called a ‘skating Viagra’, despite knowing his girlfriend, skating partner Brianne, was in the picture. Laura came in second with a respectable 20/30 points, and third Chloe Madeley with 19.5.

In the judges bottom two were Denise and Kerry, who was told off for being too dependent on her partner.

Gok's new show

Tonight sees the launch of fashion guru Gok Wan's new show-Clothes Roadshow on Channel 4.

This time 'Auntie Gok' is taking his stylist skills on the road, visiting a city each week to do makeovers on unsuspecting women and hold masterclasses on how to dress for your body shape. Designer Brix Smith is also back, her quest to undermine Gok's budget driven buys with her high end fashion alternatives.

Tomight at 8pm he visits Liverpool to show the ladies how it's done by treating a bunch of social workers to a five star makeover. Sky Plus at the ready!

What I watched last night-Mary Portas Secret Shopper

A fitting room with themed ‘style icon’ cubicles, a catwalk, till point and Tweet Mirrors, technology that lets you take a photo and post it onto Twitter, was all part of Mary’s plan last night to transform fast fashion store Pilot, costing the owner a cool £1 million. That was just one of Mary’s suggestions to make the store in Braintree more customer friendly, a place where training consists of a poster in the staff room demonstrating customer feelings through faces with different expressions, and a ‘motivational’ laminate in the toilet with phrases such as ‘smile like you’re on a stage’, no wonder customer service is non-existent on the UK high street.

The MD of Pilot wasn’t much better having never met the three members of staff working at he store, despite one working there three years. Instead he considered speaking to them over the phone adequate enough. I guess you shouldn’t expect too much from a man who carries security tags in his briefcase to test door alarms.

Nevertheless he listened to tough talking Mary and let his girls practice their service skills on customers at a branch of restaurant chain Leon, along with agreeing to roll out the new fitting room concept to all 44 stores. Not sure I would listen to a retail expert wearing a fuchsia dress teamed with a khaki cotton top against vivid orange hair, Mary what were you thinking?

It was clear from the start of the programme that Mary had very high expectations of high street stores. Going undercover in Primark, New Look, H&M and Zara, she discovered how unwelcoming and untidy they are, and their total disregard for customer service, what ever happened to the saying ‘The customer is king?’

However what did Mary expect from these fast fashion stores when staff are working for minimum wage and have to buy their own uniform, ie Primark. And this is all coming from the woman who shops in Selfridges with the help of a personal shopper in the VIP area. Perhaps Mary you would like to hear some of my experiences, which include being totally ignored by staff, them having no product knowledge or seeming more interested in the layout of the store than you, the customer.

Mary continues her mission for good customer service and the golden rules-smile-speak-service, next Wednesday on Channel 4 when she visits a large chain of furniture stores, heads will roll.

Guilty TV pleasures

Keeping up with the Kardashians

This is the ultimate reality TV show starring sisters Kim, Kourtney and Khloe as they go through life and loves. Since the programme started in 2007, the girls have moved out of the family home, got married and had children, despite this they still have their sibling rivalry, tantrums, and then there's the running of Dash, the family's clothing store in LA and Miami, as well as several public appearances come family holidays.
A fantastic replacement to The Hills, with loveable real characters that you can relate to and characters that you love to hate-e.g Scott, every mother's bf hell.

Keeping up with the Kardashians is on every Thurs on 4Music, freeview channel 18.

Visit http://uk.eonline.com/on/shows/kardashians/index.html

Must see TV

ITV 6pm Dancing on ice

This Sunday the new series of Dancing on ice starts and I can’t wait. After Strictly finished and I’m a Celeb came to an end a large gaping hole was left in my TV viewing, but now I’m pleased to say I will be glued to the box come Sunday night.

Here on Run VT we will be keeping you up to date with the latest departures and back stage gossip.

As usual this year’s contestants are largely made up of D list celebrities with the odd TV presenter and actress. They include 66 year-old Angela Rippon, Chloe Madeley-daughter of Richard and Judy, Former Home and Away actor Craig Mclachlan, Dave Vitty-Chris Moyles’ sidekick, Loose woman Denise Welch, cricketer Dominic Cork, Peter Andre’s new girlfriend Elen Rivas, reality star Jeff Brazier, Jennifer Metcalfe-aka Mercedes from Hollyoaks, Johnson Beharry VC-the first recipient of the Victoria Cross, former Queen of the Jungle- Kerry Katona, TV presenters Laura Hamilton and Nadia Sawalha, Sam Attwater-actor, Steven Arnold-or more famously known as Ashley from Corrie, and rapper Vanilla Ice.

Team Rippon all the way!

Breaking soap news

It has been reported that Samantha Womack, the actress who plays Ronnie in Eastenders, is to leave the soap in May. Apparently Samantha handed her notice to bosses at the BBC after reading the controversial storyline in which she swaps her baby after he dies from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, scenes that aired in the New Year.

Earlier Run VT revealed that soap bosses planned on continuing the storyline for many years, however this now may not be the case, with rumours spreading that Ronnie is soon to confess all to Kat.

Watch this space…

TV higlight

The Brits launch 14 January @8pm

Ahead of the BRIT awards ceremony, ITV2 presents a launch show to reveal this year's nominations. The launch is held at the Indigo O2 and will see perfomances from top music acts across the country. They will also announce the BRITS new venue, the 02, and a new 'blank canvas' trophy which will be restyled each year by different creatives, courtesy of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.

What I watched last night....

BBC 3 -Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents

In the first episode of this tame BBC documentary, which encourages parents to spy on their teenagers enjoying their first holiday with friends, eighteen-year-old Joe and Millie let loose (?) on the party island of Malia, supposedly oblivious to the fact that their parents had flown to the island and were spying on them.

The teens, along with their group of friends, enjoyed late night antics, drinking and relaxing by the pool. However despite this being the first holiday without their parents, they failed to make the most of the five days, with Joe the most adventurous daring to wear pink nail varnish and dress in a skirt, attracting unwanted male attention. Millie’s holiday was even more dull, with her and her friends visiting only one club and ordering soft drinks on a night out, boring. Given the choice I would have chosen to be their parents, enjoying a free holiday and spying on their teens, much more exciting.

Surprisingly at the end of the programme when the parents sprung it on their teens they had been watching them, both Joe and Millie didn’t seem too bothered or embarrassed in front of their mates that their parents felt the need to check up on them.

Soap news

Eastenders

The soap rumour mill has it that Ronnie will continue to bring up baby James, aka Tommy, as her own for years to come. Soap bosses say that they hope to continue with the story-line as long as possible, ie until one of the actors involved decides to leave.

Coronation Street

Bar man Sean Tully is set to marry ex boyfriend Marcus when he returns to the street this year, oh we do love a happy ending.

Emmerdale

Tissues at the ready as there will be a big blaze in the Dales, with two long standing characters expected to be killed off, sob, sob, and just when we had gotten over the horror of Corrie's tram crash.