I often bemoan the somwhat predicatable line-up of “Later…” and lack of a decent, dedicated new music TV show (Festival footage doesn’t count). I was interested to see a pilot broadcast of a proposed new pop TV show appear on iPlayer. It has the somewhat unpromising title ‘All Shook Up’ but apart from that I thought it was alright actually. It’s as no-frills as you can get, with an obvious huge nod to Whistle Test..no set dressing, wires trailing everywhere, no fancy lighting or video effects and a suitably deadpan Marc Riley in the ‘Whispering’ role.

It’s nice actually just to watch some bands play in the Whistle Test style. Just 30 minutes with three pasty-faced new(ish) bands all of whom look somewhat undernourished under the cold studio glare. They all play a couple of songs each. No festival flag waving gurning tossers getting in the way, no over-excited presenters saying the word ‘amazing’ every 3 seconds, no unnecessary boogie-woogie vamping from Jools. I can’t believe a show like this would cost much to make, and I’d be quite happy with this – 3 new bands each week, point a camera at them, introduce the bands, roll credits. Job » Continue Reading.