YouView adds BBC connected red button

At long last the UK connected TV platform YouView has added the BBC’s Connected Red Button service. Which means that viewers will also be able to access an increased choice of video and streaming content across news, sport and weather by pressing the red button (on BBC SD channels only) on their YouView remote control while watching BBC TV channels.

Also means when major sporting and music events are running, the red button is also your window onto all the live streams that aren’t being broadcast on any of the BBC’s traditional channels.

Just wish it had been ready in time for the Glasgow 2014 Games! But hey, it’s here at long last! 🙂

Here are some screen dumps of the BBC’s Connected Red Button service.

BBC connected red button p100
BBC connected red button - news
BBC connected red button - weather

More information can be found @ www.youview.com/news/2014/10/23/youview-adds-new-bbc-iplayer-and-bbc-connected-red-button-to-line-up/.

Ben Swift photo group on flickr

I am sure that many of you will know, I am big fan of Ben Swift, who is a professional cyclist that rides for Team Sky. So back in April 2009, I set up a flickr photo group. Check it out at www.flickr.com/groups/ben-swift/.

ben-swift-flickr

Irn-Bru photo group on flickr

Got bored this evening! So made a photo group on flickr for my favourite drink, Irn-Bru!! Right now it’s only got 10 photos, but I am sure that will change very fast indeed! Check it out at www.flickr.com/groups/irn-bru/.

irn-bru-flickr

UK TV programmes to watch this week : 18/10/2014

Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot (YouView app)Doctor Who (BBC 1/HD | 8:25pm to 9:10pm | Saturday 18th October 2014)

Separated from the Doctor, Clara discovers a new menace from another dimension. But how do you hide when even the walls are no protection? With people to save and the Doctor trapped, Clara goes against an enemy that exists beyond human perception.

Casualty (BBC 1/HD | 9:10pm to 10:00pm | Saturday 18th October 2014)

A man dies from a mysterious injury, leaving Connie wondering whether she missed something, and Cal and Ethan discover a rare virus that connects two patients.

Bad Education (BBC 3/HD | 10:00pm to 10:30pm | Tuesday 21st October 2014)

It is the summer term and Alfie Wickers is back as the self-styled maverick of Abbey Grove. With exams over it’s careers advice day for Form K, but it is Alfie who makes the biggest decision of all when he realises he can’t go on teaching without his beloved class and quits Abbey Grove. Fraser is devastated to lose his best friend and takes the news badly. Alfie reveals he has landed himself a job at the Playstation factory and cannot be tempted back despite Gulliver and his class begging him to return. But will the truth about Alfie’s new job be exposed and will they manage to convince him to return to Abbey Grove? And who will be crowned prom king and queen?

Waterloo Road (BBC 1/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Wednesday 22nd October 2014)

Nicola Stephenson, Neil Pearson, Max Bowden, Zebb Dempster, Leo Flanagan, Sammy Oliver. School-based drama. It’s the launch of Waterloo Road’s big community initiative and Vaughan is desperate for the day to go without a hitch. But with Lisa and Shaznay causing mischief and tensions with George at boiling point, can the new head pull it off?

Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 22nd October 2014)

For the first time, the inner secrets of the gunpowder plotters are dramatised using the actual words of their most senior captured leader Thomas Wintour, Guy Fawkes and state interrogators investigating the 18-month conspiracy in which a family circle of militant Catholic gentlemen tried to blow up King and Parliament. Wintour’s insider account of this epic tale of faith, fanaticism, persecution and betrayal is told in detail, from his recruitment of both Fawkes and his own brother, to his capture in a dramatic siege and bloody shoot out on November 8th. The hopes, fears and plans for a Midlands rebellion, royal kidnap, the plotters’ penetration of the King’s bodyguard and Fawkes’ attendance, sword in hand, at a wedding attended by the King in December 1604 are shown, as well as a dramatisation of the thrilling, forgotten story of the final days after 5/11 as the conspirators are hunted down and then face the terrible punishments reserved for traitors.

Grand Designs (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 22nd October 2014)

Kevin McCloud returns to an astonishing restoration project in the heart of France. Back in 2003, when Denise Daniel and Doug Ibbs gave up everything in the UK to start a new life in a remote part of central France, they couldn’t have known what was ahead of them. Most people would have regretted falling in love with a massive, dilapidated manor house with just four crumbling walls and half a roof, but not Doug and Deni. This impressive, extraordinary and utterly determined couple rolled up their sleeves and slogged away day and night, doing everything themselves, year after year, until slowly but surely they created a magnificent edifice out of the ruins they bought off the internet. It’s now the 70th anniversary of the destruction of the original 19th century manor house by the German army and the house is finally finished. Kevin returns to find out how Denise and Doug have got on, and how they’ve written the next chapter for a house with a remarkable history.

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (Channel 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 23rd October 2014)

The series celebrating ingenious and eccentric small builds returns. In this opening episode, George meets a man who bought the wreck of a £20 million private jet for just £4,000 and plans to transform it into the ultimate crash pad for him and his wife. There’s also a gypsy tattoo artist who swapped his truck for an old railway carriage, which he hopes to turn into a home for him and his two children for only £7000. George teams up once again with master craftsman Will Hardie to hand build a woodland retreat for less than the price of a family holiday. And he heads to Italy to see some incredible spaces, starting with one so high up in the mountains that it’s only accessible by helicopter and features one of the best views in the world.

Have I Got News for You (BBC 1/HD | 9:00pm to 9:30pm | Friday 24th October 2014)

The popular satirical news quiz, with team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, guest host Victoria Coren Mitchell and panellists including Katherine Ryan.

All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.

UK heritage railways list : updated 13-Oct-2014

Still can’t believe all the heritage railway lines, I have been on this year!

Here is a short list…

  • Battlefield Line Railway*
  • Great Central Railway*
  • Great Central Railway – Nottingham*
  • Nene Valley Railway
  • Mid Norfolk Railway*
  • North Norfolk Railway*
  • North Yorkshire Moors Railway

The ones with a * next to them, are ones I had never been on before!

Check out the full list at www.gordon-valentine.com/travel/railways/uk-heritage-railways/.

Great Central Railway – Nottingham photos : 12-Oct-2014

That’s yet another UK Heritage railway line off my list! This time Great Central Railway – Nottingham.



More photos from this set can be found @ www.gordon-valentine.com/zenphoto/days-out/12-10-2014/