I've got a lot of time for Private Eye magazine. Despite the tone at times verging into an air of Public School smugness, it can often produce some excellent examples of journalism. The recent articles about the horrific conditions at some care homes for the elderly and about the appalling treatment of Hillingdon council towards Mark Neary and his autistic son Steven reassured me that the art of investigative journalism isn't completely dead.
However, they at times fall on their faces when they dabble with pop culture. In the most recent edition, mention is made of William H. Macy being interviewed on Radio 4 regarding his role in the US version of Shameless. Talking of the differences of UK/US contracts (in the States, actors tend to sign up for huge long-term deals), Macy says "You've got to sign the actors up... You can't have them falling in love with each other and leaving the show."
The Eye responds with "If Macy has any evidence that such things happen in British television, he should produce it forthwith."
Now, perhaps I'm missing some in-joke here, but one example that springs to mind is of James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff. Meeting on the set of a Brit TV show, they subsequently fell in love, got it together and moved on from the programme to pastures new. Very successful ones too, especially in Slim Jim Xavier's case. The show they met on? Shameless. Strange, that.
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