Balance and bias

Of course Phil Rees is right to suggest in the Guardian that all sides should have their say on television. Since we seem to enjoy plenty of balanced interviews with those who sympathise with the murder of people in London and New York streets, like his encounter with a defender of Al Qaeda terrorism on Channel 4, perhaps we could hear a bit more from the many Muslims who think differently. Now that would be daringly brave.

Wondrous Wrath

Reviews of last night's first episode of Cape Wrath on Channel 4 see it as derivative and boring. I beg to differ. The quirky mix of weird and wonderful characters in the admittedly somewhat implausible Meadowlands estate housed by people with something to hide does succeed in mixing the strangeness of Twin Peaks with the claustrophobia of The Prisoner, as the advance PR suggested. But more importantly, the acting from David Morrissey as Danny Brogan down is pretty flawless, the story fairly gripping and the filming of a quality we are more used to from the best American series. More of this, and less Big Brother and makeover shows could give Channel 4 the distinctive edge it had hitherto appeared to have lost.