Paper View: The best of the Sunday Times Television Columns

Phoenix, 2009. Light creasing to spine, yellowing to page edges.

The finest TV critic of our time talks about Sport, Sitcoms, News, the Weather, Children's programmes and 'Reality Television'.

A.A. Gill has been the must-read television critic in the SUNDAY TIMES 'Culture' section for more than ten years. This collection of some of the best writing from his columns is broken down into themes - Sport, Costume Drama, Detectives, Children's Television, and News.

And now it's over to A.A. Gill:

'Those who complain, usually from the Parnassian heights of print journalism, that TV is dumbed-down and peddles dross to the lowest common denominator, citing Big Brother or Celibate Love Island, miss the point...

In barely a generation, the information from television has changed the way we see the world and everyone in it. That's no small achievement. Television really does make a difference... It can bring down walls, save lives and right wrongs. It can also tell you how to put a water feature on your patio...'