Sam Brady – the television critic ‘ruder than Ally Ross’who appeared on Teletext’s forerunner Oracle – is back.
Brady, who developed a cult following, was the alter-ego of former regional newspaper reporter Steve Regan.
Regan said Brady’s reviews were ‘like [The Sun’s] Ally Ross – but ruder and funnier”.
The former Colchester Evening Gazette and Aberdeen Press and Journal reporter started writing the reviews after becoming Oracle’s TV editor in 1988.
They finished when he left in December 1992. Regan is now director of communications for the Diocese of Chester and is based in New Brighton, near Liverpool.
But now, they are restored on a blog called Sam Brady, Oracle.
Regan said: ‘I created the Sam Brady column in the late ’80s when TV services were expanding fast.
‘I used it to point out that more television and more choice of channels would not necessarily lead to better TV, and so it has proved.
“Sam became cult reading and he had some big-name fans in the industry, including the Lorraine Kelly, Greg Dyke, and the late Richard Whiteley.
‘In the new Sam Brady column I point out the poor writing, lack of original ideas and the terrible coarseness of TV in the digital age.”
Regan, who also worked as a columnist on the Hull Daily Mail and the Daily Star, also writes a blog – under his own name – for the Liverpool Echo.
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