Made In Chelsea - The Rich Kids Return!

The most tweeted about show of 2011 will return to E4 with highly anticipated 3rd series kicking off with a Christmas Special which will be aired on December 19th 2012.

Despite the previous two seasons of Made In Chelsea receiving a mixed review from critics such as Keith Watson of Metro who described the show as "The Only Way Is Essex with an added 'OK, Yah'" Channel 4's commissioning editor David Williams said:


"With such a loyal audience tweeting, checking in and following the lives of our new TV stars, it's fantastic to be once again returning to the hallowed streets of the Royal Borough of Chelsea."


The E4 show which has become part of a new genre known as 'Dreamality' attracted a total of 806,100 viewers in the first two episodes of season 1 and managed to trend worldwide on Twitter for up to 12 hours after the end of the first episode of the season 2.


Season 3 is set to introduce some new faces to the current cast of favourites such as Caggie Dunlop, Spencer Matthews, Ollie Locke and others.


Made In Chelsea's executive producer Sarah Dillistone said: "We [are] looking forward to bringing new bed-hopping, name-dropping, champagne-popping characters to series three."


David Williams predicts that season 3 will go down a storm saying:  "The staggering amount of audience engagement has proven it to be a perfect fit for E4′s young audience".


Filming for season 3 was announced back in November 2011 however, the cast members have recently been tweeting about filming beginning for the new series. 


Yesterday Jamie Laing, heir to the McVities fortune, added to the anticipation via Twitter by saying: "Filming starts tomorrow for season 3... Got to look fresh for it."

Amber Atherton – jewellery boutique owner and best friend Rosie Fortescue in the series, revealed show bosses are thinking of taking ‘Made In Chelsea’ stateside.

“They are in talks to launch ‘Made in Chelsea’ in America. I think it would go down well over there. Americans are obsessed with the British and they loved the royal wedding; they’d love us.”

By Benjamin Yates

Sources:
http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/reviews/862747-made-in-chelsea-is-the-only-way-is-essex-with-added-ok-yah
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/tv/Made+In+Chelsea-62309.html
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a351998/made-in-chelsea-renewed-for-third-series.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Chelsea
http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/made-in-chelsea/e4-commissions-series-2-of-made-in-chelsea-will-you-watch/
http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/made-in-chelsea/e4-commissions-series-2-of-made-in-chelsea-will-you-watch/
Pic 1: http://blog.simmons-estates.com/2011/08/made-in-chelsea/
Pic 2: http://www.webtvwire.com/watch-made-in-chelsea-online-season-1-full-episodes-video-streaming-torrent-search/

Nottinghamshire County Council Gritting Controversy...

People in the rural areas of Nottinghamshire have expressed concern over the County Council's decision not to grit the surrounding roads; putting hundreds of lives at risk.

Pic: Timothy Hackworth - Flickr

The narrow and unlit roads of the Nottinghamshire countryside have been left out of the Council's gritting plans for the Winter of 2012. The Council's webpage says:


"[We are] spending £2.79 million this year gritting 1,800km of road or 35 percent of the county’s road network... This is more than the Government-recommended amount.  If we were to grit every road, it would cost three times as much, which would have to be funded by Council Tax payers. Road Tax does not pay for council gritting services. We have to strike a balance between keeping critical roads available and the very high cost of gritting roads, which has to be paid for by the public." 

Tax payers in these rural areas argue that they are essentially paying for the safety of those in urban areas and on the Council's gritting routes at the expense of their own safety.

Nottinghamshire County Council's website also says:

"The Council is raising £507 million in 2011/12 from local taxpayers and the Government."

Pic: Ian Britton - Flickr

If the Council was to pay triple the amount it currently spends (8.73 Million) on gritting to ensure that 100 per cent of the County's roads were ice-free; according to statistics it would save money in the long term.


Figures from the County Council's Annual Casualty Report explain how:


"Each year [road accidents] cost to the national economy is in the order of £18 billion pounds...their cost to the community is around £180 million pounds per year and they remain a huge drain on the resources of the NHS and emergency services."

Reports show that between January 1st and January 31st 2009 there were a total of '42' fatalities on Nottinghamshire's roads. 

During this period, according to the BBC's Weather Report:

"Temperatures locally fell below -10C on some nights and the lowest temperatures... fell to -12.3C..." causing severe icy conditions and "some unusually severe frosts."

The question remains: is it only a matter of time before another member of the public pays the ultimate price for the Council's refusal to grit all of its roads?

By Benjamin Yates

Sources:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothyhackworth/3253168445/)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freefoto/4251848193/

(http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/your_council/financeandthebudget.htm)

 (http://www3.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/travelling/roads/road-design-and-maintenance/winter-roads/)
(http://www3.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/travelling/roads/roadsafety/accident-information/)
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/hi/uk_reviews/newsid_7869000/7869750.stm#england)