It was almost like being in jolly Old England when the double decker bus pulled up to the Beverly Hills Hilton Thursday night to take the TV critics over to the BBC party at the Museum of Television & Radio down the street.

Of course, you can’t get the full experience without hopping into the topless half. It was great _ right until the palm fronds from the trees out in front almost knocked me over.

The party celebrated BBC America’s new fall offerings _ a saucy medical drama called “Bodies” and a musical series about sex, drugs and murder titled “Viva Blackpool.”You’ve got to love the Brits.

Starring in “Viva Blackpool” is David Tennant, who is the new “Dr. Who” and co-stars in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

“I was so excited to be in ‘Harry Potter,’ and so was my little nephew,” Tennant says. “I would have liked to have taken him on the set, but it was all so hush-hush secret you couldn’t let anyone on.”

Thursday was a long day, filled with sessions from Sean “Puffy” Combs (check out this sound clip of Combs talking about his life) to Tori Spelling talking about stalkers.

On the Court TV panel was Lisa Rinna, who played the wife of a killer on “Veronica Mars” before the troubled woman jumped from the Coronado Bridge.

So did she really jump? Or was she just trying to get away from her psycho hubby?
“We’ll see,” says the cryptic Rinna, who says she’d love to come back for another stint on the series.

Earlier in the day, A&E Networks tried to coax critics to stick around for the final two hours of sessions by bribing them with wine, beer and cheese platters.
Oh, come on. I would have been there anyway.

But even that couldn’t prepare us for magician Criss Angel, who is starring in the aptly named A&E series “Criss Angel Mindfreak” this fall.

He performed a little stunt that included drinking needles and a bit of thread before pulling the needles, neatly attached to the string, out of his navel.
Pass the glass please.