UK free-to-air TV programmes and the Covid Lockdown

[eMeS]

Some of my old favourite programmes weren't worth watching under Covid rules - some others were much improved.

My personal list:
Improved:-
BBC's Springwatch - I thought the new format was a definite improvement, with Chris Packham's stepdaughter being a TV star! This programme definitely seemed enhanced by having physical distance between the separate camera crews.
The Repair Shop - I really enjoyed this, and the magic it gave to ordinary people when their heirlooms were made whole again.


No longer worth watching:
Neither of the late night newspaper review programmes held any attraction for me. Both the BBC's & Sky News programmes seemed to have lost all of their magic. I used to enjoy the repartee, but where was it with the protagonists in isolated rooms in their homes? Sometimes the technology worked, but all too often it was obvious that the backroom technical teams are very necessary!

The daily Covid newscast was definitely a bad thing, and unfortunately allowed Nicola Sturgeon, and others, an uncritical platform.


Instead I discovered other channels, and learnt lots of useless info about drowned ships, Yellowstone, the Normans and many other dynasties, and How things are made.

Any other views?

 

[Altrincham]

Some of my old favourite programmes weren't worth watching under Covid rules - some others were much improved.

My personal list:
Improved:-
BBC's Springwatch - I thought the new format was a definite improvement, with Chris Packham's stepdaughter being a TV star! This programme definitely seemed enhanced by having physical distance between the separate camera crews.

Completely agree about Springwatch. This time it has been a much calmer and tranquil programme - much needed recently. With that new format there has been no gathering of several presenters in one place, which in the past has resulted in them all talking over each other. There was none of that this time and it greatly improved the programme.

I do like watching Coronation Street but recently I have noticed that they appear to have reorganised the sequence of some scenes and episodes, most likely to stretch out all the episodes they’d already filmed prior to lockdown. But for a few weeks now it’s become obvious that the normal flow of the programme is not there.

I’ve been watching a lot more of Talking Pictures too. It really is a lovely channel.

All this has made me realise that I now only watch BBC2, BBC4, and Talking Pictures TV (plus tiny bits of ITV, and tiny bits of Channel 4 and Channel 5 when they’re showing a programme of interest).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I do like watching Coronation Street but recently I have noticed that they appear to have reorganised the sequence of some scenes and episodes, most likely to stretch out all the episodes they’d already filmed prior to lockdown. But for a few weeks now it’s become obvious that the normal flow of the programme is not there.

That's correct; we're currently seeing episodes intended to have been broadcast in early May.

I do, however, find the three episodes a week much more relaxing and would like them to stay like this rather than revert to five or six a week.

 

[Jamesrob637]

That's correct; we're currently seeing episodes intended to have been broadcast in early May.

I do, however, find the three episodes a week much more relaxing and would like them to stay like this rather than revert to five or six a week.

Could this be the start of a new thread within the COVID-19 section:

"What should not fully go back to normal post-COVID-19 in your eyes?"

Not being an aficionado of soaps anymore (unless they have 'Dove' written on them!) I certainly would be fine with previously almost-daily soaps reverting to thrice weekly.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Having watched more telly over the last few weeks than for ages, the following are the programmes I look out for:
1. Find It Fix It Flog It. Educational and very funny at the same time, with a nice balance between the stars and their assistants.
2. Celebrity Five Go Barging.
3. Celebrity Five Go Motorhoming.
4. Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Food Fight (or whatever its called). Unlike most chefs cooking programmes, Jamie O actually explains things in a way which you learn from.
5. The Pioneer Woman. You don't learn much about cooking, but she's a nice lass with red hair and dimples...

 

[eMeS]

Could this be the start of a new thread within the COVID-19 section: ...

Not having explored the COVID-19 section, I never gave it a thought.

 

[PG]

Not being an aficionado of soaps anymore (unless they have 'Dove' written on them!) I certainly would be fine with previously almost-daily soaps reverting to thrice weekly.

I'm old enough to remember when some soaps didn't exist and others were only broadcast twice a week, and I only know that because my mother watched them!

Not being a fan I'd be happy if they went back to much less so that stays with the in-laws didn't consist of most evenings being soap1 followed by soap2 then followed by the cycle repeating for the part two's the same evening. They must be struggling recently with the reduced output.

 

[superjohn]

I don’t mind soaps being soaps, it’s the way serious dramas are slowly turned into soaps that grates. Casualty - I‘m talking about you! Many years ago that started as a proper drama about day to day life in an A&E department. It gradually became more and more concerned with the characters‘ personal lives.

I am currently watching repeats of London‘s Burning on the Drama channel. That went through a similar change with growing focus on the fire fighters‘ increasingly far fetched home lives. Why does are drama about the fire service need custody battles, unplanned babies, gambling addictions etc, etc, etc

It seems that when broadcasters have a success in one format they attempt to apply the formula to everything else. Witness the talent show style jeopardy „The person leaving us is................................“ being applied to the Great British Menu et al.

 

[swt_passenger]

It seems that when broadcasters have a success in one format they attempt to apply the formula to everything else. Witness the talent show style jeopardy „The person leaving us is................................“ being applied to the Great British Menu et al.

Oh yeah, especially when that dramatic drum roll half way through a sentence goes on long enough to insert an advert...

 

[Senex]

I don’t mind soaps being soaps, it’s the way serious dramas are slowly turned into soaps that grates. Casualty - I‘m talking about you! Many years ago that started as a proper drama about day to day life in an A&E department. It gradually became more and more concerned with the characters‘ personal lives.

I am currently watching repeats of London‘s Burning on the Drama channel. That went through a similar change with growing focus on the fire fighters‘ increasingly far fetched home lives. Why does are drama about the fire service need custody battles, unplanned babies, gambling addictions etc, etc, etc

It seems that when broadcasters have a success in one format they attempt to apply the formula to everything else. Witness the talent show style jeopardy „The person leaving us is................................“ being applied to the Great British Menu et al.

Holby City too! And certainly most of the soaps. Even recent crome series. An interest in plot seems to have been placed a distinct second to examination of the characters' feelings and relationships, examined especially in the context of the ideas of the liberal left.

 

[hexagon789]

Some of my old favourite programmes weren't worth watching under Covid rules - some others were much improved.

My personal list:
Improved:-
BBC's Springwatch - I thought the new format was a definite improvement, with Chris Packham's stepdaughter being a TV star! This programme definitely seemed enhanced by having physical distance between the separate camera crews.
The Repair Shop - I really enjoyed this, and the magic it gave to ordinary people when their heirlooms were made whole again.


No longer worth watching:
Neither of the late night newspaper review programmes held any attraction for me. Both the BBC's & Sky News programmes seemed to have lost all of their magic. I used to enjoy the repartee, but where was it with the protagonists in isolated rooms in their homes? Sometimes the technology worked, but all too often it was obvious that the backroom technical teams are very necessary!

The daily Covid newscast was definitely a bad thing, and unfortunately allowed Nicola Sturgeon, and others, an uncritical platform.


Instead I discovered other channels, and learnt lots of useless info about drowned ships, Yellowstone, the Normans and many other dynasties, and How things are made.

Any other views?

I agree about the COVID daily updates, after the first week it just got to the point it just felt as if each time was much like the previous and it became too dreary ro watch as well really.

Yes there have been more repeats elsewhere, but look hard enough and there are some pretty decent programmes out there. Also some stuff on YouTube and some boxsets to keep me entertained!

 

[thejuggler]

Springwatch is something we have watched in previous years, but this year with Chris Packham's giddy stepdaughter and Gillian Burke's 'Ladybird book' approach it was nauseating.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I've liked what HIGNFY have done during lockdown, likewise The Last Leg. It's not the same without an audience, but still very very funny. And you're really seeing Hislop come to the fore.

The daily Covid newscast was definitely a bad thing, and unfortunately allowed Nicola Sturgeon, and others, an uncritical platform.

The point was to relay government news, obviously an effect of that is that you lose the grillings. I don't think Sturgeon got any easier a ride than the Bumbler in Chief, who was adamant it wasn't time for politics. He was right, at least at first.

Over here it became a joke: the 4pm news conference became Howard O'Clock, time to crack open the gin. I'm not sad to not hear so much of Chief Minister Quayle's nasal drone though!

The weirdest thing for me was watching This Morning with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford. Every other programme saw presenters at opposite sides of the studio, but those two could sit right next to each other, so they did. It really jarred, but also nice to see.

 

[S&CLER]

Completely agree about Springwatch. This time it has been a much calmer and tranquil programme - much needed recently. With that new format there has been no gathering of several presenters in one place, which in the past has resulted in them all talking over each other. There was none of that this time and it greatly improved the programme.

I do like watching Coronation Street but recently I have noticed that they appear to have reorganised the sequence of some scenes and episodes, most likely to stretch out all the episodes they’d already filmed prior to lockdown. But for a few weeks now it’s become obvious that the normal flow of the programme is not there.

I’ve been watching a lot more of Talking Pictures too. It really is a lovely channel.

All this has made me realise that I now only watch BBC2, BBC4, and Talking Pictures TV (plus tiny bits of ITV, and tiny bits of Channel 4 and Channel 5 when they’re showing a programme of interest).

I agree entirely except that I watch Sky News rather than BBC, because it's less preachy.
One of the incidental pleasures of Talking Pictures is that old British films often have railway scenes in them which bring it all back to those of us of a certain age. I'm thinking of the Mersey Docks scenes in The Clouded Yellow with Trevor Howard, the Overhead scenes in The Magnet, or the fascinating scenes in a goods yard near Stoke, complete with a now vanished townscape of potbanks, in the Dirk Bogarde film Hunted. The film The Quiet Woman , shown not long ago, had a bit filmed at Winchelsea station, while Lydd appeared in the Googie Withers film The Loves of Joanna Godden. The Ealing film It Always Rains on Sunday includes several street scenes supposed to be in Bethnal Green, of a row of terrace houses with an overbridge and a quite distinctive church in the background. Anyone identify it?

 

[Bevan Price]

Could this be the start of a new thread within the COVID-19 section:

"What should not fully go back to normal post-COVID-19 in your eyes?"

Not being an aficionado of soaps anymore (unless they have 'Dove' written on them!) I certainly would be fine with previously almost-daily soaps reverting to thrice weekly.

I would agree about soaps - but suggest that 3 per week is 3 too many. They have all been allowed to exist for far too long, and mostly consist of near-identical plots to what has been used several times before, but featuring different characters. Every drama series should have a finite length - say no more than 5 years, and then either finish or take a long holiday to stop them becoming stale, and make room for innovative new drama series....

 

[bussnapperwm]

I've been enjoying some of the C4 Walter Presents and Sky Original Dramas that have been on recently, but I've also been watching some US dramas from the 90s/00s such as classic Law and Order and Murder She Wrote.

There's also been some good documentaries on Sky Docs/History.

One thing I would love to see more of is more programs in the style of the current Tim Dunn series on Yesterday (but about other subjects too) and programs such as that All Aboard The Country Bus (although I would love it if All The Stations ever got on TV, not just on YT!!!)

 

[eMeS]

...
One thing I would love to see more of is more programs in the style of the current Tim Dunn series ...

Yes, I've enjoyed Tim Dunn's wanderings.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

And maybe not so many of the more formulaic "fly on the wall" reality documentaries featuring over-the-top / chirpy employees, faux drama (for example: there's a wedding at the weekend and they've run out of napkins, it'll be a complete disaster!) and those programmes on commercial TV channels, which have the annoying habit of showing the same clips of footage, first at the top of programme, then just before an ad break, and yet again immediately afterwards; just in case the viewer has the attention span of a goldfish.

 

[bussnapperwm]

And maybe not so many of the more formulaic "fly on the wall" reality documentaries featuring over-the-top / chirpy employees, faux drama (for example: there's a wedding at the weekend and they've run out of napkins, it'll be a complete disaster!) and those programmes on commercial TV channels, which have the annoying habit of showing the same clips of footage, first at the top of programme, then just before an ad break, and yet again immediately afterwards; just in case the viewer has the attention span of a goldfish.

Like the recent TPE series? The repetition of the same clips in the way you mention is annoying

 

[dave87016]

Like the recent TPE series? The repetition of the same clips in the way you mention is annoying

Speaking of the TPE episodes , I was amazed at that gentleman resented and took down conductor Amanda’s details because she left his unattended bag on Marsden station after she had called the police and they said they would pick it up which they did

The gentleman was furious but passenger safety cones first and he should have accepted that as there are frequent announcements on stations and on board trains after all he did get it back

I’m sure some will agree with the gentleman

 

[Altrincham]

I do, however, find the three episodes a week much more relaxing and would like them to stay like this rather than revert to five or six a week.

Totally agree. As much as I do like Coronation Street, 3 hours a week is a lot of viewing. The old slots of Monday and Wednesday only at 7.30pm were much better.

The current episodes are now showing obvious signs of having far too many concurrent storylines being spread too thinly.

 

[Altrincham]

I agree entirely except that I watch Sky News rather than BBC, because it's less preachy.
One of the incidental pleasures of Talking Pictures is that old British films often have railway scenes in them which bring it all back to those of us of a certain age. I'm thinking of the Mersey Docks scenes in The Clouded Yellow with Trevor Howard, the Overhead scenes in The Magnet, or the fascinating scenes in a goods yard near Stoke, complete with a now vanished townscape of potbanks, in the Dirk Bogarde film Hunted. The film The Quiet Woman , shown not long ago, had a bit filmed at Winchelsea station, while Lydd appeared in the Googie Withers film The Loves of Joanna Godden. The Ealing film It Always Rains on Sunday includes several street scenes supposed to be in Bethnal Green, of a row of terrace houses with an overbridge and a quite distinctive church in the background. Anyone identify it?

You’re absolutely right about the railways featuring in a lot of Talking Pictures films. Recently I watched The Wrong Arm of the Law, and there’s some great level crossing scenes around Teddington with Peter Sellers.

I often find myself looking at Reel Streets to see where the locations are, and they also have an entry for It Always Rains on Sunday. I think the terraced street with overbridge and church are on there:

Reelstreets | It Always Rains on Sunday

www.reelstreets.com

 

[ChrisC]

Completely agree about Springwatch. This time it has been a much calmer and tranquil programme - much needed recently. With that new format there has been no gathering of several presenters in one place, which in the past has resulted in them all talking over each other. There was none of that this time and it greatly improved the programme.

I also completely agree about the improvement to Springwatch. So much better having all of the presenters in their different parts of the country all speaking sensibly and quietly without the showing off and all shouting over the top of each other like they usually do. I really enjoyed the whole series. I gave up watching these programmes years ago because of the silly immature behaviour of some of the presenters. I hope that this format will continue otherwise I will not continue to watch these programmes.

 

[Altrincham]

I also completely agree about the improvement to Springwatch. So much better having all of the presenters in their different parts of the country all speaking sensibly and quietly without the showing off and all shouting over the top of each other like they usually do. I really enjoyed the whole series. I gave up watching these programmes years ago because of the silly immature behaviour of some of the presenters. I hope that this format will continue otherwise I will not continue to watch these programmes.

Absolutely. It’s the silliness of a lot of programmes that really put me off in the past, especially where there’s 2 or more presenters vying for laughs and daftness.

Having presenters talking calmly and sensibly really does make it more engaging and informative. It would be great if all future Springwatch/Autumnwatch programmes could have this recent format.

On the subject of silliness, one thing that really grates with me is this growing trend on factual programmes where a presenter always HAS to get involved with attempting to do the job (or activity) of the programme’s subject matter. One example of this is Inside the Factory on BBC2. This type of programme I find fascinating, but not only do we have to contend with Gregg Wallace shouting and bawling on the factory floor making merry quips, he then has to get involved with staged consequences. I really hope that wackyness amongst presenters on factual programmes is something that disappears. This year’s (lockdown) Springwatch has shown that silliness is not necessary.

 

[eMeS]

...
Having presenters talking calmly and sensibly really does make it more engaging and informative. It would be great if all future Springwatch/Autumnwatch programmes could have this recent format.

... but not only do we have to contend with Gregg Wallace shouting and bawling on the factory floor making merry quips,...

Sadly, Gregg Wallace is in good company, and I do wish it would stop.

Perhaps that's why I enjoy "The Repair Shop" where real experts can be seen plying their craft.

 

[Ashley Hill]

1. Find It Fix It Flog It. Educational and very funny at the same time, with a nice balance between the stars and their

An awful program. Sometimes they get something nice and old with plenty of age and patina,then that awful woman rubs it down and paints it pink!!! A couple of weeks ago they painted a tail lamp black and put a candle in it. I was relieved on another episode when they had a Midland (LMS) rotary block instrument and a block bell. Thankfully they just varnished the bell and gave the block a good polish.
I stopped watching the news in March. Whilst C19 is an important topic I didn't need to constantly hear about it and how many have died that day. Life is depressing enough without constant bad news. I'm also sick of charity adverts. Whilst all very good causes they become repetitive and lose their shock value. Also at this time it's taking the mickey with all the life insurance and funeral plan adverts.
I stopped watching soaps over 20 years ago when they left reality. UKTV play has the early episodes of The Bill,when it was good and realistic and not a police soap. At least there's been a surge in railway programmes and You Tube is trawled regularly for railway gems and obscure electronic music.Have been watching a lot of class 40 stuff around Manchester plus any BTF films.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Horrible Histories (one of the absolute funniest comedies on British TV right now) get Gregg Wallace right down to a tee. It's uncanny.

I can't stand the man.

 

[185143]

Speaking of the TPE episodes , I was amazed at that gentleman resented and took down conductor Amanda’s details because she left his unattended bag on Marsden station after she had called the police and they said they would pick it up which they did

The gentleman was furious but passenger safety cones first and he should have accepted that as there are frequent announcements on stations and on board trains after all he did get it back

I’m sure some will agree with the gentleman

I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing there.

Anyone who has ever been near the railway will know it is full of announcements repeatedly telling you not to leave belongings unattended, report anything suspicious and anything left unattended may be removed and/or destroyed.

No sympathy with him whatsoever, I can understand him being angry-but not with anyone other than himself. To imply the conductor was at fault for following police instructions is ludicrous.

I hope his complaint was taken with all the seriousness it deserved and filed accordingly.

 

[Ashley Hill]

It looked to me like a set up. If she truly believed the bag was suspicious she should not have moved it and waited for BTP etc to examine it,not just dump it on a platform and go. Then to be confronted by its angry owner a day or so later on an empty platform where the film crew just happened to be with the very same guard. Something smells fishy.

 

[Belperpete]

It looked to me like a set up. If she truly believed the bag was suspicious she should not have moved it and waited for BTP etc to examine it,not just dump it on a platform and go. Then to be confronted by its angry owner a day or so later on an empty platform where the film crew just happened to be with the very same guard. Something smells fishy.

Was it a day or so later? I got the impression it was later that same day, when the guy realised he had left it behind and was attempting to retrieve it. His annoyance seemed real, if totally unjustified.