A Wet and Chilly Bank Holiday

Well, it looks as if the summer is going to end in cold and gloom. Having experienced some of the hottest weather of a summer since 1976 we're now having to put up with rain and cold. I drove to Shenley Christian Fellowship with rain pelting the windscreen and walking from the carpark getting soaking wet. I refused to wear a jacket of any sort, which was a bit stupid, but I didn't see the point when I'd left the house. How is it we almost always get rain when there's a Bank Holiday? And can anyone tell me why banks get a holiday? What one earth have they done to deserve one? Why not nurses, police, ambulance crews, train drivers? Or any of a host of employed personnel? Anyway, as I sit here, in our sitting room, typing away at this blog post, I can see out of the window as the rain pelts down, making a noise on the window glass. Alfie, our little Yorkshire Terrier, poked his head out of the patio door from our kitchen and couldn't decide whether to brave the elements when it was definitely clear that he would get really wet when he had to go out the other morning quite early. He doesn't like getting wet, and who can blame him?

We did go out early as we usually do each morning. He came across a lady walking with a sort of wheeled zimmer frame who had a poodle with her. Alfie ran off to greet the poor dog, but he kept running rings around this white dog. He just wants to be friends and, possibly, play with most of the dogs we encounter on our early-morning saunter around Eaglestone Park. 

So, there's be a lot of people out and about, going for day's out to the seaside, probably National Trust properties, castles, stately homes, zoos (such as Whipsnade.) who will have their day ruined by rain. Well, it's what you come to expect when there's a Bank Holiday. Sitting in their cars, with Aunty Ethel and Uncle Maurice in tow, in traffic jams across the length and breadth of Great Britain, having to put up with the kids squabbling in the back of the car and husband and wife arguing about the best route to take to their favourite destination.  Having real problems with the map, getting it upside down and not being able to read it properly, probably because they've left their best reading glasses behind at home. The car windows steaming up, because of the wet weather. The children constantly repeating 'are we there yet?' Then when they get to the seaside, finding many attractions on the seafront closed for repairs, the ice-cream sellers running out of ice-cream or cold drinks. Endless queues at the sea-front cafes and restaurants. The sun eventually comes out, periodically, but then when it does rain, running to shelter under shop-frontages. Then, when they do eventually get back to the car, finding the sandwiches they've bought with them have gone soggy and the Thermos tea stone cold.

This evening we watched the BBC Proms concert version of 'On The Town,' the musical which has a musical score written by Leonard Bernstein, because it's the centenary of his birth. A really rousing piece of theatre done with real gusto and the L.S.O. (London Symphony Orchestra) conducted by John Wilson. He's done many concerts for the Proms, sometimes resurrecting scores from musical films such as those produced by M.G.M., and one year he did a concert based on the scores used in Warner Brothers animated cartoons and a hilarious one using the Tom and Jerry cartoon scores. The musicians looked as if they were really enjoying themselves, making all the odd sound effects, car horns, whistles, bangs and crashes. I'm so glad that the BBC shows the proms, even if they hide it all away on a minority channel such as BBC Four. A pity really, but at least they're broadcast somewhere. Just a pity they couldn't put it on BBC1 so that more people could discover the wonders of classical music, which isn't all long-winded symphonies, some of the lighter pieces could introduce a completely new audience. Mind you, we weren't watching it 'live' and had it on iPlayer. The wonders of modern broadcasting.

Crass and Stupid Television

Why is it that Saturday evening television has to be so dire? Around 6 o'clock and the schedulers seem to think we want to sit through ropey game shows with a voice-over who shouts at us. Stupid games,  played by 'celebrities' jumping into water, bouncing on huge inflatable balls, being soaked, covered in mud and generally acting the complete and utter fool. Such is the description of the current show on BBC1 'And their Off For Sport Relief.' So, I hear you say, it's for charity. Well, it might be, but does it have to be so dire? I know they want you to phone or text to donate money, but why come up with this total load of drivel. A couple of months back the BBC gave us something which was hosted by Len Goodman, the former 'Strictly Come Dancing' head judge, called 'Partner In Rhyme.' Truly awful. But it could hardly be any worse than something called 'Don't Scare The Hare,'  which filled the same slot a few years ago. The worst aspect of these shows has to be the awful, loud audience reactions. Do the sound engineers on these shows just turn up the volume on the studio audiences? This was no better than something dreamt up for school kids in the 1970's. I realise they are intended for 'family audiences,' but they could have come up with something a little more intelligent than this. I don't expect 'Mastermind' or 'Only Connect,' but this was far too down-market. Just filler of the worst possible sort.

I had the misfortune to watch ITV's early-morning television effort when we visited the hospital on Friday. There's very little news-worthy material in it, from what I saw. Aimed at an audience who just wants trivia, celebrity gossip, soap-news and not a lot else. The set looked remarkably like a branch of Carphone Warehouse. No wonder the BBC gets higher ratings when this is all ITV can come up with. Just not worth watching. Every five minutes they keep flashing up 'coming up next' along the bottom of the screen. The graphics are far too busy and annoying. I seem to recall, when the government was busily auctioning off the ITV franchises, when was it, in the 1990's, someone saying that ITV wouldn't 'dumb-down.' How wrong could they be? Can't get more dumber than this. Sorry, but when TV-AM had the breakfast contract it was far better than this. How things have moved on, or possibly not. I reckon it's aimed at an audience with the concentration-level of a goldfish.

I have mentioned my dislike of 'Strictly Come Dancing' in an earlier post. It must be extremely popular, which would account for the fact that it's been running every year since 2004. I have no complaint about the actual dancing, it's the hype and ballyhoo that surrounds it that I can't stand. There seems to be an over-abundance of 'talent' shows on both main channels. 'The X Factor' rules on ITV which also has 'Britain's Got Talent,' whilst the BBC had 'The Voice' for several seasons until ITV took it over. Why so many so-called 'talent' shows? Does Britain REALLY have talent? I'm not sure, but endless similar shows is annoying. The BBC sees fit to foist yet another on us, called 'All Together Now.' I have yet to watch it. Do those who win these shows find real or even imagined 'fame and fortune?' Usually they last for a few years and then fade away. Proving that you do need some sort of talent to survive in a get-rich-quick world. Th television companies must make a great deal of money out of the 'phone in' element of these shows. You have to telephone the numbers that flash up on your television screen after each dancer or singer has done their bit so that you vote. A certain percentage of the cost goes to charity (in the case of 'Strictly Come Dancing.' I think it goes to Children in Need.) and the rest no doubt gets taken by the television company.

I know, I know! I hear you saying, 'well, if you don't like it, don't watch it!' which is fine. I shouldn't. But you have to admit that watching something that is awful has a sort of 'car-crash' element to it, to see how bad it it, a sort of 'so bad, it's good', if you get my drift. And with so many other channels on Sky, there is plenty of other stuff to watch. Just thank goodness for Channel 4, BBC Four and the brilliant Sky Arts channel.

I shall end this post here, but I'm sure to find more in the days and months ahead to add to my thoughts on this vast subject.

Motorised Television Comedy

We currently have three comedies on television which use the basic format of a journey as it's set-up. The first one I enjoy is "The Trip To Spain," which is on Sky Atlantic. It has Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden as two friends who are on a trip to Spain (well, that's original, considering the thing is called 'The Trip To Spain.") Coogan is a food writer for a paper. In the first series (Incidentally, shown on BBC2) they journey around the north of England, mostly in the Lake District, and the second, they go to Italy, (also on BBC2)It intrigues me as to why the BBC didn't go with this third series. Surely it can't be due to cost. It can't be a particularly big-budget series. I was under the impression that they had some sort of production deal with Coogan's company, Baby Cow. What I love about this is the free-wheeling style (not surprising, considering it's set mainly within a car on the road.) and the way it's hard to decide whether it's 'real' or 'fiction.' What I mean is, Coogan and Bryden play themselves. Coogan has spent many years as another character, Alan Partridge, but in this he is himself. Where does the line end? It's difficult to tell. I'm interested to know how much is actually scripted and how much is improvised.

The second series is on BBC Four, although, with BBC iPlayer and 'catch-up' television, it really makes no difference which channel it's on. The show is called 'Bucket' which isn't much of a name and wouldn't draw me to it if I was unaware of it's theme, the actors in it and so on. It stars Miriam Margolyes as a 70-something woman, who goes on a journey with her daughter with who she has a strange sort of relationship. The 'bucket' refers to the bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies. She reveals as the first episode progresses that she has cancer and the daughter (played by Frog Stone, who also wrote the series. Is that a genuine name or is it a pseudonym? Just odd. Who'd call a child Frog?) It's certainly off-the-wall and worth a look, even if it's just to see the great Margolyes who is a fine character actor who doesn't seem to fit any particular mould, thankfully. Great to have something which allows an older character to be presented in a non-stereotypical way. There are only four episodes, which is a shame. I suspect the good old BBC got cold feet. They didn't want to commit to more, for whatever reason. Cost. Hardly. Not particularly big budget drama, this. No C.G.I. or expensive locations or sets. Not sure it wouldn't find an audience. If it's on BBC Four, surely it would appeal to a different sort of demographic to the one you'd have if it was shown on BBC1 or BBC2. It's certainly different and original. I'll be watching the remaining three episodes. It seems that none of the 'traditional' television channels (referring to 'live' broadcast, such as BBC, ITV etc.) don't want to take too many risks. The other platforms, i.e.. Sky, Netflix, Amazon etc etc., seem more likely to take risks with more episodes and more what I'd call contentious or dangerous material. The BBC  and ITV seem far too concerned with things being either 'non politically correct or just steering clear of anything that might be considered offensive in any way. I don't agree with upsetting anyone, either racial, religious or whatever, but if you're just going to produce things that are easy, non-demanding, you just end up with bland, flat material that has no purpose, other than being ratings fodder, which is a shame, because, in the past, the BBC, in particular, has produced shows which have been sharp, funny and extremely clever, think, 'Fawlty Towers,' Blackadder,' 'Not The Nine O'Clock News and so on. Or ITV with things such as 'Spitting Image.' 

The third series I want to mention is 'Car Share.' This is now in it's second series. It's written, as well as stars and directed, by Peter Kay. It has a very simple format, a manager of a North of England supermarket 'car-shares' with a co-worker, played by Sian Gibson, who co-writes the show. It's set almost completely within the confines of a car, driven by Kay. It must have made production of such a show extremely difficult. Having been a huge success when the first series was aired, it's great to have this second season. It was originally first only available on iPlayer but then all episodes were broadcast weekly on BBC1 and proved one of the most downloaded shows ever, apparently. This second season seems to be doing equally well. The one advantage of being able to download via catch-up and other services, is that you can have all current episodes or entire 'box-sets' of series available and you can watch when you want without having to wait for the next episode.

Memories of Doctor Who

I've written a lot on here about my time working in stage management with various theatres around England, but I'm now going to attempt to stretch my memory back a good deal further in time to when I was at school. 2013 has seen the 50th anniversary of 'Doctor Who.' I have been a long-time fan of this show and remain so to this day. I'm not entirely sure whether I actually saw the very first episode on 23rd November 1963, when I imagine I would, at age 13, been the age the show was aimed at.  I think I may not have seen it due to the fact that President Kennedy was assassinated that weekend. I probably started watching with the first Daleks story which followed around five weeks into the run of the show. There was something very intriguing about time travel and the fact that every couple of weeks the Tardis would arrive in a completely different time and place and there was the expectation of discovering a new world, or  different time period. The Daleks, being the first villains to appear in only the second story, had a huge effect because my school friends who would be going around the playground saying 'exterminate! exterminate!' in a sort of monosyllabic voice as a result of seeing these pepper-pot type characters on television. With the revival of the series in 2005 it was quite intriguing to see how the present generation of children would take to the Daleks and it was amazing to see that, a good 50-years after my generation was introduced to them, that they could still produce such a chilling effect on a generation bought up on C.G.I.-generated creatures. I have to say, having viewed the very first episode 'An Unearthly Child' which was shown on BBC Four over the week of the 50th anniversary showed how well it stood up, compared with not only the revived 'Doctor Who' but a lot of current television, considering it was made on a shoe-string budget, with very basic equipment and in black-and-white. I don't honestly remember any 'wobbly sets' but being totally involved in the stories and characters. Probably we didn't in those days. Maybe it was because we only had two television channels in 1963. We didn't bother too much about the 'basics' of television, because it was, let's face it, basic in the extreme. No location filming, sets that were all constructed in a studio in Shepherd's Bush which, although not wobbly, weren't exactly convincing. Lumps of what would have been polystyrene being made to look like rock and a really unconvincing stone-age landscape which looked as if it was made of old bedsheets! Never mind, it was all good fun and we loved it!