TV on Trial

[Andrew Doherty]

As you will know from my previous postings I have always tried to give a positive, indeed, constructive tone to the various topics, which are discussed on this web site. So, I believe it is now necessary to comment about last night's "TV on Trial" for the 1950s on BBC4. It is my opinion the cause of showing archive television has been given a set-back.

How can just four half-hour programmes from one particular year possibly be considered sufficient to make a judgement about the whole of this decade?

Television at the start of the 1950s was certainly different from television at the end of that decade.

Nearly all dramas went out live as was the case with other programmes.

Clearly, the programmes chosen were to skew the result and anyone who has not seen any programme from this era will almost certainly think that what was shown was the best of what was available.

Where were the music programmes, Documentary programmes, variety shows, not to mention the live dramas? The selection chosen from 1955 was simply unacceptable as a benchmark of an era which brought forth Panorama, Whats My Line, Sunday Night Theatre (BBC), Armchair Theatre(ITV), Hancock's Half Hour, Quatermass and paved the way for television of the sixties, seventies and eighties.

Any decade deserves a week's worth of programming taken from, as far as possible, ALL the years of the era in question.

In short, if last night is anything to go by, it was a TRAVESTY and I have not even mentioned the witterings of the two "assessors", if that is what anyone could call them.

When I locate someone who may possess missing television material this sort of presentation on BBC4 is not going to help.

We must trust that future programmers treat archive material with the respect it deserves.

If there needs to be a trial it is of those who thought of this "idea".

Yours with great concern,

[David Chandler]

Couldn't agree more. When I looked in the Radio Times, I was delighted to see that an option was being provided to view the shows without the critics' commentating. So, at 8:30 last night I pressed the red button and settled-down to enjoy so archive gems i've never had the chance to experience before. What a let down!! The 'picture' was tiny, surrounded by a distracting border and plastered with logos and text. I switched-off in disgust after about 5 minutes. Aside from the general lack of respect shown regarding the presentation of the archive material, there was also a startling degree of ignorance shown in the presentation. The presenter referred to the 1950's as 'where it all began' (?) and towards the end of the evening, a continuity announcer referred to Quatermass as 'Quartermass' (I kid you not.) This kind of incompetance *must* be deliberate, surely?? I have emailed BBC4 to ask how I vote for the 1930's or 1940's as my favourite decade, but have yet to receive a reply.

[Laurence Piper]

[quote author=Andrew Doherty
We must trust that future programmers treat archive material with the respect it deserves.
If there needs to be a trial it is of those who thought of this "idea".
[/quote]

I agree totally, Andrew. It's a false and confrontational concept in the first place.

I didn't see the BBC-4 stuff myself, not having the channel, but i've said all along that you simply cannot make any meaningful comparison between TV today and TV, say, 40 years ago in that simplistic manner simply because you can't recreate the climate and social context that those shows were transmitted in then. All we can see are (sub-standard generally) recordings of material that a modern audience used to the pace and gloss of current fare cannot understand. TV has only really improved in terms of technical facility; in terms of content, it's golden age has long passed. The heavyweight talents that used to once want to work in the medium have all gone. We will never see their like again. All the more reason we should treasure those valuable recordings from the past that are still with us as examples of what TV CAN aspire to. Respect indeed!

[Gary Robinson]

The night before there was a timeshift documentary about Alan Platers work,loads of clips to judge his work by!,a very recent drama and 1972 Play for Today,Land of Green Ginger which was acclaimed in the documentary for its use of folk music in a tv drama,so what did BBC 4 do?talk over the end credits and song by the Watersons!also why is there never a Z-Cars season anywhere?

[H Hartley]

I have to say that i found the 'Life with the lyons' pretty good for its day and certainly compares with a dozen sitcoms produced by ITV over the past decades.
The only thing I found grating about it was the fact that everybody appeared to be shouting , which was probably because of some technical reason or other?

It was obvious the BBC needed a kick up the backside in those days , but had they put an ITV offering or something American like 'Bilko' up there, there would have been no contest.

PS . I saw a 'the grove family' a few weeks ago and thought it a great technical achievement for a live soap opera . They were mixing scenes and exterior inserts like their was no tomorrow and everyone was hitting their cue. The acting was wooden but then again so it was in the live ' the Bill ' .

[Gary Robinson]

Didnt the title ought to be Thatcher on Trial after what she did to the TV industry!,how can any comparisons be made,just think what could have been!

[B Thomas]

Guest-Laurence said:

I agree totally, Andrew. It's a false and confrontational concept in the first place.

I didn't see the BBC-4 stuff myself, not having the channel, but i've said all along that you simply cannot make any meaningful comparison between TV today and TV, say, 40 years ago in that simplistic manner simply because you can't recreate the climate and social context that those shows were transmitted in then. All we can see are (sub-standard generally) recordings of material that a modern audience used to the pace and gloss of current fare cannot understand. TV has only really improved in terms of technical facility; in terms of content, it's golden age has long passed. The heavyweight talents that used to once want to work in the medium have all gone. We will never see their like again. All the more reason we should treasure those valuable recordings from the past that are still with us as examples of what TV CAN aspire to. Respect indeed!

Hear, hear. I would rather sit through a fifties episode (of anything?) than any of the over-sensationalised "reality" crap fed to us these days.

[Brian D not logged in]

This is a dreadful programme - a silly idea with an artificial construction. I am currently watching Alan Coren in a toe-curling display, during which he has adopted diametrically opposed attitudes to The Sweeney in the course of half an hour, and in which his main aim seems to be to show that he will not be out-cooled and out-cynicised by his young co-panellist.

Not BBC 4's finest hour, this.