Episode 13 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points Of View.

Now, are you what viewer James Currie would call

"a curious and educated adult"?

He is!

Do you respond well to being talked to

like a class of six-year-old children?

He doesn't.

So, perhaps like him, you are not enjoying the new look

that's being given to a favourite from the BBC Two autumn schedule.

Is this Zoe Ball we're talking about?

-Love it, I just want more!

-That's what I want.

I want you to do the whole cast by the end show.

She took a bit of flak last week for being too excited

on Strictly: It Takes Two,

but this presenter is actually earlier in the alphabet.

This time it is Michaela Strachan on Autumnwatch,

who's being told, "We don't need you to be that excited

"for us to enjoy the programme."

What a triumph of modelling clay this is.

Are you sure that's a bat's nose,

cos it looks a bit dodge to me, if you don't mind me saying.

Dodge?

SHE LAUGHS It looks a bit of a worry!

-But going back to the photograph of the bat.

-Yeah.

That looks like a player in the rugby world cup, in New Zealand.

What - it's been smacked in the face?

-Smacked in the face, yes!

-I don't know, Chris. Can she stay?

A face only a mother could love.

Some viewers are attributing the excitability to a sugar rush,

so we will be confiscating the Kendal mint cake

from the Autumnwatch crew for forthcoming programmes.

It seems there are personnel issues with All Roads Lead Home, too.

The premise of journeying the British countryside

using Mother Nature instead of a satnav - ah, we liked that -

but the presenting trio of

Gavin And Stacey's mum,

that lady from the voice-over,

and Dirk Gently

seems to be jarring.

'And then over the next ridge we see some trees

'that look a little more helpful.'

That's pretty compelling, isn't it?

'Other than the sun, this is the first natural signpost

'we've been able to read.'

-Yeah.

-Like Donald Trump's hair.

So, they're all lookin' that way.

-Yep.

-So, it's a southwesterly wind, isn't it?

A southwesterly wind.

The one at the top, which probably gets most wind,

is the most...

Yeah.

..severe.

'At last, something works.

'We're not so stupid after all!'

Here we go again!

Ditch the luvvies, bring on the experts - they know their stuff,

and at least they can't be any more annoying!

Rarely since the days of Don't Scare The Hare

has a programme been so roundly condemned.

And hang on, Sue Perkins was involved with that one, too.

-Oh, she's blown it!

-AUDIENCE: Don't scare the hare!

Oh, Audrey's scared the hare.

What a letdown for her, her team and the balloon.

Now, Don't Scare The Hare has become shorthand

for a show that failed

but let's stop for an appreciation.

Hi, I think that Don't Scare The Hare was a really good TV show.

It is one of the few shows at the moment that combines

general knowledge and fun activities.

Did you send that in for a bet? If so, you won.

Now, the BBC is being criticised for underplaying the tributes

to the sitcom writer David Croft, who died in September.

He had a screen career spanning four decades.

David brought us Dad's Army, Are You Being Served, Hi-De-Hi!,

It Ain't Half Hot Mum and 'Allo 'Allo,

right into our living rooms,

so you would think the BBC would have stopped all the clocks

to appreciate a master of times past.

Shame on you, BBC, for only showing a ten minute programme

on the tribute to David Croft.

And shame on you again, for not showing a clip from

It Ain't Half Hot Mum, one of his best comedies.

Shame on you twice, Clive says.

We will watch out for that one, then.

Next, Twincredibles -

an extraordinary documentary highlighting the rare occasions

when racial genetics lead to the birth of twins

of different skin colour.

Twincredibles was a programme about

multi-racial twins,

where one twin was lighter than the other

and it was supposed to show their different life experiences.

However, I think it came across as quite negative.

'When the twins were born, my first thought was,

' "I can't believe Hope is completely white,"

'but it got even more surprising

'when Leo got darker and darker.'

'The brothers hit the headlines after they were born 20 minutes apart,

'one white and the other black.'

You look like a clown!

For viewer Beverly Nicholls,

it was the negative tone

that didn't sit side by side with the subject matter,

and her family is in a unique position to comment.

We always used to have that thing, didn't we, of being asked...

-our dates of birth?

-Yeah, as a test.

To see if we'd get it right!

As if they're going to catch us out cos we're lying.

'Someone had said that I should let Nathan'

be brought up properly by a white family.

'We never really thought of the difference in colour

'being anything more unusual

'than the difference in eye colour, hair colour, height,

'weight, build, and that's something that we didn't think came across...

-'That's right.

-..in the programme.'

'I see myself as black but other people see me as white.

'But we're mixed race.'

I thought it'd be an opportunity for many people, including myself,

'to see how other mixed-race twins are.

'I think it fell short of that, where it seemed

'to centralise on problematic relationships,

'and that's not mine'

or my family's experience of that at all.

'We do like completely different things.

'We like completely different people.

'He is just not the same as me in any way.'

We didn't feel that there was a balance

on the way everyone had been portrayed in the programme.

Then again, we didn't know

whether that was how the people had felt

or the way it had just been edited.

It didn't seem like the people were too happy with the way they were.

Now drama,

and Hidden is Philip Glenister's latest vehicle.

So, that's the Quattro back in the garage, then.

It's shown after 9pm, but apparently the nudity and the swearing

are joining forces with the wobbly camera work to...

nauseate some viewers.

CAR HORN BEEPS

-Put your

-BLEEP

-foot down!

CAR HORN BEEPS

-Oh,

-BLEEP!

Camera people, let me introduce you to the tripod.

It is a kind of three-legged creature,

which allows your camera to film steady pictures.

Recent invention, you ask? No, about 100 years.

We think there may be a shortage of them.

In a land of myth, and a time of magic,

the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young man.

His name...

Merlin.

Now, when you begin your programme with the words,

"In a land of myth and a time of magic,"

does that give you carte blanche to rewrite medieval history?

Discuss.

'His compassion.

'His unselfish heart.'

MUSIC: "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse

It is certainly magical for most, but some viewers are not happy

with the production playing fast and loose

with Arthurian legend.

SHRIEKING

No! NO!

No!

No!

I think Merlin's very clever as it gives you

the bits of the legend you'd expect -

Lancelot, The Sword In The Stone, The Lady Of The Lake,

they're all there.

They're all parts of the legend and it tells you that

but in a new and unexpected way.

I think for the purists - yes, I understand why they're upset -

but I think they should look at the amount of people

that tune in and are now interested in the legends and myths,

and if it makes it popular, then that's a good thing.

I think my character, from where she started out to where she's ended up

has had the biggest change.

UTTERS INCANTATION

WOMAN SCREAMS

By the time you get to the fourth season she is out-and-out evil,

and almost cackling in a cave like Macbeth's witches,

but you can really understand why she is the way she is.

Oof!

It's far more fun being evil!

To the king.

Our most grown-up season yet.

They've decided to push the boundaries every year

and make it bigger, better and bolder

and it is more filmic,

it's beautiful, I think.

I might be biased though!

That about wraps things up for this week.

Don't forget - send in your feedback, we can't do without it.

E-mail us on...

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Or phone us. Calls are charged at a local rate from a BT land line,

and here is the number for you.

Or write to us. Here's the address. Old-fashioned letters go to...

We will certainly be taking a careful look at the stamp if you do.

With the original wrapping.

We've got the brown paper.

Buckingham Palace paper.

And it says,

"Buckingham Palace...'03." 1903.

That is probably worth somewhere in the region of let's say,

between £30 and £40.

Well spotted, Bruce and Colin.

Antiques Roadshow told us,

"Thanks to the sharp-eyed Points Of View viewers

"for pointing this one out.

"Our specialist, Lars Tharp,

"is very knowledgeable about ceramics

"but admits Victorian stamps are not a speciality.

"We are delighted to pass on such good news to the owner of the cup."

I love a happy ending. Goodbye.

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