Episode 18 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points of View.

It seems the highlight of this year's Remembrance programming on TV

was Antiques Roadshow. Maybe not the programme you'd expect,

but their poignant broadcast from the National Memorial Arboretum

did bring home the true spirit of remembrance

and touched more viewers than any other tribute.

Well, let's remind ourselves of what was clearly a memorable edition

of an old favourite.

At the end of the war, you ended up in the infamous Belsen camp,

where so many, many people died.

It was the last moment, the sort of line between life and death

when you feel you're going,

and then the member of the British Army appeared.

-And he saved my life.

-Tell me about that - what happened?

-He was a human.

He said, "All right. Stay here and in the morning I'll pick you up."

And I believed him, and he did come.

He put me in a sheet, pushed me between four stretchers

in a military ambulance, and off we went.

And all I had was my naked life and the ring on the string on my neck.

That was all I had. And he saved my life.

And I never had a chance to say thank you, because he disappeared.

And after the war I lived in Australia,

there was no chance looking for him.

And at least, at this opportunity, I would like to say thank you.

Wherever he is.

A fitting tribute indeed.

Moving on. Actually, that's the name of the daytime drama

that charts the progress of individuals

going through huge life changes.

Now, in previous series you've praised the calibre of the acting

and the scripts, and offered the ultimate, if slightly double-edged compliment,

saying "It is too good for daytime." Well, it's back on...daytime.

I can think of plenty of people who'd kill to be in your shoes.

You've got your freedom, you can go out whenever you like,

you can lie in at weekends. Couple of holidays a year.

Do you really want to trade all that in for sleepless nights,

all your money spent on nappies, CBeebies all day, every day?

-Baby puke down your beautiful cape?

-All right, all right.

So, a hung jury. And let's stay in the courtroom.

Garrow's Law is back on Sunday nights,

the drama based loosely on historical accounts

of one of the earliest practitioners of modern justice in Britain.

You try to recall, for your husband's sake.

-I will not send him to the gallows here.

-Why not?

You must simply speak the truth.

The night before he took the pistol to the theatre,

I knew what he had in mind to do.

And begged him to think of our son.

Of the duty he had to him.

I was holding our infant in my arms, and suddenly...

..my husband dragged the child from my arms.

Two returning dramas, and both are described as "samey"

or "predictable".

Are we to read from this that winning formulas

should be abandoned?

The Apprentice seems to be a winning formula.

It has spawned the current Young Apprentice.

Lord Sugar's challenges usually reduce the teenage contestants

to confusion and stress by the end of an episode,

but he managed to achieve that with viewers too this week.

The good news is, this is not all about profit.

Your job is to sell as much as possible,

so you'll be judged on sales volume. OK?

And Karren, let's have it for the MiniVac.

MiniVac total sales, £808.79.

I think we can say the MiniVac cleaned up.

Making a total of £1,138.77 for the day.

Clarification coming up, David.

Now, to a viewer who'd like to see a return to 3D TV.

Yes, I did say a return to a format that's only just appearing

at the most futuristic of technology fairs.

But perhaps multi-layering of pictures to give

the impression that you're in amongst the action

is actually not quite the kind of 3D that Lesley Westlake has in mind.

Have a look at this.

It is the three Davids she wants!

With two knighthoods and 150 years of broadcasting experience

between them, they are widely regarded as being responsible

for how we perceive television over the years.

Their presenting blueprint has surely been passed

like a golden baton to the next generation.

If I turn on the television to watch something,

I want to see that programme.

I don't want to see the presenter presenting him or herself.

Kate Humble really annoyed me.

She will go on and on throwing herself around.

She attracts your attention

and takes your mind away from the programme.

I don't think Kate Humble is the only one.

'It's Zoe Ball!'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ole! Hello and welcome to It Takes Two.

So it is more a case of the young pretenders, not presenters,

for Lesley.

She hankers for the clear, precise style of one David in particular.

I think David Attenborough is absolutely splendid.

He wants you to see and understand what he's presenting.

He never obtrudes on it, he just shows you gently, and you see it all

and you take it all in, and that is what a presenter should do.

And whilst we're praising the authority of more mature presenters...

Here, union leaders have dismissed as "daft" a suggestion by

a government minister that public sector workers

in England and Wales planning to strike over pension changes

should walk out for just 15 minutes.

And Julia will be joining Gloria Hunniford and Angela Rippon

to present the consumer show Rip-Off Britain next week.

Now, Life's Too Short.

Rarely has a programme received so much publicity prior to broadcast.

Actually, I say that, but most things involving Ricky Gervais

seem to trigger lively debate on our messageboard.

I'll offer a taster of the programme,

in the knowledge you may have tasted it already.

-Have you met before? Johnny, this is Stephen.

-Hello.

-No.

-And Ricky there.

-I actually remember him from the Golden Globes.

-Hi.

-Yeah.

-How's it going?

-I'm fine, man.

Just doing another film that's going to make loads of money.

-Probably a lot more money than any film you've ever made.

-Good.

If you give a programme that much publicity,

you can get a reaction before it's broadcast.

So from our messageboards, the following...

And once the show had been broadcast?

If you would like to join the discussion on the messageboard

before, during or after programmes,

just log on to this address

and follow the link.

It doesn't have to be about cookery,

but if you believe Sue Richmond, there is nothing else on!

Ah, Sue, you won't want to listen to this, then.

Vegetarian cooking first began to influence the meat-and-veg brigade

in Britain in the late 1960s.

With the BBC slow to catch on during the '70s,

a dedicated programme didn't appear

until this effort hit the airwaves, and microwaves, in the early '80s.

Hello. Today I'm going to show you how to make wholewheat pastry.

And it's really worthwhile using wholewheat flour

to make your pastry.

It's not only a lot tastier,

but it's a very good source of protein and fibre,

and that's important when you're on a vegetarian diet.

So why hasn't vegetarian cooking been on the menu in recent years?

I'm a vegetarian. I've been a vegetarian since 1979.

And I just would like to know,

where are the vegetarian cookery programmes on the BBC?

There are apparently between 7 and 11% of people in this country

who are vegetarians and vegans, but there are a further 23% of people in this country

who are termed as "meat reducers" or "meat avoiders".

So that's a total of 34%.

-Do you think it's vegetable-based?

-Yes, yes it is.

You're just saying that to shut me up, aren't you?

It is! I've been told in my ear it's a bacteria.

Although there are the odd vegetarian recipes,

they're more of a token, really,

and I don't feel that they have credibility for me as a vegetarian.

They're in amongst masses of meat and fish and saturated fat,

and quite frankly I don't want that.

But aren't vegetarian recipes overly complicated

and don't they take an age to cook?

This is rubbish.

Any vegetarian, and any vegetarian chef,

would tell you that actually, it's generally a lot quicker.

After all, one hasn't got the worry of having to cook meat.

So please, BBC,

couldn't we have a vegetarian cookery programme

that was actually run preferably by a chef that was a vegetarian

or vegan themselves?

Now, even as a former political correspondent, I sometimes struggle

to recall the names of world leaders. I guess we all do.

But this moment, in a newspaper review, was a collector's item.

We may not know who Reggie Love is, but Reggie Love

is President Clinton's...what they call the "body man".

He's very close to him, he becomes his personal friend.

The significance of Reggie Love is he also made the President very cool,

because this is a young, hip guy.

He introduced him to rap music, he played basketball with him.

There's great pictures of Clinton.

Those sort of things, in America, go a long way to help you get voted in.

And no-one corrected him either!

If you spot any howlers or feel our attention should be drawn

to anything else at all, please get in touch. You can write to:

E-mail us here:

Let rip on the messageboard:

Or give us a ring. Calls are charged at a local rate from a landline.

Here's the number for you.

We're on BBC Two next week as the Brazilian Grand Prix

has forced us off the tracks.

We'll see you then. Goodbye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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