Episode 12 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points of View

and an unusual postbag pairing

of ballroom dancing and political satire.

No, John Sergeant hasn't reared his two left feet again on Strictly,

but the glitter fest has partnered The Thick of It in apparently

breaking taboos of taste and decency for many viewers.

I need to know that you're really on top of things, Malcolm.

-I do my (BLEEP) job.

-Do you do your (BLEEP) job

out of a sense of obligation or are you doing it

because you actually believe in me?

Let me (BLEEP) that one back at you. Do YOU believe in you?

Cos I can't see any (BLEEP) fire in your eyes.

I can't even see the clicking of the pilot light

to try and get a tiny little flame going.

What I do see is that you might any day decide,

"Oh, I've (BLEEP) had enough," and go off and get a blanket from the car.

And it wasn't just that programme.

Viewers also contacted the BBC Audience Log

to complain that skimpy outfits

and suggestive dance moves on Strictly Come Dancing

jar with their ideal of family viewing.

Now, snapping at the heels of those appalled by bad language

and dirty dancing are those straining at the leash

to complain about One Man And His Dog Live.

The sheepdog trials aired as expected last Saturday evening,

but the billed results show on Sunday was initially delayed

and then cancelled altogether

when the Women's Open golf coverage overran.

I think it's only right and proper that after everything

that these players have been through over the last three days,

we have to see this championship through.

'One Man And His Dog' will now be shown next Saturday.'

No notice and no apology is the accusation, then.

What did the schedulers have to say for themselves?

Aha! So only Saturday was live.

No-one was waiting out in a field on Sunday,

but plenty were clearly waiting disappointed on their sofas.

Now, what constitutes news?

A philosophical debate that journalists wrestle with

and message boarders rowed about

when Kate Middleton's swimwear choices or non-swimwear choices

appeared to eclipse deaths in Afghanistan last week.

But it's actually another example that had many viewers fuming.

Fiona Bruce, currently presenting

Antiques Roadshow's sister programme, Fake Or Fortune,

also anchors the Six O'Clock News,

and the bulletin on the Friday before the first episode

of Fake Or Fortune included a full-length feature on...

Fake Or Fortune.

'A painting rediscovered,

'recognised as from the brush of one of the finest Impressionist masters.'

And you can see more on that story on Fake Or Fortune on BBC One,

this Sunday evening at 6.30.

Valid news uncovered by a journalist

exploiting her access to an interesting story

or a programme plug?

It's pretty clear which Bob and Kate saw it as.

Now, BBC2 is tackling the Vikings.

Clearly, they are 1,300 years too late

to stop their invasion of our shores,

but with the elaborately-coiffed archaeologist Neil Oliver at the helm,

they have set sail on an ambitious voyage of documentary discovery.

And this splendid individual is the son.

The fact that his hair has been preserved,

this flamboyant hairstyle just adds to his allure.

Neil seems to be an acquired taste, then.

But fast forward now to modern history,

and Wartime Farm is the latest in the Living Experience series,

this time exploring the agricultural industry between 1939 and '45.

Now, the historians fronting this programme have been praised,

although there are claims of holes in the historical research.

So here we have a programme that is well presented,

but with some dubious prop choices.

Viewers absolutely love content, they can't get enough of it.

You can get as detailed as you like.

Of course, these viewers, some of them have very sharp eyes

and spot things that they think are mistakes,

and in some ways I love them for that,

because it means they're really watching closely.

In terms of what we're doing on the show, we're not...

we have to go with what's safe to use, what's available.

Sometimes things are too fragile,

the really authentic tractor for instance, is too fragile.

And so with incredible advice from all kinds of historians

and societies, we then choose the next best thing.

So in the end, if people are watching that closely, I love them for it.

A glimpse of the tribulations faced by wartime farmers.

Programme makers are quite keen on glimpses.

They're known in the trade as "teases,"

a little taster of what a decorated room will eventually look like,

or a snatch from a forthcoming row on a fly-on-the-wall documentary.

They're all meant to keep viewers glued to their seats.

Feeling the adhesive, Lynn?

I wrote to Points Of View

because I'm fed up with the programme makers,

where they show the end result at the beginning of the programme.

Although I do enjoy the journey, the element of surprise is lost

when they show it at the beginning.

I assume from their perspective, they think it may keep people watching,

but it spoils it for me.

I just think, "I've seen it now, I don't need to watch it."

I think one way to resolve the situation would be to say,

at the beginning of the programme,

"If you don't want to see the end results, please look away now,"

like they do with the football.

'And there's a surprise in store for one heir

'who believed her family were poor.'

This was a complete surprise to me. My family had no money at all.

At the moment, it's my husband

putting his hands over my face saying, "Look away now."

I guess the only problem with that is that programme makers

never want to tell you to look away from the programme they have made.

Now, the recent publication of the findings

of the Hillsborough investigation led to extensive news coverage,

but the night before the report was published,

a documentary that transmitted only in the north-west

was praised for its journalism.

A call from the message board

for that to have been shown nationwide,

an idea echoed by Charles Stuart,

who thinks he's got the perfect plan for where and when to broadcast it.

I have an idea of what to do with BBC One HD on Freeview

and presumably satellite as well

when there's local news on BBC One High Definition.

I would like to see a compilation programme of the best stories

and most interesting stories from around the country.

Well, Charles, we've been told that regionally-made programmes

are not yet shot in HD, so couldn't be shown on the HD channel,

but perhaps when the technology catches up, you never know.

Now, I'm sorry to have to inform addicted pop quizzers

that withdrawal symptoms will kick in tonight,

cos this will be the first Sunday evening for quite some time

that Top Ten aficionados will not be getting their fix

of the '60s drama Inspector George Gently,

and gleefully pointing out to us all its musical errors.

The four-part series began with an episode called

Gently Northern Soul, which was itself a misnomer, as the series

is set in 1968

and the phrase "Northern Soul" wasn't coined until the 1970s.

Incidental music bloopers include using Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On,

which was not released until 1973.

And Lean On Me, which Bill Withers did not record until 1972.

# Lean on me

# When you're not strong... #

Jethro Tull's Living In The Past was only a year out, released in '69,

but as every pop quizzer knows, you don't get points for being close.

Well, thanks to Richard and Mick and Andy and Michael

for pointing them out.

How will pop pickers of a more mature vintage

fill their time now, I wonder?

Possibly by watching a satirical sketch show on BBC Three

aimed at a teens-and-20s market, and I'm not being facetious.

It would appear that the anarchic youth humour

of The Revolution Will Be Televised,

which was praised on last week's programme,

has attracted what the bean counters call

an unexpectedly wide demographic.

The trailer of the programme looked quite quirky when I watched it,

so I thought, "Well, I'll have a go at the full programme."

'I'm Dale Maily,

'fearless hetero journalist who's not afraid to be unafraid.'

And having now watched it two or three times, it does remind me

of the political satirical programmes that we used to watch in the 1960s.

That Was The Week That Was.

# That was the week that was... #

Another news item this week, of course,

came from the sadly beleaguered Vietnam.

# On Monday, not much can be said to have occurred... #

American Intelligence are in a pretty plight,

because, of course, all their contacts

have been destroyed in the last day or so...

# On Wednesday, the silence continued complete... #

..with the result that the capital of that country

will now be referred to as CIA-gon.

They are doorstepping our politicians and rightly so.

George, a GCSE Maths textbook...

Because nobody has given them answers.

They are getting quite near the knuckle,

I'm sure somebody might get hit at some stage

because they are pushing their luck, I think.

I think they're very brave.

There's part of me that is cringing actually,

because I am worried for them that they will go too far.

They have got some nerve, haven't they?

It's for an N Clegg. If you can just let him know that they're here.

Just returning the undelivered promises.

I'd like to congratulate the whole team, the researchers,

the two guys that are actually going accosting people in the streets

and knocking on the doors and, erm... to carry on the good work.

Don't forget, next week we have an interview special

with the chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten.

He is in the hot seat, ready for your questions,

so make sure you get them into us. Here's the old fashioned address.

You're also more than welcome to email. The address there...

Jump onto the message board, always lively...

..or phone us. The number is charged

as a local rate call from any landline.

Here it is.

Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd