Episode 2 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points Of View.

Now, I'm sure you noticed we had local elections

around the UK this week

and thus the BBC's network of national and regional news operations

was in 24-hour full swing,

and we just thought we'd take a peek at the operations for you.

This hive of activity here is known as Domestic News Gathering.

Now, it's interesting how often something that comes up

in the newsroom here will throw a spanner into the works

of an ordinary programme that might have been planned

and scheduled months in advance.

It happened again last week when a Panorama special

on the anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann -

scheduled for Monday evening -

was rushed out six days early in reaction to news events.

In May 2007, as a BBC correspondent, I was sent here

to this apartment block in Luz,

because a little girl had disappeared.

What happened in the week leading up to transmission

was that the Metropolitan Police's publicity strategy changed.

As well as issuing a new age-enhanced image of Madeleine McCann,

they also decided to allow other broadcast media interviews

with the lead investigator.

This would have left us with a programme that would have looked five days out of date

and that seemed to pay dividends,

because the programme was watched by some five million viewers.

Five million may have watched it, but they weren't all entirely happy.

The Panorama production team had managed to get an interview

with the lead investigator into the case and this was a first for the programme,

and that was forming the cornerstone of this special edition of Panorama.

Now Panorama has its roots in news, so it would be highly reactive,

but it sounds as if another title might be a little bit out of touch.

It is pouring with rain, but we have The Drought.

In the last couple of years,

only four months have been significantly wetter than normal -

including the April just gone, which delivered record rain.

Although this programme aired in most regions,

each show was different and made by the regional news team in that area.

Now away from the frenetic world of news

and into the laid-back land of daytime.

And Cogito, you are not the first to bewail this:

I tremble to even guess at that.

But I tell you what, viewer Margaret Jones has stumbled on a treasure -

not an antique, but an Anne Robinson.

One day, my husband had left the television on

and I caught the beginning of a programme My Life In Books

and started to watch it.

The two guests on the programme that day, Sister Wendy Beckett

and Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, both came across as very personable

and very cheery, but very passionate about what they'd got from books

and why they'd got that from those individual books.

The publishers sent it to me and for the first time, I thought,

"This is what it means to be holy."

The humour within the programme was very apparent.

Sister Wendy, Venice, Las Vegas - which do you prefer?

SHE LAUGHS

-You'd love Vegas.

-I would not love Vegas.

-You really would.

And it's nice to have that mix of such a flamboyant person

and such a quiet lady.

He read to me until I was about six-foot tall,

so I was about 13 or 14 and people would come in

and we'd be curled up on the sofa with him reading aloud.

And reading really weird books, like Thucydides.

the history of the Peloponnesian War and stuff.

I thought Anne Robinson showed her talent as a journalist

and a presenter because she did question,

but she didn't overtake the programme.

So what's your first choice?

Er, my choice is a book

that was actually published the year I was born,

-which is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

-I LOVE this book.

I think the producers have done an excellent job

and I really would like them to see

if they could get the programme rescheduled

to be shown in an evening slot -

and certainly be at least repeated in an evening slot.

Well, Margaret, the good news

is that schedulers hope to repeat My Life In Books in the autumn.

And as for during an evening slot? We live in hope.

Now, last week, we covered the Apprentice

and fears that the famous format

might be showing signs of wear and tear.

And this week, it is the BBC Two post-mortem show,

The Apprentice: You're Fired, which is being prodded for signs of life.

The Apprentice discussion show has seen a revamp

since losing panel chairman and sports presenter, Adrian Chiles,

who ran it as a post-match analysis.

Stand-up comedian, Dara O'Briain, is now in the driving seat,

calling into question the regular presence

of other comedians on the panel...

Russell Kane, welcome to the show.

..originally put there to up the giggle factor.

But are they now struggling for guests?

Well, you failed it, didn't you, so what can you say?

Another comedian whose guests don't seem to be helping him is Matt Lucas.

The heavily trailed Matt Lucas Awards hit our screens three weeks ago

and has not been winning friends.

Johnny, that looks good. That doesn't look underwhelming,

-it looks quite whelming.

-It just looks like

people who won't let go of the fact that

something is fiction. This is reality.

-Have you ever been to a game?

-Why would I?

-Well, I don't know!

-Why would I?

-To support your argument!

Well, my argument is, not to go!

But you can always rely on nostalgia to remain popular.

The pairing of The 70s and Sounds Of The 70s on BBC Two

has been a welcome wander down memory lane.

Almost every day production was disrupted by strikes.

The management have got to give way some time or other.

With inflation running at over 20%,

many strikers felt they had no choice.

But their incessant demands led to a crisis of authority.

MUSIC: 'The Jean Genie' by David Bowie

I bet the answer revolves around the copyright red tape surrounding those legends of pop.

So, we shouldn't hold our breath.

BBC Two has also struck gold by mining even further back in time.

Historian Mary Beard's kindly introduction

for us to Meet The Romans isn't just accompanied by a handshake,

it is getting a thumbs up, too.

To judge from the skeleton, Crepereia was about 20.

She presumably hadn't got married.

So, she took her doll with her to her tomb.

That's quite extraordinary to us.

We wouldn't ever imagine burying a 20-year-old with her Barbie.

Obvious expertise, there is that phrase again.

And just like with Monty Hall's last week,

it appears the message coming through loud and clear is

ditch celebrity presenters and wheel in the experts.

Last week were also hearing fulsome praise for The Voice,

but they've blotted their copybook this week.

Now, far be it for me to speak for The Voice,

but we've had this trouble so often in the past

with the Strictly Come Dancing Sunday results show,

that I feel I know the answer off by heart,

so I shall use my own special authoritative voice here.

Just like with Strictly, The Voice results show is recorded with

the same studio audience after the live broadcast on Saturday night.

That saves money and it was actually suggested by viewers to Strictly.

It is stressed on-air that voting closes

before the results recording on Saturday night.

It's never claimed on-air that the Sunday show is being broadcast live.

But, as we know, other reality TV competition formats are available

and some of those do broadcast live,

which might be where the confusion arises.

Now, viewer Nicola's call last week to ban smoking on TV dramas

certainly lit the blue touch paper,

causing heated debate on our message boards.

Let's see if Pamela does the same with her complaint

that drama's and documentaries are too car mad.

I've often noticed when I'm watching a television programme

that the presenter is driving a car,

either their own car, and talking to the camera at the same time...

That's something you don't see every day.

..or they're being driven.

Today, we're on the road with two lions of the antiques trade,

James Lewis and David Harper.

You hardly ever see a presenter

getting on a bus in a local area or perhaps even walking.

I very, very rarely use my car.

Shall we going get a burger then?

Your mum will flip out.

Let's do it.

What I'd like the BBC to do whenever they're thinking about

making a programme is think about whether

the presenter of the programme could go by train,

whether they could take a bus,

whether they could use public transport instead of driving.

Point well made. Changing viewers' habits of a lifetime is perhaps

a risky BBC strategy but, rest assured, Pamela,

the BBC is monitoring its carbon footprint via a new initiative.

Yes, another one!

We're committed to try to make our programs as sustainable,

and as environmentally friendly as possible.

We're now sharing that with the rest of the industry.

To help programme makers, we've created a simple online tool

called Albert. Albert is an online carbon calculator which

gives programme makers the carbon footprint of their programmes.

The Albert initiative helps programme making become greener,

but has no influence over the writers creating drama characters

who may well still be profligate.

We're certainly not going round having conversations

with the people who devise the content, trying to convince them

to put certain messages in their programmes.

I think the process of turning the television industry green

or sustainable is far more subtle than that and rightly so.

My pushbike is chained up right next to Kate Silverton's skateboard,

but before I hop on, let me say,

we love your feedback, please keep it coming.

This is the e-mail address.

You can write to us.

You can call us as well.

Local rate from a landline, although mobiles cost more.

So, from the BBC's domestic newsroom here,

goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd