Episode 10 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points Of View.

In a week where there has been a distinctly regal theme,

from special programming to mark the 60th anniversary

of the coronation to history documentaries telling of past

monarchs, all generating plenty of comment from you.

But we begin with one very unfortunate royal,

and the documentary drama The Last Days Of Anne Boleyn.

As the title describes, this was an historical account of the life

and mainly last days of Henry VIII's second wife.

'And with a single blow of a sword, became the first

'queen in Britain's history to be executed.'

Plenty of praise for this, but - and there is a but -

quite a few of you pointing out a glaring error, too.

Because it would seem, somewhere along the line, the maths got muddled!

Instead of saying Anne Boleyn had been executed nearly 500 years ago

in 1536, her death was reported as happening a century earlier.

'And 600 years on, the reasons for her downfall continue to

'stir strong argument.'

So what happened? We asked the BBC's Commissioner for History Programmes.

Well, first thing I have to say is

I make a personal apology to

any person of the three million who watched this programme who was

irritated, puzzled, bemused by this mistake.

It was a complete error and I absolutely hold my hand up.

I watched the final cut of the programme, I didn't notice it.

There is an explanation - it was a form of words that got

changed in the script process, but actually it's beside the point.

I let it go through, and I apologise. I shouldn't have.

It was a mistake hidden in plain sight. I simply didn't notice it.

'So who was the real Anne Boleyn?'

The first thing that we organised when, brilliantly,

thanks to a large number of our viewers, it was pointed out

to us that we'd made this mistake was we've changed it, and that

mistake will never darken the show again when it gets repeated.

There we are, putting the record straight on Anne Boleyn. And staying with the royal theme,

the coverage of the 60th anniversary of the Coronation now.

Among the programmes scheduled to mark the anniversary was

Tuesday's live service from Westminster Abbey.

'This wonderful abbey, so much beloved,

'was actually designed to form a theatre for the coronation

'of Kings and Queens by Henry III in 1245.'

The fount of all knowledge,

commentator David Dimbleby, keeping us all informed on what was

happening but leaving some wishing they could pull the plug.

'As the great Te Deum continues, the Queen processes out,

'led by the Archbishop of Canterbury with his cross.'

In fairness to David Dimbleby, at a live event this is a hard one

to get right and the good news is that by the time it had come round

to the highlights programme later that evening,

the production team had re-edited and removed any commentary

that encroached on the service.

This is a vast land with extraordinary wildlife.

This week saw the last of the three-part series

Australia With Simon Reeve.

But not everyone is in agreement.

The series had too many cliches

and stereotypes of life down under for some who watched it

and it missed an opportunity to show a different

view of the country.

If you think you know Australia, think again.

Now that is an extraordinary view.

So did the Australia series miss a trick?

We asked its executive producer.

Well, overwhelmingly, the audience feedback we've had is that

people learned a great deal from this series

and when we did deal with cliches, so-called cliches and stereotypes,

I think we showed a completely different side of many of them.

So did you know that, you know,

one in ten people living in Perth were British?

Did you know that koalas, the symbol of the country,

were actually on the brink of extinction in some parts?

So generally, we took some of those cliches but we showed a very,

very different side of them.

The success of the series was to take some of those cliches,

some of those views of Australia that people think they know,

to show them - to show them in all their beauty - but to turn them around

and to show Australia as the new, modern country that it is.

Closer to home, Frankie, the drama series on BBC One

about a district nurse, has received a mixed reception.

Feisty Frankie, played by actress Eve Myles,

is the kind of nurse we'd all wish for.

-How often?

-Every seven minutes. I'm not leaving Ruby.

-She's wide-awake.

-No, she'll wake up.

But it seems in the real world, she would not be allowed to do

half of what she gets away with in the drama.

So what does the BBC have to say to that?

Can dramatic licence go too far?

I'm not sure it could be used to explain the next one. You're going to enjoy this.

Actor Adrian Scarborough plays Frank in the series Up The Women.

Bayonet?

Keep your eyes on the movement of the light bulb.

Mrs Unwin, have you seen a big metal spear that fits onto the barrel of a rifle?

Um, no. No, I don't think so.

Um, perhaps ask Mrs Cracken from the Plums Institute. Maybe they used it for de-stoning.

How exciting to have the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle illuminated by science.

Well, I haven't managed to get the thing on yet. It might go poof!

-- and set the place alight.

-Oh, yes.

Do you know, I don't really understand these things but I'd always assumed that wouldn't happen.

Bob Lloyd's light bulb moment.

There is not too much that gets past our viewers when it comes to continuity.

Moving on and Saturday evening saw the return of The National Lottery: In It To Win It on BBC One.

Dale Winton putting the questions to the contestants

but what about those wanting to play along at home?

'It's The National Lottery: In It To Win It.

'Most of you can play along with tonight's contestants by pressing the red button.'

In previous series, viewers used the red button

to test their wit at home

but despite the claim you've just heard, this time round it seems

that facility was not available to anyone.

So what on earth has happened here?

We asked those with their finger on the red button.

Staying interactive

and next we deal with the whole issue of social media on the BBC.

Now, during the Points Of View series, many of you have told us

you're confused about the BBC's policies regarding the use of

external social media sites.

So we took your questions directly to the Head of Editorial Policy.

Check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Our hash tag is BBC QT.

And you can also join us on Twitter and Facebook.

This particular viewer has asked

whether there seems to be a keenness to promote Facebook

and Twitter, with references popping up frequently in programmes.

Yes, we do use Twitter - yes, we do use Facebook,

yes, we do use hash tags.

But we do it where it's editorially justified in order to get

feedback from our audiences

and invite a conversation from our audiences.

Clearly the primary responsibility for making sure that people

use social media sites safely lies with the viewer or the listener

or the audience member themselves,

but the BBC wouldn't use sites which we thought were in any way

dangerous or endangered the security of the viewers

and listeners who are using them.

Well, I don't think that the BBC is advertising social media

sites in programmes.

What it's doing is following viewers and listeners to those sites.

It has been the case that with social media sites, some of them

have become extraordinarily dominant in a very short period of time

and that's the choice of audiences, it's the choice of our viewers,

the choice of our listeners - it's not the choice of the BBC

but it's a choice that the BBC has to acknowledge and respect.

We get a lot of feedback on the way in which we do things

and we're always grateful for that because it helps to inform

the way in which we shape policy in the BBC.

You can also follow us on Twitter or let us know

what you thought of today's programme.

David Jordan outlining the BBC's policy

on programmes' use of social media.

There are also rules around pre-watershed output,

but are recent episodes of the drama series Doctors breaking those rules?

Wa-hey! Who said housework's no fun?

I think that there is a part loose and I was just...

testing it.

Between vibrating washing machines, virginity for sale,

and bedroom action, some of these soaps' regular viewers wonder

has the rulebook been thrown out?

That's exactly past we asked the people at Doctors.

Here's what they had to say.

The Drama Department in defence of risque Doctors.

As we heard last week from the Director of TV,

there are plenty of new dramas in the pipeline, and as this

is our last week in the current run of Points Of View, we thought

we would give you a sneak preview of just a few of them due to air over the coming months.

'The king has done what he should not.

'He has married from another house and a commoner at that.'

'There's no telling where this is going to end.'

'It seems to me your conscience has killed more people than I have.'

How did she die?

Negligence cases...

It wasn't negligence.

We'll hear what you think of those when we return in September.

If you do want to comment on these or any other programmes,

of course you can still get in touch in the normal ways. By post at...

By phone, and the number is charged at a local rate call from any landline...

And the message board will of course remain live at...

Or finally there is trusty e-mail...

So thanks to all of you who've contacted the team over the past few months.

I think we have rattled a few cages at the BBC together

and we'll be back to do it again in September.

Of course we can't do it without you. Till the autumn, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd