Episode 11 Points of View

Good afternoon. Very good to be back with you.

There is much to get through this week, so straight down to business.

The pastor of an inner-city London church has accused a recent episode

of Songs Of Praise of being too white.

He says the show from Leeds entitled Carnival And Culture

missed out on an opportunity to show

the multicultural, multiracial mix of the city.

SINGING

'My name's David Curtis.

'I am pastor and leader of an inner-city multicultural,'

multiracial church, called New Wine Church in Holloway.

I'd like to talk about a recent episode of Songs Of Praise

that came from Leeds.

'Leeds Carnival has its roots firmly in the sunshine of the Caribbean.'

It was introduced with reference to the Leeds Carnival,

which was originally a Caribbean carnival.

I was quite surprised then when the congregation that was doing

the singing was very much majority white.

There were only one or two black people in evidence.

I felt that the almost exclusively white congregation did not represent

the multicultural, multiracial diversity of the churches in Leeds.

That was especially disappointing on a programme which had taken us

into the carnival and its Caribbean background.

I'd like to know how Songs Of Praise chooses the congregations to do

the singing and I'd also, in this particular case,

like to know whether the churches of Leeds were consulted widely

so the congregation could be produced

that was more multiracial, more multicultural, as a better

reflection of the carnival theme of the whole programme.

With all broadcasters, including the BBC,

promising to improve the representation of black

and Asian people on air, this issue is red-hot.

It is fair to say that the programme did contain interviews with

artists who reflect different cultural aspects of Leeds.

But the pastor's point was that more could have been done

to include a multiracial mix in the congregation,

which as you can see, was predominantly white.

The Exec told us they did try...

But just not enough difference for some.

Good news from the Songs Of Praise production team, though -

we are told they are in discussions with a number of black majority

churches in London about recording programmes later this year.

And now ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome the stars of Strictly Come Dancing 2014!

Oh-h! The first Strictly clip of the new season.

Yes, it is back and many of you are delighted to see it.

The BBC must be too if their ratings for Tumble,

their current Saturday night offering are anything to go by.

You know what I'm saying?

The show where celebrities compete against one

another in a battle of gymnastics skill that's had average

audience viewing figures of under 3.4 million, a huge drop from

the 5.25 million average for that Saturday night prime-time TV slot.

For sure, there are some of you enjoying it.

I really admire the celebrities who are taking

part in the programme Tumble.

Not only have they got to learn a whole new set of physical skills,

they've got to be able to remember what they learn.

They've got to have poise and balance, grace, flexibility,

and blood, sweat and tears don't come into it.

They also run a real risk of breaking bones

and disjointing their limbs,

so all I can say is, "Good on you, celebrities.

"Not for the faint-hearted."

But for many, Tumble, which finished last night,

did not land on its feet.

And for many viewers like Pam Wild from Worksop

in the East Midlands, and Ian Davidson from Southbourne

in Dorset, they feel they've seen it all before.

It's a dead copy of Strictly Come Dancing.

Because we've got the celebrity and we've got the professional

and we've got the judges giving their opinions.

Then there's the voting at the end.

Great idea, but I'm sorry, you failed miserably on this one.

This is a nul points.

It seems as if, to me,

they're trying to squeeze every last bit they can out of this format.

It's just getting rather boring.

It's Saturday night, expect fireworks, this is Tumble.

When I watched the first edition, I thought,

"This could be interesting."

It's gymnastics, it'll be exciting, entertaining.

This was a mishmash, a miasma of different activities,

junked together...

..at a very low level.

And it, sadly, was not entertainment,

let alone Saturday night entertainment.

It doesn't have the glitter and the razzmatazz of Strictly.

There was nothing exciting about the routines being demonstrated,

neither were the judges' comments particularly helpful or interesting.

I'd just like to know why was the programme put on at that

time of year, just before Strictly was starting?

In fact, why was the programme put on at all, because

it's just the same as Strictly, only instead of dancing it's gymnastics?

I think that Tumble is a below-average production

on the back of a successful original series.

Did you not watch a pilot?

Because if you'd watched the pilot,

surely you would have seen it was dull and at that point you would

have been able to say,

"This is not going anywhere, we need to ditch it."

Ouch! Tumbleweed moment.

The BBC's Head of Entertainment,

Mark Linsey is standing by his decision to go ahead with the show.

He told us the series follows on from a successful

summer of sport and that meant...

Still no word on whether Tumble has been

recommissioned for a comeback next year,

but if your comments have been anything to go by,

we think this one might very well be tucked away.

Not so much tucked away as forcibly removed

and the mystery now of the missing episode of the quiz show Pointless.

Fans are asking what was the point

after the decision not to rebroadcast the crucial programme

in which one of the series' highest ever jackpot prizes was won.

The BBC has received more than 1,000, yes 1,000 complaints.

Although this was a repeated sequence of programmes,

viewers were still following the successful team

and tuned into the quiz expecting to see a climactic finish.

But instead of episode 60 in the series run,

they'd skipped on to 61 - with a new set of contestants

and a deflated prize jackpot of just £1,000.

Simon and Martin won the jackpot last time,

so today's jackpot starts off at £1,000.

Right, if everyone's ready, let's play Pointless.

I was looking forward to a recent programme of Pointless

where there was a record jackpot to have been won.

However, the programme was never aired

and we weren't given a reason why.

I don't think the BBC should treat its viewers in this way -

a simple explanation before the programme started would have helped.

We're keen viewers of Pointless and were excited

when the jackpot reached 18,500.

We were looking forward to seeing who would actually win it.

Alexander Armstrong simply said that the jackpot had been won

and that the current jackpot was now £1,000.

Now, a bit of background might be useful here.

When this episode was first broadcast in 2012, there was a storm

of controversy over one answer given by one of the challenging teams

that was judged to be incorrect when in fact it WAS correct.

Lots of people contacted the BBC to put the record straight,

but even though the lost points didn't affect the final result,

this time round, in an attempt of avoid the same complaints,

the show was just removed from the schedules.

But, by doing so, the BBC has opened a whole other can of worms.

We asked someone to explain the decision,

but we were told we'd have to settle for this statement.

Confusion. Well, an explanation at the time would surely have helped.

And what about the frustration,

the frustration of all those viewers who tuned in, wanting to see

if the other team - Simon and Martin -

would go on to win the £20,000 jackpot?

Well, feel frustrated no more, because...

THEME TUNE TO MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE

..we have managed to retrieve the elusive missing episode!

And here's how it ended.

You only have one more chance to win today's jackpot,

everything is now riding on Panama.

We're looking for countries with a single vowel in the name.

Your third and final answer, your most confident answer was Panama.

OK - to win the jackpot of £20,000, this has to be pointless -

let's find out. Panama - did anybody say it,

for £20,000?

So Yemen took us down to one point.

Fiji took us down to two points.

Let's see where Panama takes us, if this stops at zero,

you are leaving here with £20,000...

Yes, you've done it!

The contestants, if not the BBC's decision makers,

worthy of much praise on Pointless.

Moving on, and the series Young Vets came to an end on an emotional high.

Honours? No!

Oh, my God!

I've passed!

I'm so happy I passed. I'm a vet.

I passed!

The newest recruits to the veterinary world

and one in particular, Judy,

leaving many of you wanting more.

Chickens are really underrated in this country, people just

think they make a great roast - no, they're so much more than that.

Pop her out on the table and we'll...

-HEN CLUCKS

-Yes, hello to you, too.

Let's pop that down there.

Oh, dear. Yes.

A star is born. We don't think Judy will be off the TV radars for long.

Speaking of radars - see what we did there? -

BBC Two's Castles In The Sky brought alive the drama behind

the invention that was to prove pivotal in the Battle of Britain.

-We've got a trace.

-On the visual display.

-What range?

How far away are the aircraft?

63 miles.

-It's working.

-It's working. We can see them 63 miles away.

Our sister base have confirmed the sighting - five aircraft,

63 miles out, heading our direction.

That gives us 21 minutes to scramble aircraft and intercept.

Gentleman...

we have a castle in the sky.

Now, if you've got your own comment to make on what you're

watching on BBC TV,

there are a number of ways to have your views aired on the programme.

We're rather excited,

because we made recording your own video even easier.

I've got a tablet here,

you might have a PC, a phone with a camera.

Just log onto this page - povvideo.bbc.co.uk -

really simple instructions.

You just click and you can record

your video and upload it and tell us what you think.

See how easy that is?

You can also e-mail us, of course...

..follow us on Twitter...

..or send a letter to...

If you prefer to call us,

the number is charged as a local rate call from any landline.

Here it is...

..or just hop on the messageboard, always lively.

Join in the chat there.

That's it. First week done. We'll do it all again next week,

so do let us know your views on what you're watching -

we'd love to hear. Till then, goodbye.