Episode 12 Points of View

The Scotland question. How did the BBC fare in its coverage?

Gardener's World, are green fingered fans being treated like dirt?

And The Great British Bakeoff's use of innuendo.

This topic is a big one.

Welcome to Points of View.

Good afternoon, and you won't be surprised we are

here in Glasgow in such a huge week for Scotland.

A week of high passion as Scots went to the

polls on the issue of independence.

But high passion too over the BBC's coverage of the campaigns,

and the question of whether it remained neutral itself became news.

Why should a Scottish voter believe you, a politician,

against men who are responsible for billions of pounds of profits?

He didn't answer, but he did attack the reporting of those in what

he called the metropolitan media.

BBC's hard won reputation is being besmirched by some

of your most eminent reporters.

Is it because ego-fuelled journalists are trying to

make the news, or be the news?

I don't know.

But be it Nick Robinson's wilfully misleading news report,

exposed so cruelly on social media afterwards,

or Eddie Mair's crass treatment of Alex Salmond in interview

contrasting so vividly with that of Alastair Darling's, earlier.

Or Jim Naughtie's routinely biased negativity.

There appears to be a lack of editorial bite.

The BBC used to be an exemplar to the fourth estate. Shame on you.

What you've said, Gordon Brown has said, apparently now

the leader of this campaign, not Alastair darling...

Not at all, Alastair's the leader.

Absolutely, you're the person who's been leading

for the last two weeks on this,

and it looks like a last minute panic to bribe Scotland to stick with it.

The decreasing impartiality of the BBC was

highlighted in the Panorama programme on the 16th

when David Dimbleby interviewed Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond.

The attitude to Brown was argumentative, aggressive

and almost bullying.

In complete contrast to the cosy fireside chat with Salmond.

No searching questions on the NHS, the EU, NATO, UN or privatisation.

BBC, impartiality, please.

So, with claims of bias from both sides,

did the BBC always get the balance right?

We asked the BBC's news department if they were happy with how

their presenters and reporters had performed,

and this is what they had to say.

-The stage is set for four days of competition.

-Drama.

-Inspiration.

And glory.

Patriotism of a different kind, next.

And loads of you telling us

just how inspired you've been by the bravery and resilience of

the former service men and women who took part

in Prince Harry's Invictus games.

-Is it going to make me cry?

-Well, maybe.

That many watching the coverage of the opening

ceremony on The One Show were left calling for

a little less conversation, and a little more action, please.

To see the faces of those individuals that have given

so much for their country, and now we get the chance to

show our appreciation for everything that they have given, really.

It really is incredibly emotional.

Doesn't sound good, does it?

And it wasn't just The One Show team hogging the sporting limelight.

The special highlights programmes were, for some, well,

lacking in highlights.

Back stories of the athletes sometimes took precedence,

and in one programme it took 17 minutes before we got to see

any of the day's sporting action.

Away cleanly, Chalmers just got left a little bit at the beginning,

and over on the inside, Akakpo of France is flying away

and it's got to be the Frenchman who's storming away from the field.

Campbell takes second for the USA, but it's gold for France.

The same old celebrities with the same old chat

that now seems obligatory.

Just time filling and airing past celebs.

No games. I switched off.

Save their fees. Give the money to the real heroes.

And clubs for the future of sport.

Let's move on,

and another group of viewers feeling let down are the gardeners.

Fans of Gardener's World say that they are at the bottom

of the heap on the BBC's priority list.

# I beg your pardon

# I never promised you a rose garden

I love Gardener's World. Fridays, at half past eight, the world stops.

I've enjoyed Gardener's World for a long time.

I've watched it from Geoff Hamilton,

through Alan Titchmarsh to Monty Don and it's fresh.

I think Gardener's World has been treated poorly.

It gets cancelled for snooker, the athletics, or the Ryder Cup is on.

And I think that's not the way to treat a programme that's been

running for 46 years.

Now, I'm afraid we're not here next week, because it's snooker.

We shan't be back next week because the Proms are on.

We're a nation of gardeners.

BBC give it so little a rating that they feel that they can move it

or even cancel it. It seems to be very low on the priority list.

Which isn't fair, and it's not reasonable.

I'll be back here next week, half an hour later because of the tennis.

Next week, we're still at nine o'clock

because we follow the athletics.

And we are on at the later time of nine o'clock.

For the rest of this series, we shall be coming on an hour later,

at 9:30.

I know that an awful lot of Gardener's World viewers

didn't want the 9:30 slot, and we weren't given the opportunity

to say how we felt about it.

That was so easy to do.

I'll be creating dishes that anyone can cook...

In the last five or ten years,

BBC channels have become awash with cookery programmes.

We gardeners get 30 minutes.

It certainly sends a message to gardeners and to non-gardeners.

That gardening is second class.

It looks to me like the BBC just doesn't care. Simple as that.

So is gardening getting a rough deal

in comparison to other hobby shows like cookery?

Certainly if you look at the past week from last Sunday to today,

there have been a total of 21 hours of cookery shows.

And just two and a half hours,

including a Gardener's World repeat given over to green-fingered fans.

So why, given how little time the BBC is spending on gardening is it

so hard for this programme to hold on to a regular slot on BBC Two?

But it seems even that plan hasn't worked because next week

Gardener's World will again be uprooted

to the earlier time of eight o'clock.

Lily's mother had left her on the steps of Castlepollard.

A home run by the catholic church,

where unmarried mothers were hidden away in shame to have their children.

This World Ireland's Lost Babies,

with journalist Martin Sixsmith explored the story

of the thousands of illegitimate children

taken from their mothers in Ireland and sent abroad a generation ago.

The follow-up to the Oscar-nominated film Philomena proving

a gripping and emotional watch for viewers.

Now, delighting audiences, the drama, Our Zoo,

which tells the real-life story of how, in the 1930s,

the Mottershead family founded Chester Zoo.

It's perfect for animals.

What sort of animals?

Horses, peacocks, elephants.

Elephants? You're off your rocker.

George, what's going on?

I want to build a zoo.

Good boy.

Your granny's going to kill me.

Mum too.

Lots of praise here for the two-legged,

and four-legged stars of this show.

But some of you are asking

if the series which airs at nine o'clock on Wednesday nights

wouldn't be better suited to a more family friendly time.

I'm really enjoying Our Zoo.

I think it's a lovely programme, but it's a shame it's being buried in the

Wednesday evening time slot instead of the real feel-good

factor of Sunday night TV.

Just it's too late.

I won't be able to watch it.

Why wont they put it on earlier?

It's so annoying.

Why wont they put it on earlier?

Nathan Higgins, and a plea for his favourite show

to be aired before bedtime.

Now, next on the menu, The Great British Bakeoff.

Who would've thought amateur baking could attract millions of viewers?

And it's returned, with lots of controversy and drama.

But for some it is the issue of too much sauce or

sauciness that is leaving a bad taste.

Oh. Saucy.

Right, Pussy Galore, Paul Hollywood, if you'd like to leave the tent.

See you later, Pussy.

I've got a nice pair, Louis.

We've already had the orange segments

and a thorough sponge down from Mary Berry.

-Perfect nuts.

-Wow. To be commended on your nuts by Mary Berry.

You have got two hours to pop Mary's cherry

in the oven and bring it out again.

Are you a pie or a tart?

My God, she's a sex maniac!

Oh, so saucy.

Cock-a-leekie.

And complaints too about the companion programme

An Extra Slice, presented by Jo Brand.

Julian, do you like to hold yours up to the window?

It seemed full of innuendos.

It was controversial, it was lewd, it was mucky.

Even the panel seemed quite uncomfortable.

Why don't we just call it The Jo Brand Show

and then just forget baking?

Great British Bakeoff, just too hot in the kitchen for some.

They get away with a lot more, though,

on BBC Three, with shows like Bad Education which returned on Tuesday.

Mein Kampf was the name of John Barrowman's autobiography.

-You thought that Hitler's first name was Heil?

-Heil Hitler.

-That Hezbollah and Hamas were chips and dips?

-Well, they sound yummy.

And the new series with all its inappropriateness -

is that a word, teacher?

- winning fans all over again.

This week's Bad Education was amazing.

It's got to be one of my favourite comedies.

Stephen's interview was just hilarious.

Alfie's teaching methods never fail to amuse me.

And Fraser's haircut

and his desk-way were probably the highlight of the whole programme.

It's such a funny episode.

If you've got a comment to make about a programme that you

would like aired, we have a number of ways for you to do so.

If you've got a phone or tablet or PC with a camera, you can

record a video using our very easy-to-use system online...

And of course you can e-mail us...

There's Twitter, where you can follow us...

..or send an old-fashioned letter...

If you prefer to ring us,

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

Or hop on to our message board...

..and join in the always lively chat there.

Well, we have been delighted by the number of you who've

got in touch this week, and we will do it all again next Sunday.

So do keep those comments coming in and until then, goodbye.