Episode 5 Points of View

POINTS OF VIEW FKA R168J/01 BRD000000

Chelsea without Titchmarsh, MasterChef music choices,

and Paxman's awkward question.

Just some of the issues that have got you talking this week.

Welcome to Points Of View.

Good afternoon. The annual Chelsea Flower Show returned this week

with all the usual colour and excitement.

But this year, one hardy annual has been missing.

After three decades broadcasting from the show, Alan Titchmarsh

has been replaced by fellow gardening presenter Monty Don.

What on earth possessed you to replace an articulate, accomplished

and personable presenter, like Adam Titchmarsh, with Monty Don?

A nice enough bloke, I'm sure, but he seemed completely

out of his depth and uncomfortable in almost every situation.

Well done, BBC, for your coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show.

However, I do feel that Monty Don was out of his depth

as an interviewer.

Not to mention how shabbily he was dressed.

As the Chelsea Flower Show was in London,

it was a shame that no-one from the BBC could take him

down to Savile Row and buy him a decent suit, shirt and tie.

We joined the queue outside the show to get

the reaction of the Chelsea set.

We asked them the all-important question. Who is your favourite?

Monty or Alan?

My favourite is Alan.

My favourite's Monty.

I prefer Alan Titchmarsh because I followed him all through

Gardeners' World, and he was my first endeavour into the gardening world.

It's a small garden. Most of us are faced with tiny plots.

And this one's only 15 feet wide.

I actually prefer Monty.

I like the gritty way he gets down to do things in the garden.

He's a firm favourite of mine.

Now, I just use the side of my hand to make a furrow.

-Alan.

-It's got to be Alan.

Definitely Alan.

And, in my view, we've come to trust him because of his very deep

knowledge of not just horticulture, which Monty has,

but also his deep knowledge of the Chelsea Flower Show.

-Alan?

-Welcome to my beach hut.

I think the way Alan's presented the show over the years is unique.

When I started watching this year, it really did feel different.

It felt like something was missing.

Good evening. It's been a day of high excitement

and anticipation here at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

I'm an absolutely huge fan of Monty Don.

I'm really, really glad that he's now the presenter

of the Chelsea Flower Show.

He brings his passion and he describes things in a way

that even simple things

you suddenly realise, "If only I'd done it like that."

I'll tell you what, I'm going to take some clothes off.

To be honest, I would have to do this and stand between them

and say, I love them both!

A mixed reaction from the green-fingered fans, then.

For his part, Alan Titchmarsh is on the record as saying that

the BBC had made him an offer he COULD refuse.

So, did the powers that be put him out to seed?

Here is a statement from headquarters.

Our MasterChef champion...

..is Ping.

MUSIC: "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan

Ping Coombes is crowned MasterChef Champion 2014,

her East Asian dishes proving a very popular choice.

But we wish we could say the same for the music,

chosen by the production team.

# I'm every woman

# It's all in me... #

I've just finished watching the final episodes of MasterChef.

What a brilliant series!

The highs, the lows, the whole piece in Barcelona,

the three fabulous contestants,

culminating in a thrilling win for Ping.

Why, oh, why, oh, why did we end up then having to listen to

Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman played over the last part?

It really ruined a quite brilliant series.

And it wasn't just MasterChef being accused of sexism this week.

The former Italian Prime Minister faced his own accusations

from Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman on Tuesday night.

Do have a particular problem with Angela Merkel?

Is it true you called her...

Now, for reasons of taste and decency and,

given the hour of the day, I will paraphrase for you here.

The question posed asked

if Mr Berlusconi had called the German Prime Minister

an unalluring woman with a posterior made of pork fat.

-TRANSLATION:

-No, I have never had any problems with Angela Merkel.

In 20 years of politics, I've never insulted anyone.

And this has been made up by someone who wanted to turn

Angela against me.

Silvio Berlusconi denying that he would ever have said such

a thing about his then European counterpart.

Although the remark was very cruel, many of you believed Paxman

was right to have put it direct to his interviewee.

It comes down to the intent and purpose of him doing so.

Was it out to intimidate or abuse Berlusconi or Merkel?

No, it was to get across a point of what was actually said.

And what was actually meant by it from Berlusconi's perspective.

All too often, we shy away from using terminology because somebody

finds it offensive and we cannot go on as a society in that way.

Still causing trouble after all these years, the great Paxo.

Now, moving on.

A couple of weeks ago, you may remember viewer Rich Bishop

called on the BBC to step out of the ratings war.

Isn't it time the BBC stopped spending

so much of the licence fee payers' money only entertaining

the mainstream and chasing the ratings and, instead,

spent more of it informing and educating the wider British public?

Well, this week, two industry professionals tell us

why ratings do, and should, matter at the BBC.

Ratings are the currency for broadcasters,

so they are absolutely vitally important.

At around about 9:33am,

the ratings come through, and everybody has a look at them.

The viewing figures we produce every day are vital.

Firstly, for broadcasters so that they can be reassured

that they're investing in the right programming.

And, secondly, for the commercial broadcasters, they need to be

able to set the right rates for the cost of advertising.

The BBC has always chased ratings.

Always has done, always will, because they want to demonstrate value

and range for the licence fee payer.

So, it's important for the BBC to get audiences to programmes

such as Panorama, Strictly Come Dancing, EastEnders,

via Call The Midwife and Imagine, for range and value across all genres

for the licence fee payer.

We know that there's a lot of interest in the numbers

we produce, particularly when you have a show such as The X Factor

up against Strictly Come Dancing in the Saturday evening ratings battle.

The ratings battle between ITV and BBC One, especially, is very fierce.

They're the two biggest broadcasters.

And when you're at ITV, as I was,

what you care about more than anything is what BBC One are up to.

And when I was at BBC, which I was beforehand,

you care more than anything about what ITV are up to.

It's the two biggest channels slugging it out

for the biggest ratings share.

It's so good tonight.

And it's highly competitive, and it generates good ideas

and good programming because each one wants to beat the other.

Now, did you see this?

The story of how polio was beaten, which was told

in Stephanie Flanders' very personal account on Monday night.

I know about polio because my own dad

caught the disease in the Navy during the war.

Polio put him in a wheelchair from the age of 21.

The former BBC economics editor's troubling memories

of the impact of the disease being shared by some.

It was Michael Flanders' presence in the early stages

of the battle to beat polio which initially drew me in.

But, after that, I was hooked.

His daughter's presentation style is extremely natural and relaxed,

and the programme was, as a result, absolutely captivating.

It would have been very easy for her to turn it into

an overly personal documentary.

But, instead, it was handled with tact and with care.

It was compelling, fascinating, and, occasionally,

absolutely heartbreaking.

And praise, too, for BBC Two's very raw drama about the final days

of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Oh, Caitlin, Cat, my beautiful, my love. What am I doing here?

I don't want to be in this nightmare any more where no-one understands me

but everyone wants to bite little bits off me and swallow them.

I want to be home in Laugharne and live quietly with you and Colm.

Tom Hollander - yup, that's him off Rev - starred as Dylan Thomas.

A story, a sad portrayal of the great poet's demise.

Tom Hollander gave an absolutely cracking performance as

Dylan Thomas in A Poet In New York.

It seemed he didn't use imitation or mimicry, but he became Dylan Thomas.

It's like he embodied the essence of Thomas. And it was amazing.

And the way he read his works I thought were absolutely fantastic.

Brilliant. An award-winning performance, in my book. Absolutely.

Next, not so much art lovers but art collectors.

In fact, collectors of anything that'll make a few quid.

It's the start of the new series called Del Boys And Dealers.

All over Britain, a unique breed of entrepreneur is on the make.

It's just become 100 years old, so it's just become an antique.

The flames are beautiful. This will be so easy to sell.

For these real-life Del Boys, everything and anything is for sale.

Lot 53. Two bags of various biscuits -

Jaffa Cakes, etc - and a box of Nurofen.

Three more of these in the series to come.

Let's see if our real-life Trotters do make their fortune after all.

Now, next up, pronunciation.

Always a real bugbear here at Points Of View, as you know.

This week, not one but two presenters

apparently missing the mark.

They're great on the barbecues, these aw-bergines.

This has got the aw-bergines. The smoked aw-bergines are very simple.

The Obella family have just started growing these...

aw-bergines.

This is aw-bergine that you're preparing.

But aw-bergines are close to the Italian heart.

Countryfile's Matt Baker and James Martin from Saturday Kitchen

incorrectly pronouncing "aubergine",

which is oh-ber-gine, or even oh-ber-jean,

but never aw-ber-jean, according to our official sources.

Don't get started on whether it's a fruit or a vegetable.

That will surely open the floodgates.

Thanks for all your comments this week.

If you'd like to have your view aired, we made getting

your own personal video on TV a lot easier.

From now on, you'll be able to click the link on our programme page

and record a short message using the camera on your phone or tablet,

or a webcam on your computer, and have it sent to us directly

There are full instructions on how to do this on the link.

But we haven't done away with all the usual ways of getting in touch.

You can do so by writing to us. Here is the address.

You can call our phone line -

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

Or join the message boarders.

There's always e-mail, too.

Plus, there's Twitter...

Before we go, many of you enjoying the celebrations of 50 years

of comedy on BBC Two this weekend.

Those celebrations continue tonight with Harry Enfield

and Paul Whitehouse's irreverent, not always entirely accurate,

look at the history of the channel.

And we leave you with a sneak preview of that show.

Until next week, goodbye.

This cathedral of programme making brought joy to the great unwashed.

-I like television, I like Bruce Forsyth.

-I like Doctor Who.

I like Coronation Street.

How different television looks today.

-I like Bruce Forsyth.

-I like Doctor Who.

I like Coronation Street.