Episode 8 Points of View

Football crazy, or is all of this football just maddening you?

Did D-Day coverage get the right tone?

And your tributes to the self-styled people's poet.

Welcome to Points Of View.

Good afternoon. We are officially in the grip of World Cup fever,

but what are we to expect from the BBC's

coverage of the four-yearly extravaganza?

On the night of the Opening Ceremony we went down to

London's Exchange Square to hear the views of football fans.

Overall, the BBC's team that they've got to present is amazing.

They've got Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand, Gaby Logan, Gary Lineker.

Be entertaining. Make us laugh a little bit. Come on.

When they talk about it, I can memorise what they're saying

and regurgitate it at work, so I pretend that I know a lot about it.

Maybe they should talk less and actually show more football.

They have very good analysis at the BBC, to be fair.

I'm looking forward to hopefully making sure that they

continue with the way they've been doing it so far.

Spare a thought for the BBC's schedulers.

They are busy behind the scenes shifting regular programmes

to make way for live coverage and highlights of the matches.

And what with the accompanying football-themed documentaries

and the tennis at Queen's too,

the poor schedulers are faced with striking that fine balance between

good coverage and keeping non sport fans happy.

But is there a solution to the schedules being swamped

with too much sport?

Viewer Caroline Freeman thinks so.

I'm sure there's quite a few of us

who don't like watching sport on television.

BBC Three is now moving online.

Would it be possible for the BBC to give us a dedicated sports channel?

Then, all those who want to watch the endless reruns, repeats,

analysis, delays, extra time wouldn't miss a trick.

The rest of us wouldn't get interrupted schedules.

Food for thought there from Caroline.

As we are constantly being reminded though, the cutbacks mean

the BBC simply can't afford a dedicated sports channel.

So it seems that, for the time being, non sports fans are going to

have to grin and bear it.

Now, one of football's famous faces

went into the unknown this week.

I'm going on a very different adventure.

Just me and three of my mates.

During this Brazilian adventure -

you see, we are never too far from the World Cup theme here -

we saw the global superstar relish the simple life

he says he's craved.

As the journey ends, I think about how far we've come.

The hundreds of miles of road we've covered and the people we've met.

No matter where you go, the same things matter to everyone -

family and friendship.

Who on earth at the BBC decided to spend taxpayers' licence fee on

multi-millionaire David Beckham on an ego trip up the Amazon with

entourage and cameramen?

Surely the licence fee should be spent on something worthwhile,

rather than massaging David Beckham's already inflated ego.

Some mixed reviews for David Beckham's Amazon soul-searching then

and a bit of a mix up next in the hospital drama Holby City.

A patient diagnosed with having fractured a part of the body

never heard of before - the tibula.

My wife and I are regular watchers of Holby City

and are usually impressed by the way the actors remember complex

medical jargon.

We were somewhat surprised therefore in this week's episode that

Doctor Tressler diagnosed a fractured tibula.

Paramedics think you've got a displaced fracture of the tibula

but we'll know a lot more after the scan.

The tibula? Now, is that there or..?

No, it should be tibia or fibula.

Surely the programme's medical advisor should have spotted

these mistakes and arranged a retake before broadcasting?

Factual inaccuracies spotted too

in an episode of the quiz show Pointless.

Boxing history being rewritten here with George Foreman

and not the great Muhammad Ali being incorrectly named

as the victor in the greatest bout of all time.

ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG: Sporting losers and the people who beat them.

The Rumble in the Jungle, 1974, Muhammad Ali - GF.

-CONTESTANT:

-I think the one I'll have to go for is probably,

if it is right, the Rumble in the Jungle, 1974,

is it George Foreman?

It is right.

50 for George Foreman.

-RICHARD OSMAN:

-Yeah, the most famous fight of all time,

the Rumble in the Jungle.

Stinging, like a bumblebee, I suppose, but correctly pointing out

that in this instance the quiz masters had got it wrong.

An apology from the BBC has followed and an admission of guilt

from the show's own Richard Osman to his Twitter fans.

Oops, indeed, Richard!

Now, one series certainly getting it right for many of you

has been The Pallisers.

My darling Isabel.

Oh, lovely Isabel.

Will you be my wife?

40 years after it was first televised,

the Anthony Trollope adaptation has won over many viewers,

some of whom are enjoying it all a second time around.

The schedulers getting a telling off AGAIN on this show.

It seems this time the final episode of the popular Pallisers

being shifted to make way for D-Day coverage.

Speaking of which, lots of praise for the production team

based on the Normandy beaches for the 70th anniversary commemoration.

Huw Edwards was enthusiastic and genuinely interested.

The guest historians provided fascinating insight

and the whole broadcasting team clearly felt extremely honoured

to be there, so thank you for a beautiful,

eloquent and poignant reminder of what those brave souls

did for us yesterday to give us our today.

I laughed, I cried and I felt so patriotic and proud.

Well done, everyone.

Now, fans of The Crimson Field have been left bitterly disappointed

over the Corporation's decision not to commission a second series

of the World War I drama.

We do not understand why a drama with such a resounding

message of remembrance should be so short-lived.

Surely the publicly-funded BBC should be actively promoting

interest in the roles of our wartime men and women.

I'm quite amazed, as the writing is brilliant

and the characters that we already know and love have got the huge

potential to turn the series into something truly magnificent.

The production of it was excellent

and the work of the actors was outstanding.

I think the BBC need to take the time to stop

and listen to their viewers.

We have been completely inundated with complaints over this.

Lots of you urging the Corporation to reverse the decision,

but it seems this time Auntie Beeb has made up her mind.

We are being assured that there are other World War I dramas

planned for this Autumn, but some of you who got in touch have

told us their fight to save Crimson Field will go on.

-Don't let 'em fob you off in there.

-Oh, I won't be fobbed off.

Moving on and looking forward.

Remember this?

This terminal is linked to a giant brain ten miles

away in the heart of London.

It's one of two machines installed for experimental purposes

because he wants to know if they can run his life and his home of him.

Tomorrow's World,

the series that predicted today the technology of tomorrow.

It was primetime must-see TV for a whole generation.

You and me both.

Today the BBC's flagship technology programme Click airs only on

the News Channel and hidden away on BBC Two early morning daytime slots.

Some viewers think it's time technology was given priority again

and one in particular thinks a return to Tomorrow's World

is the solution.

Hi, my name is Kanu and I would like to

talk about the lack of technology programmes on the BBC.

I've got technology behind me and 50 snaps on this tiny little disc.

Growing up, I really used to love watching Tomorrow's World.

It was a programme that really fired up my imagination.

It made me see the technology of the day.

It also made me see the technology of the future of what was possible,

what could happen.

Each number that goes out from here is

transmitted as a series of digital pulses.

I remember watching the programme

and seeing the mobile phone for the first time.

I kept thinking, "This is amazing.

"How can you have a phone without wires?"

How far am I away from you at the moment?

'You're about seven miles away, Mike.'

And now everybody's got one.

Imagine a world where every word ever written,

every picture ever painted

and every film every shot could be viewed instantly in your home

via an information superhighway.

That is fascinating. How far have we come along from that now?

Click is a great show and it does cover technology really well in parts

but I do think it packs too much into it.

It becomes too generic at times

and tries to hit too many nails on the head.

Sometimes, to find the most innovative tech,

you have to go really, really deep.

I don't think it goes into enough detail on each topic.

A computerised personal organiser

may seem like the ultimate yuppie accessory...

I want a primetime BBC programme like Tomorrow's World that

discusses technology and how technology plays into your life

or why not bring back Tomorrow's World?

Well, Kanu, bad news, I'm afraid.

The techie experts at the BBC told us they've got no plans

to bring back Tomorrow's World.

Their view?

That technology is well catered for in programmes like Horizon

and Bang Goes the Theory and with news reports too.

So for now it seems Tomorrow's World is yesterday's memory.

Thanks to Kanu

and all of you who contributed your points of view this week.

If you would like to make a comment on what you're watching

on the BBC this week,

you can upload a video comment on our super new system.

Go to our programme page bbc.co.uk/pov

and simply click on the link just at the top of the screen.

Follow the simple instructions.

But, of course, we haven't done away with all the usual ways

of getting in touch.

You can do so by writing to us.

Or call our phone line.

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

You can join the message boarders. Always lively there.

And there's always e-mail.

And get us on Twitter too @bbcpov.

Before we go, sad news this week of the sudden death of the comic genius

that was Rik Mayall.

We leave you now with our special viewer-led tribute to the man

they called the people's poet.

Until next week, goodbye.

Haven't you heard, Rick is dead?

The people's poet is dead!

Theatre.

What are you, theatre?

Whenever I'm near ta the theatre...

LAUGHTER

Flash by name, flash by nature!

Hooray!

ALL: Hooray!

-Where have you been?

-Where HAVEN'T I been?

WOOF!

Medicine time, Grandma!

Ooh, don't talk to me about alcohol!

I was out with my showbiz chums last night.

I remember thinking, I don't care if nobody likes this,

cos I think it's fantastic!