Episode 17 Points of View

This week, the sports spoiler that ruined your Sunday

and the sitcom that won't be back for a new series -

a decision that's left you seething.

Welcome to the show that lets you have your say on the week's TV.

Welcome to your Points Of View.

First up this week,

the gang of Glaswegian pensioners dusting down their free bus passes

to make a return to our screens after a nine-year hiatus.

In a first, the new series of Scottish sitcom Still Game premiered

throughout the UK on BBC One in a Friday night peak-time slot.

The show features lifelong friends Jack and Victor coping, or not,

with everything modern life throws at them.

I've been in here since last night.

-Oh, it's a bit of a carry on, isn't it?

-Last night! Oh, my.

Look at my skin, I'm turning into Judy Finnigan.

-You cannae just lift yourself oot?

-No!

While the comedy had previously been seen nationally on BBC Two.,

the BBC One outing meant many were catching the show

for the first time.

And at least one of you found it reminiscent of another era.

That doesn't sound good, does it?

Phew!

Just go with the flow, Rosemary.

Meanwhile, those previously familiar with the evergreen characters were

delighted to discover Still Game is still at the top of its game.

But yet again, the show was ruined for some by a familiar bugbear

when it comes to comedies.

Well, Stephen Canny is the executive producer of Still Game

and he assured us any laughter heard in Still Game is the real deal.

And could this mean complaints of canned laughter on the BBC

are laid to rest once and for all?

Let's wait and see.

Sticking with sitcoms, the BBC's recent season dedicated

to the genre has proved fruitful for fans of comedy.

Last week, the BBC announced they've decided to turn three one-off

specials shown over the summer into series.

Kevin Bishop will be back for another series of Porridge.

Motherland will return to BBC Two and BBC Three's

A Brief History Of Tim will also be making a comeback.

All well and good, but there have been howls of disappointment

in Points Of View's inbox that one remake from the season

didn't end up on the list of comedy commissions.

Two time zones, lots of lying and deceit, me having to cover for you.

God, I've really missed that(!)

I was really disappointed to see that the BBC have decided not to

recommission Goodnight Sweetheart.

Out of all the sitcom revivals, it was the only one with

an overwhelming positive response.

Having enjoyed the series very much the first time round,

the one-off comedy didn't disappoint.

Come on, BBC, your fee-paying viewers would like to see

Goodnight Sweetheart and Gary Sparrow back on the BBC.

There's been a petition started and you pointed to the results of

a recent Radio Times online poll, which saw Goodnight Sweetheart

top the list of recent remakes that you would like to see return.

You've demanded answers right here and right now.

I can meet you halfway, Mark.

We do have a statement, just not from the head of comedy.

This is what a BBC spokesperson had to say.

There may be a glimmer of hope for Sweetheart fans.

A recent tweet from the show's writers

hinted they may try to continue Gary Sparrow's adventures

on another channel.

CAR VROOMS PAST

Next, fans of Formula One hoping to spend

a leisurely afternoon catching up with all the action from the

Japanese Grand Prix were in for a rude awakening on Sunday morning.

With the results of the race from Suzuka coming in at the ungodly hour

of half past seven on a Sunday. Many armchair aficionados of the sport

were waiting on highlights shown later in the day,

to discover who had taken prime place on the podium.

But those plans were thwarted when the winner was announced

on BBC Breakfast, without warning.

Formula One's title race is now out of Lewis Hamilton's hands.

The defending champion could only finish third to his rival

and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg

at the Japanese Grand Prix this morning.

And if you happened to miss that,

the same happened again on BBC One's one o'clock bulletin.

His team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg won.

You are not impressed.

Please, BBC, give us a warning that the announcement of the results

in the news as you do with football. It does spoil our viewing.

The BBC give up the rights to screen television coverage of

Formula One races last year, leading many of you to conclude revealing

the winner without prior notice was actually a case of sour grapes.

Stephen Mawhinney is head of sports, journalism at the BBC.

"Why," we asked him, "weren't we just given a warning before the race

"result was revealed?"

As a sport fan myself, I do understand the frustration,

but the reality is now, there is so much live coverage of sport

on television, on radio, online and social media,

that many people who come and hear it on the news already know

the result and many people who don't know the result want to find

it out, but aren't interested in watching highlights.

In fact, we use warnings very sparingly.

The only time we tend to do a warning is on a television news

programme shortly before or just ahead of TV highlights on the BBC.

For instance, the weekend news ahead of Match Of The Day.

And on whether the rules on giving a warning had changed

since Formula One left the BBC, Stephen had this to say.

Like every other broadcaster, we've never given warnings ahead

of sporting highlights on other channels.

There are so many different sporting highlights around,

it would be quite difficult to have a policy that did that.

Where would you draw the line? So, while we do do it occasionally

when highlights were on BBC One and we did do that for Formula One,

now that Formula One is no longer on the BBC, we no longer give warnings.

Spoilers, they're enough to make you curse.

Speaking of which, broadcast regulator Ofcom recently published

its biggest-ever study exploring attitudes towards

potentially-offensive language on television and radio.

The report reiterated the importance of the 9pm watershed

as an indicator of potentially-offensive material,

but words some could consider problematic are occasionally

heard on television during the day.

It's the subject of frequent complaints to Points Of View

and we were able to find plenty of recent examples of choicer

language being aired before 9pm.

-Aerial Nomad versus Arial

-BLEEP!

-You really are a complete and utter

-BLEEP,

-aren't you?

-He's going to bring down some real evil

-BLEEP.

-I bet your mother's a

-BLEEP.

-Crazy

-BLEEP!

-You're a stupid

-BLEEP.

-What would you have me do?

-Show some

-BLEEP

-backbone.

So, has our attitude towards those words softened?

And is their use before 9pm now generally accepted?

Scarlet Douglas visited Cardiff, to find out.

Four cards, written on them, four words

some may find offensive.

Let's find out what the people of Cardiff think.

# Happy talky talking, happy talk. #

This one is a rude word for bottom.

No, I don't find that offensive.

It's quite often used in the jokey manner now,

so I think it's lost its offensiveness.

-No, no.

-No.

Wow, OK.

What if you're with children?

-Hm, no.

-Erm...

-I don't care.

This word rhymes with mastered.

-I don't like that.

-No.

And what if you heard that one on TV before?

-Soap in the mouth.

-Soap in the mouth?

-Yes, no.

That's very bad. That's very bad.

Can you close your eyes for me, please?

I can see why people would find it offensive before nine o'clock,

but personally, I don't find it offensive.

On this card, the word sounds like buddy.

-Brace yourself.

-Hit me, yeah.

-Hit you, OK.

I don't think it's a swear word, I just think

it's a word even three-year-old kids would use in conversation.

It's not an offensive word, is it?

-It's more like, something is

-BLEEP.

-SHE GASPS

-Don't say it!

You can't say it!

This word is itch, with a B in front.

So, you would find this word offensive if you heard it

-before the watershed?

-Yes.

And I wouldn't use it myself.

And it wouldn't like to be referred to.

Personally, I don't find it that bad, but I wouldn't want it before

-nine o'clock I suppose.

-No.

-No, that's fine.

-I think some of the words would be inappropriate

-if they were before the watershed.

-Really?

-Yeah. Inappropriate.

If you had it in the middle of the day.

-They say it on Easties all the time.

-They say it on soaps all the time.

So, there you have it, that's what the people of Wales think.

Do get in touch and let us know if you have got strong views on

the subject. Contact details are coming up at the end of the show.

Moving Stateside now and matters of life and death

in America's Windy city.

Monday night on BBC One saw Reggie Yates travel to Chicago,

to investigate the city's growing gun crime problem.

With the city's murder rates soaring by 72% this year,

the presenter heard first-hand accusations of police brutality

and attended the funeral of a young man.

I doubt it's going to be easy for me to say what I want to say,

so just bear with me.

That don't supposed to be.

That don't supposed to be.

Ain't no way in the world that supposed to be.

There was nothing but praise for both the programme

and the presenter.

Life And Death In Chicago is available on the iPlayer now.

Back on this side of the Pond, Wednesday nights have seen

BBC Four pulling lost treasures from the vaults.

Britain's Lost Masterpieces has presenters Dr Bendor Grosvenor

and Jacky Klein undertaking a nationwide art investigation.

The three-part series, which concluded this week,

delved deep into Britain's publicly-owned art collections,

hunting out masterpieces hidden in storage.

These are certainly of the period. Painted in Bruegel's workshop.

I would say that it is, at this stage, likely that these

-were painted by Pieter Brugel the Younger.

-Yeah.

-That's a good result, don't you think?

-It certainly is.

The series has certainly whet your artistic appetite.

Really enjoying Britain's Lost Masterpieces.

It's really informative, really interesting.

The two presenters work really well together.

It's not pretentious. Everybody can watch it.

And it has left many hoping this is one masterpiece that is not left

stuck on the shelf.

There is no word yet, unfortunately, on whether

Britain's Lost Masterpieces will return, but watch this space.

Well, I'm hoping.

That's all for another week.

Please, do continue getting in touch with your thoughts

on the BBC's television programmes.

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We are back next Sunday on BBC One at three o'clock.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.