Episode 7 Points of View

This week, the Shakespeare series that's left you spellbound

and the sporting coverage that's coming up short.

Welcome to your Points of View.

First up this week, the 90-year-old naturalist

who's been bringing the world of wildlife to our living rooms

for more than 60 years.

As part of a week of programming

celebrating Sir David becoming a nonagenarian,

BBC Two screens were lit up

by Attenborough's Life That Glows on Monday night.

The use of the latest camera technology

meant we could see as never before the stunning light shows

created by everything from fish to fungi and fireflies.

The male of her species waits for precisely four seconds

and then answers back with a flash,

whereupon she immediately gives another flash, like that.

Illuminating stuff.

And the shimmering scenes meant

your reviews were as glowing as the pictures.

The new footage is awe-inspiring.

The camera's inventor and the production team should be praised

for an amazing display of the unseen life on this planet.

Thank you, BBC.

And you were full of praise for the presenter, too.

I will let two feathered friends have the last word on Sir David.

It's like the sound of a crackling fire or something,

is David Attenborough. And the warmth that you get from him.

Because he's very... Ooh!

You can see more of those Aardman Animations tributes

on the BBC's Attenborough At 90 website.

Next, BBC One's coverage of the Invictus Games,

or perhaps, to be more accurate, the lack of coverage.

From Monday to Friday, the channel has been broadcasting

highlights from the games in Orlando,

which this year have featured over 500 wounded,

injured or sick servicemen and women competing for sporting glory.

Stewart Sherman can't get the ball. Stuart Robinson can.

Weaving run.

BBC One devoted four and a half hours to the games this week,

but many of you felt

the men and women from the Armed Forces deserved more.

And it wasn't just the amount of airtime given to the games, either.

The coverage itself hasn't exactly been a crowd-pleaser.

With the programmes containing pundits, guests

and films covering contestants and their training,

you felt it was a case of too much chat, not enough action.

Not enough time is given to sporting events that these men and women

who fought and served our country have trained and worked so hard for.

Too much talking, and not enough games.

The coverage that we have had on the 30 and 60-minute shows,

most of it has been from the sofa with only snippets of the sports.

Shame on you, BBC.

Well, we crunched the numbers on Tuesday's programme.

Out of 30 minutes, we counted just over a quarter,

which is seven and a half minutes, devoted to actual sport.

Not very much - and this is what the BBC had to say.

Next up, the gritty gangster drama

that has once again piqued your interest.

With two years passing since we saw the Shelby siblings

and mob boss Tommy dodge death,

series three of Peaky Blinders blasted onto BBC Two this month.

Despite desperate attempts to legitimise his life,

Cillian Murphy's character is once more in a perilous position.

You chose not to listen to him.

You should apologise or meet his compromise.

Now, I've got a Italian walking around my back yard

saying he's going to kill my brother.

The Birmingham boys are back with a bang and by the sound of it,

so far this series is playing a blinder.

The costumes were brilliantly designed.

Cillian Murphy has mastered the Birmingham accent

as well as the rest of the cast's performance

and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.

Peaky Blinders is well-scripted and has a very strong cast,

particularly Cillian Murphy and Helen McCrory.

It also has a fantastic soundtrack

that adds to the brooding atmosphere of the show.

But the soundtrack is proving to be a problem here,

as with so many other programmes, with lots of you asking,

"What did they just say?"

I was very disappointed with the quality of the sound,

which sounded very muffled to both myself and my husband.

This detracted from our enjoyment of the programme

and also our understanding of the plot.

Enough regret over me.

Say it out loud and I'll know if it's true.

And then when you COULD hear perfectly,

there was a problem with some of those mobsters being...

shall we say, potty-mouthed.

Nearly every sentence contained the F word.

I found the repetitive overuse of such expletives

utterly spoiled the programme.

And it is perhaps historically inaccurate.

Until the early '70s, it was simply not done to swear in mixed company,

so the language was not only tedious, but unnecessary.

Now to what is the BBC's biggest global brand, with China,

France and Australia all having made their own versions.

But, come 29 May,

all eyes will be firmly focused on the UK version of Top Gear

as it rolls back on to BBC Two.

With an all-new presenting line-up,

so far all we've glimpsed of the series reboot

is some carefully crafted trailers.

So are fans of the show all revved up for its return,

or worried the programme will end up on the scrapheap?

We parked up at a classic car fair at Leeds Castle to find out.

Very excited about Top Gear coming back.

Really looking forward to the new series.

I just can't wait. I probably will give it a go.

Hey, look at this view, you guys.

I like the excitement, the unpredictability.

The wacky challenges they have.

I hope that the format is kept fairly much the same

because I enjoyed it the way it was before.

I think they need to bring something different into it.

Maybe make the track a bit more interesting, a few obstacles.

I like the look of the new trailer.

A door would have been nice.

The trailer is really exciting.

Whoa-ho-ho-ho!

Matt LeBlanc in the desert, eating dust, it was fantastic!

In the trailer, the mixture of classic, new,

high-performance as well as the 4X4

seems to have an all-round feel for a new, fresh show.

Welcome to the greatest city on earth...

Blackpool!

It's very English. Raining in Blackpool. Yeah.

I want to see why Chris Evans

and Matt LeBlanc are getting married.

Every petrolhead in the country

is going to be tuning in to see the new Top Gear,

especially to see if the first series lives up to all the hype,

cos it looks fantastic.

The wind-down for the Sunday was to sit down,

watch Top Gear, have a few laughs,

and I'm looking forward to the new series, so bring it on.

It looks like it's going to be a really enjoyable series.

Was that OK? I liked it.

We will, of course,

be covering your thoughts on this series when it returns,

so get your pens poised and keep your keyboards close.

Now, after a Bafta-winning first season in 2012,

last night marked the midway point

for the concluding series of The Hollow Crown,

an ambitious adaptation of Shakespearean histories

filmed for BBC Two.

With an executive producer responsible for directing films

such as American Beauty and Skyfall,

this series also boasts a cast list

reading like a roll call of the cream of British acting talent,

including Dame Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch.

I do but dream on sovereignty.

Like one that stands upon a promontory

and spies a far-off shore.

With a stellar cast and crew,

it is perhaps no surprise that last Saturday's adaptation

of Henry VI Part I had you entranced.

The Hollow Crown on Saturday night absolutely blew me away.

I wish history had been done like this when I was at school.

Things would have been so much different.

Taking a very different slant on Stratford-upon-Avon's finest

is Ben Elton's latest comedy, which launched on BBC Two on Monday night.

Upstart Crow has Would I Lie To You's David Mitchell

playing the Bard as he's starting to make a name for himself in London,

while also juggling his duties as a husband and father.

Sorry, Dad, how old is this sad weirdo supposed to be?

The maid be 13, my sweet.

Yeah, cos I'm 13.

Exactly. I thought it might be fun to hear my Juliet

spoke in her true voice

before a middle-aged man with two half-coconuts down his bodice

gets hold of it.

Having co-written three series of Blackadder,

Ben has definitely got form

when it comes to taking a humorous look at history.

This one didn't hit the mark for all of you.

I had high hopes of BBC's new comedy offering of Upstart Crow,

especially as it was written by Ben Elton,

a writer and comedian whom I greatly admire.

What a huge letdown!

I can't remember the last time I had the misfortune to be subjected

to such infantile rubbish.

Now, it did tickle the funny bone of others.

I thought the whole cast were amazing.

I think it's the next Blackadder and I can't wait to see more.

But for many, there was one element of this show

that proved anything but a laughing matter.

Well, we checked with the BBC,

who assured us Upstart Crow was recorded

in front of a live studio audience

and that any laughter heard in the programme is from that audience,

laughing on the night.

Finally this week, the end is in sight for Dr Sam Willis,

who has been tracing the story

of the most famous trade route in history on BBC Four.

Three-parter The Silk Road has seen Sam cover 5,000 miles

in his quest to reveal how the route was more than a marketplace.

Last week saw him touch down in Tajikistan.

I'm desperate to hear this lost language spoken.

Niyoz brings the family together

and after one of the toddlers tries to strangle the cat,

they try to put the babies to sleep.

Covering lesser-known landscapes

meant this one really appealed to you.

Over on the message boards, however,

opinion was split on Dr Sam.

That is it for another week.

Please do keep your points of view coming.

You can e-mail us at this address -

You can message via our website, which you can find,

along with the ability to record and send us a video, at this address -

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On Twitter we are @BBCPOV and to find us on Facebook,

just search for BBC Points Of View.

What else?! We are back next week on BBC One, a bit later than usual,

at 4.40. We'll see you then.