D Cairns

I've worked at the BBC. The daily log is read mostly for amusement, since the BBC gets a lot of crank mail/calls. But I guess the programme-makers will look at it, and MAYBE your comments will make them think.

aphra

No on-screen logos or commercial breaks, I grant you. But still Programme Presentation can't resist the voice-over as the end credits roll. GUMSHOE, which I had waited ages for, was ruined by an intrusive, chirpy voice-over giving an advertising trail as finally Finlay settled back into his old life...

As for the first of the British Film docs, the quality of some of the extracts was truly terrible. When you saw how many inferior trailers (so much cheaper than true extracts) were used, you realised that this was a cost-cutting exercise.

Moor Larkin

Darn it. I've been on holiday. Is the first 'Thriller' one being repeated? The chap in the Daily Express thought it was quite good. He seemed impressed that they had included a film from 1905........

I'm a bit surprised they're showing Bond movies....... they're on all the time anyhow, still it's nice to see the British Broadcasting Corporation keeping our end up.

Nothing in Q? Quare, very quare.....

Nor Z? They've left the adjutant out again........

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Foster twelvetrees

Just like the Daily Express - they never get anything right.

schaffer

I think the programme was quite interesting myself....
Not alot mentioned about "Get Carter" but well worth viewing..
Looking forward to more.....

Torquemada

Maybe, maybe not, but I think volume is what makes the biggest impact - so if all those of us who didn't like it let them know then just maybe they might think a little harder and about making things dumber.

Torquemada

Gumshoe is out on DVD in a couple of weeks.

julian_craster

<<No on-screen logos or commercial breaks, I grant you. But still Programme Presentation can't resist the voice-over as the end credits roll. GUMSHOE, which I had waited ages for, was ruined by an intrusive, chirpy voice-over giving an advertising trail as finally Finlay settled back into his old life...>>

But I don't think this practice is done through malice or chance - I am pretty sure that there is some sort of contractual obligation between film distributors and the broadcasters that 'perfect' copies are not transmitted, as this would play into the bootleggers hands !

Incidentally,10 years ago, perfect copies were broadcast, since then but the internet has created a whole new illegal trading situation.......

[A legal opinion from His Lordship Judge Julian Craster QC]

Brief Encounter

I personally enjoyed it. Good to see The Krays get some recognition. I don't think it is well-respected normally!

Torquemada

I'm glad somebody did.

D Cairns

"But I don't think this practice is done through malice or chance - I am pretty sure that there is some sort of contractual obligation between film distributors and the broadcasters that 'perfect' copies are not transmitted, as this would play into the bootleggers hands !"

No, I'm afraid it's simply that the broadcasters are paranoid that we'll switch over, so they try to keep our interest during end credits by trailing the next show. The reason it's happened this way over the last twenty years is the spread of multi-channel viewing opportunities.

The BBC used to have a rule that if there was action during the end creds of one of their shows, they wouldn't bring in the announcer. But there's a new ruling that NO BBC show may have interesting action during the end credits, because it interferes with the announcer's ability to advertise what's on next.

Of course, a rule like this is bad for programme quality and only good for viewing figures, so it should be against the BBC charter on principle...

Cheeky Bob

...though pretty much everything made since the mid-1950s would have been cropped at the sides.

At least in that respect, things have improved beyond all recognition, though I'm not happy about the increasing tendency towards anamorphic 4:3 broadcasts. It's all very well trying to force widescreen TV owners to display the picture properly, but it comes at the expense of a fairly significant loss of detail - in fact, you actually lose as much resolution as you'd normally gain with an anamorphic widescreen broadcast!

Moor Larkin

That would explain the appalling quality of The Ipcress File last night......

Good job I got that free DVD off the Daily Mail a while back........
but now you come to mention it........

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penfold

More likely they just got the print off the shelves, the same they've been using since 1970 or so...

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

orpheum

I agree with everything that has been said.I was looking forward to this series only to be thoroughly dismayed by the bunch of talking heads.Whilst this weeks selection of films is a reasonable cross section it goes downhill from there.Whatfor example is the point of showing The Dam Busters when it was only shown a couple of weeks ago.The comedy section is threadbare and features not one pre war film.No Will Hay,no George Formby,no Crazy Gang.There is no musical section at all.It looks like a big disappointment

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