Posterous theme by Cory Watilo as adapted by Jamie Graham

Filed under: television

Doctor Two

written on Tuesday 28 June 2011 and filed under [doctor who] [patrick troughton] [television]

I'm not a fan of most (any?) YouTube "mash-ups", where people assume that taking the pictures from one thing and the sound from another and putting the two together equals some sort of art. It doesn't, it equals mindless crap and shows how mindblowingly unoriginal many YouTubers can be.

I make the exception for this video. How could I not: a great piece of title music (from a truly execrable programme) added to an unfairly treated Doctor Who - the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. It was under Troughton's reign that most of what we think of when we think of the character of the Doctor was properly established: from regeneration to the mad-man-with-a-box persona. The series wouldn't've worked without William Hartnell's superbly strange performance to start it off, but Pat Troughton ensure that the character, and thus the series, had longevity built right into it. The thing that makes the current series, supposed production problems aside, so enjoyable is Matt Smith's actorly choice to bring some of Pat's mannerisms back to the show, despite Pat having left well before Matt was born and the BBC doing their level best to erase much of the second Doctor from the archives in their 1970s bonfire-out-of-vanity.

That was the news that was

written on Thursday 2 June 2011 and filed under [1978] [history] [news] [television]

A nice little find on YouTube - some of the BBC Nine o'Clock News from 1978 and Jim Callaghan announcing that he has a better chance of winning an election if he goes to the country next year.

Ah, if only. What Jim didn't know was that Labour had peaked in the polls. He was hoping that the rise in support would continue, but Labour, Old Labour, was about to be brought down by the unions over the winter of 78/79 - with help from the rabidly Tory press. Prime Ministers are usually good about knowing when to go to the country. This is what makes Callaghan's decision to stay on in 1978 stand out. Gordon Brown did the same when he became PM in 2007: Labour had got a boost in the polls from Blair's resignation and the party wanted to use this to call a snap election and get a new mandate. Brown eventually decided against it, fearing that being re-elected with a reduced majority would hole his premiership under the water. We now know it was already taking on water and the 'credit crunch' we were starting to hear about collapsed into a financial meltdown and spelt the end of Labour's hard-fought reputation for economic competence.

This clip from 1978 shows how much television has changed too. When did you last see a clock on TV? Clocks on TV were once vital, if nothing else because many people didn't have clocks - reliable clocks were historically expensive items. TV news now, Sky's thundering presentation aside, doesn't go for that urgent-clattering-typewriters-HERE-IS-THE-NEWS type of music any more. Our newsreaders are now journalists, rather than the actors we employed back then. Whether this is helpful or not for a straight reading-out-the-news role isn't clear, but then TV news doesn't go for that style any more either. TV news prefers to show us journalists talking to other journalists about what a third group of journalists are thinking. Radio news still employs the actors to read the stories in a clear voice at least, albeit not Kenneth Kendall and Angela Rippon any more.

The cold open on the PM's statement is also something you wouldn't see now - a shame because it's very effective - but you often still get the instant rebuttal from the Leader of the Opposition, more so when it was Brown/Cameron than we're currently getting under Cameron/Milliband (not sure why that should be - media bias or Labour still in disarray? Probably a bit of both).

For the sake of balance, here's some of ITN's News at Ten from the same year (different day, duller stories), plus some ads (including Vila from Blake's 7 eating Stork!) and some Thames continuity (but no clock).

Look, it's Denis Howells! Best. Minister. Ever. Made Minister for Drought and two days later: flooding! We don't see action like that any more.

I miss many elements of the BBC presentation of news, which works very well even now - on a busy news day. However, the ITN clip proves that this type of presentation on a slack news day is so very very dull. Or at least very very dry. Mind you, current news presentation on a slack news day doesn't work either: journalists demanding that Something Must Be Done about very little is just as nerve-shearing as journalists reading out facts to fill space was back then.

0208 if you're outside reality

written on Saturday 21 May 2011 and filed under [bbc] [std codes] [television]

Some will say this is petty, but it's worth pointing out.

Just before Doctor Who, the BBC ran a trailer for the return of the John Barrowman cheap variety filler programme "Tonight's The Night". They were begging for idiots in the audience to apply to humiliate themselves on television. In order to take part in this ritual humiliation, they need to call the production company.

Just call 0208 576 9785, they said. Except this number doesn't exist. The Subscriber Trunk Dialling number for London is 020. It used to be 01, as we probably all remember from childhood when the BBC would often tell viewers "Call for more information on 01, if you're outside London, 811 8181", helpfully ignoring that 85% of the country are outside London. Then they split London into inner 0171 and outer 0181. Then they combined both again into 020. When they created 020, they added 7 or 8 to the front of the local number to make more numbers. Since then, they've introduced 3 at the start of the number for some subscribers, with 5 to follow soon.

Similar changes of numbers have happened elsewhere too. Leeds was 0532 (0LE2 on the old dials, see?) but they changed it to 0113 and put an extra 2 on the front of the subscriber number. So a Leeds number is 0113 2XX XXXX. It isn't 01132 XXXXXX. Locally, you have to dial the 2, even if you don't have to dial the 0113.

So when the BBC said to call 0208 576 9785, they meant 020 8576 9785. Why is this important? Because these little things are important. If the BBC can't even research correct telephone numbers for a trailer, why should we expect them to research correct background information for a news report?

If the BBC can get its own telephone number wrong, can they be trusted to make a documentary without cutting such basic corners? If there's a phone vote, can they be trusted to count the calls correctly? If they can't even get a phone number right, can anything they say be trusted? From such acorns do mighty oaks grow.