GOOD TV

[Wendyf]

An evening of Fairport Convention on BBC4 tonight from 9pm.

[elise]

You a folkie Wendy? I'm a Steeleyespanner.

[Wendyf]

A bit more rock than folk Elise, but I do like Mattie Groves. Must go, I have to pickle some onions before 9pm.

[Tripps]

Dave Swarbrick looked well I thought. Last time I saw him he had an oxygen bottle by his side, and didn't he have his obituary mistakenly published a few years ago? Not really to my taste though - as soon as Cecil Sharp is mentioned, my eyes glaze over.

[Whyperion]

Not so much TV as film. My son tells me he went to see Sweeny! tonight, having seen 1* reviews of it I asked was it actually any good. Given that his sole experience of 1970s/80s series was re-runs on ITV4 if that , he explained that the film lifts the Flying Squad of the 70s and dumps it in contemporary Britain (London). The writers and directors do seem to have deliberately gone for a pastiche of the 70s era stuff with car chases around the same two streets , speeded up video of cars , overdubs of rally car engines on cars rarely being driven a 30, police corruption and gratuitous volinence. The plot sort of make sense , if you can make it to the end. So it looks like its worth watching on DVD at least.

I suppose the police dont act like that these days , and criminal minds are more in the low level frauds or card based crimes as technology has moved on , armed robbery on payrolls ( my walking with £30k in notes for a weeks payroll down the high street in east london we made sure was irregular , normally the directors would get in their car/s and collect but I always got landed with the double week before christmas as everyone else was late in from the Christmas party ), and post offices ( would you like car insurance , do you have a telephone , we do good moneygram service to send your cash abroad ) is a past thing as the cash economy fades away, and the public's desire for police drama is met in crimewatch reconstructions and reality cop shows.

[Stanley]

I think I must be getting into the plot of Parade's End, the hour flew by last night. Very good production values and no money has been spared.

[Tripps]

" An evening of Fairport Convention on BBC4 tonight from 9pm."

They all have a great deal less hair now, than at the time. Long hair in their youth, and very little now. In contrast - I had short haircuts at the time, and now have more than I can cope with. There's a lesson there somewhere. Interesting that Richard Thompson became a sufi, and remains one. I like sufi music, and listen to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Abida Parveen. Don't understand a word of any of it, but I like it.

[Wendyf]

We recorded it 'cos hubby was wanting to watch something else. I'm looking forward to settling down (with a glass of wine or two) to watch it tonight.

[Stanley]

Final episode of 'Parade's End' last night. Fascinating production but my God, you had to work at it!

[PanBiker]

Last one of Bletchley as well this week. Enjoyed both of them. I think Mr Cumberbatch is back again later in the year in another series of Sherlock. I think it was on a trailer after Parades.

[Stanley]

Enjoyed Bletchley also Ian but I thought the dénouement was a bit rushed. What a lot of stuff is being repeated but without the 'R' symbol if it's on a different channel.

[Stanley]

Andrew Marr's new series is very accurate and I loved the concept of the importance of the invention of the needle. Good research.

[Stanley]

I watched the ITV programme on Jimmy Saville. It seems perfectly obvious that if he was alive today there would be a good case for pursuing him. As it is this can't happen but I think it might be a good thing that at last the victims feel free to go public about what happened to them. The Jimmy Saville charitable trust is in a very difficult position.

[Whyperion]

Not really Good TV , but as I missed HGNFY last night on BBC1 I used the internet I-Player , which had a link to the Have I Got News for You website within the BBC site , which in turn , led to a couple of interesting blog sites :

http://bwtas.blogspot.co.uk/2012_10_01_archive.html [ Being the British Water Tower Appreciation Society ] and http://www.pylonofthemonth.org/ [ (electricity) Pylon of The Month ]

Also found on BBC2 (13:00 - 13:30 ) repeats from 2010- which I must have missed , of Restoration Roadshow , featuring repairs and restorations of antiques and collectibles that the public and some museums had brought to experts hired by the BBC production team. Really the programe could have been longer covering items in more detail of the conservation techniques being used rather the than the constant switching of this is what we have , the problem , how I will repair it , what I did ( repeat item and problem for viewers whom dozed off 10 mins ago ). Anyway there are five episodes as its been daily , on the BBC catch up as of now.

[Nolic]

My wife is a great fan of Grand Designs. On Friday she watched a recent episode about someone converting a water tower in London to luxury accommodation.She has been raving about what a wonderful place to live with views all across London ever since! Nolic

[Stanley]

Comrade, get her back on the pills immediately!
In the mornings I usually look to see if there are any films worth recording during the day to watch when programmes are crap. I was doing this this morning and found myself on C4 in the middle of a programme on the Addidas Terrex Adventure Challenge. Watched it till 8am. The teams put themselves through hell. They reckon it's the equivalent of about three Iron Man challenges back to back. I can believe it! Worth watching if you can. Worth it just for the Scottish scenery.

[Wendyf]

Last night we watched "How Britain Worked" recorded last Sunday on C4. Guy Martin, who did the programme last year where he attempted to make everything he needed for his canal boat, gets involved in a different restoration each week. Last Sunday it was a railway engine, tonight he is at Gayle Mill helping to fix the water turbine that powers the sawmill. Good stuff.
LINK
He is slightly crazy, but it's good tv.

[Stanley]

I wilted at 21:00 last night and went to bed but I recorded Andrew Marr.......

[Nolic]

Comrade I noted last night that there was a programme on BBC3 or 4 about the post war BOAR. You might be able to catch it on iPlayer.

Watched the excellent programme on the "other" code- breakers at Bletchley Park who invented a computer to decipher the most complex German codes - far more so than Enigma. The two main men were barely recognised for what they did and even now much of their work remains top secret. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016ltm0 Nolic

[PanBiker]

Missed that one Nolic, will catch it on the IPlayer

[Tripps]

I channel hopped into the second half of the BAOR programme. I never realised we were in so much danger. Must go and polish my medals.
Why is Saturday night so poor, and Sunday so good on TV?

[Stanley]

Missed it but they will almost certainly repeat it! I don't think Berlin came under the British Army of the Rhine, it was the Berlin Independent Brigade (Mind you, nobody told us anything!). As it turned out the biggest danger we had to face was the constant scrutiny by Army Intelligence to make sure we weren't going native and swinging to the Left! There was a theory that if you wanted a transfer all you had to do was get caught with a copy of the 'Daily Worker'.
New Tricks reached series end last night, I always enjoy it.

[Stanley]

Good prog on BBC2 last night on glaciers and icebergs calving. Next part is on Thursday. I shall be watching it!

[Stanley]

The Iceberg programme was good. They were surveying a tabular berg about 40km area, the biggest berg known at the moment. Well worth watching.

[Stanley]

I caught the BAOR prog last night having recorded it earlier. Brought back a lot of memories! Basically accurate but in the case of Berlin we didn't take long learning the delights of the city! Schultheiss and Baren Bier did well out of us. The Berlin independent brigade was a separate entity and the shoulder flash was a red circle, it was always known as 'The Flaming Arsehole' (sorry about that but historical accuracy and all that....)
Loved the clip of the German Eagle and Swastika being blown off the top of the podium at the Zeppelin Field in Nuremberg but I have an idea that it was the Americans that did that. The podium survives, I stood on there and looked down the field towards Speer's building in the distance in 2000 and could see clips of 'Triumph of the Will in my head. The shots of Berlin and the Olympic Stadium took me straight back to the 50s. The OS was the headquarters of the BIB and we guarded it frequently. Good programme, I enjoyed it. (They never mentioned leaving a packet of OMO on the window cill in the married quarters,rumour was that it signalled 'Old Man Out'. Now there's a little known fact!)