I watched the last night of the proms last night — as I have on the equivalent evening for more than 40 years. Several things struck me.
First — how much we owe to the BBC — and its public funding. What chance Sky would have ever created something so good?
Second, that viola piece by Vaughan Williams is a ‘must have’ to add to my collection.
Third — how incongruous the singing of ‘Land of hope and glory’ was.
That’s not what we live in. The ConDems have reduced us to a land of fear. Bankers to a land of shame.
‘Land of fear and shame’ it is then.
What a sorry state we’ve reached.
But there are ways out. Thankfully. And that’s what this blog is, in no small part about these days. Recreating hope when the ConDems have sought to eliminate all cause for it.
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“First — how much we owe to the BBC — and its public funding. What chance Sky would have ever created something so good?”
Funnily enough, I was watching a DVD of Mad Men. And I wondered why, whenever I watch television drama it is invariably american and usually, though not exclusively, produced by HBO. Has the BBC produced any drama of any merit over the last decade?
The truth is that 99% of television is lobotomised. And that applies to the output of the BBC as well (to be fair, it applies to 100% of Sky’s output). No serious person could argue that the output of the BBC in the last decade is in the same league as that of HBO, a small US company that receives no public funding at all, yet managed to produce Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire and The Sopranos among many others.
Problem with the BBC is that it thinks it has to be populist. The only bits that are any good are those that are the elitist hang ups from its distant past, like the Last Night of the Proms and the odd David Attenborough documentary.
it is interesting to muse on what innovative stuff the BBC is doing, but muse is all you can do – try and actually find some and you quickly come unstuck. Which is why you hear the moaning about the paychecks they get, and the expenses they claim. Sure they have some good programmes, but how many are old formula, and how many are new and innovative?
“First — how much we owe to the BBC — and its public funding”
We pay £3 billion a year for almost non-stop Stephen Fry, Robert Webb, David Mitchell, Michael Mcintyre, Lee Mack, Al Murray, Frankie Boyle, Mark Watson, Russell Howard, David Mitchell, Adam Hills, Jack Dee, John Bishop, Bill Bailey, David Mitchell, Sean Locke, Reginald D Hunter and David Mitchell. Strip out the transmission costs, and I can’t see why that lot shouldn’t cost less than £2 million.