The Great British BBC4

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 10:05 pm

Looks like some lovely stuff on. But why does everything to do with Britain have to be "Great"? They aren't using it in the sense of the name of the island of Great Britain- listen to the relish with which they say it.

And why is everything "a very British obsession"? The sea was "very British" a while ago. No other countries have coastlines, fishermen or ferries, apparently.

Andy McDandy · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 7:32 am

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

No other countries have coastlines, fishermen or ferries, apparently.

Other countries certainly do, but most of them don't bang on about it to themselves ad nauseum.

If there ever was a 'very British' obsession, it would be navel-gazing.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 7:34 am

Andy McDandy wrote:

If there ever was a 'very British' obsession, it would be navel-gazing.

Ummm.... you have met the French, haven't you?

ezinra · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 1:17 pm

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Andy McDandy wrote:

If there ever was a 'very British' obsession, it would be navel-gazing.

Ummm.... you have met the French, haven't you?

But the French have an expression for it — franco-français — which shows some awareness of the problem.

Abernathy · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 2:29 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

Looks like some lovely stuff on. But why does everything to do with Britain have to be "Great"? They aren't using it in the sense of the name of the island of Great Britain- listen to the relish with which they say it.

Knowing BBC4, I'd suggest it's a pun - fully acknowledging the usual purely geographically-based usage of the "great" part of "Great Britain" (because of course BBC 4 viewers are fully knowledgeable about such things) but riffing humorously on it to suggest that the UK is in many ways, actually great - which is the point of the the theme.

I won't hear a word said against BBC4 - though I was a bit peeved when the luscious Dr Alice Roberts did her final skinny-dip wild swim last night and we were coyly denied any full shots of her in the bare scud.

AOB · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 2:40 pm

I won't hear a word against BBC4 either. I've just seen a trailer for yet another programme for Alan Fucking Titchmarsh to fawn over the Royal Family on ITV1, this time Prince Phillip at 90. ITV is a far more justifiable target for criticism. They can't do documentaries of any kind without it being presented by a celeb, usually with their name in the show's title. Robson Green, Martin Clunes, Caroline Quentin, Joanna Lumley all seem to be on rotation, no matter what the subject and their experience of it no matter how scant or tenuous, theyll be in there claiming to be an authority. If ITV think the public are morons with the attention span of a baby and the intelligence of a Daily Star reader then they get the demographic of viewers they pander to and deserve.

Tom_UK · **Joined:** Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:14 pm **Posts:** 3168

Not BBC4, but Great British Menu on BBC2 is a laugh. The participants' have obviously been briefed to try and engineer a pressurised atmosphere where everyone seems super-serious and highly competitive. The lady doing the judging this week is doing her best impression of Ann Robinson on The Weakest Link, and the programme is edited to make her seem like a bit of a hard-faced bitch, which I'm sure is probably not the case. As if that's not enough, the voice-over repeatedly tells us how much pressure is on the contestants. All a bit weird, and not very British really.

AOB · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 2:55 pm

Abernathy wrote:

I won't hear a word said against BBC4 - though I was a bit peeved when the luscious Dr Alice Roberts did her final skinny-dip wild swim last night and we were coyly denied any full shots of her in the bare scud.

Saw that when it was on originally. Cameraman probably got an eyeful and took the unedited footage home.

Abernathy · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 2:57 pm

Yeah. (Weirdly sexy and not really natural) voiceover : "But Gareth cannot resist piling the pressure onto Aled ....."

Gareth : "So, Aled, are you confident that your asparagus espuma will have enough flavour?"

Hunh? Piling on the pressure, my arse.

National Anglia · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 3:02 pm

"Love affair" is another one, as in "Gardening- BBC 4 examines the roots of a very British love affair"

Also getting tired of the never ending stream of formulaic no-budget biopics of washed up light entertainers. Please stop before they get to Richard Stilgoe.

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7340

National Anglia wrote:

"Love affair" is another one, as in "Gardening- BBC 4 examines the roots of a very British love affair"

Also getting tired of the never ending stream of formulaic no-budget biopics of washed up light entertainers. Please stop before they get to Richard Stilgoe.

Ha!! You people and your so-called digital TV revolution.
I remember when there were only 2 channels, repeats of the black and white minstrels on both, for ever...

(No, wait! That's the future without a BBC).

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 5:46 pm

ezinra wrote:

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Andy McDandy wrote:

If there ever was a 'very British' obsession, it would be navel-gazing.

Ummm.... you have met the French, haven't you?

But the French have an expression for it — franco-français — which shows some awareness of the problem.

I was once given the job of interviewing the bouquinistes on the right bank. I asked one if he would answer a few questions for me.
"Non," he said, languidly, eyes half closed as they peered through the Disque Bleu fug, "I only ever anzzer the questions I ask myself."

The French word for a wanker is, interestingly, andouille. Though being of a classical bent I called him an onaniste.

Andy McDandy · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 6:14 pm

It's also quite funny, if confronted by a Frenchman you discover to be a regular shaker of the hand of the governor of love, to ask him what the French for "less than" is*. Ask him to say it out loud. Poke him with a stick if necessary.

*It's "a moins que"

ezinra · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 6:36 pm

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

The French word for a wanker is, interestingly, andouille. Though being of a classical bent I called him an onaniste.

My francophilia is so profound that I must say 'Bravo' to the contemptuous bouquiniste. Obviously I'm less keen on pointless philosophical procrastination when, say, I need a piece of paper from the mairie and I'm required to prove the existence of the solar system before I can have it. But from a distance, it's great.

What's wrong with good old branleur?

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 6:44 pm

National Anglia wrote:

"Love affair" is another one, as in "Gardening- BBC 4 examines the roots of a very British love affair"

Also getting tired of the never ending stream of formulaic no-budget biopics of washed up light entertainers. Please stop before they get to Richard Stilgoe.

Welcome- great user name btw. Are you named after the bank in The Sweeney that got robbed every week?

I've storyboarded a biopic of Jimmy Hill. You'll have to pray they stop before they make this:

Quote:

Budget of £75, up from the £55 that will suffice for the Boy George one, because there's more old stuff to recreate. I present to you the life of Jimmy Hill.

Scene 1: Little boy bullied at school over his big chin.

Scene 2: Same boy being better than everyone else at football.

Scene 3: Same boy in a classroom looking studious. "Football's not enough.."

Scene 4: Young man playing football. Scores a goal then runs back to the halfway line doing a funny jump. Flash forward to him opening a wage packet and looking disappointed.

Scene 5: Slightly older now wearing a suit. Says "I don't normally agree with strikes, but.."

Scene 6: Sitting in a football directors' box watching seats being ripped out. He muses: "Time will tell! In the meantime, a good sharp shock...."

Scene 7: A linesman gets injured. He comes on and runs the line

Scene 8: He presents Match of The Day.
Scene 8a): Jimmy gets on a plane and says "I think it's better we see Apartheid for ourselves"

Scene 9: Some Scotch people are angry with him.

Scene 10: He has a row with someone from the BBC. "What do you mean pundit? I do the whole fucking show".

Scene 11: The Real Jimmy Hill watching this show on TV. And calling his real lawyer.

Still searching for a comedian to play Jimmy, preferable one who hasn't done much proper acting. The current favourite is:

Scene 12: Me getting paid my fee by the controller of BBC4. I look as disappointed as Jimmy did earlier.

The Great British BBC4

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