Postman Pat

I read, this morning, that Postman Pat has been 'madeover'* to be 21st Century friendly.

This is terribly sad! I have the fondest memories of Pat, haplessly negotiating the narrow lanes and dry-stone walls of Greendale in his little red van accompanied by the cute - but all-knowing - Jess. Now he's parachuting parcels from his helicopter!?!

The solution is simple. Don't mess with it. I was happy that Pat and Jess resided in the nostalgic halls of 80s childrens television. If you want a new postal-based cartoon series - invent one! Don't bastardise my fond memories!


* Another thing the BBC is to blame for! Everytime I hear the word 'makeover' I instinctively picture cheeky Scouse MDF-lover Craig (of Big Brother fame) knocking up some shelves under the witless direction of Carol Smilie or Lawrence 'the Ponce' Bowen..

BBC losing its 'touch'?

For some years now I've felt the BBC have been losing their grip on producing quality television programmes. That's not to say I don't welcome the diversity to cater for all tastes - more that they churn out cheap, easy, tabloid crap too often.

The "reality TV" boom stated the steady decline. Shows like Fame Academy echoing ITV's contemporary slop called Pop Idol. Since then, ITV has - predictably - excelled itself at making dross television with X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, Jordan and Peter, Love Island, Jungle Get me outta here, etc etc. The barometer of truly shit television remains, as always, the phone/text vote to determine the fate of a particular beleaguered celebrity or Joe Public.

The BBC has witnessed this reality/vote TV growth and jumped on the bubblegum-for-the-brain bandwagon. Half-baked celebrities prancing in sequin-adorned Lycra - please!

Many will say "If you don't like it, don't watch it" - which is fine. But I've highlighted above the prolific dirge of this rubbish so, short of turning the television off altogether, how can one avoid it while still enjoying a small sense of value from the license fee?

My problem with the BBC, however, goes further than this. The programmes the corporation used to 'do' quite well are now being produced and conceived with the afore-mentioned bubblegum-tabloid mindset. An edition of Panorama I watched yesterday on iPlayer felt like a Sun / Daily Mail collaboration being read aloud in an effort to scare-monger the viewing masses. The same pathetic techniques adopted on their reality/vote schedules are being plied to supposedly informative programmes in an effort to evoke the same mis-guided emotive reactions.

I can vaguely recall The Day Today satiring the worst of the world's television news at the time by flashing up words on the headlines like "Warning!", "The end is nigh", "Beginning of the end", etc. The BBC is sadly doing this all too well now.

Take the substance of The Sun, the journalistic bent of the Mail and use the world's best medium to spoon-feed it to the widest possible audience...

Pamelaahhh...

And finally, my third posting in a single morning (surely a 'P.B') concerns the return of Gavin and Stacey imminently on the BBC. The 1st Series of this fantastic comedy followed the lives of Gavin and Stacey - an Essex boy and Welsh lass - charting the evolution of their long-distance relationship, wedding plans and eventual marriage with all the familial tensions along the way.

The characters are bright and endearing and the script is simple yet highly amusing. The comedy is not forced* and allows the narrative to flow easily with intelligent, funny dialogue punctuating the natural progression of their lives throughout.

I haven't seen a date announced for Series 2 yet so seize the opportunity to watch (or recap) on Series 1 before the new installment arrives.

* See comedic crap like Dinnerladies etc where circumstances are inexplicably forced in order to squeeze a gag or two in.