Simply the BeeBeeBest (BBC 1)

Member Name: tweepypie

Product:	BBC 1
Date:	23/05/02 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good programmes

Disadvantages: licence fee

Channel 5 offer Martial Law and Charmed. Channel 4 is the channel that brought us Frasier and Angel (albeit cut and edited beyond recognition). ITV – great. It has dramas like Inspector Morse and I loved Pop Idol. BBC2 – brilliant. I was simply fascinated by The Experiment. But BBC1? Simply the best?

Until about 8 months ago I was still an ITV Digital subscriber and enjoyed the variety. Sky 1 does have the best series, doesn’t it? And with Channel 4 putting all the good stuff on E4 you feel left out without. I really used my subscription to the full. As soon as I got home I switched on the telly. And it would stay on until I went to bed.

Eight months ago everything changed. I moved to a different area and although I was told I would be able to receive it at my new place, I wasn’t. I cancelled my subscription (and not too early as it turned out) and now have to rely on terrestrial TV. What a shock that was. No Friends (well, apart from Channel 4’s attempts to completely confuse us with old episodes in an order that only they understand!), no new episodes of Buffy or Angel, Andromeda, etc., etc.

However, I was surprised to see myself acclimatise very quickly indeed. Mainly thanks to the BBC, and BBC1 in particular. In the past 8 months it has thrown out one good thing after another. The Blue Planet was simply amazing. The content was brilliant, the narration was superb and the images took my breath away. I was shocked and intrigued by killer whales playing with a poor seal to its death, and I still haven’t been able to get these pictures out of my head.

Their programme “Weird Nature” was at times hilarious and at other times simply fascinating. It told us weird facts about ordinary and extraordinary creatures. I never used to enjoy documentaries this much, especially not nature ones.

There is not just nature on BBC1. Everyone is familiar with Have I Got News For You –
arguably the best show on telly. The humour and banter between Ian Hislop, Paul Merton and Angus Deayton are sufficient to make it superior to all the rest, and it seems to be the only show on telly where no one is afraid to say what they think.

The recent introduction of Spooks has been well-worth the licence fee as well. It was heavily publicised, but it actually has a very high entertainment value. It shows us the going-ons of the MI5, but made watchable by plenty of human interaction. Apparently there was a minority that complained about the violence, but I cannot agree with that. It is shown after 9 o’clock, there was a warning and it certainly was not any more violent than the news.

Eastenders picked up more awards at the recent Soap Awards than any other soap, and rightly so. Many people are disappointed with the likes of Steve, Melanie and Beppe leaving the show, but it shows that this is a soap that can survive on its own merits, without too many pretty faces needed to back it up.

In short, as far as terrestrial television goes, BBC has turned out to be the best overall, with BBC1 having a slight edge over BBC2. I do agree that a lot of the money currently spent on hours of “artistic” but nevertheless unnecessary items, like people dancing, ought to be spent on the programmes themselves. I also believe that their own advertising is even more annoying than the ad breaks on ITV, and yet there is none better in terms of quality.

In some other countries people very rarely watch the terrestrials. In fact I know of people in Germany that didn’t even bother setting up their telly to receive them. BBC programmes bought overseas are usually broadcast on their cable and satellite channels. So while I do admit to missing American programmes, it is nice to see that British programmes can compete with the best.

Full marks.

Summary: