Time To Question Why You Are Not Watching Question Time?? (Question Time)

Member Name: funzo

Product:	Question Time
Date:	27/02/09 (308 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good level of debate with the questions of the day being answered

Disadvantages: no longer live therefore sanitised

The BBC can be criticised for many things by many people.We the tax payer, the people responsible for putting a whopping £18 million into the bulging pockets of Jonathon Ross and we the tax payer expect to get something back for our £139, or £47 if you are living in Wales and watching your Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) in black and white. One area where the BBC does deliver in quality broadcasting, and goes someway in justifying the license fee is in Question Time, Thursday's BBC 1 at 10.35pm.


What is it?

For those not familiar with the premise of the show, indeed it is not for everyone, it is a topical debate television programme hosted by David Dimbleby usually featuring representatives from the three major political parties and other public figures, responding to questions put to them by members of the audience in locations around the country.

History

It's been on our screens since 1979, originally live but has been prerecorded since September 2001 when anti-American remarks from the audience were deemed insensitive and offensive on the show immediately after 9/11. The shows hosts/chairs have been Robin Day (79 - 89), Peter Sissons (89 - 93) and the current David Dimbleby (93 - to present) and the number of panelists grew from 4 to 5 in 1999. Other than that, it thankfully has not changed a great deal.


Why I Love It

I love Question Time like a fat kid loves cake. I simply devour it. There is something uniquely and proudly British about Question Time. No other debate show anywhere in the world can be quite so reserved, orderly and heckle free. Even when you do get the odd audience heckle, it always remains polite-ish and the heckler maintains his/her Britishness by at least having their hand up whilst heckling. Can you imagine the shoe throwing, chest beating antics of Johnny Foreigner in such a situation?

What QT (Question Time)does is it provides platform for everyday questions from the everyday man (or woman... they can vote now apparently) to be asked and indeed answered. Often there is a local slant to the question but more often than not it is the questions on the global and national issues of the day that get prominence and provide the most interest. The pleasure I gain from watching politicians squirming under the scrutiny of public accountability, is guiltily large and wrong. Sometimes the guest panelists provide great entertainment. When QT tried to cater for the younger audience by bringing someone young, hip and under 40 to the panel it brought in Will Young (just about under 40....meoww) and sometimes it can be equally just as amusing watching these people fall mightily off their soapboxes, as the politicians off their public funded ones.

Its not all about gaining pleasure from other peoples misery - i.e. politicians attempts to defend the indefensible. There is good, quality debate with interesting subjects being debated and argued to a high standard. Dimbleby to his credit, does not allow substandard answers to go unchallenged and politicians careers have famously been made and bust as a result of appearances on QT - Francis Pymm reputedly lost his job as Foreign Secretary in 1983 after remarks about the election. Throw into the mix an impassioned audience, the occasional prickly provocative panelist and general disgruntlement with the world by every man and his dog and you have compulsive viewing..... Thursday's 10.35pm BBC1 - quality debate and nobody's grandfathers get telephoned during the making of this show.

Thanks for reading

Summary: Question Time