Recommended Television Programmes

[teamsaint]

For several weeks now I have been watching The Repair Shop, 8pm on BBC1 every Wednesday. In it, people take old damaged objects in need of repair, ranging tonight from a set of 1920s weighing scales with a whicker basket atop to take a baby, a miniature whisky barrel, and a home-made clockwork toy railway engine, to a brass-knobbed military parade cane presented decades ago to a 91 WW2 veteran, who was himself there with his, possibly, granddaughter. The repair team, whose skills extend impressively over a wide range of disciplines, operate in The Weald and Downland Museum, situated in a barn set in beautiful countryside near Chichester, and the great joys of this programme consist in observing some of the restoration processes, which result in miraculous transformations, and how they are lovingly applied - obviously the hour only allows for highlights - and the delight and emotion captured in the faces of those whom we had earlier seen bringing the objects to the location as they re-encounter heirlooms previously suspected to be beyond the ravages of time. The whole programme is a paen to the ofttimes forgotten arts and fulfilments of craftsmanship.

It is very enjoyable, and has certainly found its moment. I have watched a couple of episodes, but can imagine getting bored with it after a while. Very nice feelgood telly though.

[teamsaint]

Well, I was thinking of you as I was watching, TS. Lots of glam shots of the city making it look an attractive place to visit, and incidentally another gripping real life crime drama. Pathos in the tragedy is invoked by the introduction from the very first episode of Dawn Sturgess, the unwitting bystander who fell victim to the poison, and her partner Charlie Rowley. If the Russians had wanted to score a moral victory from the case they couldn't have chosen better victims if they had tried, as these must have been some of the poorest, and therefore most vulnerable, people in the vicinity at the time, IMHO.

Given the psychology impact of the poisoning on Salisbury I'm wondering how the city is coping with Coronavirus. It's not that long ago, is it? Barely two years?

Nice of you to think of me, CB. I haven’t managed more than about 20 mins so far, just too much bad stuff going on to add to it ATM, but I guess I’ll try a bit more, especially if episode 3 covers the bit where the whole circus came to our village !!

I think Salisbury was getting back on its feet pretty well, or as well as a city with few major employers and collapsing tourist numbers can. Free/ cheap parking helped quite a bit, as it always seems to. Perhaps Salisbury is better primed to deal with the current crisis than other cities, given its recent past. Time will tell.

[ardcarp]

Has anyone watched Staged on BBC1 ? Michael Sheen and David Tennant (inter alia) attempt some acting during lockdown. Very droll.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08dnl67

[DracoM]

Absolutely BRILLIANT! Yes yes. Less is more and I wish it was..........what a lesson in technique and finesse.

[Rolmill]

Has anyone watched Staged on BBC1 ? Michael Sheen and David Tennant (inter alia) attempt some acting during lockdown. Very droll.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08dnl67

Yes, enjoying it very much - a nice mix of wryly amusing and laugh-out-loud funny. Sheen is always very watchable, IMV.

[eighthobstruction]

Yes, enjoying it very much - a nice mix of wryly amusing and laugh-out-loud funny. Sheen is always very watchable, IMV.

....Adrian Lester really gave a good 10 minutes, and Samuel ? Jackson - great....I have always not liked Tennant much, but Sheen is awesome....

[LMcD]

Absolutely BRILLIANT! Yes yes. Less is more and I wish it was..........what a lesson in technique and finesse.

I agree - a 'lockdown delight' in more ways than one! 'Simon' reminds me of Stephen Merchant's hapless agent in 'Extras'.

[Serial_Apologist]

....Adrian Lester really gave a good 10 minutes, and Samuel ? Jackson - great....I have always not liked Tennant much, but Sheen is awesome....

You and I then. Sheen I agree - one of the most versatile of actors.

[Nick Armstrong]

....Adrian Lester really gave a good 10 minutes, and Samuel ? Jackson - great....I have always not liked Tennant much, but Sheen is awesome....

I need to see Staged, clearly.

Agreed about Tennant, though his Hamlet was very very good... Also his voiceover for W1A (although that has meant I can’t now take any of his serious voiceover work seriously)

[eighthobstruction]

I need to see Staged, clearly.

Agreed about Tennant, though his Hamlet was very very good... Also his voiceover for W1A (although that has meant I can’t now take any of his serious voiceover work seriously)

........just watched all 5 series of OUTNUMBERED....brilliant....

[Nick Armstrong]

........just watched all 5 series of OUTNUMBERED....brilliant....

Just saw episode 1 of Staged. Absolutely brilliant

(And yes, Outnumbered was great!)

[vinteuil]

Just saw episode 1 of Staged. Absolutely brilliant

... yes indeed - each episode a real gem. Don't miss the little bits of foolery after the end credits. And of course the credits with changes to the names...

.

[oddoneout]

The hidden wilds of the motorway https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kjm9

This was broadcast twice in not very many days which was fortunate as I caught the last third by accident first time round and saw the rest on Sunday. A quiet, thoughtful and thought provoking programme, with occasional "good heavens" moments, of which the star was possibly watching a clump of dessicated moss spring instantly to life when water was dropped on it - to do with the ability of moss to colonise inhospitable sites such as concrete bridges and provide a stepping stone for the process of general vegetative colonisation. The flock of sheep and their part in the safety management of Wraysbury reservoir, and the stats about chalk streams were other 'well I never' moments. Regardless of one's stance on the existence of motorways there is a great deal in this programme which is worth watching just for the wildlife general knowledge aspect.

[Nick Armstrong]

The hidden wilds of the motorway https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kjm9

This was broadcast twice in not very many days which was fortunate as I caught the last third by accident first time round and saw the rest on Sunday. A quiet, thoughtful and thought provoking programme, with occasional "good heavens" moments, of which the star was possibly watching a clump of dessicated moss spring instantly to life when water was dropped on it - to do with the ability of moss to colonise inhospitable sites such as concrete bridges and provide a stepping stone for the process of general vegetative colonisation. The flock of sheep and their part in the safety management of Wraysbury reservoir, and the stats about chalk streams were other 'well I never' moments. Regardless of one's stance on the existence of motorways there is a great deal in this programme which is worth watching just for the wildlife general knowledge aspect.

Agreed. Like you, I happened upon the latter part “live” on the earlier broadcast, but then I watched from the start on iPlayer. Lots of fascinating stuff about matters both man-made and natural.

I had no idea about the gunpowder works up near the Lee River; nor that J.G. Ballard lived in a suburban semi....

[Serial_Apologist]

Agreed. Like you, I happened upon the latter part “live” on the earlier broadcast, but then I watched from the start on iPlayer. Lots of fascinating stuff about matters both man-made and natural.

I had no idea about the gunpowder works up near the Lee River; nor that J.G. Ballard lived in a suburban semi....

It was included in a Lucinda Lambton programme of 2003 under the title "Sublime Suburbia". In it she chatted to a retired man who had worked there - a very amusing contrast of speaking manners, as can be imagined! I was half-expecting her to ask him, "You don't read the TELEGWAPH by any chance, do you?"

One welcome reminder in the programme is that so-called "brown sites", while easily seen as worthless, an eyesore, concrete them over etc, are in fact havens of ecodiversity, more often than not. The far corner of our garden is one such!