Recommended Television Programmes

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think this is a repeat?

Yes - from 2011!

[teamsaint]

Alice Roberts' Origins of Us series (part 2 of 3 Tuesday nights yesterday, 8pm BBC4) always offer personably presented insights into things one thinks one should have already known, notwithstanding her pronunciation of "food" the ubiqutous modern way (somewhere between "feed" and "feud"), although the parallels she drew between male attraction characteristics in hunter-gatherer societies and modern-day displays typified by skateboarding risk-taking teenagers on the South Bank were, I thought, conjectural, to say the least!

Conjecture masquerading as fact is my second biggest TV turn off.

[Bryn]

Conjecture masquerading as fact is my second biggest TV turn off.

Thank goodness we get nothing of that sort on this forum, eh?

[kernelbogey]

How can anyone criticise the saintly Alice?

[kernelbogey]

Worth watching, for all its analytical limitations. Beyond the images of mutilated human meat one sadly starts getting used in these days, and the family pressures incumbent with dynastic dictatorships across the ages, stands that of the extraordinary Asma, surely, surely aware, for goodness' sake, of the stoked up hatred waiting to be visited upon her when the time eventually comes.

The film strongly suggested that Bashar manages the horror of his actions by splitting psychologically; though not explicit, the same seemed suggested of Asma. How can she possibly remain ignorant of what has been done to preserve her, her husband and their children?

(I kept thinking about the end of Benito Mussolini and Clarretta Petacci.)

[vinteuil]

The film strongly suggested that Bashar manages the horror of his actions by splitting psychologically; though not explicit, the same seemed suggested of Asma. How can she possibly remain ignorant of what has been done to preserve her, her husband and their children?

(I kept thinking about the end of Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petacci.)

... and Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.

This was so good, an extraordinary and awful series. Very impressive the range of witnesses - the doctor (in the third part) who had studied with Bashar, so lucid, calm, articulate.


.

[kernelbogey]

... and Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.

This was so good, an extraordinary and awful series. Very impressive the range of witnesses - the doctor (in the third part) who had studied with Bashar, so lucid, calm, articulate.

Although SA thought it had 'analytical limitations', I thought it just told the story very well, with an extraordinary range of film clips - and very moving testimony from interviewees. I felt I understood the Syrian debacle much better after viewing it - chilling though the experience was.

[Nick Armstrong]

Thank goodness we get nothing of that sort on this forum, eh?

[oddoneout]

Not to mention (and for an anthropologist she uses the word rather a lot) "bones" as "banes". I think this is a repeat? I tried it before. But yes, a camera-friendly presenter.

Her pronunciation of certain words reminds me of a colleague who comes from Bristol way which, now I've bothered to look it up, is where Alice Roberts comes from.

[gradus]

Apart from her vowel sounds, Prof Roberts has, to me at least, an extraordinary range of academic accomplishments being an Anatomist, Archaeologist and, Anthropologist. She wears her learning lightly though and I enjoy her programmes.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Apart from her vowel sounds, Prof Roberts has, to me at least, an extraordinary range of academic accomplishments being an Anatomist, Archaeologist and, Anthropologist. She wears her learning lightly though and I enjoy her programmes.

- absolutely; all power to her vowels! (No more distracting to me than those of, say, the "accent" of the oboes in a French orchestra - part of the "charm", in fact.)

[LMcD]

I tried VERY hard to stick with part 1 of '100 Days to Victory' (BBC2), but the unnecessary, relentless and increasingly intrusive 'background' music quite spoilt it for me. After some 15 minutes or so, faced with the alternatives of watching it with sub-titles only and giving up, I opted for the latter. A pity, because the story that was being told and the effective 'docu-drama' structure could have made for a memorable couple of hours' viewing. (I can't imagine the orchestra being dispensed with in part 2).
Music also features, but much less obtrusively, in the excellent 4-part series 'The Lakes' (also BBC2). Much more than just a series of pictures of spectacular scenery, although there's enough of that to keep this viewer happy! Paul Rose is a knowledgeable, enthusiastic presenter who realizes that, useful though he is, the programme is not mainly about him.

[Richard Tarleton]

I tried VERY hard to stick with part 1 of '100 Days to Victory' (BBC2), but the unnecessary, relentless and increasingly intrusive 'background' music quite spoilt it for me. After some 15 minutes or so, faced with the alternatives of watching it with sub-titles only and giving up, I opted for the latter.

I generally find it quite easy to tune out the background music - in this instance I don't remember a thing about it - and my only complaint about this programme was the clunky script given to the actors. I thought it told the story of the Battle of Amiens brilliantly. It also ended on a cliffhanger - Generals Monash and Currie (Australian and Canadian) talked Haig out of pressing on, as the Germans excelled at rallying and counter-attacking - and it left one wanting to see how they did actually finish the job. There was lots I didn't know - about how they neutralised the German artillery positions, knocking out 95% of them, how they disguised the sound of the tanks with aircraft, the Canadian deception (conspicuously marching away in daytime and tiptoeing back at night, etc. etc.). TV can tell this sort of story extremely well, IMV.

[kernelbogey]

I despair that producers on both tv and radio seem convinced that we are unable to take in the spoken word - or perhaps stick with their programme - without shedloads of 'background' music.

[Richard Tarleton]

I despair that producers on both tv and radio seem convinced that we are unable to take in the spoken word - or perhaps stick with their programme - without shedloads of 'background' music.

I can't remember - what did they do on the "Great War" series all those years ago?