"In Confidence" with Nigel Kennedy

[Mr Pee]

I've always found Our Nige deeply annoying, but I'll watch this in the hope that it might change my mind! This series is always worth watching- it is probably the only intelligent interview show left on television.

http://skyarts.sky.com/in-confidence/episode-3-nigel-kennedy

[amateur51]

I've always found Our Nige deeply annoying, but I'll watch this in the hope that it might change my mind! This series is always worth watching- it is probably the only intelligent interview show left on television.

http://skyarts.sky.com/in-confidence/episode-3-nigel-kennedy

You've watched the recent lengthy BBC interviews between David Hockney and Andrew Marr then, Mr Pee?

I always understood that Kennedy spoke very well of you, btw

[VodkaDilc]

I've always found Our Nige deeply annoying, but I'll watch this in the hope that it might change my mind! This series is always worth watching- it is probably the only intelligent interview show left on television.

Thanks for that, Mr Pee. I had not realised that a new series had begun. I did not see all the previous programmes, but I remember some good interviews, including
Kathy Burke and Peter Maxwell Davies. Like you I enjoy the gimmick-free nature of the interviews (modelled on John Freeman, I think, and his memorable Face to Face series). Some members might not like to read this, but I am sure that, if this was on one of the terrestrial channels (as I still think of them), it would have to be 'spiced up' with all sorts of trivia. The advantages of satellite channels again!

[amateur51]

. Like you I enjoy the gimmick-free nature of the interviews (modelled on John Freeman, I think, and his memorable Face to Face series)

As created by the BBC in 1959, revived by the BBC with Jeremy Isaacs in 1989 - a well-tested format but scarcely cutting edge

[VodkaDilc]

As created by the BBC in 1959, revived by the BBC with Jeremy Isaacs in 1989 - a well-tested format but scarcely cutting edge

To make sure I know what is actually meant by the expression 'cutting edge', as used by the young these days, I consulted Cambridge Dictionaries Online and came up with:

Definition - very modern and with all the newest features

So Face to Face (1959) is not 'cutting edge'!

However, this is a quote from the BBC website:
Fifty years on the programmes still shine, remarkable for their relentless camera close-ups and Freeman's forensic questioning, bringing celebrities to television screens as never before.

Something worth preserving, in my view.

Here's the complete reference:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ym8bb

[Mr Pee]

As created by the BBC in 1959, revived by the BBC with Jeremy Isaacs in 1989 - a well-tested format but scarcely cutting edge

1989 was an awful long time ago, and such intelligent interviewing- at least on television- has long since been dumped by the BBC in favour of Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross, Sarah Millican, etc., etc. Honestly, can you imagine the BBC devoting an hour of peak-time broadcasting to a one on one interview with a classical musician?

However, I'm glad you mentioned Jeremy Isaacs. You must have forgotten that Isaacs was the founder of the Artsworld channel, which would have long since gone into liquidation had Sky not taken a 50% share in 2007, rebranding it as Sky Arts, with- yes, you guessed it- Jeremy Isaacs as Chairman.

Really, amateur. Do your research......

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Presumably this one has been pre-recorded to cut out the swear words?

[BBMmk2]

I have seen a fair few interviews on this programme, and believe me, I concour, one of the best of it's type!

[amateur51]

1989 was an awful long time ago, and such intelligent interviewing- at least on television- has long since been dumped by the BBC in favour of Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross, Sarah Millican, etc., etc. Honestly, can you imagine the BBC devoting an hour of peak-time broadcasting to a one on one interview with a classical musician?

However, I'm glad you mentioned Jeremy Isaacs. You must have forgotten that Isaacs was the founder of the Artsworld channel, which would have long since gone into liquidation had Sky not taken a 50% share in 2007, rebranding it as Sky Arts, with- yes, you guessed it- Jeremy Isaacs as Chairman.

Really, amateur. Do your research......

I was hoping that you'd notice that, Mr Pee

I assume that all the hour-long arts interviews that Alan Yentob has been doing for years under the Imagine heading have passed you by because you're tucked up in bed under your Soar-Away Sun F1 duvet cover at that hour

[Serial_Apologist]

You must have forgotten that Isaacs was the founder of the Artsworld channel, which would have long since gone into liquidation had Sky not taken a 50% share in 2007, rebranding it as Sky Arts, with- yes, you guessed it- Jeremy Isaacs as Chairman.

Did you manage to make a killing on the share transfer, Mr Pee?

[Mr Pee]

Did you manage to make a killing on the share transfer, Mr Pee?

I wish.

[Mr Pee]

I assume that all the hour-long arts interviews that Alan Yentob has been doing for years under the Imagine heading have passed you by because you're tucked up in bed under your Soar-Away Sun F1 duvet cover at that hour

Well, the fact I might be tucked up means that they're not shown at 8pm peak time, but apart from that, the Imagine programmes are a very different beast to the In Confidence series. The latter is quite simply Laurie Taylor in one chair, and the interviewee facing him in another; and that's it. Whereas Imagine is usually short snippets of interview interspersed with location filming and Alan Yentob wandering about talking to the camera. Not the same at all. That's why I said in my OP that it is the only intelligent INTERVIEW show left on TV.

[amateur51]

Well, the fact I might be tucked up means that they're not shown at 8pm peak time, but apart from that, the Imagine programmes are a very different beast to the In Confidence series. The latter is quite simply Laurie Taylor in one chair, and the interviewee facing him in another; and that's it. Whereas Imagine is usually short snippets of interview interspersed with location filming and Alan Yentob wandering about talking to the camera. Not the same at all. That's why I said in my OP that it is the only intelligent INTERVIEW show left on TV.

We agree Mr Pee - it's the only interview programme currently on TV with Laurie Taylor and no moving about

Why is it a television programme then? Sounds like radio to me

Oh no, that was In The Psychiatrist's Chair with that nice Clare Anthony, innit. And then it was on BBC TV.

Yes the Sky programme is quite unique

[Mr Pee]

Yes the Sky programme is quite unique

At last. The penny has dropped. We got there in the end.

[Serial_Apologist]

Where does one go to have an irony by-pass? I think I could do with one too.