Quote:
Originally Posted by heero_yuy
With my hand on my heart I can say no.
Basil Rathbone was the quintessential Sherlock. Once you've seen one mating rhino, you've seen them all and Dr Who was ruined by Billie Piper (whom I hate) and I've never watched it since.
We like the specialist output of documentary channels like Discovery (networks) and Nat Geo. IF the BBC were producing mostly this output I would have no argument about funding it but because it has to pander to the low brow tastes of the major popule it fails for us. That's why I object to being forced to pay for it.
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I wouldn't knock Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock before you've seen him in action. Personally, for me, the quintessential Sherlock was Jeremy Brett, but Cumberbatch does a damn good job.
Regarding the programme Planet Earth, I fail to see how you can dismiss it as "you've seen one rutting rhino, you've seen them all". That's like dismissing the output of Discovery by saying "Well, you've seen one Nazi Invasion, you've seen them all" or "You've seen one big machine, you've seen them all". Discovery has some excellent documentaries. As does the BBC, but you need to be prepared to look a little further than just BBC 1 or 2. BBC 4 has documentaries that, in some cases, are better than those provided by Discovery or National Geographic (and I speak as a fan of Discovery, which was actually the main reason I got cable).
Regarding the comments about Doctor Who, refusing to watch the whole series because you didn't like one actress who stopped being a main character 8 years ago is a little odd, IMO. The series has changed a lot since it's re-launch and has given us what are, IMO, some of the best examples of storytelling on British TV recently. One example being Blink where a young girl, Sally Sparrow (played brilliantly by Carey Mulligan before she was famous) gets to rescue the doctor who has been trapped along with his assistant in 1969. This episode was wonderfully creepy.
---------- Post added at 13:12 ---------- Previous post was at 13:05 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maggy J
You do know that BBC content often ends up on Discovery and Nat Geo ?That in doing so the BBC are recouping the licence money?That the the licence money you don't want to pay to watch Eastenders etc but in fact go to produce a lot of documentaries and Natural History programmes as well.  |
Also, bear in mind that the profits from something low-brow but cheap to make (like Eastenders) also go back into making the more high brow stuff.
To give an idea of prices, an episode of Eastenders costs around £141,000 to produce. A good drama can cost ten times that per episode.