The BBC is (or was) wonderful, and really what television is for. It lived up to its remit to inform, educate and entertain; a large audience - not just highbrows, but ordinary people - watched adaptations of the classics, experimental programmes and great documentary series, as well as drama, comedies, children's shows and genre shows.
The programmes were of a high quality, with generally excellent actors and at least solid (sometimes inspired) direction. Apart from that, the BBC respected the audience. The public might not be university educated, but they were intelligent and, given the chance, would want to
find out. So television was meant to show the world; it was meant to make people learn and think and ask questions. (Particularly under Hugh Greene, who saw the BBC as a 'licensed gadfly'!)
Favourite BBC programmes include:
Doctor Who is wonderful - particularly the first four Doctors (William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker), but lost its way in the '80s, had an Indian summer with Sylvester McCoy, was axed, and the least said about the new series, the better!
- Quatermass II (1955; science fiction - may not be suitable for the very young, the very old, the middle aged, those just going off, those on the turn, young dogs and alderman John Snagge)
- Quatermass and the Pit (1958-59; the sequel, in which an unexploded bomb leads to a startling discovery about the origins of the human race)
- Peter Cook & Dudley Moore - Not Only But Also (1964-1970; brilliant sketch comedy)
- Out of the Unknown (1965-71; science fiction anthology series, released on DVD earlier this year; "Level 7" and "The Machine Stops" are both great television - the former is a grim apocalyptic tale, while the latter is visually interesting, almost Expressionist)
- Adam Adamant Lives! (1966-67; adventure series about an Edwardian crime fighter who is frozen in 190something and wakes up in the Swinging Sixties)
- Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland (1966; surreal, dreamlike adaptation)
- The Forsyte Saga (1966; the original big literary adaptation, so popular churches rescheduled services)
- Dad's Army (1968-77; comedy - very easy to take for granted, until you sit down and realise just how good it is; comedy rooted in character)
- The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968; science fiction about a society warped by reality TV)
- Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-74; comedy)
- The Goodies (1970-81; comedy - often thought of as kiddie Python, but "Sex and Violence", "It Might As Well Be String", "Radio Goodies' and "The Goodies Rule, OK" are brilliant)
- Doomwatch (1970-72; science fiction, about a team of scientists investigating environmental issues)
- The Two Ronnies (1971-87; comedy - often inspired sketches, particularly Ronnie Barker's monologues)
- Lord Peter Wimsey (1972-75; adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers's detective stories; Ian Carmichael is much more likeable than Edward Petherbridge in the '80s series, whose Wimsey is a codfish)
- Wodehouse Playhouse (1974-78; adaptations of P.G. Wodehouse stories)
- Fawlty Towers (1975 & 1979; comedy)
- I, Claudius (1976; drama - stunning; one of the best things ever shown on television, with a great cast, and a script that dances between comedy and drama; so many great scenes and quotable lines)
- Ripping Yarns (1976-79; comedy - Michael Palin & Terry Jones's parody of Edwardian adventure stories; the murder mystery and the one about the monkey's paw are great)
- The Norman Conquests (1977; three plays set in different rooms at the same time - fascinating concept)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981; comedy - the TV series, although not as good as the radio)
- Blackadder (1983-89; of course)
- Miss Marple (1984-92; Joan Hickson is the definitive Miss Marple)
- Campion (1989-90; adaptation of Margery Allingham's detective stories - Peter Davison's happier in the role than he was as the Fifth Doctor)
- Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (1989-94; children's comedy, written by Tony Robinson, & showing Maid Marian as the leader, while Robin Hood is an incompetent sissy)
- Coupling (2000-04; comedy - the best thing Steven Moffat ever did; some of the episodes are astonishing, particularly the split screen episode and the one where the same five minutes are retold from different characters' perspectives)
- Horrible Histories (2009-; comedy)
In radio:
- The Goon Show (1951-60; comedy - stonkingly brilliant, and has warped my brain - it's all in the mind, you know)
- The Slide (1966; science fiction, about sentient mud that threatens an English village; written by Victor Pemberton, who wrote the Doctor Who story "Fury from the Deep", and starring Roger Delgado)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978; comedy - the radio series has a joy and inventiveness that later versions lack)
- The Lord of the Rings (1981; fantasy - truer to Tolkien than later versions, with Michael Hordern as Gandalf - does anyone remember the animationWind in the Willows, with Hordern as Badger, Ian Carmichael as Ratty, David Jason as Toad, and Richard Pearson as Mole
- Sherlock Holmes (1989-98; Clive Merrison captures both Holmes's neurotic brilliance and his humanity, possibly closer to the book version than anyone)
- Nebulous (2005-08; comedy, about a group of scientists in a post-apocalyptic society)
- Bleak Expectations (2007-12; comedy - starts as a spoof of Dickens, with the orphan Pip Bin the victim of the ghastly Mr Gently Benevolent; I need to track down the book)
And I remember as a kid loving
Simon and the Witch (with the great Elizabeth Spriggs as the witch).
The Chronicles of Narnia,
Five Children and It,
Little Lord Fauntleroy and
The Borrowers (with Ian Holm & Penelope Wilton) were excellent adaptations. And
Bagpuss is charming.
What little I've seen of
Steptoe and Son is good, but depressing - it's Beckett done as sitcom, about two people who hate each other but can't get away playing power games.
Yes Minister is boring; and I couldn't get into
Blake's 7,
Red Dwarf,
Edge of Darkness or
League of Gentlemen. The Tom Sharpe adaptation
Porterhouse Blue is depressing (like the book) - it's a very gloomy depiction of a Si-heavy community, governed by tradition and ritual (like Gormenghast, but not as imaginative); of course adapting other Tom Sharpe novels for the screen would cause problems!
I've heard great things about
A Very Peculiar Practice and
The Box of Delights (with Peter Davison and Patrick Troughton respectively).
Then there are the documentaries - the great David Attenborough
Life series (I have a signed copy of
The Living Planet!); Kenneth Clark's
Civilization, Jacob Bronowski's
Ascent of Man, Robert Winston's
Human Body, Brian Cox's science series.
Oof! Now to actually
watch something!
