There’s a list of the top one hundred British TV programmes ever made over at the BFI’s site [bfi TV Top 100]. I just thought I’d comment on a few anomalies as I read through it.
- 2) Cathy Come Home
Never bloody heard of it. - 3) Doctor Who
It’s art of course. Except for those periods when it really sucked. A lot. And it’s not a kids program. Sheesh. - 6) Blue Peter
This list was clearly assembled by someone with too many nostalgic feelings, and frankly not enough memory. Insipid rubbish for children that has done nothing but poison the minds of the young into thinking wool sweaters are (or ever have been) fashionable. - 28) The Magic Roundabout
The childrens’ television program most likely to encourage the use of hallucinogens in later life was supposedly made in France and then redubbed in English without the slightest idea of what the original story was. The film features a stoned rabbit called Dylan saying lines like “I’m just sitting here watching these crazy mushrooms grow”, and is very frightening. - 34) University Challenge
A TV programme that only realised its true potential when Jeremy Paxman realised he could use it as an excuse to patronise and snipe at undergraduate students for their ignorance (despite having all the answers on little cards in front of him). A triumph. - 50) Father Ted
The most fun you can have with an aging monosyllabic atavist, a half-witted child-man and a scheming embezzler – assuming they are all priests. - 89) A Very Peculiar Practice
Any program with wild Nuns in it, scavenging out of bins and running across the wilds of 60s monolithic University Campuses is fine with me. - 97) Tellytubbies
England once again proves that there’s something in the water, and that we want to give it to our kids as soon as is humanly possible.