Christmas TV. Even Worse Than Usual ?

[ChiefPlanner]

Way back - you always used to get some classic railway orientated films like "Von Ryans Express" - "The Titfield Thunderbolt" - or for several years "The Signalman"

Plus of course - "The Great Escape" (gain and again)

All of course easily available on other modes.

 

[Tracked]

I liked All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride, the best thing on Xmas tv since it was on in 2015 ... :-?

 

[Howardh]

I know it's sport and not strictly TV - although it could be argued that it's sport FOR TV (??), thoroughly enjoyed the indoor biathlon from Schalke on Eurosport yesterday. That's probably the only "live" TV I've watched. Not normally a fan of guns, but there's something rather endearing about Gabriela Koukalová in the prone position shooting....

 

[SS4]

Hasn't TV always been bad around this time of year? I don't remember it being much better in the past either. I believe the Christmas Lectures used to be less kid-friendly but that may have been because I was kid at the time. We've always watched pre-recorded things whether it was VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray or streaming.

Personally, I've been watching football, the week's sports pass on now tv has proved very fruitful.

 

[12CSVT]

Only thing I've bothered watching this week was those classic episodes of Steptoe & Son (even though I've probably already seen some of them about 10 times)

 

[stephenhartley]

Flying Scotsman From The Footplate

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/52/flying-scotsman-from-the-footplate

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just watched the above, very pleasant, BS-free hour's viewing, pleased with that as a Christmas treat. Now on iplayer for anyone that missed out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b086kn87/flying-scotsman-from-the-footplate

 

[LuSiVe]

I enjoyed them, but appreciate that Mrs Browns Boys and Revolting Rhymes may be less to your taste!

Revolting Rhymes was the best thing I've seen over Christmas !

 

[euryalus]

I agree that Christmas TV gets worse every year, but there were one or two gems this year, including last night's two-hour drama about the Brontes - Finn Atkins being particularly good in the role of Charlotte.

 

[Kite159]

Maybe Bruce Springsteen should do an updated version of '57 Channels (And Nothin' On)'.

I quite enjoyed the first episode of Revolting Rhymes and have got JC, RI Christmas Lectures recorded (as well as the latest James May builds something slowly episode)

 

[SteveP29]

I've been using my Christmas break to watch stuff on catchup we recorded months ago that never got round to watching, stuff like The Fall series 3 (disappointing), the remainder of season 1 of Outcast (baffling at times), the second series of Ordinary Lies (should have left it at 1 series, trying to squeeze too much out of a decent premise)
The OH has her Grey's Anatomy and Game of Thrones to catch up on, she'll be doing that while I'm away at the moment till Monday.
The only things I'vce watched 'live' have been the news, the live football on sky and all day sessions of Only Fools on Gold

 

[Howardh]

Usually over the holidays BBC Parliament shows re-runs of general elections going back to the 60's (50's anyone??) - so either I've missed a day or they aren't showing any, booo. There's always youtube though!

 

[PHILIPE]

Read a letter in the press from somebody who is not a Harry Potter fan complaining that ITV have been showing a Harry Potter film EVERY evening

 

[Busaholic]

I've not seen one with the Fowey branch. However the Thirty-nine Steps had some lovely views of the Forth Bridge

Is it possible they interspersed shots of the Fowey branch with those views of the Forth bridge? About forty years since I saw the film, so I only remember the Forth as it was so memorable.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Is it possible they interspersed shots of the Fowey branch with those views of the Forth bridge? About forty years since I saw the film, so I only remember the Forth as it was so memorable.

I don't think so, also from what I can remember it was quite a light hearted type of film made possibly sometime between the early 1950s to early 60s. Some years ago (mid 90s) I got talking to an elderly lady in the waterside village of Golant who told me she was employed at Fowey station when this film was made, she also said that she thought some of the pans of the train were shot at Golant.

 

[yorksrob]

Indeed. There's only really the outside of Kings Cross and the Forth bridge from the 39 steps.

 

[Butts]

This is the price we pay for "expansion of the market"

I thought Doctor Who was to glitzy plus the absence of Davros, Daleks or Cybermen rendered it pretty worthless.

Call the Midwife, Agatha Christie adaptation and Maigret were good.

 

[euryalus]

Incidentally whilst watching these old Kenneth Moore movies do you ever recall seeing one with some railway scenes shot on the old Fowey branch? I've been trying for years to find out which one this was.

Golant Halt appeared in a 1948 British film entitled Miranda, which starred Glynis Johns as a mermaid who captures a holidaymaker and persuades him to take her from Cornwall to London - she is loaded onto the train at Golant Halt and is then seen arriving at Paddington.

 

[miami]

I think they should turn TV and radio off over Christmas to let the people working there have a break. Why should your need to vegetate after xmas lunch mean others can't have a two day break?

 

[yorksrob]

I think they should turn TV and radio off over Christmas to let the people working there have a break. Why should your need to vegetate after xmas lunch mean others can't have a two day break?

I wouldn't worry too much - they can record stuff earlier and play it at Christmas now !

 

[yorksrob]

Fortunately TV has been on more of an even keel recently, with some repeats of Lewis and New Tricks to tide me over.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Golant Halt appeared in a 1948 British film entitled Miranda, which starred Glynis Johns as a mermaid who captures a holidaymaker and persuades him to take her from Cornwall to London - she is loaded onto the train at Golant Halt and is then seen arriving at Paddington.

Many thanks for this so Kenneth More didn't star in this film but perhaps it's my memory playing tricks (apologies to Yorksrob for my seemingly duff info) and this is actually the one i saw all those years ago on tv, the only thing is that I seem to recall that it was shot in colour whereas Miranda appears to be a b/w film? then again it could be just my fading memory.

 

[euryalus]

Miranda was a black-and-white film - I found it on the internet in order to identify the station, which was certainly Golant. The train in the Golant scene looks like a 57XX class 0-6-0PT hauling a single auto-coach.

 

[backontrack]

Did anyone else watch Peter Pan Goes Wrong tonight? I was howling! This is what Xmas TV is supposed to be like.

 

[IanD]

Did anyone else watch Peter Pan Goes Wrong tonight? I was howling! This is what Xmas TV is supposed to be like.

Worst thing I've seen so far this Christmas. And I've been watching Storage Hunters this afternoon (to put it in perspective).

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Did anyone else watch Peter Pan Goes Wrong tonight? I was howling! This is what Xmas TV is supposed to be like.

I did! It was fantastic! I don't think I've laughed so much since I watched Fawlty Towers (on dvd) a few years ago. IMO definitely one example of how at least some BBC tv has stayed very good.

 

[backontrack]

I did! It was fantastic! I don't think I've laughed so much since I watched Fawlty Towers (on dvd) a few years ago. IMO definitely one example of how at least some BBC tv has stayed very good.

Agreed! Though it will never beat Dinner for One...

 

[miami]

I wouldn't worry too much - they can record stuff earlier and play it at Christmas now !

You'd think, but the number of my friends who worked xmas day to ensure Frozen and the likes went out is surprisingly high, but they take solace from the millions of happy people watching their output. Same goes for those looking after netflix's infrastructure. And indeed railforums.co.uk

I was most impressed with Brian Cox's pantomime, Dr Who was also surprisingly better than expected.

 

[yorksrob]

You'd think, but the number of my friends who worked xmas day to ensure Frozen and the likes went out is surprisingly high, but they take solace from the millions of happy people watching their output.

Judging by the output, they needn't have bothered.

Bah humbug.

 

[AM9]

I did! It was fantastic! I don't think I've laughed so much since I watched Fawlty Towers (on dvd) a few years ago. IMO definitely one example of how at least some BBC tv has stayed very good.

I suppose it is a human shortcoming to look at this one year's TV output and compare it with their rose tinted view of the 'best' TV in their recall. In any typical Christmas offering there was lots of rubbish, even by the standatrds of the day. The prime shows hosted by favourites of the time would make us cringe with embarassment today, just think of Mike Yarwood, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, Lulu, Larry Grayson. There is little enthusiasm to show repeats of these dire broadcasts which only succeeded because there were only 3 channels to choose from, despite the current trend to recycle everything in the vaults.
I'm no fan of Sky or any of the PPV media but for those who have made the financial commitment, they only have to spend a few minutes looking for something different.

 

[yorksrob]

I suppose it is a human shortcoming to look at this one year's TV output and compare it with their rose tinted view of the 'best' TV in their recall. In any typical Christmas offering there was lots of rubbish, even by the standatrds of the day. The prime shows hosted by favourites of the time would make us cringe with embarassment today, just think of Mike Yarwood, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, Lulu, Larry Grayson. There is little enthusiasm to show repeats of these dire broadcasts which only succeeded because there were only 3 channels to choose from, despite the current trend to recycle everything in the vaults.
I'm no fan of Sky or any of the PPV media but for those who have made the financial commitment, they only have to spend a few minutes looking for something different.

Mike Yarwood was a top impressionist of the day, and Larry Grayson had that most excellent vehicle "The Generation Game".

In the last twenty years or so we've had excellent Christmas specials from the likes of French & Saunders, One Foot In The Grave, Victoria Wood, Only Fools And Horses etc. The sad truth is that our terrestrial channels seem to have largely given up on quality comedy recently in favour of cake baking and ballroom dancing.