BBC Four - Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails (2008)

[och aye]

For those who may have missed this, back in 2008 Ian Hislop made a programme for BBC Four looking back at the legacy of the Beeching Report. It was recently shown again and is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next 11 months.

I'm guessing this is part of marking the Railway 200 celebrations.

BBC Four - Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails

Ian Hislop looks at the 1963 Beeching Report, which closed a third of the UK's railways.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm guessing this is part of marking the Railway 200 celebrations.

Quite possibly. The Beeb have certainly been repeating a fair bit of railway-themed TV material in the last month or so, particularly so on BBC4. Quite enjoyed the Severn Valley Railway cab ride.

 

[och aye]

Quite possibly. The Beeb have certainly been repeating quite a lot of railway-themed TV material in the last month or so, particularly so on BBC4.

I suppose they've got to fill the schedules with something

I'm not complaining though, as it's great to rewatch some of these programmes. I actually enjoyed this particular show, as it was quite balanced rather than being a complete bashingof Beeching - for example he references Ernst Marples - which many other TV programmes I've watched tend not to mention too much or only make fleeting references about him.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I actually enjoyed this particular show, as it was quite balanced rather than being a complete bashing of Beeching - for example he references Ernst Marples - which many other TV programmes I've watched tend not to mention too much or only make fleeting references about him.

Indeed. And it's not as if the afore-mentioned Ian Hislop has ever been that slow to call out questionable behaviour by politicians!

 

[JohnMcL7]

Thanks for the recommendation and found the program a good watch especially after reading a book about the history of British Rail not long ago. For all the times I've head Beeching's name I realised I didn't even know what he looked like so it was fascinating seeing the video clips of him speaking.

 

[och aye]

Thanks for the recommendation and found the program a good watch especially after reading a book about the history of British Rail not long ago. For all the times I've head Beeching's name I realised I didn't even know what he looked like so it was fascinating seeing the video clips of him speaking.

You're welcome. It's a good watch, I wonder if the BBC would be up for doing another railway programme with Ian Hislop on the state of today's railways.

 

[overthere 2]

You're welcome. It's a good watch, I wonder if the BBC would be up for doing another railway programme with Ian Hislop on the state of today's railways.

He also did a program about Robert Baden Powell's book "Scouting for Boys" which led to the setting up of the Scout movement which was really good.

The problem is, Sometimes in the past I used to watch "Have I got news for you" but I gave up with it partly because with having guest presenter's it was hit or miss weather the dynamic worked and the humor flowed or on other occasions it was painful to watch as the guest presenter floundered and didn't gel with Ian and Paul and so was not funny where as in the old days with Angus Deayton it was pretty much spot on each time.

The other reason is that the point of the show is to bash ALL Politician's and celebrity's but I noticed particularly after the Brexit vote it became more and more "bash the right and love the left" with a particular snaring hatred for leavers and both Ian and Paul Merton became very whiny and moaning also I'm pretty sure I saw a survey a while ago that the balance of guests was heavily tilted to left wing politicians, commentators and celebrity's.

I also occasionally glance at Private Eye and that is also getting quite leftish and its not only me because I have seen in the letters page people writing in and saying that they always seem to be bashing the right and love the left, there also seems to be a particular venom for Reform.

Therefore while it would be good to do a sort of follow up, perhaps called: "Ian Hislop: back on the rails" I fear he would say something like: "The modern railway was rubbish up to 1997, it was then great from there till 2010, it then became a bit rubbish between 2010 and 2015 but it could have been worse had it not been for those nice Lib dems. Then from 2015 to 2024 it was a disaster and from 2024 Labour are trying to make it great again but are struggling because of those "nasty car loving Tories" and conveniently forgetting that it was the Tories that launched the "Reopening Your Railway" scheme and it was Labour who scrapped it and the true fact is that whoever is in power the railways always seen to get messed around and mistreated.

Also in the original program he drove a bit of the Waverley route so no doubt this time he would use the train, He might also might ride on the Okehampton and Northumberland lines and look at the re-building of the Portishead line but It would be a pretty safe bet he would again forget to mention that these have come about under a Conservative government.