Points of View
Encyclopedia
Points of View is a long-running television show shown in the United Kingdom
on BBC One
, featuring the letters of viewers offering praise, criticism and purportedly witty observations on the television of recent weeks. The current series began on 11 October 2009; in recent years, it is shown on Sunday afternoons, with the exact time slot usually varying each week.
The original theme tune to the programme was the first 13 seconds of Kid Ory
's trad jazz
piece "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula", played by the Dutch Swing College Band.
The show returned in 1979 with the dry humour of Barry Took
at the helm, and later adopting The Beatles
' "When I'm Sixty-Four
" as its theme tune (because of the lyric "Send me a postcard, drop me a line, stating point of view"). Took was eventually replaced by several presenters including Tony Robinson
, Alan Titchmarsh
and Chris Serle
, none of whom lasted long, until Anne Robinson
(no relation to Tony, Robert or Kenneth) restored stability to the role. For many years during this period, the programme held a slot of 20:50 on Wednesday evenings.
From 1999 to early 2008, the show was presented by Terry Wogan
, who was replaced by Jeremy Vine
, a regular presenter on BBC Radio 2
. He continues as presenter of the current series.
This perennially popular show typifies the British method of complaint; as Victoria Wood
put it, "When the Russians feel strongly about an issue they form a bloody revolution — the British write a strongly worded letter to Points of View". Although, much less common now, the show has over the decades featured many a letter beginning "Why, oh why, oh why..." and signed "Upset of Uxbridge
" or "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
", or something similar (these days, most, if not all, simply use their real names), with the complaints receiving little but a pre-packaged witty comment from the presenter. Along the way the show has always discreetly catered for those who reminisce about the so-called "golden days" of the BBC
, featuring letters asking "Please, please, please could you show the clip where Vera Lynn
sang to the troops on the 50th anniversary of D-Day
last week", and the like.
The series has often been criticised for featuring too much praise of the BBC and its programmes, and playing down criticism. This tendency has been sent up by many comedians over the years, including memorable skits in Monty Python's Flying Circus
and Not the Nine O'Clock News
. In the latter, positive letters said such things as "I think the (television licence) fee is far too low. I would willingly sell my house and all its contents to help the BBC."
Further criticism came from comedians Stephen Fry
and Hugh Laurie
in their sketch comedy
show A Bit of Fry and Laurie
. In a sketch where Fry had supposedly removed Laurie's brain, Laurie said that he was "off to write a letter to Points of View", the implication being that only the brainless would engage in such an activity. In a later episode, a woman claims she has had two letters read out on Points of View, and that "they say if you get three, you're automatically sectioned under the Mental Health Act." The programme became (around 1994) the first BBC TV show to invite contributions by email
, and at one point, its producer Bernard Newnham had the only internet connection in BBC Television Centre
.
Points of View underwent something of a revision in 2007. Now as well as viewers' letters and emails there are home-made video comments and specially-filmed inserts with viewers putting questions to TV producers. In the 2007 season, Points of View featured diverse films, such as students from Sussex University making a passionate plea for the BBC to keep the soap opera
Neighbours
, John Leivers interviewing Roly Keating
(the controller of BBC Two
) on the channel's direction, and Jill Parkinson asking why there aren't more people with disabilities featured in BBC programmes. The current series began on 2 October 2011.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, featuring the letters of viewers offering praise, criticism and purportedly witty observations on the television of recent weeks. The current series began on 11 October 2009; in recent years, it is shown on Sunday afternoons, with the exact time slot usually varying each week.
History
The show began in 1961 with Robert Robinson presenting viewers' letters to the BBC. It was originally designed as an occasional five-minute "filler" to plug gaps between shows. Each show now lasts around 15 minutes. Kenneth Robinson (no relation to Robert) took over in 1965, though Robert Robinson returned in 1969 before the show was dropped in 1971. During the 1960s there was also a spin-off, Junior Points of View.The original theme tune to the programme was the first 13 seconds of Kid Ory
Kid Ory
Edward "Kid" Ory was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana.-Biography:...
's trad jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
piece "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula", played by the Dutch Swing College Band.
The show returned in 1979 with the dry humour of Barry Took
Barry Took
Barry Took was an English comedian, writer and television presenter. He is best remembered in the UK for his weekly role as presenter of Points of View, a BBC TV programme in which viewers' letters criticising or praising the BBC were broadcast...
at the helm, and later adopting The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "When I'm Sixty-Four
When I'm Sixty-Four
"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and released in 1967 on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.-Composition:...
" as its theme tune (because of the lyric "Send me a postcard, drop me a line, stating point of view"). Took was eventually replaced by several presenters including Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
, Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...
and Chris Serle
Chris Serle
Christopher "Chris" Richard Serle is a former BBC TV presenter, reporter and actor. Serle was educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied modern languages...
, none of whom lasted long, until Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
(no relation to Tony, Robert or Kenneth) restored stability to the role. For many years during this period, the programme held a slot of 20:50 on Wednesday evenings.
From 1999 to early 2008, the show was presented by Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
, who was replaced by Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine is a British author, journalist and news presenter for the BBC. He is known for his direct interview style and exclusive reporting from war-torn areas throughout Africa...
, a regular presenter on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
. He continues as presenter of the current series.
This perennially popular show typifies the British method of complaint; as Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
put it, "When the Russians feel strongly about an issue they form a bloody revolution — the British write a strongly worded letter to Points of View". Although, much less common now, the show has over the decades featured many a letter beginning "Why, oh why, oh why..." and signed "Upset of Uxbridge
Uxbridge
Uxbridge is a large town located in north west London, England and is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. It forms part of the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is located west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres...
" or "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
The term Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is a proverbial sign-off-name in the United Kingdom for a letter to a newspaper complaining about a subject that the writer feels is unacceptable....
", or something similar (these days, most, if not all, simply use their real names), with the complaints receiving little but a pre-packaged witty comment from the presenter. Along the way the show has always discreetly catered for those who reminisce about the so-called "golden days" of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, featuring letters asking "Please, please, please could you show the clip where Vera Lynn
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
sang to the troops on the 50th anniversary of D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
last week", and the like.
The series has often been criticised for featuring too much praise of the BBC and its programmes, and playing down criticism. This tendency has been sent up by many comedians over the years, including memorable skits in Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
and Not the Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a television comedy sketch show which was broadcast on BBC 2 from 1979 to 1982.Originally shown as a comedy "alternative" to the BBC Nine O'Clock News on BBC 1, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy...
. In the latter, positive letters said such things as "I think the (television licence) fee is far too low. I would willingly sell my house and all its contents to help the BBC."
Further criticism came from comedians Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
and Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
in their sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show A Bit of Fry and Laurie
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
A Bit of Fry & Laurie is a British sketch comedy television series starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2 between 1989 and 1995. It ran for four series and totalled 26 episodes, including a 35 minute pilot episode in 1987.As in The...
. In a sketch where Fry had supposedly removed Laurie's brain, Laurie said that he was "off to write a letter to Points of View", the implication being that only the brainless would engage in such an activity. In a later episode, a woman claims she has had two letters read out on Points of View, and that "they say if you get three, you're automatically sectioned under the Mental Health Act." The programme became (around 1994) the first BBC TV show to invite contributions by email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, and at one point, its producer Bernard Newnham had the only internet connection in BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre at White City in West London is the headquarters of BBC Television. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it remains one of the largest to this day; having featured over the years as backdrop to many BBC programmes, it is one of the most readily recognisable such facilities...
.
Points of View underwent something of a revision in 2007. Now as well as viewers' letters and emails there are home-made video comments and specially-filmed inserts with viewers putting questions to TV producers. In the 2007 season, Points of View featured diverse films, such as students from Sussex University making a passionate plea for the BBC to keep the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, John Leivers interviewing Roly Keating
Roly Keating
Roland "Roly" Keating is the current Director of Archive Content for the BBC.-Education:Keating was educated at Westminster School, an independent school for boys in London, followed by Balliol College at the University of Oxford, where he read Classics.-Life and career:Keating joined the BBC in...
(the controller of BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
) on the channel's direction, and Jill Parkinson asking why there aren't more people with disabilities featured in BBC programmes. The current series began on 2 October 2011.