Network, BBC, Screenbound, Renown, Fabulous Films and Simply Media thread

[CV19]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

It made sense to me what you said. And regarding the end credits being squashed up (and spoken over), Channel Five is one of the worst culprits. At least with BBC One, they have about half of the screen for the end credits, and the rest of the screen for what's coming up next on some of the BBC channels. I watch some shows now on Catch Up On Demand, because usually you don't get the squashed up, spoken over end credits.

I do remember watching repeats of Love Thy Neighbour on (I think) Gold. Unfortunately they didn't finish the complete series rerun because of (I think) complaints (I agree, I don't think any channel would get away with repeating it now). I've also seen Jack Smethhurst on the sitcom Dinnerladies.

Saw bits of The Comedians, but not complete editions. Network released on DVD series of The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club (not seen any of that series). One of my favourite comedy specials is An Audience with Ken Dodd (Frank Carson provides one of the funniest moments in it).

Nearly all the channels are guilty of squashing credits I'm afraid. I stopped subscribing to Sky Movies a while back (or Sky Cinema as it's now called), but the last time I had it, they were doing the same thing. That really annoyed me because this was after all a subscription service that you were paying for - I wouldn't have complained if it was a free-to-air service.

Shortly after they started doing this, I e-mailed Sky asking them for the reason why (in those days you could still send them an e-mail to query something). The reply I received will stagger you. Believe it or not, they told me that viewers felt it was important to know what was coming up next. I replied back saying something along the lines of....."What?? You already provide a voice-over informing us of what's next, and not only that but there is a simple device on the Sky remote called an EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) which will display a banner informing the viewer at the touch of a button of what's to follow!"

Anyway, now that I've got that off my chest () I used to watch both Gold (I think it was called UK Gold back then) as well as Granada Plus. The Gold channel tended to focus more on BBC's catalogue while Granada showed ITV's archive, but unfortunately Gold nowadays seems to consist of very regular commercial breaks with never-ending trailers of forthcoming shows.

I always thought they got away with showing Love Thy Neighbour due to the fact that the channel was part of Sky's subscription package rather than a free-to-air channel, but I guess there are always people who will complain instead of simply changing over and watching another channel.

I also remember Granada+ having The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club on their schedules, but I've never actually watched any of these shows.....I'm sure they were good though.