UK TV from the past

[Aclea]

Curated movie seasons used to be a BBC2 speciality, as did themed movie seasons running for months - I was introduced to Ealing films when they used to run primetime double bills with a vintage newsreel between them on BBC2 - but they went from being a mainstay of late-night weekend TV and increasingly became sidelined to late-night fillers at Christmas and now not even that. The reason on the main BBC channels is that 'old' films are no longer that much of a ratings draw anymore now that we can stream or buy them ourselves so it's not worth going to the expense, especially with the arts budget constantly slashed, but it would be nice if they could try something like it on BBC4 at least.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Curated movie seasons used to be a BBC2 speciality, as did themed movie seasons running for months - I was introduced to Ealing films when they used to run primetime double bills with a vintage newsreel between them on BBC2 - but they went from being a mainstay of late-night weekend TV and increasingly became sidelined to late-night fillers at Christmas and now not even that. The reason on the main BBC channels is that 'old' films are no longer that much of a ratings draw anymore now that we can stream or buy them ourselves so it's not worth going to the expense, especially with the arts budget constantly slashed, but it would be nice if they could try something like it on BBC4 at least.

Yes I agree, I would have liked BBC4 to try something along the same lines - in fact I've even heard some comments shortly after the channel began broadcasting that it was going to be similar to what BBC2 used to be in bygone days. By that, I was rather hoping for something like a classic film night which could appeal to us film buffs, however you are quite right, the BBC will probably think that film fans will just buy DVD's or blu-rays instead - which to be fair I do.