The conflict in Gaza was a subject on many viewers’ minds last month. A Dispatches special, Unseen Gaza, attracted the most appreciative comments of any programme in January, while Channel 4’s decision to broadcast the DEC Gaza appeal was also widely appreciated. Meanwhile, Celebrity Big Brother generated the highest number of complaints for the month.
Channel 4’s viewer enquiries team handled a total of 21,745 contacts (phone calls and emails) from viewers in January. Each query was logged and the appropriate people at Channel 4 notified. Of these contacts, 3,623 criticised the channel and its shows, while 938 complimented the programmes broadcast.
Top 10 programmes most appreciated by people who contacted Viewer Enquiries in January 2009 (quote is an example of viewer comment):
- Dispatches: Unseen Gaza (227)
“Excellent programme. Very good coverage on Gaza and it raises many interesting issues about what happened in Gaza. Jon Snow, as usual, has done an amazing piece of factual reporting. Well done.” - DEC Gaza Appeal (72)
“I would like to commend Channel 4 on its decision to air the Gaza Emergency Appeal. I am pleased that Channel 4, along with FIVE and ITV, has shown the compassion and common sense that the BBC and Sky network have apparently been unable to express” - Celebrity Big Brother (69)
“Well done C4 – the late night show on Monday was erudite and brilliant TV. I refer to the long conversation between Terry, Tommy (and Coolio) re: Catholic Ireland. Priceless and what the show is truly all about – the interaction of people with something to say who we would not normally be privy to.” - The Alternative Christmas Message (31)
“Thank you Channel 4 for providing an alternative. Your team is committed to ensuring that viewers get a more balanced view of the world. In showing many views you make clear that you do not follow a particular agenda apart from that of openness. Keep up the good work and do not bow to pressure of those that want to propagate false impressions of the world.” - Come Dine with Me (22)
“Thank you so much for the wonderful entertainment of Come Dine with Me, I arrange my afternoons in order to see it – great!! - Christianity: A History (19)
“I felt that I had to thank you for Christianity: A History. It was the best bit of television I had seen for years. It was so good that we watched it a second time so that we could take it all in. May we have some more please?” - Dispatches: Mum, Dad, Alzheimer’s and Me (18)
“Please can my sincere thanks and thoughts be passed to Fiona Philips? My Mum has early onset Alzheimer’s, this programme has helped me face what I have to possibly cope with in the future.” - Jamie Saves our Bacon (16)
“I would just like to congratulate Jamie Oliver and Channel 4 for the programme tonight. What a fantastic programme, with so much rubbish on TV these days. I found it an informative, enjoyable, easy viewing. Also someone that is proud to be British and support our own for a change. I will be supporting the British farmer!!!” - Surviving Gazza (12)
“I have never written in to a TV channel about a programme in the past, however, after watching the programme last night I felt compelled to do so. I simply wanted to say how well produced I thought the programme was, it didn’t glorify the issue and handled the problem of alcohol abuse and how it affects the family in a sensitive manner.” - Plus One (10)
“This was the funniest thing I’ve watched in ages, my teenage daughter came into the room just because she’d never heard me laugh so much. I’ve urged all my friends to watch it on 4OD. Well done Channel 4!!”
Top 10 programmes most criticised by people who contacted Viewer Enquiries in January 2009 (quote is an example of viewer comment):
- Celebrity Big Brother (1752)
“Why can’t we get interactive on E4? Help! I am missing out on so much of Celebrity Big Brother, I am having withdrawal symptoms. I like to watch it 24-7.” - Could You Eat an Elephant? (129)
“I wish to register a complaint regarding your showing of the above documentaries. Animals such as dogs and cats are tortured to death in countries like China. By showing this on TV for the chefs to show their “skills” you are condoning the abuse of sentient beings.” - Could You Eat an Elephant? – Trailer (148)
“I have just seen a trailer for the above programme and am appalled and dismayed that you would commission a programme on this subject. Channel 4 has gone down in me and my family’s estimation!” - Christianity: A History (87)
“We have seen many good documentaries on Channel 4, but have rarely been so disappointed as today by Christianity: A History. The topic was fascinating and could have been a very revealing programme, had the presenter not used every opportunity to push his utterly unhistorical notions of inclusiveness and multiculturalism on his experts.” - Ramsay’s Great British Nightmare (57)
“Gordon Ramsay’s language in this 9pm programme was distasteful and repulsive. It was completely unnecessary and after 15 minutes or so we turned over, because what would otherwise have been a very watch-able programme was ruined by Gordon’s endless expletives.” - Dispatches: Unseen Gaza (42)
“Purpose of the programme was to examine the difficulties news organisations face in reporting on the conflict in Gaza. Without minimising the dreadful plight of the ordinary Palestinians living in Gaza unfortunately the programme provided excellent propaganda for Hamas. Was this deliberate? Unfortunately I am left feeling very uneasy as to the real objective of the programme. Was it to vilify the Israelis as much as possible…?” - The Great British Food Fight (Trailer) (41)
“The union flag used on the TV ad for The Great British Food Fight is upside down. The thick white band in the top left corner should be upper most. Sorry to be an anorak.” - The Alternative Christmas Message (39)
“I am not a heavily political person, nor am I religious, but I found the very idea (I had no intention of watching it) of a broadcast of Iran’s President totally offensive and disrespectful to the people of this country and the wider world. I hope that Channel 4 is embarrassed at its desperate ratings attempt and will adopt a more morally and ethically appropriate stance on future broadcasts.” - The Gilmore Girls (39)
“Where is the omnibus edition of The Gilmore Girls? You are still transmitting the daily episodes. But no warning that you were taking off air the Saturday transmission. When will you be catching up? I have been following this series for months!!” - Come Dine with Me (37)
“I was just about to serve up our evening meal and was confronted by this man vomiting into the toilet. This programme is supposed to be entertaining and at the time it is aired there is absolutely no need to show something so obnoxious. Sort out your act!!!” - Country House Rescue (31)
“I am glad that Ruth Watson’s infantile “effing” has lately been bleeped from Country House Rescue. Unfortunately, I suspect that she may not be sensitive enough to perceive how ill these erasures reflect upon her. Now perhaps someone can advise her to keep her ludicrous ageism to herself. Some of her remarks about the elderly residents of Albury Park were dismally patronising and unfunny. She owes them an apology.”
How do you feel about this month’s Rated/Slated? Do you agree with the comments you’ve read?
Commentsoldest first
Am I alone in feeling profoundly disturbed by the recent Channel 4 documentary ‘Britain’s Conjoined Twins’? I want to make it clear that my comments relate not to the family involved, but the motives of the programme makers.
Since we already knew the outcome of the sad story of Hope and Faith, what was it that this programme hoped to add? That people in extremis are misguidedly willing to offer thenselves up to be sacrificed on the altar of TV because they think their story might ‘inspire’ others? Because watching two tiny human beings, clearly doomed from conception, undergo ground-breaking but ultimarely useless surgery is intrinsically educational for the general populace (rather than an audience limited to experts in the field)? What did we learn about the thought processes that lead to the young couple’s decision to continue the pregnancy against medical advice? Nothing more than in media interviews at the time. What did we learn about their emotional journey as they faced the undoubted agony of losing one, then the other baby following harrowing, continuous and massive medical intervention? Almost nothing. Throughout the programme they seem to be have been emotionally anaesthetised, their comments reduced to badly scripted, anodyne soundbites utterly incongruent with the gravity of the situation.
One of the greatest ironies was the hospital PR officer reminding the obviously distressed surgeon (who was about to give a press conference following the first death) ‘not forget to say he was sorry’ because although he knew he was sad it was easy to forget to say so in the heat of the moment and it wouldn’t play well to the press. Didn’t the programme-makers think to give the same warning to the parents about how THEY might come across to the audience?
More to the point, didn’t it occur to anyone who watched this programme before transmission that it would be better NOT to show it all? It clearly was not the hoped for story of triumph over adversity, hope over expectation, ground-breaking surgery resulting in life rather than death. It did not inspire. It traced a succession of hearbreaking events which surely anyone with a shred of humanity and the benefit of hindsight would have preferred to avoid at all costs.
Instead I was left with an unwanted, maybe unwarranted, but nevertheless unshakeable impression that the young couple had been so consumed by the process of making a TV programme that they came to believe they were taking part in a drama, something like Casualty, which would reliably follow a well-rehearsed fomula: a period of anguish, suspense, sorrow, but would inevitably have some kind of happy ending. Even the prayer offered up the grandfather seemed uncomfortably ’staged’. They appeared to have become detached from the tragedy that was unfolding before our eyes. They seemed blind to the daily deterioration of the babies, the increasing hopelessness of their condition, the obvious despair of the medical team as they ran out of options.
I hope this was not so. I hope the truth is that they were incredibly brave, and that they preferred to express their emotions privately off camera in order to retain their dignity.I would have liked the narrator to have reassured me that this was the case because a very different story was being told by the camera. My feeling is that this programme was highly exploitative of two young people who were emotionally vulnerable and probably naive, irrespective of whether they gave their full consent. It did not inspire, enlighten or inform, challenged nothing and was ultimately intrusive and voyeuristic. Sometimes people need protecting from themselves. That 15 minutes of fame so many aspire to in this age of celebrity can backfire pretty spectacularly. These were not ‘Britain’s’ conjoined twins. They deserved the dignity, as we all do, of a private life and a private death. As a so-called ‘public service broadcaster’ Channel 4 should have known better.
My name is Simon Dickson and I am the Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 responsible for the documentary about Faith and Hope. I read with interest Alison’s passionately and cogently argued post about the film and I would like to thank her both for watching the film and for feeding back with such sincerity. I thought it would be worthwhile explaining why I commissioned the documentary.
One of the founding principles of the Cutting Edge documentary strand is that it looks at what is really happening, behind the scenes, of stories in the news. Faith and Hope’s short lives, and the medical team’s efforts to extend them, were an ever-present topic of discussion in Britain in the weeks before Christmas.
It was extraordinarily brave of their parents to allow themselves to be filmed.
The film was a faithful picture of how Laura and Aled coped with the trauma of their daughters’ condition.
I felt that they explained very clearly their decision not to have an abortion, and why they took it.
I felt, as did many of the other viewers who have told me how much they valued the film, that Laura and Aled displayed extraordinary grace under extreme pressure. Other people, confronted with the situation they found themselves in, may well have coped differently, and shown their feelings in different ways. No two people are alike, and it is important to remember this when describing another person’s reaction to a challenging situation as “normal”, or not.
The differences between us, and the human experiences that unite us, are at the heart of Channel 4’s documentary output, and I am proud to have commissioned and broadcast the story of Faith and Hope, and of their parents.
Leave a comment
Sorry, but comments are closed for this page.