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Throughout the year, Channel 4 will also broadcast a number of TV Show debates. Hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, these shows will focus on some of the bigger issues raised by viewers and give our audience another chance to let us know what they think. The next TV Show is scheduled to be broadcast in October.
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Dear, oh dear, C4,
Why are you trailing poor Kev Bishop until he is blue in the face, particularly using clips of impressions he already did in the opening show of his series??? It’s absurd. All this does is make us viewers think it’s not worth watching any more episodes if his channel and producers clearly think he did his best impressions in episode 1! If I have to see the Gok Wan ‘It’s all about the confidence’ skit one more time, that’s it, I’m no longer a fan of Kevin, and it won’t even be his fault!
Madeleine York
What’s he got against David Mitchell? Or The Mighty Boosh for that matter?
However, I enjoyed the spoof’ Parky/Emu’ trail in the style of ‘Frost/Nixon’. And the ‘Lost:UK’ sketch was good, because my little niece always yells the ‘Bad Robot!’ jingle at the end of the original.
I watched the first episode and did not find it at least funny, it was sheer desperation.
To be hones Im really upset with channel 4. There is a programme called “how the other half lives”. Now to be honest i think this is a complete useless waste of money. This show is to help people in need but all it seems to do is help poor people who cant seem to look after there money properly. Why cant the rich family help a homeless man? or a person who lives in a hostel and seriously has nothing. All that gets helped are poor families who seem to already have a roof over there head, a TV, a bed, kettle, microwave, oven, food, clothes but just dont have that much money but at the same time have money to survive. Why cant you lot help people REALLY in need. Im so angry.
I essentially agree with you Ali. Good point. The “help” does seem to be directed at the wrong people sometimes. I feel it from a different point of view though. Having contributed literally tens of thousands of pounds of tax and NI over the years, what am I entitled to when I find myself unemployed? That’s right: absolultely nothing. It is true that I’m not immediately in dire-straits and I’ll accept the moral/christian arguments up to a point, but at the same time I feel that the system isn’t entirely “fair” and I genuinely do feel exploited…
Well I never.
I’ve always been rather septical about Spiritualism (no that wasn’t a mis-type), but Revelations “Talking to the Dead” shown on 9th August was really rather interesting.
It has inspired me to get a couple of books out of the library today and read more about the subject. Having watched the programme, I’m also better placed to talk to a little old lady that I do some gardening for, whom I know is a Spiritualist.
I’m not saying I believe everythign that was said or that I have been “converted”, but I’m much less inclined to dismiss Spiritualism, I’m no longer frightened of it and I’m much more inclined to think about it with an open-mind.
So I have to say that as TV documentaries go, it Revelations “Talking to the Dead” has done its job and it was a good programme…
Well done Channel 4.
Countdown programme finished?
Dear C4, TV show producers,
I am writing to comment about Big Brother Show. I am not a particular fan of the show but what I have seen in the past two days with Bea bullying Freddy has been a disgrace. First, you are all complaint about bullying yet that is a regular occurrence in the Big Brother house. Secondly, what is the show all about? I do understand it is your endurance and the fact that you are able to cope with different people from different background but does the show really have to be that stupid and literally un-educative for people to understand they can cope in such a milieu. Yes the show is a live show and yes people get voted by the public but don’t you people think the public also needs to learn something from the show?
Ever since the late Jade Goody incident, the show has been deteriorating from ok to bad and will soon be worst. First those selected don’t look like they have any peace of knowledge to offer the public. Not that all of them do, but a vast majority especially those presently in the house are just jokes. Bea spent the past two days bullying Freddy and that is really wrong. She is rude and in my opinion should be cautioned. And what about smoking, most of the house mates are just like chimneys. I can go on and on but my proposed advice is that, you all seat down and give the Big Brother show a face lift. TV shows are made to educate or to send out a particular message to the audience. I think Big Brother has run out of ideas and need to bring in people who are creative and who can provide better creative assignments for the house mates. More importantly, those assignments should be creative and educative especially for the youths that spend so much time watching the show. I hope in expressing my opinion I haven’t hurt any body. Thank you.
i watch big brother on a regular basis about three days ago i suggested that it would be a good idea to bring in the queen lookalike.i posted the suggestion on the big brother log. how suprised i was today to see you have used my idea,it would have been nice to have had a thank you at least.the blog must have been seen because you keep telling us you monetor all blogs for unsuitable material
Thanks for your suggestion and comment. The production team came up with the idea of a Queen impersonator entering the Big Brother House some time ago. Like yourself, many people have made similar suggestions in advance of our ‘Queen’ actually entering the House.
Thanks again for all your comments,
Kate Quilton
Editor, Big Brother Online
Big Brother and BBLB “george lamb” need to be setting an example against bullying and not creating one! it is becoming so uncomfortable to watch george lamb daily, do a character assasination on housemate MARCUS, putting him down for the way he looks, dressws and even refers to him “smelling” (how would he know) just because he does,nt like someone does not give him license to belittlel him in such a venomous way on every show of BBLB. I and many others are also very upset and concerned at the unfair way bb producers are engineering the show to the way they want it ran instead of leaving it to the public as it was designed to do so. they are steering the nominations in there favour so that the paying public dont get a fair say in who should be staying or going, and they are using the public in such a blatent manner as to do bb,s dirty workk for them ie; they engineer the nominations to go the way they want, the public then spend there hard earned money to then vote out the people they no longer want in there. if you have any doubts about what i,m saying then just visit the bigbrother forums on c4,s website and various others to get a feel of how the public truly feels. Big Brother producers i ask you to please look at the way this format of programme is being manipulated for every viewers sake who gives a care wether it continues to run. yours an avid viewer, miss c bentley
My family & I feel very strongly that BB10 has run its course (sadly) entertainment value “NIL.”
House mates NOT entertaining. NO fun content when house mates are reduced to tears on live TV. Had to switch off.. Surely this is not the kind of behaviour that puts ratings up, SO SAD..
Have stopped watching the show & will NOT be voting.. These are NOT the two people that should be up for eviction and I am not alone when I say this..
From a FORMER devoted BB fan…
…..
,
what is going on in hollyoaks? possibly the worst show on t.v!! who is this weird couple Daniel and Abbey that are trying to steal a BABY!! Surley if they are that desperate they would try and adopt a child! It seems to me the writers are scraping the barrel and just have nothing left so have to repeat story lines. Hollyoaks sucks and i wish it would DIE gracefully.
“how the other half..”
this is a brilliant programme!! So inspiring and so much better than the secret millionaire.. Proper families …and it smashes stereotypes…excellent
In reply,..it helps normal people who are trying…can’t understand your comments..
I think the ‘Bea’ episode with Freddie should have been nipped in the bud by Big Brother and can’t understand why she wasn’t called into the diary room to be at very least calmed down. Has she got shares in C4 or something? Come on guys!
I was very dissapointed with the coverage of the sonisphere festival. 1 hour was not long enough whatsoever, especially if you subtract advert time and random shots of knebworth house. So all in the all the actual music only lasted for a total of say 30 minutes. Not impressed.
Just watching a repeat of Gok’s Fashion Fix, and I think Gok comes over as a really sensitive and feeling person. Bless ‘im!
I just witnessed on Big Brother a fellow human distressed to the point that Rodrigo was in the name of voyeuristic entertainment and ethic-committee side-stepping psychological experiments. I thought that these this Milgram-esque experiments of social psychology had been consigned to posterity. Nope, I was wrong.
Nonmaleficence is a serious ethical issue for both the participants and viewers alike.
Please can someone tell me when the actual Final day of the Big Brother show is.?
re: The Kevin Bishop Show
Are you serious? It appears all you have to do to get a Ch4 show these days is hang about celebrity parties ready to throw your hand in the air and shout ‘oo oo me sir me!’
I love peurile humour, I love clever humour, I love near the knuckle humour, I love cruel humour.
What I don’t love is a poorly executed, weakly written travesty like this. The Chris from Coldplay sketch plumbed the depths, relying on a pisspoor impression and lyrics like ‘I’m a knob I’m a knob I should shut my gob’ repeated over and over. There are children all over the playgrounds of Britain rightfully annoyed at their classy material being passed over for this dross. He went on to cleverly distill the campaign for Fair Trade into ‘he wants you to pay more for bananas and coffee’ rhymed wonderfully with something about Gwynnie (Paltrow….awesome).
Get some self respect Channel 4, whichever school friend of this weak substandard numpty commissioned this needs handing the bill for your credentials as a forward looking innovative channel looking to bring your viewers clever or peurile but ultimately funny programming. Weak, pathetic, dull and disappointing. Spend your comedy budget somewhere else and hoik him back to the pile of talentless wannabes he slimed out from underneath.
Thanks then, cheerio, pip pip!
wy has c/4 taken of coach trip witch is on more4 on a sunday & put on how clean is your house ?
I have never watched Chatty Man before – but was unfortunate enough to accidently watch Amanda Holden’s impersonation of Susan Boyle on Sunday 16th August. I and my family were horrified as she and Alan Carr started to put on false moustaches and wigs and started to sing.
They and the rest of the nation know all about Susan Boyle’s mental health problems and the cruelty of the performance was beyond belief. How the producers of the show allowed to go out at all was shocking, but it seemed that even the audience thought it was funny. A sad sign of the times.
“On tour with the Queen” is great – a forgotten world comes alive. And it is made with a generosity of spirit. But there was one very unfair comment made last night – that Britain didn’t send any ships to defend Australia. They sent every ship they could spare, including the Prince of Wales, the newest battleship: sunk off Malaya with the Repulse.
My grandparents looked after the crew of the aircraft carrier Hermes – sunk. My mother (who was African and served in the FANY) was one of the code people responsible for the Indian Ocean – she was often the first to know when a ship went down, and she herself lost many very good friends, including one in the ship next to her. They searched for survivors for hours, knowing the risk of a torpedo, but little result. One of her special tasks was to decipher badly coded messages, often sent by operators in ships in extremis: a tragic task.
I attach the list of the Royal Navy ships sunk in the Indian ocean. There simply were not any ships left – they’d lost so many. So please don’t accuse them of not trying to defend Australia – it is very very unfair to some very very brave people. I think especially of the aircraft carrier Hermes – my family still has their crest they gave us. If the XIV army in Burma is the forgotten army, then the Navy in the Indian Ocean are the forgotten ships of WW2.
* HMS Cornwall: British heavy cruiser sunk 5 April 1942 by carrier based aircraft during the Indian Ocean raid.
* HMS Dorsetshire: British heavy cruiser sunk 5 April 1942 by carrier based aircraft during the Indian Ocean raid.
* HMS Electra: British destroyer sunk 27 February 1942 by naval gun fire during the Battle of the Java Sea.
* HMS Encounter: British destroyer sunk 1942.
* HMS Exeter: British heavy cruiser sunk 28 February 1942 by Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi during the Battle of Java Sea.
* HMS Hermes: British aircraft carrier sunk 9 April 1942 by carrier-based aircraft during the Indian Ocean raid.
* HMS Hollyhock: British corvette sunk 9 April 1942 by carrier-based aircraft during the Indian Ocean raid.
* HMS Jupiter: British destroyer sunk 27 February 1942 by striking a mine during the Battle of the Java Sea.
* HMS Pathfinder:. British Destroyer sunk 11 February 1945 by aircraft off Ramree Island, Burma.
* HMS Porpoise: British Submarine sunk 1945.
* HMS Prince of Wales: British battleship sunk 10 December 1941 by land based aircraft near Malaya.
* HMS Repulse: British battlecruiser sunk 10 December 1941 by land based aircraft near Malaya.
* HMS Stonehenge: British submarine, overdue and assumed mined 1944.
* HMS Stratagem: British submarine sunk 1944.
* HMS Stronghold: British destroyer sunk 1942.
* HMS Tenedos: British destroyer sunk 1942.
* HMS Thanet: British destroyer sunk 1942.
* HMS Thracian: British destroyer sunk 1941.
* HMS Grasshopper
* HMS Dragonfly
* HMS Scorpion
* HMS Peterel British gunboat sunk by naval gunfire
* HMS Cicala
Auxiliaries
* HMS Mata Hari
* HMS Li Wo
* HMS St. Breok
Further to my previous comment about Kwame Kwe-Armah’s remark that the Royal Navy sent no ships to help Australia against the Japanese, here is the list of relative Naval losses at sea against Japan up to end April 1942.
13 British ships –
2 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 3 cruisers, 7 destroyers.
2 Australian ships: 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer.
17 Dutch ships: 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 8 submarines.
12 American; 2 battleships, 1 cruiser, 5 destroyers, 4 submarines.
Note also that the British also lost the battleship HMS Barham in the Med, which would have come through Suez to help. The US also lost 6 capital ships at moorings at Pearl Harbor.
As you can see, the Royal Navy contribution against Japan was very large, at a time when the Battle of the Atlantic was going on, and there were major Mediterranean operations as Malta was beseiged (if Malta had fallen, Suez would have gone and the Axis would have poured into the Indian ocean). So the comment made by the program that the Navy didn’t help Australia was very very unfair.
Benefit Busters, i have just watched the first episode and it makes me cringe. Is that woman for real? anyone one out there want to share any comments of this programme?
I loved tonight’s episode of “Benefit Busters”. Haven’t laughed so much in ages.
Hayley’s character was as commically grotesque as David Brent of “The Office” and the concept of implying that being the mother of young children equals being unemployed was SO funny !
I’m looking forward to next Thursday’s episode.
p.s. It was a comedy, wasn’t it ?
She reminds me of the character Pauline whom worked in the Job centre in the comedy series the League of gentleman.
I think you should treat it as a comedy Mike.The highlight was when she was over the noon that she managed to secure someone with a job in Poundbusters, hilarious.
dear channel 4 having just watched benefit busters i was delighted with the fact it a beginning,a middle and an end.
These days with progs telling you whats going to happen,whats just happened,what happened before the break and whats happening next week (all before the prog has actually started) it made such a refreshing change to watch a programme from start to finish without all those annoying dementia type trailers.
It even had frozen pictures so you knew the ads were coming next.
normally i only watch the intro, that tells me everything thats going to happen so i then switch over as i feel i have already watched it.
congratulations on a very funny and informative prog too (reminded me so much of “The office”), the only drawback was the usual squeezing of the credits at the end but i forgive. many thanks Nomad.
Dear (or not at all dear) C4,
I am not your usual viewer and the only things you can tempt me with are Channel4 News and some certain documentary. However, I was seriously disturbed, appalled and simply shaken last night when flickering through the channels I accidentally saw just a bit of The TNT Show (?) where a couple of young presenters were sneering at something they apparently found on YouTube. This “something” was a sand-art installation by young Ukrainian artist Ksenia Simonova:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1JZ9O15280
The installation is called “Come back”, or Requiem in Sand and dedicated to those who left their loved ones to fight nazis in the Second World War and never came back. According to an official statistics only, that hugely underestimate war losses amongst the civilians, the Soviet Union lost more than 20 million people during the war. Every family was deeply affected and the memory of the horrific years of war still lives in people’s hearts.
I appreciate the fact that young presenters and editors might not read Russian or understand art and its metaphoric meanings. But how did they dare in their young arrogance to make fun of people in the audience crying being deeply touched by the installation? Surely that should have stopped them from taking this particular piece for their doubtful purposes.
When I see teenage neo-nazis parading on the streets of Russia and other former Soviet Union countries in the news I shiver because if our forgetfulness reaches this point history always can repeat itself in the new apocalyptic shape. However, when this sort of thing happens in this country I am terrified since I am use to thinking that here we are protected from forgetting by the 11th of November, by the living memory of those who laid their lives onto the altar of our happiness. I cannot bear seeing that for some people it can be a laughingstock.
I do not know who allowed this programme to be broadcasted in this way, but I think these people should thoroughly revise their principals and their knowledge of history. I have never in my life been hurt by the television programme deeply enough to actually write to the broadcasters but there is always the first time.
I would like to provide feedback on the first episode of Benefits Busters but having not used this website before, could you just confirm this is the place to write my comments
thanks
Hi Jan,
Thanks for getting in touch. You can either leave your comments here, or on the official Benefit Busters site where there is already a healthy online debate taking place – http://bit.ly/19NTiW
Thanks
This is the first time i have questioned anything on any channel. But i felt very disturbed by the treatment of thewomen in BENEFIT BUSTERS. Not only were they made to feel worthless and a drain on society, they were being patronised and spoken down to, there only crime was claiming that which they are entitled to. The role of at least one parent being at home is vital for the development of a balanced individual later in life.
Why do the goverment feel the need to waste more money they claim they have not got by paying a private company to do a job that the public sector have been doing for years. I feel the bigger picture is to make people feel guilty about claiming something which they are entitled to, and lining the pockets of a firm that employs people who do a three day course and think that entitles them to break people mentally in order to make them more submissive to suggestion. These techniques are used in addicts or as a tool of torchure. Please , please, please tell me it was a spoof as i lost sleep last night.
I totally agree with your comments Darren.
Why were they treated like they had just crawled out of a cave If that what New Labour spends its money god help us all.
It would have been interesting to be told just how much the employment agency was paid to run the course and find for minimum pay work for the four women who went to Poundland. Please can you tell us now. Outrageous!!
One thing that is really irritating is watching your channel and the voice and the sound is NOT in sync. It happens way to often especially in the morning. It isn’t that way on other channels so what is the problem and how is to blame? Time Warner says it is in your station so… how about getting it fixed.
I was upset to see the return of Frank Evans to the bullring and felt nothing but anger towards this man. It portrays him, now an old man heroically and glamourously returning to face life and death fighting a 350kg bull…when really the bull has no chance of winning..ever.
Bullfighting is described as a sport, art or even culture. It is none of these. It is animal cruelty disguised as entertainment. Spectators are led to believe the matadors (Spanish for “killer”) are actually risking their lives. In reality bullfighters are rarely injured and seldom killed in the ring. With their armory of weapons to weaken the bull until it can no longer fight, their lives are not at great risk. In fact, in the last 50 years only 10 bullfighters have been killed worldwide.
Before it even gets to the ring the bull has already been crippled and subdued in several ways and doesn’t stand a chance against its opponents.
Polls show that over 72% of Spanish citizens have no interest in bullfighting, yet, because of a small group of influential people in Spain, this inhumane tradition is being kept alive.
I fully agree with your comments. Anyone who thinks a bullfighter is brave or that the bull is cleanly dispatched needs to think again and look at
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/video.asp?video=Pamplona_Final_Cut_full_res&Player=flv to witness the truth about bull slaughtering.
Hello everyone, having watched the first benefit busters myself, i feel like i have to leave a comment as i lived next to Dawn, one of the mums on the programme for some time, i got to know her really well and i am proud to say i know her!! I do think hayley was patronizing, unfair and totally out of order, making the women out to be low lifes who no longer wish to work, dawn has always put her daughter first and never herself she always takes on everyone elses problems and forgets about her own, after losing quite some weight the lady fnally regained confidence and now thanks to this programme protraying her as a lazy no gooder single mum makes me sick and has now shot her. I am absolutley appalled about the comments i have read from other sources about dawns debt! which might i add she pays herself and asks for no help from else where! i dont think we have the right to pass judgement when it comes to money issues thanks
carol x
Just heard about ‘Ahda Cup’ (via the BBCs E24), to be shown later in the year on Channel 4 I think. It promises to be pretty interesting actually, despite the need for subtitles. Will probably watch it for the sake of experiencing a ‘first’ in the UK. But would I watch such programmes if they had a weekly slot on a mainstream channel. I don’t know. It depends how much this first one grips me….
Wot! No Countdown repeat this morning!
It was billed in the TV listing.
It has been bad enough having NO Countdown for the momth!
With the loss of Big Brother, might it be possible to fill in the hours by re-instaing your previously excellent coverage of Test cricket? It has been sorely missed this summer.
you lot must be gullible if you think big brother is going to end after next year.its just a publicity stunt isnt it,just take a look at the publicity its getting now,enough said.channel 4 is trying to pull the wool over our eyes,i dont believe it for one minute that bb is going to end.
Well more fool you then tinauk!
I have just watched the new edition of Scrapyard Challenge and I’m sorry to say that Channel 4 have made a grave mistake.
Watching the construction of the projects by the teams was an important part of the programme that seems missing in this series all we got to see was brief shots of the projects throught their construction.
And where are Robert Llewellyn and Lisa Rogers?.
I have been watching Everwood on e4 since it began however I start back to college soon and thought that I would be able to catch up on 4od however it is not being shown on 4od and I don’t want to miss the rest of the programme. Is there any other way that I could catch up?
I was wondering how you get c4 to answer the posts ie why is USA wife swap not on 4od and how the other half live is that the end of the series etc how do you get some ans!
Hi Cro,
In answer to your questions:
- Wife Swap USA is not available on 4oD due to rights issues. This is the case with many US aquisitions, which we are only able to show online for a limited period.
- How the Other Half Live was a three-part series so has indeed now finished. You can however watch that series again via 4oD.
I’ve just watched the last episode of ‘On Tour With The Queen’ and enjoyed the series. I was fascinated with the archive footage, presented to the public at the time with a very particular image, hanging onto past glories and struggling with change perhaps?
Returning to those places now and hearing historical accounts, peoples’s experiences and subsequent relation to Britain is so interesting to me especially having Grandparents who had married in WW2 and were very aware of their social status and probably were in awe of royalty.
I watched How the other half live and was annoyed how the music was overiding the voices of the characters making it difficult to hear.Who ever thought that playing relaxing music while listening to a serious documentary was a good idea?
Hi George,
Thanks for your comment. For more on the issue of background music featured in programmes, please read Paula Carter’s blog, ‘We Read You Loud and Clear!‘
Atlantic convoys. As a MN veteran I am enjoying the series. I disagreed with the implied criticism of the RN about not continuing escort of Athenia. It was not a strategic decision but enforced by the shortage of escorts and their inadequate range. Re-fuelling at sea came after 1943 and unti8l then, the limited range of escorts confined convoy cover to 2 or three days from the UK coast.
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