The TV Thread

[jacksy]

Season 9 of Curb Your Enthusiasm has finally arrived

[ckn]

So... caught up with Strictly.  Now, Nadiya or Amy... hmmm, choices, choices.  Just don't search for Nadiya on computers where you'd get in trouble for the pictures.

[Shadow]

19 minutes ago, ckn said:

So... caught up with Strictly.  Now, Nadiya or Amy... hmmm, choices, choices.  Just don't search for Nadiya on computers where you'd get in trouble for the pictures.

Both

[ckn]

3 minutes ago, Shadow said:

Both

Good call.

[Griff9of13]

On 03/10/2017 at 6:41 AM, Derwent said:

Expected better from the Mitchell & Webb comedy Back but it's just not very good.

I've been really enjoying it. Each to their own I suppose.

[ckn]

2 hours ago, Griff9of13 said:

I've been really enjoying it. Each to their own I suppose.

We love Peep Show and other things from them but Back is just boring us both.  It is each to their own...

[Futtocks]

Probably due to the success of 'American Gods', the BBC and Amazon are working on a six-part serialisation of the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett book 'Good Omens'.

The cast includes Michael Sheen, David Tennant and Miranda Richardson. Could be very good indeed. 

[John Drake]

Two good shows on BBC Four last night. One on the history of Concorde and the other about British Railways and the Beeching cuts, presented by Ian Hislop. The latter was a repeat, I'm sure, but I hadn't seen it before.

I don't know why but I'm fascinated by the Concorde story. I could never have afforded to fly on it, yet the fact it existed at all and looked so damn beautiful into the bargain was a triumph of blind ambition and engineering prowess over boring old economic practicality that we'll never see the like of again.

The Hislop programme on the railways illustrated how badly managed they have been pretty much since they were invented. 

[Futtocks]

6 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Two good shows on BBC Four last night. One on the history of Concorde and the other about British Railways and the Beeching cuts, presented by Ian Hislop. The latter was a repeat, I'm sure, but I hadn't seen it before.

I don't know why but I'm fascinated by the Concorde story. I could never have afforded to fly on it, yet the fact it existed at all and looked so damn beautiful into the bargain was a triumph of blind ambition and engineering prowess over boring old economic practicality that we'll never see the like of again.

The Hislop programme on the railways illustrated how badly managed they have been pretty much since they were invented. 

The Ian Hislop programme has been shown quite a few time. But it is, as usual with him, a very good documentary.

Edited October 11, 2017 by Futtocks

[Tongs ya bas]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

Two good shows on BBC Four last night. One on the history of Concorde and the other about British Railways and the Beeching cuts, presented by Ian Hislop. The latter was a repeat, I'm sure, but I hadn't seen it before.

I don't know why but I'm fascinated by the Concorde story. I could never have afforded to fly on it, yet the fact it existed at all and looked so damn beautiful into the bargain was a triumph of blind ambition and engineering prowess over boring old economic practicality that we'll never see the like of again.

The Hislop programme on the railways illustrated how badly managed they have been pretty much since they were invented. 

Concorde was an environmental nightmare.

Boring old economic practicality, who needs it.

One of the main protagonists of Concorde was Tony Benn. Minister of technology at the time. It was pure coincidence that his constituency at the time had the makers of Concorde as its main employer. One would have thought he would have been against something so elitist wouldn't one.

[John Drake]

41 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Concorde was an environmental nightmare.

Boring old economic practicality, who needs it.

One of the main protagonists of Concorde was Tony Benn. Minister of technology at the time. It was pure coincidence that his constituency at the time had the makers of Concorde as its main employer. One would have thought he would have been against something so elitist wouldn't one.

Yes, Concorde was an environmental nightmare. A point well covered in the documentary and a major aspect of its ultimate failure as a commercial aircraft.

I'm not arguing against boring old economic practicality (I'll leave that to Jeremy Corbyn) just commenting that had it been applied back in the day, Concorde would never have happened. Maybe that would have been a good thing. Who knows.

Benn didn't have much choice but to champion it. Concorde was commissioned in 1962 under a Tory government, and the agreement involved a clause that if either the British or French governments pulled out of the project unilaterally at any time thereafter, they would have to pay all the other half's costs. According to the documentary, the subsequent Labour government under Harold Wilson did want to pull the plug on Concorde due to its excessive cost, but that clause meant they wouldn't have saved any money if they had, so they proceeded with it and as Transport Minister, it was Benn's job to make the best of it.

(Regardless of political affiliation, is there any MP ever elected that wouldn't want to save jobs in their constituency?)

The documentary also included some interesting comments from Michael Heseltine, who had the difficult job of trying to flog orders once Concorde was ready to go into commercial production in the 70s, when he was a minister in the Heath government. In the end, he had to give those that were produced away virtually for free to British Airways as no airline wanted to buy them once the environmental problems, protests over the sonic boom and escalating fuel prices made it unprofitable.

It was still an amazing feat of engineering, despite its commercial failure, and it remains one of the most beautifully designed aircraft ever to take flight IMO.

It's a good documentary. Catch it on iPlayer.

[Tongs ya bas]

13 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Yes, Concorde was an environmental nightmare. A point well covered in the documentary and a major aspect of its ultimate failure as a commercial aircraft.

I'm not arguing against boring old economic practicality (I'll leave that to Jeremy Corbyn) just commenting that had it been applied back in the day, Concorde would never have happened. Maybe that would have been a good thing. Who knows.

Benn didn't have much choice but to champion it. Concorde was commissioned in 1962 under a Tory government, and the agreement involved a clause that if either the British or French governments pulled out of the project unilaterally at any time thereafter, they would have to pay all the other half's costs. According to the documentary, the subsequent Labour government under Harold Wilson did want to pull the plug on Concorde due to its excessive cost, but that clause meant they wouldn't have saved any money if they had, so they proceeded with it and as Transport Minister, it was Benn's job to make the best of it.

(Regardless of political affiliation, is there any MP ever elected that wouldn't want to save jobs in their constituency?)

The documentary also included some interesting comments from Michael Heseltine, who had the difficult job of trying to flog orders once Concorde was ready to go into commercial production in the 70s, when he was a minister in the Heath government. In the end, he had to give those that were produced away virtually for free to British Airways as no airline wanted to buy them once the environmental problems, protests over the sonic boom and escalating fuel prices made it unprofitable.

It was still an amazing feat of engineering, despite its commercial failure, and it remains one of the most beautifully designed aircraft ever to take flight IMO.

It's a good documentary. Catch it on iPlayer.

I think I might have seen it before, but I'll probably check it out. It's an interesting piece of history.

[Robin Evans]

A wonderfully designed aircraft. It looked beautiful in flight or on the ground. 

Probably the last of an era that produces something so fabulous but so flawed on so many levels. I doubt it would get built today.... but hs2 is on its way.... so perhaps it might....?

[Futtocks]

The programme also had some details about Boeing's abandoned supersonic project, plus the ill-fated Tupolev 'Concordski', which found a second life as a research and training craft for both Russia and the USA.

[ckn]

3 hours ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Concorde was an environmental nightmare.

Boring old economic practicality, who needs it.

One of the main protagonists of Concorde was Tony Benn. Minister of technology at the time. It was pure coincidence that his constituency at the time had the makers of Concorde as its main employer. One would have thought he would have been against something so elitist wouldn't one.

In the context of passenger jets it was an "environmental nightmare" but it was not more than the military jets that fly around.  It was a mark of engineering excellence that was the envy of much of the world.  The world would be a far sadder place without things like Concorde being built just because it could be.

[Tongs ya bas]

5 minutes ago, ckn said:

In the context of passenger jets it was an "environmental nightmare" but it was not more than the military jets that fly around.  It was a mark of engineering excellence that was the envy of much of the world.  The world would be a far sadder place without things like Concorde being built just because it could be.

The idea of environmentally friendly war has a certain irony.

Maybe they could have just built a Concorde shaped sculpture for us to appreciate the beauty of. 

[ckn]

7 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

The idea of environmentally friendly war has a certain irony.

Maybe they could have just built a Concorde shaped sculpture for us to appreciate the beauty of. 

I just see it as soulless wishing away things like Concorde.  It fits in with things like the first successful polar expeditions and climbing of Everest as a "because we can" achievement that I'm immensely proud of the human race for doing.

[Tongs ya bas]

22 minutes ago, ckn said:

I just see it as soulless wishing away things like Concorde.  It fits in with things like the first successful polar expeditions and climbing of Everest as a "because we can" achievement that I'm immensely proud of the human race for doing.

That principle can also apply to things worth having, that weren't white elephants.

Concorde is not alone amongst aviation masterpieces that were incongruous: the spruce goose for instance, or my own particular favourite the Bristol Brabazon. 

[ckn]

33 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

That principle can also apply to things worth having, that weren't white elephants.

Concorde is not alone amongst aviation masterpieces that were incongruous: the spruce goose for instance, or my own particular favourite the Bristol Brabazon. 

I saw Concorde once and it was a beautiful piece of engineering and style.  It sat there on the runway like a hawk sitting among a flock of pigeons, demanding attention. It’s the sort of achievement that enthuses the next generation of engineers. 

The latest Airbus is a feat of technological genius that dwarfs the Concorde achievement in its efficiency and value for money but it’s ugly as sin and would struggle to inspire a plane-spotter.

It was also a clear statement of nationality. If you saw one in Britain then it was British Airways. No ambiguity about it there and a bit of British pride that we happily shared with the French. They got to pretend it was all theirs in France, we got to pretend it was all ours here.

[Tongs ya bas]

11 minutes ago, ckn said:

I saw Concorde once and it was a beautiful piece of engineering and style.  It sat there on the runway like a hawk sitting among a flock of pigeons, demanding attention. It’s the sort of achievement that enthuses the next generation of engineers. 

The latest Airbus is a feat of technological genius that dwarfs the Concorde achievement in its efficiency and value for money but it’s ugly as sin and would struggle to inspire a plane-spotter.

It was also a clear statement of nationality. If you saw one in Britain then it was British Airways. No ambiguity about it there and a bit of British pride that we happily shared with the French. They got to pretend it was all theirs in France, we got to pretend it was all ours here.

Concorde flew over our house a few times when it flew from Leeds Bradford airport. Breathtaking.

I do like the double deckers. They have a certain presence.

 

Maybe it was a clear statement of nationality because nobody else bought it!

[John Drake]

15 hours ago, ckn said:

I saw Concorde once and it was a beautiful piece of engineering and style.  It sat there on the runway like a hawk sitting among a flock of pigeons, demanding attention. 

I like that description!

[High Peak Rhino]

19 hours ago, ckn said:

It was also a clear statement of nationality. If you saw one in Britain then it was British Airways. No ambiguity about it there and a bit of British pride that we happily shared with the French. They got to pretend it was all theirs in France, we got to pretend it was all ours here.

 

18 hours ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Concorde flew over our house a few times when it flew from Leeds Bradford airport. Breathtaking.

 

I'm pretty sure that the first time Concorde came to Leeds / Bradford it was an Air France one. On a later visit to LBA I was exceedingly lucky to have an Uncle who had a contact with shell who provided the fuel at the airport and we saw it in prime position from the fuel yard at the airport away from the hordes. I'll try and dig out the photos if I remember.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

" Snowfall " on Sunday night was good.

[ckn]

Liar. Six decent episodes ruined by an abysmal last 10 minutes with a Deus Ex Machina plot resolver from nowhere. 

[Futtocks]

Just spotted, in the credits, that the full names of disposable seat-fillers Ben and Jerry in W1A are Ben Rosenstern and Jerry Guildencrantz.