The Worst Show

I tuned into ‘The One Show’ this afternoon as Freema Agyeman was on it (She being the new companion on ‘Doctor Who’. It’s also a new programme and I thought that it might be interesting.

I don’t believe I was right.

Because the programme I watched wasn’t ‘The One Show’.

It was ‘Nationwide’

For those of you who don’t know (or are too young) there is something about Nationwide here
http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/bitsandpieces/nationwide2.htm and here http://offthetelly.co.uk/factual/nationwide.htm

Of course there is no problem with reintroducing a programme which has been off the screen for a while (as a Doctor Who fan I stand by that). On the other hand, it’s 2006. Nationwide has been off the air for 23 years and relied on outside broadcasts and ‘interesting’ topics from the public countrywide (as local news stations were mainly provided by ITV or radio). So you live in Kidderminster and someone in Aberdeen is having a street party about a poet who lived in his street 50 years ago and you sit there wondering what that smell of smoke is. You turn over to ITV and get told that toxic fumes are sweeping your area and you need to close your windows urgently. I think local news is sometimes a bit more interesting than distant regional whimsy. We also have been doing satellite link ups and outside broadcast for years. How could they get it so wrong and do it so badly. The presenters Adrian Chiles and Nadia Sawalha did their best but have little chemistry. I’ve always liked Nadia Sawalha but she stuttered and paused and at the end ssspppoookkkeee veeeerry sllllloooowwwllly aaaattt theeeee ennnd as the programme had under run by about 20 seconds. The linkups where stilted and poor and had delay on the communication where people talked over one another. It’s a shame.