The Virgin Queen

[Ian J]

I find it rather sad that to get discussed here a programme has to be an American import, preferably containing monsters or aliens

I watched the first part of The Virgin Queen last night which despite being English and containing no mention of extra terrestrial life was rather good and I would recommend this to anyone that believes in life outside of Sky One

[BrianC]

Looks like I was the only other person to watch this

A good start to this four parter - shame its not getting a Rome style longer series, maybe if this does decent viewing figures they will do prequels/sequels on the other monarchs.

[Toasty]

Originally Posted by Ian J

I find it rather sad that to get discussed here a programme has to be an American import, preferably containing monsters or aliens

A little harsh, I mean there is the big brother thread

[Cynthia 7]

Hi everybody,

I really wanted to watch this and thought I was recording it on Sky+ whilst I watched Foyle's War on Terrestial. Something went wrong. I looked in Radio Times and there is no repeat, why don't they do that as weekends people often go away.

I suppose with all the recording facilities nowadays they think no one needs a repeat. I'll have to join in next week.

[Ed Selley]

Originally Posted by Ian J

I watched the first part of The Virgin Queen last night which despite being English and containing no mention of extra terrestrial life was rather good and I would recommend this to anyone that believes in life outside of Sky One

Likewise, the Surviving Disasters last night about Chernobyl was astonishing. Good turn by Ade Edmonson as well.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by Cynthia 7

I'll have to join in next week.

The first episode dealt with her imprisonment by her half sister who saw her as a threat to the Catholic church with the last ten minutes devoted to her accession to the throne so missing the first part won't mean that you can't follow the rest.

[Rasczak]

I thoroughly enjoyed this as well. Infact the BBC is producing some top dramas at present IMHO: I thought Rome was excellent and am looking forward to the second series.

Entirely agree that much of this forum is 'lost' on discussion on US imports - but perhaps that's simply because we don't think about raising threads to discuss programmes like The Virgin Queen - we watch, enjoy and move on. Historical dramas can be very popular - the Virgin Queen was commissioned based on the success of Charles II - so we are not alone. We are just not very loud

[Cynthia 7]

Thank you Ian for the recap. Probably the more interesting part of her life is yet to come.

We all know the outcome but it's the different facets of her life, and how they're portrayed that makes it interesting.

I agree, it would be good if other monarchs were featured in a series. BBC1 really excel at this sort of thing.

[Tight Git]

Originally Posted by Cynthia 7

... it would be good if other monarchs were featured in a series. BBC1 really excel at this sort of thing.

Yes, they always have.

Unfortunately they are VERY expensive to make and in a multi-channel world ...

[Gary D]

Cynthia7 - just watch one of the multitude of programmes about Elizabeth. Mrs D is watching it i'm taking the time to get some more sleep.

it seems that British TV can only make historical programmes if they are books by the Austin sisters, Mr Dickens or about Elizabeth the first. Something else from the last 2000 years would be nice.

although i will add that Bleak House was stunning.



Gary

[Cynthia 7]

I see your point Tight Git. These programmes must be very expensive to produce unfortunately. With so many channels now available, BBC can't have quite the captive audiences they used to have twenty years ago.

I would be interested to know what percentage of the population watches mainly the big 5 channels compared to other channels. My husband tends to do so but I like to flit around a bit!

[Ian J]

I suppose that my watching is split 50/50 between terrestrial and Sky but as the terrestrial channels continue to dumb down year by year I just find myself watching less television.

I would like to watch more terrestrial TV but I am one of the many who have been driven away by the seemingly ever increasing diet of so called reality TV which is just cheap programming designed to pander to the lowest possible tastes.

[Cynthia 7]

I know your post was a bit tongue in cheek Gary, but my husband would agree with you; he usually dozes when yet another historical programme is shown unless it's someone like Hitler or Ghengis Khan or some other warlike character. You missed the Brontes off your list!

When I first saw Elizabeth 1 picture on the front of the Radio Times I said "Not another programme about Elizabeth 1, there've been so many lately and some not that good". But I do love historical programmes and knew I wouldn't be able to resist it. It would be good though to have the lives of the less colourful characters sometimes but I suppose there's not enough drama in their lives for a good story.

Certainly "Bleak House" was unmissable. I hope we see more like that. In the meantime I shall watch Elizabeth tonight while you and husband catch up on your sleep!

[Cynthia 7]

Yes Ian, 50/50 is about the ratio we watch terrestial and Sky too. My husband always wants to watch the news and occasionally looks to Sky for that. Also Sky Sports, my main bugbear.

I do agree with you about reality tv. Apart from one year when my son's ex girl friend was staying and "Big Brother" was on so much I got hooked. So I suppose I am susceptible! Mostly, I can't bear these type of programmes, make over shows, celebrity this that and the other. Come Dancing, so boring. I watched "Wife Swap" a few times, the fascination being how awful a lot of these people are and what terrible lives they lead; some of them with children who are the next generation of criminals. Maybe that's the appeal for viewers, it gives them a smug feeling that they are not quite as bad as these people! It is cheap tv to produce and we have to suffer that to get some of the gems.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by Cynthia 7

I watched "Wife Swap" a few times, the fascination being how awful a lot of these people are and what terrible lives they lead; some

I also watched a couple of times until I realised that they deliberately matched people up who obviously wouldn't get on together in the hope that they may argue and once you'd seen one "episode" the others were all the same.

I read the synopsis of another of these things in the paper a couple of weeks ago but this time they found the most illmatched pair of families who then went on holiday together - hopefully to argue all the time.