TV Programme Research Poor

What concerns me more is that quite often the series shows Jack doing the job of the police. Do they really chase criminals, beat them, break into houses?

What concerns me more is that my wife is addicted to Silent Witness and I have to vacate the front room and move to the study........

No, as a retired medic, I feel I can state with confidence that questioning witnesses and chasing down evidence is done by policemen, not doctors.   The same caveat applies to programmes such as the various CSI series which depict crime scene officers actively chasing criminals.  Again, work done by the main-stream police.

As I said, most of these programs are complete tosh, though often very entertaining (at least I feel that to be the case)

Steve - I don't mind Silent Witness and its ilk, but things like reality TV and soaps are the reason I do the great majority of my TV watching in my study, leaving the living room to SWMBO.

I can't recall the last time I watched a TV program when it was actually being transmitted.  I always record them and watch at my leisure.  For the commercial TV programs it has the added advantage of being able to avoid the adverts.

I can't recall the last time I watched a TV program when it was actually being transmitted. I always record them and watch at my leisure. For the commercial TV programs it has the added advantage of being able to avoid the adverts.

+1

all hail the advent of the PVR. Time was when the adverts used to be more entertaining than the programmes, now they usually just irritate. I also do most of my watching via the PVR. However, I must admit to a penchant for crime drama - even original Taggart with wobbly scenery!

It isn't referred to as 'Witless Silence' for nothing...

G

It's the same with any TV program whose subject you're familiar with. Anything to do with artificial limbs (my previous occupation) is inevitably inaccurate, or the news features are constantly rediscovering technology that's been around for donkey's years. Many years ago I was seconded as a technical advisor by the BBC to a play about first world war veterans. I tried to offer advice but more often than not the director ignored me in favour of "Dramatic Impact".

The same thing with programs on caving; the likes of Bear Grills (or whatever his name is) do some unbelievably stupid things for the sake of sensational television and us in the caving community are constantly complaining about the sheer irresponsibility of it. waste of time,  you just get back a letter thanking you for your interest!

...this is TV drama not real life. I don't think a bit of dodgy anatomy (or wearing a stethoscope the wrong way round which always makes me laugh) really matters.

In my experience documentaries or news items are often significantly wrong when they report on things of which you have knowledge or in which you have been involved, drama is hardly going to be more accurate!

I cannot recall the last TV show I watched, live or recorded. Maybe the series on Grayson Perry portraits? Bit of sport and the odd film only. As a teenage visitor said recently, without irony; 'Your TV is tiny and you cannot get a mobile signal. How do you guys survive?'

(Answer: we actually have conversations, and a great music collection)

Bruce

In many years of listening to Radio 4 and watching mostly BBC4 on the telly I have come across six instances of howling factual errors, at least three of which I'm sure were willful to place undue emphasis.  Given that these were fields which I am expert in, and that the information is relatively easy to research, I concluded that BBC research is either very lazy and/or deliberately inaccurate. Plenty of entertainment value remains, so that's OK.