Dear BBC... why, oh why?
MARION McMULLEN looks at how Points Of View first invited viewers to get in touch – 60 years ago
YOU HAD to put pen to paper 60 years ago if you wanted to talk about what was on the box.
In the days before emails, texts and social media, the only way to comment on what was on TV was to write to Points Of View.
The first edition of the viewer feedback programme began this month in 1961. The first presenter was Robert Robinson and he invited viewers to begin writing to the show. He said he looked forward to their letters, saying: “I hope they will be highly critical and frightfully disobedient, and so help television from one of its besetting sins, which is complacency”.
His wish was granted with the resulting letters frequently proving funny and entertaining, even when they held the BBC to account about everything from racy love scenes in TV dramas to the attire – in particular, the ties – of newsreaders.
There was even a Junior Points Of View spin-off series in the 1960s with The Man From UNCLE star American actor Robert Vaughn, appearing on the show in 1966.
Points Of View has had a number of presenters front over the years, from Anne Robinson, Kenneth Robinson and Barry Took to Carol Vorderman, Des Lynam and Terry Wogan. There have also been guest presenters including Griff Rhys Jones, Alan Titchmarsh and Eamonn Holmes.
Jeremy Vine fronted the show for 10 years before leaving in 2018 saying: “It’s given me such a privileged position to look at everything the BBC does on TV – watching it all from your point of view. You’re the person who matters most in this place.
“Thanks for your company on Sunday afternoons. Thanks for all the comments, good and bad. Keep them coming!”
The long-running programme is no longer presenter-led, but its aim to give viewers a voice has remained unchanged over the past six decades., although now comments can also be made by phone, email and on message boards.