Can anyone on TV speak properly!
WHAT happened to clear diction in TV dramas? I tried a couple of episodes of Trigger Point, but due to the muffled sound, I had no idea what the actors were saying, so I’ve given up. It was never this bad back in the blackand-white days when we had Armchair Theatre on a Sunday evening — they were good stories with the likes of Billie Whitelaw providing tremendous drama with clear dialogue. Today’s actors need lessons in how to speak well. Just compare them with David Niven and Jack Hawkins and the days of Cathy Come Home, Mrs Thursday and Helen: A Woman Of Today. It’s not just programmes from the good old days — Spooks, Silk and Judge John Deed were all quality television. The best programmes today are documentaries and the wonderful The Repair Shop. Even Gregg Wallace is watchable in Inside The Factory, with historian Ruth Goodman a big factor in the success of this series. Not forgetting Professor Alice Roberts digging up the country and Michael Portillo and his trains. When it comes to comedy, Upstart Crow has to have the cleverest scripts. Well done, Ben Elton, for writing this show and Liza Tarbuck is fantastic as Anne Hathaway. Throw in Eggheads and Izzie Balmer on the Antiques Road Trip and that’s about it for me when it comes to TV viewing. I don’t watch the news because it’s too depressing.
PETER WILLIAMS, Milton Keynes, Bucks. IF YOU have any doubt about the dumbing down of our language, just turn on the TV and listen to the continuity announcers. Following the enjoyable Call The Midwife, where the characters all speak well and clearly, the BBC announcer described the next programme, Trigger Point, as ‘an exciting frillah, which I fink viewers will like’. I assume he meant ‘thriller’ and ‘think’! The BBC should show a little more respect for our language or possibly repeat such announcements in intelligible English.
JOHN CARPENTER, Riby, Lincs. I AM irritated by the BBC TV announcer who provides the voiceovers between programmes to tell us about forthcoming shows on BBC ‘Free’ — I think he means BBC Three.
ANDY CULLEY, Weymouth, Dorset. AFTERNOON television bombards viewers with adverts for funeral plans. The commercial breaks should carry this warning: ‘The contents of the following adverts may cause distress to older viewers.’