The BBC Four Thread

brian_t

The Beck season finishes this Saturday.

According to DigiGuide the following Saturday BBC4 are showing "Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes".

It's a film but there have been 2 more in the series.

Nikolaj Lie Kaas (The Killing 3 & Follow the Money) plays Police inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases.

brian_t

The 6 part second series of The Code starts on Saturday 22nd Oct with a double bill.

Anthony LaPaglia and Sigrid Thornton have joined the cast.

brian_t

brian_t wrote: »

"Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes".

It's a film but there have been 2 more in the series.

I enjoyed Dept Q. It was a nice return to Saturday evening Nordic Noir.

I hope they show the other films in the series sometime.

brian_t

There is one new 3 part series that interests me starting tomorrow (Monday) at 9pm (repeated later at 2.50am and Wednesday at 10pm).

Sleuths, Spies & Sorcerers: Andrew Marr’s Paperback Heroes

Andrew Marr investigates the curious case of detective fiction: a genre which has been producing best-sellers since the 19th century and whose most famous heroes, including Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Inspector Rebus, are now embedded in our collective psyche. But how does detective fiction work, and how do the best crime writers keep us compulsively turning the pages?


To find out, Andrew deconstructs detective stories, exploring the rules and conventions present in any typical mystery to reveal how writers such Agatha Christie have created a seemingly infinite number of story-telling possibilities.

He also explores the role of the fictional detective - a figure capable of taking readers to places they wouldn’t normally visit. In so doing, he shows how writers have used crime fiction not merely to entertain, but also to anatomise issues in society.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040pvpp

The second episode will cover Fantasy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040pw15

and the third one Spies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040pwl2.

Harry Palmr

Wednesday 9 PM 80 years of the BBC on air a 90 min special

Skid X

'The Undiscovered Peter Cook', coming up on November 16th looks good


https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/the_undiscovered_peter_cook/

Following the death of Britain's greatest satirist in 1995, Peter Cook's widow Lin locked the door of his Hampstead house, and refused all access to the media. Until this year, when she invited her friend Victor Lewis-Smith and a BBC crew inside, to make a documentary about the man she knew and loved, with unprecedented access to Peter's private recordings, diaries, letters, photographs, and much more.

The result is a fascinating and unique hour of television, that includes Peter performing hitherto unknown comedy sketches, rediscovered interviews, and long-lost footage of Peter performing with his comedy partner Dudley Moore, as well as with Peter Sellers and David Attenborough. There are multiple extracts from Peter's home videos, as well as Lin's first televised interview ...

Harry Palmr

The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse was great hopefully this is as good.

Alun

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Wednesday 9 PM 80 years of the BBC on air a 90 min special

Watched the end of this, as I'd forgotten it was on, but the contrast between the two TV systems being "tested" was unbelievable. John Logie-Baird's mechanical system didn't stand a chance.

Skid X

Alun wrote: »

Watched the end of this, as I'd forgotten it was on, but the contrast between the two TV systems being "tested" was unbelievable. John Logie-Baird's mechanical system didn't stand a chance.

I was quite moved by hearing Paul Reveley (Baird's former assistant, now aged 104) giving technical advice to the presenters on how to recreate the old system. That man has literally been there since the start, still talking more sense than the vast majority of people who came after him.

Hotblack Desiato

Alun wrote: »

Watched the end of this, as I'd forgotten it was on, but the contrast between the two TV systems being "tested" was unbelievable. John Logie-Baird's mechanical system didn't stand a chance.

You'd need to watch it on a mechanical TV to make a fair judgment

brian_t

The Code finishes up this Saturday.

It will be followed by the 4 part Aussie crime drama Deep Water.

I love Aussie dramas, they are superior to US dramas but seriously BBC4 - Saturday evening at 9pm is for European Noir, especially Northern Europe.

Poochie05

brian_t wrote: »

The Code finishes up this Saturday.

It will be followed by the 4 part Aussie crime drama Deep Water.

I love Aussie dramas, they are superior to US dramas but seriously BBC4 - Saturday evening at 9pm is for European Noir, especially Northern Europe.

Definitely in need of a Nordic Noir fix! There was a call for extras for The Bridge Season 4 recently so good to know filming is underway

volchitsa

Poochie05 wrote: »

Definitely in need of a Nordic Noir fix! There was a call for extras for The Bridge Season 4 recently so good to know filming is underway

Me too. I'm enjoying The Code but it's not the same is it?

(Anyone seen a Danish series called Norskov? Not sure if it's coming up on TV soon or even if it's been and gone, but I saw a downloaded episode a couple of weeks ago and would like to see more.)

Harry Palmr

Alun wrote: »

Watched the end of this, as I'd forgotten it was on, but the contrast between the two TV systems being "tested" was unbelievable. John Logie-Baird's mechanical system didn't stand a chance.

Amazingly clunky system, it was noted that at the time it was clear that the BBC was only picking Logie-Baird's utterly unwieldy system as it was home grown.

Skid X wrote: »

I was quite moved by hearing Paul Reveley (Baird's former assistant, now aged 104) giving technical advice to the presenters on how to recreate the old system. That man has literally been there since the start, still talking more sense than the vast majority of people who came after him.

He lucidity was amazing, if it hasn't already been done a TV historian really should sit down and just get as much as possible (before his own cathode ray tube blows a colour gun or two)

brian_t

volchitsa wrote: »

(Anyone seen a Danish series called Norskov? Not sure if it's coming up on TV soon or even if it's been and gone, but I saw a downloaded episode a couple of weeks ago and would like to see more.)

Channel 4/Walter Presents

brian_t

brian_t wrote: »

The Code finishes up this Saturday.

It will be followed by the 4 part Aussie crime drama Deep Water.

'Deep Water' will take up the next two Saturdays but for anyone not watching 'The Code' BBC4 assures us that Modus is coming soon.

brian_t

The Storyville documentary about Weiner at 9pm is very timely.

Harry Palmr

Rich Hall tonight (I think) at 9 PM looking at the US presidential nonsense.

Rjd2

http://entertainment.ie/tv-highlight/The-Undiscovered-Peter-Cook/387495.htm

Undiscovered Peter Cook tonight at 10pm--BBC 4.

Documentary about Cook with Victor Lewis Smith involved, should be interesting.

brian_t

Slow TV continues this Christmas with an hour-long trip on the Flying Scotsman.

On a journey from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster in the Midlands of England, the crew will take locomotive 60103 down the Severn Valley Railway.




Christmas will also see the revival of the classic '80s music programme Pop Quiz for two specials. Hosted by original presenter Mike Read, the shows will again pit two teams of popstars from the '80s against each other.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a814414/bbc-four-flying-scotsman-slow-tv-christmas-special/

Hotblack Desiato

brian_t wrote: »

Hosted by original presenter Mike Read

I thought "isn't he dead?" then realised I was thinking about Mike Smith

I just wish Mike Read was dead :pac: I doubt he's become any less insufferable over the years

ahlookit

Good to see Mike Read is taking a break from being a racist.

volchitsa

So. Modus then. What did everyone think?
I was a little underwhelmed, TBH. But maybe it's too soon to judge?

Nekarsulm

Hoping they pull the various threads together next week a bit. Was a bit confused about just whose girlfriend was who.

volchitsa

Yes I think confusion may be my issue too, a lot of cutting between groups/people, but for instance why wait until the end of the second episode to make a big announcement that they were going after Stina? It was completely obvious from the minute he saw her that she was a threat to him.

(Also a few things I didn't quite catch : right before the Bishop went out, was that conversation abandoning (I think wedding) vows between her and her husband?
Do we have any other clues about that? The picture that disappeared from her study?)

Nekarsulm

I thought the police were taking a very "laxadasicial" line with her husband. Would they really not insist on questioning him fully about her plans etc? And would his burning her papers etc before they were searched actually happen in real life?

I spent half the episode thinking the Bishop was the girlfriend of thedark haired woman who was searching, and who the killer phoned.

volchitsa

Yes, the police (not) questioning him was weird - "none of your business why she went out" even though that's when she got murdered?? Umm, it's a murder enquiry! :rolleyes:

volchitsa

Oh yes, who did the killer phone? Why were some of the text messages in English?

When he got the message saying I know where the girl lives (at the start) who could have known other than the ex colleague who'd just walked out of her house?

Skid X

I quite like the look of this one. Some good contributors listed.

Wednesday 9pm & 2.30 am How Quizzing Got Cool: TV's Brains of Britain
We all love a good quiz. So here's a question - when did ordinary contestants turn into the pro-quizzers of today? Giving the answers are Victoria Coren Mitchell, Judith Keppel, Chris Tarrant, Mark Labbett, Nicholas Parsons and many more. Narrated by Ben Miller.

Cheshire Cat

Nekarsulm wrote: »

I thought the police were taking a very "laxadasicial" line with her husband. Would they really not insist on questioning him fully about her plans etc? And would his burning her papers etc before they were searched actually happen in real life?

I spent half the episode thinking the Bishop was the girlfriend of thedark haired woman who was searching, and who the killer phoned.

Was the Bishop's husband the psychologist in The Fall? Wrecked my brain trying to place him.
It was slow, but I had no problem following the different threads. My husband, however, was completely lost. He doesn't pay enough attention