Looking through a 1994 copy of ‘The Stage & Television Today’ (Yes, I should find a hobby) in the terrestrial TV Top 20 soaps rated highly, as did entertainment shows (remember them?) like Des O’Connor Tonight, Blind Date and Noel’s House Party.
I was surprised that several films like Mad Max and Honey I Shrunk The Kids also scored well.
In this age of streaming and digital channels, film fans are well catered for.
But I miss watching a mid-evening film on BBC 1 or 2 or, if I could put up with the commercials, ITV.
Some nights when I look at the TV schedules for BBC One and Two, ITV One and Channels 4 and 5, very few shows strike me as a ‘must watch’, so I’d prefer to see a decent film, whether it’s recent or a classic.
But you will have noticed that, apart from Christmas and Easter, the terrestrial channels rarely show films in prime time?
It’s like a decision was made several years ago to fill prime time with nothing but home-made dramas, quizzes and lifestyle shows, some of which are pretty thin gruel when it comes to entertaining viewers.
One Monday evening, not that long ago, I was looking through the TV schedules and was dismayed to see the usual line-up of soaps, fly-on-the-wall documentaries, a Channel 5 psychological thriller and a cookery show.
Then, just by chance, I noticed that tucked away in the pre-midnight ‘You should be in bed’ slot on BBC 2 was Christopher Nolan’s magnificent 2008 film about rival stage magicians “The Prestige”.
With a plot that contains more twists than a pretzel and a cast that includes Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie, quality-wise it blew away every other offering that night on terrestrial TV, deserving a mid-evening slot.
That the same broadcaster, that happily serves up that stultifyingly superficial seven o’ clock souffle “The One Show” five nights a week, thought so little of this gem it buried it in a late-night slot, annoyed me.
I really should find a hobby . . .