Dirk Gently and the South Bank Show…

The BBC are about to show the new Dirk Gently mini series (March 5th).  I’m in two minds. While I was so looking  forward to the pilot that some disappointment was inevitable I don’t think that excuses the production team any responsibility for the completely unfunny mess that we were given. On the other hand it IS Douglas Adams and it IS Dirk Gently.  I hope that the rumours are true and that the writer has held back on most of the material for this series.  Fingers crossed. I shall at least give it a go.

This blog post isn’t about my fingernail biting worry.  Nor is it about my general contrariness.  What I wanted to share is a set of YouTube links to a South Bank Show special dating back to the early 90s. It’s about the life and works of Douglas Adams.

Take a look at these:

I don’t particularly like Art shows. In the UK they tend towards either the rigidly conservative mainstream or the gloriously pretentious art world.  There are exceptions.  I used to watch the South Bank Show because there was normally something interesting on it. Looking at the links I have posted below it reminds me of a happier time in British broadcasting.  This is an example of the ITV that gave us Spitting Image, World in Action and countless other works before it devolved into meaningless celebrity worship and soap operas.

Of course back then there were only 4 channels (and I dimly remember when there were only 3) but it’s disappointing to look back on ITV and see how good it used to be.

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