Simply Smith

I don't watch a great deal of television. This isn't my being snobbish or anything like that but there is such a lot of absolute twaddle being shown these days that most of it is simply a switch-off (literally).

I know some otherwise quite sane folk who watch the day's episode of Neighbours at lunchtime and then again at teatime.

At the mention of this strange behaviour the eyes of those involved merely glaze over and communication ends, perhaps the ending might be different.

However, as those of you who honour me by regularly reading these scribblings will recognise, I digress.

On glancing through the television programmes I noticed that some episodes of Dad's Army and Till Death us do Part were being repeated.

My mind instantly went back to the innocent days of television when the BBC was still the keeper of the country's moral backbone and ITV was a young upstart. Could it be, thought I, that the BBC is scraping the bottom of the programming barrel? I determined to watch the programmes.

I have to say, black and white they may have been, but, in their own distinctive ways, they were funny. I suppose psychologists would tell us that there were deep, fundamental messages hidden in these situation comedies, but they were definitely funny.

They were not funny, though, in the formulaic way that so many contemporary comedies are with their weak characters and insipid situations. In the 30 years since the heyday of British television comedy these two examples of the extremes of the social scene have lost none of their strength, pathos and understanding of the human soul.

Dad's Army, for all its gentleness, highlighted Everyman's desire to see right triumph over evil. That the writers did this through the pompous Captain Mainwaring and the fawning Corporal Jones avoided dragging the viewers through maudlin sentimentality was a touch of genius.

Till Death us do Part might have appeared to give credence to the ravings of a racist and bigoted Londoner, but I believe that its author, Johnny Speight, identified in Alf Garnett something that is in each of us should we care to examine ourselves.

These programmes were reflections of life that current soaps certainly are not. I wonder if, in thirty years, we shall reflect on repeat showings of East Enders or Brookside with the same affection and regard.

In my opinion there should be legislation restricting the amount of time that television companies can inflict us with the mindless visual pap that passes for peak-time viewing material. (But then, that's me on my soap-box - if you'll excuse the pun?)

For all the uses that technical and computerised sophistication can be put these days, in the final analysis Joe Viewer, especially Joe Junior, is not stupid.

I have read that the viewing figures for these repeats, particularly among younger viewers, have been amazing - beating the more glossy offerings, like Baywatch, hands down. Those who create modern programmes please take note.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.