Coast

[paulvonscott]

Not very 2000AD, but has anyone been watching Coast on BBC2?  

The one on the North East pandered to the stereotypes of the region and once they got out of the countryside, they just stuck their nice little boots in.  

By the time they ended on 'never mind this shithole, next week we've got...' I was already swearing at the TV.

So, if anyone else saw their region covered, do they think it was fair?

[Funt Solo]

I never saw it, PVS:  but I did see the Lenny Henry-voiced reality-bunkum show called something like "War On The Doorstep" lastnight.

Anyway, there were a group of people living in canal boats on the Thames, moored just off some high-priced flats.  They'd joined all the boats together and formed a real community, with lots of lovely plants and everything:  and they all worked in London.

Well, the wankers in the flats decided they didn't want these lower class scum (who weren't lower class) polluting the river (but they weren't) and bringing down the tone of the neighbourhood (which they weren't) and tried to have them evicted on some kind of planning permission loophole.

Thankfully, the council said the bargees could stay and the rich wankers with more time and money than sense had to bite it.  Twats.  Rich, aggressive, snobby wankers with no soul.  The absolute worst that the UK has to offer.  Hope they fall off their faux mediterranean style balconies and drown in their own filth.

[House of Usher]

Something like it is about to happen in York. There are plans to put some very upmarket house boats on the river on Rowntree Wharf, and the existing residents aren't happy about the idea of pissed-up vulgar young professionals with more money than sense partying until the small hours every night.

[House of Usher]

I didn't see coast, but I did see Picture of Britain when it looked at Sussex and Kent, and as luck would have it, I was visiting my mum in Brighton at the time it aired.

Mostly they just wanted to talk about the war, and David Dimbleby interviewed Vera Lynn on the cliffs at Dover.

[paulvonscott]

I like the idea of Coast, and these sort of shows in general, that get us to take a look at the country we live in and appreciate what we've got.

I enjoyed the episode I saw, the South Coast, but having seen the North East one, I started to wonder if everywhere had been treated in this brusk stereotypical manner.

Just telling a work colleague about what was in the program, I got the same repsonse (ah, all the old sterotypes, eh?).

The BBC site seems to say it goes in depth about the abbey, dracula and waling at whitby - not it doesn't.  It just mentions them.  If the announcer had just read out the brief blurb on the plaque that was by the walebone arch at Whitby, the viewers would have got more information.

Anyway, I applaud the BBC doing it, and for at least pointing out we were the business end of the country at one point (although they point out we're the arse end of nowhere now as well) but wish it had been done better.

[feridian]

I've only seen the episodes which relate to bits of the country which I know, but I think certaina reas suffer because the approach is quite formulaic - they want to have one nature item, one industrial, one archaeological etc, and so the resources of the area tend to be shoehorned in to fit.

I thought South Wales came out of it quite well, with the Red Lady at Paviland, a bit about Cardiff and a bit about sand dunes, but the archaeology of the North East was obviously weak, with that feeble Stone Age house, and the ship-breaking section went on far too long.

I suspect that the more varied the stretch of coastline, the better the programme, and also that they prefer rugged cliffs to the flat landscapes of the east coast, because it fits the popular image of coasts better.

[Quirkafleeg]

I remember watching some of the first one and thought it a bit 'bitty' even though I've liked progs that some of the people have done in the past - 'the map bloke' and the 'digging up battlefields bloke'.

They'll be doing my neck of the woods very soon so I'll have to check it out

Years ago there was a 'Flight around the UK' program... which had a RAF jet flying all around the coast. Well all of the coast apart from Yorkshire to East Anglia... obviously we don't count.

[LARF]

I love Whitby, you could do a whole programme just on Whitby alone.

I tend to agree the presentation is extremely Formulaic but I agree hats off to the beeb for creating something that's more interesting than watching a load of whanabees trying to sing whilst some overtrousered fat C**t tells them they're shite.

Hopefully we might get some more series in a similar vein i.e.: mountains, moor, lakes, etc.

[Mikey]

Well, I've been enjoying the series muchly,but haven't watched that episode yet.

The coast of the NE is feckin lush!I've been a couple of times and thought it was fantastic...so i'm interested to see what they say.

I live in Norn Iron and thought it was very favourable.They made the good point that our coast is relatively undeveloped and quite natural,likley because of a lack of tourist interest during the 'troubles'.They also raised the point that we have a chance to learn from previous mistakes as it were,as long as Environmental Legislation is adequately enforced.

I do reckon we've got a "weeker" coast!

M.