Close the curtains !!!!!!!

I too love Avril Paton's Glasgow pics. She wouldn't remember me I expect, but we met on Arran when I was under 10 and played together - my parents and I were staying at their boarding house on holiday.
The other picture I like best is 'Rainmates'
www.enidhuttgallery.com/rainmates-avril-paton-open-edition-print.ir

Sorry, way off from the OP, but.....

This weeks episode of Girlfriends. Gail enters her friend's house and finds the cat stabbed on the floor. So, instead of putting the lights on she used the torch on her phone to investigate! I was shouting "put the lights on"!

what annoys me even more is when they show the 'good' person going into the house and they dont turn the lights on!!!!!

I'm surprised nobody has heard me shouting 'draw the curtains'.

Inishowen, I think I'd have been straight out the house, calling the police, if I found a cat stabbed in the hall.

Same here, I always notice in dramas etc, they never pull the curtains. When going to bed at night, to getting up in the morning with sun streaming in, the curtains are never pulled.
I wish it didn't bug me so much. But why don't producers pay attention to these little details.
We can't all be wrong.

If I were in a house alone, and heard a noise in the cellar, I really can't think that my first move would be to open the cellar door (which always creaks) and then tiptoe quietly down the stairs to see what was lurking in the depths. No, I would be that cloud of dust on the horizon. Watching 'Vera' last week - otherwise excellent - I too ended up yelling at the screen as this middle aged, unarmed, unfit and defenceless woman went into a building where there was a known dangerous individual, having first called for 'immediate back up'. Why why why didn't she wait for them?? She survived of course as there are going to be more episodes, but it does annoy me so much - it strains credibility in an otherwise first class production.

Oh felice, I so agree with you! I'm forever shouting: "close your curtains!" to the TV. And I think the Americans are even worse with this issue, looking at their films & programmes. For me, this makes the whole "story" (being told) less believable. Perhapd it's all the fault of the set designers?

Hear, hear to all that every one says about not drawing curtains and people going into houses and potentially dangerous situations on their own. My curtains are firmly drawn once the lights go on, but I must admit I do like it when people don't draw their curtains and I can have a really sneaky look in to see what their house is like when the lights are on

When someone is being chased and they run UPSTAIRS! Where are you going to go from there then??!!

Yes, why do the potential victims set themselves up for the bleeding obvious?

I always think of Tippi Hedren in "The Birds" when she deliberately goes up into the attic where the savage winged beasts are getting in and then - surprise! - gets attacked.

The acronym TSTL is frequently used in internet reviews of romance fiction - Too Stupid To Live.

Inishowen, I was shouting at the tv in girlfriends when Gail did that! Use the phone to call the police, not as a torch!

We live in the sticks (no street lamps) and I often leave my curtains open at night, and I have a lamp on and the tv. No one can see in unless they are trespassing in our private garden. I like to see the stars and moon.

It bothers OH, he feels more cosy with the curtains shut. Admittedly if it were a dark and stormy night and I was alone, I might shut them then.

Or if I were watching a creepy film (I don't usually, I am a wuss.)

Another vote for you, felice. UCan't cope with either the open curtains or the lights staying off. I'm told it's to increase tension. Frustration is what it evokes in me and a degree of insult to my intelligence. I know it's only a story but surely it has to have some semblance of natural human behaviour. Since we're pretty well unanimous here then there's NO doubt about it!!

Felice, I commented to my husband about the same thing. Think they could make these little things more realistic. What's worse is when the police are searching the streets for someone and when they spot them, instead of waiting till they've get near to them, they shout 'stop, police' from a distance away at which point a chase ensues! Worst in our house though is if a motorbike appears in a programme. My husband is always picking faults. Such as four stroke bike on screen, but the engine sound is from a two stroke. Or if the rider is riding along shooting at someone in a car with the gun in the hand he needs to accelerate with.

All these things used to really annoy me until recently when I came to realise that without being able to have stupid illogical characters in the plot, most of these movies and books would not exist at all, because it's really not very easy to make a full length story involving people who always make the best move - the whole thing would be over too quick. The would-be victim would twig straight away, the husband would respect his wife's judgement instead of telling her she was imagining things, the police would investigate properly, and that would be the end of the matter.

I guess it makes for better viewing. If they closed the curtains and went to bed then we wouldn't have a programme

And House On The End Of The Street, the police man when he finally realised he was onto a killer, decides to go into the basement with his gun to look for him without so much as calling the office to let them know where he was or what he was about to do.

The one thing that infuriates me is the way that one often sees on TV a scene where petrol has been splashed about and then the criminal stands there with a lighter flame threatening to throw it into the fuel. This is utterly ridiculous as the fumes would have instantly exploded regardless of whether the lighter is thrown into the petrol or not. About 18 months ago a vandal was pictured on the internet attempting to do the same thing by pouring petrol over a car. As soon as he lit the lighter he suffered serious burns and I can't say I was terribly sorry!

Must admit I'm a fan of SW, and Death In Paradise, but at least DIP doesn't take itself too seriously. Some of the stuff in SW is as others have said, annoyingly stupid, and not what 'normal' people would do - yes we would put the lights on, and certainly the police would do that on entering a property that was unlit.

The worst offenders on TV 'cop dramas' are those ludicrous US series like CSI something or another, and I notice - perhaps other than Vera, they are using fewer and fewer older actors, and they are always dressed as if they're off to a function. Wired - far too smooth.

Much prefer the Swedish, Danish or more recently the French dramas - "Spiral" is a particular favourite at present. The police in Paris seem to drive into the less salubrious areas of the city - can't see that happening in London, or Miami, etc.

"Hard Sun" is an interesting new one, but here too some oddball scenes, locations etc. seem to occur. Still - nice views of "The Shard" and "Tower Bridge".

Not putting the lights on is a bugbear of mine, also when they are being chased they run UPWARDS trying to get away. We dont have ANY curtains since we moved a few years ago, live in a bungalow do have venitian blinds, and when I am alone I pull them down, I dont like living in a goldfish bowl, hubby doesnt agree!

Sometimes friends on facebook tell of their plans to have one of those side extensions to make an open plan kitchen/living room with all glass roof and glass across the whole back, and I always tell them to think about what it might be like going to make your bedtime cuppa on a night when you're in the house alone and feeling a bit nervous. Yes they look lovely in magazines but I appreciate my cosy little old fashioned kitchen at night.