Close the curtains !!!!!!!

All houses have shutters here in France .....which are always closed so that the entire town or village looks deserted ....and are kept closed all day sometimes, apart from one room ....gloomy ! They don;t understand why I open my doors an windows in summer ....often loud tutting from my neighbours ..who mutter darkly about dust from the small lane ! I have mozz blinds anyway ......but I admit when we lived in a three storey house I did keep the upstairs bedroom shutters open at night ! Here we have a bungalow and I have got into the French habit of closing the shutters at lighting up time ....there are sometimes odd noises in the night, but I don't investigate ! Ins cos and Gendarmerie recommend (or demand) that if you are out or on holiday the shutters are closed what makes me laugh though is that if I see a house during the day with ALL the shutters closed then I automatically think no one is home ....(sometimes they are !) so if I think that, then surely a burglar would as well !!

The splashing around of petrol also amazes me - it must get onto the clothes or at least the shoes and legs of the arsonist, and yet a match is thrown and then off they trot, completely unscathed. The fumes must be everywhere -they would go up like a torch along with whatever they are trying to burn. Ridiculous!

Slight deviation motivated by Conni7's last. I encountered a young female on TV recently (hadn't seen her before) who was so sick of shouting at the telly political stuff that she decided to do something about it by becoming an MP. Wish we all had such stout resolve. I was somewhat impressed by what she had to say too. Must investigate.

Does anyone remember the film "Rear Window"? There wouldn't have been a film if the woman had closed the curtains! I'm glad I'm not the only one who shouts at the telly.

Well you daren't really leave a thing out of place if the neighbors and any passer by are going to be glancing in and assessing your housekeeping skills all day

Mind you, it’s the same in real life in programmes such as Grand Designs, masses and masses of glass and no curtains/blinds. What are beautiful views in the daytime turn into whole walls of black, black, black at night. And those homes look so totally unlived in. That look is much more than a quick flick round with a duster when guests are expected. Not a pot or pan to clutter, just a tasteful vase of flowers on a working top, no carpets, no character, no warmth, no love .........

I've been saying this for years. In RL I shut the curtains as soon as it gets to dusk, after all you never know who or what is out there and there's no need to advertise the fact that you're a woman alone.
I've long since decided that the film makers believe that their audience is daft.

Quizqueen, actually if you watch any old black and white movie they're equally clueless and the husbands are equally dismissive of their wives' suspicions. And the police are equally naive when faced with a well-groomed and polite killer.

Supposedly to add to the atmosphere ?
Bugs me when I can't hear what they are saying in dramas and movies. Tried increasing volume to 100% then blast out of my seat when ads come on.

The examples described here tell you exactly why the majority of people seem to lack common sense any more and it's partly because they watch programs like this. Film and program makers need to take some responsibility for educating the population- if in danger- arm yourself, there's safety in numbers and get outside assistance asap.

It is beyond me how anyone can sit in their home with the lights on and curtains wide open for passers by to be able to look in. They are not shop windows they are house windows. The police advise is the curtains should be closed and night when the lights are on. It’s my pet hate, as you may of guessed.

Has anyone noticed,when someone makes arrangement to meet up later,they never state a time,? Even before mobile phones where being used,I want to shout at the TV WHAT TIME.Maybe because I don’t do late,unlike my friend whose always late ! Drives me barmy?

Another thing that drives me mad is that no one down south appears to close their curtains at night to go to sleep! The light would wake you up early! We have blackout blinds as well as curtains, I could not possibly go to sleep with no curtains closed for that reason and also that someone could look in (we live in a bungalow)! Is that the case?

Gawd I thought it was just us, it really annoyes me too when they wander around a dark house when they have heard a noise.
Every light in my house would be on and I'd be gathering ammo to throw at them, spray at them etc

We watch the Australian soap, Home & Away, regularly and no one ever seems to lock their doors! People just walk in and awful things happen but no one ever seems to realise that if they had locked the door they would probably have been safe. It happens time and again!!!

OR they arrive home to a dark house open the front door and walk back to the car to get something - with a bad man hiding just outside!

railman, ditto to Spiral. Quite my favourite at the moment.

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.

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!

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".

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!

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.

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

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.

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.