Anyone else fed up with......

Too many jumping on the' my favourite /my this /that etc
Prefer 'Draining the Oceans'. Remarkable that we are able to observe the past in such great detail.

I avoid anything with celebrities as they inevitably bore me and are just promoting themselves.

DH & I watch Michael Portillo's train journeys. I also like Simon Reeves programmes, which I thing are more documentary than straight travel programmes. Other than these I avoid most travel and cookery progs although I watched some Place in the Sun during deepest lockdown.

icanhandthemback

I would love to see travel programmes with ordinary people fronting them. If you look at Gogglebox, they have managed to find some real characters to engage the public. It would be lovely to see some families who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to go on these holidays given the opportunity. The gasps and thrills would be more genuine and it would be life changing in a small way for the people who went.

What an absolutely brilliant idea, holidays for the least able to afford them. Now that would be good.
Can I also wholeheartedly sympathise with the person who mentioned the Shangri-la effect on Cornwall. Where I grew up in Snowdonia the next little town is very picturesque and sits on a beautiful estuary. In the winter it's dead, like a ghost town, the locals can't afford many homes because tiny places get snapped up by wealthy second home owners. Summer is heaving and far, far too busy, the shoulder seasons are getting extended too. I now travel in November and February on my own except for the dogs, to the most obscure places I can. If I want to feel like I'm in a busy supermarket aisle I can go to Tesco anytime, that's not my idea of a holiday.
Other supermarkets are available?!

Eloethan

MaggsMcG Each to their own I suppose but to dismiss BBC programmes as "rubbish" is I think a personal opinion rather than a fact. Lots of people, including myself, enjoy the great variety on the BBC. I think Netflix is over-hyped. I have found very little, apart from a couple of films and some interesting documentaries, to entertain me on Netflix.
Whereas the BBC has a whole range of programmes, from serious to light drama, light entertainment, and documentaries:

Line of Duty; Spooks, Sherlock, Baptiste, Broken, Time, The Split, The Terror, Only Connect, Would I Lie to You, Have I Got News for You, University Challenge, Strictly Come Dancing, Fake or Fortune, Wolf Hall, Storyville, Call the Midwife, Who do you think you are, Watchdog - not all to my taste but there are many I have enjoyed.

Of course, there is a concerted effort to get rid of the BBC in its current form, and Channel 4 is now also at risk.

Totally agree with you,! Plus all the Attenborough programmes, dragons den, baptiste……

W2, thanks for that thumbs up to Richard E Grant travels with a book. Gave it a look-in in the middle of the night and was there until getting up time. Thoroughly uplifting. Have to say it also stimulated the 'I've been there' memory in me. I'm so fortunate to have travelled well around Europe that I sometimes (often) forget where I've been. Very happy memories rekindle is a double whammy bonus. Terrific.

This is the only celebrity programme I enjoy. It's all staged, I'm sure, and not that different to Top Gear, but I love the capable and practical Caleb, the dour and sensible land agent and Clarkson is doing alot to draw attention to some important farming issues. At times you can see he's knackered and really putting his back into it, even if he makes ridiculous mistakes. It also makes me laugh and cheers me up.

They do seem to be proliferating, in fact they are breeding I'm sure. Some are tolerable, some are so sickening I want to throw things at the TV. My personal pet hate, as a Welsh woman, is the constant favouritism for the Ffestiniog Railway because the Cob is a pretty backdrop.
The only one to feature the first railway preservation society in the world was the lovely gang from the Victorian Farm series. Footage of the three of them on the sweet little station platform at Rhydyronen, on the Talyllyn Railway was really good. Loved the banter between them - no flexing gob muscles to fake looking overawed, or over the top squawking (Heaven preserve us) - just an enjoyable, genuine commentary.
I suspect the Ffestiniog also gets the attention because producers can manage to pronounce the name!!

I was only thinking yesterday I need to cancel my sky tv. I only watch the news and netflix. In contract til next year which is a pity. The Olympics is getting on my nerves at the moment. If you enjoy it nice but what about people who don't!

So many repeats too. Fed up with watching lots of midsummer murders over and over again.

I agree the celebrity travel is getting a bit over done, and aren't they lucky to use that as an excuse to get out and about. But I do enjoy seeing and learning about other places.
My biggest complaint is cookery programmes, they are endless, and how many women have time, or can afford all those ingredients, not to mention the amount of gas or electric to do all this. From what I see in the supermarkets women shop for economy and to suit the tastes of there family, most young children wouldn't touch half the thigs they create. I think if adults want a special meal they go out to a good restaurant, not stand for hours in the kitchen. After going out to work all week, being mom, wife and housekeeper. I think these chefs are just advertising there own restaurants.

I agree about Richard E Grant. He is so delightful- and I had been to one of the places featured in each programme

With several programmes about Cornwall on our TVs at present, I feel that I must point out the enormous changes in this beautiful county that are happening because of the pandemic and the resulting influx of visitors and second homers there. Hospitals are stretched to their utter limits-Treliske in Truro is the only major one in the county and A&E are constantly at double capacity! House prices are soaring, landlords are increasing rents, moving to holiday letting only or selling to second homers. Housing availability is at crisis point for the ordinary resident who can’t afford to buy or rent in their local communities and social housing is practically non existent. All this and more makes life in Cornwall very difficult for those born and/or bred there and who hope to be able to build a life in their home county. I speak as one who, having been brought up in Cornwall and who has family there (including several medics), views these programmes with dismay as perpetuating a myth of a Shrangri-la which no longer exists, if it ever did. I live in Dorset now and although we have an enormous amount of visitors, it does not have the mystique which these ill-advised programmes confer on Cornwall. I do wish those who make them would consider the effect of their money grubbing efforts.

Nannan2

So thats our choice is it, stilton & silvercollie? Put up & shut up, or just switch off?! Shut up yourselves, we were asked our opinion by OP and we've given it!?

Erm, aren't we just giving our opinion too, as 'asked'? And, for my part, the reason why they are making programmes such as this.

I profoundly apologise if my point of view differs from yours. I wasn’t aware that only like minded responses were required.

We don’t need more travel programmes as Michael Portillo has made 3,793.
Glad I’m not the only one allergic to the Luscious Lumley. Come to think of it, the people I am allergic to on TV and radio is getting larger by the day. Soon I will only be able to tolerate Eddie Muir on LBC.
I have a lovely selection of recorded 40s and 50s noir films on Talking Pictures, just the ticket.

* I don't THINK we'd get paid for it though ??

*Typo- its done it again! Sorry.

*typo.Don't think ?

Im sure some of the celebs could afford to donate the money they get paid for doing these free holiday programmes to charity- i bet not many do.

EdithW- you could even do that, in PJ's, whilst drinking tea?i would! Yes a GN panel would be good.Don't think we'd get paid for it though?

No need to watch travel programmes, if you’re interested in somewhere get it on your computer with Google street view and have a virtual stroll. Use Wikipedia if you want information about the place. Watch live cams - there’s a fantastic YouTube channel called Solent Ships with five live streams around the docks of Southampton.

Sadgrandma- i agree yes that the other lesser known actors could be given a chance to 'star' and earn, maybe ones from local theatres which have been closed during the pandemic or supporting role actors from the film/theatre industry- but sadly i think they choose the 'celebs' as they believe that when we see a certain 'celeb' name advertised it will make us want to watch a certain programme, or buy such & such a product from a voiceover- but the (most) opinion on here seems to show the opposite! (& how many of us knew before lockdown ads that the guy in compare ads with the fake moustache was a real life opera singer?) I didn't.(He's a very good singer too)

Simon Reeve is very good. His autobiography is well worth reading. He said that nothing in his programmes is staged and when he looks shocked, he is genuinely shocked. I wish that he would make another series but I suppose that travelling from country to country and meeting people in remote places is a bad idea in a pandemic.

I like the travel plus cookery programmes such Rick Stein or the Hairy Bikers. I also enjoy travel programmes if the celebrity presenter is funny and sympathetic, such as Michael Palin or Sue Perkins. Haven't seen the Richard E Grant series, so I will have to try to catch up.

And though I am angry with the BBC (and the government) about the loss of free licenses for the over-75s, I must admit that we watch their programmes more than any other channel. Netflix is OK but you have to pick through a lot of rubbish.

Whitewavemark:

You are spot on regarding Richard E Grant. I have known his name for many years but never seen any of his films. However, I would stop everything to watch him doing his hotel tours. His style is unique and so natural. I know what I'd say about anybody who licked a plate in my presence - unless it was Richard E Grant and I would probably lick my own, if we could stop laughing. What a lovely Man!!! Each to their own...

Just read more of the posts and reminded of Susan Calman, enjoyed most of those - husband is a Scot!