The 1979 ITV strike was the longest in the history of British television. It was also the last major strike. When service resumed after ten weeks, this is what viewers saw. With this naff jingle, viewers must have immediately wished that ITV never came back. Following the ten week break, it would be a further […]
Why I am finding F1 less gripping in 2011
There have been four grands prix in 2011 so far, and they have been widely hailed as a great success. There is no doubt that the races have been action-packed, with something always going on. But I wasn’t feeling it quite as much as many others were. I thought the Chinese Grand Prix was okay. […]
The Chain
Next weekend sees the start of the Formula 1 season. So for this week’s television presentation gem of the week, I had to feature The Chain. This week there is a campaign to get The Chain to number 1 in the charts for the start of the Formula 1 season. Here is the title sequence […]
Jonathan Legard’s performance in perspective
As I expected, my previous post has generated a bit of controversy in the comments. So I have decided to break from the series of posts looking at the BBC’s F1 coverage this season, and the final part will be published tomorrow. Instead, I am going to do something which will hopefully outline why I […]
Welcome to Formula None, where racing is illegal
So another race, another clutch of dodgy stewards’ decisions. During the ITV broadcast today, Martin Brundle got it bang on: we are now watching a nanny state F1 where we are constantly paranoid about penalties. And that was even before the most ridiculous penalty of the lot — to Sébastien Bourdais — was doled out. […]