Saturday 21 November

BLOGS

blogCategory
Previous
Back to blog
Next

Katie & Peter versus poetry

Kaite Price and Peter Andre draped in the American flag
  • Posted at 5:11pm
  • 21 May 2009
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 3 comments

"Aw, did you see Peter Andre in Katie & Peter Stateside? Peter wrote a lovely song for his stepson Harvey, the lyrics were something about Harvey making him a dad before he became a father. Or it could have been a father before he became a dad…"

It was at this point that I could see the thunderstruck expressions starting to take shape on my friends' faces. One close colleague shook her head and said, pityingly, "No, Alison. This has to stop."

She's right, of course, but what can I say, my once mild obsession with Katie & Peter Stateside has turned into a torrid affair. I need to watch it every week.

So, in an effort at self-improvement and some intellectual dry-cleaning, I dipped my toes into the BBC's poetry season. Which is perfectly fine, there's nothing wrong with it. But almost immediately I bumped up against one of the things I hate most in the world - total strangers thinking they need to educate me.

That's the problem with "seasons". With the best will in the world they always come across as faintly superior and a bit preachy, as if the BBC has discovered poetry before anyone else and it's, like, really good.

Well, yes, I know it is. I'm partial to a bit of TS Eliot myself and was delighted to watch comedian Robert Webb's My Life in Verse (29 May, BBC1) in which he declared his love for Eliot's brilliant, poignant The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock.

Though Webb, a clever man himself, is wise enough not to try to educate, the programme, like others in the season, has hints of "Poetry is cool! Poetry is fun! Please don't turn over or switch off!''

I suppose it's television's terror of elitism, thus it bends over backwards to say "You don't have to be posh to enjoy poetry!" On Countryfile last Sunday Julia Bradbury was obsessed with "elitism" during a piece from the Badminton Horse Trials, even asking Katie Price of all people (who was wearing stupendous high-heeled wellies as she signed copies of some book or other of hers) if she was worried that showjumping was seen as "elitist".

But who cares about elitism? If people want to showjump and have the pots of cash needed to do it, good luck to them. Why should it worry me or you?

This fear has even crept into the BBC's coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which seems desperate to reassure us all that growing lovely flowers isn't the preserve only of people called Tarquin and Ariadne - riff-raff can enjoy petunias too.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times - read her column in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale now.

Link to this post
Post a comment | 3 comments

Comments

  • Posted on 27 May 2009
  • at 4:09pm
  • by Gaz

in the name of sanity why should I be bothered about Katie and Peter?

  • Posted on 26 May 2009
  • at 1:45pm
  • by Phil

What an extraordinary blog. I have had a feeling that the Radio Times has, over the past few years, been gradually dumbing down now I know it has.

  • Posted on 23 May 2009
  • at 11:22am
  • by Justin O

Thanks Alison

Just great to feel I am not alone in feeling patronized by the poetry series....

Post a comment

Do you have something to say about this post? Share your thoughts…

Post a comment

(first or nickname only)

Please do not include any personal or personally identifiable information about yourself or others (including email addresses). All information you submit about yourself or others can be viewed by others.

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comments. All comments will be looked at by a moderator, however, due to the numbers of comments we receive, we can't promise that all will be posted on the site.

Post another comment

More


Advertisement