Mark Lawson - A New King of Talk-Shows?

Overstating things a little, perhaps, but I find ‘Mark Lawson Talks to …’ on BBC4 a most refreshing departure from what has become the standard talk show format. The title says it all really. Does what it says on the can, as they say. No fuss, no gimmicks, no audience even - just two people, in a studio - talking.

Whereas most talk show interviews are considered long or ‘in-depth’ if they last longer than ten minutes, Lawson has an hour with his subject so the conversation can be allowed to develop. While conversing at such length may be beyond many of our modern celebrities, most, if not all of Lawson’s interviewees have performed well. They appear relaxed and articulate. The programme does not fall into the trap of giving people an opportunity to ‘plug’ their latest product, and this further adds to the relaxed atmosphere. Often, as in the case of Lawson’s latest guest, Melvyn Bragg, the discussion covers a whole career, whole life even.

The Bragg interview (repeated Friday October 3rd, 2.45 am! Set the Sky+) was particularly intense as he described particularly painful periods of his life - his difficulty in accepting the return of his father after the war, his teenage depression, the suicide of his first wife. Echoes of previous discussion programmes such as the famous Face to Face (ickledot is too young to remember the original broadcasts of this series) perhaps, but here the interviewee has freedom to reveal their innermost thought or not.

Mark Lawson has often criticised those who look upon television of the sixties and seventies as being a golden era, his implication being that there are programmes of quality (whatever that is) around today. His brand of ‘talk-show’ amply illustrates his point. Hope it sticks around for a while to come.

The North in Focus

Those of you who RSS directly to this blog will have missed my flagrant advertising of ickledot’s latest work on the home page. ickledot is extremely proud to have provided scanning and design work for The North in Focus, an exhibition of photographs by Bradford’s own C.H. Wood. This is currently on at Bradford 1 Gallery, in Centenary Square in the centre of Bradford, until January 25th 2009.

This image shows C. H. Wood with his H-B 1920s plate camera (courtesy Bradford Museums, Galleries and Heritage).

Sarah 'Miss Teen USA' Palin

Saw this on Dave Winer’s Scripting News blog this morning. Sarah Palin seemed to be a positive choice as John McCain’s running mate a while ago. If this is a truly reflects her knowledge of matters foreign, perhaps the rest of us have much to worry about.

By Any Means

When I first encountered Charlie Boorman, it was in his first televised travel adventure Long Way Round. In this he and his better known chum Ewan MacGregor motorcycled their way westwards, circumnavigating the planet. It was far better than I had expected as although the pair were accompanied by a well-equipped support team, the challenge was undoubtedly genuine and there were moments of real danger. Similarly the follow-up Long Way Down, a trip from London to Cape Town, was most enjoyable.

So I was quite looking forward to seeing Boorman’s latest effort, sans MacGregor, By Any Means. The challenge of this trip to Sydney, as the title suggests, is to get there on as many different forms of transport as possible.

I’m afraid I managed only ten minutes. I could stand Charlie’s grinning face and bulging eyes not a second longer. I’m not sure whether his presentation style has changed or the lack of a partner has made the difference. He now appears as a cross between a modern-day Bertie Wooster and Paul Whitehouse’s ‘Brilliant!’ character from the Fast Show.

Holiday Return!

Sorry no blogs for the last fortnight or so but as indicated previously, I have been away with chums on the beautiful Ile d’Oloron off the west coast of France. I am determined that on next year’s trip I will be a little more wi-fi savvy and online regularly. Anyway, a splendid time was had by all despite mixed weather conditions.