Ordinary Gweilo

Considering the BBC’s vast library of TV programmes, it seems nothing short of bizarre that they should create an entertainment channel, call it ‘BBC Prime’ and then broadcast a load of old rubbish.

Fortunately, things do seem to be changing.

Tonight, they are showing ‘The Office’. Yes, I know it’s already been on TVB Pearl and Star World, and everyone has the DVD, but at least they are showing something that is (1) good and (2) fairly recent.

They have also been showing the ‘Catherine Tate Show’. I can’t tell you whether it’s any good because I only watched about three minutes of one show, but it’s not 20 years old and it doesn’t star Geoffrey Palmer so it has to be an improvement on most of the rest of their output.

Also starting this week, they are broadcasting Eastenders four times week, and according to Sunday’s SMP they will be showing it only one month behind the UK. Considering that ‘new’ on BBC Prime seems to mean at least 2 years old, and TVB Pearl are usually 6-9 months behind the UK or US, that’s positively cutting-edge – at least by Hong Kong standards.

I’ll admit that I did watch Eastenders for a while when I lived in the UK, but that was at least ten years ago. However, according to my in-depth research (reading the SMP and 5 minutes with Google), Phil & Grant Mitchell are back, and I suppose Pauline Fowler and Ian Beale have never been away, so I guess I would find it reasonably familiar.  Come to that, is Ken Barlow still in Coronation Street?