PEOPLE AND PLACES..I had lunch yesterday with a good friend of mine who had recently completed the section of the South West Coast Path from Minehead to Ilfracombe. In all, the path, which is a truly great national treasure, runs for 630 miles from Minehead in Somerset round to Poole in Dorset.
I have another good friend who is perhaps more systematically walking sections of the path and over the years I have managed bite sized chunks in Dorset, the county of my birth, but mostly in Devon and Cornwall. So there`s quite a lot of affinity with the path and I look out for books and tv programmes that might recall those special times in those very special places.
And last night BBC2 showed the second in their new `Coast` series, which was billed as covering the south west coast from Swanage in Dorset right along to Land`s End. A tall order, even for the BBC, to do justice to such a long stretch of heritage coast in just under an hour. Now, the first couple of Coast series were very good indeed, concentrating on what the British coastline had to offer and giving brief insights to things along the way. The coastline and the seascapes came first with the admittedly knowledgeable `presenters` just doing the presenting.
Last night`s programme was, however, so disappointing. Very brief glimpses of the World Heritage Site that the Jurassic Coast of Dorset has become, passing snapshots of coastal villages and harbours, whole swathes of Devon and Cornwall overlooked as the hour was spent focussing on the presenters rather than what they were supposed to be presenting. We had Alice Roberts at Gorran Haven telling us nothing about Gorran Haven but all about what makes the sea smell like it does. We had Nicholas Crane doing battle with Portland Race in a small boat. We had Miranda Krestovnikoff diving for white faced dolphins and not finding any. We had Mark Horton spending an inordinate amount of time in Devonport Dockyard. But most cringingly of all we had Neil Oliver `performing` at the Minack Theatre as a rather camp and out of place Prospero.
And last night BBC2 showed the second in their new `Coast` series, which was billed as covering the south west coast from Swanage in Dorset right along to Land`s End. A tall order, even for the BBC, to do justice to such a long stretch of heritage coast in just under an hour. Now, the first couple of Coast series were very good indeed, concentrating on what the British coastline had to offer and giving brief insights to things along the way. The coastline and the seascapes came first with the admittedly knowledgeable `presenters` just doing the presenting.
Last night`s programme was, however, so disappointing. Very brief glimpses of the World Heritage Site that the Jurassic Coast of Dorset has become, passing snapshots of coastal villages and harbours, whole swathes of Devon and Cornwall overlooked as the hour was spent focussing on the presenters rather than what they were supposed to be presenting. We had Alice Roberts at Gorran Haven telling us nothing about Gorran Haven but all about what makes the sea smell like it does. We had Nicholas Crane doing battle with Portland Race in a small boat. We had Miranda Krestovnikoff diving for white faced dolphins and not finding any. We had Mark Horton spending an inordinate amount of time in Devonport Dockyard. But most cringingly of all we had Neil Oliver `performing` at the Minack Theatre as a rather camp and out of place Prospero.
What started off as an admirable project to bring our magical coastline to a wider audience has turned into a showcase for the overmanned presenting team who are now fixed in the heady glare of tv personality. In short, they have become the story, leaving the real star - the coast itself - for those like my friends and I to discover and give it the time it needs. I just wish the BBC might devote a whole series to the treasurehouse that is the South West Coast Path...and I think I know two or three ordinary punters, myself included, who would be more than happy to show them the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment