I see the Guardian has done its article again.

This weekend's @yorkshirepost.co.uk remembering Kenith Trodd (1936-2026).

James MacTaggart's final work, although his Churchill's People episode aired a few weeks after. Also notable for being a US co-production.

Happy 88th birthday, Eleanor Bron

Exhibit two: the BBC Written Archives are becoming much more difficult for researcher access, as outlined in depth in this response to the Charter Review from @greavesian.bsky.social and many others drive.google.com/file/d/1n5aX...

One member of staff got the iris brief, and the other did not.

Oh god, reposted by a Rachel Maddow viewer and that's my notifications fucked for days. Irony is dead. Help me out here, guys, and pretend I'm Randy Newman.

Just arrived at my mother's. Trying to figure out if everyone in A Woman of Substance is supposed to have jaundice, or she's just messed up the settings on the television.

A genetically engineered species of rat escapes into London! 🌌 DOOMWATCH (1970) 11:40pm #JohnPaul #JobyBlanshard #SimonOates 'Tomorrow the Rat' #TPTVsubtitles

Goodbye to Jane Lapotaire, who brought the emotional and intellectual intelligence needed to play Eleanor of Aquitaine in the BBC's The Devil's Crown (1978), and some more.

"The show is not cancelled." So don't ask for a refund.

Poor sods.

Textbook LRB review two years after publication, but I have another question. How long would it take me to learn French? Because I want this.

#NowPlaying. I think I like it.

Good morning!

Spit on me! Not sure how I missed this, but the movie edit of Blackeyes - cut back-to-back with the serial, but never released - has been on Amazon Prime for just over a year. What a time to be alive. Will it be better? Probably not, but it finishes sooner. www.amazon.com/Blackeyes-Gi...

The playful, prolific use of hyperlinks in online journalism (eg Slate, Pitchfork) didn’t anticipate link-rot. Now so many articles are pock-marked with cryptic allusions that some long-dead link once explained. Weird how quickly a new style comes to feel more archaic than the traditional format

And the Robert Pollard Title Generator gives us

Reading a book about Aston Villa's journey from relegation to the Champions League and have learned that before being appointed manager, Gerrard put together a presentation on his plans for the club that lasted FIVE HOURS.

Today's blog post features the submission to the DCMS open consultation about the BBC Charter Review green paper made by the campaign against the recently-imposed changes to access at the BBC Written Archives Centre. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-bbc-wac-...

London’s Metropolitan Police persecutes UK rap while using it for self-promotion, argues @hwfmorris.bsky.social in The Wire 506 www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/c...

The BBC WAC Campaign's full submission to the Government's Charter Review is now online. We argue that policy changes at the Written Archives Centre fly in the face of the values at the heart of the Green Paper: trust, transparency, and the telling of stories. Read here: tinyurl.com/CharterSubmi...

A cheeky little audio cameo there for Humphrey in his outro of a radio weather forecast.

The Monitor film of The Allegri Quartet is about to start on BBC Four. It was important to include a programme actually directed by Humphrey Burton and this is one of his first. It's a special one, turning the usual approach to classical documentary on its head. A demystification. Looks great too.

On BBC4 right now, Humphrey Burton and Glenn Gould are arguing furiously about interpretations of Beethoven (from 1966) and I can't imagine anything like it happening on telly today.

Humphrey Burton Night is just about to get going on BBC Four. Watch live: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live...

This is an important thread for anyone who cares, not only about archive research, but BBC accountability.

The White House. A murder of bros.

BBC Charter review consultation responses need to be in by Tuesday. If you are thinking to put something in last minute, here’s our report which contains useful international evidence you can draw upon

PS if you would like to know quite how reluctant the BBC was to answer questions about the death of the public-facing catalogue, read in particular Annex A of the covering response from January: www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/draf...

The BBC’s job is to “inform, educate, and entertain”? Let’s talk about the middle word. What follows is the story of what we found in an FOI request (per the Observer) about the Corporation killing off plans to launch an online catalogue and failing to deliver ‘learning for people of all ages’. 🧵

Redacted emails raise questions over the BBC’s relationship with the royals. Internal BBC emails show how a project that may have shed light on the broadcaster’s negotiations with the royal household were quietly shelved. ✍️ Vanessa Thorpe https://bit.ly/4u5mGB7

Landed on Hallam Tennyson's memoir today. Very of its time but has this amazing account of a truly awful schoolmaster.

One of those Saturdays where it hits noon and you realise you might have time this weekend to actually like read a book or something. And of course I'm now paralysed by indecision.

‘All those who care about the BBC’s future should hurry and send in their response before 10 March. Despite strong public support for the national broadcaster, you can bet battalions of enemies driven by the right will be out in force to undermine it.’

Mo' Stock, Hausen and Walkman live stuff out today. Bandcamp Friday so be kind and line their pockets. stockhausenandwalkman.bandcamp.com/album/live-a...

I uploaded 20/20 Vision: 'The Scramble for Cable' (C4, 26 October 1983). This looks at the projected rise in cable television, including The Gaming Network and video games and Milton Keynes News. youtu.be/LbBsLMRaIrw

The Philip Jeck Bandcamp Subscription: philipjeck.bandcamp.com/subscribe 12 exclusive live recordings + 5 items from his back catalogue. All proceeds from this subscription go to The Philip Jeck Foundation, supporting aspiring artists working in the traditions of experimental and creative arts.

The BBC WAC Campaign has after months of chasing through FOI uncovered the motivation for the 11th hour pulling of a public catalogue of its written archives. This falls short of the basic requirement of a major archive as well as the Charter itself. £ but see reply. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

So Philip Glass just joined TikTok. He only has like 4 posts and they’re simply him in what I assume is his living room playing the piano. First comment on one I saw was “your piano is too close to the fireplace, you’ll dry it out” and if that’s not the internet in a nutshell I don’t know what is.

CD now in the UK and landing far and wide. Excellent commute listen this morning. "Now nearly gone" my immediate pick.

Who can raise my 15 Bandcamp Friday emails before breakfast.

The House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee just published their report on AI, copyright & the creative industries, and their conclusions could not be clearer. 🧵 1/5

It's basically Joe 90.

Horrified to learn this morning that Radio Times now costs £5.50.

Indebted to @simoncoward.bsky.social for pointing out that the Humphrey Burton celebrations continue on Monday with his appearance on a 1977 Call My Bluff. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

We lost Kenith Trodd last weekend, a brilliant producer and forward-thinking man who believed deeply in television and the British screen. He was ahead of his time in many ways. "A film is a film is a film." My tribute is now up on the BFI website: www.bfi.org.uk/news/kenith-...

This Sunday might just be the best night on BBC Four in a while. A corking Ibsen double bill, the continuing Pevsner repeats, and at its centre a celebration of the late music and arts supremo Humphrey Burton. (A full run of 100 Great Paintings would be great too.)

I have a memoir. It's really good imo, reflections on immigration, privilege, addiction, sexuality, illness and the importance of serendipity its bitchy, silly and occasionally very bleak indeed. It's an unconventionl tale packed with failure. And i doubt i have the energy to write a sequel.