BBC's Science programs

BBC's Science programs

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Otispunkmeyer

Original Poster:

12,916 posts

161 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Or lack of?


Every time I go to see if there is something interesting to watch on iPlayer's science section it just seems to be completely full of things to do with animals and nature.

There are loads of shows about a man and some birds, animals living in towns and cities, coast (whatever that is, looks like its about nature of the coast lines), stuff about tigers, stuff about the big wild life in the UK (and reviving it?), Wild life of china, stuff about animals that live in holes, more stuff about a man and his birds, stuff about lizards on an island, stuff about the men who film stuff about animals on a stuffing island, stuff about predators, Wild life patrol, zoo quest...

list is endless and its all animals animals animals getting stuffed down yer neck!

Where are the programs on good hard Science and Engineering?

mrmr96

13,736 posts

210 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Otispunkmeyer said:
Where are the programs on good hard Science and Engineering?
On Sky.

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

261 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Sp...Programmes.

Carry on...

Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Horizon has been the BBC's flagship science programme for decades. It's had its ups and downs regarding quality but it is going through a "good" phase at the moment.

BBC have also done lots of stuff on space. The two Brian Cox series were both very good and The Sky at Night is still running and in its current rejuvenated format, very good.

"Stargazing Live" has been broadcast each January for the past two years and has been very entertaining and informative.

Dara O'Briain's "Science Club" is worth a watch.

Finally, Sky shows precious little actual science. However, if you are a Sky customer you will probably have access to the various Discovery and National Geographic Channels which often have very interesting science based stuff. They also have tons of absolute pseudo-scientific schlock on them as well so you need to be discerning to spot the worthwhile stuff.
These channels are also available through Virgin Media, so you don't HAVE to subscribe to Sky to get them.

rufusruffcutt

1,542 posts

211 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Another thumbs up for Horizon from me. Bang Goes The Theory does the odd good film as well.

I also still miss Equinox, Channel 4's version of Horizon and Q.E.D. on the Beeb.

Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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I still have some old Equinox episodes on VHS tape. They were very good.

mrmr96

13,736 posts

210 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Eric Mc said:
These channels are also available through Virgin Media, so you don't HAVE to subscribe to Sky to get them.
Yes, fair comment.

I tend to watch a fair bit of Discovery on Sky. But I'm increasingly finding that there's better content online on youtube for example. Watching youtube on the lounge TV (I do it via xbox, but you can do it in lots of ways) is actually becoming much more common in my household.

Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
youtube is rapdily becomeing a "channel" of choice for me - especially for older programmes or even newsreels.

Virgin now offers youtube as a dedicated channel , for those who have a Tivo box. I don't so I watch youtube on computer.

Simpo Two

86,718 posts

271 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
rufusruffcutt said:
Another thumbs up for Horizon from me. Bang Goes The Theory does the odd good film as well.

I also still miss Equinox, Channel 4's version of Horizon and Q.E.D. on the Beeb.
And before that, BBC 2's 'Chronicle'.

Eric Mc said:
Virgin now offers youtube as a dedicated channel , for those who have a Tivo box. I don't so I watch youtube on computer.
You can get Youtube on internet-capable TVs. Much nicer to watch full screen from a sofa than perched up at a desk.

Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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That will probably be the next "upgrade".

ewenm

28,506 posts

251 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Watching Horizon now, hacking episode. It's good but has a frustratingly sensationalist narrative for me.

Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Interesting all the same - with the killer quote in the end credits. "Since making this programme, Barnaby Jacks has died, aged 35".

Conspiracy or what?

AJI

5,180 posts

223 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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Is it worth watching BBC's efforts of science programs these days?
Every time I tune in to watch one they play out their guilt trip of how humans are supposedly destroying the planet by the production of plant gas.
They seem to get their little pension security gem about human CO2 causing climate change in to just about every 'science' program no matter if its related to the environment or not.



Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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I think that you'll find that MMGW has backed of quite a bit from many documentaries.

LordGrover

33,652 posts

218 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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Eric Mc said:
I think that you'll find that MMGW has backed of quite a bit from many documentaries.
Is this some strange auto-correct or a new language?

ETA. Man made global warming Making Middle Grades Work off of - apols.

Edited by LordGrover on Tuesday 20th August 15:05

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

261 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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Eric Mc said:
I think that you'll find that MMGW has backed of quite a bit from many documentaries.
They do drop it in frequently, though, in all sorts of unrelated topics.

qube_TA

8,405 posts

251 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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I find the occasional science programmes that do turn up on terrestrial telly are generally awful, there's almost an immediate assumption that an audience couldn't possibly find the subject interesting or have a long enough attention-span to pay attention so remove almost all content and information and just use silly graphics and music instead.

I'm hoping that the reboot of Cosmos will be every bit as wonderful as the original and as popular as it'll show these telly people that proper documentaries about science can still be made and that they'll have an audience.

Eric Mc

122,688 posts

271 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
quotequote all
mybrainhurts said:
Eric Mc said:
I think that you'll find that MMGW has backed of quite a bit from many documentaries.
They do drop it in frequently, though, in all sorts of unrelated topics.
To my mind it is quite a bit less than it was, say, four years ago,.

Even the great Clive James (a bit of a MMGW skeptic himself) has commented on this.

Bigends

5,628 posts

134 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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Watched Horizon since the 1970s.Tomorrows world was another favourite - Thursdays after Top of the Pops if I remember rightly.

Simpo Two

86,718 posts

271 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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Eric Mc said:
To my mind it is quite a bit less than it was, say, four years ago
Agreed, once all it took was a light shower or two sunny days in a row to get the 'global warming' soundbyte. Now we can have droughts and hurricanes and they don't mention it. Like speed cameras, it's had its 15 minutes in the limelight before Joe Punter finally wakes up and says 'enough'.

But we're certainly suffering from 'green' taxes. 'Hey, let's sign up to all this stuff which will make us poorer'. Lions led by donkeys.