iPlayer done over now.

[SerendipityJane]

Went to watch catchup via my SmartTV iPlayer, and my God what have the BBC done to it ? It no longer seems to tell you how long the program was, when it was first shown, or any brief description when you pause it.

Just a rather overblown subtitles button. Oh, and a settings button - about subtitles.

I can't see they've changed it.

On the home page as you move onto each programme it shows -

programme length, how long available for, first shown.

If you select a programme then at the top of the first page it has tabs for episodes, subtitles and add/remove

Reply from BBC Towers:

Thanks for contacting BBC iPlayer support about the recent changes to the play controls screen on the TV app.

I'm very sorry to hear how unhappy you are at these changes and I can understand your annoyance at losing access to the programme information. The team decided to simplify the screen and added in other accessibility features and you can read about the changes here:

^www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/recent-changes-to-iplayer/new-tv-playback-controls^

In the meantime, please check out the programme page on the website if you wish to find out that information. Just use a search engine and type 'bbc + name of the programme' and that will bring up the programme page as the first result. Obviously, this isn't an ideal solution but it's one of the only ways to get that information now.

I can understand your frustration and rest assured that I will register your complaint on our Audience Feedback Report, which is read by BBC Management and by the BBC iPlayer Product Team, including the Head of iPlayer.

This really helps us with any future developments and decisions, it helps us to pinpoint what features we would like to add, and it really helps us address what will benefit the audience the most. The team are monitoring these reports closely to see the feedback from these changes as well.

Thanks again for getting in touch with us.

I managed to turn the bloody subtitles on accidentally 3 times while having a Line of Duty catch up on my iPad the other day. Massively annoying.