Repetitive TV about Duke’s Death

[Thisisnotreallymyname]

At a risk of being sent to the Tower, whilst I think it is sad that Prince Philip has died, am I alone in being amazed at the constant repetitive TV about his life.
It’s just going over snd over same old stuff. And I’d like to watch some normal TV !

IABU - YES
IANBU - NO

At the end of the day not that I’m a royalist but he carried out tens of thousands of public engagements and that will be the tip of the iceberg. I think to be in RF is living in a gilded cage . I think it will naturally become less and less as most members don’t want to do the job .

@Keyring

Geez - he wasn't Saint Philip

He should be made one.

You went too far with this one! You almost had me with your rabid Royalism; but you overdid this one, so I now see that you're having a bit of a laugh at our expense! 😂

St Philip! 😂😂😂

Wonder what the BBC will do when the Queen dies given the response to the DofE?

I am surprised there is second day of suspended programs on BBC1.

I didn't say watching it, I said broadcasting it. The country is officially in mourning, flags are at half mast and the BBC suspended it's entertainment programmes on BBC 1 and BBC 2. Individuals can watch what they like in their own home but the BBC will follow the protocols they have in place. I'm sure the majority of the country isn't sat at home dressed in black but the BBC newsreaders will be. I'm not actually saying it is right but it is totally expected.

I remember when the BBC and ITV, both one channel shut down for the entire evening just because some random President of America managed to get himself shot dead.

My recollection was that they played sombre music. I was supposed to be doing my homework anyway, so didn't miss anything.

Bluegrass

The problem with your analogy is this.....if the BBC was a person dressed in black and had to be sombre all the time, do they have the right to insist that every member of the family should feel as they do? Why not allow the rest of the family to pass on their condolences and share a few memories of the deceased, before quietly leaving the chief mourners to continue in their mourning. By making them stay and insist they all act the same, the chief mourner would only fuel resentment and hostility amongst those who did not view the deceased with the same degree of reverence.

Agree with @ohforarainyday 's post quoted by @redcurrantPuff above.

Can't quote a quoted post and can't find the original one. It's just so good I have to post that I agree with it.

@trappedsincesundaymorn - I don’t think you’re required to “stay” - they haven’t blocked access to all the fun stuff on iplayer for example, so there is a huge amount of content you can consume even if you don’t want to venture outside the BBC.

Also, formal mourning isn’t really about how you actually feel about the person who has died (that’s grief, and is very personal). It is about following a set of rules, an etiquette. A similar concept is saluting in the military - you aren’t saluting the person (they could be an arsehole and utterly incompetent), you are saluting the rank they hold.

@TempsPerdu

The Queen has just lost her beloved partner of 73 years and I think that the coverage will hopefully make her feel that he is in people’s thoughts during a tough time

So what? I’m sure my lovely elderly neighbour who recently lost her husband to Covid feels equally bereft at his loss, but she’s not expecting the entire country to be plunged into national mourning to make her feel better about it.

Most of us aren’t complaining about missing specific TV shows; personally I watch very little TV, and barely any live TV at all. What I object to is the compulsory mourning and the media presuming to speak on my behalf when personally I’m supremely uninterested. Literally no know I know cares either, so why should we have our feelings misrepresented and dictated to us by the state broadcaster?

Agreed.

Two friends have lost parents this week - one yesterday. Can't help but wonder how they feel with the constant coverage. Their loved ones were important to them.

I don't want much bbc either, but will be very annoyed if line of duty is postponed tomorrow

@TempsPerdu

It's a blatant and naked attempt to 'other' anyone who won't prostrate themselves in front of, or venerate the union flag. They'll be decried as "un-British" (an assertion which I'll gladly wear with pride), and declared fair game for ultra-nationalists to deal with as they see fit. See Trump and his 'with us or against us' bullshit, and his complete lack of interest in either admitting responsibility for, or the culpability of the idiots who went rampaging against 'liberals' in his name

Thanks pps who have summed up how I feel and why I’m so disturbed by this. I think if the coverage were taken in isolation it would still be annoying, but I’d probably just groan, roll my eyes and turn over to Netflix.

But I can’t take it in isolation when, just over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had compulsory flags behind politicians, the Policing Bill with all its anti-protest measures and ten year sentences for defacing statues, ongoing rioting in NI, vaccine passports, the government responding to young people’s pandemic sacrifices with a ‘crackdown’ on behaviour (plus apparently also getting the military involved in schools: twitter.com/educationgovuk/status/1378073527023206402?s=21)...

It does all feel like we’re on a slippery slope to something very unpleasant and the wall to wall hagiography yesterday symbolised that for me.

Absolutely, this.

Those who suggest we go 'read a book' are missing some disturbing undercurrents in 'all this'.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, I am a very soft Monarchist, although that opinion is sliding ever closer to republicanism, but a lot of worrying trends are coming together right now, initially born of Brexit, the uncovering of a very unpleasant Nationalist underbelly, through to this blanket coverage of PP's somewhat predictable death, via the flag thing, the curtailing of the right to protest, the blatantcy of the ignoring of students' predicaments during Covid- it all feels a bit sinister.

[quote Bluegrass]@trappedsincesundaymorn - I don’t think you’re required to “stay” - they haven’t blocked access to all the fun stuff on iplayer for example, so there is a huge amount of content you can consume even if you don’t want to venture outside the BBC.

Also, formal mourning isn’t really about how you actually feel about the person who has died (that’s grief, and is very personal). It is about following a set of rules, an etiquette. A similar concept is saluting in the military - you aren’t saluting the person (they could be an arsehole and utterly incompetent), you are saluting the rank they hold.[/quote]

The second paragraph here outlines everything that's wrong with the entire concept of respect (as it's deemed to apply to the monarchy, the military etc.) No modern society should be demanding that we bow down to anyone purely based on the circumstances of their birth or their rank.

Arseholes should be recognised as arseholes and treated as such.

No one is saying there should be no coverage, but to have blanket coverage of only 1 news story across all BBC channels is ridiculous. There could have been a very in depth, dignified memorial for the day on one channel.

The lack of gardner's world was just as much a cause for national mourning.

I for one am still upset.

I don't think anyone is denying that Duke's death should be respected and formalities followed. However there is a difference between showing biographical programming and ceremonials like the gun salute and the seemingly endless commentary on his life and death to fill the hours at the exclusion of all other news.

Just read a book, or ''Catch up'' on TV or watch you tube vids. Some very good documentaries on there , depending on where your interests lie.

As others have said, it will be wall to wall coverage until after the Duke's Funeral.

I do wonder after Elizabeth dies if it will be the beginning of the end for the RF.

At least Gardeners World is back tonight... 😃

@DareIask

At least Gardeners World is back tonight... 😃

Just seen that 8pm , clashes with Casualty though!

@StoneofDestiny

Some more of his comments we kept him in luxury for:

"How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test” (to a Scottish driving instructor).

“It looks as if it was put in by an Indian” (referring to an old-fashioned fuse box in a factory near Edinburgh).

“Still throwing spears?” (question put to an Aboriginal Australian during a visit).

“There’s a lot of your family in tonight” (after looking at the name badge of businessman Atul Patel at a Palace reception for British Indians).

“The Philippines must be half-empty as you’re all here running the NHS” (on meeting a Filipino nurse at Luton and Dunstable Hospital).

Thanks you Stone for these - I had quite forgotten the Scottish driving instructor one. Interesting how the Scots are fawning over his connection with the country - summer holidays at Balmoral etc - perhaps without knowing how breathtakingly rude he was to them.

The casual racism is jaw dropping but people just seem to find it amusing in the same way as they find Boris funny.

@ShurelyNot - personally I also think that monarchy/aristocracy is archaic and entirely unsuited for life in the 21st century. At the moment it is what it is though, so I can understand why the BBC is required to do what it is doing.

@AbsolutelyPatsy

The Grand National is still going ahead.

Hope all the horses get around safely.

@cyclingmad

End of the day he was a pampered privileged person paid for by tax payers. He hasn't helped this country in any way? We still have racism, poverty, homelessness etc.

The RF don't do anything to improve the country they preside over. Its just a figurehead role and I personally couldn't care less about the entire lot of them

He's probably done a lot more than you have for this country- unless you are going to drip feed that you have fought in WW2 (and was mentioned in dispatches), founded and played an active part in a scheme for young people which for many opens opportunities they would not have had otherwise, been involved in environmental issues for the past 50 years plus, after being exiled from your own country when a toddler. They also voluntarily pay taxes that they don't have to, and plenty of their assets make revenue for the country.

Not arsed if someone like the RF or not, but lots of lazy assumptions are tedious.

@cyclingmad

End of the day he was a pampered privileged person paid for by tax payers. He hasn't helped this country in any way? We still have racism, poverty, homelessness etc.

The RF don't do anything to improve the country they preside over. Its just a figurehead role and I personally couldn't care less about the entire lot of them

Totally disagree with you on that.

I’ve complained. I have no interest in and don’t support the Royals in anyway.

I don’t even watch tv that much. But to suspend channels because an old geezer’s died isn’t covered in my licence fee.

It’s not the 1950’s.

He's probably done a lot more than you have for this country

Yeah like the poster concerned has the time, money and contacts to do that.......

I think the problem is the BBC protocols are still stuck in 1952 following the death of King George VI whereas people nowadays give far less of a shit about the RF than the deference back then.

I'm just waiting to be told what time/day the doorstep clapping will be.