Watched this Storyville thing on Gaddafi last night. Turns out he was both madder and nastier than

[Berni]

you realised. Really not a very nice chap at all, the old Fatima Whitbread impersonator, tbh.

Still. Interesting doc imo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03tj0n0/Storyville_201 32014_Mad_Dog_Gaddafis_Secret_World/ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03tj0n0/Storyville_20132014_Mad_Dog_Gaddafis_Secret_World/)

[Classic Jorge]

Missed that, there's no way to series link the f**ker and they never re-run them or release them on DVD.

I did catch the latest Meades thing the other night though.

Meades :bow:

[Berni]

fact that all my instincts are screaming at me to be irritated by his arch 'quirkiness'. Luckily, he is sufficiently serious about the subjects he discusses and such a good communicator that I'm able to get past it. I like him in spite of his presentational style, not because of it.

His series on France was a particular tour de force imo.

[David Pleat AHADF (Royal Welsher and monkey lover)]

[Monty91]

“our audience will only stay engaged if we overlay an emotive soundtrack” style that seems to permeate documentary making today.

[Classic Jorge]

But, bless him, he's stuck with it. Admirably.

And, as you say, he's excellent at getting the right balance between being entertaining and informative.

[Classic Jorge]

[Monty91]

[Berni]

commissioning types that this is actually a profoundly old-fashioned 'clever, establishment man who knows his stuff educating his audience by addressing the camera'-type documentary that doesn't require the patronising cheap tricks of dramatisation or stupid music.

He's actually got far more in common with Kenneth Clark or Jacob Bronowski than people think.

[Classic Jorge]

I wouldnt say that sort of programme is that uncommon, at least on the too-clever-by-half ghetto that is BBC4.

I mean, what would people like Andrew Graham-Doxon, Dan Snow or Waldemar Januszcak do?