LETTER: Lack of variety on the television is very frustrating!

If BBC 4 is saved then can we get rid of 1, 2 and 3? (not a serious thought). However I do have problems finding something to view on television. This has, however, led to me doing more research and listening to more old style and classical music. I switch on my TV I find nearly all broadcasters are showing programmes with the same theme, cooking, gardening, moving house etc, therefore no variety at any one time.

Then when I find a topic in which I have an interest, some of its presentation can be a problem. One would expect some research has taken place before transmission, however there are often mistakes.

I get frustrated when watching for example a sports programme and one knows a move is leading up to a dramatic moment then the director switches to a face in the crowd and we miss the climax of the move. Yes they may play it after but the excitement is lost.

Likewise the result of what is being cooked is about to be shown and this is obliviated by some text meaning one does not see the end result, or subtitles also are shown with lettering the same as the background.

When I watch a political programme I want to know what has actually been said not the presenter’s version. On that topic I find that some interviewers lack the skills for the job – one cannot learn to interview, it is an art. Often they fail to ask the right question or fail to present it in the correct way, leaving the interviewee to work hard to give an answer.

At times they fail to grab on to something said and question it. I watch a minister being interviewed and the answer has more holes in it than a riddle, there was a failure to pursue it further. The kind of statements I hear ‘A was given a jail sentence of X years for murdering Y at the Old Bailey’. I doubt the murder took place at the Old Bailey. Using the correct words would also help, I hear the word murdered, was killed, used when it should be died from... whatever that was.

I find that the editor does a grand job in getting as many different letters published with the space limitation. Some letters have to be edited and I feel this is very well done. With this in mind I do wish some letter writers would not jump to a conclusion that a correspondent has not supplied some other information which they question.

D Winterborn, Brierley Hill