Neil Oliver lidless

[Mike Sales]

I've just been cheered to see Neil Oliver, the archaeologist, riding a bike on BBC TV with no helmet on his flowing locks.
I had thought it was not permitted to appear on a bike on television without one.
Good on him!

[Jdsk]

I'd always thought of him as an excellent television presenter on subjects about which he was well informed. Then I saw some lurid opinions about Scottish independence. And then, much to my surprise, he started spouting conspiracy theories about the COVID outbreak and some dangerous nonsense about vaccination. I haven't checked the details but I've also recently heard that he's up to the same sort of thing about the invasion of Ukraine.

Very disappointing.

Jonathan

[Paulatic]

I agree with @jdsk.
He’s a Bam.

[simonineaston]

The bloke is clearly both well-informed and flame-grilled. His frequent rants on YT put him firmly in the box marked 'Jumping Frogs'. I can see that the subject of 'being made to wear a helmet' would have him frothing at the mouth... Each to their own.

[reohn2]

I'd always thought of him as an excellent television presenter on subjects about which he was well informed. Then I saw some lurid opinions about Scottish independence. And then, much to my surprise, he started spouting conspiracy theories about the COVID outbreak and some dangerous nonsense about vaccination. I haven't checked the details but I've also recently heard that he's up to the same sort of thing about the invasion of Ukraine.

Very disappointing.

Jonathan

+1 he has some weird ideas

[Nearholmer]

I didn’t realise that, but over time I’ve gone from seeking out his programmes, to avoiding them, despite interesting subject matter, because his style seems to have become increasingly intense, and his character/persona seems to have come to the fore at the expense of the material.

Mind you, IMO, “too much presenter” has become a widespread problem with factually-based TV programmes. Fine for the lighter stuff like cooking, travelogues etc, but when the subject itself deserves and demands a bit of attention having Lucy Worsley showing off all the time, or this chap doing the heavily intense Scottish thing all over the screen is simply an annoyance.

Yours in edging-towards-grumpy-old-bloke mode,

Kevin

[sjs]

As a fellow grumpy-old-bloke I would propose to add professor Brian Cox to the list of most pointlessly show-offy presenters.

[Cugel]

I didn’t realise that, but over time I’ve gone from seeking out his programmes, to avoiding them, despite interesting subject matter, because his style seems to have become increasingly intense, and his character/persona seems to have come to the fore at the expense of the material.

Mind you, IMO, “too much presenter” has become a widespread problem with factually-based TV programmes. Fine for the lighter stuff like cooking, travelogues etc, but when the subject itself deserves and demands a bit of attention having Lucy Worsley showing off all the time, or this chap doing the heavily intense Scottish thing all over the screen is simply an annoyance.

Yours in edging-towards-grumpy-old-bloke mode,

Kevin

Ha ha - I grok those sentiments!

Many TV presenters of the lookitme ilk excite my tut-organ. I recall the first editions of that Coast programme, in which the Oliver bloke and another awful gusher-style fellow made my lip curl with disdain after but a few seconds. Where do they all get their over-the-top presenting styles? Do they have to go to a special melodrama school?

Then they started adding loud and over-dramatic, even melodramatic, musak to such programmes. Gawd! I can't watch them, no matter how interesting the subject-matter.

Somehow it was no surprise to learn, years and years later, that the Oliver fellow is a Grade 1 barmpot. There is something of his "increasingly intense" mode that tells you that there's summick up with this gurning man with his cod dramatics.

I do enjoy some presenters, though. Just recently I've been enjoying the endearing enthusiasm of Iolo Williams as he paces about Wales getting schoolboy-excited by all the nice fauna & flora he comes across. "Crackin' bird, a bittern!". Also, Toby Jones voiceovers on the "A Wild Year" programmes is somehow a fine antidote to the usual semi-hysterical deliveries of the likes of the Oliver chap.

Perhaps daft Neil will become another David Icke? I remember when he was just a bog-standard presenter of summick or other on the tele.

Cugel, a critic

[Cugel]

As a fellow grumpy-old-bloke I would propose to add professor Brian Cox to the list of most pointlessly show-offy presenters.

Shall we draw up a list? Mine will be very, very, very long.

Cugel

[Nearholmer]

I’m a very occasional TV-watcher on iPlayer, no more than that, but when I do decide I fancy watching something, which I now regard as a bit like reading a magazine, my choices are heavily influenced by whether I think the presenter will “get in the way”.

Some do seem to have a good conversational style, whereby they can get facts over in an interesting fasion without getting in the way, even when there is quite a lot of them in it, but not many.

[Bonefishblues]

As a fellow grumpy-old-bloke I would propose to add professor Brian Cox to the list of most pointlessly show-offy presenters.

Shall we draw up a list? Mine will be very, very, very long.

Cugel

Very brave of you to top the list if I may say

[thirdcrank]

A stranger to me but sounds like a candidate for Strictly and the rest of the "celebrity" shows and the money-spinners like opening village events

[al_yrpal]

I see, would you like these people cancelled?

Al

[Jdsk]

Communicating difficult subjects is very important to progress.

I'd be much more interested in a list who is thought to do this well rather than badly. And why.

Jonathan

[Bonefishblues]

Communicating difficult subjects is very important to progress.

I'd be much more interested in a list who is thought to do this well rather than badly. And why.

Jonathan

I know you are 'in the trade' as it were Jonathan, so I was wondering what you thought about Prof. Fry's recent programme about her own experience of cancer?