Film 2010

The "Film" show has been going for donkeys' years (as long as I can remember anyway) and it is that oddity: a radio programme on the TV. That is, the format of chat and straight journalism is a format that is usually found on the radio, particularly Radio 4; except, of course, that film clips don't always work on the radio so by transferring it to television it allows those gaps to be filled out.

There have been a few presenters over the years including Michael Parkinson and , most famously, Barry Norman. For the past few years we have had Jonathan Ross and he has always been my favourite. Whereas Barry Norman always reviewed from the point of view of a professional (his father was a director), Jonathan Ross has always been the arch film fan. His love of cinema has always shone through but he was able to approach the films in different manners depending on the nature of the picture: so we had Ross the film buff, Ross the romantic, Ross the intellectual and, usefully, Ross the father. Above all, I always found his reviews were very accurate. When he announced he was leaving the BBC this was the one show I really thought I would miss him from. Last night I found out just how much.

The BBC announced Claudia Winkleman was going to be taking over Film 2010. I've nothing against Ms Winkleman as a presenter. She's easy enough on the eye and has a friendly manner but I didn't know exactly what her technique as a film critic would be. It turns out that she doesn't have one. The BBC, in their wisdom, have chosen to have a "team" of presenters on the show and, rather than have the lead presenter give a balanced appraisal of the week's films, she now "interviews" another film buff in what is little more than multiplex foyer banter. In fact, it is the same technique they have adopted on the news where instead of a reporter giving a concise piece to camera they are now interviewed by the studio based news reader. The result is very, very irritating. Film 2010 has gone from being a well presented Radio 4 style review show to a simple Radio 1 styled "slot". What were they thinking?

The other big change is that they have now gone to a live format so that viewers can "tweet" their views into the studio. Why? I don't give a damn about what some teenage Blogger thinks. I want a serious measured review. To make matters worse, they then went to a live interview at a film premier somewhere to be treated to 5 minutes of Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield breaking down in fits of giggles. Had they been smoking something funny before hand? I hope not but aside from being a classic piece of car crash television it's something I could do without. At least with Rossy it was all pre-recorded: just as well when he had to use phrases like "Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon." I have a horrible feeling that the current presenters wouldn't know who Akira Kurosawa was.

I sincerely hope this gets better but I have a horrible feeling that the BBC producers don't understand the concept of the show and will kill it off like old favourites such as Top Of The Pops. I suppose they could always try and get Jonathan Ross back - even the Daily Mail is suggesting this.