BBC Trainspotting Live

[thenorthern]

trainspottingLIVE is the most trending topic on Twitter at the moment so it must be doing something right. Admittedly many of those tweets are thinking about the Irvine Welsh film of the same name but it must be doing something right.

 

[Ploughman]

Our group chairman got collared for this programme.
Stood with Dick Strawbridge at Doncaster.

Wonder if Nick enjoyed it or regretted it?

 

[yorksrob]

Interesting the way they used the trainspotting angle to spice things up with a bit of audience participation. This perhaps thinned out the content for me a little. BBC's "Railwatch" is still the gold standard for a fast moving 'live' day by day rail doc.

Will be nice to see the nest episode with the 125 though.

 

[LeylandLen]

..Wasn't bad for 1st live prog. Yes she is a Doctor !. Not all boring blokes !!
.Weather was ok for live broadcast considering transmission time. Its meant to appeal to cross section of viewing public , not only you anoraks !!
Watch all 3 (same time Tues and Weds this week) then give your opinions please . If you were not impressed I assume you want MORE sport ???? Been too much these last weeks.

 

[fowler9]

I enjoyed Flame Haired Temptress Dr Fry more than dick spotting in Doncaster. (Nothing against Dick, just the way John Snow worded it. Ha ha).

I quite enjoyed it. A few none rail enthusiast mates watched it. I think the title of the programme was poor.

 

[Philip Phlopp]

I'm finding it rather toe-curling. Good concept. Bad title. Too much hyperbole. Too many technical issues. Too much live to camera babbling.

+1

It would have been better in a 1 hour format pre-recorded first, with a 30 minute live program afterwards for public interaction. Graphics on-screen inviting public participation during the pre-recorded program.

 

[fowler9]

37's in Carlisle tomorrow!

 

[westv]

All just helped to remind my why I stopped trainspotting when I was 12.

 

[mackeral1234]

Some of the spots of the 'Flying Banana' were rubbish. The picture of NMT at Kings Cross was obviously a earlier pictures from this afternoon. (at Kings Cross at lunch)

 

[VEP3417]

wasnt there an advert for another train program starting on bbc2 at the end of the month? sort of missed that

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Did the Flying Banana power cars used to be XC power cars?

 

[Aws87024]

Did the Flying Banana power cars used to be XC power cars?

Back in Virgin XC days yes, 43013, 43014 and 43062 all where part of the fleet.

 

[thenorthern]

One thing I felt was good was it was aimed at a smaller but more interested audience compared to other programmes about trains on television particularly the big channels which feature other things that make people not interested in trains want to watch.

The sound and cuts however were poor and should have been done better although it was better produced that the coverage of Theresa May winning the leadership election earlier today. :roll:

Some of the spots of the 'Flying Banana' were rubbish. The picture of NMT at Kings Cross was obviously a earlier pictures from this afternoon. (at Kings Cross at lunch)

I did notice that, I felt that the Production Manager should have had a guide to where the Flying Banana was to make sure all submissions were genuine.

Maybe someone should show the BBC Production Manager Real Time Trains.

 

[GodAtum]

IMO the best recent train programme was Paul Mertin's railways, this was very haphazard in comparison. They should have taken the production team from Stargazing Live!

 

[SpacePhoenix]

When they panned away from where that 66 was, I'm wondering if someone told the driver that he'd just been on TV when he tooted away on the horn

 

[Cletus]

Quite enjoyable, but as a Sky+ expert I can sense which bits to whizz through x2/x6.

Jon Snow seems to now have the shape of the Monster Munch character (or is it the Honey Monster?)

 

[centraltrains]

How dare they call Sprinters ordinary!!!

 

[ryan125hst]

I thought it was okay but thought it could be better. There were some interesting bits in it such as how the railways were responsible for GMT, but I also found it a bit cringe worthy to be honest. It was very stereotypical trainspotter when they went to Doncaster which gives "normals" plenty of ammunition to mock the programme. To be fair, I have found a lot of the comments of Twitter funny, but if it was done differently it may have been saved from ridicule.

I also found the level of content a bit mixed. For example, they explained how a steam engine works (do people really not know this?) yet the guy in Scotland went straight into Black 5's, wheel arrangements and shed codes which would have been over most people's head.

I have seen the Railwatch series on YouTube and I found it better even though it was recorded before I was born. It went more behind the scenes which is what I am interested in, and I'm sure that would appeal more to the general public more than where 66779 is.

I'll watch the next two episodes and see how I feel after those, but although I am pleased they're broadcasting the show, I don't feel they've quite got it right.

 

[trainmania100]

I rather enjoyed most of it, mainly the modern locomotives, not so much the clocks and mathemematics. I have sent in a couple of my own class 66 shots...

 

[rich.davies]

I'm not a trainspotter and title did put me off a bit. Gave it the benefit of the doubt and some of it was interesting and some of it wasn't.
Like someone said here before, a railway live show a bit similar to that airport one they did might have been better.
Will still watch the other two either way.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[anti-pacer]

I saw the Flying Banana in Wakefield on Saturday from my window.

 

[Essexman]

I nearly didn't watch it because of the title but was glad I did as it was generally enjoyable although a few bits were a little cringeworthy. At least it was mostly about trains unlike Portillo & Merton's programmes that were 80% general travel and only used railways as a theme.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

The sound and cuts however were poor and should have been done better although it was better produced that the coverage of Theresa May winning the leadership election earlier today. :roll:

On the other hand was a good attempt at recreating an authentic youtube railway video style - dodgy audio quality, wobbly handheld telephoto shots, iffy continuity and shots of strange looking people getting excited about weird things.

 

[Antman]

Interesting programme I thought, better than I had expected.

 

[Philip Phlopp]

On the other hand was a good attempt at recreating an authentic youtube railway video style - terrible audio quality and levels, entirely avoidable wind noise, wobbly handheld telephoto shots, bad continuity and shots of strange looking people getting excited about weird things.

Like.

 

[me123]

Just watched it on catch up. It's a bit odd.

It's quite strange to expect spotters to send in photos "live". Whilst BBC4 is available on mobile devices, I expect the vast majority of people will have been watching from home, and that most spotters out and about would not have been watching the show.

This kind of show has the inherent problem that us rail enthusiasts may think it too superficial, yet the "normals" would see it as little more than an odd curiosity. Watching Dick Strawberry frothing over a 66 would probably only serve to make us enthusiasts look even weirder to the wider community. As such, it risks not pleasing many people.

I did quite enjoy it though. Some of it was dull, some of it quite interesting. I'm not convinced that trainspotting alone has been the best approach - I think looking at the operations of the railway as a whole would be of much greater interest, both to enthusiasts like us and indeed to the general public. Certainly there'd be room for spotting, but like some previous commentators I would have preferred the show to look at the railways as a whole.

Dr Fry is a brilliant presenter, but I'm not fully convinced that she wanted to be there! The maths is a random addition to the show (although the segment on GMT was worthwhile IMO), and frankly it's not even interesting mathematics. I'd much rather see her doing programs focussed on mathematics - if someone from the BBC is reading, can this become a thing please?

 

[jon0844]

I didn't see it tonight, but what's the maths stuff about exactly? Stuff like working out how to run nnn trains with only nn drivers? Did they get Govia on the programme?

 

[Bevan Price]

I'd like to take a picture of Hannah Fry even though she is not a station.

She is reserved stock - already got a fiance according to Radio Times.

 

[Gathursty]

She is reserved stock - already got a fiance according to Radio Times.

Good for her, and I like the use of 'reserved stock' in this context. It raised a smile whilst reconnecting my printer.

 

[SodTheDrummer]

Was OK. However id like to see a program about the infrastructure rather than the trains. i.e. the track, stations, OLE, signals etc and all the effort and grief involved in organising/planning maintenance of existing assets and new projects. Actually showing what a 'signal problem' means might help the masses understand the reason why this 'simple' problem causes so much chaos..