Little bit disappointed with the latest series of Junior Apprentice, a show I used to love.

Three weeks in, and the fired contestants consist of the very small black kid, last week the 'thick' brummie (i.e. everyone who speaks with a broad brummie accent and ever gets to appear on TV is by their very nature thick - I say this as someone with a broad brummie accent, so in TV world I must also be 'thick')and then today the working class girl who never stood a chance against the two home counties, expensively dressed, supremely confident and self absorbed (as only those from a privately educated background can be)pair, who she unfortunately brought back in to the Boardroom - never stood a chance.

As someone who came from the wrong side of the tracks,I would have thought that Lord Sugar would have given non-typical BBC types more of a go, but no they are first off, and we will be left with the aforementioned generally dislikeable types.

No doubt the young scouse Robbie Fowler lookalike is not long for this programme....

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm an occasional watcher of iPlayer. Went to watch QI yesterday and found a message telling me I have to download the latest Flashplayer to watch. Followed the link and did so, tried again and got the same message. Restarted computer, made more attempts, still no luck.

Looked through iPlayer help pages and found one telling me I that if my computer isn't up to the new Flashplayer spec that's it, can't watch anything. Checked the spec against my computer and found the processing capacity isn't sufficient. So I can't watch iPlayer.

I'm trying to suppress the urge to go into a Daily Mail rant, but can't help thinking the BBC is way out of line on this. My laptop is four years old, wasn't the cheapest on the market, and while I know you get a lot more processing capacity for your money now it costs several hundred to buy a new one. Also, I should think this affects an awful lot of people who are effectively being told to buy a new computer before they can use the service again.

I still regard the BBC as one of finest institutions of this country, but it's a public service broadcaster and this goes badly against the grain. Made a complaint today, but I'm not expecting anything other than a bland reply that evades the issue.

Rant over, but not happy.

So, inspired by one of the recent TOTP 1976 threads, I thought I'd look up what old tracks are currently selling on iTunes (other download services are available) and came up with the following top 20:

1. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol [556]
2. With or Without You - U2 (Festivals) [174]
3. Fix You - Coldplay (Festivals) [124]
4. Bring Me to Life - Evanescence [82]
5. The Scientist - Coldplay (Festivals) [71]
6. Best of You - Foo Fighters (Festivals) [85]
7. Fast Car - Tracy Chapman (Britains Got Talent?) [633]
8. Naive - The Kooks [138]
9. Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield [249]
10. Push It - Salt-N-Pepa [0]
11. Common People - Pulp (Festivals)
12. Hold On - Wilson Phillips (featured heavily in the movie "Bridesmaids")
13. Somebody Told Me - The Killers
14. Zombie - The Cranberries
15. She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks
16. Town Called Malice - The Jam
17. Talkin' Bout a Revolution - Tracy Chapman
18. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
19. The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
20. Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits

If I spotted a specific reason why a track is selling (plenty of festival exposure at the moment for instance), I've put it in brackets. I also looked up the last 30 days' radio play for the top 10 [in square brackets] at comparemyradio.com, but this doesn't seem to be much of a factor, Snow Patrol & Tracy Chapman aside.

So, a very AOR selection, but there's some interesting stuff in here - Dusty? Salt-N-Pepa? And why do The Kooks have 2 old tracks selling right now? If you know why a specific track is selling (is it in an advert, a movie, on TV?) please pop it in the comments. Should I be surprised there's nothing here from the TOTP repeats?

Enjoy - if there's some interest in this, I'll happily update in a few weeks, and see how different it might be...

Here's another free BBC ticket opportunity - Peter Hook interviewed by Simon Day, then he interviews John Cooper Clarke.

These tickets go fast so hurry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shows/chain_reaction_jul11

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shows/songwriters_circle_2011

Free tickets from the BBC for this event - thought the Word massive should know.

Here's the blurb

BBC Four Sessions presents Songwriters' Circle
BBC Four | fully booked
BBC Four Presents Songwriters' Circle
with Leon Russell, Nick Lowe and Paul Brady
Tuesday 28 June

Recently inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in the US, the legendary Leon Russell takes to the stage at the lovely Porchester Hall in West London for an intimate recording of Songwriters' Circle for the BBC. Last year he released The Union with Elton John, which reached number 12 in the UK album charts and his back catalogue includes Superstar, covered by Rita Coolidge, Luther Vandross, Sonic Youth and The Carpenters; Joe Cocker's Delta Lady and the massive Song For You, covered by 40 artists including The Carpenters, Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee and Christina Aguilera.
Leon Russell is joined on stage by king of punk rock and pub rock and first-rate crooner, Nick Lowe. His songs include (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (featured in the film The Bodyguard), Top 20 hits Cruel To Be Kind and I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass, and The Beast In Me (famously covered by Johnny Cash and now featured in smash hit film Hangover 2).
The trinity is completed by Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady, a musician's musician lauded by Bob Dylan. An alumni of Irish folk supergroup Planxty, Brady has carved a solo career that's successfully straddled traditional folk, rock and pop, with faboulous songs like Crazy Dreams, The Island and The World Is What You Make It.
He's written with the likes of John Prine and Roseanne Cash and his songs have been covered by everyone from Santana, Tina Turner and Bonnie Raitt, to Ronan Keating.

BBC Four Presents Songwriters' Circle
with Donovan, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Roger Cook
Wednesday 29 June

Fresh from a triumphant orchestral performance of his landmark album Sunshine Superman at the Royal Albert Hall, we're delighted to welcome the evergreen Donovan for a more intimate experience at the Porchester Hall. Emerging from the UK folk scene into the pop mainstream, Donovan became a leading British recording artist with a string of hits in the 1960s. His songs like Catch The Wind, Colours and Mellow Yellow have retained their freshness and charm.
One of Donovan's biggest hits was his version of Universal Soldier, which was written by the Native American singer-songwriter and social activist Buffy Sainte-Marie and it's a rare treat to have them sharing a stage, specially for Songwriters' Circle. Buffy also came to prominence in the 1960s, and her songwriting, though rooted in folk and traditional music (Until It's Time For You To Go), also found expression in country with I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again and the pure power pop of Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes' version of Up Where We Belong, famously used as the theme song for the movie An Officer And A Gentleman.
Roger Cook completes the circle. If you don't know his name, you'll certainly know his songs. They don't get much bigger than I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing, Crystal Gale's Talking In Your Sleep and Gene Pitney and Marc Almond's Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart. One half of the 1960s duo David & Jonathan, Roger Cook fronted Blue Mink with Madeline Bell, co-writing classics like Melting Pot. Bristol bred, he's settled in the US and we're delighted to have him over.

There was a time - not that long ago - when I would sink into the sofa in the evening and be pretty confident that there would be something worth watching on the BBC. Not any more, or at least rarely.

The BBC is still a trusted resource for news - despite some worrying dumbing down trends - and its radio output is generally high quality. However, for me its TV output is on a downward quality curve. Apart from the endless programmes on antiques, cookery, house buying etc, which have zero interest for me, the BBC seems to have followed just about every public service operative and service industry to make a time-filling documentary. Rat catchers, grave diggers, paramedics - there can hardly be anyone left who hasn't been filmed. Good quality drama series are all too rare and I'm more likely to find better quality drama on Sky Atlantic or even the CSI franchise. And if I want sport I am much better served by Sky unless I want to watch gymnastics or lawn bowls. Worst of all - there isn't even a regular programme about books anywhere on the BBC. We have to look to Sky Arts to provide that, although BBC4 is doing a decent job - if it survives the cost cutting. Even more worrying, there seems to be little recognition in the BBC that things need to improve. Probably a case of eyes being taken off the ball by the pointless move to Salford.

I realise that moans about the quality of TV are nothing new and that the so-called 'golden age' of TV probably never existed. But I do think that someone needs to remind BBC management of their Reithian ideals occasionally.

Don't worry, this isn't a(nother) football thread - well, not really...

I managed to miss this BBC 5 Live programme when it was transmitted recently: I don't suppose any of you have got a soundfile of it and, if so, are willing to share it?

Thanks.

Bbc Desert Island Discs website have nicked our idea and are asking listeners for their 8 d i d selections. They are also compiling an definitive chart at the end though....so thought fellow Word muso types should know. Can't work out how to post the link from this poxy phone....so maybe some other kind sort could?

As Chris Packham has 'form' in sneaking in his musical preferences, I watched the first episode of this season looking out for anything unusual. There were no album covers masquerading as Springwatch cue cards, in fact I didn't spot anything for most of the programme until .... Chris described a photograph as "some kind of nothingness". This sounded a little convoluted and a quick Google confirmed that this was indeed a recent single by the ever mirthsome Manic Street Preachers. Can anyone confirm that Chris is smuggling Manic song titles into this year's programme?

I await "If you tolerate this ...." with bated breath - no doubt it will be a reference to some mallards whose chicks are about to be eaten by a buzzard.

See here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13407712

I know I am way behind here, but I have just started on the box set of Sherlock. What a superb programme.

Really looking forward to series 2.

While watching Later... with Jools Holland last night, my interest was grabbed by the band Vintage Trouble. I'd never heard of them before, but they put on such a show that I was instantly captivated.

From the reaction of some of The Massive on Twitter, it looks as if I could be alone in this. I know they're clearly derivative and bring nothing new to the table, but they were great FUN! I don't think I'd buy one of their records but I reckon they'd be a hoot live.

I say, "more of this sort of thing, please." What do you think?

Being a bit of a sucker for sci-fi, I've been watching Outcasts on the Beeb. (General outline: everything is going pear-shaped on Earth so a number of starships head off to populate an Earth-like planet out there in the great black yonder. Some people actually make it and set up a colony on Carpathia, a planet that looks suspiciously like South Africa.)
I don't want to go into the plot exactly - beware, spoilers - but I do have one massive whinge. Wikipedia tells me that the nearest Earth-like planet so far detected around an alien sun is something like 20.3 light years away - that planet is Gliese 581 g, fact fans. So it's safe to say that Carpathia (ahem) is at least that distance from Earth, possibly more or much more. Given that the staggered arrival of starships on Carpathia is happening well inside human life spans (men and women in their 30s talking about arriving "years ago", later starships reuniting families that were split up on Earth), then it's clear that humanity in the near future has cracked the faster-than-light (FTL) travel conundrum. We can wheech out to planets that are 20, 30, 40 or who-knows-how-many light years away in "a few years". Yay. Sadly, those starships have trouble entering the atmosphere of Carpathia and burn up on entry like a damaged Space Shuttle. ("Arr, get ye to ye emergency re-entry pods, arr! Cap'n, we're burrrnin' up!!!" ... Yes, the captain of one of the starships was Somalian*.)
Three episodes in, Outcasts is making references to quantum computers, human cloning and devices that can conjure pictures of human memory, as well as implying that humanity can travel FTL - and I can easily suspend my disbelief that far. But do we have the near-future wit to build FTL spaceships that can actually *land* through an atmosphere without running a 50/50 risk of turning into a rather large sparkler? Hell no. That would screw up certain necessary plot trajectories, so to blazes with internal consistency. Meh, what next? A colonist called Nigel taking an uncharacteristic risk and falling off a roof during one of Carpathia's mammoth dust storms?

* Not actually true.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12361790

The BBC 'apology' just makes things worse. I guess apologies really don't mean anything these days.

I'm publishing a series of blog posts by legendary radio curmudgeon Ed Reardon on the Radio 4 blog. A sort of diary of the festive season. Not very festive, though. There are four in all and the first two are up now for your reading pleasure. Very funny, if you ask me... A modern-day J.B. Morton:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/edreardonsxmas/