[jsam93]

Originally Posted by BenFranklin

not strange at all, its a bank holiday, a lot of the normal sources of news simply do not generate any. try watching one of the 24 hour news channels on a bank holiday, quite simply nothing is happening.

Nice to see you didn't bother quoting the whole of my post, just selectively picking what you want...

And, actually, it is quite strange- all the foreign countries have full-length news bulletins on bank holidays.It is actually Britain that is out of step compared to the rest of the world on this one

[Sue_Aitch]

Originally Posted by wizzywick

It isn't called Easter Friday. That is a non-existant day. It's called GOOD Friday.

Easter Friday does exist, honest!


From this Sunday onwards the church calendar goes

Holy Week
Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Holy Thusday / MaundyThursday, Good Friday as you rightly pointed out, then Holy Saturday / Easter Eve aka the day Doctor Who starts again.

Some people do refer to the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday as Easter Saturday, but they are a week out, strictly speaking.

Easter Week
Easter Sunday, Easter Monday (which is not a Bank Holiday in Scotland), Easter Tuesday, Easter Wednesday, Easter Thursday, Easter Friday and Easter Saturday!

Easter is a fifty day observance so goes on beyond Easter Friday and Easter Saturday

https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays

[Itsallaboutyou]

Food Network UK has an imaginative schedule on Bank Holiday Monday:

A whole day of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives".......OFCOM take the licence of this channel

[jazzydrury3]

I know the schedule for Easter Monday will include a FA Quarter Final Replay, kicking off at 12:30.

[GeorgeS]

Originally Posted by jazzydrury3

I know the schedule for Easter Monday will include a FA Quarter Final Replay, kicking off at 12:30.

Coverage from 12.00 noon. There will be scope in the schedule in case it goes to extra time and or penalties.

[hyperstarsponge]

Apart from the usual message from the Pope, You won't see much change in the Easter line-up.

[EStaffs90]

Originally Posted by hyperstarsponge

Unless something major happens which is rare but can happen. As we proof with Boxing Day in 2004

Or the first May Bank Holiday in 2011 (the death of Osama Bin Laden).

[sparkie70]

It would be nice of $ky to put a bond film over easter on Pick tv but I won't hold my breath.

[Bill Clinton]

I've done a sort of written guide about the Easter TV lamenting when the companies were more in the spirit.


Easter 2013

The Easter TV these days is no great fanfare but that tradition has remained at least for Christmas.
It’s the only weekend of the year that’s 4 days long and it’s in the right position to herald in Spring, but whilst it was once the 2nd biggest TV weekend of the year second only to the yuletide season itself, a quick browse of the schedules reveals that where TV’s concerned things as they always seem to do now are pretty routine.

Instead of new documentaries or dramas aimed at the Easter weekend you still get a few titbits here and there, and there are still always the obligatory few films, but you have to wonder with the Bank Holiday apathy being as strong as it is now how much chance those too have of remaining ultimately.

Good Friday is an overall drab day, BBC ONE has business as usual throughout most of the day only breaking for a programme about Mary Magdalene at Noon and then suddenly remembering it’s a Bank Holiday at 5 and slotting in the Pixar film Ratatouille. Outside that even the evening is nothing to shout about with the only slightly unusual programme being a programme featuring the recent BBC comedy go to Miranda Hart looking back at Eric Morecambe this seems a bit half hearted really.
Elsewhere on the weekend you’ll struggle to find programming that resembles something special from BBC ONE with an Easter Monday Africa special excepted, even film showings such as Freaky Friday and Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit seem as routine as a show like Pointless now. The talent show The Voice happens to start this weekend and the best special that’s original and not just a film seems to be a David Attenborough Africa feature on Easter Monday.

MAIN FILMS: Ratatouille, Freaky Friday, Madagascar & Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit
BEST PROGRAMMES: Miranda on Eric Morecambe?, The Voice, Africa – The Greatest Show On Earth (Easter Monday)

BBC TWO is usually only subtly different at the best of times on Bank Holidays and this Easter will be no exception. It’s not quite as ruthlessly stuck in the same daytime loop as it was in the previous Easters and holidays but we are mainly only getting programme variations here. On Good Friday for example they are sticking on a couple of hours of The Great British Bake Off over some other lifestyley fare that they would normally have shown, it’s only some quite decent kids films and top all time favourites like Citizen Kane that save the day in the other daytime parts of this holiday but other than that it’s BBC TWO business as usual. In the evenings films and documentaries replace what is normally there on a usual weekday with Newsnight commitments but it doesn’t seem particularly targeted, one focus though you will notice is the late Richard Briers, we are given a tribute programme and some more episodes of sitcoms that he made famous. The only Easter related programme is “Easter from King’s”.

FILMS:
North West Frontier, Citizen Kane, Suspicion, Winter’s Bone, Anita & Me, Brooklyn Rules, Galaxy Quest, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing, Enigma, The Magnificent Ambersons & A Bunch Of Amateurs
BEST PROGRAMMES
Richard Briers: A Tribute, All About The Good Life

ITV just puts a finger up to the Bank Holiday concept in general really, Christmas will get them in family film mode but over Easter you can forget it, Good Friday has nothing on the main channel that marks it as any different from a Friday in general and it is only really on Monday that there is really anything you might notice. They are forced into the Bank Holiday spirit by a football match that definitely wouldn’t happen on an ordinary weekday daytime and they actually precede it with shock horror! A film! The Great Outdoors from 1988., but would they have bothered if it weren’t for the football?
When they still had the rights to Bond films they didn’t bother showing them on Bank Holidays towards the end so maybe they deserved to go to Sky. The only other things notable from ITV is possibly the March of the Penguins documentary showing on Easter Saturday lunchtime. They even show The Jeremy Kyle Show on Easter Sunday morning, it’s the easter equivalent of bah humbug that ITV are shouting at us!
There’s maybe a slight concession for the way you get films shown on ITVs extra channels on a Bank Holiday, but why does the main channel have to be so lifeless?

MAIN FILMS
The Great Outdoors (1988), King Ralph, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, The 300
BEST PROGRAMMES
The Cube, Coronation Street, Football (in other words what’s normally on!)

Channel 4 (best channel)

Channel 4 is perhaps slightly more impressive than the others because it has the network premiere of The Chronicles Of Narnia; The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader and actually devotes a programme to Easter with “Easter Eggs Live” in which chicks hatch live, it’s closer to the sort of thing we used to get at least. We also get a two part drama series called Labyrinth which I admit is fairly impressive. This is mainly on Easter Sunday on the other days in the daytime however it’s simply so normal as to be painful, although the early morning slot has gone to films like The Iron Giant and a Dr Dolittle sequel to be a bit of a treat for Easter.

MAIN FILMS
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, The Iron Giant, Doctor Dolittle: Tail To The Chief (2008), True Grit, 28 Weeks Later, Labyrinth (Drama series)
BEST PROGRAMMES
Easter Eggs Live, Labyrinth (2 part drama)

Yet again we can hilariously just write off Channel 5 with nothing about it, but they are showing a couple of films with a religious theme to them, it’s better than nothing and at least it’s vaguely about Easter.

Digital channels show a lot of Wallace & Gromit, family films, classic musicals, Sky1 has Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal and repeats Now That’s History looking back over certain years, they have also added Cars Toons with their recent Disney hookup.

[excel99]

Originally Posted by Bill Clinton

Good Friday has nothing on the main channel that marks it as any different from a Friday in general

30 Years of CITV repeat? No Jeremy Kyle, This Morning or Loose Women? 2pm onwards the only difference is the news, but the 9.25am-2pm slot is rather different to normal

Originally Posted by Bill Clinton

Channel 4 (best channel)

You do realise apart from a Breakfast film, Channel 4 has a full normal Friday schedule on Good Friday? I don't know about the rest of the weekend, but C4 have made virtually nil attempt to offer anything different on Good Friday

Yet again we can hilariously just write off Channel 5 with nothing about it, but they are showing a couple of films with a religious theme to them, it’s better than nothing and at least it’s vaguely about Easter.

For the sake off completeness, there is no Trisha or lunchtime news update on Good Friday

[hyperstarsponge]

No classic comedy like there was in 2003, Last year had more family films on Good Friday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/abouttheb...ing-on-the-b-1

The wind down of Easter line-up has not gone unnoticed, Guess BBC loves HUTH and other Daytime TV too much

Good Friday on BBC1 last year:

09:15: Story Of Christ
12:00: Service
13:00: News
13:15: Family Films
18:00: News

[sporter92]

Originally Posted by Bill Clinton

I've done a sort of written guide about the Easter TV lamenting when the companies were more in the spirit.

Easter 2013

The Easter TV these days is no great fanfare but that tradition has remained at least for Christmas.
It’s the only weekend of the year that’s 4 days long and it’s in the right position to herald in Spring, but whilst it was once the 2nd biggest TV weekend of the year second only to the yuletide season itself, a quick browse of the schedules reveals that where TV’s concerned things as they always seem to do now are pretty routine.

Instead of new documentaries or dramas aimed at the Easter weekend you still get a few titbits here and there, and there are still always the obligatory few films, but you have to wonder with the Bank Holiday apathy being as strong as it is now how much chance those too have of remaining ultimately.

Good Friday is an overall drab day, BBC ONE has business as usual throughout most of the day only breaking for a programme about Mary Magdalene at Noon and then suddenly remembering it’s a Bank Holiday at 5 and slotting in the Pixar film Ratatouille. Outside that even the evening is nothing to shout about with the only slightly unusual programme being a programme featuring the recent BBC comedy go to Miranda Hart looking back at Eric Morecambe this seems a bit half hearted really.
Elsewhere on the weekend you’ll struggle to find programming that resembles something special from BBC ONE with an Easter Monday Africa special excepted, even film showings such as Freaky Friday and Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit seem as routine as a show like Pointless now. The talent show The Voice happens to start this weekend and the best special that’s original and not just a film seems to be a David Attenborough Africa feature on Easter Monday.

MAIN FILMS: Ratatouille, Freaky Friday, Madagascar & Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit
BEST PROGRAMMES: Miranda on Eric Morecambe?, The Voice, Africa – The Greatest Show On Earth (Easter Monday)

BBC TWO is usually only subtly different at the best of times on Bank Holidays and this Easter will be no exception. It’s not quite as ruthlessly stuck in the same daytime loop as it was in the previous Easters and holidays but we are mainly only getting programme variations here. On Good Friday for example they are sticking on a couple of hours of The Great British Bake Off over some other lifestyley fare that they would normally have shown, it’s only some quite decent kids films and top all time favourites like Citizen Kane that save the day in the other daytime parts of this holiday but other than that it’s BBC TWO business as usual. In the evenings films and documentaries replace what is normally there on a usual weekday with Newsnight commitments but it doesn’t seem particularly targeted, one focus though you will notice is the late Richard Briers, we are given a tribute programme and some more episodes of sitcoms that he made famous. The only Easter related programme is “Easter from King’s”.

FILMS:
North West Frontier, Citizen Kane, Suspicion, Winter’s Bone, Anita & Me, Brooklyn Rules, Galaxy Quest, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing, Enigma, The Magnificent Ambersons & A Bunch Of Amateurs
BEST PROGRAMMES
Richard Briers: A Tribute, All About The Good Life

ITV just puts a finger up to the Bank Holiday concept in general really, Christmas will get them in family film mode but over Easter you can forget it, Good Friday has nothing on the main channel that marks it as any different from a Friday in general and it is only really on Monday that there is really anything you might notice. They are forced into the Bank Holiday spirit by a football match that definitely wouldn’t happen on an ordinary weekday daytime and they actually precede it with shock horror! A film! The Great Outdoors from 1988., but would they have bothered if it weren’t for the football?
When they still had the rights to Bond films they didn’t bother showing them on Bank Holidays towards the end so maybe they deserved to go to Sky. The only other things notable from ITV is possibly the March of the Penguins documentary showing on Easter Saturday lunchtime. They even show The Jeremy Kyle Show on Easter Sunday morning, it’s the easter equivalent of bah humbug that ITV are shouting at us!
There’s maybe a slight concession for the way you get films shown on ITVs extra channels on a Bank Holiday, but why does the main channel have to be so lifeless?

MAIN FILMS
The Great Outdoors (1988), King Ralph, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, The 300
BEST PROGRAMMES
The Cube, Coronation Street, Football (in other words what’s normally on!)

Channel 4 (best channel)

Channel 4 is perhaps slightly more impressive than the others because it has the network premiere of The Chronicles Of Narnia; The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader and actually devotes a programme to Easter with “Easter Eggs Live” in which chicks hatch live, it’s closer to the sort of thing we used to get at least. We also get a two part drama series called Labyrinth which I admit is fairly impressive. This is mainly on Easter Sunday on the other days in the daytime however it’s simply so normal as to be painful, although the early morning slot has gone to films like The Iron Giant and a Dr Dolittle sequel to be a bit of a treat for Easter.

MAIN FILMS
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, The Iron Giant, Doctor Dolittle: Tail To The Chief (2008), True Grit, 28 Weeks Later, Labyrinth (Drama series)
BEST PROGRAMMES
Easter Eggs Live, Labyrinth (2 part drama)

Yet again we can hilariously just write off Channel 5 with nothing about it, but they are showing a couple of films with a religious theme to them, it’s better than nothing and at least it’s vaguely about Easter.

Digital channels show a lot of Wallace & Gromit, family films, classic musicals, Sky1 has Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal and repeats Now That’s History looking back over certain years, they have also added Cars Toons with their recent Disney hookup.

I agree that it is basically more of the same from all the channels and is there anything relating to Christianity apart from the usual Songs of Praise on Easter Sunday.

Also how can you list the voice as a highlight and not pick Doctor Who aswell which I believe also starts on Easter Saturday, while not a specific Easter programme something I am looking forward to. I will also watch the voice as the auditions was the best part about the show last year

[STEVE 03]

It's good to see BBC2 showing morning films on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and on Easter Monday and for old film fans in particular the Easter weekend is looking really impressive with the brilliant movie Citizen Kane being the highlight on Easter Monday morning

[fugitive]

No Laurel and Hardy again this Bank Holiday, but with my you tube enabled Smart TV i can enjoy all these

http://www.youtube.com/results?filte...ardy&lclk=long

[STEVE 03]

Originally Posted by fugitive

No Laurel and Hardy again this Bank Holiday, but with my you tube enabled Smart TV i can enjoy all these

http://www.youtube.com/results?filte...ardy&lclk=long

That's a brilliant web site and great to see most of the Laurel & Hardy films there

Sadly I don't think the BBC has any plans to show any of the Laurel & Hardy films. It makes me wonder if they still have the licence to show them as they haven't been shown on BBC2 since 2005. Although I remember in the 1990's there was a long period where they didn't show them then and suddenly out of the blue they shown a fortnight of L&H films one Christmas so hopefully they will make a return to BBC2, especially now they now showing old b/w films every Sunday morning

[Claires_dad]

Originally Posted by sporter92

I agree that it is basically more of the same from all the channels and is there anything relating to Christianity apart from the usual Songs of Praise on Easter Sunday.

Also how can you list the voice as a highlight and not pick Doctor Who aswell which I believe also starts on Easter Saturday, while not a specific Easter programme something I am looking forward to. I will also watch the voice as the auditions was the best part about the show last year

BBC1 are doing a documentary on Good Friday at 12 noon called "The Mystery of Mary Magdalene"

[Sue_Aitch]

I'm recording that to watch later!

[Gripper Stebson]

Absolutely dire line-up again for this Easter. In particular from both the BBC and ITV who have made no real effort atall, and it's much like just a normal weekday. Ridiculous. Shame on them. Long gone are the days of loads of great telly over Easter!!!

Apart from tomorrow when I'm out all day, I'm staying in over Easter relaxing. Hardly anything good to watch on broadcast TV though. So it's a case of creating my own custom schedules via watching a mix of films and new and old TV shows on DVD, and just a bit(literally) of broadcast TV.

Of the few TV highlights for me over Easter are:

Good Friday 9pm SKY 1 - Revolution. A double bill opening of a new fantasy series from the US.

Easter Saturday 6:20pm BBC - Doctor Who.

Easter Sunday 8pm ITV - Foyles War.

Easter Monday 2:55pm Channel 5 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Plus Neighbours on Channel 5. Apart from that though, it'll be DVD's for me.

[Sue_Aitch]

There's some good stuff on the Radio, though.

[wizzywick]

Originally Posted by Gripper Stebson

Absolutely dire line-up again for this Easter. In particular from both the BBC and ITV who have made no real effort atall, and it's much like just a normal weekday. Ridiculous. Shame on them. Long gone are the days of loads of great telly over Easter!!!

Apart from tomorrow when I'm out all day, I'm staying in over Easter relaxing. Hardly anything good to watch on broadcast TV though. So it's a case of creating my own custom schedules via watching a mix of films and new and old TV shows on DVD, and just a bit(literally) of broadcast TV.

Of the few TV highlights for me over Easter are:

Good Friday 9pm SKY 1 - Revolution. A double bill opening of a new fantasy series from the US.

Easter Saturday 6:20pm BBC - Doctor Who.

Easter Sunday 8pm ITV - Foyles War.

Easter Monday 2:55pm Channel 5 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Plus Neighbours on Channel 5. Apart from that though, it'll be DVD's for me.

You are not allowed to stay in an relax. From time to time posters come on say "Why don't you go out and do something" and when we say we don't want to go out the same posters say "Well casual viewers who work like to watch normal daytime programmes on Bank Holidays".

I agree with you. It is sad that no effort at all has been made. Especially Easter Day when by law shops in England and Wales are closed and the workers get a chance to chill out and enjoy Easter TV. (But there is nothing to watch).

[lotrjw]

Im surprised that there isnt lots more films on the PSB channels over the Easter weekend and the weeks the kids are off school. It makes no sense to show daytime TV rubbish when the Kids are off or do they think kids only watch the kids channels now and dont want a bit of extra choice, but having a lot more films on would also suit lots of people not just kids.

[sporter92]

Originally Posted by Claires_dad

BBC1 are doing a documentary on Good Friday at 12 noon called "The Mystery of Mary Magdalene"

Thanks Claires Dad, Easter TV is bad this year and while people always say Christmas is bad at least there is more of an effort on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day especially from the BBC than they have at Easter.

Also I said I was going to watch the Voice but after the amazing series of Saturday Night Takeaway especially last week show and Let's get ready to Rhumble, I think I will watch Doctor Who and SNT tomorrow and watch the voice repeat on BBC Three on Sunday

[Honestweegie]

Lots of good films on

[Gripper Stebson]

Originally Posted by Gripper Stebson

Absolutely dire line-up again for this Easter. In particular from both the BBC and ITV who have made no real effort atall, and it's much like just a normal weekday. Ridiculous. Shame on them. Long gone are the days of loads of great telly over Easter!!!

Apart from tomorrow when I'm out all day, I'm staying in over Easter relaxing. Hardly anything good to watch on broadcast TV though. So it's a case of creating my own custom schedules via watching a mix of films and new and old TV shows on DVD, and just a bit(literally) of broadcast TV.

Of the few TV highlights for me over Easter are:

Good Friday 9pm SKY 1 - Revolution. A double bill opening of a new fantasy series from the US.

Easter Saturday 6:20pm BBC - Doctor Who.

Easter Sunday 8pm ITV - Foyles War.

Easter Monday 2:55pm Channel 5 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Plus Neighbours on Channel 5. Apart from that though, it'll be DVD's for me.

Oh yes and another show I forgot to mention which should be worth a watch.

Saturday and Sunday 9-11pm Channel Four - Labyrinth. A historical mini series.

[DVDfever]

Originally Posted by lotrjw

Im surprised that there isnt lots more films on the PSB channels over the Easter weekend and the weeks the kids are off school. It makes no sense to show daytime TV rubbish when the Kids are off or do they think kids only watch the kids channels now and dont want a bit of extra choice, but having a lot more films on would also suit lots of people not just kids.

Well, they've already shunted all the kids stuff onto their own channels. As for any child over 10, they're too busy happy-slapping each other on Youtube or Call of Duty to bother watching TV.