Is it ok if I have a little moan about the BBC?

CharnhamCharnham Posts: 61,316
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long story short, I listened to the "Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully" pilot, and really enjoyed it, and was looking forward to a series.

Anyways doing a web search for it tonight (fancied hearing it again), and discovered there is a recording for it coming up.

I would also quite like to attend the recording of a TV or radio show once in my life, but again I find myself looking at going to the recording of a Radio program in London.

Fair enough tickets are free, and I cant expect the BBC to pay my train fair, but right now I cant really justify spending £25+ on a train fair.

Whilst I can work out the timings my end, I also dont know how long the recording is, but even if im back at 10pm, no bus home.

I guess its the whole London Centric thing, again and I dont really expect the BBC to move the recording to somewhere closer to me, it just must be nice to be in London, so you can attend this kind of thing without the hassle.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shows/welcome_to_our_village_11feb13

Also in fairness to the BBC, it is recording close to Kings Cross, so those coming from outside London, wont also need a tube fair as well.

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 736
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    Cinemas and theatres don't indicate how long their shows are either, it's not just the BBC. Personally I would not make a long journey just to be in a studio audience. What time does it start?
  • CharnhamCharnham Posts: 61,316
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    Fairness wrote: »
    Cinemas and theatres don't indicate how long their shows are either, it's not just the BBC.
    they may not say how long a film is but its pretty easy to take an educated guess.

    1) Look up film length online, and add about 20 minutes for trailers.

    2) Look when the movie is next being shown, if its only two screens, you have a very good idea, when the movie is due to restart in the screen you are watching it in.

    Either way you can have a pretty good idea, when a movie will end in a cinema.
    Fairness wrote: »
    Personally I would not make a long journey just to be in a studio audience.
    which rather means that those of us who dont live in the big cities (not just London, im sure Salford* has some recordings as well)
    Fairness wrote: »
    What time does it start?
    Doors open: 7.15pm

    Think im just having a moan for the sake of it, in this thread really.

    * I offer a cookie for the correct response to that ;)
  • ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    The BBC doesn't only do audience shows in London and Salford - also Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast plus some OB locations as well. Ticket Unit on the BBC web site is the best point of reference.
  • SpotSpot Posts: 25,121
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    Fairness wrote: »
    Cinemas and theatres don't indicate how long their shows are either, it's not just the BBC. Personally I would not make a long journey just to be in a studio audience. What time does it start?

    In the 1980s and 90s, I made the journey from Norwich to London several times to be in the audience (either at The Paris or later at the BBC Radio Theatre) for programmes like Just a Minute, ISIHAC and Pop Score. Loved it - great day out. I remember one occasion I got tickets for both lunchtime and evening recordings of Pop Score on the same day, and it was a very enjoyable and memorable experience for me and the friend I went with.
  • Steve9214Steve9214 Posts: 8,402
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    With the greatest respect, it's a live recording so they may have Technical issues or retakes or pickups to do at the end.
    This takes ages.

    So they cannot say how long the show will be, as they don't know.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    Steve9214 wrote: »
    With the greatest respect, it's a live recording so they may have Technical issues or retakes or pickups to do at the end.
    This takes ages.

    So they cannot say how long the show will be, as they don't know.

    I just had a look at the tickets webpages, they have a FAQ but no mention of the duration of programmes. Perhaps can't expect them to quote a duration for a particular show but might be worth suggesting that they add a warning in the FAQ that the recording will last considerably longer than the show as broadcast if there is no warning included with the tickets. Otherwise someone might expect the recording of a 30 minute programme will take 30 minutes!
  • andys cornerandys corner Posts: 1,664
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    Recordings happen in Salford every so often, I have been 3 times. Be warned though media city uk is nowhere near the centre of Salford or Manchester, there are decent hotels the other side of Salford quays and unless you have a reasonable drive home (mine is 3/4 of an hour) hotel is best option

    Most shows don't guarantee entry so I for example wouldn't go to London just for a filming, best to go either as a couple or a group and if you get turned away then have a back up plan

    Most bbc non specialist stuff is in London, the shows I saw in London were Sarah Millican (twice) and John bishop, both I think don't live in London (Sarah lives in Manchester as she has mentioned on her tour)
  • ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    There is a deadline in the sense the studio will have been booked until a certain time and after that the crew either go home or go onto overtime (v. expensive).
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,391
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    They cant really say how long it will be unless its live. They will make mistakes and have to start over, Things will go wrong with the sound equipment etc.

    Are you a Sky customer? Sky rewards give out tickets every now and then. I have been to recordings of Blockbuster and also Parkinson's Masterclass.

    A moan, Some of the new BBC comedies are very poor, I am not sure how they got commissioned in the first place. I am thinking of writing a sitcom and sending it in seeing as they seem to accept anything.
  • degsyhufcdegsyhufc Posts: 59,251
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    Fairness wrote: »
    Cinemas and theatres don't indicate how long their shows are either, it's not just the BBC. Personally I would not make a long journey just to be in a studio audience. What time does it start?
    The Vue cinema website pretty much does. It gives you the start time and the running time.
    Add 30 minutes for ads, trailers and getting in and out and you can work out how much time you will be in the cinema.
  • CharnhamCharnham Posts: 61,316
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    ftv wrote: »
    The BBC doesn't only do audience shows in London and Salford - also Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast
    but all of them pose the same kind of problem as London for those who dont live in them.

    I looked into Edinburgh before
    Steve9214 wrote: »
    With the greatest respect, it's a live recording so they may have Technical issues or retakes or pickups to do at the end.
    This takes ages..
    fair enough, I was aware that might well happen, and one of the reasons I could not calculate a length.

    The fact its in London itself, isnt the issue, the fact I dont know how long it will be, is the issue, its all those things combined
  • Steve9214Steve9214 Posts: 8,402
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    lundavra wrote: »
    I just had a look at the tickets webpages, they have a FAQ but no mention of the duration of programmes. Perhaps can't expect them to quote a duration for a particular show but might be worth suggesting that they add a warning in the FAQ that the recording will last considerably longer than the show as broadcast if there is no warning included with the tickets. Otherwise someone might expect the recording of a 30 minute programme will take 30 minutes!

    I went to Pinewood to see a Weakest Link Celebrity special taped - it took over 3 hours.

    A lot of that was Anne Robinson going off and then sitting with her team and writing the put-downs based on what the contestants had said during the previous round.
    It was June, and sweltering hot.
  • CharnhamCharnham Posts: 61,316
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    Steve9214 wrote: »
    I went to Pinewood to see a Weakest Link Celebrity special taped - it took over 3 hours.

    A lot of that was Anne Robinson going off and then sitting with her team and writing the put-downs based on what the contestants had said during the previous round.
    It was June, and sweltering hot.
    I guess this kind of thing is why the website can not even speculatively say how long a recording might take.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 736
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    degsyhufc wrote: »
    The Vue cinema website pretty much does. It gives you the start time and the running time.
    Add 30 minutes for ads, trailers and getting in and out and you can work out how much time you will be in the cinema.

    That's a start but it's no basis to book tickets on a train or bus that departs at a set time or where the service stops at night. I wouldn't be difficult to do.
    Steve9214 wrote: »
    I went to Pinewood to see a Weakest Link Celebrity special taped - it took over 3 hours.

    7:15 start + 3 hours = 10:15 finish typically, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. For me if one side of London that would mean getting home about midnight, too late to eat (and not enough time before), but if the other side of London it would mean travelling home with the drunks and arriving about 1am, too late for an early start the next day at work.

    Suits some people, but it would be more convenient to have shows with different start times - do they do that or is it just one recording a day?
  • andys cornerandys corner Posts: 1,664
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    Depends on the show, university challenge filmed 4 a day when we went
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