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Dr. Why?


On Friday night I did what I usually do on Children in Need night... I get offside and avoid watching anything that goes out on the Beeb in the name of entertainment. I would pay money to Children Need simply to prevent them churning out the load of half-baked humourless tosh that they usually do. (For those outside of the UK Children in Need is a charity established by the BBC for working with socially disadvantaged young people, and they have an annual telethon on the BBC which raises enormous amounts of money).

Now don't get me wrong... I am among one of the Beebs staunchest supporters generally. And Children in Need is a wonderful organisation, but then I would have to say that as they have been paying my wife's wages for the past 5 years...

But on Friday night a great injustice was done in the name of Children in Need on the BBC.

For weeks they had been trailing the fact that they were going to show the first 2 minutes of the Dr Who Christmas special on Children in Need night... Now we have an 8 year old son who is addicted to Doctor Who, and he pleaded with us that he would be allowed to sit up to watch this promised clip, and that was the arrangement we conveyed to the babysitter as we high-tailed it out of the house.

But when we came home 3 hours later, we found a sad-faced, bleary-eyed child still sitting up... because they hadn't shown the trailer on BBC1 in Northern Ireland... Instead they had filled the airwaves with Stephen Nolan (a man who fills a lot more than just airwaves) and assorted locally produced garbage... My children had watched every single solitary minute of this televisual junk food in the hope of seeing not only the Doctor Who segment but also the Ashes to Ashes sketch... But nothing!!! Why? Do they think there are no Dr. Who fans in Northern Ireland? Clearly they think there are no people with any taste or intelligence or the pap that they did inflict on us wouldn't have seen the light of day...

Eventually we persuaded my younger son to go to bed, promising that he would be able to see it the next day on BBC iPlayer... But he went to bed a very unhappy Pudsey...

Sorry for inflicting this on you... Just had to rant somewhere... Have complained to the BBC but I may as well try to do a Canute with the sea...

Anyway... for those who have missed it through being residents of NI or former British colonies... Here it is...


Roll on Christmas...

But next year Children in Need night is banned in our household...
ps. Apparently the link cannot be seen in the former colonies because of copyright issues.
pps. Apparently BBC NI did get around to showing it but only after 11pm... Probably around the time I was ushering a very disappointed boy up to bed...


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Comments

Anonymous said…
AAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

This video no longer available.

I feel Ciaran's pain!!!
Sunday, November 16, 2008 6:13:00 AM
Virtual Methodist said…
Unfortunately a function of your US copyright laws.
Sunday, November 16, 2008 6:44:00 AM
Anonymous said…
couldnt agree more... i'd honestly pledge my money if they STOP showing CIN. It's horrible.

if you had sky... you could have tuned in to BBC (any region).. im in 'the west' but i often tune turn to BBC NI to watch.. sport or 'spotlight' or whatever.
Monday, November 17, 2008 4:26:00 AM
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