Like a lot of people of my generation, my first experience of television was that day in 1953 when the residents of half the street packed into somebody’s front room to look at a small wooden box that framed an even smaller piece of glass. The flickering black and white images drew gasps of amazement, and of course, heralded the dawn of a new Elizabethan age.

As a kid, returning from the Village Hall with my Coronation Mug, I don’t think I could have been expected to anticipate the development of this industry, which has now spawned a crop of “self-selecting celebrities” that demand our attention, but not our intelligence. Having taken legal advice, I will not be sharing with you my opinion of these self-made personalities, but there is one group of television professionals who by default, have demonstrated their value.

One conclusion we can draw from the restrictions we continue to experience in this ‘Post Covid’ period is that television engineers are very important. No, not the guy who comes to fix your set when it occasionally goes wrong, (and actually, who repairs TVs in these throw-away days), I’m talking about the various engineers responsible for the technical quality of the broadcasts.

I am fed up with seeing poorly illuminated broadcasters hunched over laptops with fake backdrops of imitation reading material or strategically placed artwork. The sound quality from these private echo chambers lurches between poor and non-existent. When, (and if), normal standards return, those lighting and sound engineers should be in line for a big pay rise, clearly most broadcasters can’t get on without them.

I understand that the BBC is now implementing a four-year plan to find out what viewers want to see. So, at a time when most people are taking a critical look at their finances, the BBC have planned to spend over £40 million on a viewer’s survey.

I do hope that they ask me because I do have three succinct comments to make – and I won’t charge. Forget the moody lighting, stop mumbling and realise that we all know that “another chance to see” means yet another repeat of a programme we didn’t want to see the first time.

Andrew Green 

Mill on the Hill