Bakewell at the BBC (BBC4)

[Mike S]

A whistle-stop tour of Joan Bakewell's career c/o of some rarely-seen clips. Worth catching on iPlayer.

Very little of it's in the thinking man's aspect ratio, sadly.

[ian b]

The compilation programme was dreadful in that, er, respect.

Apparently no-one pre-2000 had tops of heads, or necks, and blown-up b/w telerecordings appeared to be crawling with radioactivity.

[bbctim]

Couldn't agree more, it just ruins the viewing experience. All that slick editing seems wasted somehow. Never quite understand why they don't at least re-frame a few shots, to include the odd forehead. It really was like peering through a letterbox!

[Mike S]

Remember that edition of her Taboo series where she stood in front of an erect penis? 'I can look at it, but you can't...'

It's the same with aspect ratios really.

[bent_halo]

We watched the interview last night. Frost really is past it sadly, allowing conversational dead ends instead of making any particular effort to develop a point. The follow up remark to her Mandela response was "Yes, a very great man..." and, er, that's it.

[ayrshireman]

We watched the interview last night. Frost really is past it sadly, allowing conversational dead ends instead of making any particular effort to develop a point. The follow up remark to her Mandela response was "Yes, a very great man..." and, er, that's it.

St Joan herself is long since past it. To be honest, I always found her very overrated.

[bent_halo]

Belief on Radio 3 (which she mentioned) remains good.

[solidgold25]

The BBC's webpage said this show featured Arthur Askey and Bing Crosby but I never saw them - did I fall asleep and miss them??!

[Simon Coward]

The BBC's webpage said this show featured Arthur Askey and Bing Crosby but I never saw them - did I fall asleep and miss them??!

I remember seeing Askey - b/w footage in a studio somewhere. He was standing at a microphone, I think there was a piano and pianist nearby, so maybe he was singing. Don't recall seeing Crosby at all, but I may have missed the odd bit here and there - popping out to make a cuppa or whatever.