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Confessions of a Telly Adict - 15 December 2011
I have been watching far too much tv lately. Actually, I have discovered Eggheads – the only quiz I have ever enjoyed, probably because I can answer quite a good few of the questions. Eggheads begins at 6pm. Now, I do have a rule never to turn the tv on before 8pm at the earliest, but sometimes, when husband Husband is away – as he is often lately – and there is only me in the house and it’s dark and cold outside, sometimes I just need a few voices to keep me company. But once the telly is on, it’s very hard to turn it off – there’s that hypnotic affect – and often the thought of silence in an empty house is too much, even if I do have a good book to read.
I have always loved tv, beginning with Pogles’ Wood (note that correctly placed apostrophe – yes the BBC is right-on in all things punctuation) and ending in The Slap, (last episode tonight on BBC4 10pm – marvellous). In between there was 1960’s Batman, Blue Peter (1968 – 1973 approx – the ‘Get down, Shep!’ Years), Top of the Pops, Kojak, Starsky & Hutch and my favourite Harry O (in which there was an actor called Anthony Zerbe I had a terrific crush on). I started watching Coronation Street in 1975 and stopped, bored to death, twenty years later – I haven’t watched a soap since – went cold turkey (hence my 8pm rule). I watch a lot of stuff like How Clean is Your House/Bowel and Phil & Kirsty Look at Houses for Sale, because I like houses (and Phil). There should be more serials about apocalypse and zombies, in my opinion – The Walking Dead, for example was great but lost on Chanel 5.
Loving tv always feels a bit shameful, I suppose, not least because, despite coming from a large family and having never lived alone, it’s something I have always done alone – at least 95% of my viewing has been solitary (husband Husband does not watch tv, except on Saturdays when he falls asleep after Strictly Come Dancing). Also, if you write you have to read and read a very great deal – and tv eats into reading time. When I give talks I am asked which authors I like, not what I watch on tv, and also Did you read a lot when you were a child? Yes, I say, thinking guiltily about Pogles Wood. Yes, I read War of the Worlds when I was ten and all of George Orwell by the time I was fourteen, much of Philip Roth, too. Mostly though I read Enid Blyton (Mallory Towers a favourite). Even more mostly I watched tv, but I don’t often admit to that – shameful, isn’t it? I should get out more.
But watching television does teach you about story-telling. In the days when Coronation Street was watchable, I learnt about cliff-hangers and keeping the audience interested. Most of my general knowledge comes from Radio 4, but much from the tv – I do believe that all writers need a good, broad general knowledge (even if it’s fairly shallow – you can always wing it/look up more in-depth details on the web…then read a book…). However…I have a kindle now and read even more than I used to. I do prefer to read, when it comes right down to it, and if it wasn’t for the silence…If I was forced to give up tv, books or radio, the tv would go first, no question – I would miss my radio far more, but even that would be second to reading. Most telly is awful nowadays (that maybe my age, the fact that I have seen it all before), any yet, when it’s good it’s very good…Perhaps I should just try to reinforce the 8 o’clock rule…
And here is the theme to the Magic Roundabout, because it used to make me hide behind the settee when I was five, so scary and strange it was…
