Let's face it, The Great British Weather is a damp squib of a TV show but the outlook doesn't have to be all gloomy
Watching The Great British Weather is a disconcerting experience. A live, exterior-based, pseudo-interactive magazine show exclusively about clouds and drizzle, it's quite easy to understand its intentions. The Great British Weather sees itself as a kind of meteorological Bang Goes the Theory, where complicated, high-falutin scientific ideas are broken up and spoonfed to the masses in the simplest terms possible.
But that's not quite what The Great British Weather is. In reality, it's a mix of The One Show ? with segments about weather instead of ombudsmen and Phil Tufnell ? and the bits of Children In Need where bewildered regional newsreaders try to interview local dignitaries while being poked in the face with a giant cheque for �15. It is, simply put, not a very good television programme. But, with the third of four shows being broadcast tonight, there's still potential. With a little bit of work, I think The Great British Weather could be the show it wants to be. Here's how it can be improved:
Change the length
At the moment, The Great British Weather is an hour long. An hour. A full 60 minutes to explain that fog is a bit annoying sometimes. I've watched both episodes of The Great British Weather so far, and found myself sighing and constantly checking my watch. Keep it to 30 minutes, cut out all the fat and you might have a show worth watching.
Change the presenters
The three presenters are Chris Hollins (BBC Breakfast's in-house sports munchkin), Alexander Armstrong (continuing his quest to reach total televisual omnipresence) and Carol Kirkwood. The odd one out here is clearly Kirkwood, because she actually knows about the weather. The other two, without Carol's expertise, are left to either wave to old ladies in the audience (Hollins) or raise their eyebrows in a way that suggests they know the show isn't particularly strong (Armstrong). Tomasz Schafernaker ? an actual weatherman, infamous for his untimely on-air one-finger salute ? has a roving reporter role, but he'd make a perfect presenter. In fact, any meteorologist would make a decent host. Except for Dan Corbett. That man terrifies me.
Change the audience
For some reason, even though it's set outdoors, The Great British Weather has a studio audience. These people are a) all standing up, which makes them tired and not very enthusiastic, and b) mainly made up of schoolchildren who keep gurning into the camera at every opportunity. And, as exciting as a prolonged segment about cloud types is, it's hard to concentrate on it when there are swarms of 12-year-olds trying to lick their own eyeballs in the background.
Change the title
Look, we've been through this before. Stop calling your TV shows The Great British whatever. We've already got enough on our plates with The Great British Menu, The Great British Bake Off, The Great British Food Revival, Great British Railway Journeys, Great British Songbook, Great British Hairdresser and countless other shows all treading the same lazy path. The last thing we need is The Great British Weather. I'm currently about three Great British shows away from setting myself on fire. Why not call the show something else, like Bit Wet Out, Isn't it? or I Wish I'd Brought my Sodding Cagoule? Nobody would mind, honest.
Change the country
The presenters of The Great British Weather can crow about this country's uniquely changeable weather all they want, but they're not fooling anyone. Admittedly our weather does change, but only from inclement drizzle to slightly warmer drizzle. Wouldn't it be great if The Great British Weather took place somewhere where actual weather happened? Somewhere like America's Tornado Alley or north-east India in monsoon season? There's a lot to be said for the weather in this country, but I'm not sure I can take hearing about it for two more hours.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jul/27/the-great-british-weather-tv-show
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