Picture from BBC
A little while ago I wrote about how BBC4 seem to have run out of ideas for Friday nights, having previously ruled on this one day of the week. I am not entirely sure that people even watch BBC4 on other nights of the week to be honest, and Friday is the big night. Having suffered from several dips in quality over the past few weeks, mainly due to dragging out the same stuff over and over again. Every now and again though, they manage to pull something out of the hat that validates their existence and tonight was that night. The Story of Skinhead presented by Don Letts was worth the licence fee alone this week and just goes to show that with the right people in charge an intelligent documentary is easily achieved (they have ignored my pitches so far).
Tonight we saw Letts meeting up with former skins, some still living the lifestyle today (minus the violence) and musicians from the era. This isn't really an area that I have a great knowledge of apart from the musical tastes, and it was strange seeing a group of people so into Jamaican music and soul influences yet at the same time linked to racism and disharmony. Archive footage showed one skinhead from back in the day telling the interviewer about how he isn't racist because he has a lot of West Indian friends, and in the next breath detailing his dislike of 'pakis'. An odd and contradictory bunch of people, this documentary wasn't trying to demonise anyone, rather to examine the culture and attempt to understand what exactly was going on.
BBC4 still has untapped documentary waiting to happen, they have squeezed punk dry and seem to do country every now and again. Having dipped its toe into various different areas there seems to be either a reluctance or maybe there just isn't the person available to cover the topics that BBC4 is crying out for. Comedy/novelty records is something that would get the social media watch-along ticking away nicely, as would a bit more digging around in the less obvious areas of the decades, maybe tapping into the huge unsigned music scenes up and down the country.
I have offered but the BBC aren't the best at replying, maybe that's why they have to repeat so much stuff. It isn't a lack of talent it is because someone has a full inbox to work through eventually.
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