The Big Dig

[Lesley Jay]

At long last The Big Dig is back on our screens. It starts on Sunday May 28th at 10.00 am on BBC 2 for 10 weeks. Once again the BBC have done an excellent job in sheduling the programme to start on Bank Holiday weekend and on Sundays aswell. Where will most of us be? Either in bed having a lie in, at church or on the allotment. Why can't they put the programme on in the evenings?

[eskymo]

Because they're crap and don't do their research!

Maybe we should put a petition together from all the folk here on the Vine and send it to the people in charge of scheduling at the BBC and say that if their new show gets crap ratings it's not because folk aren't interested, it's becuase we're out and about tending to our veg plots!

[eskymo]

...presented by Simon Mayo... ??? surely that's not a good thing !!!

[sewer rat]

Good old Auntie Beeb - take one good idea, totally mess it up the first time, then go away, have a think about why it failed to get the ratings they expected, then mess it up again. Don't these people do any kind of market research ?
At least the programme being put together by our friends on the Vine should fare better

The edit was to change a certain word to the word "mess" - don't wanna get into trouble with the PTB or the Mods.

[bramble]

Can't believe thet could be so thoughtless and after keeping us waiting for so long. Can we do anything about this. Like Eskymo said, can we organise a petition?

[eskymo]

I don't there would be anything wrong with putting a petition together. It might not change the scheduling of the program, but we could give the Beeb a good old telling off for being totally useless...again! I've got a friend who works at the BBC and I'm going to email her about it for a laugh ans see what she says...will keep you posted.

[eskymo]

Just found this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/text...ctdec2005.html

which mentions:

Scheduling: Some viewers complained that the omnibus edition of Bleak House was not shown in Scotland on Sunday 6 November 2005. The BBC apologised and made schedule alterations. Others were annoyed that the Bowls was not extended in order to show the conclusion of the quarter-finals on 4 November. There were also objections to the schedule change to the series Big Dig. Some viewers In Yorkshire were annoyed that Rugby League Raw was not transmitted as billed on 15 October due to a technical fault. It was rescheduled for 18 October. Some listeners were annoyed that some editions of Radio 4’s Daily Service were broadcast at different times due to the late running of the cricket.

Which doesn't give us much information, but led me to this URL:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

And I'm now going to complain...any one fancy joining me?

[eskymo]

Ok I've sent the BBC an email and clicked on the box saying 'Yes I want a Reply' and now I've just got wait fro someone to get back to me.

[sewer rat]

I've joined you in making a complaint - they don't exactly make it easy to do but I got there in the end, especially as the programme hasn't been transmitted yet.

[eskymo]

I know - I thought I was being a bit eager!

Apparently they generally take approx 10 days to respond, so now it's just a waiting game to see what they say.

[Alice]

Thanks for the link to BBC complaints. Got a lot I'd like to complain about including the licence fee. I think it's just a tax on having a television. Wait til the first day I've got nothing to do (but can't imagine when that will be) I'll be on there all day.

[eskymo]

me too...I'm sure I've got a list somewhere of things I'd like to complain to them about...but then they will probably just call me up and ask me to star on Grumpy Old Women...and I will go, "but did you not read my complaint about that program and understand that I would prefer to go on Grumpy Old Men as it's far better!"

[eskymo]

Well this was the reply I got from the Beeb:

----------------
Thank you for your e-mail regarding 'The Big Dig'.

I appreciate that you feel that this programme is scheduled in an unsuitable time slot, particularly as the target audience - i.e. allotment holders - would be out in their allotments at this time.

As a public service broadcaster we do not chase ratings in the same way a commercial broadcaster would, but we do however want to secure the widest possible audience for our programmes - which are of course financed by all Licence payers. This means ensuring the programmes receive adequate publicity and prominence in trails and listings magazines. Scheduling is in many ways an inexact science and we will never please everybody all of the time.

Nevertheless, I fully appreciate that you feel this programme should be shown later in the evening time. Therefore please be assured that I have registered your comments and suggestion on our audience log. This is an internal document which will then be made available to members of senior management, including BBC ONE schedulers. Styles and policies are continually reassessed according to feedback we receive from our viewers.

In the meantime you may be interested in visiting the following BBC website where you can find a whole host of useful gardening information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/

Thank you again for your comments.

Regards

Paul Hunter
BBC Information
---------------

[Jaxom]

Glad to see you got a reply. Took longer than ten days though by the looks of it. I wonder if Rat got a reply?

[eskymo]

Have you been watching it Jaxom - on Sunday isat down at ten to watch and by ten past the hour they switched to River City with no explanation whatsoever - very annoying. Not sure if that is going to happen every week!