{"id":470,"date":"2012-01-14T14:22:48","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T14:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/londonerfromafar.wordpress.com\/?p=470"},"modified":"2016-07-24T11:33:06","modified_gmt":"2016-07-24T10:33:06","slug":"watching-tv-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alondonerfromafar.co.uk\/watching-tv-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching TV in London"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With so <a title=\"Things to Do in London \u2013 and Never to\u00a0Miss\" href=\"http:\/\/londonerfromafar.wordpress.com\/2011\/09\/04\/things-to-do-in-london-and-never-miss\/\" target=\"_blank\">many<\/a> <a title=\"What to Look Forward in London during\u00a02012\" href=\"http:\/\/londonerfromafar.wordpress.com\/2012\/01\/08\/what-to-look-forward-in-london-during-2012\/\" target=\"_blank\">things to do<\/a>, watching TV in London is usually pushed back to the end of my\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Watching TV in London\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hastalosovarios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Muchas-horas-frente-a-la-TV-aumenta-el-riesgo-de-depresi%C3%B3n-en-mujeres-mayores.jpg\" alt=\"Watching TV in London\" width=\"97\" height=\"90\" \/><br \/>\npersonal list. It actually is a more pleasant experience than what it might seem, because the quality mix of the programmes on British TV seems to be more weighted towards the positive side.<\/p>\n<p>It is quite\u00a0refreshing seeing so many alternatives to rubbish programmes here.\u00a0Probably, it is partly due to <!--more-->the TV\u00a0licence doing its work. For those of you reading somewhere else in the world, public television in UK is supported by an annual\u00a0fee that is used to provide a range of \u00a0television channels, radio stations and online content. Basically, it is\u00a0not allowed to watch TV unless the fee is paid. The alternative is TV on demand, ie, online TV, for which one does not need to pay such a fee.<\/p>\n<p>Going back to watching TV in London,\u00a0I find it interesting to see how audiences in so\u00a0many countries are this happy with certain type of programmes. I mean\u00a0those programmes\u00a0detailing the\u00a0life and works &#8211; for\u00a0lack of a better word-, of the\u00a0likes of glamour models.\u00a0There are some other <strong>entertainment programmes<\/strong> designed to amuse while\u00a0celebrities and anonymous individuals\u00a0make a fool of themselves skating on ice, in the jungle or in a TV set where they showcase their (probably\u00a0lack of) skills in different areas.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"line-height:24px;font-size:16px;border-color:initial;border-style:initial;\" title=\"Watching TV in London\" src=\"http:\/\/images.paraorkut.com\/img\/funnypics\/images\/r\/reality_tv_for_chickens-12075.jpg\" alt=\"Watching TV in London\" width=\"100\" height=\"86\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>TV series<\/strong>\u00a0get most of my votes. The quality control of each production seems to be really strict, especially the BBC ones\u00a0&#8211; and it works. Some of them are just timeless, and they are currently being shown on other national televisions around the world.<\/p>\n<p>I will blog about some of the most popular series and TV programmes on my next\u00a0post. Watch this space!<\/p>\n<p>There are some types of programmes that I find tend to repeat themselves time after time, with varying degrees of quality:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cookery programmes<\/strong> have done really well here to feed my addiction to cook and learn new things. There was a time when every single TV channel had at\u00a0least one cookery programme of their own at different times and days. As a foreigner, they are a really good source of information in terms of people\u00b4s habits and in terms of retail marketing\u00a0in UK.<br \/>\nI have\u00a0learnt that Brits do not tend to\u00a0appreciate their cusine, but they also\u00a0like discovering other cultures through their food. Big point for that!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>House improvement<\/strong> programmes. This includes programmes on moving houses. Some of them are programmes showing makeovers for families on\u00a0low income or who need to re-do their house for health or other reasons. The adventurous spirit of the Brits shows in programmes such as <em>Relocation, Relocation, Relocation<\/em>, where presenters help some lucky ones to find their dream house either in UK or abroad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Quiz shows<\/strong>. Now, this is an interesting pastime that Brits do a\u00a0lot. Several teams competing to get the highest number of points by answering a list of\u00a0questions. The\u00a0last question tends to be some sort of guess work-type of question, where teams need to do a lot more brainstorming than in the rest of the excercise. There are regular quiz competitions in pubs every week. Most of them aim at educating their audience, but there are some humorous ones too, where comedians and singers crack a few jokes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Comedy programmes<\/strong> have increased a\u00a0lot over the past 10 years to reflect the <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Watching TV in London\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aperfectworld.org\/clipart\/entertainment\/comedy_tragedy.png\" alt=\"Watching TV in London\" width=\"83\" height=\"64\" \/>current climate. There are so many comedy events everywhere in the country on a regular basis, and quite cheap! In\u00a0London, this is one of my favourite pastimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The celebrity culture also shows here. Some presenters have predictably become some sort of\u00a0celebrities too. People such as Alexa Chung, Phil Spencer or Jamie Oliver\u00a0have become staple faces on TV and everywhere else. Well, at\u00a0least they actually do a real\u00a0job.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/signatures.mylivesignature.com\/54490\/47\/210B3C50461E693074D3614B2CDD045A.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With so many things to do, watching TV in London is usually pushed back to the end of my\u00a0 personal list. It actually is a more pleasant experience than what <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/alondonerfromafar.co.uk\/watching-tv-in-london\/\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[301,321,522],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Watching TV in London - A Londoner from Afar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alondonerfromafar.co.uk\/watching-tv-in-london\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watching TV in London - A Londoner from Afar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With so many things to do, watching TV in London is usually pushed back to the end of my\u00a0 personal list. 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