You cannot win
Dear oh dear oh dear.
The BBC is in trouble.
BBC sets up page for complaints about ‘too much TV coverage’ of Prince Philip’s death.
You just can’t win, can you? If they had dedicated one channel and put football or something on the other they would have been accused of being disrespectful, and the hords would have descended with their banners accusing the Beeb of trivialising the event.
I confess I was mildly surprised at their three television channels being taken over for the entire night. But then I rarely watch BBC unless there’s a good drama on, which is rare enough these days.
We watched “The Madness of King George” instead. We had seen it before but it was well worth a repeat. Nigel Hawthorne was brilliant in the titular role.
Somehow, and it was by complete accident, the film was remarkably appropriate for the evening that was in it – the story of a completely useless foppish Prince of Wales desperately trying to get his hands on the crown by declaring his father as unfit to run the country. I wonder if Charles has seen the film?
I can’t help but wonder what will happen when the Queen kicks it. Not only will the BBC show non-stop tributes and documentaries for an entire fortnight, but every viewer will be obliged by law to hang black drapes around their television screens. Naturally no one else will be allowed die during the Fortnight of National Mourning in case they steal the thunder. And contrary to the belief of many, she will peg it sooner or later. After all, she’s been on that throne virtually my entire life and I retired ages ago.
I confess I am a little intrigued at her vacating her position, as is inevitable one way or another.
What happens next?
I think it's something deeper.
I think that it's part of a movement of opinion that contributed to the Brexit vote. People are tired of the old elitism, the old arrogance, the old hierarchies. It is English Civil War stuff again, the foppish cavaliers presuming to talk down to us lesser mortals.
Can you imagine Boris + Charlie (both apparently involved with whores) as a combination – What a laughing stock!
Far be it from me to sully the late Duke's escutcheon at this time, but he was hardly without form himself in the 50s and 60s. In fact he was so intimately close to the Profumo/Keeler affair that it took some considerable manipulation to lever him out of the public picture – Stephen Ward may have paid the price for that process.
On that scale, Charles was a model of propriety and Boris is just Boris, what you see is what you get.
Ah! You watched "The Crown" too?
Didn't need to, it's only news to those overseas, all the alert Brits have known for almost 50 years but discretion applies.
Are we to surmise that you are keen to take over ?
Bloody hell! I have enough on my plate just looking after Herself.
Hoards?
You think I'm going to send my 25 packs of bog roll and 50 bottles of hand sanitiser to the Beeb?
You must be using the Grauniad's prof redding app.
Fuck! Okay. I'll give you that one.