The Accidental Angler

[Dick Dastardly]

Well after all that I missed it! seems to have met with mixed reviews.Anyone know if its repeated at all in the near future (ie BBC3 or 4?)

[poledark]

Let's be honest here, would you watch John Wilson if he spent about a quarter of each episode touring the local markets or bumping along the road in a battered jeep, and then spent the rest of the time blanking?

 

After about 30 mins,it became pretty obvious that the producer was packing out the time with "stuff" to try to sustain interest until the punchline when a fish was finally caught. I was actually surprised that they did get one in the end.

 

Sorry to sound so critical, but I made a special effort to watch the programme....................

 

Den

 

 

 

Programme is called the "Accidental Angler", would have been nice to have seen a bit more angling...but to his credit, he did question the methods he was advised to use.

[wanzelbin]

Well after all that I missed it! seems to have met with mixed reviews.Anyone know if its repeated at all in the near future (ie BBC3 or 4?)

 

I've looked all over the BBC site, and can't find any mention of a re-run.

 

I thought it was excellent. I'd never heard of or seen a Mahseer, and couldn't believe how beautiful they were.

 

Nice to see a program like this. There's thousands of episodes of other anglers showing us how to fish (John Wilson, Matt Hayes etc), where here you get to see a bit of history and share the presenter's wait and anticipation for a remarkable fish. The scenery of places I'm very unlikely to ever see for myself was amazing - though the fish-eye lens panorama sweeps were a little distorting!

 

And like Peter's, my wife also managed to stay awake throughout, so it must have been good!

[MikeT]

I thought the programme was excellent.

 

It was a high-class and beautifully crafted piece of television. It strikes me that some of the posters above may not have appreciated the target audience for the schedulers. The 8pm Sunday slot on BBC2 is very high-audience, with a wide demographic to aim at. In my opinion, the programme perfectly hit the mark.

 

I agree with James P‘s post, above. It is a shame that some of the forum users were (rather churlishly) unimpressed by the programme, but I suppose this proves the old adage that you cannot please all the people all of the time.

 

In fact, the programme worked for the very reasons that the negative posters above didn’t like it- it did NOT indulge the boorish technique-obsessed, tackle-obsessed, die-hard ‘blue-collar’ British angler- the sort who believes carp poundage is the most important thing in the world, and that it should be the most important thing to everyone else too. This would have made it a real turn-off for 95% of its target audience, of course. (Fortunately, there are plenty of [low-budget and low-quality] programmes on Sky that follow this format for that other 5%).

 

Instead, the programme concentrated on the more aesthetic and esoteric aspects of travel fishing, and the history of our human instinct for hunting. The scenery was simply stunning, and the programme hit the balance perfectly between Angling (in the purest sense of the term) and merely the catching of fish. It delivered a package of mainstream interest in a marginal subject, with great style and high entertainment value. It was reminiscent of A Passion for Angling in that respect (which was without doubt the most influential television production in the history of the sport/hobby/pastime/way-of-life). My wife and I were enchanted by it.

 

All power to the BBC and Charles- a great start to the series! I greatly look forward to the next instalment, and fully expect the series to be most popular with the more intelligent and discerning viewer (if not with certain elements of the angling fraternity), and a terrific success.

[Janet]

Totally agree with MikeT. Stunning programme, beautifully filmed and very entertaining for anglers and non-anglers alike.

 

Janet

[gozzer]

My post about it being pleasant enough, but falling between two options, was no more than I expected of the programme. As a travelogue it wasn't up to say, Micheal Palins standard, (that would be hard to achieve anyway), it just skimmed over the country and the people who live there. And as an angling programme, it didn't cover much, apart from the history and the capture of the record. I thought for a while that it was a repeat, some of the shots looked very familiar, especially the one where he was on the high rock.

My wife also watched it, and said it seemed true to life, in that she'd seen me sitting there for ages just waiting for a bite! (and I don't even fish for carp)

 

 

edit, These are just the opinions of an undiscerning viewer with (what some would call) a lower than average intelligence.

Edited November 13, 2006 by gozzer

[carpstar]

I thought the programme was excellent.

 

It was a high-class and beautifully crafted piece of television. It strikes me that some of the posters above may not have appreciated the target audience for the schedulers. The 8pm Sunday slot on BBC2 is very high-audience, with a wide demographic to aim at. In my opinion, the programme perfectly hit the mark.

 

I agree with James P‘s post, above. It is a shame that some of the forum users were (rather churlishly) unimpressed by the programme, but I suppose this proves the old adage that you cannot please all the people all of the time.

 

In fact, the programme worked for the very reasons that the negative posters above didn’t like it- it did NOT indulge the boorish technique-obsessed, tackle-obsessed, die-hard ‘blue-collar’ British angler- the sort who believes carp poundage is the most important thing in the world, and that it should be the most important thing to everyone else too. This would have made it a real turn-off for 95% of its target audience, of course. (Fortunately, there are plenty of [low-budget and low-quality] programmes on Sky that follow this format for that other 5%).

 

Instead, the programme concentrated on the more aesthetic and esoteric aspects of travel fishing, and the history of our human instinct for hunting. The scenery was simply stunning, and the programme hit the balance perfectly between Angling (in the purest sense of the term) and merely the catching of fish. It delivered a package of mainstream interest in a marginal subject, with great style and high entertainment value. It was reminiscent of A Passion for Angling in that respect (which was without doubt the most influential television production in the history of the sport/hobby/pastime/way-of-life). My wife and I were enchanted by it.

 

All power to the BBC and Charles- a great start to the series! I greatly look forward to the next instalment, and fully expect the series to be most popular with the more intelligent and discerning viewer (if not with certain elements of the angling fraternity), and a terrific success.

 

I find what you have posted here offensive.... (boorish technique-obsessed, tackle-obsessed, die-hard ‘blue-collar’ British angler- the sort who believes carp poundage is the most important thing in the world)....(more intelligent and discerning viewer ) i don't see anywhere where anyone has stated they wanted to watch anything of the sort to what you are describing and then you want to question their intelligence as well

[ColinW]

I thought it was a great programme. Far more entertaining than it would have been if it had been done by some anally retentive, retarded prat who'd spent twenty four seven on the riverbank. It's hilarious that people will go on about the "crude" methods. Those methods have been developed by guides who have fished that river for a hundred years, personally I'd do what they told me if I had only one chance of fishing there!

I hope there's more of the same, if I don't here a single brand name I'll be a happy viewer.

[WickerDave]

I thought it was a bit dull, from both a fishing and travelogue viewpoint. Too many repeated shots of the same bit of water, rocks and stationary rod tips. We didn't even get a good view of the fish that wasn't a Mahseer that was caught.

[Steve Burke]

I very much enjoyed it. Unlike some, I liked the mix of travelogue and fishing.

 

My only disappointment was with the ending. We saw almost nothing of the fight having been told how special it is, and the presenter, who was otherwise excellent, didn't seem very excited! It makes you wonder if the fish had been caught early in the week and the order transposed for the sake of the story.

 

Overall though a very good effort, that hopefully appealed to non-anglers as well.

 

Will I be watching the rest of the series? You bet! Not having Sky I don't get to see much in the way of fishing on TV. I haven't even seen any of the "Predator" series except my own perch one. It would therefore take a poor first programme to stop me watching a series - and this certainly wasn't poor.

 

I'd also like to encourage the Beeb to do more fishing programmes, and so would urge as many of you as possible to tune into the rest of the series.

Edited November 13, 2006 by Steve Burke