Coast

Having lived by the Northern Irish coast all my life until this year,and Glasgow is still arguably on the coast, this documentary beautifully put together all the reasons why Britain and Ireland are unique as island nations. The beautiful shots of scenery combined with various interesting experiments and journeys into history provided something for everyone.

I particularly appreciated the scientific gems which have, unknown to me, sprung up on our coast, as well as the frequent reminders of how modern life is putting the splendours of our coast under threat.

The team of experts were a treat in themselves and I found myself watching them as much as what they were presenting. Nick Crane's adventure and pure joy is infectious and I found myself waiting for the next scene of the dark, brooding Neil Oliver telling a grisly tale of British history with his black locks blowing in the wind. It was great to see him taking over the lead in series 2 & 3 and I think he is one the finest Television presenters around. Truly fascinating exploration of the geology and marine life around our shores thanks to Miranda Krestofnikov and Alice Roberts. And no reconstruction is too big for the adventurous archaeologist, Mark Horton.

A testimony to the feat of this series came while I was travelling in the Highlands. Having recently been to Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie near Skye, I was embarrassingly excited to meet one of the men interviewed on Coast and asked him all about his experience. His 5 minute interview on the DVD came out of an amazing 4 hours of filming, testifying to just how much excellent material was collected for the programme.

Could have been, even should have been great but no sorry, not so good at all. Breif aerial views of the coast mixe in with a variety of self absorbed presenters on their pet subjects most of wich are probably not relevant to the main (or should have been them main) objective of the program. For variety we have interviews with an eclectic mix of odd bods with little to say that improves the theme. (my personal favourite was the professor (?) who spent 20 years studying the concrete audio detectors installed in 1938/9.

What I really wanted to see was the coast and its towns in all their glory.

And finally the main presenter - obviously plonked down randomly to walk for a few yard, waxing lyrical with an umbrella sticking out of his back pack.

They did 5 - that's right FIVE seasons of this garbage. No wonder the Beeb licence is going up....

Undoubtedly awe inspiring and interesting BUT..........strangely superficial and unsatisfying. Maybe if they spent less time constantly previewing and recapping they're would be much more content. 4 and a half mins in and they're still telling us IN DETAIL what they will be telling us in the show THAT WE ARE WATCHING