The Year of the Sex Olympics

BBC Four showed this Nigel Kneale play last Thursday, and I got around to watching my tape this morning. It followed a documentary about British TV’s use of the hidden camera – another in the very good Timeslip series.
The play has incidentally just come out on DVD, and it’s especially prescient about where the Big Brothers of this world might naturally end up. It starred Leonard Rossiter and a very young Brian Cox, who’s malicious ways send television on an ever downward spiral.
Two things occurred to me as I watched it.
1. How did they get away with calling it “Olympics” and using the rings, and
2. The idea of continuous audience ratings, with programmes being adjusted accordingly is a fascinating if terrible development.


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