In Charlie Brooker’s television resolutions he ends with:
6) Stop squashing end credits and shouting over them
I’m going to keep banging on about this until it happens. Which it won’t. But I like a fruitless yell at the void, me.
I suppose I’ve sort of stopped shouting about this myself, having pretty much given up the ghost. Top-tip for all TV execs reading this – I flip as soon as you try to plug the next show, credits or not. I’m not interested. If you won’t go away, then I will. And that means I miss your trailers. It’s your own fault. It also means that I missed Boy A on Channel 4 because I never saw a trailer for it.
Anyway, I saw The History Boys on BBC2 the other day, and do you know, they ran the full credits on it, unsqueezed and with no voiceover imploring us to watch “The Most Annoying People of the Year” or whatever over on BBC Three. They didn’t even make that subtle cut you usually get in credits of films between the cast list, and the music listings. They played it all.
The film was made by the BBC of course, not that this would stop them bastardising their own programming. And the film did end with Rufus Wainwright singing a wonderful version of Bewitched, which would probably make any continuity announcer stop and think before ruining it. But I was pleasantly surpised!
Now if only BBC Four would drop their DOG during their drama programming as they once did…