Nigel Pickard fights back

You've obviously not been paying attention to F1 - NOBODY likes James Allen! the problem therefore isn't petty - even Jeremy Clarkson picked up on it in his Sun column last week:



Contributors at Digital Spy and F1-specific forums are also registering discontent with him. Sniff Petrol's campaign has had massive support. Are you aware of all this? If it's happening on ITV, it's Pickard's business and is therefore relevant comment.

That is a flawed argument best and a damn right vendetta at worst.

OK, so a few people don't like the bloke!? Do you think Nigel Pickard employs him personally? Do you think Peter Levy personally employs Paul Hudson on Look North? Well actually nothing more would surprise me.

It's a rediculous argument. This thread should not be home to your propaganda against a competent and experienced member of the F1 commentary team.

Wherever I look, it's Look North or F1. Gets a bit tiresome after a while.

Total exaggeration and unfounded comment to make - many threads on here are Look North and F1-free. If you want less Look North on here, suggest your friends remove Levy and Hudson from their signatures if you feel so strongly about it..... not forgetting of course that mentioning the programme no matter how many times it does so does not breach any forum rules. What I won't tolerate is an attempt by anyone to curtail someone's freedom to discuss something perfectly reasonable within the confines of a presentation forum such as this.

If you actually take time to look through the Net at F1 sites, it's much more than a few people. Petitiononline for example. Over two petitions, over 800 people have signed the 'Shut Up James Allen' and 'Ben Edwards for F1' petitions.

Look Here!

And here!

And Here!

Here too!

Lots more condemnation here!

Guess what's here!

In this one, a comprehensive record of all his berkish commentary

Sniff Petrol campaign pic 1

Campaign Pic 2

Campaign Pic 3

And so on and so on.....

I know with full confidence that my thoughts reflect the vast majority of F1 viewers, who are sick and tired of him. Many vendettas from many people merging together in the aforementioned links. Have you looked through any F1 magazines to see the constant stream of criticism at him?

I find it bizarre that you seem to infer that Pickard should not have any feelings towards this - if he cares enough about the channel to make it better, getting rid of James Allen through the necessary hierarchies, personnel and procedures would go a small way to improving a channel I still believe to be inferior to any channel the BBC provide.

Katherine, I'm afraid I have to agree with the consensus in this case and say that it IS getting tiresome as James says. Giving us 10 links to that stuff and an extra two paragraphs does not help the situation at all.

Oh I agree with Katherine completely, James Allen is the cause of EVERY problem at ITV right now. Until he is *OFF THE AIR* then I shall continue to show my undying love to the Peter Levy Show, no matter how much of an anagram of carp the standard of journalism is.

I never said that at all and you're misrepresenting my comments.

Katherine, could you please not hijack my thread! If you want to discuss the state of F1 on ITV, set up your own thread. Talking about F1 has nothing to do with the comments that Nigel Pickard has made, and so has no place in this thread. Its very disheartening for me to see that my thread has 17 replies (at the moment) and 13 of them have nothing to do with the topic in question.

I dont know if this is true or not, but ive heard that both Fat Families and The Real Good Life have been axed due to their disastrous ratings last night (2.1 million viewers- a 10% share and 2.3 million - a 12% share respectivly), and will instead be replaced by a repeat of Dennis Nordens It'll be alright on the night next week. If this is true, surely this is further evidence of the dire state the channel is in, pulling two programmes that are only two and one episodes into their run! I wonder what Mr Pickard is thinking now?

If that is true the it shows that there is no place for any factual programming that doesn't set the world on fire on ITV anymore. I doubt that those shows were supposed to beat Holby City but as all the critics were out again pointing out the low viewing figures rather than any comment on the content is it any wonder they might be dropped.

What happened to the days when ITV could have a load of shows in the schedules that didn't win the slot and nobody commented

I admit I didnt watch these programmes (the titles were enough to put me off), but I think this is worth mentioning since last night was ITVs second lowest ever share of the audience, and to axe two programmes so early in their run is an extreme measure!

I'm not sure what this pillock (Pickard) needs to convince him that turning ITV into a trashier version of Sky One was a mistake. Viewers just will not watch the programmes he puts on, other than one or two, which he then repeats until we don't want to watch them either. Sticking Corrie on for an hour directly before Celebrity Love Island achieved what it deserved to - a big fat nothing. Springwatch on BBC2 is a big hit comparitively. Someone thought "outside the box", someone else committed money to it for live OBs and presenters etc, the controller has backed it - and it works. Meanwhile on ITV, "Celebrity Fat Families from Hell". If ITV can't provide a schedule of popular public service programmes (it is a public service broadcaster by the way) then shut the bloody thing down.

It is now confirmed on Mediaguardian (here) that the above mentioned shows have been axed, to be replaced by Alright on the Night. No decision has been made about whether to reschedule either programme.