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Watchdog brings back Annie

Anne Robinson returns, soon to return live. (May 2009)

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ME
mediaman2007
Robinson is only going back to watchdog cos she is **** about weakest link being shunted to Scotland, and she does not want to move her life to Scotland, or have to forever travel to Scotland just to earn a living.

By getting the watchdog gig, she has a London job, and in a few months she will tell the BBC she is quiting the weakest link and blame it on the traveling being too much for her, but then she has got her nice London based job to fall back, and it's a win win situation for Mrs robinson to stay in london until she retires or bites the dust.


What are you the second coming of Brekkie Boy?


Laughing
RM
Roger Mellie
Robinson is only going back to watchdog cos she is **** about weakest link being shunted to Scotland, and she does not want to move her life to Scotland, or have to forever travel to Scotland just to earn a living.


Earn a living?! The woman's a multi millionaire for crying out loud
Shocked


Perhaps not now, after she forked out for all that plastic surgey Wink
PT
Put The Telly On
Come 2030, The Weakest Link will be replaced by a talking robot anyway. There's an hilarious comedy sketch on that theme somewhere.
TI
This Is Granada
Robinson is only going back to watchdog cos she is **** about weakest link being shunted to Scotland, and she does not want to move her life to Scotland, or have to forever travel to Scotland just to earn a living.

By getting the watchdog gig, she has a London job, and in a few months she will tell the BBC she is quiting the weakest link and blame it on the traveling being too much for her, but then she has got her nice London based job to fall back, and it's a win win situation for Mrs robinson to stay in london until she retires or bites the dust.


What are you the second coming of Brekkie Boy?

Either back that up with a source, or make it clear this is your own, purely speculative, view.



Well she has hardly been jumping for joy that her current job is relocating to another country! We all know she wants to stay in london, and by getting this new job, she can get her way, still have a job and still be in london.

Its better than her chucking the towel in on her current role and have nothing else to do, fair enough.......its not as if she needs the money......but even millionaires must get bored sat at home all day....daytime sky tv is not that good.
SP
Spencer
We all know she wants to stay in london.


Do we? When did she say that?
FL
flaziola
Come 2030, The Weakest Link will be replaced by a talking robot anyway. There's an hilarious comedy sketch on that theme somewhere.


That's actually from a 2005 episode of Doctor Who.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40647000/jpg/_40647042_annedroid_300bbc.jpg
PT
Put The Telly On
Ah yes! Of course.
SC
scottishtv Founding member
But as Anne has played this smug, all-knowing presenter on Weakest Link (a character in itself almost, taking the mick out of the contestants constantly), I think she's got to the stage that I would find it hard to belive any empathy she might claim to have with the consumers telling their tales of woe. Mind you, I've never really found Julia that genuine so maybe that's not really an important trait to have any more.

One thing I'm glad about is the hour-long change. 30 mins is too short to do any meaningful in-depth reporting. The real value of Watchdog was when it would mount serious long-term campaigns, lobby hard and get consumer laws changed... and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of loopholes out there that need looking into.

Overallm this formula might not be as "entertaining" as Matt Alwright dressing up as an old man with a fake moustache and walking stick (again), handing over licence fee cash to people they've previously researched as dodgy scammers (again), but I think that's what proper consumer affairs should be all about.
SP
Spencer
But as Anne has played this smug, all-knowing presenter on Weakest Link (a character in itself almost, taking the mick out of the contestants constantly), I think she's got to the stage that I would find it hard to belive any empathy she might claim to have with the consumers telling their tales of woe.


As you mention, she is essentially playing a character, and I think you'd have to be fairly stupid not to realise that. Besides her act on the Weakest Link is very much tongue in cheek, underlined by her wink to camera at the end. I'm sure it'll be clear when she's back on Watchdog that she's no longer in character.

Quote:
One thing I'm glad about is the hour-long change. 30 mins is too short to do any meaningful in-depth reporting. The real value of Watchdog was when it would mount serious long-term campaigns, lobby hard and get consumer laws changed... and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of loopholes out there that need looking into.


That's one thing I'm not convinced by. I'm happy to sit through an hour of drama or entertainment, but I can't help feeling an hour of consumer affairs is going to get a bit dreary. Personally there's only so much I can take of folks' tales of washing machine woe or exposés on teddy bears filled with soiled bandages.
RD
rdobbie
One thing I'm glad about is the hour-long change. 30 mins is too short to do any meaningful in-depth reporting. The real value of Watchdog was when it would mount serious long-term campaigns, lobby hard and get consumer laws changed... and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of loopholes out there that need looking into.


I also hope they can take a stronger lead on certain things. They've missed the boat on so many serious wider issues over the last few years - reclaiming bank charges, the big 4 supermarkets conspiring to fix prices, etc.

The problem with Watchdog nowadays is that, although people don't realise it, their remit is only to make a programme that is as entertaining as possible. Nicky Campbell signs off with "we're always here for you", but nothing could be further from the truth. Watchdog is now simply a team of researchers and short film makers who sift through viewers' e-mails every week looking for a couple of stories that have the biggest jaw-drop and personal angst factor. The e-mails that aren't featured in the programme (i.e. 99% of them) are just ignored.

They don't actually fight or campaign any more, like they did in the 80s when they successfully lobbied for the compulsory fitting of plugs on electrical items, for example. (The fact that some companies back down and give refunds etc when Watchdog gets involved is only incidental, since Watchdog have to give companies a right of reply anyway to comply with guidelines, usually triggering the predictable PR puff from the company concerned, and a bit of self-congratulation thrown into the mix by Campbell and co - hooray! - Watchdog put the world to rights again!).

But what's most shocking to me is that nobody on the Watchdog team is actually qualified or experienced in consumer law. To the trained eye this is evident all the time - e.g. a few weeks ago they mentioned one viewer setting a "precedent" by winning a case in the County Court - well, any judgments made in County Courts do not set precedents and have no bearing at all on any future cases. This could have been dangerously misleading to viewers as it might have given them a false incentive to start their own legal proceedings.

But how's this for a damning example of their lack of expertise...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_utility_tables_pic.shtml

Quote:
Terry Brady from Crawley in West Sussex contacted us to say that he believes that privatised utility companies are under a statutory obligation to pay compensation if they don't provide an adequate service.

Well you know what? We've discovered that he's right.

There are a number of guaranteed standards that your electricity, gas and water companies are required by law to meet.........


Hang on a minute, this is a flagship consumer programme on the British Broadcasting Corporation, and they first found out about an important piece of consumer legislation because a member of the public told them about it! The legislation in question isn't some obscure little-known secret; it should already be well known to anyone working in the field of consumer law. Even if their researchers know zilch about consumer law, it's surely their job to discover things like that for themselves (it takes a few seconds of Googling), take the initiative, be pro-active, etc. What next? Breaking news!... Mr Smith from Fulham has contacted us about a hidden treasure called the "Sale of Goods Act"...
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
Beautifully put - couldn't agree more.
RU
russnet Founding member
Well it was the final Watchdog with Julia Bradbury and Nicky Campbell. Towards the dying few minutes, they each said their goodbyes with Nicky saying how he's been on the show for the last 9 years. The show picked up the pace again when they read some emails over the end credits and it ended with the pair of them doing the Anne Robinson wink right at the very end with Nicky probably doing it a bit more sarcastic.

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