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Tropic of Cancer

March 19th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life · 1 Comment · Life

I watched the first episode of Tropic of Cancer on iPlayer earlier on this evening.  I know I have said it before, but that will not stop me saying it again: Simon Reeve is a brilliant presenter.  Give him more work!  He seems to have the ability to get on with everybody, and in the face of people suffering extreme hardships he manages to avoid the typical look of heavily-applied concern without being flippant.The only thing that spoiled it for me was what spoils most of the BBC’s otherwise decent documentary programmes lately like the Jim Al-Khalili ones and the Prof Brian Cox ones – the insistence on trailing everything.   Rather it is the way they do it.  It was not a problem for me until I read somebody’s comments about it: before then I had not noticed it, but now it has been pointed out I can’t help noticing it.

Just as my previous post contained a generic movie trailer and link to Charlie Brooker’s generic news item, it seems there is a generic documentary format: start by explaining what you are doing, describe a bit about what is going to happen while showing film clips of what is going to happen later in the same programme, and so on.

Even with that small irritant it is a good show though, still distinguished by Reeve’s very genuine reactions to events.

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One Comment so far ↓

  • skud's sister

    He is the travel equivilant of Brian Cox (who is, however, a bit more shiny) as far as I can see. I think it is the genuine enthusiasm and joy in their work that impresses me most. What depresses me is finding out that Brian Cox is over 40 – I hope Reeve is younger…..