It's funny the things you miss

[Viv]

Hand on heart, I can say that I haven't missed much from Old Blighty but looking on the Beeb website today I saw that the new series of Gardeners' World is starting this week and I did have a bit of pang.     I used to love watching that programme and there is something quite comforting about Alan Titchmarsh.

[Russethouse]

Pang no longer Viva - Alan Titmarsh is no longer host of GW instead we have Monty Don

AT has written a new gardening book though - I think its called 'The Gardening Year' or something similar - of course there IS a TV series to match..........

[Martin963]

Whilst respecting any reason you may have for not having TV from the UK,  we on the satellite section of LF forums would be delighted to advise you;  it really is very easy and cheap to get access to the BBC and ITV,  probably less than €120 if you can put up the dish yourself.   AND you get excellent radio reception thrown in.

[Patf]

The programme that makes me most nostalgic is Prime Minister's

questions, BBC2 on Wed. 1pm french time. It's just so "British " - you

couldn't imagine these scenes taking place in any other country.

Britain is still a bit like a village where everyone knows everyone

else. And I like Monty Don more than Alan Titchmarsh. Pat.

[Teamedup]

MartinWatkins, I firmly believe that anyone with no, little, or poor french who are just moving to France should try and avoid brit telly. We had no choice of course, but the great thing about tv is that you can usually follow what is going on in say a series or film and you get the music of the language without having to ask a question or anyone asking anything.

I think it is excellant way of adapting to France. Also one can watch the weather and news and find out what is happening in France, because at some point, hopefully the comprehension is there and even when I was still at the odd/few word stage, I could get the gist of major world events. ie France's pride and delight that their exocet missiles worked as they should........ horrified I was at the time, but I was living in France and that was how it was.

 I am not saying that french tv is excellant, far from it, but I would never encourage anyone to bring or get UK tv until their french and general knowledge of France is proficient.

Anyway how can one have a meaningful conversation about the society one lives in if one doesn't know about the society one lives in?

[Tourangelle]

Personally I loathe French TV, the only time I watch it is in

hotels and during trips to see la belle mère (not much else to do).  It

just makes me squirm, all those tedious panel based programmes, and the

weather is just awful to watch, especially France 2.  I appreciate

that some may want to watch it with a view to improving their French,

but when you are past this stage, there are a number of good radio

stations and some excellent news magazines which mean you can avoid it

for ever. 

Patf, I think you can listen to pm's questions on radio 5[:)]

[Sevenup]

I do agree with TeamedUp as to the benefits of French TV. We struggled with it for quite some time but our listening French is now adequate and you do get a bit of an education as to French attitudes.

I still watch good things on BBC, ITV etc... but French TV has helped enormously with the language.

[Teamedup]

I don't suppose it would have made much difference to you Tourangelle or those others of you with the gift for languages.

Helas for the likes of me it really did make a difference. I know that I didn't have a choice 'then', but I think I would have made the choice to avoid it anyway, just as I made the choice to find somewhere to live where there were no brits in the area at all. When learning another language is as hard as it is for me, I knew I really had to jump in at the deep end and struggle to doggy paddle at first and sometimes it felt like I was going to drown in the process.......... but if I can get there, I reckon anyone can.

 

ps my eldest son has the 'gift', certainly didn't get it from me the lucky thing.

[Martin963]

@ Teamedup - precisely why I said I respected any reason the original poster might have for not wanting UK originated television.

In our case we are daily watchers of French TV when we are at home in Devon,  and have been since 1999.  My wife's French has largely improved from very basic as a result of watching "Les Feux de l'Amour" on TF1 with the subtitles activated;  (dreadful show but brilliant for picking up useful phrases and simple conversational grammar)..   We watch both the TF1 Journals de 13.00 and 20.00 pretty much every day,  which whilst editorially pretty dodgy give a very good impression of daily French life.

I would not dream of forcing anyone to have UK television if they don't want it.   But at the same time I was merely trying to be helpful, as there may still be people who are not aware that it is now so simple (ie not in Sky's control anymore) to watch the BBC and ITV.  

I'm sorry that my efforts have been interpreted ini any other light.

[Teamedup]

Yes I rather did think that you were encouraging in a direction that I don't think is good at first.

I agree even the crap is good for many of us, and I too used to watch programs that I wouldn't have watched in english, but every little helps and it helped me a lot over those first few years.

[Deimos]

The suggestion to watch French TV is a good one and one that

I suppose I should also do (particularly as I currently have only limited

language skills).  However, I must

confess that when I sit down tired in an evening to watch TV, self improvement

is not always my top priority.  However,

I do tend to listen to a French news type radio station whilst working through

the day (typically France Info) so feel that maybe my language can benefit then

and I will “veg” a bit in the evening.

I do often intend to watch a French TV news but still have

to make a habit of it (rather than the exceptionally occasional viewing as at

present).

Ian

[Viv]

We don't have UK tv programmes, only had a tv at all to help with the old lingo. Whilst I do think the overall quality of tv in the UK is good, I think it is a pity that the main UK channels don't embrace a bit more of the European programmes even with subtitles.

Going back to Gardeners World, it used to cheer me up in the middle of winter seeing gardens in bloom and thinking, 'was the last summer really that sunny?'.