Salaries final nail in BBC coffin

But these past years things have changed – and my views sadly have changed.

The recent revelations about presenters' pay was another nail in the coffin.

How anyone can be judged to be worth the money paid is past me. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was any talent on offer.

There must be many young people who would love to get into broadcasting, but the same old faces block them.

I prefer the radio to TV but even on radio there are some self-opinionated nonentities. No names of course. I’ve heard some rudeness on several programmes from presenters on both regional and national stations. And really, the BBC should either do something to improve the amateur sounding local programmes or scrap them.

The TV is also a waste of time. Why are we subjected to so much reality, so many inane cookery shows and so many repeats?

How many times can we stand to see the exploits of some Irish dame with a foul tongue? How long can the BBC rebroadcast Homes Under the Hammer, or Escape to the Country with its gloating home hunters? One series which I wanted to see was The Count Arthur Strong show.

But the BBC cocked that up by changing the running order and suspending the show for a week or so to show something else.

Every time something happens we get wall-to-wall coverage, as with the Grenfell Tower incident. The BBC presenters milked that for every drop of emotion. Grief is a private thing. The same whenever we have some royal event or a sporting event.

They just overdo everything. If there must be non-stop coverage then why not use the BBC 4 channel which is off air until early evening. It was used during the Olympics so why not use it to cover Royal and other events and leave us saner ones to enjoy what we want and pay for. That is entertainment of a grown up nature? And the political presenters should be made to reveal their party leanings.

Soap operas are also the target for excessive emotion. Explosions, accidents, murders, all manner of exaggerated bilge is broadcast, and also trailered endlessly. In fact the trailers are getting longer every month. Actors with weird expressions on their faces, doing silly things and uttering sill lines. Who watches such tripe? We in Britain have a long history of fine writers from Chaucer to Greene. An alien landing would never guess this from watching British TV.

The radio is a bit better, but even there we have so much which is trivial. Perhaps it is time to sell off the BBC TV side, and put the better radio services on a reduced license fee basis? I feel insulted watching the twaddle which ‘Auntie’ cobbles up these days, as many other who are at home a lot must feel, and I haven’t even mentioned Saturday evenings! TV is not my only form of entertainment, but when I watch I expect something uplifting and entertaining.

C K Millward, Tipton