5 Feet of Fury

Theodore Dalrymple: Television is evil

Via TakiMag:

To my shame, and against my principles, I have occasionally agreed to appear on television, though even less frequently than I have been asked. I have found those who work for TV broadcasting companies to be the most disagreeable people that I have ever encountered. I far preferred the criminals whom I encountered in my work as a prison doctor, who were more honest and upright than TV people.

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I, on the other hand, tend not to trust Malcolm Muggeridge in his dotage…

 

And beware of cheap imitations:

It was supposed to be a tribute to one of Monty Python’s most famous moments, when the comedians took on religious figures incensed by their 1979 satire The Life of Brian. But the writers and producers behind the BBC’s forthcoming comedy drama Holy Flying Circus have angered rather than flattered them.

The programme, to be screened on 19 October, focuses on incidents including the 1979 television debate between Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin, and the Bishop of Southwark and Malcolm Muggeridge.

Over 30 years later, Holy Flying Circus, written by Tony Roche, co-writer of In the Loop, is billed as a “fantastical reimagining” of those events. However, Cleese and Iain Johnstone, who produced the original TV debate, have now protested against historical inaccuracies in the show…