I don’t watch a huge amount of TV, I usually watch the national and local news, and if I’m ironing I watch something which doesn’t need a lot of attention, such as ‘Police, Camera, Action‘ and its ilk or programmes about people moving to another part of the country needing help finding their dream home. Friends of ours in the village ended up living here by escaping to the country – they are the ones who lived on a barge! However, I do have favourite programmes which I always watch if I can.
I do like a police procedural or crime mystery, something with a puzzle or mystery which needs solving by the end of the series, and at present it is ‘Silent Witness’, but I also watch ‘Grantchester’ depute it being so silly and full of anachronisms because it’s set near and in Cambridge, my home town. As you can imagine as a fan of the genre I love Shetland, but I have quite a few quibbles over the most recent series which I have voiced here (tactfully I hope!) I like the puzzle, the mystery, the quest, the intrigue – not blood and gore, although obviously that is a usual aspect in most. There have been some really class shows – the absolutely brilliant “River” which left me in tears in the final episode, which I have on DVD but can’t bring myself to watch again, “Out of the Blue” another stunning, very clever series, and less well known but excellent “Hinterland” and “The Loch”. There have, of course, also been the Scandi-nor series which were compulsive viewing. (My character Thomas Radwinter was inspired by a detective in a Danish drama!)
In complete and utter contrast, I follow Masterchef compulsively – I am no longer so interested in food and cookery programmes as such, but it’s the competition and getting to know the different characters and how the perform and react under pressure which fascinates me. I have however, developed a new addiction or compulsion, nothing to do with crime, murder or cooking, and this is a programme set in Yorkshire (which I know quite well) – ‘The Yorkshire Auction House’. The title says it all, it’s a programme about an auction house in Ryedale, an area in North Yorkshire which includes, Kirkbymoorside, Malton and Pickering.
It’s a straightforward programme – the auctioneer, Angus Ashworth visits a client’s home – someone who wants to downsize, or clear a relative or parent’s home when they move into supported living accommodation. The client and Angus decide on what’s to be taken to auction and Angus and one of his trusty auction-house staff load furniture, knickknacks, kitchenware, odd items (some extremely odd) of all shapes and sizes into the van and head back to Ryedale. Once there the items are logged, sorted, classified and an estimated value placed on them. So, the auction – and Angus in a very theatrical but down-to-earth, typical Yorkshireman fashion, mounts his rostrum and sets to. He cracks along at a fair pace, encouraging and sometimes cajoling the bidders, while a couple of his staff monitor on-line bids, and another mans the telephone. It’s interesting, fun, gripping in a light-hearted way and easy viewing – ideal to do the ironing by!
My featured image is a random hillside in Yorkshire, no doubt Angus could identify it!
Lois Elsden 