Peter Rhodes on a Welsh turkey, a second Birmingham and discovering a much-loved old car
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth is reported at the Beeb where The Way (BBC1), a sort of Welsh industrial-relations saga with Celtic magic and ghosts, was stuffed full of great actors and fine writers and directed by the peerless Michael Sheen, yet still managed to become Ye Great Turkey of Cymru, with fewer than 700,000 viewers sticking with it for the finale.
What's to be done? I can only suggest locking The Way away for a few years and then making a cheaper version and re-launching it as “cult” viewing. It worked for Blackadder.
It's like this after every Budget. First we get the upbeat stuff then, a few days later, the worrying stuff. Like the prediction from the Office of Budget Responsibility that net migration for the next few years will average 350,000, not the 290,000 forecast only a matter of months ago. This is the equivalent of a new Birmingham every three years - and we can barely cope with the battered, bankrupt old Brum we've already got.
