The last two New Years has seen the BBC broadcast programs with a vaguely nautical theme with a name like Three Men in a Boat do Something involving Griff Rhys Jones and two of his friends.Back in 2008 it was to race Griff Rhys Jones's classic yacht at Cowes, where he memorably got very angry. Last year it was to get to the Scilly Isles by a range of different types of boat. This year it was a gentle potter through Ireland.
And I mean really gentle. Less sedentary and more like brain dead. There was a strong feeling of the end of a line for a weak idea. It was so bad that I turned over to something else and I can't remember what. It was therefore less interesting than a totally forgettable program.
It wasn't the only script that could do with a bit of tightening. As might have mentioned it was the last Doctor Who with David Tennant, which if you follow these things you'll know was the end of an era.
But the I'm-about-to-regenerate scene went on like a death bed aria in an Italian opera.
If I had a hand in the script I would have made the Doctor have to make one last choice - who to see in the last minutes before he transforms. That would have made the emotional connection stronger and snappier.
And there can have been only one answer: not a character from any of the irritating spin-offs, not the grating on the nerves Catherine Tate, but surely it would be the national sweet heart that is Rose Tyler as played by Billy Piper.
I mean look at that warm smile as the snow softly falls:
Apart from that was it pretty good with at its heart a moving moral dilemma for the Doctor and Bernard Cribbins acting his socks off at age 81, lip wobbling with emotion.Apologies to those that don't understand any of this. To those that do, can simply add:
Da-da-da-dum
Da-da-da-dum
Da-da-da-dum
etc
