Civilisations: Rise and Fall

I agree with others who have criticised the patronising tone which often states the obvious while showing us tableaux of non-speaking angst-ridden rulers and their potential usurpers. Then we have the talking heads whose qualifications to pontificate on the subject aren't always clear, and a selection of objects from the British Museum with no mention that we nicked most of them from where they rightfully belong.

But the worst aspect by far is the dreadful never-ending crash-bang-wallop background 'music' which we apparently need to stop us getting bored. Apart from being an infernal racket, it detracts from rather than enhances the content.

Truly, this is TV for people with very short attention spans.

Inaccurate nonsense. Events are reduced to a simplified version so the weak minded can understand. Stop treating the audience with so little respect and give us a full and proper historical account of what happened. Don't bother to watch this series but buy a proper book or watch a proper documentary if you are interested.

If the BBC dumbed this down any further, they'd be broadcasting in crayons.

Are we so stupid that we need historic re-enactments in slow-motion? Man siting in chair. Man drinking from pewter cup. Savage man thinking. Man genuflecting at Emperor. Oooh - man drinking from pewter cup again. It's so ponderously tedious. They must have had a devil of a job cramming 59 minutes of content into what should have been no more than 25. And all those presenters giving their two bits worth. Just why?

Can we just have some slow-tv?

All TV doesn't have to be structured as if the only viewers are people with the attention span of a wasp and the IQ of a gnat. A constant cycle of voiced-over frowning actory sets - no talking though, it's not drama that's too expensive, then cycling to edited together talking-heads.