Discovering Film

Towards the end the narrator says he died aged 93 in 1996 when in fact he was 83 as he was born in 1912 which is stated at the beginning, sloppy......

Although generally speaking this is an interesting series about the actors in question it is the barrage of so called experts who can't possibly know the biographical stuff,that spoil it.In particular the Eli Wallach episode has Bonny Greer ,better known as an author and political pundit who appears to know all about Wallach.Who could've guessed? .She's not alone.Various individuals some about 20 years old,seem to know stuff too.Amazing! It's almost as if they'd been fed the stuff. This habit is not confined to this series.If you ever watch rock star biogs on BBC4, it is amazing how much these people know who weren't born until after the subjects career had finished. Could it possibly be a way to get the yoof to watch?

This, and its sister show about directors are both going downhill now the show has moved on from classic Hollywood. Yet there are many legends - such as Jean Arthur and Louise Brooks, to name but two of many, who haven't been covered while mediocre actors who debuted in the 80s are covered. What is there to discover about Emma Thompson, Matthew Broderick, and Julia Roberts? These stars are all relatively fresh, especially as this show is mainly just clips without showing us more of the context like it used to.

I'm also puzzled as to why the show has become so narrowly focused on Hollywood. They used to explore world cinema, with shows on the likes Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale. Now they seem to bypass legends of world cinema.

There's little left to discover in these shows, the magic has gone, but legends past and global icons are still out there to be rediscovered if the programme makers can find the attitude they used to have.

I like this show but this is not the first time I've noted the insistence that all positive characteristics or talents are "the best of British", any fool would know Oscar Wilde was Irish. That was not an oversight just another f up unfortunately. Tiring also is the highs and how wonderful every actor is, then there's a hiccup then a graceful retirement. Why not call some actors out for what they were. Some were on hard drugs,ditched their families,promiscuous,jail time its rarely discussed etc Everything is narratee as pompously as possible and every narrator agrees with each other, its beyond scripted.

Great series apart for Ian Nathan say you know all the time. 27 times when spwaking of Ian Hendry and arms all over th place making the same meaningless gestures.