ROSEMARY Goring’s column (“Pass the remote: There’s too much gore on our TV”, The Herald 9 January 2019) highlights the issue of hideous and sadistic violence on our screens and, in particular, those in the fifth series of the excellent BBC drama, Luther.
She is right to do so; however she needn’t have worried about the impact on the viewing public because, throughout the programme, lighting was so poor as to render most scenes almost impossible to view clearly. It is understandable that some scenes took place at night but even the daytime takes were equally dull.
It appears that television producers seem to think we enjoy scrunching up our eyes as we watch these dramas.
The BBC is not the only broadcaster with this problem.
Dark Heart, an ITV production, was also spoiled by many scenes being filmed at night, with the daytime and interior scenes being equally dull. It is about time our TV companies took a lead from American drama productions and afforded their lighting engineers a big enough budget so as to brighten up our screens.
Christopher H Jones,
25 Ruthven Avenue,
Giffnock.
I AM not averse to a bit of violence with all the trimmings of a good story line on TV, in moderation and in the best possible taste of course, but I agree with Rosemary Goring that this can be overdone and over-played; and although I admit to the occasional profanity or an excusable expletive, it seems few programmes, comedy included, are deemed to meet the demands of realism without a warning of strong, or very strong, language.
Too much of a good thing. Help ma boab.
R Russell Smith,
96 Milton Road,
Kilbirnie.
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