Claudia Winkleman to replace Jonathan Ross for Film 2010!

Can see how that might have come about, but not overly enthused.

I hope, like a bad tooth, it's a temporary filling.

I enjoyed the whole subversive, humorous angle that made for great entertainment with Ross. Winkleman will definitely bring about a new audience (poached from Sky), but the inevitable shallowness of glitz and glamour would eventually smother an appreciation for artistic integrity and that verve for esoteric knowledge pertaining to Film - something which in my view was esentially characteristic of the BBC's Film show.

Perhaps it shows the more commercial direction the BBC's taking, at the direct expense of quality programming.

Source: News from IMDB website.

9:58pm

A more comprehensive view from Empire's Damon Wise!

http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/small-screen/post/p793

I especially like the last paragraph:

"So when he's talking, what do we think? That the film is good or bad, that we must or mustn't see it? Or that this is just what Jonathan Ross thinks?

Increasingly, I think, more people are thinking the latter, and when Ross goes, a lot of viewers may go with him. Film 2010 has lost some of its authority at a time when it should be a brand that dictates, not courts, public taste. In an age when the most common word in the film lexicon is “reboot”, the BBC are taking a different route, and if it does follow TOTP into the ether, Film 2010 will be remembered as a missed opportunity.

Film knowledge is a great thing; it's fresh, alive and it can be very, very funny.

The way it's going, though, Film 2010 might end up ignoring all that, and what we'll end up with is just another TV programme, one that doesn't educate, illuminate, or celebrate. Which, in a sense, as Barry Norman might say, is what Film 2010 is there for..."