The TV broadcast for the SKY at Night is accordingly scheduled, in the Feb mag, as due to be screened on the 7th, 8th and 13th of Feb, no such programs are listed in the current TV guides. have I missed some advanced cancellation notice etc

John.

Tomorrow Night 8pm BBC 3 or 4

BBC - BBC One Programmes - The Sky at Night - Episodes coming up

The Sky at Night had to make way for the Super Bowl on Sunday night. So it didn't get it's usual slot.

ah right Russ did'nt think of that

Thanks, wrong dates have been published in the S@N mag.

John.

I think the magazine does always print the caveat that you should check listing closer to the time. Sadly, the BBC don't seem to take S@N all that seriously (hence nothing secial for the 50th anniversary!) and seem to think it can be shunted about at short notice. they don't give much thought to us poor astronomers who have had weeks of cloud and fo whom S@N is the only silver lining to be had!

I could say that the BBC thinks Science is whatever they tell it to be. I'll never forgive them for what they did to Tomorrow's World. I got rid of the TV at that time, and even S@N can't drag me back to give them any licence money.

But I won't.

I feel really sorry for the outstanding people they have abused over the years (and I very much include Patrick on that list, they have been blessed with his contribution for a long time, and they are a bunch of incompetents without the integrity or decency to give him the honour he deserves).

They can rot in Hell for all I care.

You're right Hugh. What will happen the day Patrick decides he cannot continue? Will that be the end of the show?

just looked at my sky planner and i have it ready to record on bbc four 8pm tonight, never watched it so hear goes for a first.

Unfortunately the Beeb seem want to dumb down science (when they do any) to educate the masses (as they also do with news, the arts, history etc), trouble is the masses dont want to be educated they just want more Cowell et al. This leaves the rest of us with puerile science programmes for the most part. Fortunately Patrick doesn't dumb down, but that leaves him on the periphery.

Or am I just being cynical?

I have been an avid watcher of Sir PM and the Sky@Night program on and off for many years, I think we are all dreading the day when Sir PM has to step down, I do not think from his wanting to, but more of his ongoing health. What the BBC will do then I have no idea, I hope they will continue with people like Chris Lintott, but you never know, perhaps more Superbowl instead, we can only wait and see.

Hi
What about Springwatch/Autumnwatch and Countryfile? IMHO both these programmes have come on leaps and bounds in recent years. There's far more science and more intelligent debate in these programmes then there was several years ago. I do agree that some of the 'hard' science programmes such as Horizon seem to often stretch a 20 minute subject into a 50 minutes slot.

Let's be realistic here, amateur astronomy is a minority hobby and probably always will be. I think we are doing pretty well to get a regular serious monthly slot on terrestrial telly. I strongly suspect hobbies such as photography, fishing and steam trains all have a larger following than amateur astronomy, yet they have no regular telly programmes dedicated to the subject.

Doesn't bare thinking about. I just feel the BBC will drop it the instant Sir PM steps down. Or it will be taken up by some tiny Freeview channel.

Russ

I always remember Sir pm on a video games prog called games master, thats going bk a bit now lol.

Yes i remember that

Hope not

If it's one of the freeview channels I get, then I'd be okay with that

Andy.

Perhaps it will get taken up by the Scifi channel.

He was rather good as the gamesmaster

YouTube - Mumbling GamesMaster Episode 2 Donkey Kong Country

Also he picked me as a winner in Saturday SwapShop around 82/3ish (cant remember that far back) - I won a competition on the von trap family and got a sound of music bundle of goodies..

The optimist in me hopes that the introduction of other regular presenters (Chris Lintott and Pete Lawrence), are so that the programme can continue after the sad day when Patrick has to step down.

John

Lets hope so.

Actually I'm hoping for a Sky at Night special episode for Sir Patrick's 100th birthday.

Perhaps it's just wishful thinking and a long way off, but I'd like to see it happen.

John

Why are they on at such an unearthly hour...no pun intended!

Same question, why at such an odd hour, is it because they are unable to get enough ads for the program?

At the least ,a tiny fraction of the license fee gets used for something worthwhile.

Of course you can watch it at your convenience on BBC IPlayer which is what I do .

Watched it on BBC iplayer last night. Loved Sir Patrick's sketches of Mars that Paul pulled out. The feature on the Mars rovers with Steve Squyres was excellent - have a lot of respect for that guy. As en ex-geologist I found the idea of them doing strat sections on Mars awe-inspiring. Wonderful stuff