Tony Robinson All at Sea (again)

[raymondjpg]

The latest episode of one of Tony Robinson's "walks" is scheduled as one of a series of Tony Robinson's Coast to Coast, but turns out to be "Walking the Thames" the first in a series "The Thames: Britain's Great River with Tony Robinson" according to IMDB, and looks to have been first screened by Channel 5 as recently as June this year.

I'm not suggesting a name change for the series by IceTV because it is in the OTA EPG as Tony Robinson's Coast to Coast, and changing it mid-stream as it were would be confusing for folk who, like me, use both IceTV and OTA EPGs for scheduling recordings. I just note it here for accuracy.

According to IMDB and the Channel 5 website "The Thames: Britain's Great River with Tony Robinson" has four episodes. Having seen the first I would like to see the other three screened by SBS, but knowing the potential for confusion in that neck of the woods it is also possible that they screened the wrong program last night. I think it less likely, as acquisition and screening of such a recent program would in all likelihood not have been a mistake. Fingers crossed.

[Alison]

Hi Raymondjpg,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You are correct, SBS has made an error there is no series 2 of "Coast to Coast" and it is the first episode of "The Thames: Britain's Great River With Tony Robinson".  I will change this and the next episode will be under the correct title.

Regards,
Alison.

[raymondjpg]

OK thanks Alison. For those people using the OTA EPG, last time I looked they are still streaming "Tony Robinson's Coast to Coast" for Wednesday 28 August, albeit with a program description that gives some confidence that it will be a second episode of "The Thames: Britain's Great River with Tony Robinson".

[Alison]

Hi raymondjpg,

I did email the guide team at SBS with the links to the correct data, but I did not get a response by close of business today, hence my waiting to respond and change our data. I hope they will officially amend their guide or we'll be the only guide with accurate information :)

Regards,
Alison.

[raymondjpg]

Hi raymondjpg,

I did email the guide team at SBS with the links to the correct data, but I did not get a response by close of business today, hence my waiting to respond and change our data. I hope they will officially amend their guide or we'll be the only guide with accurate information :)

Regards,
Alison.

Good luck with that! About a year ago SBS was advertising Tony Robinson Down Under which turned out to be Tony Robinson's Hidden Britain By Drone Series 2. They could hardly have got it more wrong. I can't believe that the program descriptions are not written on the "cans".

[raymondjpg]

I'm struggling to find three series for this show. I know that there was a screening of Tony Robinson: The Thames At Night quite recently, and SBS seems to think that it is somehow series 4 of a series that doesn't seem to me to necessarily fit seamlessly into the series "The Thames: Britain's Great River With Tony Robinson". As was pointed out in this post http://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/index.php?topic=7082.msg36650#msg36650  Tony Robinson: The Thames At Night "...is not Season 4, but rather Season 1. It's also mislabeled by SBS."

The TVDB lists two series of "The Thames: Britain's Great River With Tony Robinson". The current screening of the second series, the first episode shown on SBS on Wednesday 30 March, is in the IceTV guide pages as "Series, United Kingdom, English, Documentary, Thriller, Historical, Season 3...". Looks like the season 3 reference comes directly from SBS.

So I would say it probably should be season 2. And Thriller? I don't think so.

[GaiO IceTV]

Hi raymondjpg,

These Tony Robinson series are a bit confusing, SBS making them more so! With regard to "The Thames: Britain's Greatest River' checking the current and next episodes, these seem to agree with Channel5 in UK as Series 3 https://www.channel5.com/show/the-thames-with-tony-robinson.  Also agree the genres of Documentary and History are more fitting.  I'll have a look into SBS's labelling of 'The Thames At Night' also.

Cheers Gai

[raymondjpg]

Hi raymondjpg,

These Tony Robinson series are a bit confusing, SBS making them more so! With regard to "The Thames: Britain's Greatest River' checking the current and next episodes, these seem to agree with Channel5 in UK as Series 3 https://www.channel5.com/show/the-thames-with-tony-robinson.  Also agree the genres of Documentary and History are more fitting.  I'll have a look into SBS's labelling of 'The Thames At Night' also.

Cheers Gai

Thanks Gai. I did check that channel5 reference, but with extensive Googling could find no references to, or instances of, a second series that had any episodes different from those listed by Channel5 for Series 3. I concluded, without delving too far into the issue, that they may have been counting Tony Robinson: The Thames At Night as series 2, but Google quite clearly shows My 5 listing that as Series 1 of its own, distinct, show!

I think it's quite possible that the channel5 reference to Series 3 is misleading, and while I could not really fault SBS this time for taking that lead, SBS track record on creative rebadging of shows hardly gives confidence that anything they publish could be regarded as authoritative.

[BazzaG]

As you can see from the frame capture below that the show's title is:

Britain's Greatest River with Tony Robinson



No mention of "The Thames" in the title.

Having said that I can understand that IceTV needs to go with the name/title that SBS (& other networks) use in their EPG data.

Unfortunately, there wouldn't be a week go by where SBS has at least 1 show with an incorrect title!!!

There's also a chance that Fremantle; the overseas distributor, has repackaged the show with a different title to that used by CH5 in the UK.

 

[raymondjpg]

As you can see from the frame capture below that the show's title is:

Britain's Greatest River with Tony Robinson



No mention of "The Thames" in the title.

Having said that I can understand that IceTV needs to go with the name/title that SBS (& other networks) use in their EPG data.

Unfortunately, there wouldn't be a week go by where SBS has at least 1 show with an incorrect title!!!

There's also a chance that Fremantle; the overseas distributor, has repackaged the show with a different title to that used by CH5 in the UK.

My5 is at least partly responsible for this mess. Clicking on the links shown below reveal:

1. The Thames at night with Tony Robinson Season1
2. The Thames with Tony Robinson Season3(!) (the series showing currently on SBS)
3. The Thames: Britain's Great River With Tony Robinson Season1

So it looks like SBS picked up on the season3 reference from My5 for the second listed series, but to rebadge it "Tony Robinson: Britain's Greatest River" is typical SBS and just plain irresponsible. Whoever is doing this would in my opinion be better employed designing chinese takeaway menus.