Travelblather

I've just heard that CNN International launches on Freeview on 15th January. The international news channel will more than double its current UK distribution by doing so. I was really excited about this. I am sick to the back teeth of cuddly Bill and smiley Sian on the BBC Breakfast sofa. If ever there was a great example of the BBC dumbing down to the point of total tedium this has to be it. Awful. So I'm gagging for some hardcore news with my cornflakes. Sky News is the only other option, but I often struggle to get decent reception with my old freeview box for some reason. It would also be interesting to watch CNN with an eye on American politics too with Obama about to hit the White House.

So I'm disappointed. For now at least CNN will only be available in the evenings from 9pm to midnight. I hope we get it in the mornings too. I for one would certainly watch.

And Al-Jazeera... if you're reading this. Why not steal a march on CNN and get on Freeview all day too?

I have a vested interest as I've done some TV work in the past. But I keep wondering why exec producers aren't commissioning travel TV these days.

Remember Holiday and Wish You Were Here?

People are talking about bringing back Top of the Pops - which I'd suggest won't work as there is sooo much competition from YouTube and MySpace - but what about holiday shows?

It seems that nowadays if you're commissioning travel, you have to have either:

1) A celeb to front the show.... Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman being obvious ones. The first show they did Long Way Round didn't get commissioned by the BBC. They did eventually get it broadcast on Sky but I seem to remember there was little interest from the mainstream terrestrial broadcasters. Wind the clock forward a few years and Charlie is getting commissions to go solo to places. Lovely guy, but not the most passionately interesting of presenters in my opinion. And not the sort of traval normal people do

2) Some kind of hard core specialisation.... Amazon with Bruce Parry being the ultimate example. Awesomely experienced, brilliantly passionate presenter who really IS the show. You could argue the fantastically talented Ray Mears fits in here too. Again... hardly the sort of travel normal holidaymakers can aspire to.

3) Branded shows... I'm thinking The Rough Guide to series. Which I found rather uninspiring. I don't like the list format very much. A bit... lazy, but at least there's breadth there AND it's within the reach and aspiration of normal holidaymakers. Why they couldn't use real Rough Guide users instead of presenters I don't know. Missed a trick there I'd say. Of course the BBC now owns Lonely Planet... I keep waiting for the first Lonely Planet TV show. It can't be far away can it?

Holidays are a major part of most people's lives. We plan them, we spend big chunks of our cash on them, we get excited weeks before we go, we take pics whilst away and talk about them to our mates when we are home.

Travel is inspiring and exciting by its very nature. Far more so than say - doing some DIY. But look at the avalanche of me-too DIY shows we've been stuck with over the last decade...

Why is there no travel for travel's sake on TV?

My own trumpet that is, I blogged yesterday about how I was due to appear on Channel 5’s the Hotel Inspector. If you watched it, I’m sorry for the doubtless huge disappointment you suffered when I failed to feature in even a second of the hour-long show. This despite the fact that I travelled across half the damn country to get there, stayed a night in that hole, spent hours walking round the hotel with the film crew filming sequences where I tried out beds, snooped around bathrooms and more, ate a sad Chinese meal on my own in Tewkesbury because the rest of the film crew were staying in Cheltenham, got up stupidly early to film a load more footage, talked to my own personal handycam in the room, did a whole series of interviews with Sarah and Ralph who ran the place. And to think the bxggers initially refused to pay me a bean for appearing saying it was giving me and the guidebook brand I was notionally representing good exposure! I did at least screw £200 quid out of them (though the invoice remains unpaid.)

For the record I WAS on the hotel inspector. I featured for about a minute in the ‘behind the scenes’ show that went out on Fiver immediately after the show. They referred to me as ‘fellow hotel heavyweight Jeremy NORTH’! Bunch of arse! They couldn’t even get my name right! I am so glad I gave up freelancing.

Moral of the story... Don't blow your trumpet until you know what the rest of the orchestra are up to?

Ok... so no one else will blow it for me... I'm appearing as an expert on C5's The Hotel Inspector tonight (Thurs 24th July) at 9pm. Assuming they haven't cut me to bits I am providing advice and feedback to the owners of the Jessop House Hotel in Tewkesbury.

I had to tell them if in my opinion as a guidebook writer their hotel would merit inclusion in a guide.  Ralph and Sarah who own and run the hotel (pictured) were really nice people and very committed to the business. But they were feeling the pinch financially. They'd cut corners on renovation and whilst some of their rooms were really pretty good, others were in serious need of updating. I told them that I wouldn't be able to include their hotel in a guidebook in its current state. I wonder if they found the money to do the rest of the rooms up?