Skammen
I am no Ingmar Bergman afficionado; I think I’ve only seen one of his movies in its entirety, Fanny & Alexander, and that was at least a decade ago. News today of his death, though, made me think, “I must catch part of the season of his films that will inevitably follow.” But then I realised TV no longer indulges in such frippery as film retrospectives.
As recently as a decade ago, when a director of Bergman’s stature or a revered actor died, a season of his films would appear on the BBC within a couple of months.
Now, no dice.
I’m aware that some of the retrospectives were tenuous in the extreme but, given the proliferation of digital BBC channels, I’m astonished and deeply disappointed that no time can be found amid the repeats of Two Pints Of Lager… and Fuck Off, I’m Fat on BBC3 or the repeats of Fantabulosa! and documentaries about gay politicians on BBC Four for occasional retrospectives on the likes of Bergman.
I fully appreciate that a series of Bergman’s Greatest Hits is not suitable for ITV or Sky Movies – but isn’t that precisely why public service broadcasting was invented?