Television
French lesson
Alexander Chancellor
What has happened to the good old days when Frenchmen were rude to fo- reigners and refused to either speak or understand any language but their own? President Mitterrand is about the only member of his race with any dignity left. Most other French politicians seem embar- rassingly eager to appear on British telev sion and chat away in immaculate English. Not only politicians, but French journal' ists too. M. Andre Fontaine, editor of Le Monde, is always ready to spare a moment for some humble reporter from the BBC or ITN, as are many other distinguished French journalists. One wonders boll, many of their British counterparts conic' offer the same service to French television — Mr Charles Wilson of the Times or IVIr Andrew Neil of the Sunday Times, for example. Perhaps they can converse 10 French with equal ease. I rather doubt it In France, even the crude French national" ist Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the racist National Front, will make a courteous effort to answer questions in English, even though his command of the language is not what it might be. They put us all to shame. Both Channel 4 and BBC2 crossed the Channel to provide on-the-spot coverake of last Sunday's election to the French National Assembly. The Channel 4 Nevi! Special was broadcast at midnight on poly ing day and had only computer predictions of the result to go on. It was presented hY, Mr Trevor McDonald, a very grand and authoritative figure these days, and had the advantage of being produced by Alexandra Henderson, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Henderson, a former British ambassador in Paris. The following day, by which time almost all the results were in, Mr Donald MacCor- mick of BBC2's Newsnight held court in 3 Left Bank café. Both channels enjoyed the services of English-speaking French pr; dits and politicians of all the main politica' parties. Nevertheless, neither programth ,e• was an unqualified success. The British presenters appeared to have rather hastily mastered the broad issues involved in the election, while their interviewees were obviously steeped in its subtleties. 111e resulting atmosphere was rather strained as both sides attempted to meet on ground which would make the subject palatable to a bored and ignorant British viewing pub- lic. It would, in fact, have been better if the discussion and analysis of the election results had been conducted back home, using English experts on French politics as happens when elections take place in more remote places like the Philippines. It would have been more enjoyable, for example, to have heard Paul Johnson holding forth on the subject.
After the end of Newsnight last Monday, we stayed in Paris to watch French televi- sion's evening news bulletin, Telejournal. Here we could witness the disadvantages of French subtlety. President Mitterrand had earlier appeared on television to announce that he would appoint a new prime minis- ter 'clemain'. The BBC understandably took this to mean that the appointment Would be made next day. French televi- sion, however, immediately embarked on a debate about the meaning of the word cletnain'. Did it really mean 'tomorrow' or Could it mean some unspecified moment in the future, like next week? The BBC, as it turned out, was right. I gather that the current series of chat !shows by the American comedienne Joan hers has been pre-recorded, so it is impossible for her to respond to any well-intentioned criticisms I may care to Make. This is a pity, for there is much room for improvement.. Her reputation is based on her being rude, vulgar and beastly. But she cannot make the most of her abilities in these departments with guests whom she has just gushingly intro- duced as being wonderful, marvellous, talented and so on. She should also have avoided the company of people who can outshine her in obscenity. Last week she had Barry Humphries, this week she had the unspeakable fat northern comic, Ber- nard Manning. A wasted asset on the series is Mr Peter Cook, who seems to have been employed ,s. a sort of nanny to ensure that Miss ,Ivers does not become hysterical and °reak down. Apart from a bit of banter With the star at the beginning of each programme, he confines his activity to standing up and looking charming and Polite when the other guests come in.
Monday supposedly show-stopping event last Nancy was when Miss Rivers telephoned an.o3r Reagan at the White House. This enculously prepared gimmick was pre- sented as spontaneous — part of a com- petition between Miss Rivers and Mr Cook 4c bout the terms they were on with the 'xtillous. While Miss Rivers was calling t"elaslungton, Mr Cook was pretending to vv ePhone Princess Michael of Kent, which tac.41.1d have made for a much more enter- thlning conversation. ask Reagan had no- „,"Ing to say except to Miss Rivers if she Os having a great success in Britain. Miss Rivers wisely ducked that one.
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