The Nigella Lawson of bible scholars

Published on

Francesca Stavrakopoulou

Last week I got annoyed at Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe, this week it’s Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s Secrets of the Bible that hacked me off. It shared all the usual faults of BBC documentaries: too much explaining of basic knowledge, not enough trust in the viewer, endless cutting away to pretty pictures, that annoying thing were the presentor interviews somebody and the camera cuts away to them nodding in an understanding manner, but above all the relentless Nigellasation of the documentary.

You see, Francesca Stavrakopoulou is, apart from a bible scholar, also somewhat of a looker and boy do the camera and the director know it. It’s not enough to have the usual closeups of her looking thoughful, no she has to bend down looking in the camera with her boobs almost popping out. The BBC should not need to do this to attract viewers; it’s pandering of the worst kind. And Francesca Stavrakopoulou should think twice about lending herself for this.

(Kudos for S. for the title. Yes, she’s home today and hopefully for longer than last time…)

4 Comments

  • skidmarx

    March 30, 2011 at 4:18 am

    A little sugar helps the medicine go down. Three interesting programmes, and the last took a turn I wasn’t expecting.

  • skidmarx

    March 30, 2011 at 4:21 am

    Any more of her than there is of Niall Ferguson in his Channel 4 rubbish? At least she isn’t Jared Diamond with a lobotomy.

  • Martin Wisse

    March 31, 2011 at 12:29 am

    Can’t get Channel 4 here, so have never seen Niall in action — fortunately.

    The programmes were reasonably interesting, it was the presentation that annoyed me.

  • skidmarx

    March 31, 2011 at 3:25 am

    The invention of monotheism bit I had seen done more comprehensively in Tom Robbins’ Skinny Legs and All.

    I did see some complaint in the Jewish Chronicle that she’s an atheist.

    It is often the case with science programmes that they only have a couple of facts to present and the rest is filler. Maybe there was some of that here. Though as in this case the story being told was of such significance I was reasonably happy with it being told as a story.