John Nichol Flies and Airshow World on DVD

It’s a problem because those very commissioning editors, who generally aren’t a very bright bunch, are just interested in “people” shows like BB and factual documentary gets pushed aside.

I’m not saying it’s all BB’s fault, but it’s a small part of the whole shift in television standards that is happening at the moment.

Not really – Channel 4 gets a huge amount of income from Endemol’s Big Brother screening, and without it they’d be hard pressed to finance other less-mainstream programmes. The problem seems to be that the current crop of executives just don’t seem to have grasped that aviation is a very popular subject. I suspect the reason why it is largely ignored is because of all the “post-Baxter” television which has mostly been complete rubbish, and has consequently failed to attract a good audience. As a result, the subject is perceived as being dull, even though it’s the production standards that have been at fault – not the subject itself.

Shows like Big Brother are in some small way responsible for broadcasters lack of interest in “serious” programming.

To quote the great John Cleese:-

I may not know much about art, but I know what I like😀

(ahh, only eight weeks until Big Brother starts!)

I would not be proud of knowing that fact

Moggy

Indeed, you raise a good point Moggy – you obviously can’t blame Mr N for getting his face on the TV, especially if he’s getting paid to do it. The route of the problem is the people who produce the videos, the TV companies that make the choices, and the TV executives who decide what (or what not) to screen. In the case of his appearances on media such as TV news it’s entirely understandable – that’s how they work, and simply call upon the most appropriate “rent a talking head” for whatever story they’re padding-out. It’s just lazy journalism. My gripe is with the TV companies and Commissioning Editors who think that they can force-feed us (when they manage to even cover aviation subjects, of course) information aimed at a child, together with confusing (and often technically incorrect) images, and presenters who have no knowledge or credentials, other than a name or face that some people might recognise. But this is sympomatic of most forms of modern television. Most of it is lazy, cheap and generally dumbed-down as much as possible, as we all know. One assumes that if the late Raymond Baxter was still young and healthy, he still wouldn’t be on our screens these days, probably because he sounds a little too “informed”, doesn’t have a regional accent, and wouldn’t want to compete with rock music. His face wouldn’t fit.

Don’t get me wrong – I like trashy television as much as anyone else (ahh, only eight weeks until Big Brother starts!) but it’s a real tragedy that serious subjects are increasingly ignored. Likewise, it’s also rather sad that the only alternative source of such media (in aviation terms) is the DVD market, and most of the stuff produced for this sector is generally dull, amateurish or uninformative, indeed it’s fair to say that virtually all of the “good stuff” relies on the use of material that was produced years ago.

Guess that’s progress for you!

Tail End Charlies (John Nichol & Tony Rennel) is a superb book. I would urge all to read it.

I met Mr Nichol at a 388th BG reunion a few years back and found him likeable and personable.

What do people expect him to do? Turn down offers to broadcast on a subject he is passionate about?

Some very odd opinions are expressed on here.

Moggy

Met John Nichol at an airshow once and he seemed a very affable type. Have to say I was rather disappointed in the only novel of his I tried though. Of all the downed coalition aircrew paraded on TV during the Gulf War the only ones we really remember now are John Peters and John Nichol, and I think that’s because just as the photo was taken Peters turned his head to one side to show the effects of the beating he’d had. It became one of the iconic images of the war and a symbol of Iraqi brutality, and I can’t help thinking if Peters hadn’t done that, Nichol would now probably be selling insurance or something. Re “Airshow World” I think I still have it on VHS in the loft somewhere; was that the one presented by Hazel Irvine (Now perhaps better known for snooker coverage)?

Yes please, would like to see them again.
Personally I have no problem with John Nichol. In fact I’d far rather him than some professional presenter who knows absolutely nothing about aviation.
I seem to recall he posted on this site some years ago stating something along the lines of he has no problem if some people didn’t particularly like his programmes and encouraging people to have a go at presenting themselves if they thought they could do better. I stand to be corrected though if anyone can find the post.

As has been said above, I think everybody has a lot of respect for Mr. Nichols for his service as a member of the RAF. The bit that annoys quite a few people (especially me!) is that he’s now imposed upon us folks in the aviation scene as if being banged-up in Iraq somehow qualifies him to comment on any aspect of aviation. I just don’t see the connection. You only have to listen to some of his narratives to realise that he’s simply reading (and often mis-pronouncing) the words written by somebody else which is just tedious and annoying. His career as a “talking head” is fine if he’s going to be asked about his views on politics or war-fighting. But aviation? Why? He sat in the back of a Tornado like lots and lots of other people, that’s all.

Heaven-knows we’re already in a sad situation where aviation (especially air shows) rarely get much attention on TV (despite being one of the biggest participating activities in the UK) and when they do, they’re either dumbed-down to cater for people with the IQ of a goldfish, or presented by people who are either unqualified to do the job, or who have the personalities of a dead sheep. I really don’t know why it’s so difficult to create programmes which do actually contain some interesting (and accurate) information, combined with presenters who can string a sentence together without sounding like a pratt.

How I miss Raymond Baxter, and those happy days when you knew that the presenter did know what he was talking about, managed to speak English, and the show didn’t have to be suffocated by pointless music, cliches, slogans and hype. Yeh, I’m sounding like and old git again grrr…

I’m not sure I would describe him as a passenger!

While we are on the subject; how many combat missions have you flown, how many times were you shot down, where were you held prisoner and were you tortured?

Just asking. :diablo:

Well said, I’ll bet there’s not one person on here who would have swapped
places with him in Iraq. Why is it that ex service men who were tortured in
WW2 are all heroes on here but not him, why is that?:mad:

I’m not sure I would describe him as a passenger!

While we are on the subject; how many combat missions have you flown, how many times were you shot down, where were you held prisoner and were you tortured?

Just asking. :diablo:

Granted, but he was not the only person to fly out there or get shot down, I just have rather more respect for those that didn’t try to make a career out of it!

Oh no, Brenden O’Brien is awful, can’t bare to listen to him. Why Jerry Mead isn’t used instead of Sean Moffat is beyond me, he’s like Murray Walker, full of talk & totally wrong!!

Sadly I havent seen either of these series so would welcome the opportunity.

I have however read the book Tornado down and also listened to John Nicholl as an after dinner motivational speaker was extremely impressed with what he had to say.

He is one of the best ever aviation presenters

Oh my God, he’s absolutely awful! He hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about! Some of his script-reading is toe-curling sometimes. Okay, I admit that TV aircraft/air show presenters have always been a mixed bunch (mostly rubbish) but for heaven’s sake. Wish he’d take a cue from his former partner who did the actual flying in the front seat, and stay off TV. Not much chance of that though – he’s become one of the TV’s “rent a talking head” brigade, based on no credentials other than that he was a Tornado navigator and got locked up after being shot down. Quite how this qualifies him to talk about aviation I really don’t know (chiefly because it doesn’t qualify him in any way).

Agreed, Mr Baxter was the man – the only good presenter we ever had – knew what he was talking about, he could string a sentence together too, bless him. Sadly missed.

Mind you, Brendan O’Brien is fabulous too – in a completely naff kinda way. He’s rubbish but at least he’s funny!

There are only 2 people in my opinion that did a better job fronting aviation programme, Raymond Baxter & Mark Hanna!!! John Nichol should be the only 1 doing it now!

So of course you armchair critics could do better? No ,thought not.

He is one of the best ever aviation presenters and also has been willing to speak up for those in the RAF who are still gagged.

I would certainly be interrsted in buying a dvd of the Airshow world series.

Shouldn’t it have been called “John Nicol likes people to think he flew, but is really only a passenger in….”

What about” should have been selecting weapons system rather than f**king
with camera”

Yes please. Would love to see ‘Airshow World’ on dvd. I’ve got a couple of episodes on vhs and they’re getting a bit ropey!

I’m not sure I would describe him as a passenger!

While we are on the subject; how many combat missions have you flown, how many times were you shot down, where were you held prisoner and were you tortured?

Just asking. :diablo:

Creaking Door…. You forgot one…

How many times did you forget to arm the weapons before reaching the target?:dev2:

Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself!

He’s a nice enough guy but I’m not really interested in seeing the series released on DVD. It’s easy to watch TV but nothing more than that.