Film 2010; Hits, Misses, Moons And Motoring

The newly relaunched Film 2010 began on BBC One in the UK last night, kicking off with the new suffix 'With Claudia Winkleman' to signal the arrival of a new host, a new format and a general fresh feel to proceedings. In reality, little had changed. The show was the same mix of clips and interviews with assessment of the films on show now provided not by the host but by Guardian blogger Danny Leigh. Below, we assess what worked, what didn't and what, frankly, was a little bit daft.


Hits

Danny Leigh spoke with intelligence and authority on pretty much all of the films on show, displaying an easy-going style which showed why producers plucked him for the role in the first place and keeping his obvious pre-show nerves largely in check. The two did have at least a kind of chemistry and watching them wasn't unpleasant although the live format did make for a few nerves on both sides of the screen.

The films covered were a good mixture and starting with The Social Network, which Winkleman described as 'a strange choice' was anything but, guaranteeing interest from most of the watching public.


Misses

Winkleman, although perfectly fine as a passive host, was far too kinetic, bubbling over into near ranting that distracted from Leigh's more considered criticism on multiple occasions. Having single-handedly saved Sky's Oscar coverage last year (from an obscure panel that seemed to know nothing about the films on show) I'm sure she can work out here, she just needs to calm down!

Monitoring the reaction of twitter there seemed to be at least a couple of occasions where the presenters reacted directly to twitter feedback, not least of all when Leigh joked about contributor Charlie Lyne's age and was quickly forced to backtrack and apologise. Chris Hewitt's live interview with Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan was excruciating but at least kept you on the edge of your seat.

Moons

The show moved on to a 'Top 5' list segment presented by Charlie who does, it must be said, look incredibly fresh-faced. This shouldn't be a problem for most people of sane demeanor and reasonable intelligence but I unfortunately saw him called several things during the evening on twitter; from 'a phoetus' to others of the more unpleasant variety. Having said that, if you're young then you are, rightly or wrongly, under increased pressure to show you know your stuff and with a 'Top 5 Films Involving The Moon' which left out E.T and, erm, Moon, Charlie faltered. Above that though, I was left pretty cold by the list in the first place. Who, apart from the most obsessive-compulsive astrologist known to man, really cares about how and where the moon features in film? The key to a good list is to ensure it is either witty, involves current affairs or dabbles in film-geek trivia and this one, sadly, had none of the above.


Motoring

When the show ended, I was flabbergasted. At forty-five minutes they'd managed to squeeze in a hell of a lot of content, some clips I hadn't previously seen, a live celebrity interview (with bona fide celebrities no less) and a silly list. There were problems sure, but for quick and light evening entertainment, I was fairly impressed and certainly distracted. If they can iron out the problems then this will be a fine addition to weekday TV and serve as a natural evolution to a BBC institution.