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alistair down is going to be back on channel four by all accounts, in a presumably knee-jerk reaction to their declining viewing figures since the "make-over"
now i’d ditch mick fitz who tediously just tips up favourites- maybe go out of their way to make a big signing- tom segal perhaps?
Viewing figures have dropped 12% since the revamp they will be hoping Cheltenham reignites the passion for the sport.
If The Grand National doesn’t bring the viewers in questions will need to be asked and changes made.
Wow, that is a surprise. The new team have seemed slick, professional and lacking the stuffiness of the previous group. I hope C4 give the new team at least eighteen months to establish themselves. To start tinkering after just three months seems ridiculous.
It’s also possible some drop in viewing figures are due to some high profile meetings being abandoned. Give them time.
I’ll be happy to see Alistair back, his Cheltenham reviews are especially worth listening to.
Value Is EverythingIf true, surprising but most welcome news. I question whether C4 still need Clare Balding as she isn’t there most of the time anyway and get rid of Mick Fitz too.
It was in the racing post today. It said the he will be doing voice overs on the features during the meeting. He won’t be presenting i don’t think. It also said that on the saturday before cheltenham (9th march) he will be doing the voice over on the jump boys documentary which follows ruby walsh, davy russell and barry geraghty
Where has this information come from?
Maybe, "paulostermeyer" can confirm?
Regards
Unfortunately I can’t confirm either way – I hope he does return in some capacity though.
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/prog … m-festival
Confirmation
http://sport-onthebox.com/2013/02/27/ra … channel-4/
The show’s former presenter Alastair Down, who has anchored Cheltenham coverage during the past decade, makes a comeback to Channel 4.
After being dropped at the end of 2012, Down will deliver daily essay-style preview packages each day during Channel 4′s live coverage. He is expected to be part of the Channel 4 team at other major meetings during the year.
They’re still using Rishi Persad, well at least he won’t inflicted on Racing UK viewers like me.
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/programme-information/channel-4-racing-cheltenham-festival
Confirmation
http://sport-onthebox.com/2013/02/27/ra … channel-4/
The show’s former presenter Alastair Down, who has anchored Cheltenham coverage during the past decade, makes a comeback to Channel 4.
After being dropped at the end of 2012, Down will deliver daily essay-style preview packages each day during Channel 4′s live coverage. He is expected to be part of the Channel 4 team at other major meetings during the year.
That sounds good, his "essays" are good – his tribute to NH racing in the final "old" C4 racing was sublime.
Great news that Alastair Down is making a comeback to Channel 4 at the Cheltenham Festival.
His evocative, perceptive and often humorous vignettes and portraits were one of the highlights of the previous coverage.
He is a great wordsmith. He is also a great survivor and something of a comeback king.
He seemed to have a bit of a fall-out with the Racing Post a few years ago and disappeared from the paper for a while, prompting John Francome to say in his closing thoughts about that year’s Festival that one of the biggest pities was that Down’s reviews of the Cheltenham meeting had been missing from the Post.
He seemed to have a reconciliation later, started appearing a bit more regularly and then completed his return with a resumption of his normal comprehensive and excellent service.
He was too good a writer and too good a television contributor to be banished.
With Channel 4 reverting to covering Lingfield again last Saturday, instead of just concentrating on the main meeting when Newcastle was abandoned, there are signs that they are learning that some early mistakes have been made in the new coverage and that some quiet backtracking has been needed.
They might even eventually get rid of the shots of hairy hands pressing buttons on the touch-screen desk at this rate ….
I didn’t really see that the makeover made any difference at all. That awful graphic thing is like something from 1980’s Bond movies. Seriously who thinks of this stuff?
And if I was going to get rid of anyone it would be the awful Jim McGrath. Oh, and Persad, and Plunkett, and who the hell let Emma Spencer near the jumping game
.This could be such a good show if they focused on the basics. I listen to Cheltenham Radio and the discussions on there with the likes of Lydia Hislop and Rory Delargy are great – proper opinions
Throw in Matt Chapman and you could have a show that might even bring some younger viewers on board.
That sounds good, his "essays" are good – his tribute to NH racing in the final "old" C4 racing was sublime.
Sorry, I can’t agree Paul.
I find his writing rather cliquey and self-important; racing’s for Ally and his chums don’t you know?
Like McCririck he’s become something of a ‘turn’. A clunkingly florid voice over at the end of the day’s racing – y’know: all poetic like, same as last year – coupled with fawning interviews of the great and good of racing.
Going back a few years, some of his written pieces after trips to Cheltenham, The Arc etc were basically rehashed year after year, the central premise being how smashed he and his muckers got. Still, that won him the cabalistic Horserace Writers’ award for God knows how many years so his peers clearly loved him.
Down is in the same situation as McCririck. I delighted in their act to start with but it’s become old, repetitive and for me it’s time has passed.
Like a pair of ageing thespians wondering why the RSC aren’t knocking on the door anymore, they should both surely take the hint and exit stage left.
Mike
Wow, that is a surprise. The new team have seemed slick, professional and lacking the stuffiness of the previous group. I hope C4 give the new team at least eighteen months to establish themselves. To start tinkering after just three months seems ridiculous.
Isn’t strange how how two pairs of eyes can see the same thing and arrive at opposite opinions, especially the bit about stuffiness. The current regime seem to have all the presenters keeping one eye looking over their shoulder just to see if they are pleasing their new bosses. None of them look open, confident in their own skills and ability, and focused on the horses racing in the previous or next race. They all look uptight both on the racecourse and on the Morning Line. The previous lot looked a lot more relaxed, they even looked as though they were enjoying their job! That helped viewers to listen to what they had to say.
That sounds good, his "essays" are good – his tribute to NH racing in the final "old" C4 racing was sublime.
Sorry, I can’t agree Paul.
I find his writing rather cliquey and self-important; racing’s for Ally and his chums don’t you know?
Like McCririck he’s become something of a ‘turn’. A clunkingly florid voice over at the end of the day’s racing – y’know: all poetic like, same as last year – coupled with fawning interviews of the great and good of racing.
Going back a few years, some of his written pieces after trips to Cheltenham, The Arc etc were basically rehashed year after year, the central premise being how smashed he and his muckers got. Still, that won him the cabalistic Horserace Writers’ award for God knows how many years so his peers clearly loved him.
Down is in the same situation as McCririck. I delighted in their act to start with but it’s become old, repetitive and for me it’s time has passed.
Like a pair of ageing thespians wondering why the RSC aren’t knocking on the door anymore, they should both surely take the hint and exit stage left.
Mike
I have to say I found his flowery style of prose intensely annoying. The sport is there for us to watch and enjoy, with all its highs and lows. We don’t need a wannabe novellist imposing his cliched style on us all the time.
As for the "demon drink" he made sure we were in no doubt about "how he suffered for his art". FFS its a sport and in the wider scheme of things a very trivial pursuit.
Isn’t strange how how two pairs of eyes can see the same thing and arrive at opposite opinions, especially the bit about stuffiness. The current regime seem to have all the presenters keeping one eye looking over their shoulder just to see if they are pleasing their new bosses. None of them look open, confident in their own skills and ability, and focused on the horses racing in the previous or next race. They all look uptight both on the racecourse and on the Morning Line. The previous lot looked a lot more relaxed, they even looked as though they were enjoying their job! That helped viewers to listen to what they had to say.
Absolutely – it is a great fascination to see how people view things differently. This subject has drawn the full spectrum of opinions. To my eyes, Nick Luck seems more relaxed and confident than ever when he leads the presentation. He has been fluent and witty without the smugness which provoked criticism in the past. Jim McGrath (who I was disappointed did not leave with John Francombe) seems to have been refreshed by working with some new people. I think he is more direct, professional and likeable now delivering analysis without those nods to Francombe.
There does seem to be very little chemistry between the Graham Cunningham and Mick Fitzgerald/Jim McGrath analysis team at the moment. I can’t deny that. Even so, this bolsters the pure racing content. The less time spent on in-jokes and giggling, the more quality analysis they can squeeze into the pre-race time so pressurised by advertisements.
I agree with
betlarge
and
ivanjica
100% RE: A Down too. Really good posts.
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