The "Madness" sequence was terrific. I just wish the BBC had used "picture-in-picture" and had shown Madness in the top one-third of the screen (where the black sky was) and shown the animation in the bottom two-thirds of the screen in a single, continuous shot of the whole building, without cutting back and forth between shots. The animation was clearly designed to be seen as a whole.
Overall, I thought the music was pretty good but the comedians (many of whom are very funny in other contexts) were pathetic. I know that you have to something on between the musical acts but most of these people were just not up to the task. They simply did not entertain.
Bringing on Rolf Harris to fill a gap with an unplanned rendition of "Two Little Boys" and then to cut him short at a key point was unforgivable. OK, the song may be a touch mawkish but it has a long history (over 100 years old), was a #1 in Britain, was used to support the Poppy Appeal one year and was a song with which many in the audience could sing along. Incidentally, I suspect that old-stager Rolf Harris would have made a better job of linking the musical elements than the parade of the inept that we experienced.
The people who really deserve our thanks were the technicians who set it up and kept it all going. They did a wonderful job.
The final indignity of the TV coverage was running the final credits over the fireworks display. The BBC's excuse was that the programme was over-running by 4 minutes. Forgive me but, with this type of live broadcast, the likelihood of over-running is very high indeed. The BBC should have had contingency plans in place and they should not have included spoiling the firewoorks display for the viewer.
