IS British terrestrial television going through a renaissance period? Have Netflix, Prime and Sky peaked?

As the summer draws to a close and the nights draw in, are we all going to have a shared experience sitting round the telly and go into work the next day all talking about a programme? Is it full circle time?

How incredible that eight million of us watched a terrestrial television programme live last Sunday - the gripping BBC 1 drama serial Bodyguard starring Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden and written by Jed Mercurio.

Will the final programme this Sunday beat eight million?

It goes to prove that we do make the greatest drama in the world with our writing, acting, and production talent. The previous superlative serial The Night Manager - a BBC production - also captured the nation.

We need to capitalise with our TV and film industry. It cuts through all Brexit problems as many programmes are sold worldwide with no trade barriers, contributing hugely to the economy.

The British have a natural creative talent that should be recognised at Government level and celebrated. I’m not one to favour 200 Freeview or Sky channels per se - I’d rather go for excellence than numbers and have 10 great ones.

Time to get our five main terrestrial channels on to 4K transmission and our regional BBC and ITV on to HD.

Keith Massey,

Ambassador, Guild of Television Camera Professionals,

Bishopthorpe, York

Will council dip into coffers for suburbs?

AFTER City of York Council have raided the coffers and spent £500,000 on a Fossgate makeover to improve things for visitors and businesses (The Press, September 18) will they revisit the coffers and see if there is anything left to be spent on improving the suburban roads and footpaths for the benefit of the residents who, through their council tax payments, contributed to the £500,000 in the first place? I doubt it.

Our local councillors are conspicuous by their absence except at council election time.

A P Cox,

Holgate, York

Ridiculous row over ‘whiter than white’

THE litany of stupidity grows apace.

From the bunch of students who wanted to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from its place outside Oriel College, Oxford University, to the “student wisdom” that Stalin’s Gulags were compassionate, educational institutions rather than the brutal labour camps where inmates were worked to death, which they actually were.

Now we have the latest race row caused by a Metropolitan Police detective superintendent and the “whiter than white” comment he made when briefing his anti-corruption department. The complaint could result in him facing an internal investigation for gross misconduct.

The remark “whiter than white” means, as most people will know, the investigation the detective inspector is conducting will be as “pure” as it can possibly be and has nothing at all to do with “race”.

Are the above three comments a reflection on our educational system?

The first two, Cecil Rhodes and the Soviet gulags, would surely have been taught in modern history and the third in English as the “whiter than white” quote has been attributed to Shakespeare from Venus And Adonis.

English is a beautiful language. For that phrase to be besmirched under the PC banner is bad enough but does it also mean it would have to be removed from any future Shakespearean publications too?

Philip Roe,

Stamford Bridge