THE LOW GRADE FILMS

There's a banner across the bottom of the Radio Times listings that indicates how good, bad or indifferent a film is considered. To the far left, five stars indicates that a film is outstanding. The scale moves right, until we reach poor at the far right hand side. You've probably seen this or something like it.

After "poor" there is a further category - BW. BW stands for black & white. I can't work out if this means that black and white is worse than poor or if it is simply the start of a separate scale. It is certainly of crucial importance in case viewers mistake it for a colour production, anyway.

You would think that the Radio Times would consider its audience smart enough to spot when a programme is in black and white. Unless there is a high proportion of dogs purchasing the Radio Times (who, after all, see in black and white) it seems to be a fairly redundant indicator. And sticking it next to "poor" adds insult to injury. I mean, what's worse than poor? Bankrupt? Penniless? Black and white.

Maybe if they put some grey in these movies somewhere the Radio Times would think more highly of them.