ditto to my response! 

Boyfriend laughed at it and his not a show person at all (and at one point may have been easily swayed by the BBC) but he is well educated now in the fact our show dogs are no different to his parents crossbreeds when it comes to health!

I got that exact same e mail, I'm glad you all did too coz I can't figure out how to move the text and add it onto here. Doh! x

How about all of you with the same reply sending them to Oftel with a complaint about their behaviour after all we're all paying their wages

I have finally received my response!

> Thanks for your e-mail regarding 'EastEnders'.
>
> Please accept our apologies for the long delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we're sorry you've had to wait on this occasion.

Followed by the same stuff as everyone else got

My reply to that:-

>Thank you for your response.  In offering your appologies for the delay you have omitted to offer any explanation.

>I am personally aware of several other people who complained on this point so was surprised when I heard, a short while after mine and their complaints, a comment on Radio 4 that the BBC had received less than 10 complaints on this matter.  I wonder if the slow response and perhaps recording of complaints in dribs and drabs has allowed this to be said. I wonder if you could now tell me the number of complaints received on this matter?

>I reject your explaination that the dog is being portrayed as a lovable pet.  The story line is that this is a show dog from which money can be made.  I believe this is far more likely to make the public desire this breed than Crufts coverage where the reality of the huge expense of showing dogs is far more likely to be accurately portrayed.

So, I wonder if they will reply again in a month or two or if they will just cut my signal off :-)

> So, I wonder if they will reply again in a month or two or if they will just cut my signal off

*snip*

Well done for your reply to their reply, lets see what they come up with now?

isabel did you just hit reply? cause it doesn't send that way, you need to do a whole new email complaint to them- sneaky way to dodge comebacks!

> you need to do a whole new email complaint to them

Yes, I used a new complaint form and just quoting the reference from their reply :-)

good stuff, thought i'd say just in case. sneaky though, we ahve to deal with anythign that comes back to us at my work.

Anybody else (I know of a couple of people have) had this second response now ?

Now can we take this as slightly patronising maybe in the intimation that we do not know what is real and what is fiction :rolleyes:



The storyline involving Gumbo was an entirely fictional one, whereas the
BBC's decision to suspend the broadcast of Crufts happened in reality. No
analogy can be drawn between the plotlines involving Gumbo and this
decision.

If you wish to escalate your complaint to Stage 2 of the BBC's complaint
process you can write to John Yorke, Controller of Drama Production & New
Talent, at the following address:

BBC Television Centre
Room 265, Drama Building
201 Wood Lane,
London
W12 7TS

Whether or not you choose to pursue your complaint with John please be
assured I have noted your concerns about this.

Yours sincerely

Diederick Santer
Executive Producer, EastEnders

> Now can we take this as slightly patronising maybe in the intimation that we do not know what is real and what is fiction

I think we certainly can :-)  I got the same pat answer.  Clearly they have been swamped with so many complaints they were unable to deal with the specific points people raised.  For instance, one of things I asked was how many complaints had been received. 
I don't think our queries should have been dealt with by a Eastender producer anyway rather than someone in charge of BBC policies but I don't know if I can be bothered to go further with this.  It does seem rather futile. 
What is happening to the dog now, story line wise?  I never watch it :-)

I don't watch it either unless I manage to put it on if OH is out !

they are not really featuring him much now= no more talk of showing or breeding

I would say don't get stuck in with the Eastenders EP. Send all complaints right up to the top, to Mark Thompson, who is the Director General and who will most certainly have had the final say on the decision to cut Crufts. Forget the minions, at the end of the day the buck stops with him. I would also copy in Tessa Jowell, the media minister- the licence fee is still a very sensitive issue for the BBC.

Finally, I have wondered if this was not an opportunistic decision by the beeb. That is, Crufts as a live or as live event is very expensive it involves multi camera shooitng, Outside Broadcast Units and all the rest. Perhaps the BBC saw a way to dress up budget slashing in the guise of a moral crusade. Just a thought!

I'm just thinking shouldn't the complaints really have been sent to OFCOM?  R they not the ruling body?  This is where most of the complaints re. other TV programmes seem to go to and are looked at more seriously.  Writing to the BBC just seems to have no effect at all and they show that they couldn't care less.  Surely the main body should be the place to go to?

Hi, you may have a point but for a complaint to be effective you would have to demonstrate what part of the Broadcasting Code, as opposed to the BBC's own remit, had been broken by not showing Crufts or by showing PDE? Despite what others may think I believe you'd have a hard time stacking up a case against PDE on grounds of lack of impartiality and fairness, indeed if there were a case then the KC would already have made it (unless there is an investigation in the pipeline that we don't know about).

I think the case here is much more about the BBC's role as a public service broadcaster and how well they are fulfilling their remit in withdrawing from Crufts, when they know there is a large and interested audience out there. The point has already been well made that if part of their role is to be a moral guardian, deciding programming on these grounds, then what other material should be withdrawn? There are clear and massive holes in the logic they use to justify their position on Crufts and that is why I suspect that savings are really at the root of it all. The BBC is in big trouble money wise, some say it has invested far too heavily in non terrestrial areas in an effort to stay competitive with commercial television.

I do think harnessing any complaint to the DG and Board of Governors to one that goes to the government is going to be effective if it is big enough, because the beeb wants license renewal and the government want votes in future.

My complaint was not about them withdrawing from Crufts.  I feel they are probably entitled to do that if they want.  It was the simple hypocrising in the reasons they gave and then going on to allow the EE writers to include this story that I wished they would at least recognise.

Yes, and I think it is a good point and one that makes a nonsense, well in my view anyway, of their rationalisation of withdrawing from Crufts. You can't damn a whole group on one hand and seemingly promote others affiliated to that group on the other. IN EE not only did they build a storyline around a pedigree dog but they made showing the dog part of that storyline and not, if I am correct, in a critical way either. Bonkers, inconsistent and yes, hypocritical.

As a public service broadcaster they are under obligation to provide programming that serves most members of the community at some time - where is the programming for dog owners and not only that, for pedigree dog owners? I am sure the demographics would reveal that this is a significant audience, not niche, and at least as large as many other audiences they serve.