I know what you mean Anon, some of the mistakes are mind boggling. I can understand it with live programmes, but not old repeats or programmes scheduled months in advance. The funniest mistakes are song lyric transcriptions. I remember watching TOTP late on Saturday night after being out on the drink, Eminem was making an appearance, and the subtitlers had taken every word they deemed to be 'offensive' and spelled them backwards!! Heheh, so Mr Super White Rap-Me-Do ended up singing about 'stit' and 'ssa'!!

I must say that I have met some people who work in the Beeb's subtitling department. They do work very hard, especially given the ever increasing amount of programmes that the BBC and UKTV stations have to have subtitled.

The people I spoke to said that they have to alter subtitles bought in from other production companies (ie American programmes). Programmes on the UK Channels are problematic because, to fit nicely with the adverts, many programmes are cut (interestingly on UK Play, there are a lot of programmes broadcast in 40 minute slots).

I can't say for sure whether they use original scripts or not - at a guess though I'd think they do if they have them available, but lets face it, not all scripts will actually be available for them to use.

It is a very long, laborious job and a very worthwhile one and they do it, generally, very well.

The best mistakes ever, after Eurovisions live ones, are the news bulletins (also live):

best singular i have seen:

good Iaining, this is the six o clock news

that really did come up over easter...

'other good slogans from the good box' (in the Life Of Python sketch) instead of 'good bok', for example.

Or good book - you see how easy it is to make spelling mistakes?

>Or good book - you see how easy it is to make spelling mistakes?

No, he meant 'bok'. It's a Python thing...

when ruud gullit left chelsea, i was watching the bbc breakfast news when the story came up. the subtitles indicated that his stand-in would be taking charge by insisting that his stand-in would be 'taking chang,' which, as far as i know, is still illegal...

j xxx

whats the point of subtitling totp2?
do a lot of deaf people watch it?

>whats the point of subtitling totp2?
>do a lot of deaf people watch it?

Two possible reasons:

I'm not sure if this is true of lots of deaf people, but percussionist Evelyn Glennie has been able to appreciate the sonic vibrations even though she lost her hearing at the age of about ten. Maybe the improved sound from TV sets now means they can hear something rhythmic and simply would like to know what's going on/what is being sung as an additional service (but I'm not hearing-impaired so maybe I'm talking bollocks). However....

Second (and perhaps more plausible) reason: it's quite funny and revealing to find out exactly what people are singing (OK, the subtitlers might get it wrong, but then that's even funnier). Why shouldn't TOTP be subtitled - some pop/rock lyrics are quite good and if the blatherings of Carol Smilie or Gaby Roslin or EastEnders can be beamed onto teletext for all to see, then why shouldn't we also be treated to the lyrical highspots of, say, Elvis Costello or Hal David or Jarvis Cocker?

i'm in a band and we did a session for the bbc once and had to provide lyrics. if we hadn't, however... (see dexy's on totp in c.1980)

j xxxx

the funniest I've seen is the word "syncrotron" spelt "sing crow tron" on the nine o clock news.

it was a science segment so where black birds came into it I'll never know :O)

oh, I always have the subtitles on TOTP2 - I like to know what the lyrics are (and sometimes sing along if I like the tune)