Not Later

Having not watched Casualty for something like 20 years and finding Jonathan Ross’s chat show shtick dated and tiresome, last night I did something I rarely do unless I really can’t avoid it: I watched Later with Jools Holland. My loyal reader will remember Holland as being a member of the popular beat combo outfit Squeeze until 1980. Since then, he has performed with his big band and, from 1992, has fronted the aforementioned TV show. Having watched the show, my immediate thought was this: BBC television broadcasts precious little pop and rock music on its main channels so how come the little music it does put out has to be presented by Holland?

If I am tired with Ross’s shtick, where do I begin with Holland? His shows are pretty well always exactly the same. There is a superstar guest – last night it was Sting, who played his rather agreeable new single, before being reminded how great he was by Holland (this is his standard interviewing style) – followed by some new music why emerging artists, always for me the best part of the show. Last night, it was Wet Leg who I felt were okay, but hey, at least it was new music. Then there was archive film of Sting’s friend Shaggy (“We love each other,” gushed the former Police man) and in what felt like an hour, the half hour show was over.

Someone at the BBC has clearly decided that its music shows can only be presented by Holland. Clearly none of its excellent radio presenters, never mind outsiders, could possibly be allowed to present them. Yet, with as little disrespect as I can manage, I find Holland to be dreary, monotonal and, frankly, belonging to another long gone era. It’s not his age; it’s just him. Whispering Bob Harris will be forever associated with television’s finest music programme, The Old Grey Whistle Test, but he only presented the show for seven years up until 1979. Holland is coming up to 30 years.

Not that I am calling for Holland to be axed. I want more music on telly, not less, and I know he remains very popular for reasons I don’t quite understand. Indeed his New Year Eve show on BBC 2, an absolute TV lowlight for me, is a high point for others, as Holland’s admittedly excellent big band trundle through some old hits accompanied by the likes of Tom Jones, all pretending the show wasn’t recorded months ago. I mean, it take all sorts, doesn’t it, and I need a change.

The one thing Holland taught me last night was instead of watching it ‘live’ (which it very obviously isn’t – indeed, I was far convinced that Sting and his band were actually singing and playing ‘live’), I’ll record it if someone I like is on and whizz through the recording to see and hear the one song I like. Quite frankly, I thought ‘Later’ was dreadful last night, half an hour wasted and one I’ll never get back. How hard can it be to produce a modern, magazine type music show, without Julian Holland? Too hard by the look of it .