IF... the lights go out

Maybe they could have a spin-off series that looks at what happens when the BBC experiences a power failure. I think it would consist of a short, five minute film of their uninterruptible power supply generators bursting into flames followed by 20 minutes of the BBC's various apology test cards. The final five minutes of the program could consist of dead air.

Actually this IF program seems kind of dumb....looking through its website, I see lots of speculative junk that collects conjecture from experts and runs off at the mouth about it.

But, then again, experts are only slightly more informed versions of ignorant fools. And there's plenty that formal knowledge structures (the very stuff of which expertise is made) cannot do -- particularly when it happens that the structure is missing key critical information.

Notice that the trailer features the BBC National News studio, but with BBC News 24 Tower and graphics.

I yes I know where your getting this number from. This is the time it takes for a super high speed GNER Service to reach Aberdeen from London....on a good day.

The could do "What ...IF.... trains ran on time?"

EXCERPT FROM TRANSCRIPT OF BBC PRODUCTION MEETING #ATY006781234

DG: That 'What If' programme went down very well last night? Who would have thought people would sit watching other people stuck in a traffic jam?
Exec Producer #1: Yes, we're currently developing that whole idea for the next raft of Reality TV. Something along the lines of 'Bank Holiday Big Bother' - we may have to work on the name a bit.
DG: Good, good... Any other ideas for programmes?
Exec Producer #2: How about bringing back Doctor Who?
DG: Fantastic idea, Ted. Get on it... But I'm thinking more along the line of 'What If' programmes. Strikes me it could be a whole new meaty seam to mine.
Exec Producer #3: Welllll......
DG: Yes?
Exec Producer #3: We did wonder about the idea of another 'What If' along the lines of 'What If a Nuclear Bomb went off in or near a major city, say Sheffield.'
DG: Too depressing. Anyway, I think we've already done something like that. Any other ideas, guys?
Exec Producer #1: 'What if an asteroid was on a collision course with Milton Keynes?'
DG: Maybe...
Exec Producer #1: Or 'what if the entire internet was brought to its knees by cyber-terrorism'? Or 'what if the whole power grid for the country went down' - you know, taking the New York / London brownouts a bit further?
Exec Producer #3: Yeah, and we could do 'what if Britain was threatened by aliens' or 'what if the country was over-run by a plague of genetically-engineered mutant giant ants'.
DG: Great ideas, I th-
Exec Producer #2: Oh, I know! ... 'What if the trains ran on time?'
<stunned silence>
Exec Producer #1: I don't know...
Exec Producer #3: Ummmm....
DG: No, you're right, guys. It's way too unbelievable. There's no way the British public would swallow that.

The following week is What If...Things Don't Get Better, and features Britain's first black prime minister trying to narrow the gap between rich and poor in 2014.

I'm glad they're making a series out of this, but some of them (for example "If...we don't stop eating") sound pretty rubbish. It was better when they had one-offs every now and again, they were more rememberable.

This weekend lol

I have to admit I really got excited about the trailers about this series. Generally being a morbid person judging from the trailer images I was anticipating nuclear devastation etc etc......

What the hell has a chip pan fire in a dinner ladies kitchen got to do with over eating, generation gaps and poverty??????

Who let Garth Marenghi in here?!

You cynical fellow - Cynical fellow I tell you!