Retroselect

For valuation gaffes by the BBC experts, go to my BBC blunders page.

Here is the verdict of retroselect on the BBC's antiques and collecting programmes. The flagship programme from this entertaining and lively group is the popular Antiques Roadshow, which itself evolved from Going For a Song with Arthur Negus, first broadcast 127 years ago.

The main downside of BBC Antiques programmes is the huge gravy train of ageing dealers who make up its 'experts'. Looking and talking like characters from a bad 1950s British comedy film, this bunch includes some great characters and genuine masters of their speciality — as well as a whole load of squares, snobs, dinosaurs, old fogeys, young fogeys and poseurs who have no understanding of the collecting tastes of modern British people.

Out of touch with modern Britain

BBC Antiques is trapped in a social and collecting time-warp, where gentlemen in bow-ties stand outside cathedrals and public schools, and talk down to the public about Royal Worcester and scrimshaw.

The BBC's audience has moved on — Online, in fact, leading to a revolution in the British antiques and collecting market. This has split the antiques trade into two distinct halves: Brown Antiques, and Post-war Modern.

		Brown antiques		Post-war Modern
Attitude:		Antiques are statements of social class, money, taste and status; antiques are for ladies and gentlemen of quality; antiques must conform to strict rules of taste and design; people whose taste does not conform to the rules are to be looked down upon. Collectables and post war stuff are rubbish for the lower classes. The world ended in 1938.		There are no rules: you can buy whatever you like: old, new, 'tasteful' or kitsch, tacky or trendy, traditional or contemporary.
BBC programme:		Antiques Roadshow		Sun, Sea and Bargain Spotting, Cash in the Attic
Who buys this sort of stuff?		Mainly rich, elderly Americans		Mainly British people, often young, and often not rich
Where is this trade based?		Auction houses, Antique Fairs		Internet, fleamarkets and car boot fairs
Style of TV presenter:		Aged 55+, fake posh accent, bow tie for the 'gentlemen' or pearls and little toy dog for the 'ladies', half-moon glasses on a neck cord, slightly condescending and old-fashioned; expertise ends with World War II.		Young, casual, modern, un-snobbish
Example of presenter:		All Antiques Roadshow presenters		Mark Franks, Jonty Hearnden, Katherine Higgins, Allistair Appleton, Paul Hayes, Marc Allum, Madeleine Marsh
This remarkable traditional-contemporary split duo by Lang Ebrach neatly symbolises the schism in the British Antiques trade (N.B.: this is a real object, not a photographic effect!)
How do these presenters make their livings?		Selling British antiques across the Atlantic		Selling antiques and collectibles to British people
What antiques are featured?		Dated, traditional antiques with little appeal to most British people		Anything, including retro, quirky collectables, post-war stuff
Social class difference between expert and public:		Yawning chasm		None

The fact that the experts and production staff of BBC Antiques are so square, so dated, so lacking in style or cutting edge, and so totally out of touch with modern British tastes, is, ironically, good news for retro lovers. It means that prices are not yet inflated through TV exposure.

There are signs of modernisation at BBC antiques, and retro is beginning to creep in (30 years after it became collectable). A new breed of young presenter is emerging who understand the modern British market. Prime examples include Mark Franks, Jonty Hearnden and Katherine Higgins (author of the superb Collecting the 1970s).