Luxor4u

Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings. Presented by Joann Fletcher on BBC 2 at 9pm on 22 March.

It looks brilliant, can't wait for it!

Well good documentaries are always good to get people interest in visiting so all we need now is a few more planes for people to get on.

Presumably 11pm Egyptian time. For those people wishing to see it live and have HDMI TV sets, use Film On and stream it to your TV live.

all you want is the leccy to show it

"Disgraced archaeologist makes a comeback now that Zahi has gone" - should be the headline! Have to admit that I found her patronising in her popularising about Ancient Egypt - remember that terrible program with Terry Jones?

I cannot stand that woman! I'm with you, LiL.

Like Stan, I found her populist approach a bit patronising, not to say grating, in fact I am disappointed that the BBC commissioned these programmes. The overall content was actually quite limited with a fair amount of padding achieved through repetition. 20 minutes into the second programme, Dr. Fletcher had hardly even moved on from the first. Deir el-Medina rarely features on TV, and here was a missed opportunity to properly illustrate what life in the area was really all about.

I sometimes watch Egyptian documentaries with my wife, hoping to show her the themes and places which feed my interest in Ancient Egypt. Frankly, had I known these two shows would be so mediocre, I might have saved myself the embarrassment,

While it's good to hear of such programs being shown, and hopefully inspiring new and repeat visitors (thanks for the heads-up, Steve) and while we haven't had these programs down here yet, I have seen others with her and have to agree with LiL, RS and especially A. They are so disappointing, so American with their boring, sensationalised padding, when there are so many other wonderful things to show! If I was making one, I would surely be moaning about the vast excess of content available and the tiny amount of time in which to fit it!

Sorry, all I can recall is the "bee in her bonnet" (so to speak!) of hairstyles and hair in ancient Egypt!

"You have two minutes to answer questions on your specialist subject..." etc., etc...

Then she started the Nefertiti discourse...

The rest is history!

Am I the only one who enjoyed it?
Suppose so,cos I just thought it was entertaining and looked beyond the wild hairstyle and sunkissed face!
I actually found her enthusiasm quite endearing...and to hell with all those who criticize her!
You gotta realize that "boring"factual advice won't bring tourists to Egypt or Luxor!They don't want a monotone voice regaling history of tombs and temples!They can get that reading this forum!
No..they want to see it on the telly,from a slightly eccentric woman who seems passionate and certainly not patronising!
But what do I know...I'm just a tourist!

Im no Joan Fletcher fan, in my opinion she was the female version of Hawass and when he got his chance he got rid.

But I have to admit I quite liked the program that I watched.

Zooropa wrote:Im no Joan Fletcher fan, in my opinion she was the female version of Hawass and when he got his chance he got rid.

But I have to admit I quite liked the program that I watched.

My sentiments exactly Zooropa!!! An irritating woman but a fascinating subject, especially as I had recently visited many of the tombs shown. Although I know there's no public access to either the chapel of Meret and Kha, next time I visit Deir el Medina I shall have a walk up to it to pay my respects.

If the point of the programmes was to introduce the history and people of ancient Egypt to the masses then, if my experience is anything to go by, it worked.

I have spoken to a number of people since the programmes were broadcast who said they didn't realise it was so interesting and they wished that Joann had been their teacher when they were doing history at school.

I reckon this means that she got over what she intended, so the programmes could be regarded as being successful. Many people don't know anything about the subject at all, so she might have kindled an interest in some people!

As one who has also visited the Turin Museum, I found parts of this documentary bilogy (is that a word?) quite interesting. But the title, life and death in the Valley of the Kings, was a complete nonsense.

Let us not denigrate anything that may inspire people to visit Egypt, and in particular Luxor. This program will have done more good than harm.

But that black umbrella - when she should have used a white sunshade - annoyed me more than anything else.

God Brian!
She's a woman!
The black umbrella co-ordinated perfectly with the rest of her outfit....that's important!!!!

A female Zahi Hawass? Does she have a reputation as a egotistical bully?

Am sure that the majority of people who watched it didn't care whether she was egotistical bully or not!
They turned on the TV and got interested!
There are some amongst us who are high-brow and understand all the politics of Egyptian antiquities.
Then there are the others!"Plebs"like myself who just want to watch a programme about ancient Egypt,and maybe just think to themselves...God,look at the sunshine,look at the places that woman is talking about,I'd like to go there because that woman on the telly has shown me where it is!
Egypt no longer needs the few independant travellers trotting about and spending next to nothing.
It needs the "great unwashed"to sustain it's economy and get it back on track again!
Anyone who says otherwise is selfish!

I found her presentation style irritating and thought the two programmes could have been condensed into one....easily.

That said, and not being aware of the story of Kha and Meryt, I did find it most interesting and would hope one day to see the artifacts in Turin.

Personally I enjoyed her quirky style and obvious passion and love of Ancient Egypt, she put it across in a down to earth manner (in a yorkshire accent) that most people would find interesting, even if they had no knowledge of the subject. She has no airs and graces about her, and brought the lives of the people to life. Agree with ST here