[Bell Historians] Victorian Farm on BBC2

[Brian Meldon]

The episode of Victorian Farm is available on line at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hn1sf

The bell ringing sequence starts at 38:28.

It is obvious that the two presenters have had some instruction,
however the sound of the bells is out of time with most of the ringing
and several shots have been carefully made so as the face of one
presenter or both are obscured. 
Also the penultimate shot of the bells shows a bell being rung up or
down. 
All in all it is a very good effort by the BBC, it is just a shame the
sequence was so short. I would imagine that it was originally planned
to be a bit longer but the rest was edited out.

The BBC has done other bell ringing bits in the past, some aimed at
children. One in particular was done for Newsround by Kez Harwood who
is obviously a ringer. (See link below.) The sequence in the bell
chamber is a bit scary though; watch how near the presenters arm gets
to the stay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RtN3urZiDk

I have not watched the Midsummer Murders `Ring Out Your Dead' episode
lately but from what I remember one or two of the lesser characters 
looked like they were bellringers, however many sequences were
obviously the result of clever editing. Also I think the end was a bit
of a let down; I think I would have had the villain strung up by a
bell rope!

Brian Meldon