Projection Room: The Good Doctors bow out

 So, a day we all thought would never happen has actually arrived. We all thought they would deliver on their promise of ‘10 more years’ (which they have proudly been proclaiming since their 10th anniversary in 2011), but the Wittertainment cruise is pulling into the shore for one last time - today is the very last time Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo will present their film review programme on BBC Radio 5 Live. A mainstay of that schedule for the last two decades, every Friday afternoon those two would inspire the next generation of critics, create the much praised Cinema Code of Conduct, engage the general public in the wider cinema debates, and importantly say a hearty hello to Jason Isaacs. The last remaining bit of dedicated, specialist film programming across the TV and radio slate has had a mad few years, surviving Mayo’s well publicised departure from his Radio 2 show, Kermode’s independent endeavours (like the Kermode on Film podcast, which in turn replaced his BBC Uncut blog in 2018), various moves in 5 Live’s schedule and of course, the brutal cuts to BBC programme budgets, but alas, the good doctors themselves have decided to jump before they are pushed.

The show’s given us classic moments like Kermode’s rants, something which directly influenced how we present bad movies on Talking Smit About Film and The Journal - mention the words Sex and the City 2 or Entourage to any long term fan of this show, and we will instantly think of how angry and disappointed a critic can be about a film - alongside some top tier interviews with the great and good of the Hollywood world. Whether it’s Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, Kenneth ‘Chuckles’ Branagh, or even *that* tense encounter with Charlie Kaufman (some of the most awkward radio I have heard, and that was well before I was let loose on my own show), Kermode’s reviews and Mayo’s experience made those two hours on air, and the accompanying podcast a must-listen for any cinema nerd. Add to that their commitment to championing new voices, like their Well Done U competition (where listeners had to make short, 60 second films that confined to the BBFC requirements for the titular U certificate), their dedication to independent exhibitors and distribution, and you had something that sounded very familiar to a certain mission statement on this very blog. They arguably did what we are pushing to do here at TheJackSmit.com: bring cinema closer to the general public. And they certainly did it in style.

Kermode and Mayo have had a major impact on the industry - a lot of the critics working today argue that these two have been, and always will be the standard for film criticism in the UK. Many say Barry Norman of the old Film programme on BBC One was the name the nation trusted, but these two have carried the flame through the rise of streaming, Blu-ray, and they even managed to turn around a show every week during the dark days of the lockdown - with a BBC Four programme getting a short run as a direct result. Quite literally, Kermode and Mayo have been the beacon for film in the UK, becoming a national institution in the process- they have been, and always will be the gold standard, and it’s going to be difficult not having them on a Friday afternoon after the final show airs today. As the big man, and Tom Hanks, would say, ‘everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, it’s not the end’. We know they will appear somewhere in a matter of weeks - potentially with the Bauer radio network as both of them present shows for that company (Mayo on Greatest Hits, and Kermode on Scala respectively), but for now, it’s time for the great church of Wittertainment to assemble for one last sermon before the cruise leaves for pastures new. There is still one question they need to answer though: who *is* driving the boat? 

Listen to Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on BBC Sounds and all podcast platforms