What a fantastic show that was. I want more of it.
Funny how you remembered that. 
More funny was that I had earlier been contemplating starting a thread with the exact same title as this one, word for word, but then convinced myself that no one would respond. Foolish me…
I have nothing to add, except that I want to be Bernard Black when I grow up. And the shipping forecast is one sure point in a changing world, and as such to be cherished. (And heeded, if you happen to be on a boat out Finisterre way.)
Fitzroy now, dear boy.
I hanker after the good old days. It’ll always be Finisterre to me. No matter if now it’s fallen on hard times.
I wish I could be Ronald Binge.
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I didn’t see the first couple of episodes- but i had to watch it in the end because i wanted to know why the two girls i was living with kept saying: “you are soooooooo Bernard Black!” and giggling.
Anyway i watched it, thought it was f*cking hilarious and kinda saw where they were coming from (at that point i even had the “can’t be arsed to brush it” hair) - but i denied being that bad. Besides i was a 20ish student/web developer - not a 40ish book shop owner!
Then the week after was the episode where they got locked out and bernard gets a job in the takeaway
At which point the girls nearly wet themselves laughing - because i’d actually pretty much done that a couple of months earlier:
We’d all gone down the pub and at closing time they’d decided they were going clubbing and i’d decided i was going home.
Except when i got home i found i didn’t have a key. I couldn’t be arsed to try and break in so decided i’d just have to wait until the girls came back about 3.
I had the serious munchies so went to a burger van we used quite a lot. Hung around there eating and chatting with the owner and ended up inside giving him a hand - cutting rolls, onions, cooking burgers etc. until he closed at 3, when he gave me a lift home. The girls got back about 10 minutes later to find me sitting on the doorstep a pony richer than when they last saw me.
so i guess they were more right about me than i thought. :rolleyes:
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I’ve always been a fan of Channel Light Vessel Automatic personally.
Every time I hear “Scilly Islands”, I always want to reply “Trix are for kids!”. A remnant of my US television-warped upbringing, I suppose.
jjimm, you could try the Irish sea area forcast, see if it feels the same? That’s the one I know and love 
mmmm Mizzen Head.
Ack, hit submit too soon. Meant to thank the OP for reminding me of this I am going to tune in on the internet tonight.
It’s not quite the same scope, and there’s too much inland water stuff for me. But there is a program on RTE Radio 1 that has Sailing By as its theme tune (though I haven’t heard it yet). Besides, I tend to avoid RTE 1 as it’s largely rubbish.
So many good band names ! in the Forecast but, for me, this has to be the winner. Or at least it should be an album name, probably by REM … presumably with a track called ‘Nightswimming’. Maybe.
In the British series “As Time Goes By”, the stern housekeeper of the country house, Mrs. Bale, mentions the shipping forecast many times. I always wondered why she listened and why it was so important to her. So you say basically it’s a familiar institution. I can understand that.
Courtesy of B3TA, someone’s now put the shipping forecast to music!
Do download this MP3 and listen to it - it’s really rather lovely, and will let our transatlantic cousins hear what we’re banging on about (and presumably then puzzle as to why we like it).