I am no great sports fan. Certainly I like to watch Formula One when I get a chance, and maybe occasionally tennis, athletics and other bits and pieces but I'm not into football and indeed most team games. This means I find it slightly amusing when you get announcements on television like:"Look away now if you don't want to see the result of the Chelsea versus Arsenal game that will be on Match of the Day after the news"
Yes, I find it amusing and I don't entirely understand it, but I do respect the interest of others in not knowing the score. So what's the problem? It's that broadcasters don't seem to realise that the same enjoyment of suspense can exist for types of programme other than sport.
An obvious recent example (though I would suggest a minor one in many ways) was the way that Peter Capaldi was unveiled as the new Doctor Who with great pomp in August, when his first episode will not air until Christmas. While it could easily be argued that this didn't deserve a programme of its own (which incidentally I didn't watch), and in the (distant) past the first one would know of a new actor in the role would be when the character "regenerated", I don't think the name of the actor is really that important to the series, but rather how he takes on the part and we won't really know that until he is well under-way. The real suspense in this case is in the new episodes, not the actor himself.
No, there are much more serious crimes of spoiling going on every day, whether it's for drama series or for documentaries.
