From: Dave Williams [mailto:home@davewilliams.co.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 11:00 PM
To: Viewer Enquiries at Channel 4
Subject: Audio Description for Lost season two?
Dear Sir/Madam,
For your information I am sending copies of this complaint to Ofcom, Sky’s accessibility team, the RNIB and BBC Radio 4’s In Touch which carries information of interest to blind people.
Having been left on the edge of my seat after enjoying all 26 audio described episodes of the first season of the US smash series Lost on Channel 4 (Sky Channel 994) I was thrilled when Channel 4 announced they would be screening season 2 of Lost in May.
Often the only way to access AD is when the series is televised, as audio description hardly ever makes it onto DVD. Certainly in the case of Lost the audio description for series one was not available on DVD. I do not expect it to be available on the season two DVDs either.
As Channel 4 had broadcast audio description for season one, and subsequently heavily promoted the upcoming broadcast of season two it seemed reasonable to assume that audio description would be broadcast on Channel 4 with season two also.
I was bitterly disappointed when I sat down on Tuesday evening after months of build-up to discover no audio description for the first episode of Lost season 2. Surely this is a mistake?
This was made worse by the fact that the first episode of season two of Lost begins with a five minute sequence which has no dialog.
Audio description is an important service providing additional information to blind and partially sighted people about on-screen action which is not self-evident from the audio alone.
I appreciate that only some broadcasters are obligated to broadcast only a small percentage of their output with audio description. However for Channel 4, a broadcaster with a public service remit having offered a prime time series with the profile of Lost with AD, only to drop the AD for the second season seems incomprehensible.
Regards,