Status-Q

John Naughton on the competing DVD standards.

We watch very little TV these days, especially since we signed up for a Netflix-type account with ScreenSelect, but one series we've really been enjoying is Tales from the Green Valley on BBC 2.

Five people were chosen to live in a cottage on the Welsh border and run it as a working farm, as it would have been in 1620. This may sound a lot like the 1940s' House programmes which were popular a little while ago, but it's superior for two reasons:

• The participants are historians and archaeologists who know their stuff and have thrown themselves into this enthusiastically, rather than members of the general public who are dropped into the 'past' to see how they can cope.
• The experiment ran for an entire year rather than just a few weeks. Each programme in the 12-part series looks at life in a different month, so you see the whole sequence of the seasons and how they affect every aspect of life.

It's very well done, and I recommend it highly, but it's a bit late because there are only a couple of episodes left. Watch out for re-runs, though, and if anyone you know enjoyed 1900s House or 1940s House, they'll love this and learn a lot more. It'll be out on video just after Christmas. More info here.