I couldn't help but feel the BBC were an imposition on, if not an obstruction
in, an almost private RAF event
Let's agree that the Beeb didn't make a great job of it (to put it mildly). In addition to all the other criticisms, decent researchers might have let the commentary point out the rather nice symmetry of Barnes Wallis' design for the VG 'Swallow' prefiguring the Tornado by a few decades!
But . . . at least they gave an hour of time to it; the public perhaps won't be as picky as we might be, and on balance it's surely good that plenty of people will have had the chance to see the event. It does no harm to keep reminding the taxpayers what airpower can do.
It's just a pity that the rather well-done follow-up Timewatch documentary was on so late last night. Good to hear a young historian tell the revisionists where to stick their 'no value' assessments of Chastise. OK, it took the Germans 'only' 5 months to sort it all out. If it wasn't any big deal, how come they devoted that much effort at a stage when they were struggling? And when Rommel arrived to take over the Atlantic Wall he found several holes in it - resources had been busy repairing the Ruhr! So ask the guys on D-Day if they think Chastise had been useful.