About a month ago I posted about Ed Reardon's Week and how long it had been since series four had been broadcast. Radio 4 then started broadcasting series eight a week later and I felt a bit stupid. Still, I'd tried out a few graphs before making that post and I ended up going with mostly bar charts because I thought it was the best, or probably only, way to represent the data.
Well, my anonymous commenter requested a pie chart - something I deride on an almost daily basis at work - and it made me think about whether I actually could use a pie chart to represent the number of broadcasts without losing the time component of the dataset. This was the result.
The chart (and all those that I post below) come with a massive set of caveats: The graphs represent distinct broadcasts of a series based on data from the relevant BBC page, though I've discovered that there are definite inaccuracies on those pages. Broadcast dates are taken from the last episode in a series. There is no data from before the mid-2007. The overall sector still represents the number of distinct broadcasts but the coloured areas have no direct significance. Each radial band represents a six month period.
Put simply: this isn't scientific. Think of it as a simplistic infographic that gives visual weight to more recent broadcasts.
Put simply: this isn't scientific. Think of it as a simplistic infographic that gives visual weight to more recent broadcasts.
Anyway, I realised almost as soon as I uploaded it that the chart was still inaccurate because it doesn't account for the original broadcast date and so I've now altered it slightly to remove the sectors which represent time before the first broadcast. Once I'd done this for Ed Reardon's Week I knew I'd have to do the same for more programmes because... Well, mostly because I'm not actually capable of leaving things like this alone.
The charts are way more effective where there are a good number of series but I couldn't leave out Cabin Pressure and Bleak Expectations. And, just to make it clear, I'm not making a point with any of these (except for Ed Reardon - series four please!). I'm just a curious data geek.
The charts are way more effective where there are a good number of series but I couldn't leave out Cabin Pressure and Bleak Expectations. And, just to make it clear, I'm not making a point with any of these (except for Ed Reardon - series four please!). I'm just a curious data geek.
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| Bleak Expectations | Giles Wemmbley-Hogg |
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| The Maltby Collection | Old Harry's Game |
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| Cabin Pressure | Ed Reardon's Week |
Oh, and I'm sorry for the inconsistent labelling and font sizes. I don't have an excuse except that I did the charts over a number of nights, on some of which I got bored of labelling.
A big thank you to my anonymous commenter for making me challenge my natural contempt for pie charts!
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