BBC axe Crimewatch

If a long running programme gets a dramatic revamp, you can basically be assured the end is near. Tried and tested formula. The Bill, Brookside, Tomorrow's World, Crimewatch are just a few examples. Countless gameshows as well. You can't help but think these shows would have lasted longer if they'd been left alone.

when soaps run out of steam it's really because the writers have run out of ideas or lack the intellectual capacity to create interesting characters - so even though i don't watch eastenders or coronation street, i could name several big characters - even if most of them left years ago - that's not something i could do with brookside or family affairs.

when shows like tomorrow's world and crimewatch stop pulling in the viewers, it's because the world has changed, it's not that the format is broken, it's just not relevant any more - so even if the dream team of nick ross and sue cook were still presenting it, it would still be cancelled.

i suspect it won't be long until we see the end of watchdog too - social media and twitter storms take taken it's place as the comsumer's weapon.

Other big problem is when timeslots start getting moved and it's happened a few times on ITV, especially with the game shows..

I think Watchdog has been replaced by Rip of britain in some respect. Again there mucked around with Watchdog.

This is questionable and debatable. Some programmes genuinely do become obsolescent but others are at risk of losing existing, and sometimes more recent, viewers if the presentation is revamped or glitzed up to appear like entertainment in an attempt to attract an audience that would not otherwise watch the programme.

At the time when the weekly Tomorrows World disappeared from TV screens I couldn't help wondering whether the internet had made the programme redundant to a certain degree.

I think 623058 makes a valid point regarding timeslots getting moved around. Remember when Panorama moved to Sunday nights. One step away from a graveyard slot. How many times has the BBC put public service type programmes back to back with popular entertainment on other channels?

I just think they should have kept Crimewatch as it was, there was never the need to tinker or glamourise the whole thing, in Ireland they’ve kept to the same format and Crimecall as they call it is still on the air.

This is deep thought...

If the internet (or more precisely non-BBC websites) are rendering BBC public service programmes like Crimewatch obsolescent and redundant then how much life is there left in ANY public service TV broadcaster? Apart from news and coverage of important events then what else is left that isn't in competition with the internet? Has the internet forced the BBC further down the entertainment avenue? Take into account that Crimewatch is a programme that cannot really be sold overseas or to satellite channels whereas moody drama can.

Yes.

The PSBs are certainly going to be put under ever-increasing pressure in the coming years from their detractors. I think they are more important than ever in an increasingly globalised market but I fear this is becoming a minority view.

The less distinctive the PSB output, the less perceived value that product has. I suspect ITV in particular will come to regret their decision to cut that part of their business back to the bone in the coming years.

The crux of the matter is changes in technology.

ITV was in a unique position of being privately owned and run as a profit making business whilst having many PSB commitments. The management had lost interest in most of the public service side even back in the late 1990s before the internet took off when internet video like YouTube was still something of the future and social media was in its infancy. It's debatable whether ITV, or any other privately owned TV channel, should have any PSB commitments or whether they are a relic from another era, so it has the option to go down the avenue of popular entertainment. I claimed in the 1990s that ITV rather than the BBC has the most to lose from satellite and cable channels where many would be broadcasting popular entertainment.

Now it looks like the BBC is under threat as a PSB from the internet. The difference this time round is competitor websites to BBC programmes are not trying to win a popularity contest or compete for ratings. Crime reports by police forces are utilarian material that are not intended to be entertaining.

but is that a symptom or a cause?

i suspect that if crimewatch was still pulling in 13 or more million viewers (and had always been consistently doing so), we'd still have the 'two shrubs behind a desk' format we had in the beginning.

i don't doubt that the meddling with crimewatch lost some viewers, i certainly found the gimmicks irritating, but i suspect the producers had been trying to find ways to slow or reverse the long term downward trend in viewers - i don't know anything about the management culture at the BBC, but i suspect they were under pressure to reverse it and so were trying anything to see if they could find a magic formula.

i do think it's a shame, but it's pointless lamenting a world that moves on.. it's one of many things that's disappeared during the life of this forum, and it wont' be the last.

think about it seriously - in the next 5 years we could easily see the end of one or more of these (all of which are on borrowed time, imo)

news at 10 on bbc 1
bluepeter
watchdog
songs of praise
panorama
the apprentice
a question of sport
have i got news for you
casualty
holby city
points of view

Entertainment programmes decline and die either when viewer's tastes and enthusiasm for the programme changes or when the producers run out of ideas or lose the ability to create interesting scenarios.

PSB programmes decline and die when they become obsolescent or redundant. An exception to the rule are PSB programmes which primarily exist to fulfil the requirements of regulators where the broadcaster has no enthusiasm for them so considers them almost as nuisance programmes. Common examples include some children's programmes and religious programmes. What is most important for a successful PSB programme is a sense of purpose of the programme. It is far from a guarantee of bringing in tens of millions of viewers but even if only a few hundred thousand actually watch the programme the producer can easily justify its existence.

Of course, a broadcaster can make efforts not to reduce viewers of any programme by not trying to turn them into something that they are not supposed to be and ensuring that they are shown in a sensible timeslot.

UTV had Police 6. Which became Crimecall. This was dropped about 10 years ago.