BBC Two's present and future

I'm in the mood for a discussion... BBC Two as of late has been having a hard time finding an image for itself. It's starting to feel more and more like the lost channel of the four main BBC channels. BBC One is a strong general brand that appeals to all audiences all times of the day.

BBC Three not only complements BBC One (and Two) with repeats of popular BBC One and Two shows but has its own range of programming that, whilst not to everyone's tastes, is successful and captures a substantial youth audience for the BBC that was missing after the end of strands like Def II on BBC Two, and although I preferred BBC Choice's range of programming it makes more sense for the BBC to have a targetted channel to an audience that wouldn't be well served in other ways, especially since the end of BBC Switch.

BBC Four is a strong channel also, IMO. It has a strong brand that has stayed consistent for the past 10 years, and unique idents that match the unique range of programming on the channel such as Only Connect, Tales from Television Centre, and its archive programming like the weekly repeats of Top of the Pops.

BBC Two is "stuck in the middle". BBC Three and Four took much of its programming and nowadays BBC Two is probably mostly known for Top Gear, which is only on BBC Two still because, apparently, its main presenter doesn't want it on BBC One, this may not be true of course. It doesn't seem to be getting much attention, and its lacklustre presentation cannot be helping its image. And whenever BBC Two gets a hit, it moves to BBC One and becomes more mainstream. See 'The Royle Family', 'Kumars at No. 42', 'The Office', etc.

So, why doesn't BBC Two just become BBC Four? And if not that, why doesn't BBC Four move its programming to BBC Two and allow BBC Four to become even more unique with more programming dedicated to niche audiences that are not as well reflected nowadays by the BBC. I know that stuff like this isn't simple, but something must be done to keep BBC Two relevant. BBC Two daytime is going to be BBC Four repeats soon anyway, and if that is successful, won't that be a sign that more people want to watch BBC Four throughout the day?

I'd like to know what people's opinions on this and what their suggestions are on the future of BBC Two, and maybe BBC Four.

don't agree. its had some cracking documentaries of late, including the one last night on Hitler's children, and The Tube.
you have to remember each channel has a budget.

Yes I've always wondered just what BBC Two is for in this day and age. At least before, it had the distinction of bring a terrestrial channel, and BBC Three and Four were digital channels. But now they're all on the same platform.

BBC One, Three and Four all have a clear identity as you have said. The general audience channel, the 'yoof' channel and the specialist/niche audience channel. BBC Two has no real purpose any more as far as I can see it.

If I had to give it an identity, I'd say it was the channel that does what BBC Four does but with a higher budget. Top Gear is only on it because of the reasons you've stated, and there is no youth content whatsoever on there as far as I can see, so it really is just a high budget BBC Four.

I'm surprised they haven't actually merged BBC Three and BBC Four into BBC Two with the whole 'Delivering Quality First' initiative. It actually makes sense to me. It could actually be the channel it once was. A mixture of specialist and youth programming. There would then be far less repeats as there would be a bigger budget for new programmes and more programmes to fill certain slots. So less people complaining about repeats. As there would be less slots, hopefully the quality of programmes would go up and the channel would actually hopefully have a really good reputation.

BBC Two is still delivering solid, quality output and as a service continues to justify itself more than adequately. Its image however, is the real issue - it has undoubtedly taken a turn for the worse in recent times - and linking into that is the positioning of the channel itself, which has been addressed in the opening post very well.

For many years prior, the BBC Two / Four situation has seemed an awkward one. Their positions seem to be in closest alignment with each other - agreed, BBC Two is indeed somewhere between Three and Four, but the average of its output does tend to lean toward Four; I feel the 'BBC Four on BBC Two' branded strand in the past decade was something of an admission that the line between them was (and at present, still is) quite blurred. It's taken a while for me to try and get some sense of how BBC Two in particular would present a specialised area of output, that we are able to define it more on its own terms, instead of comparing it to its sister channels.

I think I may have summarised previously that BBC Four was essentially eating up Two's potential 'highbrow' programming - IMO there is still some truth in that - but highbrow in itself is a bit of a blanket label... To mark out the differences will require looking at more specific genres.

A trend is developing with BBC Four and archive material. Too, the BBC are on record highlighting the channel's role in connection with the ongoing project. They also look to be placing particular focus on the arts.

There's not too much that Two offers that isn't covered by Four at times, but an example is what one might call Lifestyle programmes, where it has more in common with BBC One.

Moreso than the 'homes' shows (and they have been prominent - anyone remember Home Front?) BBC Two seems like the natural home of cookery programmes - Delia Smith, Food and Drink, Ready Steady Cook spring to mind, it's had a nice line in this genre over the years that I'd say the association is there - so I could easily see this being one of the defining areas of its output in future.

There are certain BBC Two staples - Top Gear has been mentioned, but also Arena, The Natural World, Horizon, Newsnight - now practically ingrained into BBC Two's programme identity that they well deserve to remain and are among the titles most strongly linked with the channel.

And this is perhaps more of a personal tilt, but there are certain Comedy programmes that are at home on Two - Never Mind The Buzzcocks looks like a mainstay to me, Mock The Week could be a similar case too.

But others are liable to jump channels. I suspect something like Mitchell and Webb would practically work on BBC One, so I don't really have that in mind (although as sketch comedy goes, some sort of spiritual successor to The Fast Show could be good)... I'm thinking more of shows like Time Trumpet and Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle here, and before that The Day Today or Stuff, perhaps... BBC Two would do well to have and keep this sort of comedy to become a defining attribute of its output; I don't think Four has this area covered outright - or at least not their priority just now - so there may be something of a gap there.

If the choice were given to me, the one thing I would say is to give BBC Two the benefit with regards to general non-archive factual programmes that might otherwise be claimed by BBC Four. In response to an above post, I happened to see the Hitler's Children docu as well, very interesting it was too - would class that as a good example.

So, to roughly mark out a possible future BBC Two position: slanted toward Factual, Lifestyle & Alt Comedy - while BBC Four takes the Arts & Archive, I'd guess?

Now, BBC Two's channel identity - especially if sans '2' - that's the million pound question...

And on this issue of BBC Two vs Four in terms of identity, with Four cutting back on dramas/comedy, so less stuff like the Corrie history piece or the Thick of It, going for those not-totally-mainstream but still high quality comedy/drama stuff is a good place Two can step in and define itself more clearly with.