NG
However if you compare BBC One with ITV1 - BBC One has a more diverse schedule AND a greater audience share. That is a major achievement.
Much as I look back fondly on the 80s - when we had four channels and no multi-channel competition - the world has changed. You can't seriously suggest that BBC One could run a schedule similar to that of the 80s and hope to sustain a popular audience, and whatever people may say, without a popular BBC One the licence fee wouldn't be possible.
The licence fee is the lifeblood of the BBC - allowing BBC Four and Radio Three to do interesting things for a smaller audience, but still retain the BBC's resources to cover Golden Jubilee's and Royal occasions, Millennium coverage, and Wimbledon, allowing BBC Online to develop as a beacon of non-commercial, unbiased content on the internet, whilst allowing BBCi to develop interactive TV.
Without a popular BBC One - the whole existence of the BBC would falter.
Lorraine has worked hard to shape a popular BBC One - with a far more diverse schedule than ITV1 offers (and ITV1 has narrowed its remit over the last 20 years. What replaced "The Real World", "The Human Factor", "This Week", "Weekend World", "First Tuesday", "3D" etc.? Now we just have "Tonight with Trevor MacDonald"...)
noggin
Founding member
Robert Williams posted:
I don't think BBC1 was in a particularly strong state under Peter Salmon, but it has not got much better under Lorraine Heggessey. The only good decision I can think of is her decision to revive Doctor Who!
I can remember back to the early 1980s. At 8.00 on a Tuesday evening on BBC1 almost exactly 20 years ago you could watch James Burke's series 'The Day The Universe Changed'. Fast forward to 2005, and you'd have to switch to BBC4 to watch anything like that. Meanwhile at 8.00 on a Tuesday evening nowadays on BBC1, what do you get? Holby City - every single week of the year.
Today's early evening line-up consists of too many lifestyle, makeover, holiday and consumer programmes, and too many episodes of EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty. There is not enough entertainment - quiz shows and pre-watershed comedy are virtually extinct - and what were they thinking of, axing Tomorrow's World?! Where are the replacement science series we were promised?
And most documentaries today are dumbed down for the plebs, with flashy graphics but very little content like the 'Space' series a couple of years ago, and Alan Titchmarsh's overly-sentimental Natural History of Britain.
I can remember back to the early 1980s. At 8.00 on a Tuesday evening on BBC1 almost exactly 20 years ago you could watch James Burke's series 'The Day The Universe Changed'. Fast forward to 2005, and you'd have to switch to BBC4 to watch anything like that. Meanwhile at 8.00 on a Tuesday evening nowadays on BBC1, what do you get? Holby City - every single week of the year.
Today's early evening line-up consists of too many lifestyle, makeover, holiday and consumer programmes, and too many episodes of EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty. There is not enough entertainment - quiz shows and pre-watershed comedy are virtually extinct - and what were they thinking of, axing Tomorrow's World?! Where are the replacement science series we were promised?
And most documentaries today are dumbed down for the plebs, with flashy graphics but very little content like the 'Space' series a couple of years ago, and Alan Titchmarsh's overly-sentimental Natural History of Britain.
However if you compare BBC One with ITV1 - BBC One has a more diverse schedule AND a greater audience share. That is a major achievement.
Much as I look back fondly on the 80s - when we had four channels and no multi-channel competition - the world has changed. You can't seriously suggest that BBC One could run a schedule similar to that of the 80s and hope to sustain a popular audience, and whatever people may say, without a popular BBC One the licence fee wouldn't be possible.
The licence fee is the lifeblood of the BBC - allowing BBC Four and Radio Three to do interesting things for a smaller audience, but still retain the BBC's resources to cover Golden Jubilee's and Royal occasions, Millennium coverage, and Wimbledon, allowing BBC Online to develop as a beacon of non-commercial, unbiased content on the internet, whilst allowing BBCi to develop interactive TV.
Without a popular BBC One - the whole existence of the BBC would falter.
Lorraine has worked hard to shape a popular BBC One - with a far more diverse schedule than ITV1 offers (and ITV1 has narrowed its remit over the last 20 years. What replaced "The Real World", "The Human Factor", "This Week", "Weekend World", "First Tuesday", "3D" etc.? Now we just have "Tonight with Trevor MacDonald"...)