Evening Standard: Analysis - After Jane Root, what next for BBC2?
By David Rowan
YET another senior BBC executive quit this week - but this time, rather than say sorry, the corporation took the unusual step of ladling out praise. Jane Root, leaving to run the Discovery Channel in the States, has been "an outstanding creative leader" as BBC2's boss, announced Mark Byford, the acting director-general.
According to Jana Bennett, director of television, the BBC is losing "an exceptional creative talent who has inspi red pro gramme -makers" by commissioning such shows as The Office, Great Britons and Eroica. Yet for all Root's achievements as the corporation's first woman channel controller, her critics say she has left BBC2 with an identity crisis. Having pursued ratings at the expense of "serious" programmes, they say, the channel can no longer claim to be distinctive.
It is a worrying charge for a broadcaster heading towards charter renewal with neither a chairman nor a director-general. Its lobbyists, fighting to preserve the licence fee, make much of BBC2's unique role as the "highbrow" public-service channel whose arts, current affairs, drama and comedy output fill a gap left by its commercial rivals.
From Coupling to The Kumars at Number 42, Perfect Strangers to Restoration, BBC2 has taken risks that have twice earned it "channel of the year" awards since Root took over in 1999. But its critics claim that the arts and serious documentaries have been sidelined in pursuit of ratings, leaving it to BBC3 and BBC4 to develop innovative programmes such as Little Britain and Monkey Dust.
"I'm not sure what BBC2 is for any more," laments Edward Mirzoeff, the award-winning documentary filmmaker behind 40 Minutes and The House. Last year, he demanded that BBC2 remove his name from a series after he said Root wanted to "MTV-ise" it.
"It has lost its way as a channel. It was a combination of Jane Root and Greg Dyke - Greg's aim was to be popular, and Jane, who comes from a documentary background, simply abandoned that area." Sir Jonathan Miller, the broadcaster and stage director, believes the channel has misguidedly pursued "a vulgar preoccupation with the largest possible audience".
Miller, who walked out in disgust during a BBC2 recording of What the World Thinks of God, says: "It doesn't necessarily have to hand everything over to celebrities, or spurious polls of popularity. There is a large audience for serious instruction, but nowadays the channel regards that as elitist." Roly Keating, the BBC4 controller, is seen by some as an obvious successor who might redress the balance, having made films for arts shows such as Omnibus and Arena.
Others in the running include Daisy Goodwin, editorial director at Talkback, who is more widely known for her poetry compilations, and Roger Mosey, the BBC's head of television news, who has argued for the "wisening up" of news over "dumbing down".
Keating's appointment would please David Herman, who has produced more than 100 programmes for the BBC, including Late Review and Face to Face, and now criticises BBC2's "lost direction" in his column in Prospect magazine.
"The Root era will be remembered as a regrettable moment in BBC2's history, when there was a loss of nerve," Herman argues. "Yes, she's increased ratings to 11 per cent - although that will drop when the BBC loses The Simpsons to Channel 4. But she's done that by dumbing down the channel. She's allowed serious arts, talk and history programmes to be shifted over to BBC4, and instead we've got The Big Read, with B- and C-list celebrities such as AA Gill talking about books, instead of intellectuals. All of which raises the question: what do you need BBC2 for?" Mirzoeff, in turn, describes The Big Read as "unutterable crap - pandering to the lowest common denominator".
BUT Root, 46, is unfazed by such complaints.
"The world is changing, and that's hard for some people to accept," she says. "I don't think our arts coverage has diminished - we've had some fantastic cultural programmes in the past year, such as Mozart, Love Again (about Philip Larkin) and Eroica.
"We've also reached out to audiences that would not automatically be interested in the arts. Sixty-six per cent of schools participated in Big Read events, which is amazing.
Arts programmes can't be just for people who are in the know." In fact, she says, there has been "a real revitalisation in current affairs and arts", much of it at peak time. Throughout 1998, she points out, the channel broadcast a total of two hours of current affairs programming at 9pm. "Last year, it was roughly one hour a week. Think of The Third World War, Al Qaeda, This World ...
There's a real sense that the current affairs department is firing on all cylinders." It is the channel controller's job, she says, to be "inventive and brave" by commissioning new formats such as If... which are intended to cover "difficult" subjects such as economics. "And if you can get a couple of million people to watch a complex programme on pension funds, then you're doing something right." One concern, expressed by a senior BBC documentary maker, is that BBC2's current obsession with "formats" inhibits quality programme-making.
"With John Birt, it was, 'Never mind the story, what's the issue?'," he says. "Now it's, 'Never mind the story, what's the format?' If someone wanted to make a film about gangmasters, which involved not very appealing visuals but that people should care about, it might, if it's lucky, be buried at 11.20pm." "It's undoubtedly the case that we want to do big things with documentaries," Root responds, again reeling off a series of examples.
"Fighting The War took four years to get access. There's still a place for the wrily amused 40 Minutesstyle documentary, but there are fewer of them, as what people remember is the big things." How, then, does Root respond to accusations that the channel is no longer "special"? "Just look at what we've done in the past two years," she says, again followed by a list. "The If...programme, Mozart, the [Stephen] Hawking drama that's coming out ... the idea that we're not being brave doesn't bear up if you look at the schedules. The tough thing this year is to decide what to put forward for Baftas." Jonathan Miller remains unconvinced. "I'm old enough to remember the Third Programme, when Isaiah Berlin or Bertrand Russell were allowed to talk for an hour.
This justified the BBC's position by remaining faithful to the idea that information and instruction are an important service." "Some people are never going to like what you do," says Root. "But it's better to be brave and daring than to try to keep everyone happy." Among the contenders ...
Roly Keating. The controller of BBC4 has a background in highbrow arts programmes. Keating, 42, also gave BBC4 its first million-rated hit, The Alan Clark Diaries. Daisy Goodwin. As editorial director of Talkback Thames she has found time for the arts - although her best-selling poetry compilations are anything but highbrow. Roger Mosey, 46. The head of BBC TV news recently argued that the corporation could protect us from the "poison" of multi-channel television.
He is also in the running to replace Greg Dyke.
(Evening Standard, March 31 2004)
YET another senior BBC executive quit this week - but this time, rather than say sorry, the corporation took the unusual step of ladling out praise. Jane Root, leaving to run the Discovery Channel in the States, has been "an outstanding creative leader" as BBC2's boss, announced Mark Byford, the acting director-general.
According to Jana Bennett, director of television, the BBC is losing "an exceptional creative talent who has inspi red pro gramme -makers" by commissioning such shows as The Office, Great Britons and Eroica. Yet for all Root's achievements as the corporation's first woman channel controller, her critics say she has left BBC2 with an identity crisis. Having pursued ratings at the expense of "serious" programmes, they say, the channel can no longer claim to be distinctive.
It is a worrying charge for a broadcaster heading towards charter renewal with neither a chairman nor a director-general. Its lobbyists, fighting to preserve the licence fee, make much of BBC2's unique role as the "highbrow" public-service channel whose arts, current affairs, drama and comedy output fill a gap left by its commercial rivals.
From Coupling to The Kumars at Number 42, Perfect Strangers to Restoration, BBC2 has taken risks that have twice earned it "channel of the year" awards since Root took over in 1999. But its critics claim that the arts and serious documentaries have been sidelined in pursuit of ratings, leaving it to BBC3 and BBC4 to develop innovative programmes such as Little Britain and Monkey Dust.
"I'm not sure what BBC2 is for any more," laments Edward Mirzoeff, the award-winning documentary filmmaker behind 40 Minutes and The House. Last year, he demanded that BBC2 remove his name from a series after he said Root wanted to "MTV-ise" it.
"It has lost its way as a channel. It was a combination of Jane Root and Greg Dyke - Greg's aim was to be popular, and Jane, who comes from a documentary background, simply abandoned that area." Sir Jonathan Miller, the broadcaster and stage director, believes the channel has misguidedly pursued "a vulgar preoccupation with the largest possible audience".
Miller, who walked out in disgust during a BBC2 recording of What the World Thinks of God, says: "It doesn't necessarily have to hand everything over to celebrities, or spurious polls of popularity. There is a large audience for serious instruction, but nowadays the channel regards that as elitist." Roly Keating, the BBC4 controller, is seen by some as an obvious successor who might redress the balance, having made films for arts shows such as Omnibus and Arena.
Others in the running include Daisy Goodwin, editorial director at Talkback, who is more widely known for her poetry compilations, and Roger Mosey, the BBC's head of television news, who has argued for the "wisening up" of news over "dumbing down".
Keating's appointment would please David Herman, who has produced more than 100 programmes for the BBC, including Late Review and Face to Face, and now criticises BBC2's "lost direction" in his column in Prospect magazine.
"The Root era will be remembered as a regrettable moment in BBC2's history, when there was a loss of nerve," Herman argues. "Yes, she's increased ratings to 11 per cent - although that will drop when the BBC loses The Simpsons to Channel 4. But she's done that by dumbing down the channel. She's allowed serious arts, talk and history programmes to be shifted over to BBC4, and instead we've got The Big Read, with B- and C-list celebrities such as AA Gill talking about books, instead of intellectuals. All of which raises the question: what do you need BBC2 for?" Mirzoeff, in turn, describes The Big Read as "unutterable crap - pandering to the lowest common denominator".
BUT Root, 46, is unfazed by such complaints.
"The world is changing, and that's hard for some people to accept," she says. "I don't think our arts coverage has diminished - we've had some fantastic cultural programmes in the past year, such as Mozart, Love Again (about Philip Larkin) and Eroica.
"We've also reached out to audiences that would not automatically be interested in the arts. Sixty-six per cent of schools participated in Big Read events, which is amazing.
Arts programmes can't be just for people who are in the know." In fact, she says, there has been "a real revitalisation in current affairs and arts", much of it at peak time. Throughout 1998, she points out, the channel broadcast a total of two hours of current affairs programming at 9pm. "Last year, it was roughly one hour a week. Think of The Third World War, Al Qaeda, This World ...
There's a real sense that the current affairs department is firing on all cylinders." It is the channel controller's job, she says, to be "inventive and brave" by commissioning new formats such as If... which are intended to cover "difficult" subjects such as economics. "And if you can get a couple of million people to watch a complex programme on pension funds, then you're doing something right." One concern, expressed by a senior BBC documentary maker, is that BBC2's current obsession with "formats" inhibits quality programme-making.
"With John Birt, it was, 'Never mind the story, what's the issue?'," he says. "Now it's, 'Never mind the story, what's the format?' If someone wanted to make a film about gangmasters, which involved not very appealing visuals but that people should care about, it might, if it's lucky, be buried at 11.20pm." "It's undoubtedly the case that we want to do big things with documentaries," Root responds, again reeling off a series of examples.
"Fighting The War took four years to get access. There's still a place for the wrily amused 40 Minutesstyle documentary, but there are fewer of them, as what people remember is the big things." How, then, does Root respond to accusations that the channel is no longer "special"? "Just look at what we've done in the past two years," she says, again followed by a list. "The If...programme, Mozart, the [Stephen] Hawking drama that's coming out ... the idea that we're not being brave doesn't bear up if you look at the schedules. The tough thing this year is to decide what to put forward for Baftas." Jonathan Miller remains unconvinced. "I'm old enough to remember the Third Programme, when Isaiah Berlin or Bertrand Russell were allowed to talk for an hour.
This justified the BBC's position by remaining faithful to the idea that information and instruction are an important service." "Some people are never going to like what you do," says Root. "But it's better to be brave and daring than to try to keep everyone happy." Among the contenders ...
Roly Keating. The controller of BBC4 has a background in highbrow arts programmes. Keating, 42, also gave BBC4 its first million-rated hit, The Alan Clark Diaries. Daisy Goodwin. As editorial director of Talkback Thames she has found time for the arts - although her best-selling poetry compilations are anything but highbrow. Roger Mosey, 46. The head of BBC TV news recently argued that the corporation could protect us from the "poison" of multi-channel television.
He is also in the running to replace Greg Dyke.
(Evening Standard, March 31 2004)
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