Interview - Lorraine Heggessey (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
WHY has Lorraine Heggessey chosen to quit now? Just six months ago, the self-assured BBC1 boss declared that she planned to stay until at least 2007, thus becoming the longest-ever serving channel controller. But since then, the BBC's new chairman and director-general have been questioning her channel's priorities and slashing budgets in the run-up to charter renewal. Could that explain her sudden announcement on Monday that she was "ready for a new challenge"?
The official line is that Heggessey, 48, was simply enticed by an offer to run Talkback Thames, the production company behind The Bill and Pop Idol. "I had no intention of moving on it's just that this has come up," she explains, matter-of-factly. "Talkback Thames simply made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
That is not quite how they are reading the runes in White City. Heggessey, who has long boasted of holding "the best job in British television", was so clearly a favourite of the Dyke regime, colleagues suggest, that her ambitions would inevitably be frustrated under Mark Thompson. Having waited a year since Dyke's resignation, she could now leave with dignity. Besides, with charter renewal putting "public service" at the top of the corporation's agenda, a natural populist like Heggessey was never going to find the next couple of years easy
So, was she really leaving to avoid implementing Thompson's unpopular budget cuts, as some are suggesting? "Absolutely not," she says firmly. "I would have been completely happy to stay on, but it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, one of the reasons for the cuts is so that more money can be put into programming. And BBC1 was going to be the beneficiary."
Why, then, back down on her stated goal of outlasting Sir Paul Fox in the job? "Well, I've been the longest serving controller for over 20 years, so that's not too bad a record," she counters, leaving no room to be challenged. "You have to leave a job like this while you still love it. It was my dream job, but I can't do it together."
She will not talk about her new role, which she takes up in June. But after 20 years at the BBC - starting as a news trainee in 1979 - it cannot have been a decision taken lightly.
Heggessey rose quickly, via Panorama, the science unit, children's programmes and factual and learning. She has also made series for ITV and Channel 4. Colleagues warn against judging her on her diminutive stature: she is a formidable operator, they say, tough and determined, yet enthusiastic and rewarding to work for. The mother of two daughters - she is married to a musician - she also has the human touch, stating in Who's Who that her recreations include "having fun and laughing".
After taking the job, in 2000, Heggessey accused her predecessor, Peter Salmon, of bequeathing a "neglected" channel "in need of some major surgery". Her goal she said, would be "to reach more people than any other channel". With an extra £100 million from Dyke, and the news shifted to 10pm, she set about trumping ITV in the ratings. In these terms she has been successful, overtaking ITV in 2001 and extending BBC1's lead last year to a 24.7 per cent audience share compared with ITV1's 22.8 per cent.
Yet her critics argue that her pursuit of ratings has damaged the channel, particularly by neglecting arts and serious journalism. When she brought in Rolf Harris as the face of art on BBC1, Melvyn Bragg denounced "a total dereliction of [the channel's] public duty". David Attenborough criticised a lack of "serious" documentaries, and a former director general, Alasdair Milne, recently attacked "dumb, dumb, dumb" makeover and cookery shows.
More worryingly, the BBC governors last summer ordered a review of BBC1 after public approval fell to a record low.
Heggessey remains unmoved. "If you didn't get the viewers, you'd be criticised for that as well. It's that balance between making the popular good and the good popular that we've always striven for."
Her schedules, she insists, combine quality with wide appeal. "Whether it's Himalaya with Michael Palin, Natural History of Britain, or fantastic factual landmarks such as Blue Planet, we're never short of terrific programmes in every genre. We have incredible single dramas like England Expects, as well as popular soap dramas like Holby City and Casualty. Then there are our innovative programmes like Spooks."
Clearly with a schedule as broad as BBC1's, it is easy for Heggessey to reel off her successes. The issue for her critics is the extent to which her populist approach has compromised the channel's public-service remit.
Jana Bennett, the BBC's director of television, emailed staff on Monday praising Heggessey as "a true champion of public-service broadcasting". But one senior BBC journalist points to the shelving of Panorama late on Sunday nights as evidence of her "lack of commitment" to traditional corporation values.
"She was a huge admirer of Greg Dyke, who paid lip-service to public-service broadcasting," the journalist says. "For Greg, read Lorraine. She thought that if you had audiences, that would deliver charter renewal. That's been a fundamental weakness - and when Mark Thompson took over, he found that preparations for charter renewal were in disarray."
Heggessey is infuriated at the suggestion that she is "Dyke's woman". "I'm nobody's woman," she snaps. "I'm my own person. Secondly, Mark Thompson appointed me when he was director of television, and has always been extremely supportive. I have a fantastic working relationship with Mark, so there was no issue there. Greg left over a year ago now. I was very sad on that day but I've had my own job to do."
INTERVIEWERS tend to describe Heggessey as "feisty", and she certainly wastes no time hitting back at the accusation that she has "dumbed down" BBC1. "I'd say we have innovated, particularly in specialist factual programmes, using computer graphics to take the viewer into new worlds, and investing in Child of Our Time, a landmark science project that's going on for 20 years. But part of running BBC1 is to make it popular."
She bites back again at the suggestion that she hired Graham Norton - for a reported £5 million - without having worked out how to use him. "How do you know whether I have a strategy for him or not? How does anybody know? Of course I have a strategy for him, and it is that he will be a prime-time BBC1 entertainer. But shows take time to develop. It's about building artists for the future, and that takes time."
What about her reliance on soaps, piling on a fourth weekly EastEnders slot that seems to have contributed to its audience slump? "These things are always cyclical," she replies. "EastEnders became the show to beat. ITV has worked hard to raise Coronation Street's game, and used all sorts of scheduling tricks. I'm not complaining about that, it's absolutely fair game. But EastEnders is well on track now. For every up you have a down, and I assure you it's back on the way up."
Still, Mark Thompson knows that ratings alone will not guarantee a new charter. As if to signal a new mood, last night the corporation announced fresh investment in serious journalism on BBC1 and more peak-hour Panorama specials. Publicly Thompson might be proclaiming that Heggessey's shoes "will be hard to fill". Still, it cannot hurt his case to have lost the Dyke era's most visible ratings-chaser.
(Evening Standard, February 16 2005)
WHY has Lorraine Heggessey chosen to quit now? Just six months ago, the self-assured BBC1 boss declared that she planned to stay until at least 2007, thus becoming the longest-ever serving channel controller. But since then, the BBC's new chairman and director-general have been questioning her channel's priorities and slashing budgets in the run-up to charter renewal. Could that explain her sudden announcement on Monday that she was "ready for a new challenge"?
The official line is that Heggessey, 48, was simply enticed by an offer to run Talkback Thames, the production company behind The Bill and Pop Idol. "I had no intention of moving on it's just that this has come up," she explains, matter-of-factly. "Talkback Thames simply made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
That is not quite how they are reading the runes in White City. Heggessey, who has long boasted of holding "the best job in British television", was so clearly a favourite of the Dyke regime, colleagues suggest, that her ambitions would inevitably be frustrated under Mark Thompson. Having waited a year since Dyke's resignation, she could now leave with dignity. Besides, with charter renewal putting "public service" at the top of the corporation's agenda, a natural populist like Heggessey was never going to find the next couple of years easy
So, was she really leaving to avoid implementing Thompson's unpopular budget cuts, as some are suggesting? "Absolutely not," she says firmly. "I would have been completely happy to stay on, but it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, one of the reasons for the cuts is so that more money can be put into programming. And BBC1 was going to be the beneficiary."
Why, then, back down on her stated goal of outlasting Sir Paul Fox in the job? "Well, I've been the longest serving controller for over 20 years, so that's not too bad a record," she counters, leaving no room to be challenged. "You have to leave a job like this while you still love it. It was my dream job, but I can't do it together."
She will not talk about her new role, which she takes up in June. But after 20 years at the BBC - starting as a news trainee in 1979 - it cannot have been a decision taken lightly.
Heggessey rose quickly, via Panorama, the science unit, children's programmes and factual and learning. She has also made series for ITV and Channel 4. Colleagues warn against judging her on her diminutive stature: she is a formidable operator, they say, tough and determined, yet enthusiastic and rewarding to work for. The mother of two daughters - she is married to a musician - she also has the human touch, stating in Who's Who that her recreations include "having fun and laughing".
After taking the job, in 2000, Heggessey accused her predecessor, Peter Salmon, of bequeathing a "neglected" channel "in need of some major surgery". Her goal she said, would be "to reach more people than any other channel". With an extra £100 million from Dyke, and the news shifted to 10pm, she set about trumping ITV in the ratings. In these terms she has been successful, overtaking ITV in 2001 and extending BBC1's lead last year to a 24.7 per cent audience share compared with ITV1's 22.8 per cent.
Yet her critics argue that her pursuit of ratings has damaged the channel, particularly by neglecting arts and serious journalism. When she brought in Rolf Harris as the face of art on BBC1, Melvyn Bragg denounced "a total dereliction of [the channel's] public duty". David Attenborough criticised a lack of "serious" documentaries, and a former director general, Alasdair Milne, recently attacked "dumb, dumb, dumb" makeover and cookery shows.
More worryingly, the BBC governors last summer ordered a review of BBC1 after public approval fell to a record low.
Heggessey remains unmoved. "If you didn't get the viewers, you'd be criticised for that as well. It's that balance between making the popular good and the good popular that we've always striven for."
Her schedules, she insists, combine quality with wide appeal. "Whether it's Himalaya with Michael Palin, Natural History of Britain, or fantastic factual landmarks such as Blue Planet, we're never short of terrific programmes in every genre. We have incredible single dramas like England Expects, as well as popular soap dramas like Holby City and Casualty. Then there are our innovative programmes like Spooks."
Clearly with a schedule as broad as BBC1's, it is easy for Heggessey to reel off her successes. The issue for her critics is the extent to which her populist approach has compromised the channel's public-service remit.
Jana Bennett, the BBC's director of television, emailed staff on Monday praising Heggessey as "a true champion of public-service broadcasting". But one senior BBC journalist points to the shelving of Panorama late on Sunday nights as evidence of her "lack of commitment" to traditional corporation values.
"She was a huge admirer of Greg Dyke, who paid lip-service to public-service broadcasting," the journalist says. "For Greg, read Lorraine. She thought that if you had audiences, that would deliver charter renewal. That's been a fundamental weakness - and when Mark Thompson took over, he found that preparations for charter renewal were in disarray."
Heggessey is infuriated at the suggestion that she is "Dyke's woman". "I'm nobody's woman," she snaps. "I'm my own person. Secondly, Mark Thompson appointed me when he was director of television, and has always been extremely supportive. I have a fantastic working relationship with Mark, so there was no issue there. Greg left over a year ago now. I was very sad on that day but I've had my own job to do."
INTERVIEWERS tend to describe Heggessey as "feisty", and she certainly wastes no time hitting back at the accusation that she has "dumbed down" BBC1. "I'd say we have innovated, particularly in specialist factual programmes, using computer graphics to take the viewer into new worlds, and investing in Child of Our Time, a landmark science project that's going on for 20 years. But part of running BBC1 is to make it popular."
She bites back again at the suggestion that she hired Graham Norton - for a reported £5 million - without having worked out how to use him. "How do you know whether I have a strategy for him or not? How does anybody know? Of course I have a strategy for him, and it is that he will be a prime-time BBC1 entertainer. But shows take time to develop. It's about building artists for the future, and that takes time."
What about her reliance on soaps, piling on a fourth weekly EastEnders slot that seems to have contributed to its audience slump? "These things are always cyclical," she replies. "EastEnders became the show to beat. ITV has worked hard to raise Coronation Street's game, and used all sorts of scheduling tricks. I'm not complaining about that, it's absolutely fair game. But EastEnders is well on track now. For every up you have a down, and I assure you it's back on the way up."
Still, Mark Thompson knows that ratings alone will not guarantee a new charter. As if to signal a new mood, last night the corporation announced fresh investment in serious journalism on BBC1 and more peak-hour Panorama specials. Publicly Thompson might be proclaiming that Heggessey's shoes "will be hard to fill". Still, it cannot hurt his case to have lost the Dyke era's most visible ratings-chaser.
(Evening Standard, February 16 2005)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, February 16, 2005
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