BBC chiefs 'cowed by scandals are making bland programmes'

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 23:29

FEAR of causing offence in the wake of various broadcasting scandals has left television in danger of becoming too bland.

Channel 4 programme chief Julian Bellamy said the BBC appeared to avoid potentially controversial ideas "like the plague" nowadays.

Mr Bellamy argued that "the compliance spiral that our industry finds itself in threatens to bland out the medium to no-one's benefit".

He told the Royal Television Society it was important to defend Channel 4's "unique cultural role" and said the broadcaster would take creative risks "even when public sentiment risks being offended".

He described Channel 4 as the "sole guardian of non- conformism and provocation on Britain's most powerful cultural medium".

The BBC has strengthened its compliance systems following scandals such as "Sachsgate", when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand made prank phone calls to Andrew Sachs for Brand's Radio 2 show. Mr Bellamy said the BBC seemed "to be increasingly conservative in its editorial decision-making".

He said last night: "After a string of scandals about taste and decency, it seems to avoid disruptive, potentially controversial ideas like the plague. Time and again producers tell me this. And I believe it."

Mr Bellamy described this as an "unintended consequence of the BBC's method of funding".

He added: "We live in an era when greater transparency is expected in the public realm.

"The press is relentless in measuring and magnifying perceived outrage.

"It is becoming more uncomfortable for all broadcasters, but particularly the BBC, to stand in opposition to the public mood."

Mr Bellamy argued that television was being increasingly characterised by the lack of places for mainstream audiences to engage with provocative, non-conformist ideas.

He said: "If a fear of offending the audience begins to proscribe creative freedoms, then I believe the danger to our broader cultural life is clear.

"Our society will become less democratic, less enlightened. Ultimately, less free."

Mr Bellamy acknowledged that "relentless competitive pressures" had forced Channel 4 to take almost 150 million out of its programme budget in the past three years, but he also said he saw a "silver lining" in the broadcaster's financial circumstances.

"It sets out the choice facing Channel 4 in the starkest possible terms," he argued.

"We can either continue playing the percentages, gradually diluting our distinctiveness, managing decline as slowly as possible, or we can trust to the instincts that have served us well in the past and do everything possible to defend Channel 4's unique cultural role."

"Putting a premium on intelligent provocation, irrespective of financial circumstance, is our best hope of staying afloat."