News
THREE LEOPARD SHOWS PRAISED BY BBC TRUST
MISSING; MISSING LIVE; THE DAY THE IMMIGRANTS LEFT
JANA BENNETT, DIRECTOR, BBC VISION WRITES:
Dear all,
Today, three major reports are published: the BBC's Annual Report, the Trust's interim findings of the Service Licence Reviews of BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four, and also the BBC Trust's interim conclusions in response to the Strategy Review - Putting Quality First.
Annual Report
The Annual Report acknowledges that for BBC Vision it's been a year of outstanding achievements across all our services, with measures for reach, quality and appreciation growing over the last 12 months. More than two thirds of our programmes across BBC One, Two, Three and Four were awarded appreciation scores of over 80 - illustrating the audience's recognition of the quality of our content - and programme-makers working for BBC television received more than 200 major awards last year.
In his foreword for the Annual Report, the Chairman picks out some programmes which he feels have made an outstanding contribution to Public Service Broadcasting over the year. "We've seen more high quality programmes this year, with renewed emphasis on knowledge and eduation. Wounded (BBC One), A History of the World in 100 Objects (BBC Radio 4), The Love of Money (BBC Two) and Enid (BBC Four) were amongst my favourites". And Mark Thompson goes on to praise the "scale, ambition, confidence" of our drama - particularly the "sense of appreciation" for brave, serious, unexpected drama on BBC One. He describes BBC Two as compelling and highlights some of the groundbreaking content on BBC Three adding that 2009/10 was the year when BBC Three came of age.
Service Licence Reviews
The Trust's interim findings of its Service Licence Reviews of BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four are also published today. These form part of the Trust's regular reviews of BBC services, which take place every five years. As part of this process we submit reports for each channel to the Trust containing analysis of the channels' performance against our public purposes, the range of programming provided and an outline of each channel's achievements and strategy moving forward. The Trust examines these reports, canvasses the views of licence fee payers and then publishes its findings.
These findings are generally very positive and supportive of the channels and their strategies. I am pleased to see that the Trust has recognised all the good work that the channels have been doing to deliver great programmes to audiences. On BBC One dramas like Five Daughters and Luther have been truly distinctive offerings this year. Elsewhere on the channel we have had programmes like The Day The Immigrants Left, Bang Goes The Theory and Modern Masters that are offering viewers the kind of unique primetime viewing that you just wouldn't see anywhere else. This is what the Trust wants to see even more of but I am pleased the Trustees can see how much we are already doing.
On BBC Two and BBC Four the Opera Season, Gareth Goes To Glyndebourne and The Wonders of The Solar System have proved to be hits with audiences and critics alike. More recently I have been watching the Fatherhood Season on BBC Four, which is the kind of distinctive programming that only BBC Four would offer and that the Trust is challenging us to provide more of in order to increase the ‘reputational dividend' for the BBC still further. The Reviews also support a small reduction in sport content on BBC Two and we plan to use these extra hours to provide yet more distinction and range.
An area where the Trust is pushing us harder is our daytime output. We have made great headway in introducing more current and consumer affairs into the daytime schedules with programmes such as Rip Off Britain, Saints and Scroungers and Crimewatch Roadshow alongside new dramas Land Girls and Missing. Daytime has a much greater range than any other broadcaster; last year alone saw more than 50 new titles launched and there is even more that we plan to do here. There will be the new Missing Live, as well as dramas Indian Doctor starring Sanjeev Bhaskar and a new series of Jimmy McGovern's Moving On - just the sort of quality programming that sets us apart from other channels in daytime.
I am pleased to see that the Trust has recognised the good work and aims for greater ambition across the board. There is plenty more to do and you will see this over the next year or so with new dramas such as Outcasts and Sherlock Holmes and factual programming such as Frozen Planet, the Battle of Britain Season and a major new literature series Faulks on Fiction.
Strategy Review - Putting Quality First
The BBC Trust has also published its interim conclusions in response to Putting Quality First, the proposed strategy published by the Executive Board earlier this year. Following a public consultation and the Trust's own considerations, the Trust broadly supports the Executive's recommendations, with some areas identified for further work.
In BBC Vision the Trust has supported management's recommendations to close Blast! There are currently no plans for redundancies as a result of this decision. Instead, we will be working with the team to take advantage of all opportunities for redeployment within the department and any new roles which will be created as a result of our new strategy for Learning and the move to BBC North. I would like to thank everyone involved in Blast! for their hard work and dedication, and to reassure them that we are still committed to the success of all remaining Blast! activity over the coming months.
The BBC Trust has announced its view on BBC Switch and it will also close as per the recommendations of the BBC Management's Putting Quality First strategy. This means that Switch will formally close as a brand by Christmas 2010 as it is not governed by a service licence, and there will be no need for further formal consultations. We will be diverting the funding into other programme areas, including to young-skewing content, and will seek to find redeployment opportunities for the Switch team. We will continue to build on the creative work that Geoff Goodwin and the BBC Switch team have done. I'd like to thank the team for its significant contribution in reaching younger British teens. The BBC will maintain its commitment to this audience going forward through different channels, such as BBC Three and BBC Radio 1.
The Trust states that there is no need for radical changes to the current TV portfolio and reinforces our commitment for programmes which are truly high quality and distinctive.
Regarding BBC Online, the Trust endorses the Executive's proposed 25 per cent overall budget reduction, although it will want to understand and approve the editorial changes involved. In line with the Executive's proposals, the BBC should sharpen Online's focus so that it is truly distinctive and has clearer editorial vision and control. The Online Direction Group is currently scoping out how this impacts across the BBC and will shortly submit its proposals to the Executive Board.
I realise that there is a tremendous amount of information for people to take on board today, but I hope that my message helps you to understand some of the context.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone working in BBC Vision - programme makers, commissioners, marketing and channel teams and all those involved in operations for their contribution to the health of our channels.
With best wishes,
Jana
Jana Bennett | Director, BBC Vision