Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
BBC arts chief hits back at accusations from Dimbleby and Bragg
Suzy Klein defends BBC’s ‘incredibly strong and passionate’ commitment to culture programming
www.theguardian.com
I do sym[athise with Ms Klein. It isnt an easy job. But after 14 years of being undermined by the govt the BBC arts output is bery weak. It is better than everyone else but not what it should be..
If you look at the list of big events it is depressing. Very white and safe. Having said that I will enjoy the biog of Jane Austen. It isnt sstuff that Netflix would make but then again you dont expect intelligent programming on most tv channels.
The flagship channel of the BBC is BBC4 but it has been gutted. The two best shows I have seen this year have been The Art of Persia and A History of the Impressionists. But both were repeats from a decade ago. Nowadays they shine like pearls amongst dross.
The other channels dont do anything at all. Sky has an arts channel but just covers 50s and 70s bands.. There is room for that. But........
BBC used to run Play for Today every week where young writers were given the chance to write for an audience of millions. Some of those plays were responsible for changing govt policy. There is nothing like that now.
So I will enjoy the Austen film but I would also enjoy films about Thackeray and Swift.
But Ms Klein does not mention the elephant in the room. This all takes cash. Cuts to budgets and growth in admin costs squeeze cash for making programmes.
