Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Is The BBC Going Down The Pan Under Thompson??

Well... what do you think??

When Greg Dyke was in charge, the channel was constantly winning ratings, providing quality programming, investing in British talent, developing fresh new documentaries and drama's, and basically getting it right. But since Mark Thompson became Director General last year, it has gone extremely shoddy indeed, to the point where it is actually starting to lose appeal to me over channels like UK TV Drama etc...

Here are just some of the points I will use to back this argument up:

- Moira Stuart was removed from BBC News with no real reason for the removal other then ageism - every bit as much a British news icon as Trevor Macdonald imho.

- Castaway has been totally crap compared to original series. It should not have been produced under the Castaway brand as it is far too much like "just another Big Brother wannabe". They spent millions doing it and I, and the majority of viewers have been sorely dissappointed by it.

- TV Schedules?? The BBC don't seem to know what they are anymore. The just plonk anything anywhere, they are reguarly moving programs between timeslots and expect everyone to know. Ive lost count the amount of times in the last 6 months that my Sky+ has failed due to the BBC re-scheduling service and changing set timeslots.

- They have insisted they want top keep Neighbours at any cost, even though they are likely to become embroiled in a bidding war with Channel 4 and Channel 5. How about invest and develop the millions of pounds into British productions and actors instead??

- The quality of BBC documentaries has fallen drastically - the last real stunning documentary was the great "Rome" series last summer (although they even managed to cock that up by showing it out of sequence). And flagship documentaries and current affairs programs such as Horizon and Panorama have taken a serious beating, in fact Horizon has become unwatchable to a great extent. The only plus point on this front has been the continued success of the one off "Whistleblower" fly on the wall docu's. But even this was an idea commissioned by Greg Dyke.

- Eastenders seems to have gone crap, it was already losing viewing figures in their millions, but lately its gone FAR too feminine, its turning the male audience away for sure. And as for unrealistic storylines, it seems they are trying to push it to a whole new level, they are even challenging for Brookside and Emmerdales titles given the mixture of boredom and stupidness.



Im sorry, but I believe that BBC television programming has gone completely down hill in the last 6 months or so, and it seems its being happening since Mark Thompson became director general last summer.

What are your thoughts? Have you noticed a degredation in the quality of programming? Are we getting very poor value for money with regards to television at the moment??

Definatelty, I've stopped watching all BBC channels altogether as they have just become very lame, nothing but crap on, and full of repeats.



Normally, I never bother to look at the TV guide as my fave programs are, or were on at the same time every week. I've given up trying to follow them anymore.





I agree






I used to enjoy watching horizon - very informative...but now...I don't even know when its on never mind what sort of crap content is in it now!

Personally, I think the BBC should bring in advertisement funding like every other broadcasting station. The TV licence is a waste of money...apart from Top Gear of course

But even Top Gear...On at different times and dates due to coverage of stupid events that no-one cares about!!! Also, the last series was very short and the content nowhere near as good as it used to be.

Get your act together BBC!!!

The only think i ever watch on the BBC is Top Gear.

and even clarckson slates it to fook

Hey Now there going too far, there now talking about
scrapping Neighbours !!

Now thats not on

The problem is Mark both Channel 4 and Channel 5 want it. If the BBC want to keep it is very likely they will end up in a 3 way bidding war and therefore pay well over the odds for it.

As its public money that pays for the carriage of the program, the BBC have got to be extremely careful how much they pay. The BBC Trust is likely to have come down hard on the BBC in recent weeks in the wake of the possibility of the bidding war.

I personally think they should see if Grundy want to stick with the BBC for carriage or whether they do want to consider other offers from rival channels. If they want to ecourage rival bids, then the BBC should let it go.

The key to it all at the moment for me is the fact that Grundy are owned by RTL, who also own Channel 5, so there is every chance that Channel 5 could get it by default anyway.

i just hope some one gets it - i don t know what i'd do with out my daily veiwing of neighbours !

If neighbours moved to channel 5.....i can see it being forgotten about, just like its not so good rival Home and Away. Then the same thing will happen..storylines will go crap..and well lose it all together. As for top gear..fantastic progra,..but it seems to be all about entertainment and things...gone are the days of actual car reviews etc..thats the TG i fell in love with. As for eastenders....ah well what a shame (not)....but yes matty i agree....not just bbc though..tv as a whole i think..

Yeah thats true, it would probably die off if its on Channel 5. I cant see Channel 4 having the funds to get it to be honest, they have barely any money as it is.

Its been mentioned a few times in the media about Top Gear losing its appeal for actual motoring reviews in the last series or two - of course its been worse in the last series because of the Hamster accident gaining so much media attention, the viewing figures doubled overnight, and kept getting better as the series went on (9 million+ for BBC2 is something extraordinary, it was even beating the likes of Eastenders and Emmerdale), so they are probably trying everything they can to keep the viewers entertained.

I suppose the feel of the old Top Gear "magazine" show isnt as appealing to the majority as the new "entertainment" feel, but maybe they should tone it down a bit, as it has kind of lost the majority of interest in cars now...

I see auntie messed up last night with the schedules... Castaway which is supposed to be at 7pm every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday... And what happened? Twas magically on at 6pm.

I wouldnt mind but they had the Antiques Roadshow on at 6:30pm until 7:30pm, I seriously can't understand why they didnt put that on at 6:00pm until 7:00pm and then Castaway in its normal slot.

Glad I don't want it anymore. But they seriously are getting worse and worse, when it changed to Sun, Tues and Thurs, a big thing was made about it being a 7pm.

Nobs the lot of them!