Broadcasting House - temple of dullness
Forgive another little rant. My father spent the major part of his working
life working for the Beeb, and until his death in 1971 I always regarded the
Corporation as a hive of creativity and – if not enlightenment – ideas. On weekends before we went to France I would usually
have Radio 4 on in the kitchen, and considered myself something of a fan. Now, however, I am dismayed to find it – well,
dull.
Take an example of the schedule for yesterday, Monday
November 26. After the Today programme,
which I’ve moaned about enough in the past (please please John Humphreys do us
a favour and retire), there’s Start the Week.
This used to be a jolly magazine programme: it has now become
leaden. At 945, fifteen minutes of
fiction, followed at 10 am by the earnestness of Woman’s Hour (actually Woman’s
Forty-Five Minutes, since the last fifteen are devoted to a fifteen minute
drama). At 11 am, to lift the spirits: “After
a cancer diagnosis, musician Nile Rodgers walks the streets of New York”. Wow. At
11.30, Episode 3 of “55 and over”, discussing the prospect of having children
as an older person. Just the thing to
listen to after a cancer diagnosis. 12 noon, and we’re into “You and Yours”, the
consumer programme that I was already finding insufferably smug eight years
ago. This takes us up to the weather forecast
for a few minutes before The World at One – something of a repeat of the Today programme,
in which Martha Kearney hectors politicians.
Not much of a laugh in any of this. I’ll spare you the rest of the day, which
continues in similarly turgid vein. At
6.30 pm there is at last a comedy show – and guess what, it’s “I’m Sorry, I
haven’t a Clue”, which started in – wait for it – 1972. As far as I can see this is the only comedy
slot in the entire day.
The BBC has, of course, larger fish to fry with the
problems of Newsnight accusing the wrong people of nefarious activity: but it
would be nice to have some freshness and dynamism back on Radio 4. If it were possible to switch it off more
than I switch it on that’s probably what I’d be doing.
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