BBC1 Review Sets It Apart From Commercial Competitors

The BBC has unveiled the results of its review into the future of BBC1 which reinforce its committment to landmark programming across every genre. The findings define the channel’s distinctiveness as a showcase for that which is lacking in commercial broadcasting.

The review was led by Alan Yentob and was undertaken in response to concerns raised by BBC governors in a recent report, in which a need for a definition of the channel’s aims and strengths was called for. It contains specific programming recommendations and a commitment to the highest editorial standards and values.

It commits the channel to innovation and education through programming which covers the “broadest range and richest genre mix”. Its ‘big, bold’ agenda will offer regular landmark programming such as the recently-popular Walking with Dinosaurs.

The proposals set up BBC 1 as the channel of national events with “news at the heart of its proposition.” Schedules will be cleared to make way for at least two major and topical debates a year and documentaries and discussion-based programmes which have been shifted around the schedules in recent years will be given fixed time slots. Question Time will be broadcast no later than 10:20pm and Omnibus and Everyman no later than 10:40pm from next Spring.

Alan Yentob outlined the channel’s committment to diversity: “There is a genuine difference between the aspirations of BBC1 and our commercial competitors… the recommendations will build on that differentiation. The plans, while not a root and branch revolution, are designed to enhance the treasure chest of content which BBC 1 will be able to offer in the digital age, linked to educational, online and interactive services both now and in the future.”

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