Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Fry and J K Rowling are among 29 celebrities who have written to the UK government urging them to protect the BBC upon its Charter Review.
Joined by David Attenborough, Clare Balding, David Walliams and Jamie Oliver, the letter asks that nothing should be done to diminish the BBC or turn it into a “narrowly focused market-failure broadcaster.”
“In our view, a diminished BBC would simply mean a diminished Britain,” the letter reads.
“The BBC is a very precious institution. Like all organisations, it has its faults but it is overwhelmingly a creative force for good.”
The letter has been published ahead of a government Green Paper, to be unveiled on Thursday, that will reveal the scale of the threat now facing the BBC and follows the earlier news that the BBC will be forced to fund free TV licences for over-75s.
The surprise deal, which will cost the BBC £750m by 2020, will be phased in from 2018/19 with the BBC taking on the full costs from 2020/21.
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“The BBC is a valued national institution that produces some of the finest television and radio in the world,” said Chancellor George Osborne. “But it is also a publicly-funded body, so it is right that it, like other parts of the public sector, should make savings.
“The deal we have agreed with the Corporation means that it will take on the significant cost of TV licences for the over-75s, easing some of the pressure on taxpayers who have to meet the country’s welfare bill, while also ensuring that our promise to maintain pensioner benefits is met in full over the next five years.”
Earlier this month the BBC announced it will cut more than 1,000 jobs in a cost-saving push that is set to save the corporation £50 million.
In an all-staff email, director general Tony Hall explained that the cuts – which are most likely to affect marketing and communications – are needed to make up for a licence fee funding shortfall of £150 million in 2016-17, which is a direct result of the rapid move to online viewing.
At the same time the BBC Trust also approved plans to axe BBC Three as a television channel and move it wholly online, which is set to save the BBC £30 million a year.
The letter, which has also been signed by Daniel Craig, Graham Norton, Chris Evans and Miranda Hart, continues: “The BBC is trusted and loved at home by British audiences and is the envy of the world abroad.
“During the course of the Charter, we will continue to make the case for a strong BBC at the centre of British life and will be vocal in making the case for the BBC as it approaches its centenary.”
