BBC Director General Accuses ITV Of Plagiarism

Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, has accused commercial rival ITV of plagiarising successful television programme formats such as Any Dream Will Do and The Apprentice.

Speaking at the launch of the BBC 2007 annual report, Thompson attacked the “copycatting” policy of rivals, which he said was flattering but showed that the BBC was leading the way in programming.

He singled out ITV1 entrepreneurial reality show Tycoon, which he said was “very like The Apprentice and there’s possibly a bit of Dragons Den in there”.

Thompson also highlighted other ITV1 formats such as reality talent format Grease is the Word and Trinny and Susannah Undress, which “feels quite a lot like What Not To Wear“.

An ITV insider responded, telling MediaGuardian: “It’s interesting that the director general would rather be quoted on this than the research in to the lack of innovation at the BBC or the seeming inevitability of a fifth episode of EastEnders,” the ITV source said.

“Television endlessly invents and re-invents itself and there are as many examples of BBC copycat programming. Graham Norton’s When Will I Be Famous was launched as a spoiler for Britain’s Got Talent but didn’t hit the mark,” the insider added. “Fame Academy wasn’t a million miles from Pop Idol and Dance X is hardly revolutionary.”

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade, the former BBC chairman, recently said: “I am hopeful of an end to ITV’s copycat phase – Simon Shaps is leading the way.

“What I want for ITV1 is for it to be leading the field, not following its competitors, to stop relying on tried and tested formulas and come up with the next generation of world-beating formats.

“I want ITV to be original, not lazy, brave not boring, creative and not complacent (see

ITV1’s Top Priority Is 9pm Drama Joseph Is The Word For Saturday Night Viewers).

Recently, Tycoon, created by entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den judge Peter Jones, was pulled from the ITV1 peak time schedule because of poor ratings.

The show will return to a 10pm ITV1 peaktime slot on Monday, but will be cut down from 60 minutes to a half-hour format (see Triumphant Return For Kirstie And Phil).

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk