MGEITF 2005: Lygo Lifts Lid On Channel 4 Programming
Channel 4’s director of programmes, Kevin Lygo, has lifted the lid on the shows he hopes will maintain Channel 4’s successful streak over the next few months.
The programme boss, speaking at the Edinburgh International TV Festival, announced that Channel 4’s iconic daytime quiz, Countdown, would return following the death of host Richard Whitely, but refused to go into details, stating: “Obviously it’s terrible to lose Richard, but Countdown will return in October with a new host who will be… Really good!”
Lygo also revealed than a “huge new, surprise, hour-long, non-live entertainment show, made by Endemol” would debut this year, but again refused to go into details of its content.
Dealing with Channel 4’s under-performance in daytime, Lygo attempted to defuse the situation, claiming that “daytime is tough, everybody has a hard time in daytime, so its commercially not as worrying as if, say, we haemorrhaged viewers in primetime.”
The long-running debate over Channel 4’s breakfast programming was also raised, with discussion chair Janine Gibson, editor in chief of MediaGuardian, claiming that Channel 4’s morning broadcasts now look “like Friday nights used to,” with a reliance on repeats of Friends.
However, Lygo was non-committal in his admission that breakfast programming was important. “Breakfast has been an issue on the channel for years now, but I think it’s a bit of a red herring,” he explained. “I’m not sure there is a big audience out there that isn’t already being served. We don’t want to do news, because the BBC already does that, and ITV does chat shows.”
“We are piloting, and talking to independents, but no-one has come up with anything that isn’t RI:SE, and RI:SE simply didn’t work. Of course I’d love it if we could find a show with resonance, but we haven’t yet.”
Channel 4’s traditionally strong Friday nights look likely to continue their trend of success, meanwhile, with Lygo stating that the broadcaster will make “more comedy and entertainment over the next year that I can ever remember us doing.”
The programme controller lamented the loss of several big-budget American sitcoms, but said that the new programmes showed promise, “and you just hope that the next big shows come out of those.”
Lygo also commented on the loss of Graham Norton to the BBC, claiming that he had yet to be given a true stage to showcase his talent with the Corporation. Norton’s departure, Lygo said, has left Channel 4 “missing a face”.
“We haven’t got a chat show host, while all the other channels do,” he said, “that might be something to look at.”
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