Sir David Attenborough Criticises BBC

Public service broadcasting is walking a fine line.  This is the very open view of the highly respected Sir David Attenborough.  In fact, Sir David called it ‘a scandal’.  This television presenter should know exactly what he is talking about.  Sir David is one of the presenters with the longest service records at the BBC.  Attenborough has made and presented many programmes about the natural world and animal kingdom.  He was also Driector of Programming at the BBC in the late 1960s.

All this came out during a talk he gave in London about public service broadcasting.  According to his experience with public broadcasting he was highly appreciative of the ‘pioneering’ efforts of the Bristol based unit of natural history that served the BBC.  The veteran television presenter highlighted Tomorrow’s World as a good example of an imaginative programme. 

Sir David Attenborough is the presenter of Blue Planet and Life on Earth.  Both of these shows are hugely popular throughout the world.  He was of the opinion that the BBC had been successful in taking care of a wide variety of interests.  He felt that the BBC had done this based on what the viewers wanted to see and not only according to the number of viewers. 

However, Sir David is disappointed that both BBC One and BBC Two have recently succumbed to too many lifestyle shows.  He questioned the number of programmes that were based on celebrity chefs and gardening.  He was not impressed that such shows were considered as more important than finding a slot for serious music, comprehensive interviews and science programmes.  These undoubtedly would broaden general knowledge and assist in educating viewers.

The BBC has always been different from other channels in that it is a public channel, without advertising, paid for by viewers' licence fees.  With so much competition from the myriad cable channels on offer, the BBC would do well do stay unique and rethink the type of programmes it broadcasts to British audiences.