BBC4 draws the short straw on drama to bolster BBC2

[Guest]

I think the jist of this is that owing to BBC2's audience dropping badly, any drama that might have been on BBC4 will now appear first on BBC2. Quite what BBC4 will produce in terms of its new 'arts and culture' focus is not clear.

Russ

[french frank]

I know less than nothing about TV drama, but anything which removed comedy in general and 'nostalgic dramas Eric and Ernie and The Road to Coronation Street, and the Jo Brand sitcom Getting On' from BBC4 in favour(?) of BBC2 would seem reasonable. That's certainly what, broadly, I thought was to happen to BBC2 - i.e. it was to go a bit more upmarket, leaving the popular entertainment to BBC1.

Perhaps there'll be more music on BBC4?

[DracoM]

And the foreign language cop shows - are they likely to go?
BBC4 Saturday night is one of the great highlights of the TV week.

[Russ]

Here's the relevant BBC4 extract from the BBC Summary Workplan 2011/12:

• The highlight of our arts year will be a month long season on the Art of America: complementing Andrew Graham-Dixon’s three-part series, photographer Rankin will celebrate Life Magazine, Rich Hall will cast an acerbic eye on Road Movies, Rick Stein will travel the Mississippi in search of the Blues and four music documentaries will analyse black music acts of the 1980s. We will devote a season to the history of the Symphony and will launch a major 18 month investigation of the applied arts, starting with Ceramics. James Fox will present a series on 20th century British painting, Lucy Worsley will celebrate the Art of Regency, and Benedict Cumberbatch will re-examine Terence Rattigan. As part of BBC Four’s archive project, In Their Own Words will raid the BBC’s archives in search of philosophers. Additionally there will be a selection of programmes made permanently available online.

• BBC Four’s international focus will be as strong as ever. Storyville will contribute to BBC Four’s year of Justice with a week of programming on international justice including films on the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International and behind the scenes at the I.C.C. Have you heard from Johannesburg will recount, across five hours, the struggle against apartheid. Returning series of Spiral and The Killing will augment our foreign language film premieres and World Cinema Awards. Simon Sebag-Montefiore will bring his book on Jerusalem to the screen and BBC Four will devote a week to Iceland.

• We will evaluate the early days of British documentary-making and have new documentary films on Grammar Schools and Catholics as well as a major Army Season – including a year at Sandhurst Academy, a social history of regiments, and examinations of the logistics of the modern army and the legacy of ENSA.

• BBC Four’s Science will turn its attention to Botany, Electricity, the Genome, the biology of decay and the human impact on different environments. And the historical series, A Child in Time, will present four portraits of documented childrens’ lives which reveal how the societies they lived in viewed and valued the lives of their children.

Russ

[Russ]

So much for the official policy of moving drama to BBC2! BBC4's controller slips in a new Danish drama import, Borgen.

Russ

[french frank]

So much for the official policy of moving drama to BBC2! BBC4's controller slips in a new Danish drama import, Borgen.

Russ

But note: "BBC Four's brief to bring the best international television to the audience".