The future of BBC4 TV

[Serial_Apologist]

Complete agreement here.

Only... is there comedy on BBC4? I thought it was on BBC3...

You're too young to be watching BBC3, Cali.

[aeolium]

Only... is there comedy on BBC4? I thought it was on BBC3...

I can't remember anything, only that the link you posted reported "the channel is still investing in comedy" which suggests that it had been in the past.

[Nick Armstrong]

You're too young to be watching BBC3, Cali.

But not too young to peruse their schedule...

I have a feeling "The Thick of It" and "20-12" (the rather more cerebral comedies) might have started on BBC4, then moved to BBC2 / BBChd when it was clear they were a hit...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The best stuff on BBC4 imo is the arts and history documentaries and - though hit-and-miss - the Storyville slots. Examples of very good documentaries in the last year or so include the series on illuminated manuscripts, Robin Lane Fox's exploration of Greek myths, the series exploring the history of art through particular colours and two recent excellent series on ancient South American civilisations and the Hundred Years' War. I don't really mind BBC4 dropping its drama coverage as I cannot recall anything (apart from Danish imports!) I wanted to see. I wish it would lose comedy too, but that's another story....

[Flosshilde]

A quote from the BBC's arts commissioning editor, Mark Bell - the reduction in arts coverage was minimal across BBC1 and BBC2, amounting to a "couple of hours" a year.

But if the Review Show is being cut from weekly to monthly, that has to amount to more than "a couple of hours a week", doesn't it? Or are other programmes being increased?

"The total number of hours is down a bit, but some other genres have been hit worse," he said. "On the whole I feel relieved. DQF is hitting all of us and arts has come out pretty well."

But there's so little arts coverage, compared with, say, sport, that even a small reduction reduces it to near invisibility.

Arts coverage on BBC1 and BBC2 is being cut as a result of the BBC's £700m cost-cutting measures, Delivering Quality First.

[amateur51]

You and me both.

And the repeats are actually welcome - there's so many good things on BBC4 that one can't watch them all first time around.

Exactement Cali but I'm afraid your comments re repeats - with which I agree 100% - probably place us both in a certain 'age bracket'. I love re-watching things, often in the hope that this time more will stick to my neurone as the programme flies through

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that my lips move silently by the time I'm watching Prof Brian Cox for the third time

[gingerjon]

I've hardly watched it in its Newsnight Review incarnation but "back in the day" when it was Paulin, Pearson and Parsons giving it what-for for forty-five minutes over, at most, four topics, I thought it was brilliant. Smart conversation and it hardly mattered that there was no chance of me seeing first-hand anything they were talking about that wasn't a TV programme. Tom Paulin repeating REM lyrics in disgust was a particular joy.

I'm afraid I'm very down on BBC Four. There's the occasional gem but there's little with anything to get your teeth into. I don't care much for foreign language detective procedurals or documentaries pitched at sub-GCSE level, and whilst I do like Andrew Graham-Dixon I don't need to follow him on another sodding journey.

Far too little imagination, no courage in commissioning and no surprises pulled from the archives ... every night's schedule feels like a missed opportunity.

[Flosshilde]

Whenever I have access to a television I look to see what's on BBC4 - it's usually an evening of documentaries about pop music.

[french frank]

The opinion of Stephen Moss:

"The decision to make the arts show monthly and shunt it to BBC4 is, says the corporation, a bold step forward. Nonsense – it would be braver to kill it and start afresh."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/feb/26/late-review-typical-bbc-cowardice

And Media Monkey:

"Monkey's favourite was Paulin, who if memory serves, delighted in taking the diametrically opposing view to his fellow panellists, usually beginning: "I thought it was awful …" or "I thought it was delightful …". Monkey can't wait for Paulin's review of the decision to shift the weekly Review Show to a monthly BBC4 slot."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog/2013/feb/26/the-review-show-shift-tom-paulin

[Nick Armstrong]

Whenever I have access to a television I look to see what's on BBC4 - it's usually an evening of documentaries about pop music.

It goes all hip (as opposed to HIPP) on a Friday night, after a bit of a classical slot at 7.30.

[amateur51]

All the bloody budget goes on YENTOB swanning/fannying/Yomping around in his suit and Nike trainers (gout one suspects....good)....being all executive producer here and executive blaa there [Hey man, I'm so NY Chelsea Hotelesque]....ANYWAY....

Ed ...>>>[Hey man, I'm so NY Chelsea Hotelesque]<<<....him not me obviously....I'm more R reg Merc 304D converted camper on the North wales coast....just a few bits of drift wood and some cleverly placed pebbles [Outsider Brut nuvo-weirdo]

I do enjoy these glimpses inside your noddle when you're in rant-mode, eighth!

[gingerjon]

The opinion of Stephen Moss:

"The decision to make the arts show monthly and shunt it to BBC4 is, says the corporation, a bold step forward. Nonsense – it would be braver to kill it and start afresh."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/feb/26/late-review-typical-bbc-cowardice

And Media Monkey:

"Monkey's favourite was Paulin, who if memory serves, delighted in taking the diametrically opposing view to his fellow panellists, usually beginning: "I thought it was awful …" or "I thought it was delightful …". Monkey can't wait for Paulin's review of the decision to shift the weekly Review Show to a monthly BBC4 slot."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/medi...ift-tom-paulin

A review of a Madonna album was intro'd by Mark Lawson with, "A woman so famous even Tom Paulin knows who she is."

[MrGongGong]

I've not heard Tom Paulin doing the aaaaaaaaaaaaaawfffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuul thing for ages
which is a shame IMV

[Nick Armstrong]

I've not heard Tom Paulin doing the aaaaaaaaaaaaaawfffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuul thing for ages
which is a shame IMV

It is a V which i share wholeheartedly!

[aeolium]

And another very interesting BBC4 documentary - not for this viewer pitched at sub-GCSE level - was the one shown last night on "Good Italy, Bad Italy" deliberately structured on the lines of the Divine Comedy. It was very much a personal view and the presenter was very keen to be on camera much of the time (but then, which current presenter is not?) but still recommendable:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r1ctk

Incidentally, Beppe Grillo - the 'Cricket' to various Italian political Pinocchios - appeared late in the programme. Reflecting the unpredictability of European politics these days, his party has just come from nothing to win 25% of the vote in the recent election.