Twenty-five years ago, while on a boat trip off the Turkish coast, I encountered a captain who spoke very little English. That changed quickly when he found out where I worked – that was something he immediately understood! For the rest of the week, he’d call me to meals on deck with a loud shout of “BBC!”
Times they have a-changed, at least for Brits, who no longer seem to share our overseas cousins’ fondness for our century-old national broadcaster – if we believe what we’re always being told.
The BBC’s charter is up for renewal in just a year and a half, and right now, newspapers are filled with criticism, claiming it’s out of touch, overly focused on social issues, and plagued by problematic personalities. This raises a question: if media figures like Murdoch and the Daily Mail succeeded in dismantling the BBC, what would they actually report on?
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the battlefield, there is the unstoppable rise of the streamers.
Shows that once seemed perfect for traditional British television are now finding success on streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+. For example, ‘Adolescence’ and Neil Forsyth’s ‘Legends’ would likely have aired on Channel 4 after his hit show ‘The Gold,’ but both ended up on Netflix. Similarly, ‘Rivals’ feels better suited to ITV than Disney+, and ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ could easily have fit into the BBC Two schedule alongside ‘Top Gear.’
But does any of this really make a difference? I’ve often remembered Lord Puttnam’s strong argument for supporting public broadcasting and everything it offers. He put it well: we enjoy entertainment, but we also need substance.
This list of people who aren’t here really highlights how important the BBC has been in making all these successful shows.
Today’s high-quality streaming shows owe a debt to classic television. Many of the people creating these new series were directly inspired by groundbreaking programs and creators from the past – some learned from pioneers like Dennis Potter and Mike Leigh, while others grew up watching iconic shows such as Our Friends in the North.
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A producer pal of mine was trying to sell some documentary concepts to Sky Arts a while back, and the feedback he got was fascinating. They said they wanted the channel’s vibe to be like BBC Two from around 1980. It was one of those comments where everyone instantly understood – a certain kind of intelligent, thoughtful, and slightly quirky programming. It immediately painted a very specific picture in your head.
I once asked Adam Price, who created the popular Danish crime drama Borgen, about his biggest television influences. He surprised me by saying it wasn’t anything from Denmark – he was inspired by excellent British TV shows instead.
Many British television creators grew up admiring ambitious shows like ‘Edge of Darkness’ and recall a time when powerful stories could be told in a single episode – think of classics such as ‘Cathy Come Home’ and ‘Abigail’s Party’.
The BBC has always been great at developing talented people, and now, combined with the large budgets of streaming services, we’re in a golden age of television. Program creators truly understand what audiences like and share a cultural background that, unfortunately, may be lost on future viewers.
The BBC certainly has its flaws. Like many long-standing British institutions, it’s facing calls for internal reform, with issues ranging from celebrity scandals to questionable spending habits.
Compared to countries like Australia, Canada, and South Africa that have followed our approach, we’re fortunate to be positioned between heavily controlled, state-run media and the largely unregulated, advertisement-driven landscape of the United States. This gives us a uniquely balanced situation.
As Winston Churchill famously said about democracy, the BBC might not be perfect, but it’s certainly better than any other public broadcasting system we’ve seen. After a century of service, it still strives to represent the best qualities of our society, and we’d be mistaken to undervalue it.
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2026-06-17 10:36