The Flagship Channel is flying half mast (BBC 1)

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	BBC 1
Date:	26/02/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nature shows

Disadvantages: The rest of the shows

When I first started watching TV there was only BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, and BBC1 was by far the best. This remained the case up until the end of the 1990's when, in my opinion, Aunty Beeb let standards start to slide, and they've been free falling ever since.

Granted the BBC1 does have the odd good programme still. They are still the best place to find nature programmes, with Big Cat Diary and Spy in the Jungle being two really quality programmes (although goodness knows how the Beeb will manage when David Attenborough calls it a day, as he is the greatest nature presenter by a long stretch).

Historical dramas are really not my thing, but I am told by family members that things like Pride and Prejudice are still produced on at a reasonable quality.

Where the BBC have declined in my opinion is their need to 'keep up with the Joneses', or in this case with ITV and Sky, and rather than try to stay as a force to be reckoned with, they have turned into ITV/Sky clones. They churn out the cheap to produce reality/fly on the wall style programmes, along with countless cooking/home improvement/moving house and antique shows. Just a quick look at Saturday morning's line up, and from 9am until noon, its cooking, cooking and more cooking. Weekdays people are spoiled with a choice of programmes about buying a house abroad, followed by buying a house in the UK, then maybe rummaging through your house to find a pile of tat to take to an auction.

Evenings aren't much better, the quality of the writing for supposed flagship shows like EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City etc has dropped dramatically. The latter two have turned from relatively gritty dramas into soaps with the usual 'how many people can I sleep with this week' style story lines.
They've also followed Sky with the fly on the wall police shows, again entertainment on the cheap.

Except for Christmas and Easter, they very rarely seem to put any films on these days. Years ago you could guarantee, 9pm on a Friday or Saturday there would be a film, I've just looked at 9pm for the entire week, and not a film to be seen. ITV, Channel 4 and Sky all have films on at this time, but the Beeb have dismissed them for 1 hour shows.

I would like to see a return to the BBC of old, when they spent money on producing quality, not quantity. If need be I'd like to see the channel close down during the night again as it used to, in order to save money and spend it elsewhere.

I can honestly say, if the BBC closed down tomorrow and BBC1 went off air I wouldn't miss it, I only watch one programme on the BBC now, and event then it's out of habit, not because I particularly enjoy watching it.

It annoys me that I have to pay the licence fee to watch other channels, but that rant is for another time lol.

Summary: Come on Aunty Beeb, sort yourselves out.