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Posted: Friday June 1st, 2007 17:45 |
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C4 boss' astonishing attack on his own TV channel By PAUL REVOIR - More by this author » Last updated at 16:37pm on 1st June 2007  Comments (18)
Channel 4 deputy chairman Lord Puttnam says he is confident Big Brother will be ditched when something can be found to equal the money it makes
Channel 4 deputy chairman Lord Puttnam has launched an astonishing attack on the broadcaster claiming he is "not proud" of Big Brother and admitting that its programme makers had become fixated with being "controversial" rather than "responsible".
The Chariots of Fire film-maker indicated that when the broadcaster could find a replacement for Big Brother - which he said accounted for 15 per cent of the channel's total revenue - the show would be ditched.
His frank admission shows how much the recent racist bullying scandal on Celebrity Big Brother, which has resulted in a series of grovelling apologies for the disastrous way the channel handled the row, has rocked the broadcaster and led to fears it is jeopardising the channel's entire brand.
Mr Puttnam, speaking at the Hay On Wye Festival, claimed that Channel 4 now needed a new remit to make sure today's generation of programme-makers, which he said were obsessed with impressing their peers about how controversial they can be, were also 'responsible and respected'.
He said: "I am not proud of the Big Brother row - I am not even proud of Big Brother"
"But Big Brother accounts for 15 percent of the total revenue that keeps Channel 4 afloat. You have got to go some to replace that - but we will do it at some point, of course we will."
He added: "We're now dealing with programme-makers of a different generation. The way they see themselves regarded by their peer group is in terms of how controversial they could be."
His comments come as there were signs that viewers were growing tired of the predictably 'raunchy' and 'shocking' antics of Big Brother after the opening night of the new series dipped by a fifth on last year's opening show and the second episode was down by 1.6million on the equivalent show last year. The new series also lost 2.3million viewers between the first and second show of this series.
 Lord Puttnam says he's not proud of the program, which currently stars Victoria Beckham wannable Chanelle
More.... The Labour lord also appeared to take a dig at the broadcaster's current management by claiming that the channel's remit, written in 1980, had been 'very secure' under the stewardship of broadcasting heavyweights such as Jeremy Isaacs, who launched the channel. But said it was now a different generation of programme-makers. He claimed that in the current climate of multi-channel TV the remit was no longer 'fit for purpose'.
Mr Isaacs himself launched a blistering attack on Channel 4 last year claiming it has become obsessed with sex and 'adolescent trangression'.
Lord Puttnam also admitted that the Big Brother fiasco has made it harder to defend the broadcaster against some politicians claims that it should be privatised, something the Treasury is said to be considering. He confessed: "It doesn't help the political argument against privatisation".
Media regulator Ofcom last week found the broadcaster guilty of 'serious editorial misjudgement' over the way it handled the Shilpa Shetty racist bullying row in January and has been forced to make three separate on-air apologies over it.
Mr Puttnam also launched a savage attack against a recent C4 show which questioned the scientific basis for claims that global warming was caused by mankind, branding it a 'juvenile thing'.
 Look at me: Former lapdancer Charley is no shrinking violet
Lord Puttnam, who chairs the climate change committee in parliament, said the Great Global Warming Swindle was the kind of programme that goes out when you 'take your eye off the ball'. His comments follow an earlier attack on the broadcaster he made in the Royal Television Society's magazine Television in which he said C4 was 'effectively throwing the baby out with the bathwater' if it was attempting to be 'challenging and controversial' without being 'respected and trusted'.
But the film producer strongly defended a documentary which will show pictures of Princess Diana immediately after the Paris car crash which killed her. He said: "It is actually a remarkably good documentary. I would be very proud to have my own name on it, very proud indeed.
The broadcaster has faced outcry and calls for the documentary be pulled amid claims the programme is 'distressing and sensationalist'.
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Posted: Friday June 1st, 2007 18:22 |
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I think this guy has made the same mistake before. I'm pretty sure that I read that he ran an American movie studio, and announced his intentions too early. I.e he wanted to make quality movies and not summer blockbusters. He left soon after that.
Didn't read the whole article.
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