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Annual Bafta Lecture
Lorraine Heggessey could not have chosen a more epic moment for her BAFTA Lecture. The day before, millions watched live on television as terrorists wrought havoc in the United States. The day after, the Government gave the thumbs down totheBBCfora digital youth channel.
In between, Heggessey, Controller of BBC1, offered up her personal vision for the channel to a packed audience at the Academy who were still clearly much affected by the appalling events of Tuesday, September 11, reports Quentin Falk.
Describing her aim as trying to create “a vibrant, dynamic and exciting channel that’s in tune with today’s world”, Lorraine Heggessey claims that she was “much luckier than my predecessor” when she inherited a channel “in mixed health” and “in need of some major surgery.”
She said: “I’ve got more money, I’ve got the support of the commissioners who are experts in their genres and I’ve got a schedule with a better shape, thanks to the move of the news.”
And in a kind of summation of the task ahead, she added:
“In an age when the
BBC has several chan-
nels, BBC1 will remain a
showcase. Its role will
evolve as the other
channels grow and
begin to serve the dif-
fering needs and tastes
of an increasingly frag-
mented audience.
“But my aim is to
ensure that it continues
to reach more people
each week than any other channel. The immediate task is to build a channel that’s in tune with the times and in touch with its viewers.
“I’m impatient. Things are going to change more quickly than they have before and that’ll mean taking some risks – but the biggest risk of all would be to do nothing.”
Heggessey spelled out the kind of audience at which her BBC1 is aimed.
“There are generations now for whom television is a fact of life, a back- drop to their daily existence. TV to them is like radio was to me as a
child – something you take for
granted. They don’t feel guilty
about watching, they feel they
deserve to relax at the end of a
hard day, whether that’s been
in the office, the factory or in
the home.
“They want to be enter- tained. They want to enjoy
their leisure time; after all, they have precious little of it. Their approach to life is summed up by the slogan in the L’Oreal ad, ‘Because I’m Worth It.’ To BBC1, they definitely are worth it, worth the best programmes we can deliver.”
The relationship between BBC1 and its audience is, explained Heggessey, “completely unlike that of any commer- cial channel. Because they pay the licence fee, viewers feel a sense of ownership of BBC1 and, indeed, of all BBC services.
“Quite rightly, they have higher expectations and therefore a greater
an ITV chief criticising other people for their cynical com- mercialism.”
On BBC1, she said, “we never commission pro- grammes that we think will appeal to a specific demo- graphic because it is more lucrative – because it will appeal to young men who buy cars, or to upmarket profes- sionals who buy life insurance.
“No, our aim is to attract all viewers at some stage dur- ing the week. We aspire to
appeal to all of the people some of the time,” she declared.
Heggessey said that the “biggest challenge we face on BBC1 is building a closer relationship with our audience. And that means not underestimating it, not patronising it and not over-simpli- fying it.
“Above all, it means valuing it. The very phrase ‘dumbing down’ so com- monly associated with popular televi- sion, suggests a contempt for the audi- ence. They’re not dumb, they’re dis- cerning. And they deserve the best pro- grammes we can make.” Because, she re-iterated for the benefit of that legion of L’Orealists, “they’re worth it.”
Refusing even to utter the name of the elderly relative with which the BBC is still most regularly bracketed,
HOWTOFINALLYSTOP LEARNTOLOVEBBC1
“Our aim is to attract all viewers at some stage during the week. We aspire to appeal to all of the
people some of the time.”
sense of disappointment when we let them down.” That relationship, she went on, “is much purer and more direct, untainted by the profit motive, unmediated by advertisers.
“Putting it bluntly, it’s the advertis- ers who are the primary customers for free-to-air commercial channels. Of course, commerical networks need to understand their audience and, of course, they aspire to deliver great pro- grammes. But their motivation for doing do is to deliver customers to their advertisers.”
And in a mild rebuke to ITV Channels chief David Liddiment, who had taken the Beeb to task earlier at the Edinburgh TV festival, she noted, “I share his conviction that we have to nurture cre- ativity and risk-taking,” adding, “and, of course, it’s always great fun to listen to
Photos this page: Lorraine Heggessey; with Pauline Quirke and Adam Woodyatt; on Contents page with Alan Yentob, Director Drama, Entertainment and Childrens’ BBC
Photos opposite page: Lorraine Heggessey with Dr Robert Winston; and with Simon Relph, Bea Ballard, Q&A host Michael Attwell and Paul Johnson of The Hollywood Reporter
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