BBC station should be improved, not axed, says Sean Mason

Do I like a lot of BBC Three’s output? Not really.

Do I think BBC Three should be axed, as Currer Ball demanded on these pages yesterday? No.

BBC Three is the TV equivalent of an open mic night. There's plenty of crap but there's also some glittering gold. Everyone needs to start somewhere. Sure some of it fails but that’s what happens when you try new things. The channel is a place for new writers and comedy actors to find their feet and we should applaud it for that.

Is it particularly demanding? No, that’s why we have BBC Four.

It may make a lot of trash, but it’s popular and fits the target demographic. And for every Snog, Marry, Avoid there is something new and different.

There have been many great shows aired on BBC Three. Little Britain (okay, it got rubbish but the first series was good), Nighty Night, The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box, Ideal, Gavin and Stacey, Being Human (not strictly comedy but the other article didn't stick to comedy either), Mongrels (stumbles when makes tasteless jokes for the sake of it but otherwise solid), We Are Klang. Russell Howard’s Good News (I'm not looking for socio political commentary, I just want a laugh).

Plenty of young up-and-coming stand up talent is showcased on the channel as well.

Currer Ball asks why we need a proving ground for new shows. The reason is very simple. TV has changed nowadays. A show has to prove itself; the bigger channels can't take as many risks anymore. TV comedy itself is an incredibly closed group (is there anything Kevin Eldon hasn't been in, in the last ten years?) and so BBC Three gives us a platform for new talent to make their names.

The old testing ground for comedy used to be the radio. BBC Three is doing the same job, but allowing us to explore visual ideas and for a much larger audience. You don't just remember The Mighty Boosh for witty dialogue, its aesthetic is just as much a part of that.

Now you have to earn your slot even on BBC Two. When you skip past BBC Three you get Big Top. Just saying...

As an aside, BBC7 survived the cuts without mention as well. Why? Because like BBC Three it’s cheap. It has just as many repeats as BBC Three and is also a testing ground for new shows that were too niche to fit onto another station. And I love it for that.

It seems Mr. Balls would prefer to live in a world of play-it-safe sitcoms. If so, I’m pretty sure the My Family box set is going cheap on Amazon and will last him more or less forever.

The real question isn't whether or not BBC Three should be axed. It shouldn't. What we should be asking is that the channel focuses less on cheap, trashy television and puts more money back into new experimental content.

Published: 14 Jul 2010