Trust criticises lack of mainstream hits

BBC One is failing to deliver mainstream comedy hits, the corporation’s governing body has found.

The BBC Trust said viewers increasingly think there is no good comedy on the flagship channel, where there are few successful family formats.

In comments about the BBC’s annual results, trustees said: ‘Meeting audience expectations for high-quality pre-watershed comedy remains a challenge for the channel and audience perceptions that BBC One is the best channel for comedy have dropped.’

The report conceded that BBC One had ‘some successes’ in comedy, including Outnumbered and My Family, even though both were launched before the timescale of the report.

But the Trust did recognise that finding a hit new comedy was fraught with risk, which audiences often didn’t appreciate.

It said that viewers’ perceptions of what was original and different ‘vary widely for comedy programmes’, adding: ‘We recognise that taking creative risks does not always result in programmes considered by audiences to be of high quality.’

The report will make sobering reading for whoever takes over as controller of comedy commissioning. The key job is currently vacant after Lucy Lumsden jumped ship to become Sky One’s first head of comedy.

Published: 16 Jul 2009