"We need to keep introducing new people on screen with new perspectives"

BBC Director of Television Danny Cohen spoke to the Observer’s Rachel Cooke about the strength of BBC television in an interview published in the newspaper yesterday. We've included an extract of the complete article below. 

"So what does he like now?



'A lot of football and cricket; that's relaxing for me because I don't start thinking about how it's made. The Wrong Mans [a BBC Two comedy-drama starring James Corden] was incredible, and Peaky Blinders [gangs of Birmingham, with Cillian Murphy in a Bugsy Malone cap]. I love EastEnders, and I think it's coming back to form, and I've always liked Downton.'

Really? I hate it.

'Well, the Christmas special wasn't their best show...'

Believe me when I tell you that he doesn't look even the tiniest bit embarrassed by this confession.

What does the BBC need more of?

'We need to keep introducing new people on screen with new perspectives; we need to take people to different parts of the world.'

It seems to me that some series do not get the time they need to grow, with the result that they're either killed before they start truly to work or – the adorable Last Tango in Halifax might be an example of this – the anxious writer throws too much into the first two series and so winds up in a narrative cul-de-sac (when you've done everything, where else to go?) But he disagrees.

'There is a grass-is-always-greener thing here. In America, series are made in 13 or 24 parts for commercial reasons. I think we should do series of different lengths. If you went into a bookshop and asked the owner to recommend a good novel, it would be a bit strange if he said, 'We've got novels in two different lengths, sir: 200 words and 400 words. Which would you like?' You want a story to be the length it needs to be.'

"Is the BBC ratings obsessed?

'No. There are niche programmes every night on BBC Two and BBC Four. But I don't want to make lots of programmes that people don't watch. That's not responsible. I don't like it.'

Would he explain to me the success of Mrs Brown's Boys, watched by 9.4 million on Christmas Day?

'Yes. There are huge numbers of people – and I'm one – who love studio-based sitcoms. The joy in the room!'

Again, I peer at him, trying to work out if he's being sincere. Oh, Lord. I think he is."

Read the rest of Danny's interview in The Observer on The Guardian website.

Hannah Khalil is Digital Producer, About the BBC Website and Blog.

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