Speech from Danny Cohen, BBC Director of Television, at the reveal of the corporation’s 2014 Christmas programming highlights

It's also an opportunity to thank you for all your collaboration and work with us over the last year that has helped audiences find out about our programmes and get the most from them.

Thank you for that and I hope we can all continue to work together in the year ahead.

Last year at the Christmas Drinks I made a plea to those who work for the BBC to avoid criticising it in public.

I acknowledged the imperfections of the corporation but highlighted the way staff feel aggrieved when they see or hear the BBC attacked or undermined by those who have themselves benefited greatly from their work with the broadcaster.

I hope there may have been a little less of this in the last twelve months although we still have some way to go.

Tonight I want to talk about a related subject - and one which is of greater scale and importance - the very future of the BBC.

Put simply - the BBC is at a crossroads and in the next year or two decisions will be made that will fundamentally define what we are able to offer audiences in the coming years.

The question is this: what kind of BBC do the people of Britain want for the future?

Do the public want to see the BBC and its Services fundamentally changed, or do they want it to keep delivering, keep providing information, education and entertainment in so many impactful ways to so many people every single day?

I believe that the BBC is one of the most important institutions in the United Kingdom.

It is an intrinsic part of our democracy.

It delivers education and deep joy and stimulation to 97 percent of the population every month.

When you go abroad, the reputation of the BBC is singularly outstanding.

There is not a country in the world that would not benefit from a public broadcaster of the quality and range of the BBC.

And if you asked the people or the government of these countries whether they would like to have a broadcaster of the quality and reputation of the BBC I feel confident of their answer.

It would be crazy to damage, undermine or deflate what we have.

The BBC will need to keep reforming itself and proving it provides value for money. In the last few days we have outlined the hundreds of millions of annual savings we have already achieved.

But our choice in the end is between protecting, cherishing and enabling a great British institution or seeking to diminish it.

This year has been a wonderful one on-air for BBC Television.

Across Drama, Factual, Current Affairs, Entertainment and Comedy, there's a huge amount to be proud of - and an extraordinary range offered to viewers of all ages and backgrounds:

Happy Valley

Our coverage of the World Cup, the Final of which was watched by four times as many as the competition.

The Missing

Russell Howard’s Good News

Marvellous

Glastonbury

Line of Duty

The Baby P Documentary

Strictly Come Dancing leading Saturday nights

Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who

Eastenders' back on tremendous form

Casualty tackling the subject of FGM with skill and a commitment to public service

Jack Whitehall and his Dad

The Commonwealth Games

Jools Holland

The Great British Bake-Off reaching a peak audience of 13 million.

Our deep and wide-ranging coverage of the centenary of World War 1 across a range of genres on TV and online.

The Abstract Season

Life and Death Row

Outstanding live coverage of the D-Day Anniversary

Storyville

BBC Three's Mental Health Season

Children in Need raising record-breaking sums.

The 18th Century Season across BBC Two and BBC Four

Murdered by My Boyfriend

Peaky Blinders

Glasgow Girls

Match of the Day

Life Story with David Attenborough

The Wrong Mans…

The Proms

Brian Cox's latest opus

No broadcaster in the world provides this range, this quality, this commitment to all audiences.

And we should do everything to avoid ONLY realising that when the BBC is no longer able to deliver this range and quality to so many people.

The BBC is also at the heart of the UK creative industries, which as you know are thriving like never before at home and abroad.

A smaller BBC is - quite simply and incontrovertibly - a smaller UK creative industries.

That's not in anyone's interests and it's something we should do everything to avoid.

The BBC is the UK's creative risk capital.

It triggers thousands of hours of quality content that creates jobs and exports - that in turn bring both revenues and reputation back to these shores.

We must avoid undermining this success story, this growth of the UK creative industries, this reputational dividend for UK PLC.

The BBC is a great British company, not a government department.

We need it to flourish and continue to be the spark that lights a thousand creative fires.

So I make a direct and open plea to you tonight.

It is sincerely meant and acknowledges that the BBC doesn't get everything right, that it makes mistakes, that it is imperfect.

But despite these imperfections I ask you to stand by the BBC in the year ahead - support it, make the case for it, speak up for it, celebrate its achievements and help us make sure we can keep offering such an extraordinary range of programmes for all audiences.

Of course, you will always hold us to account - and so you should.

But if you ask yourself whether the UK and its audiences would be better off with a diminished BBC, unable to deliver the range of quality programmes in the coming years that I've just outlined, then I feel confident you will agree that a BBC that can flourish in a world of globalised media companies is the right thing for the UK and the right thing for audiences.

Perhaps this is time for a little less of the critical friend and a bit more of the friend.

Finally, this leads me naturally to the amazing range of treats and surprises we have for audiences over the Christmas period.

We have an extraordinary line-up of talent to entertain you this year: Dame Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman, Miranda, Brendan O'Carroll, James Corden and Matthew Baynton, Harry Hill, David Walliams, Julie Walters, Adil Ray, Queen taking us in to the New Year, the residents of Albert Square, Peter Capaldi, a Strictly Special, Lee Mack, Carols from Kings, Miranda Richardson, Russell Howard, Imelda Staunton, Carlos Acosta, Victoria Wood, Darcey Bussell…and plenty more.

There's something there for everyone in the family and I hope there is plenty there for you to enjoy personally.

Here's a look at what we've got coming up and thank you again for your work with us in 2014 and for joining us this evening.

BBC Press Office

Related Media Centre Links

• Christmas 2014 on BBC Television