Episode 17 Points of View

Hello, and welcome to Points Of View and here we are in

the glittering surroundings of Strictly Come Dancing.

Very exciting to be here, and we're here because we are talking

to the man who commissioned this very successful series, as well

as a lot of other entertainment programmes which you will watch.

His name is Mark Linsey.

Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice

and The Voice are just some of the flagship shows Mark Linsey steers.

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, Room 101,

John Bishop's Britain, The Restaurant and The Sarah Millican Television Programme

are some of the titles he has launched since starting in 2007.

Have you ever been commentating on a sport

-and thought, "I've just forgotten all the rules to this?"

-Frequently, yes!

Programmes such as The Rob Brydon Show

and Junior Doctors began as ideas pitched to Mark.

If he likes them, he will take them

to the channel controllers in the hope that they get commissioned.

Hole In The Wall...

Bring on the wall!

..Children in Need and The Royal Variety Performance also took this route.

But Mark's quoted as favouring Russell Howard's Good News...

Thank you very much indeed!

..and Total Wipeout for giving his family the chance to sit down and enjoy quality time together.

-Thank you, Jeremy.

-Let's get straight in with the questions.

Lorraine Harris is asking

whether you would ever commission just a straight music

and entertainment show from the Dave Arch band and the dancers.

I've seen Dave and his singers and his band live,

and it's a fantastic experience.

But we have them on Saturday night BBC One 14 weeks of the year,

so I think that's enough, and I think even Dave might agree with that.

OK, we've got a question on the messageboard from "GZ", who's looking at The Voice

and thinks the winner hasn't had much promotion, and wonders

if the BBC's whole anti-commercial thing is to blame for that.

So the winner just went missing after the show finished?

Well, I think the purpose of The Voice was to create

an entertainment show that could be enjoyed on Saturday night

BBC One, and that we did.

And we were thrilled with the success we had with it,

it was quite unprecedented in that an average of nine million viewers watched it each week.

And as we speak, Leanne Mitchell, our winner, is in studio creating

and producing her own album, which will be out later in the year.

Was The Voice an expensive mistake?

Not at all. I think the amount of viewers it got proves that it wasn't.

Nine million viewers a week is a phenomenal number

particularly on a first series.

It is quite unprecedented for a Saturday night BBC One

entertainment show, so we were thrilled with the success.

We are looking forward to it coming back for a second series.

The BBC had quite a lot of success with Maria

and Wizard Of Oz and so on.

We, or you, have now lost Andrew Lloyd Webber, he has gone to ITV...

Do you have any plans for more West End-style search shows?

No, there are no more plans for any of that sort of programming.

We had great success with Andrew Lloyd Webber and his

musical theatre shows on television,

and we were thrilled with their success,

we just thought it was time to do a different musical talent show.

That's why we plumped for The Voice.

OK, let's break for a second if we can, Mark,

and we'll find how some of this week's output has been received.

First, Brazil with Michael Palin.

As I watch the troupe take the stage,

I'm really moved by the spirit and quality of their performance.

They tell the story as it should be told.

With their richly embroidered costumes and original and inventive masks,

there's a real feeling of a community creating something out of nothing.

On BBC Three, Stacey Dooley has ventured north of the border

to look at Girls Behind Bars in the United States.

Right now we're going to do showers. We have to do them eight at a time.

Eight at a time, three minutes in the shower.

That's insane!

Three minutes, yeah? Tell me how to have a shower in three minutes.

Work as fast as you can. And get out.

Now another question for Mark Linsey.

The Entertainment department has played make or break with not

just showbiz careers, but also business careers.

This is about The Apprentice.

"Bugsy 60" on our messageboard

notices that it's not a job

that's on offer at the end now, it's just a partnership.

That must hurt.

I think there'd be a lot of viewers would be devastated if we didn't do The Apprentice again.

A hugely successful show.

It still gets a high volume of people watching it.

I think there'd be a lot of people upset if we didn't continue with it.

But why don't you, as the executive, just get Alan Sugar in and say,

"Listen - if you don't offer a job, you're fired"?

But I think the whole idea of a business partnership gives the format

something a bit different.

People we have spoken to like it, they think it's quite relevant today.

A lot of people are starting new businesses on their own,

and it does give an insight in the sort of abilities you need to do that.

Mike Abrahams has been in touch with us. He has got an idea.

So a series based on the outcomes?

Could you give him some money for thinking up that idea?

It's a really good idea, but I'm sad to say we are already doing it.

In each series we DO do a follow up show.

We follow up on the businesses that the Dragons put money into.

And indeed we do a follow up on some of the businesses that have

grown without the Dragons putting money into it.

So it's a great idea, but we are already doing it.

Let's again pause there.

We can put BBC Two under the microscope now, because they've

been taking a very scientific approach this week, starting with

a programme called Secret Universe: The Hidden Life Of The Cell.

'They are just one of the astonishing micro-machines

'that keep this bustling community healthy.'

Scientists are asked all the time,

how do things in a cell

know how to get where they are supposed to go?

And for sure cells are very chaotic,

things are bumping into each other,

and most of that is just random.

And stripped throughout the week there were nightly visits to

a Prehistoric Autopsy.

-Look at this - this is me, This is my skull.

-Your skull?

This is my actual skull.

There is a massive difference.

Here's the Neanderthal skull, and if we look at it from the side,

you can see that this Neanderthal is much longer and lower.

Her skull is much more rounded.

Back with Mark now.

One area you seem to be very successful in is the panel game,

so Have I Got News For You

and Never Mind The Buzzcocks are the old stagers.

You've got Would I Lie To You? coming on.

Don't you have a bit of a problem, because the old ones are so strong it is hard to bring on new ones?

It's really hard to bring new shows on.

Panel shows are difficult to get right,

but when you do get it right the audience really enjoy it.

Have I Got News For You is a great example of that - Mock The Week,

Buzzcocks, QI, are all long-running shows that the public love to see.

It is hard to get new shows right. We will be trying some new shows.

We pilot an awful lot of new panel shows, and indeed on BBC Three

we plan a couple new ones in the early part of next year.

But would you for example recognise

if Have I Got News For You just got stale?

I think what Have I Got News For You has each week is the news,

and the news is always changing.

It always has a different host as well.

But the audiences are enjoying it.

Can you imagine something like Would I Lie To You? going for ten years, 20 years?

Well, you could say that about a lot of our panel shows -

Buzzcocks has been on air for 26 series now.

So let's see in 20 years' time, Jeremy.

Now, we have to ask you about the Christmas line-up.

What have you got planned?

As ever, as in past years, we have got a fantastic line-up,

it includes Have I Got News For You specials,

we've got Graham Norton specials, we've got a wonderful

special from Sarah Millican on BBC Two and also our Top Gear special...

and as ever we've got a 90-minute Strictly special which

we're planning at the moment.

We've also got some new stuff,

we've got John Bishop doing an end of year show,

it's John Bishop's Big Year -

and it's certainly been a big year for John Bishop

and a big year for 2012.

And we also have Superstars coming back.

Mark Linsey, Head of Entertainment, thank you very much.

We've just got a little bit more time to catch up on what has

been catching your eye this week.

You've Been Trumped on BBC Two...

I look at Mr Forbes and his disgusting conditions

in which he lives,

and that people have to look at that.

Mr Forbes is not a man that people in Scotland should be proud of.

Cashing in on the trend for programmes about the elderly,

Golden Oldies.

If you've got losses, which we all have losses, try not to count them,

but to count the blessings that you still have.

After the Great British Bake Off final, there was a masterclass.

One of the real problems when you're creaming butter and sugar

together to make a cake is getting the butter at a right temperature.

It's nearly always too hard. This is a foolproof way of softening it.

Here I've got butter. It's very cold, straight from the fridge.

Put those squares into lukewarm water,

sort of the temperature of a baby's bath.

We don't have a programme unless you get in touch, so please do. Here's the address...

You're also more than welcome to e-mail...

Jump onto the messageboard, always lively there...

Or phone us.

The number is charged as a local rate call from a landline.

Here it is for you.

Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd