Episode 4 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points Of View.

Our postbag is frequently full of complaints that the BBC is

too London and south-east centric,

so you would think BBC Breakfast's recent move

north of the Watford Gap would be welcomed

as a step in the right direction.

But you'd be wrong.

I've been watching BBC Breakfast ever since it first started.

It's a really excellent news programme.

There's lots of topical things on it,

the broadcasters are really good,

there's lots of variety.

You can pick up what's going on around the world

and in the country, very easily

and you can leave the house in the morning, briefed on what's going on.

As soon as the programme moved to Salford, I noticed a change.

Day one, it was not the programme that it used to be.

The quality of the guests

just plunged through the floor straight away.

The presenters looked uncomfortable, the set looked wrong,

and altogether, it was a drastic and appalling move.

They just seem to have yesterday's pop groups on.

Our next guest was a pioneer of electronic music

back in the '70s and '80s and he hasn't stopped experimenting...

The '80s synth pop band, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark...

..lead singer of the '80s band

which clocked up more than 36 million album sales worldwide.

I think, at the moment, people are switching off in droves.

It's very, very sad.

Come on, BBC Do something about it!

Anyone for a cup of tea?

Perhaps Adam Bullimore,

the programme's Deputy Editor, can sweeten things a bit.

Moving three hours of live BBC1 output to Salford

has been pretty challenging,

both technically and editorially.

I think we're still finding our feet and trying out new things,

but the fundamental agenda of the programme hasn't changed.

But we have got a new studio space and we're looking to make

the most of it, so we've got a performance area now,

and we're making a bit of use of that.

I think there was a lot of scrutiny around the celebrity guests,

but fundamentally, I think Breakfast is the same as it was

when it was in London.

I think Breakfast is a mix,

but the core ingredient will always be news.

That's where our hearts are and in the end,

it's big news stories which drive our audiences,

which get the big audiences,

it's not the interviews with the Hollywood stars.

I think that Breakfast will always be that way.

Breakfast in Salford proving a little difficult to swallow, there.

But one Mancunian proving to be a huge hit

is the actress, Maxine Peake.

She plays the hard-bitten, tell-it-like-it-is barrister,

Martha Costello who won silk in the last series

and returned, promoted, to the Bar this week.

Has she swung the viewer's jury again?

Juries tell us, the lawyers,

about the space between the rules.

And that space is occupied

by commonsense

and humanity.

As a woman QC, Martha is certainly in a minority

and female leads are apparently in a minority on children's TV,

if one viewer's research is anything to go by.

Mother-of-two, Sarah Woodburn, has been keeping a keen eye

on the BBC's preschool channel, CBeebies,

and she's noticed something that she doesn't like.

I'm a reviewer of CBeebies because I have two young children

and I like to be able to leave them to watch something,

safe in the knowledge they're not going to see any damaging content.

I've begun to notice that there seems to be

more male lead presenters and characters, than there are female.

'Allo.

# With Mike The Knight. #

# Tree-Fu Tom. #

I counted up how many are scheduled across the day

and what I found was that there are three times as many male leads

compared with female leads.

# Postman Pat... #

It's Mr Tumble!

# Bob The Builder. #

On CBeebies, we're very aware of

the importance of providing strong role models

for all our audience, whether they're boys or girls.

I think the perceived wisdom used to be that boys

wouldn't watch female leads, but we know from the research

we've done recently, that just as many boys will watch

a show like Everything's Rosy, or Nina And The Neurons, as the girls will.

However, maybe we have missed a trick by not naming

some of our programmes after the female leads.

BRAKES SCREECH

We have missed a trick...

You've hit a nerve, Sarah.

I think it's something we are looking at

and questioning all the time, so later this year,

we're launching a new animation called Tilly And Friends

and I've got a really great slate of development going at the moment

and I think we can safely say there'll be some female leads

coming within the next year.

What I also noticed was that female leads

tend to be in stereotypical female roles,

such as cooking and looking after children.

Although there are some exceptions,

such as Nina and the Neurons and Mighty-Mites.

Hello. Nice to see you.

The reason that Katie Ashworth presents I Can Cook

is because she was the best person for the job when she auditioned.

-KNOCK ON DOOR

-A-ha! Come in!

It is important to make sure we choose the right person.

I can honestly say I have never made a decision based on gender.

It is about the right person to present the programme,

whether they've a passion about the subject or engage with the audience.

I would like CBeebies to commission more programmes

with strong female lead characters.

I would like them to include a developmental psychologist

or educational psychologist on their panel of experts.

We work with a wide range of child experts,

whether they be psychologists,

child practitioners, health experts, or movement specialists.

We don't always list their names everywhere

but be assured we work with people who really understand children.

A careful eye being kept on the influences of television

for preschool children, understandably so.

By 16 some youngsters have fallen victim

to far more sinister influences,

with horrific consequences.

This week BBC Three tracked the court case

of the 16-year-old killer.

The documentary followed a young prostitute who after a life in care

and on drink and drugs, stood accused of murdering a client.

Having a newborn, when I was a child myself, I could not handle it.

So I would escape to the bottle.

I drank for about...

..eight months of her life.

And the eighth month,

that is when I was introduced to crack cocaine.

The shocking history of Cyntoia Brown.

Someone with a far more idyllic childhood

is the actress Felicity Kendal,

who spent her formative years with the touring theatre company

run by her parents in India, putting on Shakespeare plays.

She brought her personal knowledge to bear

on BBC Two's Indian Shakespeare Quest.

We have had much talk in this series

about the advantages of expert-led programming

over celebrity fronted shows.

But hang on. Where is Felicity in that spectrum? Celeb or expert?

I don't really remember being moved quite so much

by the absolute honesty and the raw emotion

and quite frankly brilliant acting,

by a guy in for murder.

No acting experience, and it really puts a lot of us

pretentious thespians to shame, quite frankly.

Felicity Kendal proving that an idyllic upbringing

is not without its hard work.

Chatsworth House is an idyllic country seat

the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire call home.

But as BBC One's new documentary finds out

there's a lot of hard work that goes on the behind-the-scenes.

I have stripped and laid this table. About 20 times, over the years.

I am getting professional at this now.

Spot on.

The team of dedicated staff keeping Chatsworth

in tiptop condition for visitors.

If only the rest of us could have the same.

Mind you, then Nick Knowles and his DIY SOS team would be out of a job.

We hope we have done everything that you needed. Open your eyes.

Thank you so much.

It is beautiful.

The team done good, then.

Another comment about the show is the inappropriate use of music.

Viewers questioned why an invisible orchestra pipes up every time

the tradesmen start working.

I have honestly never felt so embarrassed, knackered, and old.

But a welcome use of using appears to be the BBC's two-pronged attack

on classical music.

The prelude was BBC Two's Maestro.

Music is a competitive business.

Conductors are and have to be personalities

as well as wonderful technicians and great musicians.

So actually, what we are doing as entirely appropriate to the art form.

And remember, opera and classical music is also a show.

It is meant to be entertainment as well as great art.

And the finality will be Young Musician 2012.

Lara and the other soloists were stunning

and yet the coverage of this wonderful show

was negligible compared with shows like The Voice

and other talent shows on television.

We passionately all believe in showcasing

and celebrating the wealth of talent that is out there.

These are young people have worked for not just months but years

and years, and put in hours and hours of really dedicated practice

to be as good as they are.

We believe that's worth shouting about

and celebrating in a really positive way.

Do you have anything to get off your chest?

William Fleming does, it is a damp squid.

It has been a bit of a damp squid. Everyone has been very disappointed.

As William says, "Aren't all squids damp?

"They live underwater. The phrase is damp squib.

"An explosive device which would not work if wet."

With anything, damp or otherwise, you can write to us at:

Next week, the controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen,

will be here to answer your questions.

He, of The Voice and Olympic coverage, amongst many other things.

Whatever you want to ask, do send it in,

and we will put it to him. Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd