Episode 5 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to my kitchen.

It's not really mine, is it? It's Max's kitchen from EastEnders

and I've been invited here to put your questions to

the Controller of BBC One, who's also really

the Controller of EastEnders. So, Danny Cohen, welcome.

Thank you.

Let me start with some EastEnders questions for you.

Is that how it works? You get to 80 in EastEnders and you're shoved out?

I think that's not the case with Eastenders. We haven't

lost Dot. June Brown is going to be off the show for a short period,

but I'm very hopeful she'll return.

I think the older characters

in EastEnders are crucial to the show,

crucial to the texture, the heritage.

We know EastEnders is very important to older viewers.

So I can assure everyone that older characters remain

right at the heart of EastEnders.

It's true, isn't it? There is nobody happy on EastEnders.

I don't think it's true.

The sense of misery sometimes, come on!

In this kitchen you can sometimes have a laugh or two.

I think they get a very good blend in EastEnders of high drama and humour.

EastEnders is winning multiple, multiple awards.

You can't move for flowers on your channel, either,

because you've got the Chelsea Flower Show going on.

And BBC Two was supposed to be the home of gardening,

so why have you got all the flowers on BBC One?

-It's a bit niche, gardening, isn't it?

-I don't think that's the case.

I think gardening has always been a very popular subject on television.

Chelsea Flower Show is a really wonderful

experience for BBC One and BBC Two viewers.

The viewing figures we're already

seeing for the Chelsea Flower Show indicate people love this content.

It's once a year, it brings a great deal of pleasure to lots of viewers.

Some viewers may not like gardening. We know gardening is an extremely

popular hobby for the population,

particularly for television viewers. They get a lot from these programmes.

There are lots of British institutions which are being

broadcast this summer and I'll move to another one which is

the Torch Relay and the question now of whether it's overkill.

So first we've too many flowers, and now, too many torches.

I think the torch route is something that characterises

the run-up to the Olympics in any country

that's lucky enough to hold the Olympics.

We've seen huge crowds come out in some places to see the torch go by

and following it region by region, town by town,

is something that we're hearing viewers are really enjoying.

There's a great sense of pride in parts of the UK as the torch comes through.

-I don't think it's an issue for most viewers.

-It's not overkill? Breakfast,

-The One Show, regional programmes?

-I don't think so.

People get a lot from it. You see it region by region,

We're bringing out some very special moments.

So people really like it? Has that surprised you?

I think there's a really exciting build-up to the Olympics.

As a channel controller I couldn't be more proud and excited

to have the Olympics on BBC One, and the build-up to it is something

the country is getting excited about

and I think the BBC is excited about, too.

What are your plans for coverage of the Games themselves?

67% - that would be a concern for you, wouldn't it?

I dispute that figure.

There's great deal of excitement across the UK

about the Olympics.

We know that from talking to viewers.

It's going to be a really exciting event for the BBC

and for the whole nation.

The thing to remember is BBC One will be dominated

by Olympic coverage in that period and so will BBC Three.

BBC Two and BBC Four have a rich range of other programmes,

so viewers will either be able to decide to watch the Olympics

or watch the rich range of other kinds of programmes we can offer.

But what about your super loyal BBC One viewer, who you clearly love?

-I do.

-If they don't like the Olympics,

-they've basically got to leave the country!

-No, they don't.

One thing to remember also is that some of the key BBC One titles

will play on BBC Two in this period.

So, for example, EastEnders, we are in the Branning kitchen now,

that will be on BBC Two during the Olympic period.

Those programmes won't stop during this period and after the Olympics they return to BBC One.

So the anti-sport brigade are out in force, but maybe

they will be appeased by a bit of pomp and circumstance,

because you had the start to the whole Jubilee coverage

with the Armed Forces' Parade.

It sounds from what John Clark is saying that it was a bit

-shoddy, that programme.

-I was surprised by Mr Clark's comments

and I'm sorry he didn't enjoy it.

That military event was actually the most appreciated programme

on BBC One that day - the most appreciations for it, of any

BBC One programme and it scored very high

on our quality index, which we track daily.

I'm sorry he didn't enjoy it but I think the majority of viewers did.

Let me turn our attention to one of the oldest jewels

in BBC One's crown - 50 years it's been going -

we're talking about Songs Of Praise,

and there's a suggestion that maybe the Christian congregational

singing that we're used to, should go multifaith.

SONGS OF PRAISE THEME

# Angel voices ever singing

# Round thy throne... #

Songs Of Praise is a long-standing, popular programme,

that's steeped in tradition and my nan loves it.

But I can't help feeling that the majority of today's multifaith

population might feel overlooked by a celebration of Christianity.

There are lots of different faiths and religions, other than Christianity,

practised in the UK. Seeing as Islam is a major religion,

surely a Muslim celebration

of music and culture should also be introduced soon?

This is, of course, forgetting the many other religions

practised within the UK.

HE READS FROM THE TORAH

I don't have a problem with Songs Of Praise as a programme,

but I believe there's a Christian bias in the BBC's programming

and a severe lack of scheduling to cater for other faiths.

If the BBC doesn't have room in its scheduling for all religions,

then why not combine them all

into one multifaith version of Songs Of Praise?

So Songs Of Praise - would you maybe wake up one day

as Controller and just say, "Ah, don't want it any more."

I can't imagine that, I must admit.

I think a programme that's been running for 50 years,

an astonishing achievement, I think it shows how much it's loved

by viewers and I've got no plans for us to stop making Songs Of Praise.

Speaking of voices,

we can't speak to you without talking about The Voice.

As the judges might say, strong start, but pitchy in places.

The Voice is on track to be the most successful first

series of an entertainment show on BBC One in over a decade.

I think in any first series you have bits that work fantastically,

bits that you're going to keep working on,

but I think viewers have responded unbelievably well to The Voice

-and we're really proud.

-Drop in ratings, though.

I think we expected ratings to go up

and down a bit in the first series, I think that always happens.

I'm not surprised by that.

You'll always expect a bit of here and there in a first series,

but even at the numbers it's doing now, it's still hugely successful and we're proud of that.

-But way behind Britain's Got Talent.

-Britain's Got Talent is a show

that's been on for... what is it... five, six, maybe more, years

and I'm not really interested in competing with those shows.

I want our show to be really good and enjoyed by BBC viewers.

Is it fair to say that the really distinctive thing was the chairs

having their backs to the singers and once they turned, it wasn't

distinctive and as Simon Cowell says, it's just like X Factor.

I wouldn't criticise Mr Cowell.

I think he does some fantastic programmes and I wouldn't want

to comment on his programmes. I think after the swivel chair stage,

we had the Battle Rounds which viewers enjoyed greatly.

The key thing is it's based around the voice,

the coaches make decisions based on the voice quality alone,

one of its defining characteristics, as well as the tone

of the show, which is very different to shows on other channels.

-Are you looking at it and thinking, "Waste of money?"

-Of course not.

-You paid a lot for it?

-I don't think viewers will think that either.

The many millions watching it are not thinking that either.

Did you pay more than 10 million for it?

We don't get into the specifics of each budget.

It's certainly true entertainment shows are one of the more

expensive programmes we make, along with drama and comedy,

they generally cost more than factual programmes, but we don't

tend to go into details of individual budgets.

But it fits a definition of public service broadcasting?

I believe it does, because I think on Saturday evenings,

families around the country expect the BBC

and BBC One to provide high-quality family entertainment.

OK, let's go to another big title for BBC One

and a long-running title as well - the medical drama Casualty,

whose diagnosis, if some viewers are to be believed,

is chronic inaccuracy

in the portrayal of medical conditions.

CASUALTY THEME

It's been on the air for just over 25 years, but recently

Casualty has covered conditions such as meningiomal tumours

and cystic fibrosis wrongly,

according to those watching very closely.

I suffer from cystic fibrosis

and I'm angry at a recent episode of Casualty

featuring a CF storyline.

Cross-infection is a very big issue within the CF world,

but I feel that the writers and the actors

went totally overboard in portraying this issue.

Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?

If you both have CF, you shouldn't be anywhere near each other.

You could be making her sick.

MONITOR BLEEPS

-She's about to arrest.

-She's now going to die, is she?

See what you've done. Look, look at her! If my daughter dies...

You two, out, now!

Out now! Both of you, out!

I felt very distressed and upset after watching it

and I'm sure many young CF patients and their families

felt the same way too.

Medical advice is absolutely at the heart of what

we do here on Casualty, right from storylining, through scripts

and that filters onto the floor with the performance aspects as well.

I will advise the cast and writers

from the early stages.

I work also along with a team of doctors

and also a paramedic adviser

and together we make up the whole advising team.

So for the CF storyline, we actually did a significant

amount of research on this case,

even more than we normally would do for a normal emergency case.

We didn't want to portray them as people who are chronically ill,

that this condition was dragging them down.

But we also wanted to emphasise how serious it was and the implications of it.

We're very aware of the responsibility to our audience,

in terms of making sure we portray things accurately.

But at the same time, we also have a responsibility to the audience

to provide an engaging drama,

so it's a fine balance between getting the research right,

but also making sure it doesn't pull the drama out of the stories.

Casualty there,

and I think we've given your current schedule a real going-over, so

tell us what you've got coming up for us,

beyond the Jubilee and the Olympics.

We get back to our normal schedule in the autumn.

We've got a number of new dramas.

Are you putting money into drama at the expense of,

say, factual programmes?

No, we haven't moved the budgets around, really.

Thankfully, we have quite a lot of high-profile drama, comedy

and entertainment coming along like Call The Midwife, The Voice,

but we haven't taken any money out of factual programming at all, no.

Danny Cohen, thank you very much. I must be off and out of The Square.

Please keep sending us your views. You can write to:

And you're also more than welcome to e-mail - the address is:

Or jump on the messageboard before I jump on the EastEnders tube.

That is:

Or phone us. The number is charged

as a local rate call from a landline and it is:

And we'll be on BBC Two next week, as this particular barge

has been punted out of the way by the Jubilee River Pageant.

-BRAKES SQUEALING

-That's my train. Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd