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| BBC has 'Downton Abbey ratings mentality', says National Theatre chief | BBC has 'Downton Abbey ratings mentality', says National Theatre chief |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The National Theatre's artistic director Sir Nicholas Hytner has criticised the BBC for a "Downton ratings mentality" and said it is not doing enough to put the arts on television. | The National Theatre's artistic director Sir Nicholas Hytner has criticised the BBC for a "Downton ratings mentality" and said it is not doing enough to put the arts on television. |
| Hytner said the BBC, about to welcome a new director general in Lord (Tony) Hall, the outgoing chief executive of the Royal Opera House, should work more closely with arts bodies such as his own in an interview with Thursday's Times. | Hytner said the BBC, about to welcome a new director general in Lord (Tony) Hall, the outgoing chief executive of the Royal Opera House, should work more closely with arts bodies such as his own in an interview with Thursday's Times. |
| He added that the corporation should broadcast big set-piece performances from the likes of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Exchange – which he described as "low hanging fruit, there for the taking" – possibly on a weekly basis. | He added that the corporation should broadcast big set-piece performances from the likes of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Exchange – which he described as "low hanging fruit, there for the taking" – possibly on a weekly basis. |
| He said it would open up plays previously watched by tens of thousands of people to an audience in the millions. | He said it would open up plays previously watched by tens of thousands of people to an audience in the millions. |
| Asked in the Times interview if the BBC had enough arts coverage, Hytner said: "Plainly it doesn't. I'll be surprised if that doesn't change under Tony. To the extent that a DG can involve himself in nuts and bolts, he'll surely look at it." | Asked in the Times interview if the BBC had enough arts coverage, Hytner said: "Plainly it doesn't. I'll be surprised if that doesn't change under Tony. To the extent that a DG can involve himself in nuts and bolts, he'll surely look at it." |
| The National Theatre already broadcasts many of its flagship performances in cinemas as part of NT Live, one of many of Hytner's initiatives to bring the arts to the masses. | The National Theatre already broadcasts many of its flagship performances in cinemas as part of NT Live, one of many of Hytner's initiatives to bring the arts to the masses. |
| He said: "NT Live is for the big screen, but there are ways to bring terrific performances to television ... The conventional wisdom is that the two words are separate, and that needs challenging." | He said: "NT Live is for the big screen, but there are ways to bring terrific performances to television ... The conventional wisdom is that the two words are separate, and that needs challenging." |
| In a reference to ITV drama hit Downton Abbey, more than matched in the ratings by BBC1's Sunday night hit, Call the Midwife, watched by 10 million viewers, Hytner said: "A success at the Donmar might be seen by 16,000 people, here [at the National Theatre] 75,000. | In a reference to ITV drama hit Downton Abbey, more than matched in the ratings by BBC1's Sunday night hit, Call the Midwife, watched by 10 million viewers, Hytner said: "A success at the Donmar might be seen by 16,000 people, here [at the National Theatre] 75,000. |
| "So if a performance got a million on TV... look, they've really got to detach themselves from this Downton ratings mentality." | "So if a performance got a million on TV... look, they've really got to detach themselves from this Downton ratings mentality." |
| Hytner said he was not concerned by the switch, announced last month, of BBC2's The Review Show to BBC4, which he said was "just journalism". | Hytner said he was not concerned by the switch, announced last month, of BBC2's The Review Show to BBC4, which he said was "just journalism". |
| "I'm interested in performance," said Hytner. I don't see why there couldn't be a closer relationship between the BBC and this vast performance network – us, the Crucible, the Royal Exchange, Opera North, Broadsides, Live Theatre, the Royal Ballet, everyone! | "I'm interested in performance," said Hytner. I don't see why there couldn't be a closer relationship between the BBC and this vast performance network – us, the Crucible, the Royal Exchange, Opera North, Broadsides, Live Theatre, the Royal Ballet, everyone! |
| "Fifty-two weeks, more than 52 companies, offering something. It's low-hanging fruit, there for the taking." | "Fifty-two weeks, more than 52 companies, offering something. It's low-hanging fruit, there for the taking." |
| The BBC has broadcast live theatre events, most memorably the National Theatre's controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera, which generated more than 50,000 complaints when it aired on BBC2 in 2005. | The BBC has broadcast live theatre events, most memorably the National Theatre's controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera, which generated more than 50,000 complaints when it aired on BBC2 in 2005. |
| But the BBC tends to favour its own adaptations, such as its acclaimed Shakespeare season The Hollow Crown last year, than televised theatre shows which are more the preserve of BSkyB's two Sky Arts digital channels. | But the BBC tends to favour its own adaptations, such as its acclaimed Shakespeare season The Hollow Crown last year, than televised theatre shows which are more the preserve of BSkyB's two Sky Arts digital channels. |
| 'It's very hard to find audiences for live performance' | |
| BBC4 controller Richard Klein, speaking at a launch of the channel's new season of arts programmes last month, said the broadcast of stage performances was expensive and not necessarily popular with viewers. | |
| "It's very expensive in terms of performance costs and coverage costs – it requires outside broadcasting and that's expensive - and it is true to say that performance, with the possible exception of classical music, finds it very hard to get even a small audience to come to any channel," he said. | |
| "I have to question the value to the licence fee payer of putting on whatever it happened to be at a cost of a quarter of a million pounds and getting an audience of 85,000, let's say. Those are ballpark figures." | |
| Klein said BBC4 did do such projects and would be broadcasting George Benjamin's new opera, Written on Skin, from the Royal Opera House. | |
| "I don't think it will do huge business personally; it's a fantastic new piece. We will be playing it because it is the right thing to do. But that is a relatively rare thing because it is expensive and I have to judge value to the licence fee and how much it costs." | |
| The BBC's arts commissioning editor Mark Bell, also speaking at the launch last month, said it was the BBC's job to "think about new ways of making performance work as a television experience" rather than "just pointing a camera at a stage". | |
| "NT Live works really well because people go to the cinema and it feels like an event because it is live and they are in the cinema. If it's on in the corner of the room it feels like less of a draw. You have to give people a sense of excitement." | |
| Bell also pointed to the BBC's digital collaboration with the Arts Council, The Space, as a way of bringing the arts to a wider audience. | |
| He added: "We feel it's important to do more than just lots and lots of performances reflected straight on the screen. We need to do more than that, we need to think more creatively." | |
| The BBC had not commented further on Hytner's interview at the time of publication. | |
| Hall is due to take up his post as director general on 2 April. | Hall is due to take up his post as director general on 2 April. |
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