Hurrah for the silliness and the sci-fi that stood the test of time

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/24/doctor-who-monty-python-bbc

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During the week in which a bunch of old comedians, collectively aged 357, announced a comeback and in which a timeless galaxy of Time Lords launched a global celebration of 50 years on TV, an elderly, much abused and sometimes despised broadcasting organisation can take secret satisfaction in the late flowering of some of its performing talent. <em>Monty Python</em> and <em>Dr Who:</em> both owe their existence to the BBC.

British life is the richer and merrier for the corporation's patronage. The Python fans who know the parrot sketch by heart and the Whovians who can distinguish between the Sontaran Strategem and the Macra Terror stand atop a pyramid of national gratitude.

Those of us, like the <em>Observer</em>, who treasure the mysteries of popular culture, will note that the BBC, which has rightly taken a lot of flak for Jimmy Savile's disgusting behaviour, is the same BBC that smiled on John Cleese and the Pythons and Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker et al.

What do we conclude? Possibly that such inconsistencies wouldn't have flourished under the Spanish inquisition, or in any extraterrestrial dimension dissociated from a polymorphous, democratic culture. In the days of the Ministry of Silly Walks, Broadcasting House was host to a creative and artistic ferment, whose hierarchy, dedicated to national entertainment, lived only to get the show on the air.

Any read-across is benign. We celebrate the irreverent joys of BBC comedy and the mad inventions of its script-writing boffins. We hope that, 50 years hence, the current BBC will boast equivalent archival riches. And we respectfully point out that most of this remarkable creativity came from old-fashioned, seat-of-the-pants commissioning by courageous and gifted maverick producers. No focus groups. Not much form-filling. Few committees. Virtually no political correctness. Tony Hall, the new DG, please note.

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