BBC: Difference between revisions

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{{quote| ''"This is [http://www.bbc.co.uk The BBC]."''}}

The BBC's full name is the British Broadcasting Corporation, not "Blurring, Buzzing Confusion" or "[[Biting the Hand Humor|Burmese Borough Council]]" or "Big British Castle" or "[[Bigger Is Better in Bed|Big Black Cocks]]" or "[[Homestar Runner|Boring Brown Chocolate]]" or "Brow Beating Communists" or indeed "[[Strawman News Media|Bastards Broadcasting Communism]]". Until 1955, when [[ITV]] was established, it broadcast the only TV channel in the United Kingdom. It is the world's largest broadcasting corporation, reaching 274 million households in 200 countries, compared to their closest rival, [[CNN]], with 200 million. The BBC Television Service, now BBC One, is the oldest television channel in the world.

Note that not only is advertising on the BBC simply not done, [[Product Placement]] is actually a violation of the Ofcom Code (although it will now be allowed on other networks), and people have complained when brand names are visible on screen. For example, an episode of ''[[Spooks]]'' was pulled and digitally edited after it was pointed out on a preview that some computers in the background had the Apple logo visible. [[David Tennant]]'s Converse All-Stars in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' had the logo painted over. For many years they even refused to broadcast any songs which mentioned brand names (the most famous example being the forced removal of a reference to Coca-Cola from "Lola" by [[The Kinks]] to get BBC airplay). This may seem overly touchy, but the BBC's lack of advertising has earned it some level of immunity to corporate influence - for example, when ''[[Top Gear]]'' (in the 90s, before it became an international phenomenon with hundreds of millions of weekly viewers) condemned a particular car from an Italian car company, their CEO allegedly demanded that they "[[Critical Research Failure|pull all the advertising from Top Gear's network]]" in order to influence them into a retraction.

* [[Speculative Fiction]], most notably ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''. Although the BBC made hardly any in-house SF or fantasy between the cancellation of the original ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' in 1989 and its revival in 2005, according to rumour because of executive hostility to the genre. The only significant SFFH show made in that time was ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'', which may have survived because of [[Misaimed Fandom]] on the part of the executives who thought it was laughing '''at''' the genre and its fans.

** Some American [[Speculative Fiction]] imports including ''[[Star Trek]]'' (apart from ''[[Enterprise]]''), ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''.

** One of the BBC's indirect contributions to the world of [[Speculative Fiction]] deserves mention too. In 1997 the Radio 4 arts reporters took quite a shine to this [[Harry Potter and Thethe Philosopher's Stone (novel)|new children's fantasy novel]] and played some part in popularising it.

* Travel documentaries, usually with [[Michael Palin (Creator)|Michael Palin]].

Because of its lack of need to chase advertising, and therefore ratings, the BBC is not under the same pressure ([[News Corp]] headlines aside) to gain 'instant hits' with high viewing figures. A number of TV shows that would not have had a second series commissioned on ITV (or in the US been pulled mid season) have gone on to become hits - ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' and ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]]'' are prime examples. ''[[Men Behaving Badly]]'' actually started on ITV, dumped after series one, then picked up and nurtured in to a genre defining hit on the Beeb.

BBC One is broken down into a number of regions for broadcasting purposes, with each region having some specific local shows (e.g., local news) and the production of national shows being spread across the United Kingdom. These are all available on satellite or cable and include the 14 regions of England (BBC One East, East Midlands, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, London, Yorkshire, Yorks & Lincs, West, West Midlands, North West, North East & Cumbria, South, South East, South West), BBC One [[Four Little Tax Havens|Channel Islands]], BBC One [[Stroke Country|Northern Ireland]], BBC One [[Bonnie Scotland|Scotland]] and BBC One [[Useful Notes/Land of My Fathers and Their Sheep|Wales]].

* BBC Three - Comedy, the occasional film and repeats. Started off showcasing some new stuff like ''Nighty Night'' and ''[[Little Britain]]'', in addition to stuff like ''[[Two Pints of Lager and Aa Packet of Crisps]]'', [[Network Decay|but dove head first into the 16-24 demographic]] with shows like ''[[The Wrong Door]]'', ''[[Being Human (TVUK)|Being Human]]'' and various pilots for comedies, effectively getting revamped as a platform for this age group's creative works - possibly a more youthful [[Spiritual Successor]] to [[Channel Four4]]'s ''Comedy Lab'' as well as potential rival to T4. These have [[Spooks: Code 9|not all been successful]].

* BBC Four - Pretty much the visual equivalent of Radios 3 and 4, with widespread critical acclaim. Documentaries, classical music orientated programmes and television films and plays in the vein of ''Play for Today''. In [[The New Tens]], known for importing cop shows and other drama series from mainland European countries, not previously a UK tradition, including ''[[Engrenages]]'' from France, the original Swedish TV version of ''[[Wallander (TV)|Wallander]]'', ''[[Forbrydelsen]]'' and ''[[Borgen (TV)|Borgen]]'' from Denmark, and ''Il commissario Montalbano'' from Italy.

* BBC News Channel: [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]] - A BBC News channel (That airs in America!). [[Twenty Four 24-Hour News Networks|Airs 24 hours a day]]. Formerly BBC News 24.

There's also [[BBC America]] ([[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|a cable network in the United States]]), which is the BBC in name only, being a privately run channel (although half-owned by BBC Worldwide, the other half being owned by [[Discovery Channel|Discovery Communications]]) that shows programmes from a variety of makers, including the real BBC's rivals ITV, Channel 4 and E4, most notably ''[[The Inbetweeners]]'' and ''[[Peep Show]]''. The name in America basically just means "British!". The channel does run some of the BBC's most popular programs, such as ''[[Top Gear]]'', ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' and, of course ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' - all among of American extended cable's highest rated and critically acclaimed shows. It acquired the first-run rights to ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' (which they initially only had repeat rights to), gaining them in a deal with their original American rights holders, Sci Fi Channel, later called [[Sy FySyfy]]. Unsurprisingly, ''Doctor Who'' is now BBC America's highest rated show. It also has American science fiction programmes such as ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'', ''[[The X -Files]]'' and the 2003-2009 ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', but it devotes most of its day to British programming. A fair amount of BBC programming (or co-production with BBC involvement) also tends to turn up on other networks abroad, including public educational [[PBS]] (or its member stations) in the US.

[[Category:The BBC]]