Ayesha Hazarika
(Picture: Daniel Hambury)When the country is grappling with a terrifying cost of living crisis where putting on your heating seems like a luxury, plus the heightened anxiety and fallout of the Ukraine conflict, it seems utterly bizarre that the Government has decided to prioritise privatising Channel 4.
It says it wants the network to compete with Netflix and other streaming services. But Channel 4 already has a huge streaming service, All4, and it creates award-winning, popular content that audiences love here in Britain and beyond — from shows like Gogglebox and Come Dine With Me to It’s A Sin and Derry Girls. It has a very different remit from Netflix, which requires Channel 4 to innovate, to inspire change, to nurture talent and offer a platform for alternative views. And it has.
I remember first watching it in the Eighties. It felt fresh, a bit naughty, irreverent and very British. It mellowed over time, offering more sedate, middle-class classics such as Location, Location, Location, but it still has content which made a proud liberal like me clutch my pearls. I’m looking at you, Naked Attraction — the show which could turn you celibate.
The station is also required to provide content which is educational. It does that admirably. This is not going to continue if it becomes a Netflix-lite. The private sector will reboot Channel 4 without all the ethical bits like a duty to educate or supporting diverse and regional production companies.
What’s more, many of us are falling out of love with streaming services. There’s less quality to watch in all the dross. And guess what? It’s getting pricier. We the consumer will end up paying — and through the nose. I reckon we will reach a point where once the Tories destroy the BBC, we can look forward to splashing close to £100 a month on a range of streaming services to watch only a few programmes we really like.
But this isn’t about value for money. It’s about a visceral hatred of one of the jewels in the broadcaster’s crown, Channel 4 News. Just yesterday, a senior Tory source confessed to me that most Conservative MPs absolutely loathe the show as they don’t like the tone. That means it holds the Government to account without fear or favour.
Senior Tories didn’t like a 2019 speech by Dorothy Byrne, then Head of News, at the Edinburgh TV Festival where she called out politicians for lying. They have also never forgiven the show for replacing Boris Johnson with a block of ice when he refused to show up for a leadership debate on the climate crisis in 2019.
Let’s not kid ourselves, this Government is smashing up one of Margaret Thatcher’s greatest achievements — the station launched under her government — and one of our best cultural assets. All because a show was a bit mean to Johnson.
The idea that the ruling party takes a wrecking ball to Channel 4 to avenge critical news coverage seems the kind of thing Putin would do. Grow up.
In other news...
One of the best shows on TV is back. BBC1’s The Split has returned for its third and final season. Nicola Walker, below, is brilliant as the tough-talking divorce lawyer who finds her own marriage falling apart. It’s got a strong female cast and great writing. The show is also the greatest advert for getting back into the office. That is, of course, if your workplace is glossy, glamorous, and full of hot people in a totally unrealistic way.
But the real star of the show is the fashion. As many of us are still grappling with the concept of a non-elasticated waistband after lockdown, these fabulous female lawyers are resplendent in old-school, razor-sharp tailoring and uncreased, unstained, silk shirts as they march across the Millennium Bridge in their heels to do battle for their clients. It’s also a joy to watch a show with a decent number of older women who look their age and look fabulous.
