The chief executive of Channel 4 has said “risky” shows such as Derry Girls, It’s a Sin and Gogglebox would probably have not been commissioned if the network was privately-owned.
CEO Dr Alex Mahon made the comments to UK government's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday in London about the potential privatisation by the government of the network.
Mahon said the creators of the channel's most popular independent shows like Derry Girls “have gone on record saying that no one else would have bought those shows.
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She said of Lisa McGee's Derry Girls that it has "turned out to be a huge hit. Wonderful. If you haven’t seen it, it doesn’t sound great because it’s a 1990s comedy about young girls growing up in [Derry]. I mean, no one would have thought that that would be really popular.
"It’s a very, very risky show to me. And that goes for many of the shows that subsequently become popular with the public.”
Channel 4 is owned by the state but run on a commercial basis with a remit to reinvest its profits in new programmes.
Boris Johnson, who last week announced he will resign as PM, has already signed off on proposals to sell the publicly owned broadcaster, and the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, had been preparing to push the law authorising the change through parliament in the autumn.
There is speculation the Channel 4 privatisation plan could be dropped by the next prime minister.
In May, Derry Girls wrapped its third and final series.
The show, starring Saoirse Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland, Nicola Coughlan, Jamie Lee-O'Donnell and Dylan Llewellyn, is due to air on Netflix later this year.
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