King Charles might not have decreed that the BBC’s Autumnwatch be axed but he may have inadvertently caused it.
Michaela Strachan reckons the BBC spent so much money broadcasting the King’s coronation and Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, budget restrictions led to it being culled.
The presenter says the Beeb made the “right decision”, as opposed to cutting back on budgets across the other Watch shows.
But she says it is a shame that the nature programme was axed given the warm reception viewers gave David Attenborough’s series Wild Isles.
“It’s really sad,” she says. “But when you think that budgets are getting smaller, the choice was either to strip the budget over all the programmes, or to strip one of the programmes – and I think that was the best decision.
“I would rather keep Springwatch at the heart of the Watches, and keep the budget. Of course, I’d rather we had all three, but if you’re faced with that decision... Let’s be honest. We have a cost of living crisis, people aren’t buying their TV licences, we’ve had a very expensive coronation and a very expensive Queen’s funeral, which has cost the BBC a lot of money.
“It was the right decision. Disappointing but the right one.”
The BBC axed the autumn version after 17 years, citing “challenging times financially”, and said it will invest more into Springwatch and Winterwatch.
Michaela adds: “It does seem a shame after everyone raved about Wild Isles. You would have thought that everyone would have been really keen to learn more.” Alas, there are now fewer Watches to watch.
