BBC accused of losing faith in religion after axeing R4 show
THE BBC’S commitment to religious programming is being questioned after it announced plans to cancel Something Understood, the Radio 4 show that has run for 23 years.
From April next year, the weekly slot will be filled with repeats of old programmes and no new content will be commissioned.
The corporation blamed budget cuts, saying: “The BBC continues to face significant financial challenges, and has to save £800million by 2021. So Radio 4, like the rest of BBC Radio, has to make tough choices.
“We’ve broadcast Something Understood for nearly 24 years, and we know the decision to no longer make this programme will disappoint our audience.
“But we have a full and rich back catalogue of the programme, and we propose to fill the schedule with the best of the archive for the foreseeable future.”
The show, which explores issues surrounding faith and ethics, has many loyal listeners despite its Sunday 6.05am time slot, with a repeat at 11.30pm.
The decision was made despite a recent BBC review that said: “We want to
‘They shouldn’t have cancelled it, they should have made it prime time. It was held back by its scheduling’
do more to help people understand the role of Christianity in today’s world, and more to understand other faiths and beliefs as well.”
Critics of the decision to end the show include the Rev Robin Griffithjones, Master of the Temple church in the City of London, who told Church Times: “It is an unfailingly thoughtful, measured programme that covers a wide range of topics with grace.
“They shouldn’t have cancelled it, they should have made it prime time. It was held back by its scheduling. As an outsider, it seems a sad one to cut.”
The Rev Malcolm Doney, a frequent contributor to the programme, said: “The people I know that listen to it often aren’t card-carrying Christians, but agnostics and even out-and-out atheists. It’s the best of radio because it is thoughtful and surprising.”
The BBC previously insisted it had plans to “increase the ambition of religious programmes” on the network and designated 2019 as the “Year of Beliefs”.
Ofcom recently introduced a quota of at least 115 hours of religious programmes across BBC One and BBC Two, stipulating that some must be during peak times, but no such quota exists for radio.