W hy you can’t have your cake and eat it
HANDS OFF OUR CAKES!
Look, we all believed it would last longer. But the lure of money and more exposure meant a commercial motive overrode duty. #GBBO #Cameron Stig Abell
MONEY talks. And in the cash-rich world of telly it positively roars like a home cinema sound system on steroids.
The sweet delight that was our midweek guilt-free pleasure was, it seems, just too tempting.
Maker Love Productions, frustrated that Auntie Beeb’s purse was being kept too tightly clasped, plumped for the commercial cash cow.
But the prospect of milking it might soon curdle.
Here, Bill Gibb takes a look at some of the nation’s favourite shows and best-loved stars that found the grass was anything but greener on the other side.
MORECAMBE & WISE
Eric and Ernie, like Bake Off, were a national treasure.
In the same way as Paul, Mary, Mel and Sue give us a warm glow, the country simply felt better when the comedy duo bounded on to our screens.
They had initially come from ITV but they were the quintessential BBC stars.
Christmas wasn’t the same for anyone, the Royal Family included, without the tall one with the glasses and the little one with the short, fat, hairy legs.
The Queen even moved her festive dinner to make sure she could watch, and in 1977, 27 million of us tuned in.
But ITV made the duo an offer they couldn’t refuse – buckets of cash and the promise of a movie – and they channelhopped in 1978.
Minutes from a BBC meeting revealed Thames TV had agreed to pay “very large sums” for Morecambe & Wise to make just two shows a year.
The GGBO-like furore over the “damaging loss” was such that the BBC Governors, worried they’d continue to lose out in bidding wars, actually planned to lobby the Government.
Pleas for a levy on ITV profits were considered, along with discussions about ensuring the public knew it was the “lure of money” that led to the defection.
In the meantime the BBC repeated the recent 13-part series, including the smash hit Christmas show, to sabotage its commercial rivals.
But the move to ITV, while boosting Eric and Ernie’s banks accounts, soon soured.
Like Bake Off, already set to move without two of its key players, the funnymen had to go minus the man who wrote their scripts, Eddie Braben, who stayed with the BBC.
Adverts, the absence of those killer gags and the move away from their natural home proved disastrous and the audience figures never came close.
ADRIAN CHILES & CHRISTINE BLEAKLEY
Finding a partnership with chemistry is the Holy Grail for TV execs.
It’s gold dust when it happens, and Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley were sprinkled with it on The One Show sofa.
His blokeishness and her girl-next-door charm won over millions – and millions were on offer when ITV came calling.
ITV considered them the perfect pairing for their new Daybreak breakfast show.
But what a difference a new sofa and a new time made. Early-evening warmth became early-morning frost as far as viewers were concerned.
Little over a year after their move, the shine had come off to such an extent that they were axed.
Chiles admitted the hype had been “calamitous”.
Bleakley, once the nation’s darling, saw her One Show replacement Alex Jones take her glory, and was found other projects by ITV. Chiles remained the face of ITV’s football coverage before losing that role, too.
DES LYNAM
For 30 years Des Lynam was the face of BBC Sport.
He was the guy blokes wanted to have a pint with and a chat about all things footie.
And women were won over by his twinkly-eyed charm.
Suddenly, in 1999, just days before he was due to present the first Match Of The Day of a new season, he was unveiled as the new face of ITV’s football coverage on a four-year deal paying him more than £25,000 per week.
He said it was an offer “too tempting to turn down” and that the move would give him a fresh challenge.
But it was one more move too far for viewers.
Lynam left at the end of the contract with the admission: “I went from being a great broadcaster to a somewhat inadequate one overnight.”
THE VOICE
In need of a sure-fire Saturday-night hit for the long Strictly-free months, and keen for their own X Factor-style show, the BBC bought The Voice in 2011.
It was getting an established global brand, from the creator of Big Brother, but with ITV also keen, the Beeb had to splash out £22m for three years.
Auntie managed to keep it for a further two years but ITV’s buying power finally won out and, from January, it’ll move channels.
The BBC is hitting back with Gary Barlow heading a talent show judging panel on Let It Shine.
TOP GEAR
The perfect example of how to win a battle but lose the war.
Jeremy Clarkson’s punchy departure from the motoring show, along with Richard Hammond and James May, resulted in them being lured to Amazon’s telly production arm, Prime.
The trio could laugh all the way to the bank, especially Clarkson with a deal reportedly worth £10m annually.
But when their new motoring show The Grand Tour starts in November it’ll be niche viewing in the UK, with a fraction of the BBC audience.
And it was a lose-lose scenario for the BBC, with its revamped Top Gear being the TV flop of the year and a broadcasting calamity for one-series blunder Chris Evans.
NEIGHBOURS
Everybody needs good neighbours and within a few years of the goings-on in Ramsay Street being shown on BBC 1, audiences topped 20 million.
Although those numbers fell away, it was still a favourite part of the day for millions until 2008. But then maker Freemantle hit the Beeb with a £300m bill, three times the previous cost, and it was snapped up by Channel 5. Fewer than a million now watch regularly.
BIG BROTHER
A broadcasting phenomenon when it began on Channel 4 in 2000.
More than five million people were routinely hooked with the finals even bigger draws. Although the numbers had dropped by the time Channel 5 swooped, the channel-hop proved a ratings disaster, with half of the audience
deserting it.
Greed is never good. Eitherwith cakes or contracts.
Piers Morgan