Victoria Derbyshire Show ‘axed by BBC in cost-cutting bid’
THE BBC’S Victoria Derbyshire Show is to be axed, it was reported last night.
The broadcaster’s media editor Amol Rajan said the cost of running the news and current affairs programme on a linear channel “when savings are needed” had been
“deemed too high”. In 2016 it was announced BBC News would need to find £80 million of cuts over four years.
The broadcaster is due to make an announcement about its news operation next week.
The news comes two days after Tony Hall announced his resignation as the BBC’S director-general.
Louisa Compton, who edited the Victoria Derbyshire Show when it was first launched, said the decision was “madness” – while ITV’S Piers Morgan said it was a “very strange” call.
Mr Morgan added: “Surely the BBC isn’t now finding the cash to pay for its gender pay fiasco by cancelling other women’s shows?”
It comes as the BBC is expected to announce restructuring to its news division next week in a bid to prioritise digital journalism and make savings.
Popular news programmes, which could also include
Radio 4’s World At One, are likely to bear the brunt as reforms are expected to be pushed through before the next director-general is appointed.
The BBC declined to comment.
THE BBC’S award-winning Victoria Derbyshire Show is coming off air, it was revealed last night. The broadcaster’s media editor Amol Rajan broke the news ahead of an official announcement next week, saying the cost of running the TV news and current affairs programme on a linear channel “when savings are needed” had been “deemed too high”.
What’s brought this on?
As Rajan pointed out, someone has been number crunching and Derbyshire’s radio show is the latest casualty to save cash.
In 2016 it was announced BBC News would need to find £80 million of cuts over four years.
The broadcaster is due to make an announcement about its news operation next week. This news also comes two days after Tony Hall announced his resignation as the BBC’S director-general.
What’s been the reaction? Annoyance, bafflement and a wee sprinkling of anger. Louisa Compton, who edited the Victoria Derbyshire Show when it was first launched, described the decision as “madness” while ITV breakfast show host Piers Morgan said it was a “very strange” call.
Referring to the gender pay row which has loomed over the broadcaster since 2017, Morgan added: “Surely the BBC isn’t now finding the cash to pay for its gender pay fiasco by cancelling other women’s shows?”
Well, indeed.
So, what’s so special about it? Victoria Derbyshire is widely lauded for giving a voice to those traditionally underrepresented.
A champion for women’s issues, Derbyshire was hailed for bursting the “London bubble” that can dominate current affairs shows.
Aired at 10am on BBC2 and the BBC News Channel every weekday, the show focuses on original stories, audience debates and exclusive interviews as well as breaking news.
First launched in April 2015, the show won a Bafta in 2017 for its news coverage of footballers’ abuse, while Derbyshire herself has won and been nominated for several awards for the show.
Other exclusive stories the show has uncovered include the number of deaths linked to Xanax and the way family courts treat victims of domestic violence.
Why not axe something else? Rajan has suggested that, while the show found an audience on social media, it failed to justify its costs by falling short on the Beeb’s traditional TV channels.
He wrote: “Derbyshire’s programme was highly effective in reaching those people through original journalism, investigations and scoops of a kind that the BBC generally struggles to do. But on linear TV channels it failed to garner a sufficiently big audience to justify its cost.”
He added that the broadcaster’s news division had a problem “connecting with some licence fee payers away from big cities and from poorer backgrounds” (though it is hard to see how scrapping content that speaks directly to them will help).
What happens next?
The news division is looking to prioritise digital journalism and this will likely involve brutal cuts.
Another programme on the chopping block is Radio 4’s World At One, so watch this space.