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Newsletter Article Book Review: A Licence to be Different Ð The Story of Channel 4 by Maggie Brown reviewed By Greville Havenhand A Licence to be Different - The Story of Channel 4 by Maggie Brown Little did I know as an Oxford undergraduate in the 1950s that the pugnacious President of the Union and the exceedingly bright young man from Brasenose who I later met at the BBC were to be the force behind a strange, contradictory product of the Thatcher years-Channel 4. Jeremy Isaacs and Anthony Smith took up the challenge of breaking the stranglehold of the BBC and the ITV companies and created a public institution dependent on advertising. In the 1970s there were only three channels and there had been a demand for a fourth for a long time, and it seemed as if it would be a second ITV channel. A group, ideologically led by Smith , but with great input from Isaacs and others won the day. There was to be an Open Broadcasting Authority to supervise and control the channel which was to derive its revenue from the ITV companies rather than from its own advertising; it was to cater for minority interests and to get the bulk of its programming from independent producers rather than the network companies. Dulwich based author and journalist Maggie Brown chronicles the conception, the birth pangs, the troubled childhood, the rebellious teenage years and the fractious later years with the thoroughness and style which on would expect from one of the country's better media journalists.. Isaacs, already with a proud track record as a television producer and editor had demanded "a fourth channel that will somehow be different." He found himself as its Chief Executive". The IBA had wanted Sir Richard Attenborough as Chairman, but he was too busy filming his epic "Ghandi" at the time, but accepted the Vice-Chairmanship and the Chair went to Edmund Dell, a former Minister in Harold Wilson's Cabinet. He was a somewhat austere man, full of rectitude but with no knowledge of the Television industry. His relationship with Isaacs was to be less than harmonious. Attenborough, although considered by some to be a verbose "luvvie", got on with both men and his input over the years was invaluable. There was an occasion when, after a series of complaints that some of the channel's output was too left-wing he tried to force Isaacs and its head of current affairs, the formidable Liz Forgan, to accept independent scrutiny of the current affairs programmes. Attenborough skilfully forced him to back down. Nevertheless, Liz Forgan's rule over Current Affairs was characterised by a series of disputes over bias in the output. David Glencross of the IBA believed that the former Guardian journalist did not fully appreciate the difference between print and broadcast journalism. Newspapers were free to give an opinion; Television was, by the law of the land, committed to being impartial. When Forgan later ran BBC radio there was no sign of this confusion. The early days were chaotic. Commissioning Editors were supposed to buy programmes from independents but there was little control, either over money or quality. On the whole, though, Isaacs and his team redefined the possibilities of Television. Irreverent "Youth Programmes", controversial current affairs and documentaries, and an increasingly mature Channel 4 news, set the tone, but there were still internal disputes and external politics. Programmes aimed to increase the younger audience such as "The Tube" and Jonathan Ross's "The Last Resort" were a mixed success. The audiences were good but the producers often sailed close to the wind and caused increasing worries to the regulators. At first the channel's overall audiences had been small and the safety net of ITV had been a necessity. One of the triumphs, albeit short-lived, was the success of "Film on 4." The production of films for television like "My Beautiful Laundrette" sometimes became a hit in the cinema, without making a lot of money. The Channel had its artistic and documentary triumphs, but also its internal squabbles and political disputes. Eventually Isaacs left, not entirely happily. The next head was Michael Grade, steeped in show business, forceful -even brash , but not, at that time, entirely in tune with the earlier cultural, educational and minorities aspirations of the channel. He was, however, the man to give it the commercial edge that was needed; he allowed the commissioning editors the freedom to be outrageous. It was not for nothing that he was dubbed "pornographer in chief." The successor to "The Tube" was "The Word", home to cutting edge live music, provocative interviews and stunts in appalling bad taste. I remember an old friend, David Glencross, now with the Independent Television Commission (how these bodies changed with successive legislation), telling me that he had many a sleepless night brought on by the controversies over "The Word". He transmitted his and his colleagues' views to Channel 4 in no uncertain terms. Grade had surrounded himself with a talented creative team and good managers. There were very serious moves to have the channel privatised, but it found an unexpected champion in its chairman, Sir Michael Bishop, chairman of British Midland Airways. An active and generous member of the Conservative party he used his skills and contacts to protect it. His letter to Major was the model that should have been followed recently, when thanks to its own mistakes, its unique status was again threatened. Many insiders feel that Blair's dismissal of Bishop was not only ill-judged but spiteful. The original dependence on the money from ITV had changed. In 1993 it had become a public corporation without shareholders, but with a safety net from ITV but also a commitment to pay ITV if revenues exceeded the agreed level. It was commercialised to an extent that dismayed its idealistic founders. Grade had not seen the future of the new digital and multi-channel age and it was left to his successor, Michael Jackson, encouraged by the Blair Government, to embrace it. He strived to use this entry into the digital world to give it new vigour. He recruited a new Director of Programmes, Tim Gardam, a former BBC head of news who, like many others had been frustrated by John Birt's prescriptive style of management. He was appointed without the then Chairman, Vanni Treves having been consulted. He was keen to keep up the standards of factual programmes but also to fight for ratings. "Big Brother" gave it ratings and its spin-offs sustained an audience for E4.. "Friends" and "ER" gave the imports class and an audience. The number of imported programmes on the whole, however, went down dramatically. Brown thinks that in spite of an obvious improvement, the reign of Jackson was a time of wasted opportunity. In 2001 Channel 4 lost money for the first time. Competition for advertising was fierce, but so was the competition for good programmes, and as Channel 4 was the only network with no in-house productions it suffered. The relationship between Jackson and his Chairman was never an easy one. Brown thinks that he came closer than any other Chief Executive to filling the shoes of Isaacs, but in a speech he said that the concept of public service broadcasting was a shibboleth whose time had come. So the man who had presided over a hybrid of commercial and public service did not believe in its tenets. He left to go to the United States in 2001, to be replaced, after a deal of indecision, with Mark Thompson, the present Director General of the BBC. One of the key aspects of his relatively short tenure was his campaign to have the channel merge with Channel 5. Just as a new Chairman, the son of Paul Johnson - the journalist who had dubbed Grade "Pornographer in Chief" - was appointed the BBC's Director General, Greg Dyke, was fired in the aftermath of the Hutton report, and Thompson replaced him. Ms Brown's verdict on his reign was that it was disruptive; he started a debate on the Channel's future, casting doubt on its ability to remain independent. He was not her favourite Chief Executive. After an interim Andy Duncan head of marketing at the BBC took over - a symptom of the times. As well as not being a programme man he was very much in thrall to Johnson, who was increasingly hands on. Once again the future of Channel 4 was cast into doubt with the affair of "Celebrity Big Brother" and the racism row. Added to this were the scandals concerning phone-in competitions associated with the "Richard and Judy Show" (recycled from ITV late in 2001). Truth to tell it was not the only channel to be involved in the phone-in debacle but it was all part of an ongoing malaise. Maggie Brown points out that the management did itself no favours when in the Shilpa Shetty-Jade Goody racism row they told Ofcom that the channel was always prone to controversy because "its core values included "making trouble, inspiring change and doing it first." Channel 4 is at a crossroads. The roads leading to this crossroads have been charted with style, elegance and insight by Ms. Brown. Her sources are impeccable, her diligence remarkable. If there is a small criticism it is that the latter part of the book appears less sure than the earlier. For anyone with an interest in broadcasting it is essential reading; for the general reader it is a fascinating read. A Licence to be Different - The Story of Channel 4 by Maggie Brown |
