Ross and Brand

Mark Easton's blog on the BBC website

I responded to "auntie's dilemma" on Mark Easton's BBC blog...

The discussion about the two conceited characters at the centre of this "furore" has many interesting twists and turns of course, (especially issues about whose production company produced the programme in question) but they're so dismally smug and tedious, neither deserves the oxygen.

However, I might take issue with three statements in the blog:
1. "If the Beeb cannot keep enough young people on board, it is sunk."

Well actually, this is probably incorrect, given the population statistics. Indeed the very opposite could be argued. Of course this doesn't mean that TV and radio need to be bland or boring - after all, it is the over-50s who invented "youth" in the first place and have grown up with fresh, vibrant and rule-breaking comedy and satire as well as music and much else in the media. But research shows that this age group is less likely to be amused or entertained by the sort of prurient drivel dispensed by the two in question.

2. "The challenge is true for many organisations - big multinationals also need to ensure their market doesn't simply die off. "

As Ford discovered with the Mondeo model, designing a car that can deliver high performance alongside ergonomics that make it more pleasurable to use by older people whose bodies aren't necessarily quite as supple as they would like, were two of the key reasons for its wide appeal and financial success. The BBC's audience might well be pleased to see a bit of this kind of thinking translated into programmes by the corporation's production departments and suppliers - even if they are dominated by younger people.

3. "But the pressure on the Corporation to appeal to youth is, effectively, enshrined in its Royal Charter. And it has a licence fee to justify."

Possibly so, but consider this for a moment: there are now more people over 60 in the country than those under sixteen. If any BBC programme makers were to step inside the living rooms of any of the 9.5 million pensioners around the country or even visit any of the 330,000 odd care homes, they would find a huge older audience which is positively aching for some really good informative, rich and entertaining TV content aimed at THEM - especially during the day.

Like Ford has shown, segregating a market generationally is not the only answer. And surely this lies at the heart of the BBC's responsibility to licence fee payers. Why not give older people the kind of programmes they yearn for, too - besides anything else, they have been paying for the privilege longer than any of the young audience which the corporation appears to pursue so energetically.

Image: Guardian.co.ukArts