Olivia Colman, Daniel Radcliffe, Maxine Peake and more than 750 stars and other broadcasting figures have signed an open letter urging the BBC Trust to reverse a management decision to close BBC3 as a terrestrial television channel.
Their letter argues that the proposals to make the channel’s programmes only available online would “remove at a stroke a vitally important outlet for new talent and innovative ideas”.
It will be delivered on Tuesday to the BBC director general, Tony Hall, and Rona Fairhead, the chair of the broadcaster’s governing body, the BBC Trust, and registers dismay at the cost-saving plan, days before the trust publishes its verdict on proposals made by management last year.
Other big-name signatories include Poldark’s Aidan Turner, Game of Thrones star Lena Headey, and James Nesbitt, as well as comedians including Russell Howard, Jack Whitehall, Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Andy Samberg and Greg Davies.
The letter follows a campaign to save the channel organised by two leading independent television producers, Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick, which makes Have I Got News for You, and Jon Thoday of Avalon, which makes Howard’s Good News for BBC3 and the Sharon Horgan sitcom Catastrophe.
Describing the channel as a place where “some of the most successful and influential names currently working in British television were given their first chance”, the letter adds: “BBC3 has cost the licence fee payer over £1bn over the last 10 years. Closure will write off this investment, which would be unthinkable in a commercial environment.”
It says British broadcasting is facing a “tipping point” and concludes: “Either the BBC can continue to cater for an increasingly elderly audience, or it can take the lead and safeguard its position as a beloved and relevant public broadcaster by investing in the talent and the audiences who are the building blocks of the future. Safeguarding the future of BBC3 as it currently exists is the key to this.”
Signatories include not only on-screen talent but TV executives and agents. Many TV writers have also added their names, including Andrew Davies – who wrote the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for the BBC – and Jimmy McGovern, whose latest series Banished aired recently on BBC2.
Their intervention comes at a sensitive time for the BBC generally, with a green paper on the its future expected from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport before parliament’s summer recess, followed by the renegotiation of the broadcaster’s royal charter, when the corporation will be under pressure to demonstrate it is achieving value for money.
Hall has said he will divert £30m of the money saved by taking BBC3 online to avoid cuts to BBC1’s drama budget – money from which these well-established writers might themselves have been expected to benefit.
Thoday and Mulville started their campaign by launching a bid to buy the BBC3 channel for £100m. However, they have always said that their overall aim was to save the channel and that the best outcome would be for BBC management to reverse their decision to close it as a terrestrial channel.
Other ideas to save the channel include adopting a “Channel 4 model” (which would see BBC3 remain in public ownership but be funded by advertising instead of the licence fee) or a “UKTV model” (under which it would be co-owned as a joint venture between the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and private-sector partners).
A BBC Trust spokesman said: “The trust has been robustly assessing the BBC’s proposals, informed by an assessment of the market impact by Ofcom, and listening to the view of audiences and the rest of the industry. The next stage in the process will be to publish a provisional decision, on which there will be a further opportunity for people to comment, and we hope to do that in the coming weeks.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “We’re pleased so many people feel strongly about the BBC’s services, but the reality of having the licence fee frozen since 2010 means tough decisions have to be made.
“We also agree this is a tipping point for British broadcasting because young people want great content that’s relevant to them at a time of their choosing irrespective of which screen it’s on – and that’s why rather than simply closing BBC3 we’re proposing reinventing it online.
“We will still make great drama, comedy and documentaries but also embrace change and be something young people want, something that gives them a voice and gives a platform to future generations of on and off screen talent.”
• This article was amended on 9 June 2015. An earlier version said the BBC Trust had been urged to reverse its decision to close BBC3. The Trust has yet to make a decision; it is still assessing proposals put forward by the BBC executive.
