David Dimbleby has expressed his concerns about the “crazy” decision by the BBC to cut staff from its events broadcast team.
Earlier this week it was revealed that the corporation plans to drastically reduce the team behind the coverage of national occasions such as royal events, state funerals and the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph.
The veteran broadcaster, 87, who has fronted more than 30 Cenotaph services throughout his career, has highlighted the importance of the BBC’s state events coverage and said the move “worries” him.
He told BBC Newsnight: “What worries me is the BBC closing down the events department, which I’ve worked with for years, which covers state occasions – Trooping the Colour, royal jubilees – and is a very small unit devoted to doing that, and it’s a difficult job.
“Apparently suddenly some bureaucrat has said ‘oh, we don’t need that’, and I think that’s crazy.
“It takes a lot of work behind the scenes. I’ve done the Cenotaph broadcasts, 25, 30 times.”
Dimbleby, whose father and brother also had careers at the broadcaster, spoke about the extent of the preparation needed by staff in the lead-up to national events.
He said: “The work that goes on before that thing hits the air is done by a dedicated team who have to talk to all the detachments that are going to march past the Cenotaph. It takes three months to prepare for that.
“They go into Westminster Abbey, it takes a month to prepare. You deal with the Houses of Parliament for the state opening. It takes a long time.
“You have to have a group that can negotiate these things, you don’t just go in and stick up a camera and say ‘oh well, we’ll do a programme’, it is not like that. The BBC should know that.”
Dimbleby explained that the current BBC events broadcasting team is “a very small dedicated unit”, which the corporation reportedly plans to cut down to one person and freelancers.
He said: “I went to South Africa to do (Nelson) Mandela’s funeral and inauguration. Those were massive operations which took weeks to organise.
“You can’t just do it with freelancers – freelancers are good, but they don’t have the continued involvement, which is what you need to get these things right.”
The former Question Time host also emphasised the importance of the broadcaster covering national events and said: “The peaks of the BBC are the things that other people don’t or can’t do or want to do.
“Those are the things you should guard above all else.”
Dimbleby started his career with the BBC 60 years ago.
His father Richard was the BBC’s first war correspondent before becoming a leading commentator for the broadcaster.
His brother Jonathan also worked for the broadcaster, having hosted its political debate show Any Questions? for 32 years.
