The BBC may well take heart from Friday’s Sun. Yes, you did read that correctly. Aside from a spread celebrating Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain, there were two slices of praise for the corporation.
An editorial praised the programme for becoming “a national institution” and called it “the BBC at its best”. Then my eyes popped at the next sentence:
“No commercial channel would have invested in a show about making cakes in a tent.”
How surprising was that? The Sun then concluded:
“Instead of spending licence fee money on ratings-chasing clones, the BBC should be making more high quality, innovative and quirky shows like this slice of perfection.”
A couple of pages further on, there were compliments for the BBC from a surprising source, none other than Kelvin MacKenzie.
He thought the combination of Bake Off with the “compelling” Doctor Foster “was the best television double header I can remember in years.” And he added for good measure:
“The BBC may have saved their bacon with this burst of creativity. If they keep up this standard and continue Mock The Week plus Radio 4’s News Quiz and I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, I will happily carry on paying my £145.50.”
Well I never. Perhaps the BBC should add these comments to its submission to the review being held by the culture secretary John Whittingdale.
