Bully for you?
Channel 4’s woes continue…
The Communications Act 2003 states that: "The public service remit for Channel 4 is the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular: demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and content of programmes; appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society; makes a significant contribution to meeting the need for the licensed public service channels to include programmes of an educational nature and other programmes of educative value; and exhibits a distinctive character."
As, once again, Channel 4 finds itself mired in a bullying controversy; is it time to wonder why the broadcaster seems to be perpetually on the back foot?
Channel 4 has often been accused of being too politically correct, which makes the recent spate of accusations so jarring. Has the anti-bullying message percolated to the production companies the network commissions shows from? Or do they assume that a nod is as good as a wink – until the proverbial sh*t hits the fan?
To be fair, Channel 4 can’t really be expected to have their own dedicated squad of bullying inspectors, roaming the country for production company infringements, so much really has to be taken on trust.
The recent accusations about Escape to the Chateau’s charming hosts Dick and Angel Strawbridge prompted this response from Ch4:
“C4 does not tolerate bullying or abusive behaviour in any of its productions. We have been assured that there have been no issues raised since and we continue to work with all parties.”
Looking back, former senior Ch4 executives may have not always demonstrated the most professional behaviour in their storied careers, witness Michael Grade’s undignified spat with Brass Eye’s Chris Morris, Mark Thompson’s ‘Bark at the Moon’ biting incident and Jay Hunt’s ageism controversy and Shane Allen (current BBC Comedy supremo) verbals.
With hindsight, Hunt was ill-advised to say back in 2012 that Channel 4 was about ‘punching people on the nose’.
Hypocrisy has long been a part of the TV industry, where sometimes the most egregious conduct isn’t called out if the culprit’s public persona hits the right ‘Woke’ (terrible word) notes.
Reality TV seems at the root of many of Channel 4’s bullying woes, with complaints emanating from shows such as Escape to the Chateau, Gogglebox, Ant Middleton’s Who Dares Wins, Eden, John McCririck, Big Brother and Chris Evans’ reported backstage experiments with naturism on The Big Breakfast set etc.
Evans actually went so far as to grouse that complaints about his alleged bullying were a Pre-Trumpian ‘witch hunt’, which was adversely affecting his family. This struck some as gaslighting on an epic scale, dialled all way up to #11, to paraphrase the movie Spinal Tap (1982).
It’s no great surprise when big ‘characters’ dominate the onscreen and off.
When reality ‘stars’ of a certain (older) age get their first flush of TV fame, it can (perhaps surprisingly) easily go to their heads, with egos and sense of entitlement becoming turbo-charged, even when compared to youngsters fresh off Love Island.
Way back in 2007, then Channel 4 Director of Programmes (and current ITV equivalent) Kevin Lygo commented on reality show Shipwrecked, where a white participant admired slavery and put the boot into black, gay and fat people:
“If we start going through the schedules and pulling out programmes that might or might not be offensive, where does that leave us?”
Talking about the notorious Shilpa Shetty/Jade Goody racism row, Lygo also weighed in with these thoughts:
"Let's put this in perspective, this was in danger of being the most boring BB that we'd had in many years - maybe ever - and we were thinking, 'Oh dear, what can we do?' And then suddenly from the cooking of a chicken going wrong this argument erupted which was taken on by the media and erupted into this extraordinary story."
Classy.
With revealing too much, they’re a fair few of the characters fronting pop-fact/leisure shows of whom you may rightly think “I really wouldn’t want to know them”. And believe me, you’d be dead right.
Swift turnaround production schedules and a lack of patience with recruits new to the pressure cooker world of reality TV can also lead to frayed tempers and harsh words.
So, what’s the solution?
In the COVID-19 and hopefully soon-to-be post pandemic world, TV grunts may well feel that complaining could result in loss of employment and possible unofficial blacklisting in the industry.
Anonymous hotlines don’t tend to be of much use, as specific detailed incidents of bullying can be easily linked to those involved - or witnesses.
My only advice would be for Channel 4 to make a public example of a few of the worst and most obviously guilty offenders, a lesson, as the French say ‘pour encourager les autres’.
After all, there’s plenty of other broadcasters and streamers who may want pick miscreants up (J. Clarkson), so Ch4 really doesn’t have to tolerate bad behaviour.
