BBC apologise to Tom Jones

Discussing if he thought the It’s Not Unusual hit maker could return to the series at a later date, he said: “I’d like him to go out on the BBC this year in something else…”

“We have changed global viewing for the better”. Every time I make a show, I’m a small businessman, responsible for hundreds of employees, in charge of a budget of millions of pounds. “If we don’t…allow the voice of the creative and production community to be heard loud and clear, the politicians will become our masters rather than partners and supporters”, he said.

As we should know by now, the panel is never stable for very long.

In America, where the BBC is respected and imitated, executives wonder why Britain is jeopardizing one of its strongest creative assets, Iannucci said.

Repeating his view that the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, should be privatized, Iannucci warned that the new United Kingdom Conservative government risked sapping the strength of a world-class content industry.

Cohen explained the BBC’s share of total TV revenue has fallen sharply, from 22 per cent in 2011 to 12 per cent by 2021, and will continue to do so along with BBC licence fee income because young people increasingly fail to see the need to own a television. “If the licence fee is under strain, then let’s supplement it not carve it up, by pushing ourselves more commercially overseas”, he said.

Iannucci said Britain boasted the “best audience in the world” for television but had a government which constantly talked of “reigning in our greatest network”.

British television has positively influenced television around the world, he told an audience of industry executives and producers.

To counter any suggestion that he represents those on the left who feel the BBC should be immunised against the challenges of the real world, Iannucci consistently quoted figures from the political right to illustrate his claim that the BBC was often criticised precisely because it had proven it is up to the task.

Iannucci added: “Their anger won’t be divided on party lines, it will swell beyond Guardian readers and Telegraph readers to all in-between and beyond, who regard the BBC as one of the best fixtures of British daily life”. “Absolutely. I hope he’s back on the BBC very soon, I really do”.

Armando Iannucci believes that people like Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat should be consulted more by the Government when deciding broadcasting policy and the future of the BBC.

“You can not have a meaningful root and branch review of television, if you’re only going to deal with one branch”, he said. Broadcasters, argue back; don’t adopt a position of automatic compromise that concedes everything.

Iannucci continued his praise for British programming by saying the global success of American TV shows had come about because they were emulating British television.