Everyone in television production has become risk -avoiding, according to the chairman of Ofcom.
The 81-year-old made the comments in making a comparison between modern production and what his Media-Mogul Uncle, Lew Grade, established when he founded Incorporated Television Company (ITC) in the 1950s.
The Crossbench Peer, which has been at the helm of the British mediagulator since 2022, told Radio Times that the modern equivalent of ITC 'does not exist'.
“There is too much competition, so it's very difficult to take the risks he has taken,” said Lord Grade and added: “Everyone is so risky.”
Last year, Lord Grade Grade commissioners and broadcasters criticized for the 'exploitation of dial' in TV shows for reviews.
The ofcom chairman has not eliminated specific criticism programs, but he expressed his concern that members of the public were all too often used on the screen instead of professional entertainers.
He added: 'Professional entertainers used to have the audience. Now the audience entertains himself. '
Lord Grade, the former Chief Executive of Channel 4 and chairman of the BBC (photo), nowadays regretted the lack of risks in television in television
The 81-year-old made the comments in making a comparison between modern production and what his media Mogul Uncle, Lew Grade (photo), founded when he founded Incorporated Television Company (ITC) in the 1950s
ITC, which later became part of ITV, created some of the most inventive British TV shows ever made under the steward of Lew Grade, including the Muppet Show, the Saint, the Prisoner, the convincing! and Thunderbirds. Depicted: Lew Grade meets Fozzie Bear of the award -winning Muppet Show
Lew Grade, credited as the man who invented popular television, learned, according to his cousin, about commercial TV in the US.
“He saw commercial TV when he was there, and what was possible,” Lord Grade explained.
“He was against the Patrician BBC, whose idea of ​​an entertainment show was an evening out in The Savoy with all men in white ties and tails and the women in long gloves,” he added.
ITC, which later became part of ITV, created some of the most inventive British TV shows ever made under the steward of Lew Grade, including the Muppet Show, the Saint, the Prisoner, the convincing! and Thunderbirds.
For Lord Grade, the biggest skill of his uncle was 'taking risks, supporting talent', as well as 'going with his instincts – always'. '[His] Real legacy is the Muppets, “he added. “When no one in America would touch them, Lew took the risk, when a real seller sold them back to where they came from.”
His comments were found on a BBC Radio 4 broadcast this Saturday that maps the story of Lew Garde's ITC Company and describes it as a revolution brought about in British television in the sixties and seventies.
“The story of ITC is crucial for the story of television and the arrival of commercial TV as a challenge for the monopoly of the BBC,” adds the description of the show.
“His real legacy was the Muppets … When nobody in America would touch them, he took the risk.”
