‘No-one watches TV any more’ – W1A and changing TV culture

The last episode of BBC Two comedy W1A has been released on iPlayer, bringing the show to a fairly conclusive end after three seasons. The comedy series follows Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) as the ‘Head of Values’ at the BBC, and is a self-parody of the organisation’s inner workings. The latest season saw the need for Ian and his colleagues to prove the worth of the BBC in light of charter renewal or, in other words, they needed to ‘identify what the BBC does best and find more ways of doing less of it better.’ W1A is starkly conscious of the fast-changing nature of the way we consume media, and presents the BBC as bumbling through these changes haphazardly. In the first episode of this season, Siobhan Sharpe (Jessica Hynes) told the team that ‘no-one watches television anymore – like no-one.’ Is Siobhan right in her suggestion that TV is becoming archaic and rapidly losing its audience?

Of course, as is often the case in W1A, Siobhan is way off the mark. The very existence of this article testifies that people are still watching TV, but the underlying point being made is really about the changing culture of television. Live TV is in decline, as streaming platforms like Netflix become the norm. While the BBC does have an online platform of its own with iPlayer, the corporation is still a remnant of the old order. Although the TV licence is still paid by many households across the UK, it isn’t really much of a surprise that more and more are ceasing to pay the £12.25 per month fee and opting to pay just £7.99 per month (previously £7.49) for Netflix instead. Certainly, amongst the student population, this seems to be the most common means of watching television.

The BBC is no longer unique in its lack of adverts

What we are seeing here is a trend that is occurring across many industries in the twenty-first century, as consumer choice is slowly becoming a more powerful arbitrator than established institutions. The appeal of something like Netflix over iPlayer is fundamentally because of the greater variety that it offers. In W1A, the characters are desperately searching for a new project that ‘feels BBC,’ because the corporation has an existing cultural reputation which its content must live up to. Netflix, on the other hand, accepts programmes from a variety of sources and does not set its own standards (aside from a handful of ‘Netflix Originals’), allowing it to be less choosy and to put up and take down shows based on consumer popularity. If a show on Netflix is poorly received, it need not affect the Netflix brand. If a BBC show is poorly received, the corporation comes under a lot more scrutiny for the way in which it has used ‘taxpayer’s money.’

I hate to see BBC television struggling through these changes, because I greatly admire what it represents as a channel with no advertising. Historically, the absence of commercial breaks and product placement made the BBC a more reputable broadcaster than other UK networks and, in particular, American networks. But that has changed, as advertising no longer plagues television viewing in the way it used to. Commercial breaks can be fast-forwarded on pre-recorded programmes. Ads can be skipped after a few seconds before a YouTube video, or even blocked altogether using ad-blockers. And on-demand services like Netflix just do away with adverts completely. The BBC is no longer unique in its lack of adverts.

In my opinion, the BBC still has an important place in UK society and still serves its audiences well with content, like W1A, that is worthwhile, entertaining and informative. For the time being, the BBC is still holding up, even if their strategy for moving into ‘the future’ really is being coordinated by a team as hapless and inane as Ian Fletcher’s.

David Tennant’s narration in the closing moments of W1A succinctly clarifies it all: ‘It looks as if a future of some kind for the BBC is finally underway and perhaps, for the moment, that’s all that matters.’