The decision by the BBC to close BBC Four leaves the future of its documentaries, and of Mark Kermode’s Secrets Of Cinema, under threat.
The latest round of cost chopping at the BBC has seen it aim its scissors in the direction of BBC Four. After previously sending BBC Three to an online-only home before reversing the decision, the corporation is now instead set to keep BBC Four going, but not, er, make anything new for it.
Given that BBC Four had been home to a whole host of film documentaries, and also the best movie programme on TV – Mark Kermode’s Secrets Of Cinema – this is going to be a loss keenly felt by cinema fans.
BBC Four will soon become, as per the BBC’s own annual plan through to 2022, “the home of the most distinctive content from across the BBC’s archive”.
Where the programmes and documentaries that previously BBC Four had backed go from here isn’t confirmed, but it’s not too tricky to guess. At the very least, we hope that there’s some way to keep some of them going on other BBC channels. Given the amount of savings the corporation is trying to make, nobody’s expecting much there…
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