What went wrong with Question Time?
There is a growing sense that Question Time is in crisis. The retirement of David Dimbleby was a chance to rethink. As we await tonight’s second programme of 2019 the question is, have they blown this chance?
Fiona Bruce was the wrong choice as presenter. She doesn’t have Dimbleby’s authority or charm. She has been a newsreader, presented some factual programmes and is best known for presenting the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. Compare this CV with her two best-known predecessors, Robin Day and David Dimbleby.
The BBC clearly wanted a woman after three male presenters, and preferably someone younger than Martha Kearney (61) or Kirsty Wark (63). There were three obvious candidates who were in their late 40s or early 50s. Perhaps Sarah Montague (almost the same age as Bruce) was considered too posh or too associated with radio. Perhaps choosing Emily Maitlis was thought to be too huge a loss to Newsnight so soon after the retirement of Paxman and the departure of Evan Davis. Emma Barnett would have been a better choice. Smart, robust and very personable she has made a name for herself on Five Live with some devastating political interviews. She also has a good range. Perhaps at 33 she was considered too young and too inexperienced on TV.
But the presenter was never the real problem with Question Time. The big problem is symptomatic of a larger loss of nerve at the BBC. Over the last twenty years or so the BBC has almost destroyed its authority with a loss of ambition and of seriousness. The loss of ambition was shown with the centenary of the First World War. No major series comparable to The Great War (1964) or The World at War (1973-4), just lots of bits and pieces. The only memorable achievement was Peter Jackson’s restoration of archive film from the war, They Shall Not Grow Old, in association with 14-18 NOW and The Imperial War Museum but I don’t know what contribution, financial or creative, was made by the BBC.
The loss of seriousness has been shown in a wide range of output: relying on celebrity presenters for many of their music and arts, history and science programmes; a general dumbing down; a reluctance to address obscure or difficult subjects. This loss of seriousness has even spread to flagship current affairs programmes like Question Time. Question Time began as an opportunity to see leading politicians debate topical issues at a time when Parliament wasn’t filmed. Now, the producers have added a ragbag of comedians and other miscellaneous celebrities. In 2018 programmes featured Terry Christian, Richard Madeley, Janet Street-Porter, comedians Shappi Khorsandi and Jo Brand.
The problem with comedians was exposed by Nish Kumar on the first new programme of 2019. After a heated rant about law and order he was cruelly exposed when Melanie Phillips asked whether he had actually read the Macpherson Report. He obviously hadn’t but resorted to personal abuse rather than admit it. That was the end of him. But as he himself pointed out he has appeared on the programme three times in the last twelve months.
The more surprising problem, as so often these days, was the politicians. Jo Swinson was the Liberal, lightweight and unilluminating. There are only eight Lib Dem MPs out of 650, barely 1%. The Lib Dems have shrunk in political and intellectual stature as well as numbers. The days of Thorpe, David Steel, Paddy Ashdown and Clegg are long over. Who can even name any Lib Dem MPs apart from Vince Cable?
Then there was Emily Thornberry for Labour. The Labour Shadow Cabinet is the most intellectually lightweight at least since the 1930s. Whenever Thornberry spoke the camera cut away to the grim-faced audience, sitting largely in silence and even at one point laughing at her. The programme was filmed in Islington, home of the metropolitan Left, and Thornberry is a local MP speaking at a time when the Conservative Government is demoralised and reviled. But she still couldn’t win over the audience with her cheap jibes and lack of clear policies.
None of this is Question Time’s fault. The Liberals and the Labour leadership are both at a low ebb, so what to do? The response has been to bring in more journalists and celebrities. The journalists are, at best, uneven. Melanie Phillips knows her stuff, about law and order for example. She has clearly read and re-read the Macpherson Report and had serious points to make about it. But many of the younger generation of journalists, Owen Jones, say, or Ash Sarkar, raise the temperature but not the quality of the debate.
James Cleverly and Emily Thornberry both twisted and turned, evading key issues. Does Cleverly have a Plan B for Brexit? We will never know, despite repeated questioning by Bruce. What is Labour’s policy on Brexit? Ditto.
What was striking was the quality of questions and contributions from the audience. As ever they made interesting points and deserved better from the panel.
Question Time needs to junk the comedians, cut the Lib Dems down to size until they have more MPs, and think harder about the journalists and broadcasters they invite. Presumably they have to invite a certain number of members of the Shadow Cabinet, and so on that, their hands.
The very first episode of Question Time was chaired by Robin Day in 1979. It was a serious moment. Mrs Thatcher had just come to power, Labour was splitting in two, the economy was still in terrible shape, there was serious trouble in Northern Ireland. The guests were a novelist, the Archbishop of Liverpool and two politicians, Michael Foot and Teddy Taylor. All very white and middle-aged. In fact, they had an average age of 53. Unacceptable in today’s BBC. Other guests that Autumn included Jo Grimond, Michael Heseltine and Arthur Scargill, Enoch Powell, John Mortimer and Paul Johnson, Barbara Castle, Conor Cruise O’Brien and the young Chris Patten.
The contrast with last Thursday’s line-up is telling. During 2018 the programme had 37 guests I had never heard of. Of course, programme producers need to freshen things up. Juergen Maier, Chief Executive of Siemens UK, was a revelation. Super-smart, fluent in English, courteous and incisive. But when your core cast – politicians from the main parties – are so unimpressive, having so many obscure new names doesn’t help.
If it is going to survive, Question Time (and indeed the BBC) will need a radical rethink. That is not the same as being fashionable. The young don’t watch Question Time. They never have and won’t start now. Young TV producers have never understood the basic facts of their audience. They are always older than the 30-something producers imagine. Mentorn Media have failed to rethink Question Time and have made only trivial changes. The change of editor has made no difference, so perhaps, after more than twenty years, it’s time for a new production company – before Question Time loses its appeal altogether. Of course, it is hard to judge a show with a new presenter after only one episode. Tonight, on the second episode with Fiona Bruce, we shall see whether one of the BBC’s most popular programmes is in the last chance saloon.
