What’s the BBC ever done for me?

That is the question posed by Romesh Ranganathan in the ubiquitous advert on TV and in cinemas. It is apparently to encourage people to value the BBC, to purchase a TV licence and for the powers- that- be to support the BBC.

I fear that the advert might backfire. I am thinking of those who do not have a TV licence, such as viewers who watch pay TV, rarely turning to the BBC, and resent having to pay twice. Romesh refers to popular shows like the Traitors, East Enders and Strictly. As for me, I watch none of these and might be inclined to answer the question with “nothing”.

I do, however, watch sport on the BBC and some documentaries, but the main value to me on BBC TV is music. At the present time, we have many broadcasts of the BBC Proms concerts from the Royal Albert Hall. There are other broadcasts of classical and popular music on the BBC which I watch. For me all these are worth the licence fee on their own.

Sometimes I watch BBC News. That is an area where the BBC can come in for criticism from all parts of the political spectrum. The editors must tread a careful line. I think they deserve our sympathy. It is very easy to offend some political group. At times BBC News can sound a bit bland.

The real value of the BBC to me is radio. I feel that this is where the BBC excels. There are too many excellent programmes on Radio 4 to mention them all. I regularly listen to “In our Time”, “The News Quiz”, “Dead Ringers” “Any Questions”, “Money Box”, “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue” and many more.

Radio 3 is excellent for lovers of classical music: the whole of the Prom concerts performed by the finest orchestras and the greatest soloists in the world are broadcast there live. There is much other classical music to be found there, including Essential Classics in the morning with wonderful Georgia Mann.

I tune into 5Live for sport and current affairs, including Nicky Campbell’s phone-in show in the morning. Sometimes I must choose between Nicky and Georgia, depending on the subject on the 5Live show.

I regard the BBC is a great and respected British institution, often under attack from politicians and facing fierce competition for TV viewers from foreign broadcasters with huge budgets.

I am not convinced that the Romesh advert will help, but perhaps his powers of persuasion and the narrative of the advert are more effective than they seem to me at present.

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