This weekend marked BBC Two’s sixtieth anniversary. The milestone has been marked relatively quietly.
On Saturday night, four classic comedies which first appeared on Two were repeated followed by an archive compilation of music performances first seen on the channel.
Naturally some old idents returned too.
It is interesting to ask how much of an identity of its own BBC Two has ever truly had. Or has it always been part of the bigger identity of BBC Television, defined for a long time simply by not being BBC One?
First – for the avoidance of any doubt or misunderstanding of what I am about to argue – BBC Two had consistently commissioned some programmes of exceptional quality which would never have been produced for BBC One.
Creative risks, seriousness of purpose and serving minority tastes have always been its key purposes.
The schedule has always been generally much more serious and innovative than BBC One’s. If a programme was occasionally commissioned for Two which might as well have been on One, you knew a mistake had been made. (Des O’Connor Tonight or The Bob Monkhouse Show anyone?)
But – errors aside – two things always diluted the distinctiveness.
Firstly, BBC Two programmes of particular note or impact were generally guaranteed a repeat on the “big channel” until the 1990s. And to this day, the best of them gain “promotion” to the flagship network.
Saturday night’s selection of comedies illustrated this perfectly.
The Likely Lads was made when few had access to BBC Two. It became popular on One. Its much-loved and acclaimed sequel, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? was made for BBC One.
Open All Hours and Miranda both became BBC One programmes while repeats of Butterflies were once a BBC One staple.
Over the years, so much from Fawlty Towers to Life on Earth came to the attention of a wider audience on One – even if they would never have existed without Two.
You only need to look at the current BBC One schedule to see that this interdependence is still the case. Dragons’ Den, The Apprentice, Have I Got News for You, Line of Duty, Peaky Blinders and Wolf Hall.
Meanwhile BBC Two’s own distinctiveness was also weakened by mainstream BBC One repeats for many years – usually shown to provide an alternative to Panorama and other serious or low-rating BBC One programmes.
(Here’s a bit of trivia. In the mid-70s, The Two Ronnies was screened first on Two then repeated on One. Later it was often repeated on Two.)
But in the old world of analogue broadcasting, the fact there was such an overlap between the BBC’s two channels was actually a strength.
They provided a schedule of planned alternatives and between its two channels BBC Television attempted to serve all audiences and tastes.
BBC Two’s lack of a clear positive identity of its own often made marketing and branding harder.
Up until 1991, its branding was less than remarkable to put it bluntly.
Idents did not actually say much about the channel. They were simply visual interpretations of the number “2” or word “TWO”.
But this lack of a consistent identity – the sense of being a channel defined by doing what it’s big brother or sister would not or could not do – provided the basis for the genius of the 1991 ident set which challenged misplaced preconceptions.
The notion was to make the channel’s completely unpredictable character and varied moods a positive.
These idents gave BBC Two its first truly assertive identity and personality of its own. The execution was amazing and contemporary but the essential concept was years overdue.
Today of course, BBC Two is one part of the bigger suite of BBC channels.
From around 2001, its actual programme remit became more focused, with “yoof” sent to Three and many cultural programmes and some of the most demanding content put on Four.
Cuts to BBC budgets seem to be reinstating more of Two’s old role as a patron of music and the arts though.
There was always something very special about a channel which could switch from darts or snooker to classical music or an episode of Arena. If cuts bring this back, I would see a silver lining on a cloud.
BBC Two always commissioned many wonderful programmes which contributed so much to the richness of BBC Television as a whole.
But I always think it’s a shame that it took so long to apply the concept of branding to the channel.
For people like me, BBC Two has always been part of everyday life – from Play School at 11am as an infant to The Late Show at university and countless programmes over the years which have delighted, infuriated and inspired.
It was and is such an important and wonderful part of the landscape. Even as a kid, I found it strange that some rarely viewed what was then the “third” channel – mostly, it seemed, families who preferred ITV and rarely got beyond popular BBC One shows.
Why did it take so long to realise this special place needed a positive brand of its own – that it was more than “what BBC One was not or could not be”?
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: BBC Two ident (1964). COPYRIGHT: BBC.