Celebrating 60 years of BBC Two – birthplace of Fawlty Towers, Life on Earth and Line of Duty
Writing in this week's Radio Times magazine, Caroline Frost pays tribute to the channel's rich history of launching TV gems.
In a galaxy far, far away, I was once a television network director for the BBC – which meant pressing the buttons to send the programmes down the chute to the nation, a lot of counting back from ten, and shouting whenever Grandstand overran.
Of all the shifts, my favourite was always "Late Two", which meant an evening steering the "alternative" channel and choosing which ident to run into which show. If you ever felt like the one with the silver paint pot being bombarded with lots of little 2s was being overused, it probably meant I was in the director’s chair that night.
On my first day it was explained that, all things being equal, the audience for BBC One should always be larger than that of BBC Two; for while the former represents the organisation as a whole and will often offer a passive viewing experience, the latter caters to a different audience with "appointment to view" needs.
The exception to this rule occurred in April 1985 (and after midnight on a Sunday evening at that) when the "second channel" kept a record 18.5 million viewers glued to their screens watching Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the final of the World Snooker Championship.
This rule of thumb means I still get palpitations whenever Tim Henman appears on screen, remembering how we had to switch Wimbledon between channels just before the 6pm news because Tiger Tim had made it to the semi-final. But it also means that, for 60 years, BBC Two has been the launch platform for many fresh, experimental TV gems that would never have seen the light of day anywhere else, from Fawlty Towers and I, Claudius, to Yes Minister and The Office.
While screenwriter Jed Mercurio lapped up the record audiences that came with Line of Duty's move from BBC Two to BBC One in 2017, Jeremy Clarkson refused to let Top Gear go the same way, no doubt aware that his subversive shtick had found its natural home on BBC Two.
The audience appreciation index for the channel's shows continues to score disproportionately high, the relative newbie Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing outgunning even the wonders of Gardeners' World and the Proms.
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It's a satisfying quirk of television history that BBC Two's 60th birthday falls in the same week as Earth Day, because the person who did arguably the most to define the channel is also the one who has done an incontestable amount to further our understanding and awe of our planet. Unusually, this isn't hyperbole.
As the channel's controller from 1965 to 1969, Sir David Attenborough oversaw an ambitious roster that embraced the advent of colour TV with Pot Black but also inspired us with Kenneth Clark's Civilisation (repeated Sunday and Monday on BBC Four), Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man and, most significantly, natural history programming.
From commissioning The World About Us in 1967 to presenting Life on Earth in 1979 (during which he had his spine-tingling encounter with gorillas) and right up to the present day, Attenborough has tirelessly shared his delight in the majesty of the natural world and, more recently, begged us all to protect it.
Others have picked up the baton. Wild Scandinavia gave us an arctic feast, Big Little Journeys inspired fresh respect for any daddy long-legs under a glass, and Springwatch is still a seasonal marker.
All these series garner the same high scores of audience appreciation as their channel forebears, hopefully inspiring the same amount of joy I used to feel popping another paint pot into the evening schedule. Happy 60th birthday, BBC Two!
Read Caroline Frost's Smart TV column in Radio Times magazine every week – subscribe now.
BBC Two is marking its 60th birthday with 60 Songs: BBC Two at 60 (8:25pm on Saturday 20th April) and 60 Classical Years: BBC Two at 60 (10pm on Sunday 21st April).
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