Channel 4: A History: from Big Brother to The Great British Bake Off

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This book covers a dramatic decade in the fortunes of Britains quirkiest broadcaster. It opens in 2009, with the realisation that Channel 4s biggest money spinner, Big Brother, had become a toxic asset and would have to be discarded, at the same time as advertising revenues were shrinking in the wake of the 2008 financial crash. Maggie Browns compelling narrative, which draws on interviews with key players in Channel 4s story and unique access to the broadcasters archives, takes us inside the boardroom battles, changes in senior management and commissioning teams, interventions by the media regulator Ofcom, and the channels response to a rapidly-changing media and political landscape. Brown describes how the channel, under its new chief executive David Abraham, successfully fought off the threat of privatisation, which became a reality after the Conservatives general election victory in 2015. The price for remaining publicly funded was a substantial relocation of Channel 4s operations, with Leeds announced in 2018 as a new regional hub. The Channel 4 story is also one of ambitious and innovative programming, with a new director of content, Jay Hunt, instigating radical changes in commissioning and scheduling. Brown traces programming hits and losses during this period, with the departure to competitors of celebrity chefs, Black Mirror and Charlie Brooker, horse racing and Formula 1, and a reappraisal of the remit of institutions such as Channel 4 News and Film 4. But there were successes too, with the 2012 Paralympics helping to restore a public service sheen, and new programmes such as Gogglebox in 2013 connecting with younger audiences, and, in 2016, the coup of taking The Great British Bake Off from its home at the BBC.

Reviews

As enthralling as the best Channel 4 drama and as searching as the best of its documentaries, this is the definitive account of a unique British institution's difficult, dramatic second act. -- Andrew Billen, Feature Writer, The Times, UK
Maggie Brown has done it again. She has breathed life into years of complex negotiations and hugely difficult decisions that went on trying to keep Channel 4 intact in its original form against strong political and financial pressures. A major achievement, as well as a terrific read. It's an important record of the most turbulent time in the Channel's history. -- Roger Graef OBE, filmmaker and founding Board Member of C4
Everyone in British television talked to Maggie Brown and this account of the key years of Channel 4s history is as thorough, detailed and meticulously reported as you would expect from her notebook. Told with her eye for juicy detail and ability to pick out the big narrative, it is as compelling for its revelations of the behind the scenes backstabbing as the onscreen drama. Whether you were there or not, Maggie saw and heard it all. -- Janine Gibson, Assistant Editor, Financial Times

Author Bio

Maggie Brown is one of the UKs leading media writers. Her career includes contributing to The Guardian and Observer, helping to launch The Independent as its first media editor and writing A Licence to be Different: The Story of Channel 4, published in 2007, the history of its first 25 years. She lives in London and Wales, UK.