Publishing the ‘Best UK Factual’ each January makes me wish for just a moment that I had left Melbourne in 1981 for an up-and-coming Brit ‘hood like Glasgow instead of Brooklyn.
Maybe not quite so much this year. Let’s see why.
Bake Off
- The Great British Bake Off was a huge, super-hit with more than 15 million viewers.
- It was a wonderful, tearful television moment when Nadiya, a Bangladeshi Briton won the big prize.
- In its sixth season, Bake Off has worked all the margins of its format, particularly casting, to deliver something that is uniquely and positively ‘contemporary British’.
Here’s the Sizzling Sixty:
| Programme | Rating | ‘000 | ||
| 1 | BBC 1 | THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF | 25.9 | 15,055 |
| 2 | BBC 1 | THE APPRENTICE | 13.6 | 7,926 |
| 3 | BBC 1 | COUNTRYFILE | 13.5 | 7,844 |
| 4 | BBC 1 | DIY SOS: THE BIG BUILD | 13.4 | 7,771 |
| 5 | BBC 1 | MASTERCHEF | 11.9 | 6,952 |
| 6 | BBC 2 | TOP GEAR | 11.9 | 6,921 |
| 7 | BBC 1 | EASTENDERS: BACKSTAGE LIVE | 11.7 | 6,849 |
| 8 | BBC 1 | ANTIQUES ROADSHOW | 11.7 | 6,813 |
| 9 | BBC 1 | CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF | 10.6 | 6,171 |
| 10 | BBC 1 | BRITAIN’S SPENDING SECRETS | 10.3 | 6,024 |
| 11 | CH4 | GOGGLEBOX | 10.1 | 5,871 |
| 12 | BBC 1 | THE HUNT | 10.0 | 5,801 |
| 13 | BBC 1 | PETER KAY: 20 YEARS OF FUNNY | 9.5 | 5,536 |
| 14 | ITV | THE MAFIA WITH TREVOR MCDONALD | 9.5 | 5,529 |
| 15 | BBC 1 | EAT WELL FOR LESS? | 9.2 | 5,365 |
| 16 | BBC 1 | BIG BLUE LIVE | 9.2 | 5,329 |
| 17 | BBC 1 | FAKE OR FORTUNE? | 9.0 | 5,214 |
| 18 | BBC 1 | WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? | 8.8 | 5,136 |
| 19 | ITV | PAUL O’GRADY: FOR THE LOVE OF DOGS | 8.7 | 5,058 |
| 20 | ITV | LONG LOST FAMILY | 8.6 | 4,994 |
| 21 | ITV | J. LUMLEY’S TRANS-SIBERIAN ADVENTURE | 8.6 | 4,976 |
| 22 | BBC 1 | EARTH’S NATURAL WONDERS | 8.4 | 4,882 |
| 23 | BBC 1 | ROME’S INVISIBLE CITY | 8.3 | 4,820 |
| 24 | BBC 1 | KOLKATA WITH SUE PERKINS | 8.0 | 4,667 |
| 25 | ITV | LAS VEGAS W TREVOR MCDONALD | 7.9 | 4,609 |
| 26 | BBC 1 | THE TRUTH ABOUT CALORIES | 7.8 | 4,560 |
| 27 | BBC 1 | GREAT BARRIER REEF / ATTENBOROUGH | 7.8 | 4,510 |
| 28 | BBC 1 | PETS: WILD AT HEART | 7.6 | 4,423 |
| 29 | BBC 1 | SECRET BRITAIN | 7.4 | 4,320 |
| 30 | BBC 1 | ANIMALS IN LOVE | 7.3 | 4,245 |
| 31 | BBC 1 | SUPER CUTE ANIMALS | 7.2 | 4,230 |
| 32 | BBC 1 | SNOW CHICK: A PENGUIN’S TALE | 7.2 | 4,215 |
| 33 | BBC 1 | ECLIPSE LIVE: A STARGAZING SPECIAL | 7.2 | 4,210 |
| 34 | BBC 1 | THE MET: POLICING LONDON | 7.2 | 4,175 |
| 35 | BBC 1 | 24 HOURS IN THE PAST | 7.1 | 4,146 |
| 36 | BBC 1 | DAVID BECKHAM: LOVE OF THE GAME | 7.1 | 4,138 |
| 37 | BBC 1 | THE RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW | 6.9 | 3,997 |
| 38 | BBC 1 | SHARK | 6.9 | 3,994 |
| 39 | ITV | 100 YEAR OLD DRIVERS RIDE AGAIN | 6.8 | 3,958 |
| 40 | CH4 | GOGGLESPROGS | 6.8 | 3,957 |
| 41 | ITV | RICHARD WILSON ON THE ROAD | 6.7 | 3,925 |
| 42 | BBC 1 | THE GIFT | 6.7 | 3,912 |
| 43 | ITV | CAR CRASH BRITAIN | 6.7 | 3,912 |
| 44 | ITV | JOANNA LUMLEY – ELVIS AND ME | 6.7 | 3,905 |
| 45 | ITV | LOVE YOUR GARDEN | 6.4 | 3,717 |
| 46 | ITV | PAUL O’GRADY’S ANIMAL ORPHANS | 6.4 | 3,713 |
| 47 | CH5 | CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER | 6.4 | 3,709 |
| 48 | ITV | TALES FROM NORTHUMBERLAND | 6.3 | 3,701 |
| 49 | BBC 1 | EAT WELL FOR LESS AT CHRISTMAS? | 6.3 | 3,673 |
| 50 | ITV | ROOKIES | 6.3 | 3,664 |
| 51 | BBC 2 | DRAGONS’ DEN | 6.2 | 3,614 |
| 52 | BBC 2 | THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE | 6.2 | 3,611 |
| 53 | BBC 1 | CLASS OF 92: OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE | 6.2 | 3,604 |
| 54 | CH4 | THE ISLAND WITH BEAR GRYLLS: WOMEN | 6.1 | 3,577 |
| 55 | CH4 | THE SECRET LIFE OF 4 YEAR OLDS | 6.1 | 3,538 |
| 56 | BBC 1 | ALL CHANGE AT LONGLEAT | 6.1 | 3,530 |
| 57 | BBC 2 | BACK IN TIME FOR DINNER | 6.0 | 3,523 |
| 58 | BBC 1 | CUE THE QUEEN: CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS | 6.0 | 3,504 |
| 59 | BBC 2 | WE’RE DOOMED! THE DAD’S ARMY STORY | 6.0 | 3,488 |
| 60 | CH4 | BENEFITS STREET | 6.0 | 3,467 |
Nothing New?
- Britain has been the engine of creativity in factual TV for decades.
- But there’s nothing particularly original and captivating that I can see in this year’s list.
- Most of the Top 10 shows have been hits for years, if not decades.
- Examples are Masterchef, Top Gear, Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow.
Plain Old!
- There’s an old-rocking-chair vibe about British factual television right now.
- Even the hosts are getting on: Mary Berry (b. 1935), Richard Wilson (b. 1936), Paul O’grady (b. 1955), and the venerable David Attenborough (b. 1926).
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History
- History wasn’t a star genre: Rome’s Invisible City topped at #23.
- Popular, History-themed entertainments held on, notably Who Do You Think You Are.
- Takeaway? No royal anniversary or wedding: No History hits.
Blue Chip Natural History
- Signature Wildlife is holding its own.
- Big Blue Live (#16) is a BBC/PBS co-pro that celebrates the conservation success story of Monterey Bay.
- David Attenborough is a big draw, earning 5.8 mn for The Hunt (#12) and 4.5 mn for Great Barrier Reef (#27).
- I recently posted about Reef, describing my role and credit for developing the strategy and making the introductions that placed Attenborough on the super research vessel, the Alucia.
- See: David Attenborough’s U-Boat Explores the Great Barrier Reef for BBC1
Popular Animals
- Pets: Wild At Heart (#28) deserved its 4.4 million viewers.
- The BBC Natural History Unit producers turned their classic field cinematography kit onto domestic animals.
- I saw the clip below at Sunny Side of the Doc, and loved how the thrifty producers created a wonderful story out of a pet hamster’s wanderings.
- Clip: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hpmfs
- Snow Chick: A Penguin’s Tale(#32) was close behind with 4.4 million viewers.
- It added the vulnerability of the hatchling to previous BBC-NHU Penguin hits.
- The other popular animal-themed programs in our list are ITV’s Paul O’grady: For the Love of Dogs (#19), Animals in Love (#30) and Super Cute Animals (#31).
What Did I Miss?
- One show I didn’t see but would enjoy is C4’s Secret Lives of Four Year Olds from Zodiak/RDF (3.5 mn).
- It’s nice that UK viewers are attracted to the Dad’s Army generation like Attenborough, and the very young.
Compared with US
- The ratings are huge compared with U.S. audiences for comparable programs.
- Many of these successful UK categories are extinct in the equivalent U.S. Top 50.
- But the avalanche of Reality series that buried so much quality Factual has lost its momentum.
- It’s been years since A&E’s awful Duck Dynasty was the last breakout Reality series.
- The genre has grown stale, leading to eroding ratings for non-fiction channels like History, although Discovery is enjoying an upswing.
- The good news is that the leading U.S. factual channels are committed to restoring their brands by presenting quality documentaries.
- We’re hopeful. And watching closely!
Big Takeaway: VOD – What’s After Murderer?
- VOD and binge-viewing has grabbed the zeitgeist.
- Judging by the feedback from my readers and clients, the big story for 2015 was the 10-episode Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.
- Stephen Avery seized the chatter at year end, proving that the model of SVOD-delivered Scripted series can also create binge-viewed Factual hits.
- Amazon and Netflix are proving a global content model.
- The BBC, Discovery, Nat Geo and others are following similar strategies, though each with their own legacies and constraints.
- The rise of VOD will accelerate as Netflix, Amazon and others spend their billions on original series for their global VOD footprints.
More Reading
- BTW, read my post: “Binge-viewing is the New Normal.” And It Hurts Reality TV – TiVo Research
- ‘Dead Certainty: How “Making a Murderer” goes wrong’ (New Yorker, January 25, 2016)
VOD EXPLAINED
Opportunities, Success Factors & Deal Terms
for Netflix, Amazon and VOD Platforms
Read More. Download Now: $29.95
