2. CHANNEL 4 OVERVIEW
Channel 4 first aired on the 2nd of November 1982.
Channel 4 has a reputation world wide in documentaries
based on bold storytelling and their unfamiliar use of
technology. Over the last 30 years channel 4’s
commissions have mostly been a matter of taking on ideas
that no one else was brave enough to do. However, as this
is such a common happening the public are starting to
create a profile that this is what they expect of Channel 4.
THIS CAUSES CONTROVERSY
3. The majority of Channel 4’s documentaries are reality-based and focus
on a particular part of society such as sex addicts, people with
disabilities and people with health/ body problems. Although they do
show more factual/real life shows such as King Richard and 9/11.
Channel 4 seem to go from one extreme to another. Even the names of
the documentaries show an extent of exploitation as they are titles such
as ‘Sex on Wheels’ ‘My baggy body’ and ‘Bodyshockers’. All of these are
discriminative to someone with a body disfunction or problem, this
seems to be a popular type of programme shown on Channel 4
nowadays.
However, showing in their viewing figures, in the 4 weeks of August
2013 a reality-based show came out as most viewed with Royal marines
commando school popping up 3 times which seems to be a popular
show. The total amount of people who viewed this programme over the
four weeks of august was 8,679 000. This is a very popular trend with
this channel that the most popular shows are also the most criticised.
4. CHANNEL 4 FUNDING
It is an expensive process to fund documentaries their
programming cost was £525million in 2009 alone and it has
increased in due years.
The amount varies, but roughly £150K is need for a one hour fully
commissioned Channel4 programme. For True Stories roughly
£40K for a pre-purchase, £10K for a licence but it can vary
depending on the project.
5. PRO CHANNEL 4
In the past, channel 4 has got some bad press about the ethical problems in
their documentaries. Programmes like “embarrassing bodies” and “big fat
gypsy weddings” are said to pin point a minority of people and potentially bully
them or judge them. I would like to point out the important truth that the people
on these shows go on voluntarily. Companies like channel 4 only air these
shows because that’s what the audience wants. If no one watched them then
they’d be taken off air. Channel 4 get many viewers from these programmes
and it helps them earn a lot of money, if the shows weren’t as popular as they
are they wouldn’t bother “exploiting” these people to make the shows.
Furthermore, many of channel 4 documentaries aren’t based on isolating small
groups of Britain’s population.
6. EDUCATING YORKSHIRE
Educating Yorkshire, based on BAFTA Award-winning series “educating
Essex”, shows the struggles and dramas of senior school pupils. The
table below shows the views of educating Yorkshire throughout its
series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educating_Yorkshire
Date Views
(million)
Episode 1 5th September 2013 4.76
Episode 2 12th September 2013 4.63
Episode 3 19th September 2013 4.38
Episode 4 26th September 2013 3.81
Episode 5 3rd October 2013 3.85
Episode 6 10th October 2013 4.20
Episode 7 17th October 2013 4.01
Episode 8 24th October 2013 3.53
…At Christmas 19th December 2013 2.75
One Year On 21st August 2014 2.24
7. EDUCATING YORKSHIRE
One of the pupils on the show, Musharaf, suffers with an acute stammer. It has
proved to be one of his biggest challenges to overcome. Known by friends as
Mushy P, he is a popular and polite member of Thornhill. However coming up to
his exams and attempting to face the speaking section of his GCSE in English
was daunting yet life changing for Musharaf.
9. REVIEWS
“What a sick idea? I don't like the exploitative creepy feel to this”
“I won't watch the programme because I hated the trailers.”
“Channel Four is in terrible condition, it's making the BBC look good which
is quite an achievement these days”
Controversy means ratings and channel fours ruthless and embarrassing
marketing campaign for undateables worked as it reeled in a huge
audience of 2.2m (9.3%) in its first 15 minutes, before bowing out with a
crowd of 2.5m (10.8%) in its final quarter of an hour.
