Faking It

BBC fined £400,000 over fake phone-ins

Media regulator Ofcom has issued a £400,000 fine on the BBC for breaching competition rules on viewer phone-ins. The amount is the biggest ever penalty the watchdog has ever imposed on the on the Beeb.

A number of programmes faked winners and mislead entrants to BBC competitions. Shows effected range from the Russell Brand radio show to Scotland‘s Children In Need telethon.

The BBC issued a statement: “We have taken these issues extremely seriously from the outset, apologising to our audiences and putting in place an unprecedented action plan to tackle the issues raised.

“This includes a comprehensive programme of training for over 19,000 staff, rigorous new technical protections, new guidance to programme-makers on the running of competitions and a strict new Code of Conduct.

“Ofcom has recognised that neither the BBC nor any member of staff made any money from these serious editorial lapses.

“Whilst we must never be complacent and must remain constantly vigilant, audience research suggests the comprehensive action we have taken is rebuilding the trust of viewers and listeners.“

Daydreamer Quits ITV

Director of daytime and lifestyle programming at the ailing ITV, Dianne Nelmes, is leaving the company.

Nelmes launched for Granada the original This Morning series, with Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan in 1988. More recent hits have included, the one-time Anglia Television produced, Loose Women chat show and chav’s favourite, Jeremy Kyle.

John Whiston, director of ITV Productions, told Broadcast: “Dianne has expanded our daytime programming massively since she took on her current role – growing it in hours, ratings and most importantly in on screen quality.” Not sure about that last part John really. Loose Women and Jeremy Kyle don’t really scream quality do they?

Kick Themselves

BBC One’s Bonekickers is performing almost as badly as an ITV Drama at the moment, with ratings falling quicker than Amy Winehouse’s hairdo after a night on the tiles. The ratings continued to fall last night with an audience of just 4.2m (19.8%).

The six-part series started well on July 8th with 6.8 million tuning in but over the past few weeks each edition has seen a dramatic fall in viewers, with an average million switching off as each edition passes. However The John Darwin Story on Monday sunk ITV even lower in the ratings as the one-off documentary managed only 2.7m, which is around the same figure Crossroads in 2002 was reaching at 5pm. How tides change…