BBC director-general Tim Davie has admitted “that the BBC is not perfect and sometimes we make mistakes” but that the national broadcaster “deserves backing” after a bruising few weeks of scandals at the corporation that led to questions over his future.
On Tuesday, Davie gave his first public response to a slew of scandals at the national broadcaster at the publication of its annual report, saying: “We’ve certainly been through a tough period, and there are some tough days.”
His comments come after another difficult summer for bosses at the BBC, which has faced angry criticism over a series of programmes, including a documentary on Gaza and coverage of Glastonbury, as well as what the corporation knew about the conduct of MasterChef star Gregg Wallace.
On Tuesday, BBC chair Samir Shah said “several people” had been dismissed following the introduction of stronger policies for reporting abusive behaviour. The annual report, released on Tuesday, showed a 55 per cent increase in “whistleblowing” submissions in 2024-25 compared with a year earlier.
But Davie said he was committed to his role at the BBC. People within the BBC say no individual scandal this summer was enough to have threatened the director-general’s position.
However, they admit that the combination of the various problems has created an increasingly uncomfortable position for a leadership tasked with getting its house in order after scandals involving Huw Edwards, Gary Lineker and Strictly Come Dancing in the past two years.
“We’ve made mistakes on and off screen, and our systems and processes have not always been good enough at picking these things up and acting swiftly and decisively,” said Shah, who stressed that Davie had the full support of the board.
BBC chair Samir Shah said ‘several people’ had been dismissed following the introduction of stronger policies for reporting abusive behaviour © Danny Lawson/PA Wire
People within the BBC admit that various scandals over its programming have created a “difficult” backdrop to the forthcoming negotiations over its 10-year charter, which will set out the funding mechanism for the future of the public service broadcaster.
“It has damaged some people’s trust in our coverage,” said one employee. “The last few weeks have been deeply unhelpful [ahead of the charter negotiations].” Shah said this was a “critical period for the BBC’s future”.
The BBC reported a deficit of £132mn in its annual report for 2024-25, almost half the £263mn deficit reported last year. The figures show the financial challenges facing the national broadcaster as it enters crunch talks over its long-term funding as part of a charter renewal process.
The BBC reported revenue of £5.9bn, up from £5.6bn a year earlier, with licence fee income totalling £3.8bn after an annual inflationary price rise.
However, the number of people paying for a licence last year dropped from 24.1mn to 23.8mn, showing that more people are switching off traditional TV for online rivals such as Netflix and YouTube.
BBC Commercial — which makes and sells shows in the UK and internationally, and licenses formats and brands — increased revenue by £300mn to £2.2bn.
In real terms, the licence fee generated 30 per cent less income now than in 2010-11 — a difference of more than £1bn a year. The BBC has already announced plans for £500mn in annual savings in May 2022, and has said that further savings of £200mn a year are required by 2027-28.
The broadcaster is going through “a total reshaping of the BBC for the future and a massive transfer of skills and resources from linear to digital”, Davie said on Tuesday. “Of course, that means a leaner, more agile organisation.”
However, BBC insiders admit that they need to change the narrative around the corporation, away from programming scandal and workplace problems, to rally support for its future from the public and policymakers.
On Monday a report from Banijay, the company that made MasterChef, upheld 45 allegations of sexually explicit, sexualised, racist and inappropriate comments against presenter Wallace, including six made directly to the BBC.
The report also brought to light a racist comment by fellow MasterChef presenter John Torode, which the Australian chef has denied making. Banijay on Tuesday said Torode’s contract would not be renewed.
The BBC said the allegation against Torode “involves an extremely offensive racist term being used in the workplace”, which was “investigated and substantiated” by an independent investigation led by law firm Lewis Silkin.
MasterChef presenters, John Torode, left, and Greg Wallace © Mark Bourdillon/Alamy
A separate report, also on Monday, from the BBC itself found that the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone had breached accuracy guidelines, even though the BBC was not aware that the narrator was related to a Hamas official. The documentary had been pulled from iPlayer after being aired.
Shah admitted the incident had been “damaging to the BBC’s reputation for openness and transparency”.
The corporation has also received widespread condemnation of its Glastonbury coverage after it did not immediately pull coverage of rap duo Bob Vylan chanting “death to the IDF”.
Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, said the scandals were starting to “erode public trust and confidence” in the BBC.
Bob Vylan performing at the Glastonbury Festival in June © Yui Mok/PA
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has also been critical of the BBC management, initially asking why no one had been fired over the Glastonbury incident.
This week she rowed back, saying the BBC board had presented her with an action plan to address accountability failures, and adding it is “not for the government to say who should and shouldn’t work at the BBC”.
But one person close to Nandy said she still had broader doubts about the job being done by the director-general — even though the government has little power over his position, given the corporation is independent of the state.
Nandy met with Davie and Shah last week, according to those close to the situation, which helped clear up some of the issues. One person described the situation before the meeting as “deeply uncomfortable” given Nandy’s depth of personal criticism, but she had welcomed moves to improve accountability.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has been critical of the BBC management © Andy Rain/EPA/Shutterstock
However, the broadcaster is entering its most important period in a decade as it enters into negotiations with the government over the terms of a new 10-year charter starting in 2027.
Its funding model — with a number of options being considered to alleviate the burden on some of the licence fee system — and its broader public service remit will feature heavily in the talks.
BBC bosses have already said that advertising or subscription models should be ruled out for future funding, but Davie said reform was needed, flagging the potential for licence fee discounts for some people as among options.
He is now under pressure to return the focus of the debate around the BBC away from accusations of bias and misconduct and towards its future at a time when US streamers and tech groups such as Amazon, Netflix and Apple are stealing its audiences.
“We’ve got through the majority of issues but we need to focus attention to the autumn for the formal charter negotiations,” said one BBC employee.
“Trust has gone up, there is a lot that is going well. Now we need the debate to be about what we want from the future, to be a universally available, publicly funded organisation — and that’s not guaranteed at the moment.”
