BBC One and My FamilyHow was My Family scheduled on BBC and how does this comedy show fit with the institutional aims of the BBC?QUESTION 4a IN THE EXAM

The BBC – Mission and Values

“To enrich people’s lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain”

“Audiences are at the heart of everything we do” “We take pride in delivering quality and value for

money” “Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation” “We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so

that everyone can give their best”

The BBC – Public Purpose

The Royal Charter and Agreement sets out six public purposes Sustaining citizenship and civil society Promoting education and learning Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK Delivering to the public the benefit of emerging

communications technologies and services

BBC One in Particular

“Ambitious UK Drama and Comedy” “Revitalise mainstream family comedy”

BBC One Target Audience

Mass audience Wide range of ages, both genders, different classes,

different regions and ethnicity

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)

Regulators can tell TV companies what they can or cannot do in exchange for giving them the right to transmit ‘free to air’ – Ofcom

Key rules Quality programmes Proportion of British-made programmes Reflect the diversity of Britain Proportion of programmes must be made outside the M25 Must have certain genres eg news Balanced mix of genres (no stripped schedules)

Flagship Programmes

A Flagship programme will attract the target audience and build channels brand identity

Need to be of high quality, popular and long running Will draw audiences to the channel Will be well known The schedule will often be ‘built’ around the show

My Family – Key Information

Eleven Series have so far been made and broadcast by BBC One

Series One first aired at 7pm on Tuesday 19 September 2000

The last series first aired at 9pm on Friday 17th June 2011

The Watershed - 9pm Illegal drug use, smoking and alcohol misuse should only

be represented with strong justification, and not glamorised

Any violence must be limited and clearly justified Violence or dangerous behaviour that can be easily

imitated by children must not be shown unless there is strong justification

Frequent use of offensive language (mostly swearing) must be avoided and the most offensive words must not be used

Representation of sexual intercourse must not occur unless ‘there is a serious educational purpose’

Documentaries can’t show exorcisms, occult practices or paranormal activities – BUT comedies can

My Family and BBC One Scheduling

Friday night is a good night for comedy – wind-down time of the weekend. Sets the audience up for the weekend – key pleasure of helping to audience to unwind form what could have been a difficult week

Screens just after the watershed so can include some swearing and rude subjects which can appeal to the target audience and create audience pleasures

My Family is a flagship programmes that was hugely popular with audience and 9pm is a very competitive audience slot

My Family and WatchWatch is channel that you can only access via a pay/ subscription service. It is part owned by BBC (via UKTV) It is not covered by many of the things BBC areIn 2011 it started playing episodes of My family ‘back to back’ (about 4 in a row at times) They rescreened every episode of the first 10 series in the months leading up to the release of the series 11. Why schedule My Family on Watch?

Activity Using the information you have just heard create a

poster which highlights how My Family helps BBC1 fulfil its aims

Look at each area and come up with specific examples. Note that My Family will not do everything but try to come up with as many ways it fits as you can.

There will be prizes Presentation Information