Tony Palmer(I)

Attended Cambridge University.

I'm not one of those people who believe there was a golden age of television. But the morale of the BBC has never been as bad as it is now. The really depressing thing that's happened is the tendency to think the audience is stupid: "If we don't have it presented by Ant (Anthony McPartlin) and Dec (Declan Donnelly) or some totty dolly bird they won't watch it." This is an insult to the audience and denigration of the traditions the BBC is meant to uphold. The audience is being told it's too stupid to grasp anything "cultural" or "elitist". The BBC has a worldwide reputation which it has abrogated and that's shameful. In the end, the buck stops with Mark Thompson. He is a catastrophe.