Audiences and prime time viewing

Some commentators reflect that the Broadcasting Act of 1991, which was introduced to shake up the existing structures of the public and commercial TV sectors and provide sharp competition, was responsible for the decline in the standard of TV. In-house productions gave way to a slew of independent producers whose briefs appeared less about content and more about demographics, audience shares and ratings.

TV executives were under increasing pressure to outperform their colleagues on rival stations. Critics moaned about the dearth of quality programmes while executives introduced extra lashings of titillation into programmes in an attempt to woo bigger audiences. Gardening and DIY programmes, which had previously been rather earnest and drab could be turned into ratings winners, by adding vivacious and curvaceous women to the shows. Reality TV shows heralded a new era of interactive TV. Not only did the shows do wonders for the ratings, they were also unexpected cash cows courtesy of a generation obsessed with texting.

Worse occurred in the war of the soap operas when EastEnders and Coronation Street (traditionally the two leading soap operas) started introducing more and more extreme plotlines featuring murder, rape and melodrama. The episodes increased from twice a week to up to four or five a week. However, despite some big audience hits the quest for instant gratification was eventually bound to backfire. EastEnders brought back the character of Dirty Den in 2004 (after he had apparently been shot dead and fallen in a canal 14 years earlier). With credibility stretched too far ratings of EastEnders began to drop at an alarming rate.

In the meantime, the viewing habits of TV households have been changing - the image of an extended family sitting on sofas in front of a TV set (as portrayed in The Royle Family) belongs to a different age. With the Internet and computer games, TV is no longer the automatic option for households; and often a family no longer necessarily watches one programme together, but individuals may watch different programmes on different TV sets around the house.

In 2003 a report by the ITC (which was replaced by Ofcom) revealed that nearly half of Britain's viewers thought the quality of TV programmes was getting worse rather than better. Only 12 per cent of people interviewed thought that the quality of British television was improving. Just under half those questioned said there were too many repeats, while nearly one in five bemoaned the lack of quality on television.