Independent story about cuts to BBC Natural History Unit
26/10/2007 00:00 GMT

Posted by lisa

Thanks to David Balston for posting this information to the goodies-l mailing list.

An article from the 26 Oct 2007 Independent talks about the cuts to the BBC Natural History Unit, mentioning Bill.  The full article is at http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article3098854.ece.  The first few paragraphs are quoted below:

BBC flagship Natural History Unit budget to be cut by a third
By Ciar Byrne, Arts and Media Correspondent
Published: 26 October 2007
The BBC's plans to slash by a third the budget of its world-famous Natural History Unit, the home of Planet Earth, have been condemned as "short-sighted" and "draconian" by programme-makers.

As part of 2,500 job losses across the BBC resulting from a below-inflation licence fee settlement, £12m is being lopped off the £37m budget of the Natural History Unit, which is based in Bristol, with 57 out of 180 staff posts being axed.

Programmes being dropped include BBC2's Wild strand presented by Bill Oddie – as well as one-off 30-minute shows and short series made for the 7pm slot on BBC1, which is now taken up by The One Show. The unit will also make fewer "adventure" programmes – titles such as Amazon Abyss, and Incredible Journeys and Jaws In Britain fronted by the vet Steve Leonard. The popular Big Cat Week would only be brought back as a single-evening event.

Although the BBC has pledged to continue to make landmark series such as Planet Earth, in the future it will not make two in one year as has happened this year with British Isles: A Natural History, and Life In Cold Blood, in which David Attenborough explores the insect world.

A breakdown of the posts which are being axed in the Natural History Unit includes 10 out of 25 producers, nine out of 17 assistant producers, 23 out of 33 researchers, and 11 out of 37 production management jobs. In addition, one executive producer and two series producers will lose their jobs.