Did BBC pass up All Creatures revamp because it was too WHITE?

Did BBC pass up All Creatures revamp because it was too WHITE? Channel 5 rakes in record 3.3m viewers for new series after corporation felt it wouldn’t appeal to prized millennial audience

  • All Creatures Great And Small series has drawn millions of viewers to Channel 5
  • Show’s producer has revealed that the BBC was given first refusal – but passed
  • Sir Colin Callender said the BBC feared series would not appeal to millennials
  • Channel 5 boss Ben Frow then said his programming is attacked as ‘too white’ 

BBC bosses are refusing to reveal if they turned down Channel 5 hit All Creatures Great And Small because the series is ‘too white’.

The Yorkshire-based story of beloved veterinary surgeon James Herriot story has drawn in three million viewers and is the broadcaster’s best-rated original commission ever.

But the show’s producer has revealed that the Corporation was given first refusal but passed on the series, fearing that it would not appeal to 16 to 34-year-old viewers.

The BBC, home to the original adaptation which aired in the 1970s and 1980s, reportedly said it would only make a pilot episode.

Sir Colin Callender of Playground, the production company behind the remake, said the BBC ‘had concerns about whether it would speak to a younger audience and, I think, whether or not the show could emerge from the shadow of the first series’.

Now the troubled Corporation, which is undergoing an overdue overhaul as questions of its alleged bias persist, is under pressure to admit if it rejected All Creatures because the Yorkshire-based series is ‘too white’.

BBC bosses are under pressure to explain if they turned down Channel 5 hit All Creatures Great And Small because the series is ‘too white’ (pictured, Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson and Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot in the 1970s series remake)

The Yorkshire-based story of beloved veterinary surgeon James Herriot story has drawn in three million viewers and is the broadcaster’s best-rated original commission ever

The Yorkshire-based story of beloved veterinary surgeon James Herriot story has drawn in three million viewers and is the broadcaster’s best-rated original commission ever

Now the BBC, which passed on All Creatures amid fears it would not appeal to 16 to 34-year-olds, is under pressure to admit if it rejected All Creatures because the series is ‘too white’. It follows claims made about Channel 5's programming by boss Ben Frow (pictured)

Now the BBC, which passed on All Creatures amid fears it would not appeal to 16 to 34-year-olds, is under pressure to admit if it rejected All Creatures because the series is ‘too white’. It follows claims made about Channel 5’s programming by boss Ben Frow (pictured)

Addressing claims that his programming is ‘white’, Channel 5 boss Ben Frow told the virtual Edinburgh TV Festival last month that the need for inclusivity is ‘something that is always in the back of our minds’.

He added: ‘Sometimes when I’m talking to producers, they say that (Yorkshire) is very white. I say you’ve got to make the extra effort.’

A later episode of the current All Creatures series will feature a new storyline centring on the experience of a black character, and Callender says that series two will feature more of the same.

The BBC has declined to comment. 

It comes as the Corporation faces a crisis of identity following widespread charges of bias by the public and a growing number of politicians.

Director-General Tim Davie has vowed to tackle the problem of ‘Left-wing bias’ in its programming and among the more outspoken news staff.

He is being assisted by the Government, which reportedly sees former Daily Telegraph editor Lord Moore as its preferred candidate for BBC Chairman.

Sir Colin Callender of Playground, the production company behind the remake, said the BBC 'had concerns about whether it would speak to a younger audience and, I think, whether or not the show could emerge from the shadow of the first series'

Sir Colin Callender of Playground, the production company behind the remake, said the BBC ‘had concerns about whether it would speak to a younger audience and, I think, whether or not the show could emerge from the shadow of the first series’

Lord Moore, 63, is a vocal critic of what he calls the Corporation’s ‘Left-wing woke values’ and objects to its £4billion-a-year income from the licence fee.

In 2010, he was fined £262 for not possessing a licence, having donated the equivalent sum to charity in protest at the BBC’s refusal to sack Jonathan Ross for making prank calls with comic Russell Brand to the actor Andrew Sachs.

Lord Moore has since accepted an approach to replace Sir David Clementi when he steps down in February and has discussed contractual terms.

However, civil servants at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have complained to No 10 that the position has to be formally advertised in order to follow ‘due process’.

Allies of Mr Johnson complain that Civil Service selection protocols introduced by Jeremy Heywood when he was Cabinet Secretary forced candidates to jump through ‘hoops’ designed to ensure the selection of ‘members of the same Left-wing cabal’.