Subject: [NEWS] BBC cancels "Blankety Blank", "Celebrity Mastermind" and "Live at the Apollo"



BBC cancels Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind and Live at the Apollo
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Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind and Live at the Apollo have been
cancelled by the BBC, as the corporation makes further financial
savings.

The main Mastermind series will continue, with Clive Myrie remaining as
host, but the celebrity spin-off will end after the next series, which
has already been filmed.

In a statement, the BBC said it was "incredibly proud of all three of
these much-loved shows" and thanked the programmes' production teams.

"Unfortunately," it continued, "we have to make some really tough
choices in light of our funding challenges, and these savings have been
identified from the Entertainment genre."

Viewing figures for all three shows have fallen over recent years.
Celebrity Mastermind has dropped from an average of 4m viewers in 2017,
to 1.7m for its most recent series.

Blankety Blank, meanwhile, has gone down from 5.5m viewers in 2021 to
2.3m for the most recent series.

And Live at the Apollo has dropped from around 1.3m viewers in 2018 to
around 660,000 on its most recent series. These figures include
catch-up platforms such as iPlayer.


More cuts to come
The BBC said: "These difficult decisions form part of the BBC's
previously announced first phase of its proposals to make ?500m of
savings over the next three years.

"BBC Content has a target of delivering a minimum of ?100m of
recurring annual savings which will result in a reduction of around
100-150 hours of originated TV programmes across genres by the end of
2027/28."

The corporation added that further savings across its content division
will be announced in the coming months.

Live at the Apollo, which has been running since 2004, also has one
further series already filmed, but will not continue after that has
been broadcast.

The show is normally anchored by a well-known comedian, who introduces
two other comics to present their own stand-up routines at London's
Hammersmith Apollo.

The programme has acted as a springboard for emerging comedy talent,
and helped boost the early careers of Michael McIntyre, Kevin Bridges,
Micky Flanagan and Sarah Millican.

Although Live at the Apollo will end, the BBC said it would "shortly
be announcing digital plans focused on stand-up and emerging comedy
talent".

They said the ongoing pivot to digital would "ensure we continue to
support the stand-up community in a rapidly changing and increasingly
competitive media landscape".


'One of my favourite shows'
Bradley Walsh, who presents Blankety Blank, said earlier this week
that the show was currently on ice because he was too busy to film
another series.

The presenter told the Radio Times, it was "one of my favourite
shows" but that he "physically does not have the time" to film
another series at the moment because of other commitments.

Blankety Blank launched in 1979 and initially ran for 11 years,
presented by Terry Wogan and Les Dawson.

It has since been revived several times, including a popular 1990s
run hosted by Paul O'Grady's alter-ego Lily Savage.

The current incarnation, presented by Walsh, has been on air since
2020, when the success of a one-off Christmas special prompted the
BBC to commission several more series.

Celebrity Mastermind, which is filmed in Belfast, launched in 2002 and
has also been presented by Magnus Magnusson and John Humphrys.

It was a spin-off from the main Mastermind series that launched three
decades earlier and saw members of the public answer questions on
general knowledge as well as a specialist subject.

The BBC said: "We will still continue to commission ambitious
Entertainment shows and invest in distinctive UK content from a wide
range of independent production companies of all sizes."

The corporation also said it would "prioritise digital innovation that
can serve fans of these shows and beyond".


<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyx8j33k7zo>





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