Not quite so dramatic

More changes at the BBC, spotted by Gillian Reynolds, doyenne of radio critics, in her regular Telegraph column - but these don't, unsurprisingly, seem to be overtly part of the management's "Putting Quality First" proposals, and thus opponents will have to find ways of writing them in to the BBC Trust online consultation. Here's the gist of Gillian's anxiety.

Radio drama is no longer to be a department on its own. It is to be merged with documentaries. The head of drama post will vanish. Alison Hindell, who holds it now, will return to Wales to take charge of regional drama as, back at Broadcasting House, the axe is being taken to the BBC department which, over the years, has produced and nourished such writers as Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Joe Orton, Rose Tremain and Lee Hall, where Gielgud, Schofield, Ashcroft, Dench and every other great actor on the English stage has regularly performed for national audiences. If the listening public is disturbed by the proposed closure of BBC6 Music and the Asian Network, how will it feel about this monstrous downgrading of radio drama?

The BBC spin is different. They say that Alison will oversee all UK radio drama from her position in Wales, where the BBC intends to spend money on a "drama village", but it looks like "day-to-day" stuff at Broadcasting House, London (where there is a substantial, already-built drama studio) means management by Documentaries.