Chastened

So, as we head to a Whittingdale World where BBC1 can only publish its schedules after the Radio Times has issued a detailed rundown for ITV, what might have happened under Big Johnny's rules this Sunday ?

BBC1 would have been told to cease the aggressive scheduling of Countryfile (overnight audience 5.01m), which prevented Crozier and Lygo from making appropriate and proper advertising revenue from The Chase Celebrity Special (overnight audience 2.66m), featuring Alison Hammond, Una Healey, Carl Froch and Mikey North (must have taken a top booker to assemble that line-up). Countryfolk and National Trust types would love that cheeky Bradley Walsh chappie, given half a chance.

By the way, yesterday's denial that John Whittingdale wants to clip the wings of BBC1, from a DCMS spokesman, was a non-denial. "The government will be setting out its plan on the BBC charter in a white paper in May. The secretary of state has made it clear on a number of occasions that the government cannot, and indeed should not, determine either the content or scheduling of programmes.” But it can write rules for Ofcom to deliver its commercial allies from the monster that is the modern BBC...