Adding up

Mark Lawson in the Guardian has fun with the idea that the BBC, as recently as 2005, was awash with dosh. He quotes former BBC1 Controller Peter Fincham, interviewed by 5Live's Richard Bacon, remembering his first day in the job, and a session with the channel's finance manager. Mr Fincham was apparently a bit bewildered by the budget and figures being cited for drama, comedy, documentaries etc, and asked "All I really need to know is, is it enough?" To which, the reply was "Peter, you'll struggle to spend it."

Mark then ruminates on the wider possible impact of the story in these cash-strapped times, and whether or not Peter's role at ITV might have motivated the re-telling of the conversation.

However, words can have different meanings, and it's entirely possible that a savvy accountant might have been noting more the paucity of good quality pitches in a genre and quota-dominated world, rather than a jacuzzi of surplus cash. Nonetheless it's given Mr Fincham an after-dinner tale...