Dark clouds

The stocky, stubbly shadow of Yentob brought dimness once again to a Commons Select Committee hearing today. Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide, was harassed by two MPs on the DCMS brief, and came very close to admitting that the Great Unimpeachable Creative Director might have some Intellectual Property in the BBC programme he presents and edits, Imagine, and thus a share, however small, in the revenue from sales abroad.  Someone will get to the truth of this eventually, and then, I predict, there'll be hell to pay.

Meanwhile cheerful Tim complained about the dearth of programme ideas in the BBC (what say you, Lord Hall ?) and the wider UK tv production community; was vague about whether or not BBC Studios, under CEO-elect Peter Salmon, would be obliged to give Worldwide their existing 'first-look' deal on new shows; and said BBC Studios would attract and retain better talent because, as a commercial operation, it would be allowed to pay people "in different ways".  Oh, and he said 'jeopardy' a lot.