Rats

The febrile atmosphere around podcasts at the BBC hots up further; in the prime trail slot just before 0700 on R4 this morning - Ratline, a ten-part podcast, about a real-life post-Second World War Nazi escape from Europe-attempt.

And yet, it's not a box set - you can only get the first two episodes now. And it takes a regular slot on the network at 1345 from 8th October.

Commissioner Mohit Bakaya is super-excited: “The Ratline is a story that has it all: a mysterious death, political intrigue, spies, Nazi hunters, dark forces within the Vatican, a castle in Hagenberg and a son grappling with the sins of his father." It clearly has a decent budget, to afford Stephen Fry doing some light reading parts.

Does it matter whether it's a podcast or a series ? Yes. A series is funded from the Radio 4 content budget; as far as I'm concerned, you can release it early in bits if you think that'll get a wider audience. But podcasts without a broadcast slot count as new money - we should be told how much, in total, is being spent on them, just as we are told network's annual content budgets.

It's rumoured at least one Radio 4 commissioner has been heard saying he/she is rather bored with the network's content and podcasts are the future. That's scary: anyone can podcast, and thus there's an 'infinite competitive horizon already stacked with formidable players'. The BBC needs a strategic, budgeted approach, aligned to the public purposes. R4 commissioners should look after Radio 4.