BBC Knowledge

The percentage of the population that has taken up digital TV is still a minority. This means that the majority of you reading this will not have seen BBC Knowledge, which is a great shame. Out of the three BBC digital channels, this is the one that offers the most interactive output and has the potential to be a great asset to the UK as an information source. If you don’t know what it is your paying for, the format of BBC Knowledge is pretty simple. Five days a week it offers individual themed days of programming. Under five headings I’ll give you what you can expect from the ... more

After a rather pathetic start the BBC have now transformed BBC Knowledge into a channel akin to Radio 3. The performance of The Messiah recorded at the Albert Hall during the Proms was brilliantly put together and well balanced as to how the work should be performed. The drama/documentary examining the life of Agatha Christie gave some interesting insights into her private life. Again this was well put together and avoided being strung with cliches. I hope this level of quality will continue since despite the wider choice of channels it is not always easy to find good quality programmes. ... more

Presumably, the hidden agenda here is to wait until sufficient of the population have had their old TV sets dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age, then move all those obscure but worthy Open University and Schools programmes across from their valuable slots on BBC2. I first watched BBC Knowledge when they had their Dunkirk Day, which was an interesting run of documentaries about that period of the war. There was hardly any original programming, but the BBC has plenty of material in its 40 year archives that deserves another outing. ... more