Lord Reith is dead. Let's hear it for Big Brother. (British popular culture is a vibrant culture) - Intelligence Squared

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The real problem is television's conservatism of ideas

Speaker: Tim Gardam

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Tim Gardam suggests that Big Brother has been made a scapegoat for all that is bad about television. When Big Brother began, he argues, it was an intriguing social experiment, and was genuinely interesting viewing, but it has since retained little of its character. Gardam blames the dumbing down of British television on the producers of other programmes, whose 'deadly conservatism when it comes to subject matter' leads to the endless recycling of old ideas.

Tim Gardam

Journalist; principal of St. Anne's College, Oxford

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