BBC Content Boss on Tim Davie, Traitors and Strictly's Future

20 Nov 2025 · 55 min

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Podcast Summary: The Rest Is Entertainment - Episode with Kate Phillips

Podcast Overview Title: The Rest Is Entertainment Hosts: Richard Osman & Marina Hyde Description: A podcast centered on insider knowledge about TV, movies, and pop culture, providing insights on current entertainment trends and industry secrets.

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Episode Details Episode Title: BBC Content Boss on Tim Davie, Traitors and Strictly's Future Guest: Kate Phillips, Chief Content Officer at the BBC Date: [Insert Date]

Key Themes

  • BBC Leadership Changes: Discussion on the recent resignation of Tim Davie and the implications for the BBC.
  • Audience Engagement: Strategies to attract younger viewers and the evolution of media consumption.
  • Content Creation Process: Insights into how popular shows like *The Traitors* and *Strictly Come Dancing* are developed and produced.
  • Future of Entertainment: Emphasis on innovative uses of technology and how AI can impact storytelling.

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Key Takeaways

  1. BBC Leadership and Culture
  2. Tim Davie's Resignation: Phillips expressed shock and sadness at the resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, highlighting their dedication to the BBC.
  3. Public Accountability: Phillips emphasized the BBC's responsibility to be accountable to the public due to its funding model.
  1. Success of Current Programs
  2. The Traitors:
  3. Developed during the pandemic to create shared viewing experiences for families.
  4. The decision to produce a celebrity version was strategic, leveraging audience familiarity with the original format.
  5. The show's success was attributed to its unique concept and engaging execution.
  • Strictly Come Dancing:
  • Continues to perform well and attract large audiences.
  • The casting process is crucial to maintain chemistry among hosts.
  1. Engaging Younger Audiences
  2. Social Media Strategies: Effective use of platforms like TikTok to engage with younger viewers, generating memes and enhancing participation.
  3. YouTube's Role: The BBC recognizes YouTube as a significant platform for reaching younger demographics and plans to invest in more video content tailored for this audience.
  1. Innovation in Content Creation
  2. AI and Emerging Technologies:
  3. The BBC is exploring AI for various production tasks, although it acknowledges the limitations of AI in generating original ideas.
  4. Phillips expressed excitement about using AI as a creative tool, emphasizing the importance of human oversight.
  1. Public Service Broadcasting
  2. Phillips passionately articulated the BBC's mission to enrich lives through diverse programming, asserting that public service broadcasting should resonate with every viewer in the UK.

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Audience Questions and Insights

  • On the Nature of Success: Phillips discussed the way shows are assessed not only through viewership ratings but also through audience engagement over time, particularly on platforms like iPlayer.
  • Challenges in Programming: The pressure to keep iconic shows fresh while meeting audience expectations remains a constant challenge.
  • Emerging Formats: The podcast concluded with Phillips emphasizing the need for innovation in format creation, hinting at potential future projects.

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Final Thoughts This episode provided a detailed insight into the inner workings of the BBC and its approach to content creation and audience engagement. Kate Phillips’ perspectives on leadership, program development, and the future of broadcasting highlight the challenges and opportunities within the evolving landscape of media.

Additional Notes

  • Listeners are encouraged to explore membership options for exclusive content and perks associated with the podcast.
  • Upcoming episodes promise to continue the discussion on industry developments and viewer engagement strategies.

For more information and to listen to this episode, visit [The Rest Is Entertainment](https://therestisentertainment.com).

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Transcript

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2:50Hello and welcome to this episode of the Rest is Entertainment, Questions and Answers Edition. I'm Marina Hyde. And I'm Richard Osman. Hello, Marina. Hello, Richard. Now, we've got a very special guest today. We have. It's not just the two of us in the studio, is it? No, it is not. We have with us the BBC's Chief Content Officer, Kate Phillips. Hello, Kate. Hello. Hi, everyone. Really, really pleased to be here. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much for coming. Now, Kate is probably responsible for more of what people watch day to day than anybody else in Britain. I would say. And listen to and everything to all of the BBC services.

3:24And so when we asked for questions, we had, I'm going to say, a deluge of questions. Yes. And some good ones as well. Great. Kate, did you imagine, should we just kick off? And listen, I apologise for some of the swearing that our listeners do. No, everyone's been so lovely. Everyone, yeah. We're going to start with something topical because you agreed to do this before the recent, there's been some shenanigans at the BBC recently. I don't know if you know that. I don't know if you know you're being sued for one billion dollars. Shannon Hughes says, what is the atmosphere like at the BBC now with Tim Davy resigning?

3:55Was his time up after so much scrutiny and press coverage? It's definitely been a tough few days for the BBC. That's undeniable. I think we could literally have said that at any point in the last 30 years. That's true. Yes. I think particularly recently, we were all very shocked when Tim and Deborah Ternus, our head of news, resigned. because for me personally, I am huge admirers of them. They have been incredible colleagues, great friends, and I know no one who has worked harder or cared more about the BBC and making sure that it's of value to everyone in the UK. That is at their core. And it was a real shock when they resigned.

4:37In typical Tim manner, he rung me and told me personally, and it was a bolt from the blue. And I just think he is an amazing leader and he will be very hard to replace. And I think everyone at the BBC is feeling great sadness that they've gone because we're very proud of everything we do there. And two of our most talented and brilliant leaders are stepping down. You know, as we know, it is the most trusted news organisation in the whole world. So imagine how bad last week must have been for the second most trusted news organisation. except no because we're the only country who tears our things apart like this is what i would like to think but and is it is it is it tricky working at the bbc listen we all know that uh public service is wonderful but there is there is this sense and i felt that with tim that you're you're constantly under scrutiny and it feels to me like maybe that was a thing that pushed him over the edge he just thought that there's other jobs that i could be doing and i i've spoken to him about the BBC and I genuinely believe how much he loved it and how much he did for it.

5:41Do you think maybe it was just one thing too many? I think we are under a lot of scrutiny at the BBC, I think more than any other broadcaster, but rightly so. We're funded by the public and I always say we are utterly accountable and when we get something wrong editorially or something comes into question it should be questioned and looked at. I think Lisa Nandy spoke about warning against sustained attacks on the BBC. So for me, yes, we should be scrutinised. Yes, we're accountable and we should be upheld when we don't get it right. But in the spirit of making the best broadcaster in the world even better, it's as simple as that.

6:19And that's what we should strive for. I've just got a little thing before we get onto our next video question, because it's made me think of that. Do you, I mean, you would drive yourself mad doing this. Do you ever try and think, what culture will next blow across my door? So do you look at what you're about to put out and think, I wonder if it will be this that blows up or is it always just something you totally didn't predict and then it just becomes the biggest dominant news story? Yeah, it's a really good question. I think it's a bit of both. I mean, we are very proud of our content and I don't think we want to sanitise it for fear of people not liking it.

6:53There's this great line that indifference is the enemy, not contempt. And I think that is a good line because I think we stand by our content and you know the BBC mantra of inform educate and entertain is in everything we do but yes sometimes you can be a bit blindsided by something and think oh right okay but you know you just you're prepared for anything at the BBC and you're right Marina I can wake up in the morning and by the time I go home at night it's a very different day to the one I thought I was going to have. Enough about politics let's talk about entertainment I felt for you when when all the BBC stuff happened because you just had Celebrity Traitors, which you were one of the first big advocates of.

7:33Such a huge, massive success. And you had about maybe two days to enjoy that before this all happened. So let's start talking about formats and shows like that. Mike from Leeds has a question. Thank you, Mike. Hello, Richard, Marina and Kate. Oh, hello. Hello, Mike. Inclusivity. Yeah. He says the BBC has had great success recently with big entertainment formats like the Traitors and Race Across the World and their celebrity versions. how are these large show scales developed or sought out by the BBC what is the process for spotting or nurturing a potential hit format essentially what is your job in some ways so I think one of the great things about working for a public broadcaster funded by the public is that is literally our jobs as commissioners to give the audience the best shows we're not a commercial organization we don't have to worry about advertising funding it is about what do audience want to watch.

8:23If you want to know how the traitors came about, it is quite interesting. So we've had the pandemic and I was very conscious of a really tough time that millions had been through. So we wanted programmes that brought audiences together, something that collectively would be popular. I've talked before about the three G's and by that I mean three generations. What is a programme that kids, parents and grandparents would watch together? So The Traitors was developed by two very talented brains in Holland originally. It had been on in Holland. It hadn't knocked it out of the park. I think it had done okay.

9:01I mean, Richard, you know all this. I know that your knowledge is extraordinary on The Traitors. But someone on my team, Saida, she was talking to a friend at NBC, Ed, and they thought, is there a show we can do together? Because they're expensive, these shows. So is there a show we could co-fund with another broadcaster? And that's happening much more often. It happens much more often now, yeah. So then they would have it exclusively in America. We'd have it exclusively in the UK. But the creators would hold on to the format rights, which is important for us at the BBC, that people own their IP.

9:33And Ed talked to Saeeda about this show in Holland called The Traitors. So Saeeda came to me to talk to me about it. And I remember when it was first pitched, the instinct I had was, I'm sorry, we know who the traitors are. Wouldn't you want to play along? You know, you want the audience playing Goss. And they said, no, no, no, it's more fun when you know. Of course, you're right because you see the duplicitous behavior. So we thought it sounded exciting. Then they were looking at filming it in Costa Rica. That is true. They were looking at Costa Rica as a location. Claudia's outfits would have been so much worse.

10:14I don't think Claudia would have liked wearing outfits of Costa Rica. No, she would have hated it. So I then went to the then chief content officer, Charlotte Moore, who was a brilliant chief content officer. And I said to her, I literally said this. I said, I've got this show, Charlotte. It's a bit of a punt. And everything is a punt. You know that, Richard. You can do all the audience research you like, but ultimately you're holding hands with the indie and jumping in and hoping it works. It's a bit of a punt, but there's something different about it. And what I liked about it was its distinctiveness.

10:44I've never seen it before as a television show. So, yes, there were sort of parlor games that were played like this. And Charlotte, God love her, literally took me on that. And then at the BBC, we like to spend money in the UK and we like to do portrayal across the UK. So, Charlotte came back to me and said, well, the good news is I think I found you the extra money. Because I was head of entertainment then and I sort of spent all my money. So, I was going to Charlotte. You're always pitching up, asking for more money. and Charlotte said well I can use a thing about the entertainment but we would like you to make it in the UK so then I had to call um Studio Lambert yeah and NBC so Studio Lambert are the production company and how does that work so if if I was an ordinary just normal person on the street and I'd seen that Dutch show I I'm not going to be the one that's making it so did you talk to Studio Lambert did they come to you you'd worked with them before on lots of things presumably Yeah, they make Race Across the World for us, of course, which they do brilliantly.

11:40But yes, so they had the rights to make it in America and the UK. So Studio Lambert were their right. They'd taken the rights to make it. And that is a really good point, actually, because often when you do television programmes, it's, is it a great format, but it is a lot about execution and having a team that know how to make that. And one of the reasons Traders is so great is because it's got incredible people working on it. But yes, so I then had to ring Studio Lambert and NBC and say, how do you fancy a Scottish castle? And they, of course, I think the Americans love a bit of that. And it's really interesting with the show because a lot of stars have to align.

12:16So that worked well. Then we were looking at hosts and Alan had been signed to do the American one. So I thought, well, Alan's known here and he's a popular Scottish actor. So we did actually, full disclosure, ask Alan if he would do it but he couldn't do it with our dates because America were filming first and then we were going and he had another job so he couldn't do it so then we were thinking who else and Julia Lambert had got a good list of names and I just thought Claudia because I've worked with her on Strictly and the thing about Claudia on Strictly is she's brilliant on that show but she's brilliant because she's interested in people more than the dancing she's about the people and the contestants and what's happening.

12:58So I rung Claudia and I rung her up and I said, and she's a good friend and she's always open to sort of new challenges. So I said, Claudia, I've got the show. Before you say anything, it's the two things you hate. You've got to leave your home and it's in the countryside. And she was like, oh, no, no, no, you know how I feel about that. I said, look, I'm going to ask the production team to send you a copy of the Dutch version see what you think she watched that and she was in straight away but did I know that her clothes were going to become such a big thing or it would get so sort of camp and gothic or that it was scheduled so well as well I think scheduling you know big credit to them to Lindsay Curry and his team because they when we put the first step out they then said we'd like to drop the second one straight away and that was like what because I'm of the old school sort of apprentice once a week but they said no no we think yes we need to put people in and then we're going to strip it and do these three eps a week and that made me really nervous but it was absolutely the right call and i think so everything marketing did a great campaign press so everything comes together you watch it you've got all the tape so you know what the show is you've known from start to finish so you must have had firstly what was your confidence about the show that you've been delivered and secondly at what point did you think all the audience have started to work this out as well so that again good question because often you watch a show and we've all been involved in shows that actually have been really good but they haven't found an audience so i watch when you watch a show you watch it on your laptop in the office and of course that's a very different experience to watching it at home or a friend so i watched the first two eps and thought oh no this is good you literally when you watch the first step of something your heart is in your mouth going please be good please be good it's good so i'm like wow this is something special i do remember another story for you Stephen Lambert ringing me up after I watched he's the guy who runs after I watched three eps and said um the the castle that we filmed at if you want it for series two we need to put a deposit down now because it's a wedding venue now when is that play what's that play but he did say you need to put a significant amount of money down now to secure it and NBC I've spoken to them and they will and um so of course I rung NBC and NBC he said no no they said you were putting the money down that's fine but that's absolutely you're Americans yes but incumbent upon you yes and I would do the same if I was Stephen but I remember normally you wait for a show to transmit or at least do some audience testing on it before you commission a second series and I remember sitting there thinking what do I do well it's good but I've had other good shows I'm fan audience and then I just rung them back and said yeah put the money down and I didn't tell any of my bosses buy the castle Kate yes it's a point now or would you just buy the castle?

15:48They always say that about, I think The Apprentice back in the day, they should have bought a luxury house back in the day 20 years ago. That's not with Avalon. You think just buy the Taskmaster house. It's really small. I know, the Taskmaster house. It's not even as expensive. But yeah, so I knew it was good. But I think when it first transmitted, the very first series, it didn't get huge numbers overnight. No, it built. It really built. With anything new like that, it's really, it just built. And then by the end, you had to watch it on the night. And word of mouth is key, I think. I think often, particularly, well, actually all audiences, sometimes they don't want to be told that they're going to trust a friend more than they are us.

16:25So that word of mouth build is really key. But it's easier to catch up on as well when there aren't millions of episodes a week. When there were three, people felt like, OK, I can join the bandwagon. yeah and then yeah celebrity traitors so you know lots of people go oh my god they're doing a celebrity version of this thing um how did that come about were you certain about doing that and at what point did you you must have seen that and you must have gone oh okay i think this was the right thing to do yeah well i mean it's interesting that claudia wasn't keen so she didn't she didn't want to do a celebrity she wanted to rest the format yes but she's very protective of it and claudia is all in if you yeah if you go um in the dressing room that claudia has in the traitor's castle she has feed she has screens she's watching it all the time she is in claudia i've never seen a presenter so invested in show so she was very protective she was reluctant i think the good thing we did was because we had civilian versions first i think when we started booking the celebrity one they just wanted to play the game if you'd had a celebrity version first you wouldn't have got the names you did.

17:30So, I mean, yes, the names were fantastic. And it was the mix of names as well. And who knew that Joe Marler was going to be such a star and actually cleverer than any of them at seeing who the traitors were. But I suppose the thing I always remember is Alan Carr. So, Alan Carr said no, because he doesn't really do reality shows. When he was offered it first. When he was offered it. Did he? So they came back to me and said, Alan's a no. So I thought, OK, what do I do to change this? Because I knew Alan would be good. So he was filming in Bromley and I live in South East London. This is true. It's about this time last year.

18:07So and I know his agent Danny very well, who did think he should do it. So I said to Danny, let's take Alan out for lunch. Let's do a pincer movement and get him signed up. So I remember walking into the restaurant and just went, I know why you've asked me for lunch, Kate, and I'm not doing it. And I sort of said to Alan, OK, this is why you should do it, Alan. And I just talked to him about what a great show it was, how he'd be looked after. Stephen Fry was actually the first person to sign up for it. I was going to say, is it a bit like casting a movie? If you can say, Scotty Hanson's doing it.

18:40Yeah. So Stephen was great. Stephen signed up for it because he wanted to play the game. And he did say, look, use me to get others. so that helped but I said and then what Alan said to me so then we sort of talked him around and he was coming around to the idea I said you'll have fun it's amazing you know it's a proper game I think you'd be really good and I think you'll really like the other we couldn't really say who else was signed up at that point because there were some names anyway because you knew he was disclosed it accidentally yes Alan was there yes and we had to be quiet before he became Tony Montana he was quite loquacious but he obviously developed as a villain but the thing he said to me he said alright Kate I think maybe I will do it on one condition.

19:18I said, what's that, Alan? He said, you've got to promise me I won't be a traitor. And I was like, well, first of all, I can't promise that because it's the format and I've got no control. And then I said, and honestly, Alan, I think if you, and he said, I can't, I'm sweating thinking about it. I can't lie, Kate, I can't lie. And who knew he was going to be the best traitor of all. And you know, Claudia's very much part of picking those traitors as well. I think I'd say those interviews that Claudia does are very key in the civilian version and the celebrity version. And they normally have one, possibly two people in mind for the traitors.

19:54But I think on one series, it was only about an hour before that roundtable that the team with Claudia had said, OK, these are the three we're going to go for. I think because those interviews with Claudia do actually. And actually, if someone really doesn't want to be a traitor, we wouldn't make them. We do look after people on it. We don't want them to have an awful experience. I think by the time Alan got to Castle, he changed his mind. Yes, of course he did. Because again, we talked about what a great booking is. He understood what the show is. He understands the role that he can play. I saw an amazing graph at the weekend that I thought was so fascinating.

20:25The graph of Google searches about neuroblastoma is sort of flat. And then suddenly there's this insane spike. I think it was like half a million more searches after Traces, which is brilliant. And I told Alan that because we got that from audience research. and I said but it's it's just been a real joy to see it take and see it become I think it's still you you've talked before about linear television and and the challenges of that but you can still get big numbers I mean strictly this Saturday and Sunday you know was was the biggest show watched over both nights and it's still getting really good numbers so that is brilliant to see and and but when I commission for linear now or my team still I should say because you've got amazing commissioning teams who are experts in all of this but we very much commission for linear television as a shop window for iPlayer so iPlayer is where we're really seeing the growth so it's very much commissioner show it used to be commissioner show for linear iPlayer's the catch-up it's now commissioner show for linear and shine a spotlight on iPlayer so episode one of Traitor's Celebrity is now up to 15 million six million of that was from the overnight nine million was from iPlayer That's, I think, one thing that people haven't quite caught up on.

21:41That's the fact with all channels now. It's just one of those things that has just happened. The audience just watches things in very, very different ways. And you see the misreporting of it all the time, which is like it's down, it's down. And you think, no, no, no, on catch up, if anything, it's... Yeah, and it's because people still are quite hung up on overnights. But for us, we wouldn't recommission a show until we looked at the 28-day picture. And I play a Dan McGulp and his teams who run that, I think, do a brilliant job of sort of pushing things on iPlayer and pushing people to them. And with a young audience as well, I think 80 % of all comedy and drama viewing is now on iPlayer for that age group.

22:18So you're seeing those trends, definitely. Can I ask you a question about Traitors from Rainer, which I thought was an interesting one, because I think people sometimes don't get this. Firstly, Rainer says, congratulations, what a triumph Celebrity Traitors was. Big fan of Traitors and the celebrity version was a tweet. She says, how does the BBC make money from productions like this without commercial advertising i wonder how you make that much deserved return on investment in these situations well for the bbc we we we don't really it's our return investment is seeing the audience are getting value from their license fee and they're loving the show um the independent production company and the format holders are the ones that make the money from it but not the bbc actually unless it's a bbc own format yeah if it's a show from bbc studios like strip become dancing which um you know has sold all over the world in like 60 different countries yes the bbc gets money from that the same but with shows like top gear so and that money goes straight back into other programming yeah so it absolutely comes back into the bbc to support the bbc and means we can spend money on more programs absolutely so speaking of top gear will you bring it back that's what that's what giles asks okay that's we are i mean top gear we still see it does huge numbers and I play with the shows and everything so yeah never say never it's not due back in the immediate future but it is a really important show for us so many people have asked a question which I'm not going to ask you which is who's going to be the next host of Strictly but so what I will ask you instead in the spirit of that when a job like that comes up when a when an opportunity comes up what happens what's the process who is emailing you what's happening inside the BBC when you've got a slot to fill or two slots to fill there what's the process by which those slots are filled I want to believe there's a situation room like the one where they all went in when they killed Osama bin Laden and they're all watching like that is there is there a BBC situation room where you would handle this where you'd handle that when it came not really I mean we that was I mean that was very much Tess and Claudia's decision and and they did ring me to sort of tell me what they were thinking but I think they were worried it was going to leak so which we often have, so they wanted to very much announce it on their own terms.

24:26But, you know, they are brilliant, brilliant hosts of that show and they have sparkly high heels that are going to be hard to fill, definitely. But in terms of the process next, well, the production team, BBC Studios, and Sarah James and her team and Susie Lamb and all these great people who make it, they are now concentrating on getting two shows out a week. So we haven't got time at the moment to start doing any screen test or chemistry testing. So we've got time. So I don't think we'll really be looking at it until the new year because we want to make sure that we deliver a great Strictly series.

25:02Having said that, yes, my inbox has been inundated. I mean, I can't say names, obviously, yes, but it is one of the best gigs in television. so we have had so many people. It's two of the best gigs. Two best gigs, exactly. So we've had so many people who are keen to be considered, which is great and we'll think carefully about next steps on it. But yes, there's no sort of room where we all go. They literally told me and then it's a series of… It's not a panic room at the BBC. There's not a panic room. In the circumstances. Of any organisation that should have a panic room. But then it's about the press teams linking up with Studio's press team, with Claude and Tessa's teams and making sure that we're all sort of aligned on how it's being announced and everything.

25:45But it's interesting. So with something like Strictly, the names who are going to do it will be big names so the people you know what it is that they can do. Will you do... Is that something where you would do chemistry tests with people? Is it something where you would do pilots? Or is it something where if everyone agrees... Everyone just goes, we know that Person X would be able to do this show. Lots of us have worked with her or him. We know exactly what they can do. Or is it something that's such a big thing for the BBC? You would have to sort of put people through their paces a bit. Yeah, is anyone offer only on that?

26:14You know how they say in acting roles where it's just like, no, I'm not doing a test. I'm not doing a read with anyone. Either offer it to me or don't offer it to me. I think because it's two roles and because Claudia and Tess have had such a strong relationship, I think it would be hard just to sort of hire someone cold without seeing how they are with the other person. So I think that is a really important part of it. I don't think it's necessary about having a really big name. I think with shows like Strictly, Format is King, and no one is bigger than that show. And when Bruce, you went, when Len went, we've had amazing people come through it, but it survives because it's such a good format.

26:48But yes, I think it's very important about the relationship between the future hosts. But I mean, we were talking strictly before we started today. And it's just, if anyone wants to, there's a quick plug, but on the result show, 17 minutes in, there was a collaboration between diversity. Oh my God, it was so good. It was one of the best things I have ever seen. watching it not me marina yeah i mean that show is such a thing of itself yeah where you think actually in some ways it's got what that's such a lesson in how to make amazing television out of essentially a one fact thing who's going to go and stay and then it's just an amazing hour it is and it and it's i mean people talk about the teens you see it backstage but they're amazing the costume the hair and makeup jason oversees the choreography you know we've got the bbc sort of Countner and Joe that look after it and Sarah and Susie, Nikki, there's Jack, there's so many amazing people who care so much about that show and make and every year it's like how are we going to raise the bar?

27:47How are we going to? And that's one of the challenges with shows. You know this, it's not just about making sure new shows land and grow but how do you keep the big brands at the top of their game? How do you keep those big shows fresh? You know, House of Games, I'm sure you must think about that and how do you keep it fresh? Yeah, exactly that. And I absolutely won't put words in your mouth. But I do think that Claudia and Tess understand that actually, it's probably a good thing to have somebody new doing it. They've done such an incredible job on that show. But actually, you want it to still be on in 15 years' time.

28:20And, you know, sometimes it's useful and it's lovely when it comes from the people themselves, when they've gone, do you know what, we've done our time. Well, I'm very excited to see who it's going to be. and again So you and Marina aren't throwing your hat in the rain Can you imagine? Can you imagine? That is an anxiety dream Would you like to anchor that much? I must get more messages about who's going to be the next Strictly host than anything else I do have an opinion that's for sure I fear that It could just be the traitors podcast This is not public service I'm afraid we are now going to have to go This is not the BBC we are now going to have to go for a break Kate if that's alright This episode is brought to you by Sky Cinema are the go-to destination for film lovers this Christmas.

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31:37Welcome back, everybody, to this Q &A episode, special one with Kate Phillips, Chief Content Officer of the BBC. Marina, we have lots of questions from our listeners. the next one we've got so many for about young audiences anyway tom davis this is a good one how does the bbc plan to engage younger audiences who are increasingly turning away from traditional broadcast media very good question tom and it is something we look at a lot i think again when we have a big show like traitors we see the young come in and i think what we learned we did a social media strategy that very much targeted young and it triggered thousands of memes and it gave the audience a chance to be creative.

32:18So actually, you've got your main show as kind of your live sports event, if you like. But actually, we could see a whole separate show going on at the same time online. And they were so funny. The memes were finally funny again because lots of that has sort of gone from social media and bled away now because social media has become so awful. But they were so funny, the memes about traitors. Yeah, they're really good. And a gift to the show, gift to Uncloax. So actually, we love that, that they were all engaging so much. And I think Celebrity Traitors is now the biggest show of the year. And for young, it's the biggest show after adolescence, which is really great for us to see.

32:58So I think it is about that. And we had a partnership with TikTok on it as well, when TikTok was sort of pushing back to iPlayer. um youtube is a really important platform for us we've been on youtube for about 20 years but i think we can see the growth of youtube and i think going forward we will be putting more content on youtube and we'll announce more plans about that soon but we see when i started when i was running entertainment traditionally it was the battle of the broadcasters you know the saturday nights with itv channel 4 then the streamers came in then you saw the competition from the streamers i'd say now for young audiences, the biggest competition is YouTube.

33:35But YouTube is a platform. They're not commissioners. So instead of looking at it as competition or rivals, we need to look at it as another platform where we can reach young audiences. Well, that's what I was, partly I was going to ask, you know, we talked about inform, educate and entertain. Is there a world in which you're looking beyond that sort of notion that public service broadcasting has to come in 30 minute or 60 minute chunks? And is there other ways that it can be delivered completely different, you know, maybe via short, not via other people making short form content about your content, but actually directly doing that, different types of broadcast, as it were, or kind of thing.

34:14Yeah, absolutely. So we still have a linear schedule to fill, so we still have those kind of time slots, but absolutely that's what YouTube gives us more freedom to do that. And we did a very good vertical drama, EastEnders did. They did vertical drama spiked, which did very well. And we've seen the rise in these sort of short dramas. For me, comedy, I really think vertical is really good for comedy. Definitely. So that will all be looked at going forward and how we do more content, different lengths, different forms. It's just about reaching the audience and however we need to do that. And are the people who are pitching to you, have they picked up on that as well?

34:52Because you must have had many years as the same group of people pitching half hour shows, hour long shows. are you now getting different companies coming to see you pitching different ideas in different forms yeah absolutely i mean we we commission from a lot of the bbc commissions from more indies than anyone else in the uk we worked with over 300 indies last year but actually what we're seeing is a rise of um well visual podcasts you know it's been a big thing and there's more companies sort of specializing in that and and more digital companies and just content creators we're doing a lot of schemes working with content creators giving them the opportunity to use our resources to sort of make their content and i think that's really exciting that we're of course there are brilliant indies that we that we work with and will continue to work with but actually the rise of new content creators and new companies i think is a real opportunity for us before for the immediacy of that where you can just get something going and do it quite quickly and a lot of things that are on the bbc are beautiful and incredibly high production values and as you've always said the long gap between i've had this idea and it is now on tv when any in ways in which you can contract that as people do on the short form video sites it must be quite interesting i think that's interesting because when i look at documentaries on youtube and things and sometimes they're a bit rower they're a bit scrappier but actually they're great content and maybe uh we get a bit too hung up on the dub and the grade and all this and you know we don't want to drop our standards but you're totally right marina how can we get content out there faster and reach and reach more people people are watching those things on the same place that they're watching you and they don't have that same sort of like oh it must be these kind of production values yeah formats i think still are slightly handcuffed to tv studios and shiny floors yeah they don't need to be yeah it's interesting isn't it with that hard to get rid of that saturday night because what's your feeling on i'm always interested what people feel about saturday nights because I still see the big numbers.

36:50But I think a few years ago, people would have thought, oh, well, is Saturday night still a big thing? But it feels to me that people still want those sort of big shows. Yeah, as soon as you, you know, 1 % Club, The Wheel, things like this, you know, stuff is working there that on the night will get three and a half million and, you know, will kind of consolidate to higher than that. Obviously, other countries don't have Saturday night TV. It's meaningless to them. But I think it's a shop window for that 3G idea, which is shows that you know the wheel and the one percent club which is itv are shows you can watch with your kids yes and your parents and i just think it's a great lead in but as you say as a shop window these days for yeah iplayer i met when um when i was running entertainment we commissioned gladiators so uh i did i yes there's something i used yes i will tell you so something i used i should i should i should still i i and i do want to actually do this again i was thinking of doing it actually anyway i used to go down to my local shopping center with a clipboard at the weekends and i just stop and talk to people and ask them about what they were watching on television and i just say and it's amazing how many people talk because we have amazing audience research teams of course they do and they give us invaluable information but i just wanted to talk to people direct and i remember being in the shopping center and speaking to this woman this lovely woman and And I said, what isn't on television at the moment that you would like to see on TV?

38:15And she said, I just want something I can watch with my kids. And she had little kids. They were under the age of 10 and they're already on different devices. And she said, I remember when I was young, sitting down, watching stuff, my parents, and now it's really hard to get them to watch anything with me. And then a week later, the gladiators pitch came in. And I'm not saying I commissioned it because of that one woman, but it was very much in my mind. actually the generation that watched it as kids are now have kids of their own so you've got that nostalgia but it's that shared that shared feeling and I think you know it's it's so liberating when you're commissioning just to put the audience first and think yeah why don't we bring back gladiators and don't mess with it too much but you know that's what you don't want to do you don't want to you know you want the sort of the music and the sort of the the we have new names but you know things like fire and nitro and all this you know great and also there's been the rise of the marvel superheroes since the last gladiators so i could see that kids love that and they love sort of giant and legend and the sort of giant is giant is shorter than me i did like he's like anyone in entertainment apart from you they are shorter in real life yeah i call him giant brackets not so much that's what that's what i call it it's also been amazing for booking for other shows because suddenly you've got like 12 new celebrities i love the way your mind thinks No, but it's true.

39:35Yeah, you've got, and you've had Nitro on Strictly Harry. I should say it's his real name, lovely Harry. But yeah, no, it is. But that was always, yes, why don't we bring back Gladiators? Because it will just be a joy. But I, even I was caught, you know, caught back by just how popular it was. And I thought, yeah, audiences still want this shared viewing. So yes, I will be, I will go with my clipboard again and talk to people. Well, that's what people sort of say, isn't it? Why can't we just have 10 versions of things this year? Why can't we just have, like, have 10 celebrity traitors? It's much harder to get those 3G formats.

40:04than you think. It is. How many do you turn down a year that you think? Oh, God. Well, it's, I mean, again, it's more the commissioning teams now who look. And a lot of things do go into development and we sort of try them and we pilot as much as we can. I mean, when you see something on screen, a lot of work has gone on for quite a while to sort of get there. Even if you're taking an international format like the Traders, it's still how's it going to work for our audiences and how does it feel distinctive and BBC is really important. It's never just a lift and shift of these things. But thousands of things pitched to your team every year.

40:42Yes, yes. Literally thousands. When people pitch TV shows to me sometimes, you do think it's a really, really, really – I mean, even back in the day when there was lots more telly, it was a crowded market. But now it's – yes. Speaking of which, Kate, Stephanie Moore says, is there a show that Kate was pitched that she passed on that she regrets missing out on. Is there one that got away? There's probably about 20. Gosh, I mean, you always look at shows. I think I was a big fan of The Masked Singer when it first came up because it felt distinctive and different. But often in these things, you're in a kind of a bidding war with another broadcaster and ITV got that one.

41:23But I did love Masked Singer because again, it just felt different and ridiculous and joyous and actually came a good time. I think they filmed it. It was in the pandemic. It was the perfect show for the pandemic when you've got masks whereas we have the challenge of keeping strictly on during the pandemic which i'm glad that we did but so there comes a point presumably where you cannot outbid an itv or some of the commercial broadcasters unless you team up with an mbc yes and i think and you know and i think um bandicoot have done a brilliant job making it for itv but yes i did always love that show the one i always look at with envy of course it was never bid to us uh pitch to us is um goggle box i was gonna say i am a massive goggle box fan because it's all those and it you know it's it's people across the uk it's different ages different backgrounds so it's funny it's so british and and when when um when i was directly commissioning shows when i was running end and then looking after unscripted i would always say when a pitch came in how are there goggle box moments when you're looking at a show what are the goggle box moments that will make people react strongly they'll laugh they'll gasp they'll cry because if you haven't got those we shouldn't be doing it so that's always a sign where are my goggle box moments yeah that's interesting it's changed commissioning in a way because yeah you have you have to imagine any of those groups of people what are jones and mary going to say about this yes if they knew the power they had those yeah it's extraordinary i know and it's it's just it's just utterly joyful and I when I a previous job I had when I used to um sell format so I would sell shows around the world and I remember uh Dr.

42:58Foster do you remember Dr. Foster back in the day so I went to Mumbai to sell that to an Indian broadcaster as a scripted format so that they would do their own version and instead of playing a sizzle tape of all the best bits I had taken the goggle box clip where everyone's watching the dinner party scene and they're all reacting and And then she whacks Jodie Combe around the head. And I just played that. And I said, look, this is from another broadcaster. This isn't a BBC show. But look at the public reaction to it. And I sold it in the room on that Gogglebox clip. So then I said to the lovely girls that are in charge of the Gogglebox format, just, you know, I am now using your show to sell my show.

43:36That's like when you see a trailer for a horror movie that's just the audience watching horror movies. I love horror movies. So much of everything is reaction gifts now. Isn't it just? You know, I'm a massive horror fan, can I just say. That's the one thing I love. Sorry, I'm spilling my coffee now. I love horror and I'm always a big fan of horror. Could the BBC ever do anything horror? Because it's such, I know. If I say this now, I'll get loads of horror things paid. I know and it's low budget and it's about being together. It's about so many. And good horror with proper jump scares, I think, is the hardest thing to do.

44:06And I never think it gets enough recognition in sort of film awards and anything. I'm a big, I still love. And it makes more money for pound for spent than any other genre by a long way in Hollywood. by a million miles. There will now be Doctor Who bulletin boards which are full of they're going to take Doctor Who in a horror direction. No, no, they were. We loved it. But I did used to love Hammer House of Horror when I was young and I remember my mother frog marching me back to Blockbusters because I took out a VHS of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I was too young and she made me go back and she gave the guy a real earful for letting me take it out so I'm a big horror fan.

44:39But no, I'm not looking for a prime time horror format. Although Traitors is a bit sort of campy horror. There's this moment. Well, you know, when people are sort of leaning into the Range Rovers in masks and dragging people out, you are a bit kind of, okay. I know, and the dolls. And I think when Diane was buried by her own son, I remember editorial policy who are brilliant at the BBC and really do keep us in check. But they did say, you know, are you sure about this? And I said, look, I think it is in keeping with the show and the sort of canvas and the horror of it. that could have become one of these random culture war moments.

45:13Could it be? It just didn't. It could have. And you never know. Yes. Can I ask you a question? Lots of people have asked questions in this area, but I will use Chloe Martin's question. Thank you, Chloe. Can you share how the BBC is embracing emerging technologies like AI and virtual production to shape the future of storytelling? Yeah, it's fascinating. I mean, we definitely want to be at the forefront of how the media are using it. And we're in a very test and learn phase at the moment. We actually just did an internal week of AI for all staff with lots of different presentations and how we can use it.

45:43So at the moment, we're piloting it. I know News have done a couple of Gen AI pilots on the website and apps. In Sounds, we've just done a pilot where we've used it for subtitling our program. So it's a real benefit. We're looking at how we use it in bite size to improve the tutor offering to children. There's a great one we've just done. It's a pilot where you take football clubs. So I think we've tried it with Plymouth and Southampton, Newcastle, Liverpool and Aston Villa. My family are all big Aston Villa supporters. I did not have a say in which ones they tried it on, but it was Aston Villa.

46:20But just to have a kind of daily targeted audio program about your club and what's going on. But when we use AI and when we use it in the pilot, it is still checked editorially. It doesn't go out without checks. But I think it is an exciting creative tool. I'm very interested to ask you about this. What I find fascinating, I went to a talk about AI and I think as a research tool, it's amazing. Because you can say, tell me what have been the big Saturday night hits in recent years and what have been the key ingredients. I mean, you could use Richard Osman for this or you could use AI. But say we're using AI.

46:53AI is too bad. Can't believe I lost a job. But it comes really, you know, within like seconds, it's amazing. Then I think I saw a demonstration and they said, OK, so I want to do a Saturday night show. I wanted to have drama, Jeopardy fun. And then it literally, again, within a minute, came up with ideas. But what I found is those ideas were quite derivative of what had come before because they're borrowing on what's already out there. So I'm really interested. I think AI is a research tool and it can certainly enhance creativity. It can help with films. You don't have to do GVs. You could use AI and things.

47:32But when you're looking at a new format, which we all love, would AI have come up with the traitors? that i'm not sure i think i think every single producer i talk to um they all use ai in in the way you're talking about is they all you know use it as a sounding board on certain things every single one i've spoken to and i'm trying to speak to people regularly because ai is changing regularly they all say the one thing it cannot do is come up with an original idea and people say feel free please to use ai in your deck or anything like that if you come to me with you know occasionally you'll get an idea through and you go was this yours yeah and the producer go oh no it wasn't you can just you can just tell there's something about it like the music but it can be like a note right it can be like an executive note no not like that but hang on and then it sparks a conversation where you take you take it on it can suggest things i think that people can kick back against or say yeah that wouldn't work because of that but i've got a producer friend i've got a producer friend who's trained his own ai to argue with him now he said because his ai was was so polite he said no you have to absolutely know what you know what i'm like here are my shows you have to stop being nice to me uh and he says he's got this great television now yeah but again not for not not for coming up with ideas i think when people think about ai they think people you know they think oh that's the way to get ideas and it's it just for various reasons but in terms of creative costs and things like say you want to do a show say you want to do something that's set in an incredibly expensive location and certain things have had to come down so much in cost comedy things like that because really for what for what you know because of the kind of harsh economics of the market but if you could use as you say for gvs for other for other aspects of it for background almost it makes different things possible and it makes bigger worlds possible to some extent than if you just said okay well we can only do it if it's all practical and it's all yeah i think that that will really help in the future definitely and sort of and help indies and that can lead, what does that, you know, necessity is the mother of invention.

49:35And I think that will be a big part of AI. I think for the BBC, we just have to be very open and very transparent when we're using it. That's really important. And we are very clear. We've been trialing sort of labels online when people can see where we've used AI. And that for me is keep going forward, but I'm excited about it. And I think creatively it is an opportunity, but let's sort of see where i mean it's moving so fast at the moment as well that's the other thing but i think we've got a big series next year actually hannah fry the amazing hannah fry is presenting which is looking at ai and that should we be excited should we be scared and giving as much information as we can about it for the audiences because i think there's there's a lot of questions about ai that still need answering but i also think that's where having an organization like the bbc at the heart of your culture is very very useful because it does need guardrails and we do want to protect jobs and we do want to be excited about it but at the same time if you just want to use ai for profit it goes in a certain direction if you want to use ai for creativity it goes in a different direction and it's important to have public service broadcasters who have uh yeah who use it but understand that uh yeah human beings are the heart of creativity feeds on to the like our last question because sadly we are running out of time but i've given the current climate given everything that's happened at the bbc i wanted to ask you something about public service and what it means to you do you and your team feel a responsibility to make the world a better place and if so how do you try and put that right at the heart of your program making oh god i mean absolutely i mean public service for me is about because you get emotional actually because it is an amazing thing but i think the bbc is an amazing organization And for me, it's about enriching the lives of everyone in the UK.

51:21And it should be of value for everyone in the UK. And whether that's through using bite size, looking at the weather, looking at the news, looking at the cookery website, having an amazing documentary, a wonderful entertainment show. Inform, educate and entertain is at the heart of the BBC. But we can do all those things. Sometimes one program can do all three. Sometimes actually it's just a great comedy and it's just a brilliant laugh. But for me, it really is about sort of serving the public and giving the audience. Yeah, I think you're right. I would hope that life is better in the UK because of the BBC.

52:02And I feel really passionately about it. It's why I'm still working at the BBC. And I think we have a lot to be proud of with our content. I didn't think I'd get emotional, but you sort of do because it's just fantastic, the range of content that we bring to audiences. And we're really proud of that. And the other public, I mean, ITV, Channel 4, I think we've all got Channel 5. There's always a lot of content on all of them that we should be really proud of. And we have to sort of keep going that and remember that that's what's important, that people are loving our shows and enjoying them. And I would just finish by saying there are a lot of treats for Christmas.

52:40We've got a lovely Christmas. We have Wallace and Gromit and the best wedding in Barry Island last year. But actually, there's some really lovely treats coming. And I think people will just really enjoy it. Yeah, sorry, God, now I get emotional. But yeah, it's a privilege to do the job I do. And that's just what we're doing going forward, focusing on giving everyone in the UK, across the UK, the best shows possible and reflecting their lives in everything we do. Kate, thank you so much. Thank you so much. It was a privilege. Thank you so much. Oh, it was great fun. Thank you. Chief Condemnator of the BBC.

53:17And if not celebrity traitors, Richard, how do you feel about celebrity gladiators? Oh my God, can you imagine? Now you said that you're taller than giant. If I had to do either, it would be celebrity traitors. Yes. Yeah. I think we would insist. That is for sure. So yeah, it's going to have to be Marina, I'm afraid, for celebrity traitors. thank you so much so much for coming in it was wonderful yeah um thank you so much listeners for your wonderful questions as well much appreciated we will see you all next tuesday unless you're a member in which case we have the final part of our mtv story tomorrow yes uh clue it doesn't end well um but for everyone else we will see you next tuesday see you next tuesday

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From the publisher

Kate Phillips is one of the most important people in British entertainment. As Chief Content Officer at the BBC, she’s been at the heart of the institution’s creative output for over a decade and she’s responsible for many of the BBC’s most beloved shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, The Traitors and Gladiators. Richard Osman and Marina Hyde interview Kate about Tim Davie, the Celebrity Traitors, and the future of Strictly.Join The Rest Is Entertainment Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus content, ad-free listening, early access to Q&A episodes, access to our newsletter archive, discounted book prices with our partners at Coles Books, early ticket access to live events, and access to our chat community. Sign up directly at therestisentertainment.com The Rest Is Entertainment is proudly presented by Sky. Sky is home to award-winning shows such as The White Lotus, Gangs of London and The Last of Us. Requires relevant Sky TV and third party subscription(s). Broadband recommended min speed: 30 mbps. 18+. UK, CI, IoM only. To find out more and for full terms and conditions please visit Sky.comFor more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.comVideo Editor: Charlie Rodwell + Adam ThorntonAssistant Producer: Imee MarriottSenior Producer: Joey McCarthySocial Producer: Bex TyrellExec Producer: Neil Fearn
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