16 DECEMBER 1949, Page 14

Hard Times and the B.B.C.

I call this, if we permit it to happen, inattentive on our part. If television is to cover the country (and you would have to be as misguided as Canute's advisers to try to stop it), then it must cover it fully and worthily. The B.B.C., I am told, is much hampered by our general hard times ; the capital investment pro- gramme, and the B.B.C. allocation from it, are severely limited. Hence, studio facilities for television are absurdly cramped. Hence, producers of television drama and their actors are allowed a bare six hours' rehearsal with their cameras—and have just that much time in which to compose their shots for a two-hour play, while film producers are lucky in the same time to have shot two minutes.