A still from India's Daughter (2015). Credit: dir. Leslee Udwin
Here’s a radical thought from a wayward summer’s reading. Near the end of a great French novel, the romantic, imprisoned hero comes to a momentous conclusion. ‘The best thing about being condemned to death,’ he says, ‘is that you remember all the poetry you have forgotten.’
I feel this about where the BBC has currently got to. Like individuals, institutions can be destroyed in many ways, and they can of course destroy themselves – often without anyone realizing this is happening. There are crimes without perpetrators: not every death neatly follows the time-honoured plotlines of Cluedo. From where I sit, however, many of the best features of the BBC appear endangered. I feel that the poetry is needed before it’s too late.
