Tony Hall

TLOG & Boosh stay on BBC iPlayer after Netflix removal

The League of Gentlemen and The Mighty Boosh are to remain on the BBC iPlayer despite being removed from Netflix amid objections about the use of blackface.

W1A (BBC2, Monday), the witty mockumentary about the BBC, returned for another series and felt closer and closer to the real thing. I can't make up mind whether this is good or bad. By the end of the season let's have BBC boss Tony Hall doing a cameo in which he shuts down the production.

BBCMe, the Corporation's fictional version of YouTube, sounded ludicrous enough to actually happen. But you've got to laugh, because these types of meetings happen everywhere, only the jokes aren't as good. I loved the "more of less" initiative but the best line found an open goal at Match Of The Day.

When it was suggested that trans football pundit Ryan Chelford was too dull for the show, one PR queried: "Too dull for Match Of The Day?"

Edinburgh Fringe | 2016 Tony Hall

Law welcome to journey with me, earth bones funny at personal best. Jump towards. Three-time Chortle Award winner, Amused Moose Best Show winner and Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee.

Lenny Henry repeats call for funding to boost diversity

BBC director general Tony Hall also tells Channel 4 conference that there is 'loads' to do to boost representation of minorities on British television.

Video: 'Not enough TV drama or comedy' at BBC Wales

BBC Wales director Rhodri Talfan Davies has said there is not enough TV drama or comedy being made.

One year on from BBC's director general Tony Hall's speech in which he said English language television from and for Wales had been declining for almost a decade, Mr Talfan Davies said investment in drama had to be cut to protect services in news, current affairs and politics.

BBC Wales arts and media correspondent Huw Thomas spoke to Mr Talfan Davies about the challenges facing the industry.

Radio Times review

An hour-long special of the comedy where the BBC looks at itself in a fairground mirror. As usual, writer/director John Morton happily tramples on touchy subjects. Not just in the subplot about Jeremy C****son (his full name cannot now be broadcast, due to events) saying "tosser" on Top Gear with controversial frequency, but in the main disaster-in-waiting: a visit to New Broadcasting House by Prince Charles. Head of security Dave (Andrew Brooke) briefs Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) on the protocol for the Royal Range Rover's arrival: "I will at that point assume control of the rising bollards personally." Dave also plans to lock all internal doors in case of emergency...

When it eventually gets going (I know the myriad characters who say the same thing over and over are meant to be annoying, but still) it's a fine farce, albeit one in which director-general Tony Hall's much-anticipated cameo is still as yet unviable.

Further examples of "Real W1A" were not hard to find last week, as if toilers in New Broadcasting House are using the sitcom as a kind of manual rather than a wake-up call. There was the timing of the news of the axing of BBC Four's The Review Show, just two days after director general Tony Hall summoned the media to rejoice as he announced a raft of initiatives amounting to "the biggest arts push for a generation".

And Monkey hears of an in-house seminar where the World Service was being discussed, and "amoebas" - squishy shapes mapping its performance according to various criteria - were used in a presentation to demonstrate its value. To be fair, though, the insider audience made clear they found the amoebas baffling (in W1A such surrealism would have been treated as perfectly normal), and suggested they should be renamed butterflies "before it goes public".

Tony Hall could be in line for cameo in W1A

Second series role rumoured for director general after BBC2 premiere of first episode pulled in 1.6 million viewers.

BBC 'would broadcast' Comic Relief claims

BBC Director General Tony Hall has said the BBC will broadcast a Panorama programme featuring allegations about Comic Relief, if they are true.