By Jamie Holland
A London police officer who insisted on anonymity has expressed renewed concerns that the axing of Crimewatch from our screens sends a mistaken message to the public that devalues the seriousness of crime.
The message is that crime is no longer being taken as seriously as it perhaps once was, he says. The Sergeant, stationed in Whitehall , has been with the police force for over 22 years. The Sergeant believes the decision to axe crimewatch may have been symbolic in its effect to the public. He anonymously told the eye of media.com :
“It may not be the falling views of the night time show that has suggested this” he says, “But more so the symbolic ideology behind removing the programme from being aired. That is more the worry rather than the program actually assisting in solving the crime”, the officer stated. BBC axed crime watch from its screens in October, afterv 33 years of broadcasting.
The officer admitted that the show obviously did not get the response it used to for a long time but argued that “This perhaps was not to all the public’s knowledge…Actually removing the show confirms this to the outside world and suggests we have less time for clamping down on crime”.
DEFEAT
The BBC’s recent decision to revamp the show with Jeremy Vine did little to save the programme from facing defeat when it comes to viewing numbers. Especially considering that it is in direct competition against the likes of the hugely popular Broadchurch, the return of Cold Feet and even the light-hearted family favourite, Gogglebox. This paved the way for the BBC’s announcement to remove Crimewatch from our evening television timetables and, instead, make room for more runs of the daytime Crimewatch Roadshow. It is worrying that 33 years of television broadcasting failed to save Crimewatch, a catastrophic dip in viewing ratings presented as the reason for shifting the show to a much smaller audience
SUBSTITUTE
The BBC believe that the daytime equivalent will serve as an efficient substitute to the former show aired in the evening, but this is doubtful given the vast numbers of the British public at work during the day time.
A spokesperson for the BBC told the eye of media.com, “The brand is best suited to BBC Daytime going forward. BBC One Daytime’s Crimewatch Roadshow launched in 2009 and has proven to a big success. Each episode of the most recent series averaged 1.2m viewers and by scheduling five episodes Monday to Friday we reach a total of over 5m different viewers each week. It currently broadcasts for four weeks a year on weekday mornings from 9.15am – 10.00am. There will be an increase from 4 to 6 weeks a year across two blocks of three equating to an extra 10 episodes a year.”
Indeed, the daytime equivalent may have been a success , but can this really compensate for the impact the night time version had? When comparing the Crimewatch Roadshow’s viewing figures with the original, we can see that in 2017 the original Crimewatch “recorded an average audience of 2 million” which, in comparison to the Crimewatch Roadshow, is a higher average. Especially considering that the day time show is meant to be at it’s prime and the original was at it’s lowest and still getting a higher view count. The BBC states that over a week the Crimewatch Roadshow equates 5 million views. The original, with 2 million per night, equates to approximately 10 million .
The officer was adamant that the Crimewatch Roadshow “will not do it’s former evening counterpart justice…It suggests that people can’t be bothered to view it in the evening so let’s just chuck it during the day when most people are working”.
He also added, “While there is catch up where people can watch it (at a later point)… that involves needing a satellite TV subscription, a computer or catching it on free TV when it next runs”.
When we contacted the BBC again asking them what they think caused the original show to plummet so significantly we were told that they had “nothing further to add”.
The Crimewatch Roadshow is not a bad substitute , but the crucial point is not whether the original evening show had plummeted in its ratings. Rather, the pertinent issue is the fact the day time show cannot effectively act as a substitute for the axed night time series beamed at a time when the chances of having most people at home was much higher than in the day time.
LESS PRIORITY
The London police officer certainly feels we are putting less of a priority on crime by axing the once loved show. Perhaps it suggests there is less of a place for the solving of crime outside of the news today or, more importantly, does it actually tell us a lot about ourselves as the public – do we care less about the solving of real crimes and prefer to watch those of fiction in shows competing with the evening Crimewatch (such as Broadchurch) that have a direct link to the failure of the original program?