The Limits of Television?

Abstract

Natural history programming is one of the mainstays of 'flagship' broadcasting in Britain. From thie geographically expansive documentary series of the 1950s to recent forays into interactive television, the BBC has promoted the genre as justification of the licence fee. This article examines The Blue Planet (200 l), focusing on the role of aesthetics in the quality television debate. Combining close analyses of the programme with data collected during a public screening of highlights fronm the series in 1--hyde Park, London (2002), -[he article proposes that: The Blue Planet's visual arid aural splendour has been figured as an integral part of the public service that it provides. In order to situate this argument within the ongoing debate about quality television and public service broadcasting, this article draws oil earlier critical discussions of heritage television. It is concluded that flagship television is antithetical to the notion of quality television if we reintrodutice the concept of 'flow' into the debate.