He is not a programme-maker or a politician, but he must rapidly develop a feel for both disciplines – and the stakes could not be higher
Roger Bolton
Former BBC editor and presenter
Director general, we need you to give us a dream. At the moment we only seem to have business plans, which is not surprising since your board is stuffed with businesspeople. Not many creative dreamers there. Your predecessor needed to slim down the organisation, to try to find new sources of revenue and prepare for a digital future without the licence fee. All this at a time of massively increased competition, from Netflix to GB News; the flight of children and young people to YouTube; increasing opposition to paying the licence fee; and while working under the critical eye of unsympathetic ministers, ever-ready to put the boot in.
Tim Davie was not well served by some of his executives who let him down, but because he tried to do everything, he had to take the rap. I think he was an outstanding chief executive, but a director general needs to be more than that. They need to be a visionary.
