ONE of the BBC’s most influential former director-generals has accused the corporation of producing “terrible” programmes and laid the blame on the domination of women executives.

Alasdair Milne said that the corporation had been run by women for five years, during which it has been criticised for a decline in standards and had produced an increasing number of “dumb” copycat lifestyle and makeover programmes.

His comments, which drew a furious reaction from BBC executives, will be embarrassing for the corporation as the Government considers the renewal of its royal charter. “I have nothing against women — I’ve worked with them all my life,” said Mr Milne, who was forced out in 1987 after a series of clashes with the Conservative Government.

“It just seems to me that the television service has largely been run by women for the last four to five years and they don’t seem to have done a great job of work,” he said.

Speaking on his 74th birthday, Mr Milne described a convivial lunch with Michael Grade, the new BBC Chairman. “I told him I thought the programmes were terrible,” he recalled. “There was no innovation. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I think the BBC has to pull its socks up quite considerably.”

The BBC’s digital channels strategy was a failure.

“The BBC now has substantial sums that they are intending to spread too thinly on things that don’t matter a lot. Grade didn’t disagree with me at all; he thought some very hard thinking had to happen.”

Michael Grade said that he does not share Mr Milne’s views on female executives.

The BBC, particularly under Greg Dyke, has made a point of promoting women to key positions. BBC One, BBC Two, entertainment and drama commissioning have all come under female controllers and critics have detected a “softer” output, designed to attract female viewers. The BBC governors are examining whether the balance between current affairs and lightweight entertainment in peaktime has drifted too far in favour of the latter on BBC One.

Mark Thompson, the BBC Director-General, has called for an end to derivative lifestyle and house makeover programmes, which became prominent on BBC Two when Jane Root was Controller.

Anna Home, appointed head of children’s programmes in 1986, said: “It’s taken a hell of a long time to get women to the top of the BBC so it’s a shame to slag them off so soon. I don’t believe that gender affects the programmes and the women are doing fine.”

Ms Home, who gave the go-ahead to Grange Hill and Teletubbies during a distinguished BBC career, said: “Every meeting was dominated by men in suits.”

Greg Dyke told Mr Milne that he was in danger of joining the “grumpy old men”. The former Director-General said: “Alasdair’s a lovely bloke but people have a tendency to think that everything is terrible now and much better years ago. It isn’t always so.”

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