10 Ways British TV Has Got WORSE

10 Ways British TV Has Got WORSE

Caitlin Johnson

Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we’re looking at the ways British telly has deteriorated since the turn of the century.

Streaming Competition

More and more, we’re seeing global streaming companies like Netflix and Amazon producing British shows that we’re shocked weren’t commissioned by a terrestrial broadcaster. Shows like “Adolescence” and “Baby Reindeer” took over the world, sweeping various awards shows. Now, it would be unfair to say that British TV isn’t producing its fair share of quality drama; “Blue Lights” and “Happy Valley” have been hugely popular here, they just haven’t been exported. But we can’t imagine that commissioners at the BBC, Channel 4, and ITV are happy about Netflix picking up a programme like “Adolescence” and getting all that buzz and all those Emmys. But at least the BBC kept hold of “Fleabag”.

Subscriptions

One of the most bizarre TV developments in recent years is subscriptions for ITV and Channel 4. While if you watch the BBC either live or on demand, you’re already paying a subscription fee in a way via the TV licence, ITV and Channel 4 have now introduced monthly subscription options. Other streamers, like Channel 5 and U, haven’t quite gone this way yet, but if you hate the ads on ITVX and My4, you can pay a subscription and get 4+ and ITVX Premium. In the case of ITV, they also put some of their boxsets behind the paywall. This is part of the slow demise of BritBox, which is now all rolled into ITVX Premium in the UK.

Free TV Licence Rollbacks

For years, over-75s were eligible for a free TV licence funded by the BBC. But in 2020 all that changed and free TV licences for pensioners were almost completely abolished; if you’re over 75 and claiming pension credit, you CAN still get the free licence, but because of this caveat it’s now means tested when it wasn’t before. This was a policy implemented by the Tories, so there were hopes that the Labour government might reverse it, but this hasn’t been the case. Apparently, it saves the BBC an estimated £500 million a year, but adds yet another expense for the UK’s elderly population amidst the ever-increasing cost of living.

No More Satire

When was the last time you saw some proper political satire on UK TV? Decades ago, we had incisive programmes like “The Young Ones”, “Spitting Image”, and even “Brass Eye” into the 90s. But it’s rare that you’ll see any scripted comedy shows today that have the bite you want from effective satire. “Spitting Image” was revived back in 2020, but was short-lived and is now on its third iteration exclusively on YouTube; the reboot was also abysmal, and nowhere near as ruthless as the original. There are plenty of good scripted comedies if you know where to look – mostly Channel 4 – but they don’t have that edge that some of the twentieth century’s best shows did.

Too Many Game Shows

The success of “The Traitors” seems to have ushered in a bizarre new era of broadcasters trying to make the next game show phenomenon, with more of a focus on social experiments than the talent shows that have mostly fallen out of fashion – although, not entirely. We’ve now got programmes like “The Inheritance” and “Destination X”, with pages upon pages of rules and game meta for contestants to wrap their heads around. Even in the TV quiz sphere, programmes have got more and more obtuse as they all vie to dethrone “The Chase”, with “The 1% Club”, fronted by Lee Mack, the only one that’s actually got close lately.

Killing CBBC

It’s easy for adults without kids to say they don’t care about CBBC and CBeebies getting less and less investment, but if you think about it for more than five minutes, you’ll realise that getting rid of children’s provisions is nothing short of cruel. In 2022, it was announced that CBBC was on the chopping block, and was going to be shifted online, despite 2025 numbers revealing that 4.5 million Brits still don’t have internet access at home. BBC Four was also in the firing line, set to become digital. Luckily, these decisions were reversed in 2024, but the woes haven’t ended for CBBC. It’s since been announced that “Blue Peter”, the longest-running children’s show in the world, is ending live broadcasts.

Panel Show Overload

The noughties had just enough classic panel shows to keep viewers from getting fatigued, with titans like “Mock the Week”, “Nevermind the Buzzcocks”, “QI”, and “Have I Got News For You” all ruling the roost. But while “Mock the Week” has ended, dozens of other panel shows have sprung up. They’ve also barely changed their formats in decades and, despite many being highly topical, are repeated ad nauseum. Even the top panel show of them all, “Taskmaster”, might be running its course, with the latest rosters of celebs being largely unknown stand-ups and C-list actors; not to mention that with two series a year and a New Year special, there might simply be too much.

Pointless Celebrity Shows

No longer do we just want to see celebrities get covered in insects in the Australian jungle; now, broadcasters seem to think we’ll watch absolutely anything if it’s got some semi-famous faces in it. Most recently, there have been shows like “Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof” and “Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters”, where you get to watch stars like Gabby Logan and Lenny Henry either swim in some cold water or go scuba diving with sharks. They claim to be at least semi-educational, but we sincerely doubt that anybody was that gripped by whether or not comedian Ross Noble got his leg bitten off. Especially since if that HAD happened, the show would have been cancelled before airing.

Endless Scandals

It’s not like TV in the twentieth century was free of scandal, but these days, it seems like every six months a massive star finds themselves at the end of their career, largely due to their own actions. Just in the 2020s we’ve seen the demise of top broadcasters like Phillip Schofield, Gino D’Acampo, Gregg Wallace, David Walliams, and even Huw Edwards, once the BBC’s top paid newsreader. It seems like if you’re a man in showbiz, your days are numbered, and you’re inevitably going to be replaced by one or more women who generally speaking DON’T sexually harass their colleagues or download illegal images onto their computers.

Reality TV

Just when you thought the cursed era of reality TV was coming to an end, ITV only went and revived “Big Brother” one more time. Yes, in 2023, the Big Brother House was back on our screens, with the celebrity edition inevitably following. The dawn of “Big Brother” in the early 2000s, which began in the Netherlands, changed television forever, and probably for the worse. In recent years we’ve had more contentious, scandal-hit shows, chief among them “Love Island”, which has been associated with the deaths of multiple former stars. But at least “The Jeremy Kyle Show” hasn’t been rebooted since its 2019 cancellation, so that’s one small victory.

Let us know in the comments the ways you think telly has declined – or, perhaps, the ways you think it’s actually improved lately.