Post by Teddy Bear on Apr 6, 2014 22:13:33 GMT
We won't know for sure just how justified this all is until they privatise the Beeb.
Sooner the better!
Sooner the better!
BBC's Lambing Live criticised after 65-strong film crew stayed at £279 a night hotel for week
Critics accused the BBC of wasting viewers' licence fees to fund expensive accommodation instead of local B&Bs
The BBC has been accused of extravagance after it hired luxury accommodation for a 65 strong team - including presenters Kate Humble and Adam Henson - to film a documentary about lambing.
During filming for the third series of the popular show Lambing Live, the entire 65-strong team set up camp in a country house hotel where rooms cost up to £279-a-night.
While the farmer and his staff at South Slipperfield Farm, in the countryside south of Edinburgh, tended their lambing ewes around the clock, the BBC staff spent the week 21 miles away at the Dalmahoy Country Club, boasting a spa, two 18-hole golf courses, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and tennis courts.
Critics accused the BBC of wasting viewers' licence fees to fund such expensive accommodation. They also questioned why the film-crew hadn't booked into cheaper and more local B&Bs and whether the show has actually required such a huge film-crew.
Chairman of countryside campaign group the Scottish Gamekeepers Association Alex Hogg said: “I don't live far from where the latest Lambing Live was filmed for the BBC.
“How many BBC employees were needed to run some cables round a lambing shed? A dozen maybe? Twenty max? Almost 70 people were used and they stayed in some very exclusive country club. It must be tough being the Beeb."
The crew filmed the third series of the programme from March 24 to March 28, where they focussed on the Dykes - a family that has been sheep for three generations.
Presented by Kate Humble and Adam Henson and following on from the first two series made in South Wales in 2010 and Cumbria in 2011, it showed how the Dykes make their living from sheep farming at the busiest time of the year.
The Lambing Live format has proved a hit since it went out in 2010, with the first series pulling in an average of 2.6 million viewers.
But after the four camera crews captured the Dykes frantically preparing for the arrival of 1,500 lambs over the course of a month of lambing, the BBC crew retired to the restored 18th century castle which was converted into a luxury country hotel in the 1920s.
It is now part of the Marriott chain and includes a spa, two 18-hole golf courses, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and tennis courts.
The decision by the BBC to stay at the spacious hotel - set within 1,000 acres of parkland seven miles from Edinburgh - upset Bed and Breakfast owners in West Linton.
Margaret Thain, of the Meadows B&B in the Peeblesshire village, said: “I would have loved to have people staying at my B&B, but I am probably not as exclusive as the Dalmahoy.”
The BBC also decided not to stay at the closest hotel, the Peebles Hydro Hotel - despite a standard room costing almost £40 less.
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: “The BBC has to get the best deal for licence fee payers when purchasing accommodation. The use of a luxury country club as the BBC's accommodation of choice appears to be a lavish expense at licence fee payers' expense.”
But Hamish Dykes, who runs the farm with his wife Susie and father John, said: “I am not in a position to comment on the expenditure of the BBC, but the Peebles Hydro Hotel was undergoing a change of ownership at the time so that didn't work out that well.
"There was then quite a limited number of places that could have taken the large number of people on set. I thought the programme was done superbly and I could not have faulted them.”
The BBC defended the decision to locate the crew in the country house hotel.
A spokeswoman, from BBC factual TV, said: "Around 65 crew in total required accommodation in Scotland throughout the week of Lambing Live, which is typical for a live broadcast over 4 nights.
"The crew stayed at the Dalmahoy Marriott, paying a rate of £58 a night. This was the closest hotel to the filming location that was able to accommodate this number and is located on a main road, which is necessary in case of bad weather. This was an economic and practical option which was within BBC policy guidelines.
"The rate of £58 per night was the most economically sensible choice as the hotel offered a competitive rate for a group booking, with a reduction of around 50 per cent less than their standard rate. The discounted rate of £58 per night was substantially less than other hotels in the area.
"The BBC was also able to save on transport costs by having all crew staying at the same hotel, meaning they could be bussed directly to the farm each day."
The corporation has said it is keen to cut costs wherever it can. In the runup to charter renewal in 2016 the BBC faces the prospect of losing up to £200m a year in the wake of a review into decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee.
Critics accused the BBC of wasting viewers' licence fees to fund expensive accommodation instead of local B&Bs
The BBC has been accused of extravagance after it hired luxury accommodation for a 65 strong team - including presenters Kate Humble and Adam Henson - to film a documentary about lambing.
During filming for the third series of the popular show Lambing Live, the entire 65-strong team set up camp in a country house hotel where rooms cost up to £279-a-night.
While the farmer and his staff at South Slipperfield Farm, in the countryside south of Edinburgh, tended their lambing ewes around the clock, the BBC staff spent the week 21 miles away at the Dalmahoy Country Club, boasting a spa, two 18-hole golf courses, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and tennis courts.
Critics accused the BBC of wasting viewers' licence fees to fund such expensive accommodation. They also questioned why the film-crew hadn't booked into cheaper and more local B&Bs and whether the show has actually required such a huge film-crew.
Chairman of countryside campaign group the Scottish Gamekeepers Association Alex Hogg said: “I don't live far from where the latest Lambing Live was filmed for the BBC.
“How many BBC employees were needed to run some cables round a lambing shed? A dozen maybe? Twenty max? Almost 70 people were used and they stayed in some very exclusive country club. It must be tough being the Beeb."
The crew filmed the third series of the programme from March 24 to March 28, where they focussed on the Dykes - a family that has been sheep for three generations.
Presented by Kate Humble and Adam Henson and following on from the first two series made in South Wales in 2010 and Cumbria in 2011, it showed how the Dykes make their living from sheep farming at the busiest time of the year.
The Lambing Live format has proved a hit since it went out in 2010, with the first series pulling in an average of 2.6 million viewers.
But after the four camera crews captured the Dykes frantically preparing for the arrival of 1,500 lambs over the course of a month of lambing, the BBC crew retired to the restored 18th century castle which was converted into a luxury country hotel in the 1920s.
It is now part of the Marriott chain and includes a spa, two 18-hole golf courses, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and tennis courts.
The decision by the BBC to stay at the spacious hotel - set within 1,000 acres of parkland seven miles from Edinburgh - upset Bed and Breakfast owners in West Linton.
Margaret Thain, of the Meadows B&B in the Peeblesshire village, said: “I would have loved to have people staying at my B&B, but I am probably not as exclusive as the Dalmahoy.”
The BBC also decided not to stay at the closest hotel, the Peebles Hydro Hotel - despite a standard room costing almost £40 less.
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: “The BBC has to get the best deal for licence fee payers when purchasing accommodation. The use of a luxury country club as the BBC's accommodation of choice appears to be a lavish expense at licence fee payers' expense.”
But Hamish Dykes, who runs the farm with his wife Susie and father John, said: “I am not in a position to comment on the expenditure of the BBC, but the Peebles Hydro Hotel was undergoing a change of ownership at the time so that didn't work out that well.
"There was then quite a limited number of places that could have taken the large number of people on set. I thought the programme was done superbly and I could not have faulted them.”
The BBC defended the decision to locate the crew in the country house hotel.
A spokeswoman, from BBC factual TV, said: "Around 65 crew in total required accommodation in Scotland throughout the week of Lambing Live, which is typical for a live broadcast over 4 nights.
"The crew stayed at the Dalmahoy Marriott, paying a rate of £58 a night. This was the closest hotel to the filming location that was able to accommodate this number and is located on a main road, which is necessary in case of bad weather. This was an economic and practical option which was within BBC policy guidelines.
"The rate of £58 per night was the most economically sensible choice as the hotel offered a competitive rate for a group booking, with a reduction of around 50 per cent less than their standard rate. The discounted rate of £58 per night was substantially less than other hotels in the area.
"The BBC was also able to save on transport costs by having all crew staying at the same hotel, meaning they could be bussed directly to the farm each day."
The corporation has said it is keen to cut costs wherever it can. In the runup to charter renewal in 2016 the BBC faces the prospect of losing up to £200m a year in the wake of a review into decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee.