BBC Vision: Elaine Bedell, controller of entertainment

Elaine Bedell

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It is not long since Elaine Bedell commissioned physical gameshows Hole in the Wall and Total Wipeout for Saturday night on BBC1 but there is still room for one more, she says.

The channel is after big family shows ranging from shiny floor shows (the "main event" of the schedule) to competitions, although preferably "not Q&A".

"The one overall message we have is don't be afraid of scale or scared of ambition. We don't get nearly enough really ambitious ideas," Bedell says.

Also on the agenda are new series to frame the lottery show and build up tension for the moment of the draw.

"Jeopardy plays very well in that slot so [we are looking for] a format that has that inbuilt," she says, although once again she is wary about more quiz shows.

Midweek, BBC1 is after factual entertainment formats to do the same sort of job as The Apprentice and Bedell is "completely open minded" about subjects as long as the show doesn't become "The Apprentice-lite". She is also interested in talent shows and celebrity talent shows where the contestants are "genuinely learning a new skill".

Most series will be shown in the conventional way, in fixed slots across a number of weeks, but some pitches will ideally have potential for stripping across two or three weeks instead.

"It would be a very ambitious idea because we have to make the schedule available to do that but we can sometimes do that for drama and it would be great if could do it with factual entertainment as well," says Bedell.

On BBC2, the priorities are factual entertainment series to run at 8pm midweek and new comedy entertainment in the vein of Genius, the Radio 4 quiz show which will make its television debut early next year. "Entertainment on BBC2 helps skew the channel younger, so we would be looking at shows we felt were likely to bring in a younger audience, as Mock the Week and Never Mind the Buzzcocks so brilliantly do."