Channel 5

Remember when Channel 5 was a laughing stock? From the outset it seemed like a dumping ground for softcore porn and lo-concept game shows. If you could even tune in. Nowadays, I find myself watching more and more of their output, due to the fact that in the summer months the BBC and Channel 4 are in thrall to sport (the Commonwealth Games and one-day international cricket respectively.)

Admittedly, C5 is no BBC2 or C4, but with the rights to a brace of decent films, classy trash like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order on the schedules, decent populist arts programming and, dare I say it, Home & Away the young pup of British television is no longer a joke. In fact it’s maturing into a peculiar amalgam of high- and low-brow, plugging the gap between the other free-to-air channels with a scattershot approach to grabbing audience share.

Given the fact that favouring one of the established channels is no longer a guide to a person’s general interests, it looks like watching 5 is set to become shorthand for a postmodern take on matters cultural, where dross and quality happily coexist. In fact, from this day forth I’ll be claiming to be a big fan of the channel, if only to annoy those who still see it as a joke. Which this post is, in case you were wondering

Posted at 9pm on 03/08/02 by Jack Mottram to the art and culture category.
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