Doctor who radio int with Michael Grade BBC radio 5, 9/4/08

[damo007revenge]

How this idiot can insult the team who worked their backsides off to this show in the 80's is beyond a joke and also how dare he harps on about them not going to the cinema to watch american mega budget blockbusters! What a pathetic pile of rubbish this silly little man talks. Infact he was the one who could have done with going to see them himself! And then maybe giving this show a bit of a boost in money, to compare a british television show with american high funded multimillion films is dumb

[TARDISlore7]

@damo007revenge I completely agree. If Grade though that the production values of Doctor Who in the mid-late 80s were so 'creaky', as controller of the BBC at the time, he was in a better position than anyone to inject more money into the programme to correct this. In my opinion, he should never have been made controller in the first place, as he was biased against one of the BBC's most long-running and frankly adored programmes. The BBC only supports DW when its in its heyday, as it is now.

[TimelordTVRevolution]

Grade u lost sir. Doctor Who always wins in the end [nice to know hes one of us now however. Soon the whole World will be watching Dr Who and nothing eles lol]

[227060]

@davefgranger Fuck u. There is no new show its the same show and its is as far from shitty as we r from Everest. I will wholheartedly agree this guy is a fool and the quintessential prick. Today Doctor Who is brilliant but this guy I am willing 2 bet is just following the popular train, regardless of whther the relauched DW deserved said popularity or not (even though it did)

[PringlesJingles]

What a horrible stupid man. You can even tell how much contempt he has for the viewers by looking in his eyes.

You controlled the damn BBC budget Grade. Was it just coincidence you also cancelled Tripods and blocked a Blake's 7 comeback?

[woohooboy]

As much as Michael Grade is despised by Doctor Who fans for his decision to put the show on an eighteen month break in the mid eighties, his point isn't entirely without merit....

DW was showing signs of wear and tear and looking increasingly outdated. It is nice however to see he thinks the series is a winner. In his mind, when the BBC brought the show back in 2005, they did it right. By making sure it had a proper budget, a solid cast and good scripting. The rest as they say is history.....

[bbqplatypus318]

Die in a fire, Michael Grade.

[vegunited06]

this guy's a PRIIIIICK!

[SimonFoston]

What a prize prick. He compares a TV show to productions with more than ten times the budget, and criticizes the production team but the only person who he actually fires is the one least responsible for the stuff he doesn't like. There are no words bad enough for this odious, vulgar, deeply unpleasant waste of skin. I hope he has a stroke and has to spend the rest of his life dead from the eyelid down.

[Morgan9123]

No, we still hate you Michael Grade. He actually had the nerve to compared an 80s TV show to multi-million dollar Hollywood movies & use that as an excuse to cancel a show. Oh please! And now, your all "I LOVE it!" What a jackass. Cover your ass some more & pull the other leg. The moment I heard this clip it made me wish I had a dozen rotten eggs & that I was close enough to hurl them at Grade. Then I reconsidered. If I got too close to him he may make me nauseous.

[Rozilla]

What a twonk. Capitalist wanker.

[m001900]

what a tit

[SuperWolsey]

Michael Grade: the tumor of BBC and (now) ITV.

[damo007revenge]

GRADE talks about these Hollywood movies...well 1st they are on a budget on a scale that the 80s dr who would never have and also erm wasnt he the man who could do something about upping that budget to acheive that?? Also his deliberate and spiteful aim at the timeslots! plus his grudge agaisnt Colin with hhen he rants about it being out of touch et well he should know judging from his uncles big turkey "raise the titanic!" lol

[andyjimbo2006]

Michael Grade - you were a tit before you cancelled Doctor Who because you were nobbing Colin Baker's ex wife at the time and you're a tit now it's at the top of the ratings. Nothing has changed.

[Gallifrey1991]

IT WAS THIS BASTARD WHO HAD THE CHOICE OF PUTTING MORE MONEY INTO DR WHO IN THE MID 80s!!!! When he complains about it, it was HIS fault!!! >:( grrr!!!

[THEDOCTORSCHANNEL1]

he couldn't kill Doctor Who because people loved it no matter how bad things got, ok some people didn't like the effects in the old show, but they could have did better with it, if he was so clever he could have got the allocation to refresh the show and bring it up to date, but yet he didn't he had to get it cancelled! Michael Grade is a W****r!.

[DoctorTankEngine]

Productions Values, you were in charge!!! They had hardly any money!

Knob!

[RebelVoDKa]

Yes, how odd that Doctor Who couldn't compete in terms of effects with the $20m Hollywood film Close Encounters. Obviously the lads at BBC special effects with their £5.60 budget and a stack of fairy liquid bottles weren't trying hard enough.

If only Michael Grade had been in some sort of position of power at the time, so he could have given Doctor Who a much bigger budget! Oh, hang on...

[MALONEYCAMFIELD]

That's why I have never been able to respect Grade since. It's not actually the fact that he disliked the show, he's entitled to his opinion. What I found disgusting was the way he treated the people who were working on it. He openly criticised them - somehow forgetting that these people were BBC staff and he was a manager. That is the worst thing any manager at any company can do. So he puts the show on hiatus, which is a total failure because the ratings slump, but he's not man enough

[JJonahJameson]

Yeah, the earlier timeslot for Dr Who is cock.

[AsylumLawless]

Thanks for posting this. Grade tryed to kill of Who put couldent

[tardisdrwho2007]

thanks......yes he did,rather than spend more money on the show at that time......i think his father,Lew Grade,had better judgement than his son. I don`t know if M Grade is back at the BBC or not these days but i have noticed that the show is being put on at different times each week,and early. It seems to be having an effect on the ratings,which is not good.Its the sort of thing they do to damage a show as they did with Top of the pops and Tommorows world.

[RebelVoDKa]

"i think his father,Lew Grade"

Lew was his uncle; Leslie was his father.  Both were big players in showbusiness, so we can surmise that breaking into television wasn't too hard for young Michael.