The legacy of Birt at the BBC

Lord John Birt with his successor, Greg Dyke

In a HARDtalk interview on 25 October Lord John Birt, former Director General of the BBC , talks to Tim Sebastian

John Birt was Director General of the BBC from 1992 until 1999.

But his time at the BBC was also highly controversial.

Appointed to the position in the high season of Thatcherism, Birt is credited with saving the licence fee which keeps the BBC a public broadcaster.

But he also introduced a series of internal reforms - a kind of "permanent revolution" that critics say reduced programme quality.

Programme budgets were drained to pay for commercial adventures, and management consultants stalked the corridors of Television Centre "re-engineering" the corporation.

Since leaving the BBC Lord Birt has been seconded to Downing Street as a key strategy advisor to the government.

Tim Sebastian asks him: did he save or stultify the BBC?

This interview can be watched in full on Friday 25 October on BBC News 24 at the following times:

BBC News 24 (times shown in BST) 0430, repeated 2230