At a glance: BBC annual report 2008/9

The BBC's annual report has been published for the financial year 2008/9.

Here are some key points from the review, conducted by the BBC's management and its regulator, the BBC Trust.

BBC ONE

The latest Wallace and Gromit film was a hit with viewers on Christmas Day

BBC management: Distinctive programmes such as The Diary of Anne Frank, Wallander and Criminal Justice brought ambitious, high quality drama to the channel.

Overall viewing levels on Christmas Day were the highest since 1999, with a record 16.2 million tuning in for Wallace and Gromit's A Matter of Loaf and Death.

Wimbledon, Euro 2008 and the Olympics made for a big summer for sport, while The ONE Show continued to grow in popularity.

Accessible factual programmes like Super Doctors with Lord Winston and Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life will be augmented this year by a new peak-time science show.

BBC Trust: Though BBC One remains the UK's most watched channel, reach has declined very slightly this year.

Viewing amongst children and younger adults also continues to decline at a faster rate compared to the rate for all adults.

Despite the channel's drama successes, there remain opportunities to develop new dramas that are high quality and show greater range.

Audiences no longer see BBC One as the best channel for comedy, despite the successful second series of Outnumbered.

BBC TWO

Maestro saw celebrities compete for a chance to appear at the Proms

BBC management: The rich diversity of life in the UK was celebrated in programmes such as John Prescott's look at the class system and Terry Pratchett's documentary on Alzheimer's.

One-off specials such as Timewatch: Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall enabled the channel to compete more strongly on Saturday nights.

The Culture Show demonstrated the channel's commitment to arts journalism, while Maestro was one of the most talked about series of the year.

BBC Trust: BBC Two's factual programming on Saturday nights has enabled it to provide a real alternative to entertainment programmes offered on other channels.

There are opportunities to apply this approach across other genres and days so BBC Two is more consistently distinct.

BBC THREE

Being Human was a big success for the youth-oriented channel

BBC management:

The channel's commitment to risk-taking brought both good ratings (Being Human) and bad (BBC Three's Belief Season).

But the successful migration of Gavin and Stacey to BBC One affirms the value of the channel's continued nurturing of new UK talent.

BBC Trust: BBC Three has increased its reach amongst its young target audience, showing the channel has become an important part of the BBC's television portfolio.

BBC FOUR

Andrea Riseborough played the young Thatcher in The Long Walk To Finchley

BBC management: BBC Four has the highest appreciation scores of all BBC TV networks as its reach continues to grow steadily.

Its distinctive output included a season of programmes on Margaret Thatcher, a wide range of shows on the visual arts and UK TV premieres of 26 international movies.

BBC Trust: Later this year a review will consider whether plans to build a closer relationship with BBC Two are proving successful.

CBBC & CBEEBIES

BBC management: Still Britain's most popular channel for young children, CBBC had success this year with Who Wants to be a Superhero, Serious Oceans and a one-off drama based on the Jacqueline Wilson novel Dustbin Baby.

CBeebies spent £12.4m last year on original content, more than any other broadcaster.

BBC Trust: Both channels offer good value for money, though budgetary pressures could undermine future performance if left unchecked.

RADIO 1

BBC management: The station's social action initiatives included Radio 1's Alcohol Experiment, a careers campaign and a money and finance campaign.

Future initiatives aimed at engaging with young listeners include an under-18s club tour in the summer and a second Switch Live event in the autumn.

BBC Trust: Reviews of Radio 1 and 1Xtra were completed in June.

Radio 1 in particular plays a very important role in promoting the BBC's public purposes amongst young people.

RADIO 2

Elbow played a successful concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra

BBC management: Radio 2 remains the UK's most popular station with an average weekly reach of 13.3 million.

Elbow's concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra was the most successful digital music project in BBC history.

BBC Trust: We are currently considering Radio 2's performance as part of its service licence review.

RADIO 3

BBC management: More than 600 complete concerts and operas from venues and festivals across the UK were broadcast on the station.

Radio 3 also broadcast over 40 new drama productions and augmented its Proms coverage with a daily series of related talks and discussions.

BBC Trust: Radio 3's audience of nearly two million adult listeners saw it end the year with its highest audience figures since the end of 2006.

RADIO 4

Simon Russell Beale plays Smiley in Radio 4's Le Carre dramatisations

BBC management: The Today programme's listener numbers increased by about 250,000 in a year that saw it achieve its highest weekly reach figure in more than seven years.

Drama successes such as The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and Torchwood are being followed this year by a dramatisation of all of John le Carre's George Smiley novels.

BBC Trust: Radio 4 has been able to refresh its schedule while retaining intellectual rigour.

RADIO 5 LIVE

BBC management: The station broadcast live coverage of all 47 medal-winning performances by Team GB at the Beijing Olympics.

Other highlights include its coverage of the US presidential election and its programming on the economic downturn.

BBC Trust: Surprisingly, the extensive Olympics coverage on 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra did not significantly boost the stations' reach.

NEWS

BBC management: The BBC's Ten O'Clock News is the most watched UK-wide news bulletin with 4.9 million viewers each night.

The global reach of BBC news services now stands at 238 million people.

BBC Trust: Audience figures for the main news bulletins and current affairs programmes have remained steady.

Younger adults and those from less well off backgrounds remain the hardest audiences to reach.

ONLINE & iPLAYER

BBC management: BBC Online had 22.2 million average weekly unique users last year - up from 16.5 million the previous year.

By March 2009 total views on the BBC iPlayer had passed 390 million.

BBC Trust: The iPlayer is proving very popular and has driven a growth in users to around 22 million each week.

Further extending the reach of Online is becoming increasingly challenging, however, with the number of users remaining flat in many areas.