An interview with Tim Davie

Tim Davie is really successful.

He is one of the most successful old Whitgiftians from the last 50 years. I was lucky enough to interview him. On Friday 12th October 2018, he returned to the Whitgift concert hall for the first time in 34 years, for a PRISM talk. He was Director General of the BBC and is currently CEO of BBC Studios, formerly BBC Worldwide. Prior to this, he worked at Pepsi Co and lived in New York working for Proctor and Gamble. He attended Whitgift School in Croydon from 1980 to 1985.

He was the first person in his family to attend a private school and to attend university. He was on the Whitonomics magazine editing team and used to do fencing. Overall, he found his time at Whitgift very rewarding. His first job was at McDonald’s, where he earned £1.26 per hour, he also used to have a newspaper round where he was paid 1p per newspaper delivered; minute compared to his current £664,000 salary. In his own words, he spent “too much of my teenage loitering in the Whitgift Centre.”

He spoke about a new BBC nature documentary with David Attenborough called Dynasty. A Chimpanzee is ageing fast and urgently wants to start a “family”. However, the other chimpanzees want him dead, and they attempt to murder him!. He gets cared for by some females, but gets beaten up and gets left dying…

He also answered some questions. He revealed that the BBC is looking for a replacement on TOP GEAR, which was confirmed this week when Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuiness were announced as replacements for Matt Leblanc. He indirectly denied that it was Simon Cowell. Simon once held the fastest lap time on Clarkson’s Top Gear in a 2006 Chevrolet Lacetti and said he would be an amazing presenter back in 2016. His denial was genuine.

He was acting Director General of the BBC from the 11th November 2012 after George Entwistle resigned after just 54 days to the 1ST April 2013, when Lord Hall took over permanently. He found himself to have a massive influence, over around 20000 people. In reflection, he says he should have spent more time just thinking quietly.

Mr Davie thinks that young people who want to work in journalism should be passionate. He thinks that it is a competitive but rewarding career and that you need to be focused.

He said he preferred his time at the BBC over his other jobs at Pepsi and Proctor and Gamble.

He absolutely believes the BBC needs to adapt to keep up with Netflix and other streaming services. He believes that Netflix and Spotify are the BBC’s new rivals, instead of traditional rivals ITV and Capital Radio. He thinks that if the BBC iPlayer didn’t exist, the BBC would really struggle today. Currently, the BBC struggles with 18-34-year olds, who are Netflix’s main customers. Back when he was Whitgift, there were only 3 TV channels; BBC1, BBC2, and iTV, with Channel 4 appearing in 1982, and there was no internet. Today, most content is consumed over the internet.

He believes, that without a doubt, management could be improved at the BBC; he thinks that every company can. He thinks that shows which mock BBC management, such as W1A (He said it will not be renewed for another series) are mainly comical but is based on some truth. He is very proud of the BBC; they are 96 years old and are mainly efficient.

When Tim was asked when if the BBC is underfunded, he said that the BBC is globalised, so most money comes from ads in foreign countries and sold rights to shows and only some money comes from the £150.50 licence fee; for example, when a programme is produced, its foreign rights are sold many years before the final product is released; an analogy he used is Blue Planet III; if you were offered the chance to invest in it, you probably would.

Mr Davie thinks that in any organisation there is a gender pay gap; He wants more ethnic minorities and more woman in high level positions. When asked if everyone having equal pay for the same job was a realistic goal, he said yes; this is an absolutely realistic goal.

While he has had many achievements in his life, he believes that his main achievements are his three sons.

Originally published on the 5th November 2018 at https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/youngreporter/17203054.tim-davie-visits-whitgift-school/