The problem with television obits

All credit to BBC4, the last of the smart channels. John Mortimer died on Friday and, two days later, on Sunday evening BBC4 had a whole evening dedicated to Rumpole's creator. Of course, four of the five programmes were repeats, but nevertheless it made for four hours of good programming, including the two works Mortimer is best known for—"Rumpole" and "A Voyage Round My Father" (with Olivier and Alan Bates).

The one new programme was the least satisfactory. A documentary, "John Mortimer: a Life in Words," it was strangely unilluminating and full of wall-to-wall luvvies who had no interest in looking at Mortimer warts and all, or even with curiosity.

Two questions emerged from this programming. First, whatever happened to BBC2? While BBC4 was running an entire evening dedicated to Mortimer, poor old BBC2 was running three hours of snooker. Hazel Irvine not Leo McKern, Ray Stubbs not Olivier. At least it's worth asking what happened to BBC2. No one (apart from a few TV execs and media journalists) even cares what happened to Channel 4.

The second question is specific to TV obits. BBC 4 was confined to running clips of the 1975 "Play for Today: Rumpole of the Bailey," because they couldn't afford the clips of the nine series of "Rumpole" shown on ITV. News programmes are allowed to run clips from other channels for free as a matter of public interest. Isn't it time that this was extended to programmes run as tributes/obituaries to major figures who have died? It's ridciulous that BBC4 is forced to run an evening dedicated to Mortimer and is unable to show any scenes from "Rumpole" or "Brideshead."