The BBC has really stepped up during lockdown and it’s great to see

There was a time where the corporation looked beset by detractors – but we need it, says Katy Brand

Kate Thistleton will front new content from Bitesize Daily (BBC)

Hurrah for the BBC! Last week, Auntie announced that it would be using its channels to broadcast content aimed at helping lockdown-weary parents deal with school closures.

If you have children and have ever spent significant time in another country, you will know that CBeebies and CBBC are the absolute gold standard in kids’ programming, Danish cartoons about runaway penises notwithstanding.

There has been a concerted effort to discredit, defund and degrade the BBC for the past 10 years, and for a moment last year it seemed to be working. The corporation felt lost, somehow, and unable to defend its position in British culture convincingly. You could feel good will draining out of the building as strange decisions were made about budgets and the ranks of the dreaded “middle management” swelled.

The salaries of the stars were made public, and much debated, even leading one of its most popular broadcasters, Zoe Ball, to request a pay cut just to get the hecklers off her back. It all started to feel a little bleak.

Even I, its staunchest of supporters despaired when I was invited onto a BBC programme last year to discuss this very issue, and was confronted with two fellow guests – both who I saw as “BBC men for life” types. They talked across me in the break about their private yacht club and which of their mates would be the new director general, now that the vacancy had recently opened.

It was depressing, frankly. And they were meant to be representing the corporation’s interests. I walked away from the studio wondering if the people who shout “Out-of-touch elitists!” at Broadcasting House possibly had a point.

But then the Beeb came through for “Lockdown 3” with a universal school learning schedule which will benefit everyone, especially children who have no access to the internet and will find remote schooling impossible.

In times of trouble, we need a high-quality broadcaster with a commitment to serving the national interest. Bravo, BBC, and thank God you’re back.

Katy Brand is a writer, actor and comedian