CHANNEL FIVE has begun a search for “quality erotica” after its chief executive said that the channel would no longer screen late-night soft porn.
Five has a reputation for screening explicit sexual content but, announcing her first programme schedule, Jane Lighting said that it should now be recognised as the home of prime-time arts.
“There is nothing wrong with sex,” Ms Lighting said. “But we are showing fewer of those late-night programmes and we are starting a shift. We are looking for quality programmes in the erotic field.”
Five would not shy away from controversy, she said. She would consider hiring John Leslie, despite the admission by the presenter, cleared of sex charges last week, that he had taken cocaine. “If the right programme came up then of course we would commission it; if we felt it is a show we should have, absolutely.”
The review was triggered after its output was criticised by Adam Faith on his deathbed. Faith had returned to his hotel room with Tanya Arpino, his girlfriend, after appearing at a threatre in Stoke-on-Trent. He switched on the television and, according to Ms Arpino, said: “Channel Five is all s**t isn’t it? . . . it’s a waste of space.” He then succumbed to a heart attack.
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In the past year Five has suffered the loss of its founding chief executive, Dawn Airey, who famously summed up its output as “football, films and f**king”, and Kevin Lygo, its head of programming.
Its programme budget of £153 million is one third of Channel 4’s but Ms Lighting said that Five was the only terrestrial broadcaster that was increasing its audience share, now 6.5 per cent.
The autumn schedule will feature documentaries on Alexander the Great, the Vikings and an eight-part series on great paintings presented by Waldemar Januszczak, the Sunday Times critic. It is banking also on entertainment hits from a fly-on-the-wall series following the boxer Chris Eubank’s family and two former BBC properties, Robot Wars and undercover reports by Donal Macintyre.
Ms Lighting said the channel would stick with the morning chat show produced by Chris Evans, presented by Terry Wogan and Gaby Roslin, despite disappointing ratings.