Attenborough: 'BBC sails should be trimmed'

Veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has said that the BBC's "sails need to be trimmed" and claimed that the corporation has "strayed from the straight and narrow".

Attenborough, presenter of various BBC natural history series such as Planet Earth and Life, stressed that the corporation is "crucially important" to society, but called for it to be "refocused".

Speaking in an interview with the New Statesman, he said: "I think the BBC has strayed from the straight and narrow on a number of courses at the moment. The sails need to be trimmed and [it] needs to be refocused.

"But it is crucially important in our society and [represents] the highest aspirations of our society. I'm appalled anybody thinks otherwise."

Last October, the government imposed a hastily-agreed licence fee settlement on the BBC, signalling a 16% cut in real terms to its income over the next six years.

Attenborough, the former controller of BBC Two, issued a warning that the corporation would be "gone in a decade" if its licence fee funding was removed.

In a statement, a BBC spokesman said: "We agree with Sir David that the BBC needs to be more efficient and we are already refocusing to make every penny of the licence fee work hard for the people who pay for it and invest as much as possible into quality content and services."

Also in the New Statesman interview, Attenborough refuted the critics of his nature programmes for not addressing the issue of a potential divine creator.

"You're never going to silence them because the fundamental problem is accepting what evidence exists," said Attenborough.

"They say, 'It's written down on this page and what is there is beyond argument and it was put there by God.' If you believe that, well, I'm awfully sorry, but there's no point in us discussing it."