Nick Knowles has taken a swipe at the BBC by revealing that one of his shows was axed because he’s “not posh”.
The 59-year-old star, who is best known for fronting popular BBC show DIY SOS, fronted Historyonics back in 2004, a comical history programme which saw actors recreate famous historical figures and moments in time.
At the moment, BBC iPlayer only has short one minute clips of the show available for viewers to watch on the streaming platform.
But this week, one viewer rediscovered the programme, which only ran for one series, and tweeted Nick to show their findings.
(Image: PA)
They said: “Nick, why have I never seen Historyonics repeated? I’d forgotten how funny and Pythonesque it was.
“Everything else gets repeats – this only short clips on BBC site.”
To which, Nick tweeted: “Yes it was all very odd.
“It was the highest rated history show on BBC1 ever getting up to 7 million viewers, which is unheard of. Factually correct & funny but I wrote it and I’m not posh!
(Image: PA)
“Teachers loved it to teach & used it but no second series & not repeated once. Odd. Not Oxbridge.”
The star later retweeted another quote from the same user, who appealed to the BBC to change its tact and make it available to watch on iPlayer.
The fan said: “Come on @BBC – start showing these again.
“A great way for school kids to learn about history and have some fun – or are you a bit too snobby at the Beeb?”
Replying to the history buff, Nick also revealed that in addition to the show not being recommissioned for a second series, it has also never been repeated on any channel or on iPlayer.
(Image: BBC)
Nick stated: “Can you imagine Lovely Dan Snow writing a family history show, getting 7 million viewers and it not getting a second series, never being repeated and not available to download.
“Many teachers asked @BBCOne to repeat it or make it available to download but never seen again.”
The fan of the show then replied: “I’m no expert but did some snobby person in BBC history dept decide it was too populist and blackball a second series because you don’t have a history doctorate? Or am I too cynical?
“Come on @BBC – you repeat some right old rubbish so why not a great show like this?”
Nick then went on to bring up class issues in his next reply, saying: “Couldn’t possibly comment [laughing emoji] but it’s fair to say it’s difficult to imagine any of the posher history types getting those figures and it never being seen again.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
