Watchdog (TV series)

Watchdog
Also known as	Watchdog Daily (Series 2 & 32) Watchdog Live (Series 40)
Genre	Investigative Journalism
Directed by	Jaco Smith Mark Harrison Keir MacKenzie
Presented by	Matt Allwright Nikki Fox Steph McGovern (See full list)
Theme music composer	Music 4
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	39 (inc. daytime)
No. of episodes	1064
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lisa Ausden
Producer(s)	Helen Collins Michelle Cox Emma Jay
Location(s)	BBC Television Centre (1980–2012) The Hospital Club (2013—2015) Broadcasting House (2016) MediaCityUK (2017–)
Editor(s)	Jeff Anderson
Running time	60 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC One BBC One HD
Picture format	625-line PAL 4:3 (1980) 576i 16:9 DTV (?–2013) 1080i HDTV (Nov 2010 - Upscaled and June 2013 Full HD)
Original release	14 July 1985 (1985-07-14) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Rogue Traders Watchdog Test House
External links
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/

Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK. It has had great success in changing the awareness consumers have of their purchasing rights and in changing policies of companies, closing down businesses, and pushing for law changes. It has the longstanding slogan "the programme you cannot afford to miss". The show has seen a variety of hosts and spin-off shows. It is currently presented by Matt Allwright, Nikki Fox and Steph McGovern.

It is shown on BBC One and is available for online viewing or download via BBC iPlayer.

History

Watchdog was first shown on 8 September 1980, as a filmed weekly feature for BBC1's news magazine programme Nationwide,^[1] with Hugh Scully, best known for presenting the Antiques Roadshow, being its first host. When Nationwide ended in 1983, Scully continued hosting the weekly feature at its new home on Sixty Minutes until its final episode in 1984.

During the latter half of the 80s, the BBC made the decision to commission Watchdog as a stand-alone programme, but made notable changes to the schedule it used each year. In 1985, the programme was aired on Sunday Evenings, with its first episode aired on 14 July, and presented by Nick Ross and Lynn Faulds Wood.^[2] In 1986, the programme was scheduled to daytime broadcasts during weekdays, with the BBC One Programme Controller, Michael Grade, remarking in an interview that the show defied the laws of television gravity, boosting audiences for the launch of BBC Daytime; the series saw Ross replaced by Faulds Wood's husband, John Stapleton.^[3] In 1987, the BBC reassigned the programme as a weekly show, with it broadcasting on Sunday evenings once more, though with repeats shown the following day during daytime broadcasts. In 1988, the programme was rescheduled to Monday for both daytime and peaktime broadcasts, but with the show employing a more forceful approach in consumer investigations, including investigating big businesses and conducting more investigative journalism. Changing their approach with their investigations led to the programme achieving many multimillion-pound product recalls by companies, the recovery of £19 million in overpaid fuel surcharges on package holidays, while also regularly featuring major name companies who had let down customers.^[4] By January 1989, peaktime audiences of the show averaged around 6 million, leading the BBC to drop daytime broadcasts as a direct result. Lynn Faulds Wood and John Stapleton remained with the programme into the early 90s until Faulds Wood was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. After being treated and recovering from the condition, she left the programme, along with her husband, to conduct a series of journalistic investigations for ITV's World in Action.^[5][6]

For the 1993 series, the BBC hired Anne Robinson to take over as the new host of Watchdog, which shifted focus slightly, with Robinson providing a different style of presenting, including her approach to interviews with notable figures from within the companies featured in investigations on the programme. For her first series, she was teamed up with Simon Walton and Alice Beer, the latter having been an assistant producer who was brought onto the show as a co-presenter, assigned with being a link between the consumers (on the phone in earlier years and e-mail in later years) and the main presenter. Walton left after the first series, while Beer remained until 1999, whereupon she was replaced by Charlotte Hudson, who remained until 2001. Because of her workload requiring her to be present with hosting the British and American versions of The Weakest Link, Robinson also left the programme that same year. Following Robinson's departure, the BBC replaced her with Nicky Campbell as the programme's main presenter, with Paul Heiney joining a year later as a regular co-presenter of his team; additional co-presenters in the team were changed during Campbell's tenure, and included Ashley Blake (2002-2004), Saima Mohsin (2004-2005), Nick Lawrence (2005-2008), and Dan Penteado (2008-2009). Between 2001-2004, Campbell was joined by Kate Sanderson as the other main presenter of the programe, while between 2005-2009, he was joined by Julia Bradbury, who was temporarily replaced during her last series by Anita Rani between 6 February, 2009, and on 20 April, 2009;^[7][8] Rani was retained as a reporter following this, taking the place of Mohsin.

On 10 May, 2009, the BBC announced plans to relaunch the format for Watchdog, which included bringing back Anne Robinson to host the programme, and extending the timeslot of episodes from thirty minutes to one hour.^[9] In order to extend the length of time for each episode, the decision was made to incorporate the format of another consumer show, Rogue Traders, as a multi-part segment of the same name, with Matt Allwright becoming a part of the presenting team alongside Robinson and Anita Rani. His co-presenter, Dan Penteado, was retained, but worked mainly within the films for the new segment,. The new series with the new format style, aired its first episode on 10 September, 2009. In 2010, Rani left the programme, leading to her being replaced by Chris Hollins. In July 2012, Dan Penteado was sacked from the programme, after it was uncovered that he had fraudulently claimed £25,000 in benefits during his work as a co-presenter, to which he was later found guilty of benefit fraud at Bournemouth Magistrates' Court and jailed for 12 weeks.^[10] On 12 November 2012, the BBC launched a daytime companion show, entitled Watchdog Daily, for weekday mornings; the show ran for 4 weeks.^[11][12] In March 2014, the BBC launched another daytime companion show called Watchdog Test House; it was presented by Sophie Raworth, with former host Lynn Faulds Wood assisting as a reporter.

On 10 September 2015, the BBC announced that Robinson would be leaving the programme once more, having now presented the programme for a total of 15 years. Her decision to leave was due to her commitments to assist with the filming of a new series for the broadcaster entitled, Britain's Spending Secrets.^[13] Her departure led to Raworth replacing her as the new host, with Michelle Ackerley joining alongside her, Collins and Allright. On 22 June 2016, Hollins announced his decision to step down as co-host, whereupon after his departure, Allright was reassigned as one of the main presenters alongside Raworth, while Ackerly was demoted to being a co-presenter, with Nikki Fox and Steph McGovern being added to the lineup, with the show being moved to a temporary studio at MediaCityUK. In 2017, Raworth and Ackerly left the programme, leading to McGovern joining Allright as a main presenter; the show was given a more permanent studio at MediaCityUK for the 2017 series.

Presenters

Format

Watchdog primarily consists of films involving journalistic investigations into consumer complaints, brought to the attention of the programme's research team by viewers and customers, in which the general basis of the investigation is to look into issues, concerns and complaints made about businesses and companies in regards to products/services offered, the quality of customer care, and other concerns/issues/problems that have arisen of late. Films usually consist of two major components - tests conducted by the research team, into various aspects such as quality, value for money, safety and hygiene, and so forth; and interviews with some of the consumers who contacted the programme, in regards to their experience with the company/business connected to the investigation that the interviewee had dealings with, what concerns and worries they have about a product/service they purchased, and their overall general opinion of the business. The film is usually presented to viewers by either one of Watchdog's current presenters, or a reporter for the programme, who gives out a general overlay of the matter being investigated, and conducts interviews with the consumers that were affected. Towards the end of the film, a response from the businesses/companies involved (if provided) is often given, which can include their views on the programme's findings, if any issues raised have been dealt with, and if the consumers featured on the programme have had their complaints dealt with. If the programme puts forward their findings to any regulatory bodies connected to the product/service offered, including Trading Standards, they will also read out a response from them, including any consumer advice regarding the issues featured in the film.

In some investigations, hidden cameras are used to record specific areas of investigation done in secret by research team; an example of this is when researchers pose as customers, go to different branches of a business under investigation, and use hidden cameras to record conversations between themselves and a number of employees, mainly on answers given in regards to consumer inquires (i.e. "What is the cooling down period for returning an item if we aren't satisfied?"). In a number of investigations where multiple companies/businesses are being investigated on similar aspects that are being examined, researchers will usually conduct secret testing on multiple branches used by each business/company being investigated, to which their findings on each respective aspects, in regards to concerns and/or failings on anything from hygiene, safety, and customer service, are revealed during the film, including a comparison between the branches visited and how they match up to findings in the branches of the other businesses/companies being investigated. In cases where investigations are being conducted with companies involved in public transportation, researchers will use multiple routes each company runs, sometimes booking return journeys.

In some cases, company representatives are invited to discuss the consumer problems that were investigated by Watchdog, although a number frequently turn down the offer. However, many companies use the opportunity to voice their own opinions and thoughts on the subject of the investigation, some of whom also take advantage of the situation to offer full apologies and refunds to affected customers. From the start of 2000, company interviewees invited to take part in the programme are commonly give advice by media advisers before they are filmed.

With the increased use of social media and e-mail, and later series now being made live, Watchdog now allows viewers to not only offer up stories on products and services for the programme to investigate, but also allows them to give personal opinions and comment about experiences on stories featured in the show. These are usually read out towards the latter half of the programme.

Notable investigations

Fitted plugs

In the late 1980s, Watchdog investigations showed that numerous accidents were caused when the electrical plugs on new electrical appliances were incorrectly wired.^[14] At the time, all new electrical goods were sold with bare wires and customers were expected to fit plugs themselves. These investigations led to a British law forcing all manufacturers selling electrical products in the UK to supply them with fitted plugs.^[15]

Hoover free flights

In 1992 and 1993, The Hoover Company introduced a "free flights" offer whereby any customer spending over £100 would receive two free flights to New York City. Due to an overwhelming response, many people did not receive their tickets and were denied the opportunity to take their free flights. After hundreds of complaints to Watchdog, an investigation by reporter Simon Walton revealed that the company in charge of processing applications was trying to deny customers their free flights in an effort to stem the rising costs. This quickly became headline news and Hoover were forced to give all customers the flights, costing them an estimated £40 million and the jobs of all the board members.^[16]

Auction World.tv

Television sales channel Auction World.tv failed to deliver goods or offer refunds to over 27,000 customers in the early 2000s, and were fined £450,000 by the regulatory body OFCOM.^[17] Investigations by Watchdog forced refunds and the closure of the channel, and traced the owner to Cyprus, where he refused to answer questions.^[18]

The Accident Group

This company was exposed by Watchdog after secret filming revealed it was encouraging members of the public to make bogus claims for personal injury compensation. As a result, The Accident Group went out of business, sacking its staff by sending them text messages.^[19]

Direct Kitchens, Kitchens and Maple Industries

Direct Kitchens, Kitchens and Maple Industries are all companies that are or have been based at Maple Mill, in Oldham, Greater Manchester and headed by controversial entrepreneur Vance Miller. The companies have been investigated by Watchdog on several occasions. Miller, who has a string of convictions in several countries,^[20] has been branded by the media as the "Kitchen Gangster", became the first person in Britain to be handed a ‘Stop Now’ order by the Office of Fair Trading after consistently supplying kitchens which were not sold as advertised.

Transmissions

Editions broadcast prior to 1985 were broadcast as part of Nationwide and Sixty Minutes and hosted by Hugh Scully.

Spin-offs

• Watchdog Healthcheck – 1995 to 2002, about health matters

• Weekend Watchdog – 1997 to 2001, presented by Robinson (Allwright and Hudson for the final series)

• Value for Money – 1995 to 2000, mainly about shopping, presented by Vanessa Feltz and Charlotte Hudson

• Face Value – about the fashion industry, presented by Alice Beer

• The Big Dinner – about the food industry, presented by Jonathan Maitland

• On the House – first presented by Sankha Guha and Anne McKevitt, later Adrian Chiles

• Watchdog: Are You Being Served? – 15 April 1999, presented by Alice Beer

• Watchdog Daily – live and interactive series in which Sophie Raworth takes on the big household-names, getting results and showing viewers how they can fight back

• Watchdog Test House – testing of household products, presented by Sophie Raworth; aired in 2014 and 2015

Specials

• How To Save £1000 (15 January 2015) – BBC One
• Pension Special (5 November 2015) – BBC Red Button

Related programmes

• Short Change – about consumer affairs aimed at children between 7-16 year-olds, originally presented by Zoë Ball, then Andi Peters, Tim Vincent, and up until 2003, Angellica Bell. It was then presented by Thalia Pellegrini, Rhodri Owen and Ortis. Many complaints included problems with service, bad deals, and being generally ripped-off. Finished in 2005.
• Rogue Traders – undercover series examining con artists and cowboy workers
• Rogue Restaurants – spin-off series to Rogue Traders, examining restaurants

See also

• Rogue Traders
• Points of View
• That's Life!
• Rip Off Britain
• Don't Get Done, Get Dom
• Crimewatch
• Marketplace
• Fair Go

References

External links

• Watchdog at BBC Programmes
• Watchdog Daily at BBC Programmes