Watchdog (TV programme)

Watchdog is a British consumer investigative journalism programme that was broadcast on BBC One from 14 July 1985 to 17 October 2019. The programme focused on investigating complaints and concerns made by viewers and consumers over problematic experiences with traders, retailers and other companies around the UK, over customer services, products, security, and possible fraudulent/criminal behaviour. Since it first began, the programme had achieved great success in changing the awareness consumers have of their purchasing rights, as well as pushing forward for changes in company policies and consumer laws, and in some cases helping to close down businesses whose practices have left many people dissatisfied and out of pocket. The show's longstanding slogan was "the programme you cannot afford to miss".

Watchdog
The title card used in 2017, featuring the addition of "Live", referring to episodes being broadcast live when aired.
GenreInvestigative journalism
Directed byJaco Smith
Mark Harrison
Keir MacKenzie
Presented byMatt Allwright
Nikki Fox
Steph McGovern
(See full list)
Theme music composerMusic 4
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series41 (inc. daytime)
No. of episodes1,084
Production
Executive producerLisa Ausden
ProducersHelen Collins
Michelle Cox
Emma Jay
Production locationsBBC Television Centre (1980–2012)
The Hospital Club (2013—15)
Broadcasting House (2016)
dock10 studios (2017–19)[1]
EditorJeff Anderson
Running time60 minutes
Release
Original networkBBC One
Original release14 July 1985 (1985-07-14) 
17 October 2019 (2019-10-17)
Related
Rogue Traders
Watchdog Test House

In the course of its history, Watchdog would spawn a number of spin-off shows, and be presented by a variety of hosts. It started as a feature on Nationwide in 1980 before it became a standalone series in 1985. After 35 years, and with more than a thousand episodes aired, the BBC announced in February 2020 that Watchdog would be discontinued as a standalone series, becoming a segment on The One Show to be presented by Matt Allwright and Nikki Fox on Wednesdays at 19:00.[2][3]

History

Watchdog was first shown on 8 September 1980, as a pre-recorded weekly feature for BBC1's news magazine programme Nationwide,[4] with Hugh Scully, best known for presenting the Antiques Roadshow, being its first host. After Nationwide ended in 1983, Scully continued hosting the feature on Sixty Minutes until the show's final episode in 1984. A year later, the BBC decided to make a stand-alone version of the feature, with its first episode aired on 14 July 1985. The programme's first series was aired weekly on Sunday evenings, and presented by Nick Ross and Lynn Faulds Wood.[5] The following year, the programme was rescheduled to become part of the BBC's new daytime service. It was broadcast each weekday for fifteen minutes at 8.40am, with Ross replaced by Faulds Wood's husband, John Stapleton. The programme's new schedule was considered by Michael Grade, the BBC1 Programme Controller in 1986, as helpful to defying the laws of "television gravity" by boosting viewer figures for the launch of BBC Daytime.[6] In autumn 1987, the BBC reverted the programme back to being a weekly programme on Sunday evenings, but with the addition of repeats being shown the following day during the daytime.

A year later, in 1988, the programme received another rescheduling that saw it broadcast on Mondays during both daytime and peak time slots, but with a significant change in focus on its format. Unlike previous years, Watchdog began to employ 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.[7] By January 1989, peak time audiences of the show averaged around 6 million, leading the BBC to drop daytime broadcasts as a direct result. Both Faulds Wood and Stapleton remained with the programme into the early 90s until the former was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer; after she was treated and had recovered from the condition, both Faulds Wood and Stapleton left the programme, to conduct a series of journalistic investigations for ITV's World in Action.[8][9]

For the 1993 series, the BBC decided upon assigning Anne Robinson as the new host of Watchdog. This decision had a change in style brought about by Robinson's 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 until she was brought on 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, Saima Mohsin, Nick Lawrence, and Dan Penteado. Between 2001 and 2004, Campbell was joined by Kate Gerbeau as the other main presenter of the programme, while between 2005 and 2009, he was joined by Julia Bradbury, who was temporarily replaced during her last series in 2009 by Anita Rani between 6 February and 20 April;[10][11] 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 length of episodes from thirty minutes to one hour.[12] In order to make this extension, 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 of Watchdog under this new format, began airing 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.[13] On 12 November 2012, the BBC launched a daytime companion show, entitled Watchdog Daily, for weekday mornings, which ran for 4 weeks.[14][15] In March 2014, the BBC launched another daytime companion show called Watchdog Test House, which was presented by Sophie Raworth, with former host Faulds Wood assisting as a reporter.

On 10 September 2015, after having spent a total of 15 years presenting the programme, Robinson left the programme to focus on her commitments to assisting with the production of BBC's Britain's Spending Secrets.[16] 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 Dock10 studios, MediaCityUK. In 2017, Raworth and Ackerly left the programme, leading to McGovern joining Allright as a main presenter. The show was also given a more permanent studio at Dock10 for the 2017 series.

On 21 February 2020, the BBC announced that Watchdog will cease to be broadcast as a standalone series, but will be aired instead as a feature in The One Show. The segment on The One Show will be presented by Matt Allwright and Nikki Fox.[2]

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 one or 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 the investigation, that are done in secret by the research team; an example of this is when researchers pose as customers, go to different branches of a business under investigation, and secretly record a conversation between themselves and a number of employees they randomly approach, mainly on answers given in regards to consumer inquires they make (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 the same aspects under investigation, researchers will usually conduct secret testing on multiple branches used by each business/company being investigated, to which their findings in regards to concerns and/or failings on anything (such as hygiene, safety, and customer service for example), are revealed during the film, including a comparison between the branches visited and how they match up to findings made in the other branches.

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 given advice by media advisers before they are filmed.

Presenters

DurationLead presenter(s)Co-presenter(s)
1980–84Hugh Scully
1985–86Nick Ross and Lynn Faulds Wood
1986–93Lynn Faulds Wood and John Stapleton
1993–94Anne RobinsonAlice Beer and Simon Walton
1994–99Alice Beer
1999–2001Charlotte Hudson
2001–02Nicky Campbell and Kate Gerbeau
2002–04Paul Heiney and Ashley Blake
2004–05Paul Heiney and Saima Mohsin
2005–08Nicky Campbell and Julia BradburyPaul Heiney and Nick Lawrence
2008–09Nicky Campbell
Julia Bradbury (episodes 1–16 and 26–30)
Anita Rani (episodes 17–25)
Paul Heiney and Dan Penteado
2009–10Anne RobinsonAnita Rani, Matt Allwright and Dan Penteado
2010–12Chris Hollins, Matt Allwright and Dan Penteado
2012–15Chris Hollins and Matt Allwright
2015Sophie Raworth and Michelle Ackerley
2016Sophie Raworth and Matt AllwrightMichelle Ackerley, Steph McGovern and Nikki Fox
2017–19Matt Allwright and Steph McGovernNikki Fox

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.[17] 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.[18]

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, a cost of ~£600, at a time before the rise of budget airlines. 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.[19]

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.[20] Investigations by Watchdog forced refunds and the closure of the channel, and traced the owner to Cyprus, where he refused to answer questions.[21]

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.[22]

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,[23] 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.

Clarks Shoes

Clarks Shoes were exposed by Watchdog in successive programmes in November 2018 after receiving large numbers of complaints from viewers about shoes which had been put away brand new but were subsequently found to be falling apart because of the poor quality of the materials used in their manufacture. [24]

Transmissions

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
114 July 19856 October 198513
215 November 198723 May 198824
33 October 198810 April 198924
44 September 198918 December 198916
51 October 19904 February 199117
630 September 199113 April 199224
77 September 19925 April 199328
86 September 199323 May 199435
95 September 19941 May 199532
104 September 199525 March 199628
115 September 199627 March 199729
124 September 19979 April 199840
1310 September 19988 April 199929
149 September 19994 May 200034
155 October 200026 April 200129
1613 September 20019 April 200229
173 September 20026 May 200330
182 September 200327 April 200430
197 September 200412 April 200530
206 September 20059 May 200634
213 October 20062 May 200729
223 October 200712 May 200830
2313 October 200818 May 200930
2410 September 200912 November 200910
256 May 201010 June 201010
269 September 201025 November 201010
277 April 201126 May 20118
281 September 201120 October 20118
2915 March 20123 May 20128
3012 September 201231 October 20128
311 May 201319 June 20138
3218 September 20136 November 20138
3314 May 20142 July 20147
3416 October 20144 December 20148
357 May 201525 June 20156
368 October 20153 December 20156
372 November 201621 December 20166
3828 June 20172 August 20176
3918 April 201823 May 20186
4031 October 20185 December 20186
411 May 20195 June 20196
4212 September 201917 October 20196

Spin-offs

  • Watchdog Healthcheck – 1995 to 2002, about health matters
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodesMain host
115 May 19953 July 19958Judith Hann
215 April 199617 June 1996
324 April 199719 June 1997Alice Beer
45 January 19989 February 19986
520 July 199824 August 19984
64 January 199929 March 199912
719 July 199914 February 2000
826 June 200021 August 20009Gaby Roslin
98 January 200119 February 20017
104 June 200116 July 2001Kate Gerbeau
117 January 200225 February 20028Gaby Roslin
  • Weekend Watchdog – 1997 to 2001, presented by Robinson (Allwright and Hudson for the final series)
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
125 April 199713 June 19978
25 September 199719 December 199717
313 March 19985 June 199813
411 September 199818 December 199814
519 March 19994 June 199911
610 September 199917 December 199914
717 March 200014 July 200015
86 October 200026 January 200114
923 March 200115 June 200112
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
10 July 19951
124 June 199620 August 19967
226 June 199728 August 199710
316 July 199827 August 19986
416 July 19993 September 19998
55 July 20004 October 200012
  • Face Value – about the fashion industry, presented by Alice Beer
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
16 January 199710 February 19976
23 June 19999 July 1999
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
15 January 19981
128 May 199815 July 19985
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
116 April 199821 May 19986
222 April 199927 May 1999
  • 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
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
112 November 20127 December 201220

Specials

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

See also

References

  1. "Watchdog Live from dock10 studios". Dock10. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  2. "BBC to axe Watchdog programme after 40 years". The Guardian. PA Media. 21 February 2020.
  3. "Watchdog on The One Show". BBC: The One Show. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  4. Nationwide – BBC One London – 8 September 1980 – BBC Genome
  5. The Times (London, England), "Television and Radio" Saturday 13 July 1985
  6. The Times (London, England), Monday, 24 November 1986
  7. The Times (London, England), Monday, 4 January 1988; p. 17
  8. Doctor Knows Best at IMDb
  9. Bobby Moore & Me at IMDb
  10. "Julia statement". Watchdog. BBC. 15 April 2009. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009.
  11. "Asian journalist Anita Rani replaces Julia Bradbury as Watchdog host" Thaindian News, 3 March 2009
  12. Anne Robinson returns to Watchdog Digital Spy, 10 May 2009
  13. "BBC Rogue Traders' Dan Penteado jailed for benefit fraud". BBC. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  14. Watchdog on Twitter
  15. Watchdog on Twitter
  16. "Anne Robinson to step down from Watchdog". BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  17. "25 years of Watchdog". 7 January 2005. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  18. "The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994". HM Government. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  19. "A Bloody Dust Up". Promo Magazine. 1 October 2005. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. all England agrees that Hoover's Free Travel Offer was the worst promotion in British history
  20. "TV auction channel shuts up shop". BBC News. 23 November 2004. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  21. "TV show tracks down Auction World boss". Hertfordshire Mercury. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  22. Bust company sacks workers by text BBC News, 30 May 2003
  23. Customs seize £66k from Miller as he boards China flight Oldham Advertiser Archived 6 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  24. Disintegrating new and little-used Clarks shoes as shown on BBC Watchdog
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