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 is most well-known for his role as host of DIY SOS on BBC. He also hosted Historyonics in 2004. This comedy-based history program featured actors re-creating famous historical moments and characters.
BBC iPlayer currently only offers short clips of the show that are less than a minute long.
This week, however, a viewer found the program again and tweeted Nick 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.”