Romesh Ranganathan is fronting a new campaign ‘what has the BBC ever done for me?’ making the case for the licence fee, following in the footsteps of a John Cleese ad from 1985. Here he explains why…

I strongly believe that the BBC should exist. It’s not without its flaws and there have definitely been times and issues where I wished it could have dealt with things differently – but it adds so much to our lives and I’m really proud of it.

So once I’d got over the surprise of being asked to front a new BBC film, that addresses the question, ‘What has the BBC ever done for me?’ – and was reassured that I wouldn’t have to sing, despite it being a mini-musical – I really wanted to be involved. 

In fact, it was a no-brainer. I believe that there’s nothing else that does what the BBC does and that we need to make sure it’s around for our kids and future generations.

Making the film was surreal because I was surrounded by lots of famous faces, TV and radio stars and iconic characters and I had to not get too starstruck. Asking for selfies with everyone in the Queen Vic would have slowed down filming no end. It was also exciting, especially because I got a stunt double for the first time. And it was a validating experience because I was in the company of so many people who feel the same way that I do about the BBC.

Growing up, I didn’t think people who looked like me could do comedy as a job. I was always a massive comedy fan and even as a kid I was performing stand up routines for any audience I could get. But when Goodness Gracious Me started on BBC Two, it showed me that it was possible.

Every comedian needs breaks at the beginning of their career and mine came on the BBC. I started doing comedy on radio, then hosted Newsjack on BBC Radio 4 Extra, then I was getting booked for Mock The Week, then I did Live at the Apollo and I ended up hosting Asian Provocateur and The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan and I’ve gone on to host other things. Throughout my career, the BBC has had an avenue for whatever level I’ve been at.

Because it's so wide-ranging, there are loads of opportunities for people in all sections of the creative industries to get involved and forge their careers on the BBC. I've seen people who started off as runners and then work their way through production and next time I bump into them, they are running big shows. That’s always good to see.

An important thing that the BBC does is to bring people together in a unique way. During the Covid lockdowns, when everybody was feeling disconnected and it was a real struggle, I hosted my show, The Ranganation, from my garage because we couldn't get to the studio. It provided a platform for people to talk about their experiences of Covid and how they were feeling.

That’s just one example of what the BBC can do really, really well – when we were in a situation when everybody felt isolated it gave us a feeling of togetherness. And the BBC is still where people want to go for big events like a royal wedding or a World Cup.

The film shows the range of what the BBC does for children, from CBeebies, to Blue Peter and CBBC, to Bitesize. I’ve got three boys and it's impossible to keep in touch with what they want on an hour to hour basis, so I think the BBC has to be willing to be incredibly responsive and nimble in terms of identifying what young people need and want.

We cherish The Traitors and The Apprentice in our house because everybody in my family loves them. It’s great when we all sit down together to watch and that’s a really important thing that the BBC does for us all.

We’ve all heard discourse about the BBC and people speaking for and against it and it’s become a hot topic. But in a world where we’re increasingly fed a diet of things to drive numbers, one of the things that makes the BBC unique is that its programming isn't just numbers driven. 

Obviously, there are certain shows on the BBC that are huge but it offers content and services across the board, including special interest, mainstream things and such a wide variety for all sections of society. And because it is the British Broadcasting Corporation, it's driven by that motive to serve the public. It's not just populist and I think that's really important.

Making the film was an amazing experience and I couldn’t help but feel honoured to be asked to front it. I hope it gets over the message that whatever you're into, the BBC provides something for you. And I think to lose that would be catastrophic.