Sir Patrick Moore has identified an alien species that threatens to destroy intelligent life \u2013 the women who have taken over the BBC.<\/p>\n
The veteran astronomer celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Sky at Night with a withering attack on the female executives he believes have dumbed down the corporation.<\/p>\n
Sir Patrick\u2019s outburst echoes criticisms raised by Alasdair Milne, a former Director-General, who provoked a furious response when he accused a female-dominated BBC of producing \u201cterrible\u201d programmes.<\/p>\n
Sir Patrick, 84, was asked by the Radio Times if television had got better or worse during a career spanning the medium\u2019s life. The answer was worse \u2013 \u201cmuch worse\u201d. He said: \u201cThe trouble is that the BBC now is run by women and it shows: soap operas, cooking, quizzes, kitchen-sink plays. You wouldn\u2019t have had that in the golden days.\u201d<\/p>\n
They have even destroyed sci-fi, Sir Patrick\u2019s personal passion. He said: \u201cI used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC \u2013 making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
And don\u2019t sit Sir Patrick in front of a Sophie Raworth bulletin. He said: \u201cThese jokey women are not for me. Oh, for the good old days.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recalled: \u201cThere was one day (in 2005) when BBC News went on strike. Then we had the headlines read by a man, talking the Queen\u2019s English, reading the news impeccably.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Sir Patrick has a solution. Institute a gender divide and create BBC Bloke.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI would like to see two independent wavelengths \u2013 one controlled by women, and one for us, controlled by men. I think it may eventually happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soaps could then safely be produced and watched by women. Sir Patrick said: \u201cI was in hospital once and I watched a whole episode of EastEnders. I suppose it\u2019s true to life. But so is diarrhoea \u2013 and I don\u2019t want to see that on television.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sir Patrick has an ally in Mr Milne, who ran the BBC between 1982 and 1987. He said the domination of television by women was the reason it had so many \u201cdumb\u201d lifestyle and makeover programmes.<\/p>\n