7^th February, 2001.

Room 2560
BBC White City
London
W12 7TS

Please could the BBC produce a serious computer program, not solely aimed at novices, which could be shown on BBC1 or BBC2 and is broadcast at a reasonable time of the day. This show should aim to run for years, hopefully all year round. If you go into any WH Smiths you will see many computer magazines, which is hardly surprising considering that the computer industry is one of the largest industries in the world. Millions of people own a computer in the UK. It is surprising in this context that there has been no serious computer program series on Analogue Terrestrial television for years. While small hobbies like astronomy have had the Sky at Night programme for decades.

Computers are not just the Internet. Where was the review of Windows Millennium and where will the review of Itanium be, and also PCs and their components in general? The shopping channel QVC provides better coverage of computers than the BBC. Could you give computers which do not run MS Windows coverage. Micro Live proved that BBC can make an important contribution to computer uses.

While there is coverage of computers on other programs e.g. news, crime etc. these programs see computers though their subject. They can give a negative impression of computers. This irregular coverage does not replace the need for computer programmes.