BBC viewers complained the clip was “patronising” and assumed its audience is “thick” as the corporation prepares for major cuts.
The BBC has been slammed for a “dreadful” weather report that viewers said treated them “like five-year-olds”. The broadcaster shared a clip to its social media explaining why days get shorter as the UK heads into autumn.
Presenter Katerina Christodol talked viewers through the increasingly earlier sunset times in London, going from 7:46pm on September 1 to 3:54pm on December 1. But online commentators delivered a scathing verdict on the snippet, suggesting it assumed that its audience is “thick”.
One said: “The overall tone from the presenter here is appalling, she obviously thinks we’re all five years of age and the concept of the days getting shorter in the autumn is completely alien to us.”
The broadcaster shared a weather clip to its social media this week (Image: Getty)
Another added: “Even for a children’s programme, this is dreadful. The BBC has completely dumbed down.”
A third sarcastically wrote: “So that’s what’s happening? I’m 63-years-old and I never realised that days get shorter as we approach Winter Solstice, then longer again as we approach spring. Incredible. Thank you BBC.”
Others complained that they were “paying their licence fee to be spoken [to] like a child” and dubbed the clip “patronising”.
It comes ahead of major cuts planned at the taxpayer-funded corporation, set to deliver £160million of the £500million in savings needed by 2028/29.
Around 2,000 jobs are expected to be cut as part of the process, after the BBC’s financial outlook “deteriorated” in the second half of 2025, according to its annual report.
New director-general Matt Brittin, who succeeded Tim Davie in the role following accusations of “serious and systemic bias”, has suggested the corporation is “held back” by its TV licence fee which is “no longer fit for purpose”.
The standard TV licence costs £180 per year and is legally required to watch or record television on any channel or service, watch live on streaming services or to use BBC iPlayer.
The number of TV licences dropped by more than half a million in the 2025/26 financial year, a decrease linked to households not consuming licensable content.