In cricket, 87 is an unlucky score. The ABC have long loved the sound of leather on willow, and next year the broadcaster will be 87 not out. So like an Aussie batsman at the crease, they look a little wobbly.

Let’s get one thing straight: Thank God for Aunty. From radio and television to online and digital platforms, the ABC has an enviable track record. They’ve had some spectacular misses, but way more hits.

It’s #ourABC nowadays, but #ourPoliticians in conjunction with #ourRightWingAgendaDrivenJournalists are conducting a budget-slashing and editorial-policy-abusing pincer move on the nation’s voice.

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As such, it is not a good time for the ABC to suffer a programming dilemma. Yet to paraphrase another ABC staple – the Queen’s Christmas message – their primary channel ABC1 has had a bit of an August Horribilis.

The issues are as simple to identify as 1, 2, 3. The solutions are a bit harder.

Georgia Flood as Sister Alice Ross-King.

1. Drama

Let’s ignore all Fawlty Towers based wisdom and mention the war.

ANZAC Girls is the first war-themed drama, but despite this advantage the show has struggled. Ratings have tumbled since the premiere four weeks ago, scraping in at 800,000 on Sunday. Not enough for a flagship drama that should be this year’s Magazine Wars.

Ratings aren’t the only indicator of success for Aunty. A critical hit is just as valuable. Yet the media discuss ANZAC Girls the same way they often approach Australian films. Desperate to champion success, the real opinion is found between the lines. In this case critics were careful to pull punches on such a worthy topic.

Industry website TV Tonight for example penned a positive review, but only found 3.5 stars for it, hinting at the basis for the discrepancy: “For shining a light on these unsung heroes, it deserves to be rewarded.” In other words: worthy. Being worthy is a death knell to drama. Worthy television is like homework – we all try to avoid it.

The Sydney Morning Herald notes that the show doesn’t stand up to competition: “Anzac Girls never busts out of its ABC period drama bonnet. It is a well-made conservative piece of work, full of good performances and nice detail. But it’s no Peaky Blinders.”

Elsewhere the war drama has been quietly criticised for its drama, its action and its historical accuracy. Ouch.

The ABC will be hoping for more ratings and dramatic splash with political drama The Code which debuts on September 21.

2. Comedy

There was a time not long ago when the ABC owned Wednesday night. A comedy A-list that boasted the likes of Spicks and Specks and Gruen SUPPORTING smaller gems-in-the-making posed a threat to the commercial networks.

Now, Wednesday nights are a shotgun-blast of random programming. QI gets two helpings, interrupted by the news and 7:30 Report. This must delight Shaun Micallef who littered the last series of Mad As Hell with subliminal Stephen Frys (and the good news is that show returns September 24). Later the very promising, tongue-in-cheek Reality Check is followed by the deeply serious Head First. It’s not exactly a recipe for audience retention.

After the disappointing axing of Spicks and Specks v2.0 this year, Working Dog’s Utopia was meant to be a new tent pole for the network to build their Wednesday circus under. It has failed. In terms of ratings it managed 663,000 viewers across the five capitals this week, which was an increase. That would be a fine number for a new comedy team, but a production company who list The Castle, Frontline and The Panel on their CV should deliver a winner from the start.

Meanwhile one of the freshest, most creative and funniest shows currently on television languishes on ABC2. As The Age pointed out Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me is “one of the best comedies on TV” yet is out-rated by M*A*S*H.

3. Competition

All of the above takes place at a time when the ABC is under threat from traditional and new rivals.

BBC First launched on August 3 and, frankly, in many ways it feels like the shiny, new and better version of the ABC. Aunty has long relied on BBC output as a foundation for their programming. Suddenly they are in direct competition.

Meanwhile long-term rival SBS is reaping the rewards of a painful revolution. They are importing and broadcasting top comedies and dramas like Borgen, The Killing and Brooklyn Nine Nine, then mixing it with local inspiration like Legally Brown. SBS doesn’t have to best the ABC in the ratings – just by looking more creative and clever they get the kudos.

It’s not all bad news for the ABC, particularly with regards to news. The staple offering of news and current affairs is as strong as ever. While dramatically in August, the big winner for the ABC has been Doctor Who, now getting the prime time treatment it warrants.

One wonders if a few network chiefs wouldn’t mind a quick go in the TARDIS to jump back to the start of the year, or the month, and tweak a few creative decisions.

The ABC’s Television Head of Programming responded to our article with the following response:

Thursday 4 September, 2014

I just can’t let Giles Hardie’s 3^rd September article – ‘Anzac Girls, Utopia spell trouble for ABC’, which claimed our main channel has had an ‘August Horribilis’ – go by without comment.

Giles declared ABC was facing stiff competition from BBC First and SBS, and it’s true both channels have some enviable programming on their slates. But in terms of the numbers, Giles’ argument just doesn’t add up.

Since BBC First’s launch on 3^rd August, its primetime audience has averaged less than 10,000 with a share of 0.2%.

In contrast, if Giles had consulted the consolidated figures, he would have discovered that rather than ‘scraping in’ with 800,000, Anzac Girls achieved an average audience of 1.16m with share of 19%. Another program he referenced was Utopia, from the brilliant Working Dog team, which achieved an average audience of 826,000 with share of 13%. During the period since 3 August, both programs were among the most time-shifted programs across all networks (17% of their total audience was time-shifted).

Misreadings like this highlight the need to shift the conversation about the performance of shows away from the narrow definition of overnight ratings to a more sophisticated and comprehensive view that incorporates time-shifting and digital consumption, such as on our own iview platform.

I do have to agree with Giles about Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me – it is sensational television. And rest assured, upcoming political thriller The Code will not disappoint.

Brendan Dahill

ABC Television Head of Programming

Source: OzTAM metro consolidated data, 3^rd Aug to 23^rd Aug 2014.