aWhen Spain took on England at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, an equally tense battle unfolded in British television studios, broadcast live by both BBC One and ITV1. With a combined estimated audience of 30 million, the stakes were high: who would take home broadcast bragging rights?
Both channels aired the match for over four hours in primetime, infuriating Countryfile fans, and both channels began bated breathlessly 90 minutes before kick-off, so TV fans just had to decide which one they wanted to spend the tense evening with.
Is it the blandly efficient explanations of BBC pundit Guy Mowbray, or the Partridge-esque style of ITV raconteur Sam Matterface? Alan Shearer’s dour Geordie commentary or Ally McCoist’s sparkling Scottish enthusiasm? (Added, of course, by the tragically gutsy Lee Dixon. Nobody’s forcing you to watch at gunpoint, my friend.)
From their vantage points overlooking the cluttered pitch, the presenters and commentators lined up in a tried-and-true formation. The BBC was facilitated by a silver-haired Gary Lineker who hoped viewers would forget when he called England “shit” earlier in the tournament. Lineker was right in what he said, having made an infamous gaffe at Italia 90. ITV’s anchor was Mark Paugatti, a less-than-starry but journalistic figure with no lucrative, crisp sponsorship deals or controversial Twitter/X account, preferring to ask simple questions and let ex-pros do the talking.
The BBC’s jokers Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards were joined by former Spain star Juan Mata (Cesc Fabregas was presumably meant for another time), while ITV used the usual trio – the magnetic Ian Wright, the opinionated Gary Neville and the perennially unimpressive Roy Keane, plus the pitchside duo of Laura Woods and Karen Carney.
The team was strengthened by the addition of ex-referee (and practicing lawyer) Christina Unkel, who provided calm and clear analysis of the referee’s decisions. The commercial channel further coaxed Neville into a friendly pre-match chat with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. ITV had an early lead, and it was a shame that momentum was halted every 12 minutes by adverts for hedge trimmers and high-speed broadband.
The melodramatic montage department was busy, with an ominous cue of a walk along the Berlin Wall, rewinding 58 years of suffering and the heartbreak of the past four weeks. The BBC hired playwright James Graham to write a stirring narration script for the VT, read by Joseph Fiennes. You can’t do that in snooker.
As the match began, you could hear the tension in everyone’s eyes and sense the tense mood across the country. Terrestrial television is unbeatable on such occasions, rallying the nation in a common, tense purpose. When sport can provide such epic spectacle and human drama, who needs CGI dragons and dystopian hellscapes? McCoist’s pronunciation of “the situation” alone was worth the price of admission.
Traditionally, the public relies on the BBC for these syndicated events, which tend to get three-quarters of the viewership. But in recent tournaments, ITV’s coverage has been clearly superior. Without the infamous “Nutterface” (Clive Tyldesley, come back, all is forgiven) and those pesky adverts, Lineker might have been eating crisps in solitude. The ratings battle was won by the BBC, but the quality battle was won by ITV. This result will put a fire under ITV.
