A TOTAL of 541 hours of drama were broadcast on BBC One during 2016/17 – the period covered by its annual report – the lowest so far this decade.

The figure was down from 576 hours in 2015/16, and dropped by a third on the 808 hours shown in 2010/11.

The amount of films shown on BBC One was also the lowest since the start of the decade, with 290 hours being broadcast during the year – down from 359 in 2015/16 and a fall of 40 per cent on 2010/11.

The annual report also showed that just 61 hours of music and arts programmes were shown on BBC One over the year. This was an increase on 2015/16, however, and was the highest figure for any year since 2012/13.

Other types of programme to show a rise were current affairs (209 hours, up from 184 in 2015/16) and sport (824 hours, up from 604). But religious programmes recorded a fall (88 hours, down from 92), as did factual shows (2,188 hours, down from 2,264).

News and weather bulletins were responsible for the greatest volume of television in 2016/17: a total of 3,313 hours, down slightly on 3,385 in 2016/17 but up 37 per cent on the start of the decade. On BBC Two, factual programmes accounted for the greatest volume, providing 3,374 hours of television for the channel. This was a jump of 89 per cent on the 1,786 hours shown in 2010/11.

BBC Scotland lauded the “triumphant return” of comedy series Still Game – the highest performing episode of which became the second most-watched programme of the past decade in Scotland, beaten only by the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.

The channel also reached more than one million viewers with Highlands, Scotland’s Wild Heart, a four-part documentary series narrated by Ewan McGregor.

Gaelic service BBC Alba saw spending rise by £500,000 to £6 million during the year; Radio Scotland’s spending dropped over the period from £22.9m to £22.1; and Radio Nan Gaidheal saw its spending fall from £3.9m to £3.7m The report also recapped the February announcement of “the biggest single investment in broadcast content in Scotland in over 20 years” – £19m a year for a new television channel and digital developments; and around £20m extra, per year, to March 2019, in network television production from Scotland.

“In a particularly productive year for drama, the dark, four-part thriller One of Us, described by the London Evening Standard as ‘Tarantino-meets-Shakespeare’, attracted a UK average audience in excess of five million and a share of 22 per cent,” said the report. “The three-part The Replacement, set in Glasgow, attracted 7.3 million UK viewers and a 28 per cent audience share.

“Edinburgh formed the backdrop for BBC One’s three-part Rillington Place, based on the life of serial killer John Christie, and Clique, BBC Three’s intense six-part teen drama about friendship tested to extremes.

River City remained the most appreciated of all television soaps viewed in Scotland.”