The BBC has rejected a formal complaint from its own Studios division about Hat Trick/ Hindsight winning the £3m tender for Mastermind earlier this month, according to Broadcast.
BBC Studios argued that the producers attached to the winning bid – David Young, Chris Jones and Kate Middleditch – did not meet the tender’s ‘relevant and recent experience’ obligation.
Applicants were also required to have been responsible for similar or comparable programming to Mastermind in the past five years, which BBC Studios also questioned.
BBC Studios is not expected to take its complaint further and Hat Trick/ Hindsight will soon enter production for celebrity and non-celebrity versions of the long-running format.
The indies have relocated the show from Salford to Northern Ireland after receiving support for the bid from agency Northern Ireland Screen. BBC Studios’ defeat came two weeks after it also lost the Proms TV coverage to Livewire Pictures, while Avant / Nine Lives Media secured Songs of Praise two years ago.
BBC Studios has won the other four tenders – Question of Sport, Holby City, Doctors and Bargain Hunt.
