Romesh Ranganathan leads nearly 100 stars promoting BBC in new campaign

Romesh Ranganathan is one of nearly 100 stars taking part in a new campaign to promote the BBC.Released on Sunday, the three-minute film brings together 90 household names from across the BBC and, as the national broadcaster puts it, celebrates the BBC’s “extraordinary cultural footprint to answer one simple question: What has the BBC ever done for me?”.As Ranganathan travels through a string of the best-known BBC programmes, sets and studios, he encounters familiar faces that each help him answer the question in their own way.The campaign video kicks off with Ranganathan in EastEnders’ famous Queen Vic pub reading the front page of a paper that asks “Is the BBC really worth it?”.Romesh Ranganathan sitting by a camera (BBC)The comedian and actor then tells barmaid Tracey – played by Jane Slaughter – “it’s a good question”.“You have got to ask – what has the BBC ever done for me?” he says.As a man plays the piano with his back turned to the camera, he is then revealed to be Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, before a string of stars are rolled out, including Claudia Winkleman.As Ranganathan puts it: “If you’re a fan of Ian Beale, or if The Traitors has any appeal, who cares if they’ve raised two and a half billion for charity, what has the BBC ever done for me?”He then steps out onto the street, telling viewers how the BBC was responsible for “introducing the nation to Adele”, verifies news “thoroughly” and also offers Mary Berry, Glastonbury and “celebs on the telly”.The campaign then highlights how the BBC delivers coverage of Wimbledon, “a love of nature” through shows including Springwatch, and even avoids having advertisements.Walking through the set of Call The Midwife, he says the BBC “does a lot for British storytelling”.Pushing back against critics of the national broadcaster, he declares “stuff your Apprentice and Match Of The Day” before Louis Theroux appears in a studio with his hand hovering over a switch and warning that “none of this exists if we don’t want it to”.After being handed a folder, Ranganathan then reads out statistics that state that the money the public pays to the BBC creates more than six and half billion pounds for the economy, which he adds sounds “pretty good”.Read MorePushed onto a stage which turns out to be the Strictly dancefloor, he asks viewers one final time, “What has the BBC ever done for me?”, before judge Anton Du Beke appears and holds up a score paddle showing a 10 but is told to “bog off”.Wrapping up the ad, text on screen reads: “There’s a BBC for each of us. Funded by all of us.”The campaign film also features Alan Carr, Peter Capaldi, Sara Cox, Graham Norton, Vernon Kay, Greg James and Ruth Jones.Other stars include Cate Blanchett, Daisy Ridley, Chris McCausland, Clive Myrie and Stacey Solomon, as well as Pudsey Bear and a number of Daleks.Inspired by the 1986 BBC campaign featuring John Cleese, the new film reimagines the question for a generation 40 years later.The BBC has said it follows the “same spirit” and is a “joyful celebration of the programmes, people and moments that have become part of our national life, and a reminder of the place the BBC continues to hold in our everyday lives”.Romesh Ranganathan and the Strictly dancers (BBC)It was directed by Paddington In Peru’s Dougal Wilson and features music from Ben Foster, Ben Bailey Smith and Andy Burrows, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Singers.The BBC said the campaign launches as the corporation “enters a crucial period of charter renewal discussions and seeks to demonstrate the priceless and unique role it has for everyone in the UK”.In a blog to accompany the campaign, the BBC chief customer officer Kerris Bright wrote that the aim of the campaign was to “ensure the BBC gets credit for the fundamental impact it has on society, as well as the things it makes”.She added the campaign came at an “important moment” ahead of the Government beginning the process of renewing the BBC’s Royal Charter and how the organisation should be funded.