Why I'm campaigning to save BBC Three

As well being one of the the only channels to provide solely for young people, BBC Three has been a launchpad for some of our finest writers and actors

The author outside the BBC handing in his petition to save BBC Three

Imagine a television service without BBC Three. It wouldn’t make sense. Not just because there would only be a BBC One, Two, and Four – but because it would mean the BBC had ditched the one TV channel that actually appeals to young people.

Since 2003, BBC Three has been a launchpad for new writers and comedians, and has been hugely successful. It’s led to the likes of Our War, Him and Her, The Mighty Boosh, Being Human, Little Britain, Bad Education, and Gavin and Stacey. Can you see BBC1 taking those risks? I can’t. With programming cuts I can’t see BBC Three producing many of these.

And as well as delivering quality content, the channel also hosts unrivalled coverage of UK festivals, including Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury, and T in the Park. None of this content would have a decent timeslot on BBC One, and none of the content from competitors matches it.

These are just a couple of the reasons why fans can’t understand why a channel that draws in a weekly audience even bigger than Radio 1, and is so well-loved by its audience, is being taken off our screens.

Last year the BBC Trust even praised BBC Three as the one of its station that brought in large young and diverse audiences. This is why there has been so much support for the #SaveBBC3 petition I started on last year. It now has more than 272,000 signatures, and is currently one of the biggest petitions on Change.org.

When Lord Hall, Director General of the BBC, said in 2013 that he “wouldn't consider closing a channel” as part of his plans, I thought that the BBC management had learned from the mistakes of the past (ie their proposed closure of Radio 6 Music, which led to a swift U-turn after public outcry). Yet only six months after Lord Hall's announcement they announced proposals that they would close BBC Three, and replace it with a scaled-back online service.

However, this isn’t a case of simply moving BBC Three online, it will be a completely different service using more YouTube-style videos, which even the BBC admits will gain fewer viewers than the current service. Given the state of internet coverage in rural areas it will also make BBC Three less accessible too.

I’m not a BBC basher. The #savebbc3 campaign was set up because I really care about the future of the BBC and the great stuff it does. But if the BBC doesn't listen to the public that it's meant to be serving, then the faith I've had in the corporation for so long will be shattered.

The Head of the BBC Trust, Rona Fairhead, this month proclaimed that she wanted to give power to the people rather than the “small elite” within management at the BBC. If she really means that, then I'm confident these proposals can be stopped in their tracks. But until then, I won't stop campaigning to save BBC Three.