BBC Two

The channel controllers have been:

• 1964–1965: Michael Peacock
• 1965–1969: David Attenborough
• 1969–1974: Robin Scott
• 1974–1978: Aubrey Singer
• 1978–1982: Brian Wenham
• 1982–1987: Graeme MacDonald
• 1987–1992: Alan Yentob
• 1992–1996: Michael Jackson
• 1996–1999: Mark Thompson
• 1999–2004: Jane Root
• 2004–2008: Roly Keating
• 2008–2014: Janice Hadlow
• 2014–2016: Kim Shillinglaw[9]
• 2017–present: Patrick Holland

Adam Barker served as Acting Controller of the channel after Janice Hadlow left the channel in March 2014 and until Kim Shillinglaw began as the new permanent occupant of the post.

From 2013, the Controller of BBC Two was given the expanded title Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, with ultimate oversight of the BBC Four service added to their duties (a BBC Four "Channel Editor", reporting up to this Controller, was allocated day-to-day operational control of Four).

The channel forms part of the BBC Television executive group and is answerable to the head of that department, and to the BBC Trust.

On 20 January 2016, Kim Shillinglaw announced that she had decided to leave the BBC as the Controller of BBC Two & BBC Four;, as a result of the reorganisation, the posts of Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four were closed.[10]

Patrick Holland became Channel Controller of BBC Two in March 2017, following his earlier appointment as Channel Editor in July 2016.[11]

BBC Two's remit is to be a mixed-genre channel appealing to a broad adult audience with programmes of depth and substance. It should carry the greatest amount and range of knowledge building programming of any BBC television channel, complemented by distinctive comedy, drama and arts programming.

— BBC Two remit[12]

BBC Two's remit historically was one screening programmes targeting the arts, culture, some comedy and drama, and appealing to audiences not already served by BBC One or ITV. Over its first thirty or so years the channel developed a reputation for screening highly praised and prestigious drama series, among these Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), 1991's highly successful The Men's Room, a spectacular costume drama Middlemarch (1994) or 1996's critically acclaimed Our Friends in the North. The channel's "highbrow" profile is also in part attributable to a long history of demanding documentaries of all types, beginning with Civilisation and The Ascent of Man in the 1960s. Like the early Channel 4, BBC Two also established for itself a reputation as a champion of independent and international cinema, under the Screen 2 brand.

The channel has sometimes been judged, increasingly in more recent years, to have moved away from this original role and closer to the mainstream. Since the launch of the digital-only BBC Four, the BBC has been accused in particular of shifting its more highbrow output to the new channel, which, until the end of the UK's digital TV switchover in October 2012,[13] a minority (7.5% in the final quarter of 2010)[14] of viewers did not receive. BBC Four's remit is very similar to the earlier remit of BBC2, and contains many documentaries and arts programmes. It has been perceived by some that this strategy is to allow BBC Two to show more popular programmes and to secure higher ratings.[15] Since 2004 there have been some signs of an attempt to return closer to parts of BBC Two's earlier output with the arts strand The Culture Show. Its most popular programme at the moment is Top Gear.

Much of BBC Two's output has previously or subsequently been shown on other channels. Some of these programmes are repeats of popular or flagship programmes from BBC Four in a late-night strand, originally called BBC Four on Two but now unbranded, for the benefit of audiences without access to BBC Four. Other programmes are moved to the channel as a result of their success on BBC Three or Four, so that subsequent series are well received. An example of this is the BBC Three series Torchwood, which was transferred to the channel following the success of the first series. BBC Two is also used as a testing ground for programmes prior to their moving to the flagship BBC One: such examples include Have I Got News for You and popular comedies Absolutely Fabulous and Miranda, which moved to BBC One after success on Two. Also in August 2014, The Great British Bake Off moved to BBC One, due to its success the previous year on BBC Two. In 2017, Bake Off moved from BBC One to Channel 4.

Another founding part of BBC Two was to provide educational and community programming on the BBC, as part of its public service remit. The educational section of this commitment saw BBC2 broadcast a large amount of programming for the Open University, who co-produced programming with the corporation, and saw the channel broadcast BBC Schools programmes from 1983 until the programmes were transferred to the BBC Learning Zone in 2010.

As a result of the channel's commitment to community broadcasting, the channel produced the symbolic Open Space series, a strand developed in the early 1970s in which members of the public would be allotted half an hour of television time, and given a level of editorial and technical training in order to produce for themselves a film on an issue most important to them. BBC2's Community Programme Unit kept this aspect of the channel's tradition alive into the 1990s in the form of Video Diaries and later Video Nation. The Community Programmes Unit was disbanded in 2004.

In January 2013, BBC Two ceased to show children's programmes and replaced the weekday morning schedule with repeats of the previous BBC One daytime schedule. It also began showing Sign Zone in the early hours; prior to 2013, this had been broadcast by BBC One.

From October 2013, BBC Two has shown classic programmes like Bergerac, Cagney and Lacey, The Rockford Files, 'Allo 'Allo!, and Are You Being Served? on weekday afternoons, with the retro logos from 1970s and 1980s, between the current programmes.

In October 2014, Russell Howard's Good News and Backchat moved to BBC Two from BBC Three.

In 2014, BBC Two commissioned Britain's first transgender sitcom, Boy Meets Girl, which follows the developing relationship between Leo, a 26-year-old man, and Judy, a 40-year-old transgender woman.[16]

From 7 April 2015, the morning Sign Zone was shown before Victoria Derbyshire between 8:00am-9:00 am including See Hear on Wednesday morning.

BBC Two is also known for broadcasting some news and current affairs programmes. It broadcasts BBC News updates every morning at 9 am, simulcasting the BBC News channel after it stops simulcasting BBC Breakfast on BBC1. At 12:15 pm during the Parliament session, political debate programme Politics Live is broadcast on BBC2. On Wednesdays, due to the Prime Minister's Questions, the programme is broadcast at the earlier time of 11:15am. The programme is not broadcast on Fridays or when Parliament is on a holiday break, so the simulcast of BBC News continues until 1:00pm for the BBC News at One on BBC1. At 10:45pm, current affairs programme Newsnight takes a look at the day's headlines and talks to the people about it. BBC2 doesn't broadcast any news and current affairs programming at the weekend.

From 2017 until 2019, it broadcast the UK selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest, Eurovision: You Decide. The channel stopped broadcasting the show after the 2019 edition due to the fact that the BBC opted for an internal selection in collaboration with BMG Rights Management.

In 2020, it was reported that Victoria Derbyshire would end, owing to the BBC's £80m cuts.[17] Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Victoria Derbyshire has been presenting the first hour of BBC News, which continues until 13:00.

BBC Two is also known for broadcasting some BBC One programmes in a change to the schedules when that channel is broadcasting a BBC News Special. For example; during the COVID-19 pandemic, BBC1 aired press conferences from the UK government about big developments from the pandemic and the scheduled BBC One programming during those News Specials was broadcast on BBC Two.

The sans-serif 2 served as the channel's design icon between 1991 and 2018, and was used in several different forms. "Paint", pictured above, was the first such variant to air, and aired between 1991 and 2001 and again between 2014 and 2018.

As well as programmes, BBC Two has also proved memorable for its numerous idents—various short sequences shown between programme junctions that serve as the channel identity. Nearly all of the identity packages used since the channel's launch in 1964 have featured a prominent numeral 2 in the design. Notable designs include the electronic double-striped 2, the white TWO ident (the only ident not to use a numeral 2), and most notably the 1991 2s.

The 1991 idents featured a sans-serif numeral 2 at the centre of an initially art-related scene; however, the idents moved away from this style as the station's style changed. Although highly praised, this expansive set of idents was ended in November 2001. The BBC corporate logo was updated within the idents in October 1997, though the idents moved away from the original viridian colour scheme in these latter years. The subsequent presentation style was introduced on 19 November 2001 and kept the same figure 2, but in a yellow background and given a personality. At the time, BBC Two became the first BBC channel to feature a box logo.

In 2007, BBC Two debuted the new theme, a "Window on the World", with the 2 numeral providing that view. Introduced on 18 February 2007, the new look also had the channel adopt a teal-coloured box logo, featuring the BBC logo above the word TWO, in the font Avenir.

In 2014, in honour of the channel's 50th anniversary, some of the 1990s idents were re-introduced and from 2015, BBC Two Northern Ireland opted to use nearly forty idents from the 1991–2001 set.

On 27 September 2018, the 1991–2001 idents were retired once again and BBC Two introduced a new set of idents, based on scenes incorporating a curve motif resembling the number 2. The new branding is designed to reflect BBC Two's "constant evolution, constant eclecticism, [and] constant sense of quality". The new idents are produced by various artists and studios, including Aardman Animations, The Mill and others. The new identity was co-developed by BBC Creative and Superunion.[18][19][20]

The Northern Irish version of BBC Two is widely available in the Republic of Ireland on satellite and cable, as well as being received directly in areas bordering Northern Ireland, or in coastal areas from Wales. The networked version of BBC Two is also available on cable and IPTV in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco and Liechtenstein. On 27 March 2013, it began being carried by British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to members of HM Forces and their families around the world, replacing the BFBS2 TV channel, which already carried a selection of BBC Two programmes.[21] It shares a channel with CBBC, which broadcasts from early morning until the early evening.[22]

All feeds of BBC Two in both SD and HD are broadcast unencrypted on the Astra 2E and 2G satellites, allowing viewing across Belgium, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and parts of France, Germany and Spain.[23][24]

The BBC announced in May 2008 that it had achieved its aim for all programming to have subtitles for viewers with hearing difficulties.[25][26] These are available on the BBC Red Button, and until 23 October 2012, via the Ceefax teletext service.

The BBC also offers audio description on some popular programmes[27] for visually impaired-viewers as well as sign language interpretation on some of its programmes for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. The percentage of the BBC's total television output with audio description available is 10%, having been increased from 8% in 2008.[28]

Originally, programmes from BBC Two were shown in high definition on the dedicated BBC HD channel, alongside programmes from BBC Three and BBC Four, as well as some select series from CBBC and CBeebies. However, in plans outlined by the director general Mark Thompson on 6 October 2011, BBC HD would close to be replaced by BBC Two HD, a high-definition simulcast of BBC Two that would work much the same way as BBC One HD.[29] This move allowed the corporation to save £2.1 million, used to count towards its budget deficit following the freezing of the licence fee and the additional financial responsibility of addition services.[30]

On 19 February 2013, it was announced that BBC Two HD would replace BBC HD from 6.05 am on 26 March 2013.[31] Channel numbers for the BBC's HD channels also changed on Sky, to allow BBC One HD and BBC Two HD to sit side-by-side on channels 141, and 142 respectively on the EPG.[31][32]

On 16 July 2013, the BBC indicated that it wants to launch Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh variations of BBC Two HD; however, this would require the approval of the BBC Trust, with a proposal due to be presented within six months.[33]

On 10 December 2013, BBC Two HD was swapped with the SD channel in England on Sky's EPG for HD subscribers.[34]

In October 2018, the BBC announced that regional variants of BBC Two HD in Wales and Northern Ireland would launch at the end of November that year on terrestrial, satellite (Wales only) and iPlayer. BBC Two HD in these regions were swapped with the SD channel on Sky's EPG for HD subscribers. Due to the impending launch of the new BBC Scotland channel in February 2019, replacing the opt-outs on BBC Two Scotland, no Scottish HD variant was required.

• History of BBC television idents
• List of television stations in the United Kingdom

• BBC Two at BBC Online
• BBC Two – Happy 40th Birthday at BBC Online