The Voice stars: BBC Saturday night entertainment shows are important

Two of the coaches on BBC One's The Voice say it's important that the broadcaster makes entertainment shows for Saturday nights.

The culture secretary has questioned whether the broadcaster should have bid for the rights to screen the show.

"Entertainment is as important as education," Ricky Wilson told Newsbeat.

"I don't think there is anything wrong with the BBC making a big entertainment programme on a Saturday if that's what people want."

The BBC says it makes big entertainment shows which "become shared pastimes everyone can experience and talk about".

But the corporation, which is publicly funded through the television licence, is under pressure to reduce its costs with the yearly fee being frozen at £145.50 for the next four years.

Ricky Wilson was the winning coach on The Voice earlier this year with Stevie McCrorie

The Kaiser Chiefs singer says people just want to relax on a Saturday night and says the BBC should carry on making these sorts of show.

"If they (BBC) are going to go down the road of just making education or culture programmes, what's not cultural about entertainment anyway?

"It's a massive part of everyone lives and the BBC should be making it and making it very well," he said.

Critics suggest that the BBC could save millions by cancelling shows such as The Voice and Strictly Come Dancing because they have higher production costs and similar programmes are made by its commercial rivals.

The Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, said in August: "The Voice has been very popular, but the fact that the Voice was contested between the BBC and ITV, you can say the result was to force up the money that had to be paid for it.

Culture secretary John Whittingdale has launched a public consultation into the future of the BBC

"It was going to be shown on free-to-air so should the BBC get into bidding wars? It is worth at least raising, is that a good use of the licence payers' money?"

In a 100-page response to the government's consultation on the BBC's future, the corporation said the public "wants and expects the BBC to deliver entertainment".

"Competition on a Saturday night has been part of the TV landscape for generations and drives up quality - with the viewer being the winner."

Culture Club lead singer and DJ, Boy George - who has just joined the The Voice as a coach - says the entertainment arm of the BBC should be thinking about increasing the quota of programmes and not reducing them.

"We need more music on television as there's not enough," he said.

"Music is so important to people's lives, especially to teenagers. TV in some areas is getting better. We are getting a lot of American dramas coming over to the UK but more creative stuff is needed.

"We all pay toward the BBC and music is the glue of our lives. We need it. We'd be nothing without it," he said.

The Voice judges were talking to Newsbeat last month as they started filming the new series due to air in January.

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