Well I think you might be just exactly right there!

The NT are temporarily a bit short of money, having lost £4.5 million in the last year, due partly to Foot and Mouth, but also for paying off 7 senior executives from what they themselves recognize as a hopelessly top heavy bureaucracy, at a cost of £800,000 for the seven. (Nice). Not that their gross income didn’t swell by millions last year, it did, and not that their membership didn't rise, and not that their National Heritage Funding didn't double, and not that they aren’t awash with money long term – they get £250 million per year, the seventh largest income of all charities in the UK (ahead, for instance, of Oxfam, the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the RSPCA).

Nevertheless, the new Director General (salary £120,000, nice) has stated in her keynote speech that new ways must be found to generate additional income from their existing heritage assets.

So now we know. Effectively, Channel 4 have helped with the costs of the one-off rationalization and the redundancy payoffs.