Something is very, very wrong here
It has become almost axiomatic amongst the “Mark Lawson has the same taste as me” middle-class literati to state that we are living in a “golden age” of television. Or rather, American television. Ever since the Sopranos first came over the pond, we’ve been falling over ourselves to pen homages to the great American TV production machine which seems to have hit a sweetspot of creativity. The instinct is now so ingrained that I’ve even heard people say Brothers and Sisters is worth a look. It’s almost obligatory to say “the Wire is the best television programme ever.” If you don’t think that, runs the unwritten subtext, there’s something a bit wrong with you. Or you’re working class. Or both.
Trouble is, there is a flipside to all this praise of American telly, and it’s this: British television is now categorically shite. There. I’ve said it. We’ve gone from having “the best telly in the world” to having some of the worst.
How do I know this? Because
Ashes to Ashes has been commissioned for a second series, and its executive producer is away with the fairies:
Julie Gardner, the executive producer for the BBC and BBC Wales head of drama, said she was delighted Ashes to Ashes would return.
“The series epitomises all that is great about BBC drama with its bold, confident storytelling and great characters. I can’t wait for more blue eyeliner, [Audi] Quattro cars and 1980s music to burst on to our screens in 2009.”
Unknowingly, Julie’s nailed the issue. Ashes to Ashes does epitomise British television, and here’s why: It’s a spin-off from a one-of-a-kind success. Life on Mars, despite its occasional longueurs, was witty, original, fast-paced and exciting. It was the product of a small writing team who worked as a team, sharing the duties and combining their vision.
Ashes to Ashes has “difficult second album” written all over it. Why are second albums difficult? Because the first album was the product of years of thinking and dreaming, of hunger and commitment, of desperation. The second album has none of these things going for it.
American television avoids difficult second album syndrome by investing, specifically in writers and story development. British television doesn’t do writing teams; American television is built on them. Without writing teams, British television writing becomes lazy, flabby and stupid. And without fresh blood, all TV shows go this way. Coronation Street was successful for years because of the parade of writing talent that worked on it; it’s now a shadow of itself. Casualty, which should be a test-case for successful writing teams, is one of the worst things on television.
How do you build a writing team? You take an exceptional, energetic and super-creative human being (or sometimes a pair of them), you give them a great degree of creative control, you give them a budget to develop stories and writers, and you let them get on with it. To my mind, in Britain in the last 10 years that’s only happened twice at a mainstream level: with Paul Abbott (Clocking Off and Shameless) and Russell T Davies (Dr Who et al.). Perhaps the biggest question in British television right now is: what happens if Russell T Davies falls under a bus?
Good call - and yes, Ashes To Ashes is a bit forced, but I quite like it anyway (as I also quite like ‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’, the classic example of the second album syndrome).
The thing about US TV is that, previously we used to get the best of it on the terrestrial channels. There wasn’t room for the dross. Now, there is such a fight for viewers that minority channels like Virgin 1 and ITV 3 get great things like The Riches and Entourage, and unless you avidly scour the EPG you miss god stuff - The Wire being a case in point. How many people have seen it on FX, and how many are actually discovering it on DVD, after the fifth and final series has hit the buffers in the US? I’m more bothered by the pointless recycling of pointless formats.
Oh, and as I type, Andrew Neil is exposing much too much flesh in a ‘big shirt collar/two buttons undone’ manner I find waay more disturbing than any of the above, on BBC 1…
Comment by Matt Hall — March 27, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
mutter mutter grumble grumble
Comment by faceless — March 28, 2008 @ 11:15 am
[…] Dadblog: Something is very, very wrong here Lloyd on why British TV drama sucks. He blames lack of investment in writing - I’d also add short series. (tags: tv drama) […]
Pingback by Completetosh.com, by Neil McIntosh » Blog Archive » links for 2008-03-31 — March 31, 2008 @ 10:33 am
I agree broadly. American TV is now operating at a level where studios can afford to cancel series such as Firefly when it doesn’t attract enough viewers.
I think the real reason for the superiority of US telly, apart from the much greater financial investment, is that emerging writers who once would have been encouraged to showcase their talents with relatively small budget features have more or less had that avenue cut off as the studios stick to formula fare and guaranteed multiplex fillers. All those guys have migrated to working in television, hence the vast increase in quality over the last few years.
In the UK it seems harder to get a decent TV development deal (and series are much shorter), and there aren’t many (if any) outlets for single act drama in the Play For Today mould. So I’m guessing the most talented writers in the UK are more tempted to go for small budget film gigs (of which there are many thanks to the UK film council).
Maybe once we get out of the costume drama rut we’ll start seeing more innovative stuff.
Comment by JFM — April 1, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
I think My Family, that Robert Lindsay/Zoe Wanamaker ’sit com’ was also done using the US writing team model. This seems to be on Beeb 1 for about 6 months of the year, and I’d like to be kind and suggest I’m not the target demographic for this show, which is why I find it so dreadful.
Ashes to Ashes was poor, very poor. Bad casting, not enough fresh ideas and no chemistry between the leads. Also, having an 80s soundtrack nostalgia fest shoe-horned in the background at every opportunity didn’t add instant atmos, it just constantly reminded you that this was meant to be the 80s “look at their funny haircuts and clothes! Look at the Audi Quattro! Look at the interior design!” and being set in the past isn’t a big enough excuse to get away with using scripts that The Sweeney would have turned down as being too weak. #Curmudgeon mode off#
Comment by Gareth Bellamy — April 7, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
can’t agree *enough* about Andrew Neil - there should be a special parental control button to prevent our children from having to see ‘unbuttoned’ men of a certain age. yuk!
Comment by tim wright — June 6, 2008 @ 5:16 pm