In Britain, we are not very good at celebrating our success. We somehow find it embarrassing. We often see the cup as half-empty.
I've just returned from the annual TV Pilot Screenings in Los Angeles where
producers from听around the world get to see the听latest shows planned
for the American networks. It was exciting from this distance to be
congratulated on the听huge success of听主播大秀 One's Happy Valley - and it
felt like an opportunity to re-assess our cup and celebrate British drama and
the 主播大秀's in particular.
Before some readers begin choking on听their corn-flakes, I make a
qualification.听
Sometimes what the 主播大秀 produces falls short of expectations. Sometimes we fail.
Not听everything we produce for licence-fee听payers lives up to our
hopes and dreams.
This is the natural state of things in a creative industry. Indeed, at the 主播大秀
I think we could be even better at celebrating creative听experimentation
that goes wrong as well as the big drama hits that unite the nation and set the
global standard.听
A creative culture that is comfortable with听failure is a culture that is
more likely to take risks, innovate and succeed. Some of the drama scripts I
have been lucky enough to be associated with have felt like very risky projects
when green-lit, from Skins on E4 for young audiences to Last Tango In Halifax
on 主播大秀 One for an older generation.听We loved the Last Tango script but
could not honestly say we felt confident that a touching love story about a
couple in their seventies would prove to be one of the biggest hits of the
year.
Setting aside the occasional primetime miss suffered by every television
network in听the world, I believe we should more confidently raise the flag
for British drama which - beyond these shores - has huge respect and kudos.
A trope has developed, a cultural meme that asserts that American drama is far
superior to drama produced in the UK and at听the 主播大秀. It's an argument
driven by box-set consumers who have a louder voice in Britain's cultural
dialogue than the average family who sit down at night in Britain's towns and
villages to decide which drama they want to watch.
The meme extends to the notion that the US tradition of longer series is
necessarily better. I听would argue that the right length for a series is
the one that most effectively and creatively fits the story being told.听In
the same way, we'd all get a bit sniffy if a decision was made by book
publishers that all novels听had to be either 200 pages or 400 pages, rather
than the right length for the story. Indeed, US television networks are now
increasingly of this view too. They have听clocked the creative limitations
of the 24 or 13-part series and are ordering many more short-run stories -
'event dramas' or 'mini-series' as they call them
Personally, I'm a big consumer of US drama. I have huge respect for the quality
and听sensibility of the very best of American output. But it is worth
noting that it is only the very best, the truly excellent听that tends to
travel as far as our shores and get noticed. The Wire, Grey's Anatomy, Breaking
Bad, Mad Men are world-class and I salute them. But, thankfully, the saluting
is mutual. The chief of one of the most celebrated of US drama networks
recently proclaimed that 'They want to be the American 主播大秀'.
At the heart of 主播大秀 Drama is 主播大秀 One. It's the biggest showcase and in many
ways the most challenging place to be. It's really hard to make quality drama
that aims to stimulate and entertain between five and ten million people, as
the mainstream reach of the 主播大秀's largest channel demands. Our colleagues at
ITV will tell you the same.
So series like Happy Valley - which has received the highest ever quality score
from audiences for a 主播大秀 One Drama, as well as drawing huge viewing - are
moments听that we should get better at celebrating. The same goes for Call
The Midwife, The 7.39, Doctor Who, Last Tango In Halifax, Luther, The Village,
From There To Here, Sherlock听and many more in recent years.听
It's a hit-rate and a quality-rate that any network in听the world - public
service or commercial - would be very proud of.
Drama of course starts with writers, singular voices with a story to tell. With
Happy Valley and Last Tango, writer Sally Wainwright's personal story is one of
British creative excellence. The same goes for Steven Moffatt, the
extraordinary driving force behind Doctor Who and Sherlock. I could name many
others and add some glorious successes from ITV like Chris Chibnall's
Broadchurch and Julian Fellowes' Downton Abbey to this menu of quality,
excellence and popular appeal.听
They stand for something the UK should shout from the roof-tops.听Together,
as British popular drama, they form one of our finest听exports.
These writers听provide the range of drama on 主播大秀 One that we constantly
strive for. The world's most celebrated detective rubs shoulders with a
Time-Lord, Gangsta Grannies听jostle for air-time with young men naively
signing up for war, lovers meeting on trains sit cheek by jowl with
extraordinary female crime-fighters. Curating all of this is Ben
Stephenson,听the 主播大秀's Head of Drama, who has driven this exceptional
creative risk-taking and delivered so many nationally-treasured, high-quality
drama hits.
Of course, this story of creative excellence in 主播大秀 Drama extends beyond 主播大秀
One. Line of Duty, Peaky Blinders, The Fall, Dancing on the Edge, Top of the
Lake have created an extraordinary body of dramatic work on 主播大秀 Two in the last
couple of years that compares with anything produced for other less mainstream
audiences around the world. In The Flesh on 主播大秀 Three has听enjoyed
wide听critical acclaim and we will continue to produce innovative drama for
the proposed new online version of 主播大秀 Three in the future.
There is, as ever, still more to do. The 主播大秀 will, as always, strive to improve
further. We will continue to encourage risk-taking and accept that with
innovation sometimes comes imperfection.
But please do join me this morning in raising your cup of tea to the creative
vibrancy of British drama and the 主播大秀's proud role in this story.
听
Danny Cohen is Director of 主播大秀 Television.