broadcastnow.co.ukI HAD A RUSH OF NOSTALGIA the other day when discussing
Quiz, the forthcoming ITV drama from Left Bank Pictures
and James Graham, about the coughing major’s attempts to
hoodwink Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. It all seems so
unlikely: a three-part series about a quiz show scandal from
almost 20 years ago; the recreation of the old ITV offi ces,
adorned by the yellow and blue lower-case logo, out at Park
Royal in West London; and Michael Sheen as Chris Tarrant
and Aisling Bea as Claudia Rosencrantz.
The mind boggles, not least because AMC is on board as a
co-producer – the channel of Mad Men, The Walking Dead and
Breaking Bad. The PSBs have a history of turning rather quirky,
distinctly British stories into dramas, but bringing on board a
major co-producer to turn the show into a high-end international
series feels emblematic of the unprecedented creative freedom
that the industry now enjoys.
Similarly, a few years ago it would have been unlikely that two
feature docs would sit among Channel 4’s most-watched shows of
the year. Yet Leaving Neverland has been outperformed only by
Celebrity Bake Off in 2019, and Three Identical Strangers – a signifi -
cantly less high-profi le fi lm – is next in line if you strip out returning
series, spin-offs and acquisitions. And that’s before factoring in All 4
viewing, where you would expect those titles to overperform.
Having just come out of a summer in which Love Island helped
ITV2 to win at 9pm for weeks on end, it feels as though much of
the TV industry’s conventional wisdom seems to no longer apply.
That’s scary and liberating in equal measure.
As we head to the Edinburgh TV Festival, there’s likely to be
much debate about if and how traditional broadcasters can survive
in the face of the second wave of the streaming revolution. Yet the
sector’s prospects seem positive: producers have never had so
many options to fi nd a home for a genuinely diverse slate of stories,
and broadcasters need to revel in having fewer constraints.
Some of the old ways of working are creaking – I’m convinced
the industry spends too much time, energy and money creating
bread-and-butter hours to fi ll traditional linear schedules – but
as the competition intensifi es, it is incumbent on the sector to
shrug off the old rules of slot, genre, duration and tone.
Co-pro cash continues to slosh around, meaning the UK isn’t
getting left behind in the fi nancial stakes to the extent that many
feared, so the challenge is to be as brave and bold as possible. If a
horrifi c nuclear disaster more than 30 years ago can provide one of
the shows of the year (Chernobyl), then all bets are off. Let’s hope
the sector can truly embrace the opportunity.Bravely embracing new creative freedom is the only way to thrive
As the competition
intensifi es, it is
incumbent on the
sector to shrug off
the old rules of slot,
genre, duration
and toneCHRIS CURTIS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
BROADCASTIndustry’s old rules fading fast
RATINGS TOP FIVE
23 AUGUST 2019
News & Analysis 05
Technology & Facilities 14
International 17
Comment 23
Interview 28
Behind the Scenes 43
Production 46
Marketplace/Appointments 48
Ratings 50
Offcuts 601
Female-led ITV drama Deep Water
launched on Wednesday with
3.6m, level with the slot average.2
The eighth series of BBC Studios’
art doc Fake Or Fortune? closed
with 2.6m on BBC1 on Thursday.3
BBC2’s The Misadventures of
Romesh Ranganathan ended with
a series high of 1.5m on Sunday.4
ITN Productions’ William And
Harry: Princes At War was watched
by 1.3m on Channel 5 on Saturday.5
The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan
pulled in 550,000 on Friday night
for Channel 4.28
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