Golden years?
“Just a few years ago a Golden Age of television was declared,” said Today programme presenter Jonny Dymond on Saturday’s show. Money had poured into the medium, he noted, causing streaming companies to flourish and allowing viewers to enjoy top notch dramas and documentaries offering what regulators view as broadcasting’s Holy Grail – choice and diversity. But, he added, “that time is over and the squeeze on British TV production, a key creative industry, is brutal.”
How brutal was outlined a few days earlier when BBC Director-General Tim Davie faced the MPs of the UK Government’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee. He pointed to what he called “very significant unemployment among freelancers” and told MPs there were “huge issues beyond the BBC”. Expanding on that he said: “One of the things I’m worried about is that when I’m visiting many of the cities and areas around the UK, we’re often the only show in town.”
Dymond played testimony from one such luckless freelancer. A production manager with 10 years' experience, she had just decided to leave the business completely. Then he turned to studio guests Stephen Wright, formerly of Channel 4, and Kate Crowther, executive producer of recent hit Industry and new BBC drama Dope Girls. Both echoed the gloomy pronouncements of the others.
“I think it’s really tough at the moment,” said Crowther, blaming a perfect storm of pandemic, falling advertising revenue and the knock-on effect of the various strikes which have affected the film and TV industries in the US.
At the same time, however, we learn that Film Edinburgh recorded a 114% uplift in film and TV production spend in Edinburgh and south-east Scotland in 2024. The council-funded organisation offers location advice and services for those wishing to shoot in the capital, and in 2024 supported 210 productions, an increase on 2023. The total production spend in Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Borders was a whopping £23m
Among those using the capital were horror director Guillermo Del Toro, who shot parts of upcoming Netflix film Frankenstein on the Royal Mile, and the makers of another Netflix drama, Department Q, who was based at Leith’s FirstStage studio and spent six months in the city.
Spend and star presence are one thing. But look more closely at Fear, say, and you see a three-part co-production led by London-based Wild Mercury Productions, itself an offshoot of a Paris-based multinational, Banijay Entertainment.
Screen Scotland did chip in £350,000 from its Broadcast Content Fund, which “aims to help the sustainable growth of Scotland’s broadcast production sector”. But with freelancers in Scotland also struggling and with the BBC chasing ever diminishing returns (“the only game in town” needs streamers to underwrite its dramas, which means it can’t then sell them to, er, streamers) perhaps the statistics and the brave talk are hiding a deeper truth.
In short, that the Golden Age of TV really is over – that we have reached Peak TV and are sliding down the other side.
Naturally all this affects viewers as they face more and more returning ‘zombie’ shows such as the BBC’s current Bergerac re-boot. But it also affects jobs, livelihoods, the prospect of a strong and healthy Scottish TV industry – and the chance of a decent career in it.
Read more
- Martin Compston on working in Scotland
- Glasgow-set thriller is a blast
- Feminist drama dop girls is for dope
- Here comes the Bergerac reboot
-
Scots serial killer thriller summons up the sordid soul of the 1970s
Page turners
In common with Herald columnist Mark Smith I was a great fan of the 1970s Doctor Who novelizations penned by the likes of Terrance Dicks and David Whitaker. Still am, actually. I have 30 or so originals on my shelves, including a copy of the The Three Doctors signed by all the Time Lords in question. Unlike Mark, I tend to organise my books by spine colour. Clearly we should both get out more.
But tatty Doctor Who novels and arguments about library indexing systems are for another day. The point of Mark’s column was a startling YouGov poll showing that 40% of Britons hadn’t read a book in the previous year. If you are one of that 40%, I urge you at least to read Mark’s thoughts on the matter.
As for me, I’m prepared to look for a silver lining. The poll also showed that 20% of Britons claim to read every day, six percent had read between 11 and 15 books in the previous year (so around one a month), and four percent had read or listened to over 50, which is basically one a week. With a population nudging towards 70 million, the once-a-weekers are a not insignificant chunk of the citizenry. Just saying.
Read more
And finally
The Herald’s theatre critic Neil Cooper has two 20th century classics in his sights this week, one written for the stage, one not. The first is Arthur Miller’s play Death Of A Salesman at The Pavilion in Glasgow, with David Hayman in the lead role.
This follows close on the heels of the Tron Theatre’s production of A View From The Bridge. The second, at Perth Theatre, is a stage version of DH Lawrence’s 1915 novel The Rainbow, freely adapted by writer Nicola Werenowska and director Jo Newman.
Finally, books reviewer Alastair Mabbott pores over Volcanic Tongue, a 500-page collection of the writings of David Keenan, author, musician and critic (he has even sharpened his pen on occasions for this publication). If the title is ringing a bell, it was also the name of the label and record shop Mr Keenan ran between 2006 and 2015, specialising in underground and outsider music.
For more on that, check out the compilation album of the same which comes out on March 28. It’s available from all good record shops, but do head for Monorail if you can.
Read more
Review: Novel at centre of famous obscenity trial hits the stage
Review: Arthur Miller classic revamped
Review: David Keenan's new book
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