On the eve of their second series of Extras, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are already looking to their next project. Given their previous work you’d be forgiven for thinking that this would be another comedy show but the duo has other plans. Looking to the US for inspiration, they want to try something more dramatic, hoping to team up with HBO to produce a series to match the scale of America’s most successful shows.
When Gervais says that he can’t remember when he last watched a British drama, praising US TV series as innovative, audacious and brilliant, I can’t help but nod in agreement. Shows such as Lost, 24 and The Sopranos are high quality, engrossing shows that generate the ad man’s favourite, the water cooler effect. Each episode is highly anticipated and the day after airing, offices are full of chatter about the latest plot twist and development. Where are our UK equivalents?
These shows are not unique. The quality of US TV has been consistently good for a number of years now with HBO in particularly producing some of the best. A quick look at their current roster reveals The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Carnivale, Sex And The City and, the brilliant prison drama, Oz.
A quick look at the BBC, our so called bastions of quality, shows EastEnders, Holby City, Neighbours and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. With the notable exception of Dr Who, when did the BBC last produce a drama that was must see, that created the sort of buzz that each episode of 24 generates? Where are the modern equivalents of Boys From The Black Stuff, GBH, Cracker and Our Friends In The North? Since when did we have to rely on the US to create leftfield, gritty, original, groundbreaking drama? It used to be our forte.
Looking through the TV schedules is a depressing affair. We’re deluged with fly on the wall, reality TV type programs or Pop Idol, X-Factor type talent shows. And, though I’m loath to even grace the show with any sort of recognition, I blame Big Brother.
When Big Brother originally launched, it seemed fresh and original, an interesting social experiment. It wasn’t long before it was clear that it wasn’t so much social experiment as an excuse for a freak show, watching those most base of emotions, fucking and fighting, being enacted by members of the lumpen masses. Put into artificial situations and performing ridiculous tasks, all the time being pushed towards conflict and mental anguish by the producers in the name of ratings. And you could guarantee when things got remotely interesting, the sound would be muted out or the cameras switched to a nice vase. Most of the time though it was some people sat on a sofa.
Of course, the public watched in their millions and Channel 4 get an excuse to print cash. Cheap production costs, 3 or 4 programs a day plus live feeds, repeats and not to mention the various spin off shows that follow, making use of the last embers of fading celebrity before we get bored and move on to the next household. And the obscene cycle begins again, even more bastardised than before as those that enter are only interested in the fame it generated for the last contestants. It’s the TV equivalent of inbreeding and it’s not so much money for old rope as money for some old rope that has been filmed in a house for 3 months, been spotted at some C-list event and been given a show with a limited run on life outside the house.
This wouldn’t be so bad if it generated money for Channel 4 to invest in quality programs and with Film 4, quality films but it hasn’t. Instead it’s changed the landscape of UK television and generated more of the same. Seeing the success of Big Brother, every production company has tried to create their own version, hoping to have the same low production costs and high audience figures. Why spend millions on a high quality drama that, while critically acclaimed, only draws in a small audience when you can stick the plebs in front of a camera, make them perform humiliating tasks and pull in millions?
Similarly Pop Idol has created its own format of low cost, high reward TV that’s now widely emulated. Take some unknowns, get the public to watch them perform and vote for them, on premium cost phone lines obviously, then sell the CDs to the public when the winner is decided. Genius. As the saying goes, nobody's ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the general public.
It’s no wonder that we have to look to America for our drama. And until we stop lapping up the lo-com-denom television and Bulldog snogging Chardonnay is no longer the most talked about topic in the office we’ll get just that.
So good luck, Steve and Ricky. We need you.
I’m off to read Heat. There’s a great article entitled ‘Old Rope: My Big Brother House Hell’.
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