{"id":20808,"date":"2022-08-24T19:27:09","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T17:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1698018"},"modified":"2022-08-24T19:52:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T17:52:10","slug":"help-writer-jack-thorne-says-rising-costs-threaten-distinctively-british-dramas","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/help-writer-jack-thorne-says-rising-costs-threaten-distinctively-british-dramas\/","title":{"rendered":"Help writer Jack Thorne says rising costs threaten \u201cdistinctively British\u201d dramas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 24 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Jack Thorne, writer of Channel 4\u2019s Help<\/a> and The Virtues<\/a>, has said he fears for dramas that tell \u201cspecific British\u201d stories as UK broadcasters cater more for a global audience.<\/p>\n

Speaking at this year\u2019s Edinburgh International TV Festival, Thorne explained that rising production costs mean that the majority of British drama now requires investment from outside the UK, which means series have to serve viewers worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of drama in particular, all these companies have descended on our country and are making a lot of shows, which has meant the cost of shows have gone up and up and up, because skilled labour \u2013 and it\u2019s a wonderful thing \u2013 has become more expensive,\u201d Thorne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo every show now, really, needs co-production money \u2013 you can\u2019t make a drama just with British money, or it\u2019s very, very hard to make a drama just with British money, so you are starting to see \u2018worldwide\u2019 being a thing that we all have to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sean Bean in BBC One drama Time<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC\/James Stack<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Thorne singled out 2021 three-parter Time<\/a>, written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Sean Bean as a prison inmate, as a \u201cdistinctively British\u201d series that might not have been made if all drama had to be commissioned with a global audience in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy worry in that respect is with things like social realism,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re making a show like Time\u2026 [my worry is] how those shows, which are very specific British \u2013 what was [former media minister] John Whittingdale\u2019s phrase, \u2018distinctively British\u2019 \u2013 how those shows are going to be made at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is a worrying moment for all those sorts of reasons. It\u2019ll become even more worrying if Channel 4 is got rid of and sold<\/a> [\u2026] and even worse if the BBC gets cut to pieces, as seems likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dorothy Byrne, David Olusoga OBE, Jack Thorne and Armando Iannucci attend the Edinburgh International TV Festival 2022<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Thorne was speaking at the MacTaggart Legacy panel which saw the BAFTA-winning writer appear alongside writer\/director\/producer Armando Iannucci, British historian and broadcaster David Olusoga OBE, and Channel 4\u2019s former Head of News and Current Affairs Dorothy Byrne, with all four revisiting the MacTaggart lectures they\u2019d each delivered at previous editions of the Edinburgh TV Festival.<\/p>\n

Following Thorne\u2019s comments, Iannucci urged British public service broadcasters to remain distinctive, arguing that this is what allows them to secure co-production deals and get programmes made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason these production companies \u2013 the HBO\u2019s and Netflix\u2019s \u2013 come here, and do co-productions with the BBC and Channel 4 and ITV, is that the reputation of the BBC and Channel 4 and ITV is so immense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to have that label at the end of the show, saying it\u2019s a co-production. But if you say, \u2018Channel 4 should be more like Netflix\u2019, you\u2019re actually destroying that brand, you\u2019re destroying the essence of what makes it so valuable internationally. You\u2019re ruining its reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more coverage from the Edinburgh International TV Festival 2022:<\/strong><\/p>\n