Spotlight
Uk Television
From Downton Abbey to Doctor Foster, Sherlock to
Shameless, and Wolf Hall to War & Peace, UK TV drama
is winning fans across the globe.
Andy Fry
investigates the
international appeal of these small-screen productions.
Small Screen
Big SUCCESS
T
here can be no doubt that the UK is a
world-beater when it comes to today’s
TV drama, which is being consumed
with a voracious appetite by global audiences.
Ask why this is and experts cite a number of
factors. Playground Entertainment CEO Colin
Callender, whose recent credits include the
Golden Globe-winning
Wolf Hall
, says it begins
with “the quality of the writing and acting tal-
ent, which is a very powerful combination. And
this is supported by a creative eco-system
that has the BBC at the heart of it”.
This BBC-anchored environment is
boosted by the heavy investment in
drama made by commercial
broadcaster ITV and pay-TV
platform SkyTV. On top of this,
there is Channel 4’s ‘dissi-
dent’ remit and an indie pro-
duction sector that has
blossomed as a result of
favourable rights-owner-
ship regulations. “There is
no question that indie pro-
ducers have benefited from
being in control of their own
destiny,” says ITV Studios EVP of Global Con-
tent and Co-productions Ruth Clarke. “They
have been incentivised to take a lead creative
role in the sector and that has encouraged a
diverse range of voices.”
Significantly, too, there seems to be an
increased effort on the part of the UK industry
to reflect its diverse population.
Luther
, starring
Idris Elba, is a top-selling show overseas while
Happy Valley
and
Doctor Foster
have strong
female leads. For his part, BBC Worldwide
Director of Scripted Content Liam Keelan
is excited about Peter Moffat’s political
thriller
Undercover
, which stars Adrian
Lester and Sophie Okonedo.
Keelan also believes that
shifts in the global market are
benefiting the UK. “The inter-
national market used to be
much more about high-vol-
ume drama series,” he says.
“But the arrival of the SVoD
platforms, Netflix and Ama-
zon, has initiated a shift, so
that the four, six and eight-part
dramas this country is so good at
are now in demand around the world.” This, in
turn, has enabled the Brits to showcase the
range and diversity of what they do.“We’re very
well known for our period and crime dramas,
but the international market is also starting to
see how good we are at relationship-based sto-
rytelling,” says Keelan. “For me, the interna-
tional success of
Happy Valley
felt like a turning
point because that show was not a standard
crime show. It was set in the north with accents
that historically wouldn’t have travelled. It was
about the interaction between the characters
as much as the plot.”
Keelan’s assessment is backed up by an array
of high-profile international distribution deals
for UK productions. In the US, PBS has always
“
the arriVal
of the sVoD
platforMs,
netfliX anD
aMaZon,
has initiateD a shift
”
liam Keelan, BBc worldwide
On the set of War & Peace
Luther
24
