I've started watching a US drama called Sons of Anarchy about motorcycle gangs in California. As expected it's well written, fast paced and well acted. It's great drama. Like a lot of imported dramas like 24,Lost, Mad Men,Heroes and Prison Break,it's compulsive viewing.
The question I have to ask is: Why can't we make dramas like this? We don't make great sitcoms anymore(My Family???)and we hardly make good drama. What we do make is reality TV that appeals to the masses like Big Brother, Britain's Got Talent and X-Factor. When the history of our popular culture in the 2000s is written, what will historians say?
British TV became lazy and dumbed down. No longer willing to take risks or try anything daring.The suits that run television became obsessed with ratings and celebrity. Which is why Emmerdale is on almost every night, and Channel 4 is littered with reality TV shows like Wife Swap and Super Nanny.Where is the vision in this country to produce something like The Wire?What happened to the creative genius that used to make The Singing Detective or Cracker?Where are the writers with any ambition to think outside the box?Dramas like Life on Mars are very rare.
It's no accident that so many British actors are working in Hollywood.Without a Trace,The Wire and Rome all have or had British actors in the cast.
The fault is ours- we have not demanded better television.We have accepted the shit that has been offered to us.No one else is to blame.
