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........

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