The Stage

Real drama - BBC and training new writers, directors and producers

Published Friday 31 March 2006 at 11:05 by Liz Thomas

Continuing drama series controller at the BBC John Yorke tells Liz Thomas the future of the genre lies in training the next generation of writers, directors and producers

After years being snubbed in favour of the quick fix of reality television, drama is again riding the crest of a wave with broadcasters ploughing millions into the genre and promising bumper schedules.

This, of course, is all very well but is the industry equipped to cope with this sudden resurgence? Enter John Yorke, the BBC’s continuing drama impresario: “The interesting thing about the industry at the moment is that the tectonic plates are shifting and the old certainties about what the BBC could provide and the indie sector could provide have gone.

“The indie sector is clearly now a much more powerful, vibrant and exciting place even than it was a year ago. Because of that the BBC has to reassess its position.

“The one thing it can do, that the independent sector can’t in the same way, is train the industry. I really think it is our job to train the next generation of writers, directors and producers.”

He says that continuing drama provides an ideal training ground and points to the success of the likes of Jimmy McGovern, Russell T Davies and Paul Abbott - hailed as the holy trinity of television screenwriting today - all of whom started out on soaps.

Yorke says: “From my view, if we develop talent in the sector now, then say in five years time, those people will move into the wider industry and produce the next Life on Mars, for example.”

This isn’t just public service pontification from the charming executive - last year he set up the Writer’s Academy, which aimed to train new, upcoming screenwriters in the skills of the trade. The first crop has penned episodes of Doctors and is now moving on to EastEnders. It seems to have been a success. “It has gone well. In fact, I was talking to a couple of execs over the weekend and they said they would happily employ them again,” he says with palpable pride.

The course will be repeated this year and Yorke has come up with a new brainchild - the Director’s Academy. He explains: “Just as there’s a shortfall of writers who know how to write the long-running shows, there’s also a shortfall of directors who know how to direct series like EastEnders.

“There are not many shows that make drama the way we do using multi-camera, it is an old studio discipline. Coronation Street does it and Hollyoaks is about to.

“It is obviously a faster way of doing things but it is more difficult because of the speed and pace you have to work, without rehearsal. It is quite an art form.”

It lasts for about four weeks with half of the time spent in the classroom looking at theory, with the other half reserved for the practical side.

Yorke says the benefit of these latest schemes is they provide hands-on experience on high-profile shows.

He adds: “Subject to the fact that you graduate successfully, this gives people new to the industry their first big break. If you have a block of EastEnders or Casualty under your belt then you have a much better chance of your career getting underway.”

He is almost evangelical with his training mantra - there are also plans in the pipeline for a course for upcoming producers. “We must make sure people are equipped with the basic vocabulary to develop their careers,” he says.

“The email I get more often from indies is, ‘Do you know any good producers?’. It is something that needs to be addressed as we make more and more drama.”

While things look promising for the future, the BBC’s continuing drama portfolio is also performing strongly right now. Yorke returned to the BBC last year as something of a troubleshooter, after 18 months as head of drama at Channel 4. In particular, flagship soap EastEnders was under fire from both critics and audiences.

While it has taken time to establish core teams for each show and put everything in place, he is modest about his impact but says that both ratings and audience appreciation figures are up on all continuing drama output.

Yorke, who first started in television as a script editor on EastEnders, reveals that his approach was to put writing back at the heart of the productions.

He says: “Writers tend to be the ones that are the most passionate and the most eloquent. It is a much more American system, where the writers produce. When I first started, I worked with people like Tony Jordan, Simon Ashdown, Ashley Pharaoh and Tony McHale, all of whom were ostensibly running the programme. Back then, writers were having all the ideas and leading all the discussions. If anything, coming back in my current role has been trying to recreate that.

“My first memory of coming to drama is Tony McHale banging the table and shouting where’s the fucking drama? We’ve just appointed him as executive producer on Holby, so for the first time ever on the show it’s being run by a writer.”

It’s not just those behind the scenes that Yorke, who along with Lucy Richer looks after independent drama at the BBC, is keen to invest in. He concedes that finding performing talent with star quality is an ongoing challenge.

“The problem is finding people who could become big stars. You are looking for someone who when they walk in the room everyone stops talking and turns around. Not many people have that and those that do are understandably attracted to a film career. Our job is to get in there first and hunt those people out. It has happened with a few people - Anamaria Marinca in Sex Traffic and also Jessie Wallace.”

The BBC has been so keen to capitalise on Wallace’s success that there are more projects being lined up. Yorke has paired her with Births, Marriages and Deaths creator Tony Grounds. “The nice thing about Jessie is that I think she has a range we are only starting to tap in to. I wanted to do something to make sure people knew that she was not just Kat. Tony has written a Pygmalion-type piece for her, which is in development,” he reveals.

There are also shows lined up for Shane Richie and for Ross Kemp. Enjoying the vogue for family drama, Robin Hood has also been revamped and stars Keith Allen as the Sheriff of Nottingham and there will also be a new version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde starring James Nesbitt.

Yorke says: “It is written by Steven Moffat who wrote Press Gang. It will be a bit like 24 in that it is one complete story over six episodes but has the possibility to be extended.”

Part of his remit is to find the right sort of drama for all four of the Corporation’s channels but he readily admits he is not the only point of access for a keen producer wanting to get their work on screens.

He says: “What’s been nice and refreshing is there are more varied access points, because you can go to BBC Wales, BBC Northern Ireland or BBC Scotland, so there is not one gatekeeper anymore. Plus there are a variety of channels so if something is good I can probably find a home for it. Personally I’m really keen to make something for BBC4 next.”

All in all Yorke seems pretty confident that he has things under control, dismissing the fact that EastEnders lost out to Emmerdale at the RTS awards: “It is quite exciting that the soap sector is a strong and vibrant place,” he says in a perfectly primed response before laughing.

“It is also quite exciting that a lot of the Emmerdale production team is now working for EastEnders. To be honest if you sit around all day worrying about awards then you probably need more of a life.”

Nonetheless, as the man behind much of Channel 4’s drama success at last year’s Baftas - Sex Traffic, Shameless and Omagh to name a few - is he not feeling the pressure to deliver for the BBC?

Yorke chuckles: “We’ll see if [drama controller] Jane [Tranter] sacks me if I don’t win any. One RTS Award for Bodies - that might just get me through the next couple of months.”