The Stage

Poliakoff delivers blow to BBC with move to make C4 dramas

Published Wednesday 30 November 2005 at 13:45 by Liz Thomas

Exclusive - Stephen Poliakoff is in talks with Channel 4 to create a collection of single dramas, in a move that will come as a blow to the BBC, which has broadcast all of the acclaimed writer and director’s television work for the past seven years.

While he has not signed a contract with the Corporation, Poliakoff has effectively worked on teleplays exclusively for the BBC since 1999. Much lauded productions such as Perfect Strangers and the award-winning The Lost Prince have boosted its drama profile

He told The Stage: “They [Channel 4] have been courting me and I think it would be a very good thing for me to do. It is probably the right thing for me to do.”

Poliakoff writes and directs his own work, which means productions take more time to transfer on to screen. Any move to work with rival broadcasters would affect the Corporation because it restricts what else he can do.

This year, Channel 4 announced it was investing an extra £13.5 million in drama programming using money freed up by the loss of cricket coverage rights to Sky. This means spending on the genre will rise from the current figure of around £8.5 million to £22 million in 2006 and the broadcaster is keen to increase the number of one-off dramas, such as Sex Traffic and Omagh, to one a month.

At the time, head of film and drama Tessa Ross said: “Critics have bemoaned the death of the televised single play for years but Channel 4 has steadily been building up a fantastic body of work in single and serial drama. We’re aiming to provide a regular showcase for the best of British writing, performing and production talent to tell stories that might not get told elsewhere on television.”

The BBC will broadcast two new interlinked shows by the award-winning dramatist in January. Friends and Crocodiles and Gideon’s Daughter are billed as dramas looking at the “state of the nation” over the seventies and eighties. Made by Talkback Thames, both television plays feature an all-star cast including Damian Lewis and Bill Nighy. Poliakoff has confirmed that there will still be a third production set in 2006.