The Stage

Theatre and TV must unite, insists former BBC chief

Published Tuesday 1 August 2006 at 13:45 by Liz Thomas

Strictly Come Dancing supremo Richard Hopkins has called for television and theatre to work more closely together to help attract new and younger audiences into productions.

Hopkins, a former BBC head of format entertainment who now heads Sony BMG-backed independent production house Fever Media, said that the impact of a television programme linked to a theatre show would help boost interest.

He told The Stage: “We are talking to people about more collaborations. It doesn’t just have to be the way the [BBC/Really Useful Group talent search] How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? is done. Joining these two worlds is really interesting - unfortunately theatre interest is dwindling among the young. There is a lot of competition out there for attention and they are less likely to spend money on going to theatre.”

Pointing to the resurgence of interest in dancing after the BBC1 show, he explains: “There is a real opportunity to get more people interested in the whole world of theatre and ways of doing so that won’t be offensive to those [already] involved.”

Hopkins’ comments come at a time when impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber is warning that he does not see a commercial future for many West End venues. He said: “There’s going to be a cataclysmic change in entertainment in the next five years. Only three shows are doing any business - Billy Elliot, Phantom and The Lion King. Some shows are losing £100,000 a week. Something completely different needs to happen.”

Lloyd Webber’s BBC1 talent search for the lead in his forth coming revamp of The Sound of Music, pulled in more than five million viewers during Saturday night’s opening for the eight-show series.

“When Tim [Rice] and I wrote Jesus Christ Superstar it came out first as a double album and that was revolutionary,” he said. “People turned up their noses in a big way, yet it brought a new public to the theatre. Which brings me to the television show, which I hope will do the same.”