C4 breaks promise to air original drama every month

Published Tuesday 13 March 2007 at 15:10 by Liz Thomas

Channel 4 is reneging on its pledge to broadcast 12 single dramas a year, blaming the U-turn on a drop in budgets caused by an ailing advertising sector.

The broadcaster had originally vowed to air one new television play a month and had announced an extra £13.5 million investment as part of a commitment to screen more “event” drama in the vein of hits such as The Deal and Sex Traffic.

Director of television and content Kevin Lygo admitted: “That figure is probably now around eight. When we talked about “one a month,” whenever it was, the advertising market was in boom time.”

He added that the channel was still spending more money on drama than before but that the figure was less than had been projected.

Tessa Ross, head of film and drama, told The Stage: “Channel 4 is still hugely committed to drama and across our channels we are spending more. Shameless is now going to 16 episodes a series and E4 is doing homegrown drama. Skins, which has been a massive success, has been recommissioned and there are plans for another series in the pipeline.

“It is sad that there isn’t the budget to stretch to 12 films a year but what we have done is talk to writers and created a variety of productions, so instead of just sticking blindly to the idea of a single play, we might instead have made a four-part mini series. It’s better not to be prescriptive about the shape of our drama. Whether it is 90 minutes, a two-parter or a series, we still offer a great mix.”

The news will come as a blow to those who had hoped that the broadcaster would champion the return of television film. Paul Abbott and Stephen Poliakoff are among those who had called for TV companies to invest more in authored pieces.

A spokesperson for Equity commented: “It has long been Equity’s wish to see more single TV dramas on screen and we welcomed Channel 4’s pledge to increase their output. This is one of the most exciting TV formats with a remarkable history involving some of our most distinguished writers and actors. It is therefore a great disappointment to hear that C4 may cut back its planned output.”