The Stage

Grade looks to originality to regain ITV’s drama crown

Published Thursday 14 June 2007 at 14:05 by Matthew Hemley

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade has vowed to reinvigorate the broadcaster’s drama slate with original and returnable series that will help it regain “supremacy” in the genre.

Speaking at Pact’s Rights Lab event in London, Grade said ITV1 needed to stop relying on “tried and tested formulas” that other broadcasters had come up with and find instead the next generation of “world-leading formats”.

He said the network needed to tackle the 9pm drama slot and was looking to commission more original series.

“What I want for ITV1 is for it to be leading the field and we have got to be original,” said Grade. “We need to regain supremacy in the 9pm drama slot - a key battleground for us. Shows like Fallen Angel and Kingdom have done very well, but we need more and most particularly we need returnable series.”

He added: “We want the next Life on Mars or Spooks and we are still in the market for the next Morse, but not copies. In entertainment we are looking for world-leading formats to match The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, which is one of the best produced shows I have seen in a long time.”

Grade also said entertainment and comedy programming would be hugely important for ITV going forward.

“Our head of entertainment Paul Jackson is re-establishing comedy as the cornerstone of the ITV1 schedule. Under him, ITV and comedy is no longer an oxymoron,” he added.

Grade also said ITV’s digital channels would start acting as “nursery slopes” to break new talent and new ideas and announced an initiative to provide independent production companies funding to develop programme ideas. The fund, which will be broken down by genre, will be available by the autumn.