The Stage

Flannery claims adaptations are reducing opportunities for original drama

Published Tuesday 11 November 2008 at 17:15 by Matthew Hemley

Our Friends in the North creator Peter Flannery has criticised the number of adaptations on British television, claiming opportunities for original dramas are diminishing as a result.

Flannery, who is about to launch his new drama The Devil’s Whore on Channel 4, said adaptations had “taken over in TV” and claimed executive producers were deliberately choosing existing novels to make drama because it allows them to exercise more “power and control” in the production process.

He said: “It is no coincidence that the big change in terms of the dynamics within broadcasting and drama over the last 30 years has seen the role of the writer and producer diminish and the role of the executive producer flourish. Those people - I am not saying they are not creative - but they start the ball rolling more often than not by having their hands on a property - a book - and then they are very much more in control of what they are broadcasting, and then of course that diminishes the role of the writer. They are not listening or particularly looking, I think, for new and original projects from writers.”

He added: “Younger writers are cutting their teeth on episodes of things, probably soaps, and there is nothing wrong with that - nothing wrong with it at all - as long as you are allowed to progress. But what are you going to progress to? In the current climate, I don’t know.”

Flannery, whose other works for television include Blind Justice, said he had “stopped making a date with TV drama some time ago” because it no longer appeals to him.

“A lot of the content I am simply not interested in and it does feel quite safe and quite a lot of it is formulaic. Where are the really random, individual things that used to get thrown up from time to time in the earlier days? Let’s not kid ourselves that the sixties and seventies were an unalloyed diet of wonderful drama - they weren’t. There was probably just as much bad stuff as there is now, but there were more nuggets of good things,” he said.

Speaking about the state of television drama, Flannery said ITV’s recent efforts had been an “absolute disaster” and claimed it was up to the BBC to “rejuvenate” the genre.

He claimed a lot hinges on who the Corporation hires to replace BBC head of fiction, Jane Tranter, who is leaving to take up a post in the US.

Flannery said: “There is only one engine that can reform and rejuvenate TV drama and that is the BBC because of its clout and the money it can spend. If they get their appointment right, things could change and change quite quickly.”