The Stage

ITV commits to more drama

Published Tuesday 23 August 2005 at 15:15 by Liz Thomas

ITV will broadcast more drama in the early evening and on Saturdays, in an overhaul of how the genre is presented on the channel.

Controller of drama Nick Elliot has promised a move away from the network’s traditional topics and time slots as part of the bid to boost flagging viewing figures. He told The Stage: “There is a lot of police drama and detective drama, which is fine, but we have started to look at a wider range of subjects or new ways of presenting old ones.

“We have a lot of good returning series, such as Doc Martin or Foyle’s War, that people come to the channel for but ideally we will mix new programmes into the schedule at different times, both single dramas and series. We spend around £1 million a day on drama and we have got British stars, British productions and British talent in way that no other channel can really match.”

The move follows months of poor viewing figures for ITV. In June, its audience share fell to a record low of 19% and it suffered from the success of the BBC’s early evening weekend drama Doctor Who. In response, it announced an autumn line-up dominated by dramas such as the new six-part supernatural thriller Afterlife with Andrew Lincoln and Lesley Sharpe.

Now, Elliot has revealed a raft of additional new dramas, including Ghostboat, which stars David Jason as a Second World War submarine disaster survivor, Vital Signs, a series featuring Tamzin Outhwaite as a mother retraining as a doctor and Love Lies Bleeding, a new thriller starring Martin Kemp. There will also be a two-hour drama based on the story of Pickles, the dog who recovered the stolen 1966 World Cup trophy, using the latest CGI technology.

The overhaul forms part of the network’s plan to win back young, affluent viewers who advertisers are keen to reach and marks a move away from celebrity and reality television, which it has been criticised for relying on in the past.

Elliot conceded that shows such as Celebrity Wrestling and Fat Families had caused some problems for the channel but said it was necessary to experiment with different formats in order to produce hits such as The X Factor and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Here!, which still form an important part of its schedule.