Genre television: a golden age?

This week the BBC launched Survivors, a post apocolyptic drama. It is a remake of a BBC Terry Nation series which ran for 3 years from 1975. It is the latest in a number of high profile science-fiction and fantasy dramas to air on the terrestrial channels. This genre programming has become a crucial part of mainstream broadcasting but this was not the case just a few years ago.

This revolution began with the new Doctor Who. In 2005  Russell T Davies changed the televisual landscape with the relaunch of this family drama. Towards the end of its run, the original Doctor Who had become a joke: renowned for hoakey special effects and bad acting. After more than 25 years on air BBC bosses did not think that the show could compete with high-budget american imports. Perhaps they were right. But the format had been highly successful and had inspired generations of fans. The show lived on through original books, audio adventures and strong DVD sales.

Four years later since the relaunch, it is a pop-culture phenomenon and the season 4 finale was the highest rated programme on BBC ONE for the first time in the show’s history. Doctor Who proved that high rating entertainment dramas were possible and that audiences would happily embrace genre dramas.

And so the BBC schedule became peppered with genre shows. There are the Doctor Who spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, time travel cop shows Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, and filling the Doctor Who saturday night slot are a modern adaptation of Robin Hood and a new take on Arthurian legend in Merlin.

Where the BBC goes, ITV is sure to follow. In 2006 the commercial channel launched Primeval -the story of a government agency dealing with portals to to the past and future and the various beasts that come through them. It has been a success and a third series will begin early next year. They will continue with Demons, a vampire drama starring Philip Glenister based on a modern day descendant of Van Helsing. Also on the schedules is a big budget verion of The Prisoner co-produced with US cable channel AMC.

Not to be outdone, Sky One has acquired the rights to remake another Terry Nation 1970s classic Blake’s 7. While mainly relying on US imports for its programming Sky’s original commissions have been generally fantasy based with boarding school witches in Hex and more recently a series of adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. Fantasy is seen as a safe bet by Sky One. The most successful shows are often genre based, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Battlestar Galactica and Fringe.

Virgin 1, Sky’s recently launched rival channel has chosen very specific content. They purchased the entire Star Trek back catalogue and strip those shows all through the week. Their main imports have been Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and wisecracking sci-fi spy show Chuck. Programmers realise these shows have a built in fanbase and will guarantee ratings.

American television has always been more willing to take more creative chances the the UK. While Britain had kitchen sink dramas, Americans could watch a talking horse. One show can change everything. Despite the massive mainstream success of superhero comic books, sci-fi films and US tv, uk producers were too often scared to take risks. Could people really identify with programming outside of their normal experience? Too long, uk television has been stuck in procedural cop shows and hospital dramas. Those have their place but there is a much larger audience to cater for.

Most of the current crop of shows are remakes or existing franchises. That is just part of the entertainment industry. A known brand has more chance of finding an audience and like all good stories, are worth retelling. There are more home grown genre shows on terrestrial channels than there have been since the golden age of the seventies. Producers have learned that challenging, intelligent drama can sell. This brave new world can only encourage future creativity.