The conclusion of a personal overview of fifty years of independent television, by ITV's former Director of Programmes.
ITV’s early decades were marked by extraordinary profits, relatively indulgentregulation, and artistic freedom for programme-makers left to get on with it,as long as the cash kept coming in. As Brian Tesler told the RTS recently,looking back on his defection from a hidebound BBC to Lew Grade’s freewheelingATV, “there were no budgets. For creative people it was paradise”. Thishappy state of affairs went on so long, everyone thought it would last forever.As a fully integrated broadcasting and production business with cast-iron networkprogramme guarantees, real costs were never an issue for ITV. A quirk of taxlaw that encouraged companies to plough profits back into programmes was theicing on the cake. When ‘the Levy’ finally petered out in 1990, coincidingwith the franchise auction and the end of the prevailing production culture,that particular paradise was lost.
The cracks had, in fact, already started to show before the watershed of the1990 Act. As time and competition eroded ITV’s commercial monopoly, the in-builttensions of the federal system made for an increasingly dysfunctional network.London, the split between two competing companies, and the strain this puton the rest of the network, was always the biggest bugbear. LWT had to maketheir money in only two and a half days on-air, so they were constantly atodds with everyone else. Commercially hard-nosed and instinctively entertainment-led,they were intolerant of the ‘indulgences’ as they saw them of less commerciallyattractive offerings from Granada or Yorkshire – seven-day companies who couldafford to take risks with meandering dramas and untried talent.
This was the source of the great North-South, Granada-LWT, weekday-weekenddivide and the cause of table-banging rows at weekly ITV Controllers meetings.It dictated the schedule, and meant that Granada’s epic dramas of the 1980s– Brideshead and Jewel in the Crown – classic Sunday nightviewing, had to play on Mondays and Tuesdays because LWT wouldn’t have themat the weekend. Conversely, LWT programmes could never play in the week becausethis was the weekday company’s territory. As Central’s former Controller, AndyAllan later observed, ‘we were a close-knit group of bitter enemies’.
But here’s a funny thing. Out of this gritty stand-off grew the pearl of acreative compromise and a new kind of television drama: the two-part mini-series.To settle the weekend/weekday rows, blockbuster four-hour dramas, startingwith Lynda la Plante’s Prime Suspect, were created to play over Sundayand Monday nights. These divvied up the revenue spoils, creating a new long-formgenre and a slot that would deliver ITV both ratings and critical kudos forthe next ten years.
However much we at Granada resented London and the problems they caused us,privately we couldn’t but admire their achievements. Despite their commercialcredentials, LWT played a public service blinder throughout the 80s with araft of exceptional factual and regional programmes, and they saw the potentialof the new Channel 4 as buyer and training ground for their up-and-coming programme-makingtalent. Shows like Network 7 and the work of its fine London MinoritiesUnit helped forge Channel 4’s distinctive character and they had a major influenceon production styles and subject matter across British television for yearsto come. In retrospect, I think Granada misjudged Channel 4 and missed a trickin its single-minded fixation on ITV’s internal wrangles.
On the other side of the London split, Thames – despite the worst industrialrelations in the network – was responsible for some of television’s finestand most popular programmes. Euston Films took film drama and crime seriesinto exciting new territory. The Naked Civil Servant, World at War, Deathon the Rock are landmarks that changed television and changed the waywe look at the world.
Some unhappy legacies of the London split are still with us. The whole News at Ten saga grew out of Carlton’s need to grab back the 16 to 34 audience after a steady migration of this valuable demographic to the weekends. The road-block of News at Ten had to be moved out of peak if this was ever going to happen. Even now that London is united in common ownership at last, the saga continues in an uneasy compromise.
What then of the more neglected recent history of ITV, the past 15 years?Perhaps, as Mao said, it’s too early to tell. It’s certainly true that the1990 Act was a turning point in ITV’s fortunes but, paradoxically, the 90swere a rich period for ITV programmes at a time when the BBC was going througha lean patch financially and creatively. Cracker, Prime Suspect, Band ofGold confronted the seamy side of human nature and left the competitionopen-mouthed. With Who Bombed Birmingham, Hillsborough, The Murder of StephenLawrence, the drama-doc came of age. And Sharpe, Morse, Soldier Soldier and DarlingBuds all raised the bar for popular quality drama. As ITV emerged fromthe old protectionist system with many of the same people who’d grown up withcommission guarantees, there was – in the spirit of old, bolshie ITV – a newspurt of creative energy. A determination to try and square that troublesomecircle of commercial success and creative integrity.
By the time I joined the Network Centre in 1997, things were more difficultcommercially, but there was still much to be optimistic about. We benefitedfrom the war of attrition from which ITV plc was finally to emerge. The companieswere far too busy with their own corporate agendas to interfere in the scheduleor second-guess commissioning decisions. Yes, I looked after the bankers thatITV must have to keep its mass audience, but I also knew that texture, varietyand surprise were essential to keep the channel fresh and attractive to thewidest audience and the best talent.
Critics and commentators tend to judge ITV harshly, seeing only the high-profileglitz and not the underlying richness that has always been part of the schedule.This has been true throughout the history of ITV but particularly in the late‘90s when Millionaire was in the papers every day.
In his history of British television drama, Lez Cooke takes me to task fordisingenuity in my 2001 MacTaggart Lecture when I railed against the industry’sobsession with ratings. Hadn’t I been responsible for that obsession, at theexpense of quality programming, whilst presiding over a ‘failing’ ITV? I pleadguilty, to the extent that my job was to run a commercially successful schedulein a declining market and that’s what I did. That’s the job, or there is noITV. All I can say in my defence is: The Forsyte Saga, Bloody Sunday, OliverTwist, Dr. Zhivago, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Lucky Jim, Bob and Rose, TheRussian Bride, Nicholas Nickleby, The Second Coming, Cor Blimey, Othello, TheJury, Sons and Lovers, At Home with the Braithwaites, Henry VIII… Andlist some of the writers I had the privilege of giving a mass platform to:Alan Bleasdale, Andrew Davies, Paula Milne, Tony Marchant, Paul Abbott, KayMellor, Russell Davies, Jonathan Harvey, Terry Johnson, Sally Wainwright…You get my point.
I hope when future television histories are written, ITV will get more credit(and less prejudice) than it’s had in the past. So that it’s not always a surprisewhen ITV produces something extraordinary and worthwhile, and not always predictablewhen it doesn’t.
Which brings us to the present. Despite the convulsions in the marketplacesince 1990, I believe the residual legacy of the ‘old’ ITV is still evident,not only in the current output, but in the content and culture of British televisionas a whole. And it is an almost wholly positive one.
- Despite the breakdown of the old vertically integrated, producer-led system, production is a flourishing, creative and – vitally important - UK-based business.
- Britain remains a powerhouse of drama and entertainment production and keeps the best talent working here. ITV is a vital funder, supporter and innovator of these genres.
- There are three strong and distinctive news providers, with ITN celebrating its 50th birthday in combative mood, and
- Creative competition between the BBC and commercial broadcasters is still very much in evidence.
Perhaps ITV’s most influential legacy is also its most double-edged. The foibles,experiences and aspirations of ordinary people are now central to programmesacross all genres and all channels in a way that would have horrified LordReith of Stonehaven and delighted Lord Grade of Elstree. In that sense, alltelevision is ‘People’s Television’ now.
In this 50th anniversary year, there’s been much talk of ITV’s ‘sad decline’:its ceding of regional power to London, its lack of creative vision and itsfaltering grip on the mass audience. Inevitably, comparisons are made witha past packed with towering personalities, resonating titles and handsome profits.The present looks less confident; the future uncertain.
Now we agonise about how to protect this thing called commercial public servicebroadcasting, and wonder whether profit and public value can continue to co-existin productive partnership without the special privileges and protections ofa carefully controlled market.
I believe they can, but now it’s up to ITV rather than the regulators to decidewhether Britain’s first commercial network will be a warehouse for the fastmoving consumer goods of the moment, or a disseminator of items of originalityand lasting value.
It’s early days for ITV plc. It is learning through the pain of decliningshare that it must take risks to succeed, even in the most competitive environment.As the US networks have discovered, breakout hits come from the unlikeliestplaces and the darkest corners. The temptation is to conservative commissioning,but risk-taking pays dividends when competition is fierce. Audiences are increasinglysophisticated: ITV will find hits if it keeps trying new things, not just replicatingpast successes.
Without the protective arm of regulation, it’s inevitable that the range ofwhat we see on mainstream commercial channels will narrow. There may neverbe another Bloody Sunday, but ITV has the talent and resources toproduce excellent work from a new generation of programme-makers with new ideasand different points of reference.
Perhaps we shouldn’t get too hung up about ITV’s part in the post-digitalrevolution. Once, it carried the entire burden of commercial public service- and took the entire profits too. Now there are hundreds of commercial channelsthe challenge of creating public value can be spread. The important thing –the thing that the original architects of Independent Television realised –is that the BBC has competition. Whether it comes from ITV1, Channel 4, Discovery,The History Channel or services on platforms not yet thought of, doesn’t reallymatter.
I believe ITV can still be a player in the public value stakes. But we’renow way past the point where this can be institutionalised through regulationor legislation. It has to be a commercial and creative decision. And one forITV’s masters alone.
My emotional and professional attachment to ITV is still powerful, but I’mnot sentimental about ‘saving’ it. As Britain’s first commercial broadcastservice, as a worthy creative counterpoint to the BBC, and as the benchmarkfor many of our ideas of what makes good, great and worthwhile television,it has already done its job. In its own brash, dysfunctional and uniquely magnificentway, it has confounded its critics.
The future is open. That spark of ‘vital vulgarity’ ITA Chairman Sir
Kenneth Clark identified as an essential component of the new service is, after
50 years, still alive. ITV may yet continue to surprise us.
Back to Part 1
David Liddiment started his career at Granada, where he became Executive Producer of Coronation Street and nurtured a new generation of TV dramatists including Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor and Russell T Davies. In 1997 he was appointed Director of Programmes at ITV, where he brought Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Pop Idol to the screen, as well as presiding over a rich period of original drama. He was a governor of West Yorkshire Playhouse (1993-2003), where he directed the world premier of Kay Mellor’s A Passionate Woman. He is currently Creative Director of the independent producer All3Media, Producer of Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic Theatre Company, and a regular columnist for the Guardian.
This article is based on David Liddiment’s opening address to the ITV50 Conference held at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford on October 22, 2005. Special thanks to the author for making the article available to Transdiffusion for publication, and to Sue Elliott for her invaluable assistance.
