Whether this change in pace from the relentless political diarrhoea we assimilate every other day of the year is to be welcomed depends largely on your point of view. The media only have so much space, and what they have is normally subsumed under the welter of spin from our illustrious representatives. However, there’s almost certainly a limit to the number of mathematical rabbits, flying cars or Elvis encounters we can take. Happily, TV often flies to the rescue.
Last night, the newly revamped X Factor hit the screen, replete with St Simon’s holy presence in his recently acknowledged manifestation as Saviour of ITV. If you haven’t yet noticed, ITV’s fare is currently limited to Corrie, three old movies per night and ads for X Factor as ITV is starring in its own soap “End of the Road”, an exciting new drama starring everyone employed by the group about a TV company that seeks to emulate the great banks of our time, such as Northern Rock and Hbos, by slithering ignominiously into bankruptcy.
The days of staggeringly high salaries at ITV are a thing of the past, as the group desperately tries to find a solution to its current predicament. But should we worry about the loss of a private company in the entertainment industry? After all, we have Sky, Virgin..the DVD player...
In fact, ITV is a curious anomaly; a business in the cut-throat world of entertainment but a business specifically established to improve that world. Originally given birth by a government anxious that BBC should not be the sole provider of what we watch, ITV has produced some of the best Drama and entertainment in the history of the medium. Sherlock Holmes, Upstairs, Downstairs, Midsomer Murders, Prime Suspect, Foyle’s War, The Jeremy Kyle show......well, everyone’s entitled to make one massive error. The point is, ITV has had to attract viewers from the BBC, whose reaction has then been to compete with ITV and this competition has been going on for over 50 years, with the result that we in the UK make some of the world’s best Television.
ITV, however, is losing viewers to the double-jeopardy of dwindling advertising revenue and cable, satellite and internet TV. And that’s not good news for any of us.
The biggest alternative provider - Sky - makes virtually none of its own shows (the others don’t make any) but relies instead on US imports. Of course, there have been some astonishingly wonderful US shows, such as West Wing and the Sopranos, but these don’t represent the average, merely the cream, and US TV is much more in the grip of its bean counters. We actually need ITV, because we need some quintessentially British drama and we need the competitive element with the BBC that inspires great entertainment. And if you’re still unconvinced, think what life would be like if Endemol were the only providers; anyone for 24 hour 7 day a week Big Brother?
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