BBC Drama

[Aquarius1234]

I used to watch most bbc dramas for years and years.
Since BBC have geared everything to I Player first and foremost, rather than for specific BBC one or BBC two.
Apparently there isn't separate controllers anymore. They don't care about where the dramas land like they used to.

Anyway. I'm really disappointed with the lack of really really good dramas in the last couple of years or so.
Budget cuts also maybe.
But wow I used to say nothing beats a great BBC gritty drama. Now I wouldn't even be able to find one 😕
Romance, crime, thriller. Was my thing.
I pay my licence also and have no intention to stop. I'm just very sad at the lack of top quality Dramas. Also I've noticed when there eventually is one starting it's generally mixed or rubbish reviews. !!
I'm shocked at the amount of rubbish/ not good enough stuff that is given the green light !!

I dont watch tv anymore.
But im now hooked on k-dramas.

I know it's a repeat but I just watched The Chelsea Detective, which I had completely missed when it came out. Starring Adrian Scarborough, who I really like. They are making a third series. I think they still make good stuff but it is periodic - and I suspect it was always so. We never had wall to wall great shows, they always were jewels in the middle of a lot of dross.

I loved Clocking Off- watched it more than once. And The Street. Loved Dr Foster too
Re watched Spooks recently and had forgotten how gripping it was.
What about Bodies or Cardiac Arrest?? Same writer as Line of Duty
(If you like medical stuff??)
Smother- beautiful scenery
Killing Eve ??
Unforgotten- itv but really good

I enjoyed Whitstable Pearl on BBC
Watching Nightsleeper - it’s ok, not riveting though

Just watching nightsleeper because of this thread. I'm enjoying it.

Have you watched The Outlaws on iPlayer? It's a drama/comedy but it was very good. Also, we watched Ludwig and it does get better - I find the first episode of a lot of things is always a bit slow because you're being introduced to the characters and the situation, sometimes you just have to get past that to start to enjoy the show!

By far the best thing I have watched in ages.

Sambre was excellent, french drama

Completely agree. We give up on so many dramas because they're far too dark (and usually very violent) for us.

I wish they'd make more 'period' stuff.

Dr Foster ...is that good then ? she lives round here..n london

I have loved The Outlaws, Shetland, This Town, there’s a new Sally Wainwright series coming up, Riot Women…

For me the BBC, including iPlayer is so much better value than Netflix, for example. And cheaper.

Sherwood was amazing. I much prefer most home grown dramas to US ones, but Apples Never Fall was very good and on BBC.

Couldn't get into Killing Eve but Keeping Faith was brilliant.

Wolf Hall back in December. I can. It wait

We loved Nightsleeper - although we did binge it all on iPlayer

That's what I was going to say. Sherwood is recent and excellent.

I'm enjoying Ludwig too. In fact I love it. But it's not a drama, more of a sitcom. It's light watching even if there's some sad bits, but it's not serous drama territory.

Night sleeper. Poor reviews but I was hooked!

Same. I binge watched it.

I love period dramas as well, but they are very expensive to make. We seldom watch live TV. I much prefer to watch some of the excellent period dramas on the various catch up channels. All4, which is Channel 4’s catch up/ iplayer, has some very good dramas from a while ago. GBH is excellent, as is A Dance to the Music of Time. A very young James Purefoy.

Any GOT fans, another blockbuster series that first aired on BBC2 is Rome, series 1 and 2. Be prepared for lots of nudity, gore, bad language, but it’s a tremendous re telling of the Julius Caesar/Emperor Augustus story, with a cast of some brilliant British actors. I think it does come up on iplayer occasionally.

The BBC has been mismanaged for years. It should play to its strengths and distinguish itself in areas not covered by other broadcasters. Instead it reduces Newsnight to a discussion programme. The high quality dramas were another strength, now seemingly in decline.

It deserves to rot.

The glory days of BBC drama are long gone (Clocking Off, Cranford, A Sense of Guilt, Cutting It, A Fatal Inversion). Even the most recent series of Happy Valley was a bit crap.

The U.S is where the really good stuff comes from, generally. Probably because the networks and platforms have got the money to invest in superb writers and actors - just over the past few years the high quality stuff I've seen includes The White Lotus, Julia, Mare of Easttown, True Detective, The Last of Us. I'm really looking forward to Disclaimer, starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Alfonso Cuarón - that's only available on Apple TV+.

The BBC also has a habit of casting the same people again and again (such as Keeley Hawes and Adeel Akhtar) which I find boring. I enjoyed Wolf Hall, but note there's some woke casting in the next adaptation of her series, so I probably won't bother with that.

Oh I loved Last Tango!

I know what you mean. It doesn't seem that long ago since it turned September and you were bombarded with dramas and there were loads set to tape, now there's a couple and like you said, on random services like player and never making it to bbc1

Channel 5 has had some over the last few weeks but to be fair, they aren't great and haven't drawn me on and the acting awful

I do love All Creature Great and Small though

Have you tried Two Doors Down?

I'd love to watch A Fatal Inversion as I loved the book. I bought it on DVD but the quality was so poor it got stuck in the player (still there, I think). The little bit I saw was terrible quality.

So if anyone knows where I can watch it, I'd be grateful.

This is an interesting article. It seems that the pool of those who commission shows in the UK is becoming ever more concentrated within few posh older men. We’re not getting a diversity of ideas. It may also be why they sledgehammer diversity on screen and make it seem inauthentic.

If there was true diversity behind the scenes and in storytelling, there would be no need to cast minorities as historical British Kings and Queens. There are a multitude of stories to tell. How many adaptations do we need of the same historical figures when there are reams of really interesting stories never brought to tv?

What about a show on a modern woman and her family living in Birmingham? Or the partition of India? Creation of Israel, the rivalry between Mandela and Thatcher, a beautician and her clients, a woman trying by to rise to the top in her career in the city, the other woman in a relationship?

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/sep/29/creators-of-new-drama-the-hardacres-decry-lack-of-working-class-tv

Really enjoyed nightsleeper, watched series 3 of the tower which I had forgotten about and now watching and enjoying the perfect couple. Keep the recommends coming please 😀