Steve:
Tavia asked when Channel 4 started. I know it was the first week of
November,
because I still have the poster, but I'm not sure which year, but I'd
guess 1982.
This seems to support my personal take, which is that C4 took over the role of the beeb in purveying drama in the UK over the early-to-mid 80s. As C4 became more popular, the beeb retaliated by going 'downmarket' and producing and also importing ever more soap opera, of ever-decreasing quality, of which EastEnders is just one example. Thus died all hope of serious drama for many years, and televisual sf was buried with it. (I gave up watching television in 1986 for nearly a decade -- it doesn't look like I missed a lot.)
Tavia
Tavia wrote:
Steve:
Tavia asked when Channel 4 started. I know it was the first week of
November,
because I still have the poster, but I'm not sure which year, but I'd
guess 1982.
This seems to support my personal take, which is that C4 took over the role of the beeb in purveying drama in the UK over the early-to-mid 80s. As C4 became more popular, the beeb retaliated by going 'downmarket' and producing and also importing ever more soap opera, of ever-decreasing quality, of which EastEnders is just one example.
The BBC also basically dismantled its in-house drama production infrastructure during the 1980s, which meant that all those glorious set-bound 70s dramas could no longer be made (at least modern bureaucracy brought us one great triumph). They can never get that back now. That's it for TV. It will never be as good again. <Una goes into deep and piteous nostalgia mode>
Thus died all hope of serious drama for many years, and televisual sf was buried with it.
I remember seeing 'Middlemarch' on first transmission. It was a shock to realize just how long it had been since the BBC had transmitted a drama of quality (in terms of production values as well as scripting).
Una
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Tavia -
Una McCormack