[Afamilyatwar-list] Fwd: An Awful Question

[Brian Renforth]

The arrival of ITV from 1955 certainly shook the BBC up in a big way being forced to compete with a rival broadcaster!

It wouldn't surprise me at all if a drama from an ITV region influenced the BBC to produce something from the same genre.

ABC Television's "Armchair Theatre" clearly influenced BBC TV's "The Wednesday Play" for example. In fact their Sidney Newman was to work for the BBC, creating, "Doctor Who" amongst other things. At ABC he created "The Avengers".....

Another example is the Thames TV/Euston Films series, "The Sweeney". That was a ground breaking police drama. The best the BBC had to offer at that time was, "Z Cars" and its spin offs (Softly Softly to mention one). They were still producing episodes of, "Dixon of Dock Green" which started in the 1950s.

There was no comparison.

So the BBC came up with, "Target" starring Patrick Mower as a tough detective. Generally forgotten about nowadays but I recall watching it, rather good programme I thought. It was criticised for being too violent I recall. They couldn't win!

Although there's no evidence to prove it, it wouldn't surprise me at all if programmes like, "When The Boat Comes In" came about following the success of AFAW and "Sam".

Also interesting to note that WTBCI was created by James Mitchell who had earlier created, "Callan" for ABC/Thames TV.

Brian



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From: Scott Filderman via Afamilyatwar-list
Sent: Saturday, 26 May, 02:08
Subject: [Afamilyatwar-list] An Awful Question
To: Scott Filderman via Afamilyatwar-list


So—

I’ve begun watching Sam. The same meticulous casting, writing, and editing. Bless Mr. Finch!

Having watched the first couple of seasons of When the Boat Comes In, I was immediately put in mind of the later (a few years) series.

I had this terribly ungenerous thought that perhaps the later writers modeled their drama on this earlier one. The same setting, focused on mining as a way of life and its politics, and roughly a similar family structure. Yes, there are differences in characters and emphasis, but as American television never saw a hit it didn’t try to duplicate (Dallas and Falcon Crest and etc.), I wonder out loud if BBC1 saw a chance to move into Granada/ITV territory. Sometimes waves of “drama types” develop, like the silly USA farm comedies in the late 60s and 70s, like the Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres and Petticoat Junction. Success has many children; failure is an orphan etc.

My only personal difficulty is getting atuned to the regional accent; I think I would acquire other series but for the absence of subtitles. But there are so many other values to appreciate that I plunge on anyway.




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