Return of the Play

The BBC have announced this week the return of the classic "Play for Today", with a new series scheduled to air under the tentative title of "Evening Play". This follows on from the recent success of BBC One's "Afternoon Play" series. This is an important note simply because it notes the return of a format that help launch writers such as Mike Leigh, and Dennis Potter. More recently applauded playwrights such as Steven Poliakoff also got a break in the old series.

There is great importance to this move.

Partially it's because this is a slot that will help new writers. If you are a writer - get in touch with the BBC - as no new scripts have yet been considered and this could be a big break for you!

More importantly it suggests that the BBC is continuing it's push on putting good writing first. Over the past year the BBC has produced a number of powerful, sometimes experimental, brave and distinctive series. In the main these have been well received by viewers and have been doing well. At a time when a great deal of TV is cheap "pay-by-voting" reality and game shows this commitment to quality of writing is earning the BBC renewed respect.

This brings me to a question. Is this the BBC's answer to increased quantity of channel choice? That instead of making cheap low risk shows a strategy of keeping the audience on it's toes has been employed. Will keeping viewers riveted maintain their loyalty to the prime BBC Channels?

I hope this is true. It means that as viewers we cannot lose out, because it suggests that rising competition from digital channels will increase and not decrease programme quality.

Does it also mean that a commitment to fresh new ideas will spur on a new generation of writers, producers and directors?

I hope so.

(Originally published in http://blog.sharedcreation.com/)