Why can’t UK TV do decent sci-fi/fantasy anymore?
September 22nd, 2010 posted by
admin
For decades, UK television was responsible for some of the most cutting edge sci-fi shows in the world. Shows like The Avengers, Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbird series and Red Dwarf caught people’s imaginations and provided a major boost to British productions.
However, over the past decade, the UK has been usurped by the US and their big budget serial shows such as Lost, Heroes, Chuck, Battlestar Galactica – series that have been embraced the world over to popular and critical acclaim. In comparison, our greatest television export has been Simon Cowell.
This year sees US studios produce another batch of highly anticipated sci-fi/fantasy/genre series such as Spartacus: Blood and Sand, The Pillars of the Earth and upcoming superhero drama No Ordinary Family. Compared to these shows, UK productions have been decidedly weaker, both in production values and story. Recent BBC shows such as Merlin and The Deep have generally been derided and ignored.
There have however been some successes. Recently, the BBC has attempted to hark back to the good old days with shows like Survivors or their recent Day of the Triffids adaption, but these shows are more often than not, derivative, dull and quite frankly not as good as any US equivalent.
However there is one shining light that seems to be single-handedly supporting the UK sci-fi and fantasy genre – Doctor Who.
That’s right, the last of the Timelords is the last beacon of quality genre TV in the UK. The question is can his success influence other UK studios to take risks on other sci-fi shows?
Try looking online for some Tesco discount vouchers and see if you can pick up some DVDs on the cheap!
Already, the BBC has commissioned Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat to start work on a second series of his hit show Sherlock, but is the UK’s only hope in resurrecting past glories, such as Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, or is there a chance that their success could see a host of original sci-fi shows be produced?
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