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It’s become a cliché that tele- vision drama had its golden age in... well, in any other age than this one. The oft-regurgitat- ed argument runs that the pio- neering writers like Stephen Poliakoff, Mike Leigh and, of course, Dennis Potter wouldn’t get their TV ‘break’ in today’s rat- ings-obsessed era.
“That’s not true,” says Sita Williams, who in her job as execu- tive producer, Granada Drama, is bringing the second series of the highly-regarded The Forsyte Saga to TV audiences in May.
“If you think of what’s around at the moment there’s such a rich diet of drama, it’s all so differ- ent and it’s innovative as well,” she says.
Williams offers ITV1’s Russell T Davies drama, The Second Coming, which cast Christopher Eccleston as a modern-day Jesus living in Manchester, as a recent standout example, though, she adds, both Channel 4 and the BBC unaccountably turned it down. “I said to Russell this is the nearest thing to really brave and innova- tive television since Dennis Potter.”
Williams maintains that the opportunity exists in today’s tele- vision for writers with something to say to get their voices heard:
“It’s not that we’re not giving people opportunities, it’s who comes up. Dennis Potter was unique even in his time, but Russell has a unique voice and
[Clocking Off’s] Paul Abbott has a different kind of voice.”
In fact, TV drama, argues Williams, is where Britain’s drama- tists excel. “The best drama that we make is in television. Of course, there are lots of fantasti- cally good films, but the hit rate of British films is nothing like the hit rate of television drama.”
Too many Brit flicks, though hinting at potential, show all the signs of their talents trying to run before they can walk. In contrast, television nurtures its writers.
“It’s been said a million times but I’ll say it again: if you take the writ- ers who are writing the best televi- sion drama now, they developed their skills over time,” says Williams.
The producer mentions Forsyte Saga writer Stephen Mallatratt and Paul Abbott who both worked on Coronation Street, and Russell T Davies and Kay Mellor (Playing the Field), who worked with Williams on the kids drama, Childrens Ward at Granada.
“We’re quite a small group, we all know each other and work together and we’ve grown up together and learnt our craft over many years.”
Williams moved to Granada 22 years ago, having broken into television via the BBC’s graduate trainee scheme and subsequent- ly cut her teeth on Parkinson dur- ing its late 1970s glory days.
“I came to Granada because it was the best place for drama,”
she says, recalling that when she arrived its renowned Evelyn Waugh adaptation, Brideshead Revisited, was in production.
Williams’s first posting was as producer of ITV’s lunchtime drama Crown Court, which she says was a wonderful showcase for new writers.
Love in a Cold Climate adap- tor Debbie Moggach, theatre writer John Godber and Guy Hibbert, who went on to write The Russian Bride and Saigon Baby, all got their TV break on the show.
“Crown Court was brilliant. It had a contained structure for a new writer, but they could do whatever story the were burning to tell. Maybe we should reinvent something like that.”
During Williams’s time, Granada has been responsible for some of TV’s most memorable dramas – not that it has always got the credit it deserves. “People’s perceptions are that the BBC does the serious issue- based and the glossy, period drama,” says Williams. “In fact, a lot of people think The Forsyte Saga is still on the BBC.”
Warming to her argument, Williams continues: “We did Brideshead and Jewel in the Crown and big drama-docs like Who Bombed Birmingham? and Hostages. Bloody Sunday was not new [for Granada], it came out of [the 1980 docu-drama] Invasion, which dealt with the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. There’s a history of these kinds of programmes coming out of Granada Television for at least 30 years.”
As well as The Forsyte Saga, Williams produced the award- winning Paul Abbott series Reckless and Lost for Words, which won the late Thora Hird a BAFTA for best actress.
Williams admits, however, that life has become harder for pro- gramme-makers during her two and a half decades in television.
“In the old days companies had a huge amount of autono- my and if people wanted to make a programme they just made it,” she says.
“Like in any other industry we’re working much harder, longer hours with less money but that doesn’t mean that the product suffers. I work with a group of people that I know will deliver the goods.”
Williams’s enthusiasm shows no sign of waning. Next up is Island at War, a drama, written by Stephen Mallatratt, and set against the background of the occupation of the Channel Islands during World War Two, which starts filming this summer.
“It’s a wonderful life,” she says. “We are actually paid to tell sto- ries. Isn’t that fantastic?”
Photos l-r: Granada’s Sita Williams; The cast of The Forsyte Saga
drama queen
Granada’s Sita Williams hails today’s ‘rich diet of TV drama’. Matthew Bell lists a roll-call of excellence.
behind tv
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