It’s easy to get depressed about the state of British television these days – the corridors and cloisters of TV Today frequently sound with tortured moaning after one of us has watched an episode of Hotel Babylon.
But then the nominees for a prestigious awards ceremony like the Royal Television Society awards are released and you suddenly realise that everything’s okay, everything’s going to be all right. Because in the line-up announced by the RTS, it’s easy to see, certainly in isolated circumstances, that here in Blighty, we still make some of the best television in the world.
Obviously I’m as pleased as punch to see both Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures nominated, Doctor Who in Best Drama Series, with Sarah Jane cropping up in Best Children’s Drama. This is a great indicator, certainly in Doctor Who’s case, that it is still possible to be mainstream and populist while being critically acclaimed, something very rare in this day and age.
Doctor Who is up against other TV Today favourites Skins and The Street, both quality shows that display a fantastic diversity of subject matter and audience appeal.
In the Best Children’s Drama category, The Sarah Jane Adventures is up against its CBBC stablemate Desperados, about a wheelchair basketball team, and CITV’s My Life as a Popat, following the ups and downs of an Asian family. They tell us that children’s television is dead, but here we have three very different shows that provide a much-needed heartbeat for quality children’s programming.
All the nominations in this year’s awards, from Best Drama Serial and One Off Drama, right the way through to Best Situation Comedy and Best Entertainment awards, show genres that can still be vibrant, exciting and challenging. And yes, that goes for the soaps too.
I started off this piece with doom and gloom, and now I’m happy to cheer on our television industry, especially if it can still produce goods like this.
Long live British TV, because it isn’t going away anytime soon!
Personally, I hope Desperados wins because everyone's already aware of Sarah Jane and that's already likely to get another series. Desperados disappeared without trace in the schedules and coverage, which is a shame as I actually really enjoyed it.