Fantasy Dramas on the BBC

Let’s start with the drama in question which I will call The Two Magicians for the duration of this article (seriously that title is too long!). It’s safe to say that the premise of the drama is pretty unique; I certainly hadn’t seen anything remotely like it before. The story, while a little slow at first, was gripping and completely original, the characters were compelling, the villain was…. admittedly too awesome but I think that has to do more with Marc Warren’s portrayal of The Gentleman than the writing for him. What made the drama though was the visual effects. I’m pretty certain this series didn’t have the budget of a blockbuster and yet what I was seeing on my screen contradicted that theory.

 

And yet viewing figures decreased week-on-week, perhaps the main reason why the BBC may be reluctant to make anything like this again. While I don’t agree that decisions about these sorts of programmes should be based on ratings alone (unless they’re great or disastrous), I can understand why the BBC would shy away from making dramas like these, especially with rumours of more license fee cuts on the horizon.

 

What I’m struggling to understand is exactly why there was a ratings decline. Was the story simply not for some people? Was there just too many programmes people wanted to see on a Sunday night? And I haven’t seen the ratings for myself but I must ask the crucial question, were catchup figures included? Because the vast majority of people seem to be using iPlayer and other online services for their television needs. It’s why the BBC axed the EastEnders omnibus.

 

 

 

The reason why I’m confused is because fantasy dramas have been doing quite well in other areas. The most extreme example I can think of is Game of Thrones, which has been doing amazingly well both here and in the States. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy has been held up as arguably the greatest films of the past twenty years, along with the Harry Potter films. On a lesser scale, Humans which is currently showing on Channel 4 has been much discussed on Twitter and Facebook over the past three weeks and shows like Lost have become a cult hit.

 

Maybe there’s a sudden apathy rising up among the viewing public. With so many fantasy dramas and movies released over the past fifteen years, it would be understandable for people to say “This again? I’ve had my fill of fantasy.” Honestly I feel the same way about all the superhero franchises that are currently being released so it’s not as if I can blame them. But it would be a pity for this apathy to affect decision making among the BBC.

 

Or maybe there is simply too much crammed in the schedules across the main channels. Just looking at last night’s schedule on Digiguide, we had The Two Magicians, Humans, a rather interesting-looking US drama series called Odyssey, and the new Sheridan Smith police thriller Black Work. Then later on we had Sir David Attenborough meeting Barack Obama and coverage of Glastonbury. With the exception of that last programme, I personally wouldn’t have minded seeing all of those programmes. Even with the introduction of the insanely popular catchup services, there are viewers like myself who prefer watching things live on a television. And even with these services, I for one don’t have the time to watch all these programmes online. I’ve long felt that we are reaching the end of the era when channels could pit programmes against each other like they could back when there were only four channels.

 

I realise there is a thin haze of bias covering this article like condensation on glass but I felt the need to address this issue. I for one don’t believe that we are reaching the end of fantasy dramas. I’m sure there are plenty more fantasy novels and ideas out there, some not yet written, that will make it onto the television. I’d love to see some Stephen King novels make its way onto the BBC for instance. What worries me is that this instance of falling ratings, and I don’t know whether this is an isolated case, will mark the end of fantastic dramas like the Two Magicians and the beginnings of cheap documentaries and reality shows on the BBC. I for one believe that this once great corporation could lower itself to the standards of *shudder* ITVBe.

 

 

 

I guess if or when this horrific future happens, at least there's Netflix and/or Amazon Prime to ease our pain?