A Good Girl's Guide to Murder seems to have been made by the formula you suggest, except based on a more recent in-copyright work. (Ditto We Are Lady Parts, though that's Channel 4.) I suspect all except the very top recent authors would be happy to be paid at all for the TV rights, so I don't think this is where the budget goes.
I suspect you're right about the rights (although I don't know how residual payments work with the iPlayer, for instance, I don't think most streamers pay them at all). Maybe its the casting, but I suspect its not money at all.
Anyway, you're the second person to recommend Lady Parts, so that's definitely going on the 'to watch' list
I missed The Hollow Crown first time around so will definitely seek this out. I really wanted to watch it at the time but life (and possibly teacher training) got in the way.
I totally agree with you re. the quality of BBC programming. Rarely do I now see anything advertised that piques my interest and I feel like there are lots of really interesting things from the archives that are just not available. What I would give to be able to go back and watch the back catalogue of Rock Family Trees! (Ok, not high brow but generally fascinating to anyone with an interest in popular music.)
I agree about the archives - I have a vague memory of this being the result of lobbying by Murdoch (of course) and the intricacies of the contracts people signed at the time of recording, meaning that the BBC can't make available to us all the programmes we've already paid for, dammit. At least do seem to release things on to the iPlayer, although you have to be willing to go looking. I stumbled on this incredible 1976 Omnibus about New York quite by accident, and its entirely the sort of thing I wish they were still making: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02tc9t5/omnibus-new-york-new-york
I see your Jeremy Irons as Richard II in 1986 and raise you Mel Gibson as Romeo in 1981.
Great post. They were excellent productions and I should have re-watched them or recorded them. Over here in Ireland on the cable TV I pay for, the BBC is the only channel I cannot rewind and rewatch. I also hate how they ration out listening periods for episodes of Words and Music on their Radio3 website.
Mel Gibson! Crikey. Yes, the BBC terms are really frustrating for anyone not in the UK. I think, in fairness, they’ve had all sorts of mad restrictions imposed on them by governments that didn’t want to upset Rupert Murdoch by allowing the BBC to become a truly global competitor to NewsCorp. God, it makes me angry to type that sentence…
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder seems to have been made by the formula you suggest, except based on a more recent in-copyright work. (Ditto We Are Lady Parts, though that's Channel 4.) I suspect all except the very top recent authors would be happy to be paid at all for the TV rights, so I don't think this is where the budget goes.
I suspect you're right about the rights (although I don't know how residual payments work with the iPlayer, for instance, I don't think most streamers pay them at all). Maybe its the casting, but I suspect its not money at all.
Anyway, you're the second person to recommend Lady Parts, so that's definitely going on the 'to watch' list
I missed The Hollow Crown first time around so will definitely seek this out. I really wanted to watch it at the time but life (and possibly teacher training) got in the way.
I totally agree with you re. the quality of BBC programming. Rarely do I now see anything advertised that piques my interest and I feel like there are lots of really interesting things from the archives that are just not available. What I would give to be able to go back and watch the back catalogue of Rock Family Trees! (Ok, not high brow but generally fascinating to anyone with an interest in popular music.)
I agree about the archives - I have a vague memory of this being the result of lobbying by Murdoch (of course) and the intricacies of the contracts people signed at the time of recording, meaning that the BBC can't make available to us all the programmes we've already paid for, dammit. At least do seem to release things on to the iPlayer, although you have to be willing to go looking. I stumbled on this incredible 1976 Omnibus about New York quite by accident, and its entirely the sort of thing I wish they were still making: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02tc9t5/omnibus-new-york-new-york
I see your Jeremy Irons as Richard II in 1986 and raise you Mel Gibson as Romeo in 1981.
Great post. They were excellent productions and I should have re-watched them or recorded them. Over here in Ireland on the cable TV I pay for, the BBC is the only channel I cannot rewind and rewatch. I also hate how they ration out listening periods for episodes of Words and Music on their Radio3 website.
Mel Gibson! Crikey. Yes, the BBC terms are really frustrating for anyone not in the UK. I think, in fairness, they’ve had all sorts of mad restrictions imposed on them by governments that didn’t want to upset Rupert Murdoch by allowing the BBC to become a truly global competitor to NewsCorp. God, it makes me angry to type that sentence…