by Lauren Brown
As 80,000 people apply for the new series of Love Island, Producer Jonathan Sothcott (We Still Kill The Old Way, Vendetta) has called for less reality TV and more small scale drama on the small screen.
Last night he tweeted, in reply to model Jess Impiazzi asking who her followers were rooting for on Celebrity Big Brother “a ratings failure and permanent cancellation.” The tweet drew support from celebrities including Jasmine Jardot and Ella Hughes as well as Rake magazine editor Tom Chamberlain while veteran Eastenders star Leslie Grantham went one further suggesting “internal combustion”.
We asked Sothcott to expand on his comments and he explained “It just seems that reality has replaced drama as the mainstay of British television. I understand that 90% of TV drama can’t be Game of Thrones or Broadchurch but surely we can stretch our imagination a little further than endless Big Brother or Love Island.
Adding to this he told us “I’d like to see modern versions of shows like Tales of the Unexpected, family sitcomes, The Professionals – I genuinely believe The Bill would draw huge audiences if it was revived.”
“These shows don’t have to cost millions. A two tier section of TV drama, even a true indie sector, could really make audiences sit up & pay attention.”
We asked if he had encouraged the trend by casting the likes of Casey Batchelor and Kirk Norcross in his film Bond By Blood 2 which he rebuffed saying “low budget British movies have always mixed popular film and TV actors with new talent and models. Just look at the Hammer and Carry On films in the 50s and 60s. But i am starting to worry about these people making films exclusively starring reality TV people at the expense of real actors.”
He added “Its tough enough being an actor in this country and i think we should be making opportunities for talent, not taking them away. Its also a fallacy, from a producing point of view, that because an audience watched a celebrity on a reality show, they’ll follow them to DVD movies. I’d urge indie film-makers to cast great actors. The stunt casting doesn’t yield results, even if you have good people, i’m talking from experience here.”
