Carry On, Programmers : British TV Offers Unique Fare but Quality Is Threatened

The new fall season is under way on British television and, as usual, the standard fare of cop dramas, sitcoms, silly game shows and mind-numbing hours of snooker are competing with equal doses of quirky and alternative programming.

“Tights Camera Action!,” a prime-time series exploring the relationship between dance and film, may not appeal to the masses, but there it is, nonetheless. Under the British TV system--a system that some observers fear is poised for a decline--there’s usually something for everybody.

Those not captivated by the much-trumpeted British version of the American action-game show “American Gladiators” may be more interested in “Animal Squad Undercover,” which offers a new twist on the real-life-cops-in-action craze with its verite footage of an anti-cruelty to animals unit.

If the epic documentary series “The Essential History of Europe” fails to satisfy, there’s always the homosexual high jinks of “Terry and Julian,” in which Britain’s most-beloved gay comedian, Julian Clary, shares an apartment with a very straight male roommate and unleashes a gush of double entendres and bizarre clothes.

For the zany-minded, there’s also “The Big Breakfast,” a radical, youth-oriented version of the morning talk-show format from a production company part-owned by knighted rock star Sir Bob Geldof, who appears with his wife, Paula Yates.

Fittingly, shows about Shakespeare cover a wide swath. For the children’s series “Shakespeare: The Animated Tales,” British actors have collaborated with Russian animators to create abridged versions of the Bard’s works, while the documentary series “Without Walls” spent an evening examining evidence that Shakespeare was homosexual.

Even the religious programming offers a varied menu, with everything from the series “Catholics and Sex” (from a production company called Compulsive Viewing) to “Start Your Own Religion.”

Part of the fun of British television is that series do not have to conform to neat half-hour or one-hour slots. Nor do they air for the duration of a 20-something week season. As a result, there are shows that fill slots of 10, 15, 40 minutes or any other length of time. “Get Stuffed,” a late-night cooking series that features skateboarding youths and metal-music enthusiasts whipping up gourmet delights such as sausage and beans, lasts five minutes.

And even the most popular series may show only six episodes a year--sometimes even skipping a few years. “Last of the Summer Wine,” a comedy about three old men in Yorkshire who have nothing to do, is celebrating its 21st year in production, but has recorded only 100 episodes, a number reached by successful American series in five years.

British television programmers also are wont to create special “seasons” in which programs on a particular theme are packaged together and sometimes broadcast over the course of several weeks. This fall, themed seasons include “Goodbye Columbus,” which commemorated the discovery of the New World with a full night of programs from Latin America, including glimpses of the top-rated TV shows in South America. Also included in the package are 16 weeks of contemporary films from Latin America and a six-part documentary series on the roots of modern Latin America and its future.

Another themed season titled “War and Peace,” which will last four weeks, will group together films, documentaries and reruns of TV comedy and drama shows that look at the nature of military conflict.

If British television seems diverse and experimental by American standards, it is because the system is specifically designed that way. While there are only four widely available television stations in the country, two of them are charged with providing alternative, out-of-the-mainstream programming.

“Popular” programming is provided by the non-commercial British Broadcasting Corp.’s BBC-1 and the commercial network Independent Television (ITV). Alternative programming is provided by BBC-2 and the commercial Channel 4. ITV, which carries the greatest proportion of game shows, action series and light entertainment, dominates the ratings, capturing about 43% of viewing households. BBC-1, which seeks to be both educator and entertainer, averages about 35% of all viewers while Channel 4 and BBC-2 each command about 11% of the audience.

Although British television is often touted as the best in the world, there are fears among some industry observers that the quality of programming will decline as a result of structural changes in the system. A decision by the British government to auction off ITV’s regional broadcasting franchises to the highest bidders left several major British television companies without broadcast licenses.

The large sums spent on bids will leave little for the type of grand programming that has distinguished ITV in the past, some observers say. The new ITV structure, which also curtails the commercial network’s public service broadcasting requirements, goes into effect Jan. 1.

“Documentaries and current affairs will drift out of prime time” on Britain’s most popular network, says Toby Hayward, group media director of Leo Burnett Advertising. “The idea of programs subsidizing other programs will disappear.”

Meanwhile, the BBC has been undergoing an identity crisis as it contemplates its role for the future while also shedding assets and thousands of jobs in an effort to contain costs.

The BBC “is no longer where you go for the best programming,” says Hayward, proclaiming the commercial ITV and alternative Channel 4 as tops in their respective markets.

Richard Brooks, media editor of the Observer, predicts that the broadcasting shake-up in Britain will result in “more distinctive television” with the BBC taking its programming further up-market and ITV going more down-market.

Unlike the overall similarities among programs on the American networks, he says, “I think you will be able to tell the difference between ITV and BBC programs.”

The BBC’s most recent major attempt at populist programming, a prime-time soap opera called “Eldorado,” has proved to be an unmitigated disaster and embarrassment. BBC officials recently have leaked reports showing they plan to scuttle the kind of game shows and home video programs that are ITV staples.

Despite all the repositioning and uncertainty about the future of TV in Great Britain, however, viewers this fall will still see a substantial offering of the kinds of sweeping dramas and ambitious documentaries that American viewers associate with British television.

Among them will be the return of Helen Mirren as a police detective in “Prime Suspect II” and two new drama series from Lynda La Plante, who wrote the original “Prime Suspect.” This time she is weighing in on ITV with “Framed,” a psychological thriller set in Spain, and “Civvies” on BBC-1, which concerns six former paratroopers and includes Peter O’Toole in a rare television appearance.

ITV also will present a costumed, Victorian-era murder mystery called “The Blackheath Poisonings.”

Other major television works include the BBC-1’s “Pole to Pole,” in which Michael Palin follows up his successful series “Around the World in 80 Days” with a trip that takes him from the North Pole to the South Pole. (The series will be shown in the United States on the Arts & Entertainment cable network in January.)

Channel 4 is offering “The Big Battalions,” which will deal dramatically with major issues facing the world’s religions by focusing on three families--Christian, Muslim and Jewish--whose members’ lives become intertwined. The series was shot on location in Great Britain, Ethiopia, Israel and Saudi Arabia.