Andrew Kay: Channeling ideas

I wanted so much to be blown away by the new Stephen Poliakoff TV production Dancing On The Edge. His previous works have always made me renew my faith in TV drama. Shooting The Past with Timothy Spall and Lindsay Duncan was perhaps the most gripping thing I have ever watched on the box with an extraordinary script and stunning cast – I was hooked from start to finish.

Dancing On The Edge undoubtedly has fabulous elements, none less than the extraordinary production values. With such amazing sets and locations, such beautiful costumes and fine photography and once again a great cast I should be dancing on the edge of my seat. But after three episodes I was not. Far from it.

It’s not that I hate it either, it has some appeal, but it’s not far from the appeal of Downton Abbey and any other of the huge number of what I brand “heritage” dramas that usually occupy that 9pm slot on a Sunday evening when the roast beef kicks in and The Antiques Roadshow has sent you into a bewildered daze.

Here at Atelier L’atest we are currently in full steam ahead mode for our upcoming TV station launch. Latest TV has for some time been creating quality programmes in a way that is quite frankly remarkable. So remarkable that it is shaking things up.

Detractors of the move towards creating the UK’s first local TV channels are obsessed that those of us in the privileged position of being granted the first licences will not be able to produce quality viewing. These views in the main seem to be coming from the cosy, and dare I say costly, world of the major existing channels. In that world budgets are astronomical because historically the parts that go to make the whole have always been highly priced.

There is little doubt that if we were to follow that model we would be hard pressed to generate any kind of programming at all. We simply will not have the funding to operate in that way or to offer the huge fees that they seem to be happy to pay. On that basis we may be unlikely to lure Jonathan Ross away from ITV or Graham Norton from the BBC. We will not be letting that stand in our way.

Clearly the way forward for a local TV station is to abandon the profligate model set by the big guns and to reinvent, to find new and far more economical ways of working with young talent eager to gain experience and established talent tired of the tyranny of the old school and ready to share with a new generation their skills and vision.

In the early 1970s, after years of synthesiser “progressive” rock, punk came along and with a few guitars and drums shook up the music world with a raw energy that left the prog rockers out in the cold.

I’m not suggesting that we will be making punk TV but we will certainly be striving to make great
TV that will shake the establishment and make licence fee payers wonder where all their money has been going.

“Channel 8, the button that will bring Brighton and Hove to your TV screen”

In the next few months you will see Latest TV really stepping up a few gears. I am already in full telly mode and very excited about that. The boss, Bill Smith, has had a clear vision about television for some time and now it is all coming to fruition. Watch this space because very soon you will be wanting to watch Channel 8, the button that will bring Brighton and Hove to your TV screen.