Single drama

Longford

• Increase image
• View all images

Not perhaps the most obvious subject for a drama hit,...

... ITV Productions’ See No Evil: The Moors Murders tops the poll in a strong year for single drama that included Longford, Housewife, 49, Prime Suspect, The Road to Guantanamo and Death of a President. If single drama is an endangered species, no one seems to have told ITV and Channel 4.

The first instalment of ITV1’s disturbing two-parter See No Evil was watched by 6.2 million on ITV1 and was a critical hit, with wins at Bafta, Banff and the Broadcast Awards.

Judges praised writer Neil McKay’s “bravery”, “insight” and sensitive handling of the show’s grim subject matter, which focused on the relation-ships of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley’s immediate family, rather than the grisly murders.

It amounts to long overdue recognition for McKay, who wrote the BBC’s docu-drama Dunkirk and ITV’s Wall of Silence. See No Evil came top of the single drama category in this year’s creative poll with 15 points.

In second place is C4’s Prix Italia-winner The Road to Guantanamo, Michael Winterbottom’s celebrated film about how three British subjects ended up in the world’s most notorious prison. Co-directed by Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, the film, from Revolution Films, notched up 14 points.

The Moors murders also cropped up in Peter Morgan’s Longford, which starred Jim Broadbent as the Labour peer obsessed with his ill-fated campaign to free Hindley. Critics praised Broadbent’s Bafta-winning portrayal of this complicated character as “beautifully nuanced”. Director Tom Hooper hoped the film was powerful enough to challenge people’s hardened perceptions of Hindley.

Produced by Granada for C4, the film made the Bafta and RTS shortlist, and won a Broadcasting Press Guild and a FIPA award. It was the first of three highly rated C4 single dramas in this year’s list, which also in-cluded two indie productions: The Road to Guantanamo from Revolution Films and Death of a President from Borough Films, which scooped an RTS Programme Award and a Banff Rocky.

The controversial piece, which depicted the fictional assassinat-ion of President George Bush, was written by Gabriel Range and Simon Finch.

Top single dramas

Channels and producers
The most notable feature of this year’s creative poll for single drama is the success of commercial broadcasters ITV1 and C4, and the relatively poor performance of BBC channels, which don’t get a mention until Kenneth Williams:  Fantabulosa! in eighth place. C4 (43 points) and ITV (41 points) left the opposition far behind, with BBC1 on just 14 points.

Proof that ITV1’s appetite for innovation isn’t entirely a product of the Michael Grade era is underlined by its success in our poll.

ITV in-house programme making arm ITV Productions boasts three shows in the top six which demonstrate its strength as a producer of single dramas: See No Evil: The Moors Murders; Housewife, 49 and Prime Suspect: The Final Act. And while C4 may be struggling to find successful returning series, its performance in single drama is impressive, continuing to punch well above its weight creatively, with shows such as Longford and The Road  to Guantanamo.

Part of C4’s success is down to making relationships with specialist indies with a reputation for quality and innovation. Revolution Films (Guantanamo) and Borough Films (Death of a President) both  make it into the list of top 10 indies. Two indies not hitherto well known for single dramas make it into this year’s list: Tiger Aspect for Low Winter Sun and 3BM Television for Nuremberg: Goering’s Last Stand.

Top single drama channels and producers

Top in-house producers
1 ITV 39
2 BBC 15

Top independent producers