I watched Threads for the first time the other night and I’m going to pursue a slightly different talking point here: it’s really fucking good and it has such a specific, British tone, verisimilitude and sensibility that our milquetoast indulgence of American corporatism has all but lost. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

sonicscrewup.bsky.social • 14 days ago

I watched Threads for the first time the other night and I’m going to pursue a slightly different talking point here: it’s really fucking good and it has such a specific, British tone, verisimilitude and sensibility that our milquetoast indulgence of American corporatism has all but lost.

Comments

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•14 days ago

It cost in today’s money, £1.2m. You don’t know ANY of the actors. It’s both warm, regional, specific, and incredibly grizzly, shocking and universal. It made me think of Play for Today. Talking Heads.

terryleopard.bsky.social•14 days ago

Throwing shade on @reecedinsdale.bsky.social eh! 😄

terryleopard.bsky.social•14 days ago

For context I didn't actually think you are throwing shade.

Just thought Reece might like to see your nice thread about threads.

reecedinsdale.bsky.social•13 days ago

I’m was more than happy to see Sophie’s posts. Thank you.

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•13 days ago

I’m star struck! What a film that is x

reecedinsdale.bsky.social•13 days ago

Thank you, Sophie.
It certainly is, even if I say so myself. x

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•14 days ago

The BBC is can’t afford to make shows now without co-pros, and the American money is gone.

ITV is broke.

C4 has 4 slots a year.

The mainstays of British drama have been kneecapped by the dried up tit of American money. And we seem paralysed to take action to bring down costs.

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•14 days ago

To a great degree - this is out of our hands. Inflation is inflation. The cost of equipment, sets, catering, it’s all sky rocketed. Similarly personnel costs have been quadrupled by the ‘Star Wars UK production’ effect. Get ur bag, kweens, etc. But it’s a huge factor.

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•14 days ago

The other quiet issue - actors. The hunger for a list actors and the sheer fucking eye watering amounts they cost, price every smaller outfit out of drama. But it’s a quandary. To unlock co pro ££, you need casting. But if you’ve got casting, you can’t afford, WITHOUT co pros.

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•14 days ago

Maybe I’m naive. I’ve certainly had convos with producers who tell me, ‘cheap is unaffordable’, because of this co pro quandary that means: you can’t make ANYTHING without a co pro, and to nab a CP, it needs to be BIG. Ergo, expensive. So cheap = unaffordable… however…

sonicscrewup.bsky.social•14 days ago

There seems to be a general, perhaps fear-inspired lack of ambition to find ways to cleave back our drama slates, rediscover our identity, and innovate to produce cheap, quality drama the Americans just can’t and have never made well. There are contemp examples: Baby Reindeer. I may Destroy You.

peterarnott.bsky.social•12 days ago

Had that conversation...

eddierobson.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yeah I pitched a crime show, might be ten years ago now, which was about cases that had fallen through the cracks. Not cold cases but just things that weren't a priority. I was keen for it not to be all murders, because everything is about murders. And a dev prod liked it but said "It's not big."

orlovsky.bsky.social•12 days ago

Part of this is the fact that the BBC has (or, had when I was there, maybe they've started to move stuff back in-house) gone from having its only technical staff to contracting out a huge number of components - occasionally hiring back staff as contractors, rather than salaried employees..

orlovsky.bsky.social•12 days ago

..it's obviously tricky to find a balance, but I also think the fracturing of TVC, where there was a huge campus of creatives and technical staff all mingling has reduced some of the spontaneity. I had hoped they'd recreate this in Salford as part of their drive to make things less London-centric.

cameronyardejnr.bsky.social•12 days ago

You write all of this and the next day this appears.

https://deadline.com/2025/02/british-tv-dramatists-lament-austerity-era-1236284139/

commandlinegamer.bsky.social•13 days ago

There's lots of forgettable drama on at the moment, every other programme is a detective show with chalk-and-cheese characters, and the same stuff gets repeated ad nauseum.

ambignostic.bsky.social•14 days ago

I had to look it up to make sure that production budget wasn't a typo. £400,000. Just incredible. And they made that budgetary straightjacket work in their favor in every way.

rachelmcadam.bsky.social•12 days ago

I LOVE not knowing any of the actors- or at least only a few of them. Thinking back to shows like Shameless and Skins which
used loads of new actors - now household names.

johnbcole.com•14 days ago

I'm not British, but "Threads" is fantastic. Horrific, haunting, terrifying, sure, but fantastic nonetheless.

msicism.bsky.social•11 days ago

McQueen’s “Small Axe” series (which I mostly liked) is the closest that British TV has come to “Play for Today” in a long time, and the impact of Amazon money is highly instructive.

brekkiebb.bsky.social•13 days ago

Excellent thread. Were comments recently about how TV has cut out the middle - high end content remains, aaong with the cheaper content but little left in the middle. ITV especially could do with more non-crime drama which returns the same point each year but as you say that content isn't made.

cameronyardejnr.bsky.social•13 days ago

I agree. Great thread and TV definitely misses regularly returning dramas. Dramas that weren't all police dramas. An At Home With The Braithwaites, Cold Feet, Band Of Gold or An All Creatures Great & Small, Big Deal, Duchess Of Duke Street, Call The Midwife on BBC1.

brekkiebb.bsky.social•12 days ago

Exactly. The BBC still have a few which you know will be on around the same time each year but there is nothing like that on ITV now other than perhaps Grantchester.

cameronyardejnr.bsky.social•12 days ago

The BBC's returning drama hits apart from Silent Witness were commissioned by Ben Stephenson. Sherlock, Line Of Duty and Happy Valley were event sporadically returning series. Then annual returners with Call The Midwife and Death In Paradise. They haven't properly added to the list.

jollygoodshow.bsky.social•12 days ago

Channel Five are doing well with the ACG&S remake and they do a few other low budget dramas too.

brekkiebb.bsky.social•12 days ago

For a channel that did virtually no drama in it's first 20 years they've been hugely successful since - most of them rate respectably, unlike C4 dramas who despite their history often struggle, though their recent one has been getting over 3m, their biggest hit in years.

jollygoodshow.bsky.social•12 days ago

Five seem to understand exactly who their audience are. Be interesting to see if they go into comedy in the future.

cameronyardejnr.bsky.social•12 days ago

One of Channel 5's best decisions was moving into drama. They have had more successes with it than Channel 4.

joshuaconkel.bsky.social•13 days ago

Jesus that movie scarred me