ENTERTAINMENT
GENRE REPORT
There have been some big new successes
in entertainment TV recently, and getting the tone right has been crucial. Pippa Considine reports
ENTERTAINMENT TV S
mile, things can only get better. “There’s an appetite for entertainment in these challenging times,” says James Townley, the chief content officer, Development
at Banijay. Townley has a bird’s eye view, with
Banijay’s 120 labels in 21 territories. He sees shiny floor shows, such as ITV’s Starstruck from group indie Remarkable, travelling to half a dozen territories; karaoke and cover version formats catching on in France and Spain; Netherlands balloon modelling format Blow Up airing in Australia. “Audiences just want to smile, there’s an element of nostalgia and escapism,” says Townley. In the UK, Entertainment originals
accounted for just under 30 per cent of all UK commissions. If you add in Factual Entertainment, then it’s nearly half. Of the most watched shows in the UK in 2022, I’m a Celebrity came in second, only pipped by the Queen’s Funeral, with Strictly Come Dancing, Britain’s Got Talent and The Great British Bake Off, along with The Eurovision Song Contest all in the top 10.
FRESH IDEAS But with schedules awash with entertainment,
platforms need to find fresh approaches and a distinct voice. “There’s more competition than ever,” says Katie Rawcliffe, head of Entertainment Commissioning at ITV. “I think
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televisual.com Summer 2023
we’re all having to buckle down and try to understand our audiences more.” ITV knows that a talent contest is a well-loved thing, but spent many hours listening to pitches before it found a winning new idea. Enter Mamma Mia: I Have a Dream, from Thames. The talent search – for two stars of the world-famous musical – will be filmed on a Greek Island. “It will feel familiar, with great music and a great brand, but the setting will feel new and totally different,” says Rawcliffe. Channel 4 has supersized Joe Lycett’s
campaigning zeitgeist. “It’s been strategic to move Joe into that broad entertainment space,” says Channel 4 head of Entertainment, Phil Harris. Newer C4 formats, including Rise and Fall and Scared of the Dark, are shot through with social experiment. In the pipeline is The Really Really Rude Puppet Show, produced by Banijay production house RDF, where celebrities read steamy fan fiction with Mel Giedroyc. “It’s disruptive, unlike anything in our catalogue,” says Townley. “It’s been really clever of Channel
4 to double down on its DNA and to bring entertainment into that fold,” says Derek McLean, the md of Masked Singer producer Bandicoot. “It’s a good example of brands becoming more distilled versions of what they are, to become a clear offer in the marketplace.” For the international
streamers, entertainment
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