“From Peak TV To Peak Caution”: BBC Drama Boss Says Industry Has Become “Fearful”

deadline.com:

BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt has candidly floated the notion that the industry has moved from “peak TV to peak caution,” as she details an ambition to “help reshape the drama landscape at a critical time.” Addressing producers and press for the first time since taking on the nation’s biggest drama commissioning job, Salt reflected on a decade since the phrase “peak TV” first entered the lexicon, raising concerns over “short-termism” and that “the big bets of the boom era are a thing of the past.” “We’ve seen buyers retreat into cautious commissioning spaces,” said Salt. “The industry as a whole has become – dare I say it – a little fearful.” Expanding her point, Salt said “financial pressures and commercial imperatives” have led buyers to “default to safe bets.” She cited “inflation, content and platform saturation, retrenchment and the writers strike” as the key factors leading to “peak caution,” contrasting to a scenario just five years ago when “everyone was willing to make brave choices, to experiment, to try something a little unorthodox.” Numerous UK buyers and execs have in recent weeks pointed to risk aversion amidst the broader slowdown and Salt was using her first set-piece – featuring the announcement of 12 new shows including from James Graham, Aimee Lou Wood and Rebecca Hall – to detail the state of play.

She said the BBC can be a beacon in the “peak caution” era. “In five years’ time I hope we will be able to point to a record of risk-taking at the BBC that has helped reshape the drama landscape at a critical time,” added the former Netflix scripted commissioner, who replaced Piers Wenger 18 months ago when Wenger moved to A24. “While others might become more cautious, we will go further to take the