Book Review: Contemporary British Television Drama

Originally announced for publication by I.B. Tauris in 2018, Contemporary British Television Drama could more accurately be titled Quality British Television Drama. Chapman introduces this term early in his introduction to define the eight case studies examined, which he argues represent a period in the early 2000s when ‘the landscape of television drama in Britain was transformed by a cycle of high-end British drama series’ (p. 2). What follows is a persuasive case for UK ‘Quality’ TV that provides a refreshing counterpoint to the more frequently examined US genre. However, the fact that the majority of these programmes were launched prior to 2010 – with only two still in production as recently as 2017 – militates somewhat against claims to contemporaneity. What Chapman instead presents is a selection of programmes that represent a distinct historical shift in approach and production style for early twenty-first century small screen drama. While at times recalling the best of Britain’s rich television heritage, the shows examined represent a reworking and repositioning of some of its most popular genres for what John Ellis has termed ‘the era of plenty’ (2000).