You were making these dramas within the BBC. Do you think the BBC would be prepared these days to make such controversial films? Well, I think there are individual producers who would like to have a go at this kind of work. But I think that what has happened in television is that it is now so micromanaged from the top that the danger is squeezed out of it. I think that there is now a mentality that drama has to be safe and all the danger has to be squeezed out of it, and that everyone is in fear for their job. And that there are so many layers of bureaucracy now, of producers, of executive producers, of story editors, of script consultants, of whatever, over and over and over again, that actually they squeeze the life out of it. And the voice of the individual writer, with all its quirks and idiosyncrasies and individual talent, is lost. Directors are, again, are in a straitjacket. Now that culture of fear, that culture of micromanagement, a culture of passing everything up and down the hierarchy is actually killing the originality and creativity. And I think that's a great tragedy, not only for the people who could make good work, but also for the audience. (Ken Loach, 2011; interviewed by Dave Calhoun). |