Channel 4 boss says not making Succession is ‘biggest regret’
A boss at Channel 4 says the broadcaster had the chance of making a version of future hit TV series Succession, but did not go ahead with it.
The series about a media mogul who tries to decide which one of his spoilt children to pass his company on to won a host of awards,my sand golden globes.
The show, starring Scottish actor Brian Cox as the foulmouthed Logan Roy, had its fourth and final season last year.
When asked about shows they had turned down, channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz told the Edinburgh TV Festival: “The one that got away was (the BBC show) Killing Eve, which did cross my desk in my first week... and I wish we’d absolutely gone to the wall to get that. And I suppose the biggest regret, which... I didn’t pass on it, but there was a version of Succession once at Channel 4 and we didn’t end up with that show.”
He also said that the channel is “very confident” it will continue to broadcast The Great British Bake Off for a long time to come following questions about whether the broadcaster would keep the licence.
The competition showon the bbc, before moving to Channel 4. Mr Katz talked about the “brutal period” that Channel 4 and other broadcasters have faced, and said the advertising market is improving so the situation should get better.
He also said: “We took a load of tough decisions last year, we made quite a change inside the organisation this year. It was really tough. We have reduced our staff by about 18 per cent.”
Mr Katz called for more public service broadcasters (PSBS) to make shows outside of those about celebrities and true crime.
He said: “What you see, as we all move towards streaming, is a kind of flight towards the types of programmingthat stream best, which sometimes it seems almost overwhelmingly (are) crime and celebrity. I sometimes think that if you were an alien and you landed in Britain today, (you would) think this was a country populated entirely by serial killers and celebrities.
“And look, I don’t want to be holier than thou about it. We make a lot of crime programmes... but I’m very aware that we have duties as PSBS to tell a much bigger story about Britain , and I think that’s a real challenge.”
Elsewhere during the session on Channel 4, a clip of upcoming series Go Back To Where You Came From, which will see six British people get up close with migrants making the difficult journey to the UK, was played. It showed people expressing their strong views on immigration, including thinking that people coming from outside the UK are bad people. It is based on an Australian show of the same name that began in 2011.
Alisa Pomeroy, head of documentaries and factual entertainment at Channel 4, told the Edinburgh TV Festival that they really“agonised” about the ethics of making the four-part show due to the strong views expressed by participants.
She explained that the broadcaster originally thought about commissioning the show a decade ago, but there were concerns at the time that it would not resonate with a UK audience.