We have finally hit a TV brick wall – delayed productions are leaving a void in schedules

Gone are the days when lockdown was like one long TV feast. A barren patch was always inevitable, writes Charlotte Cripps

French drama ‘Call My Agent’ is now on Netflix (Shanna Besson)

As I picked up the Radio Times for the TV schedule next week, my heart sank. Anything new and exciting on TV? Oh, nothing again. I know lockdown is like living in Groundhog Day, but surely TV is meant to be our saviour?

My eye hovered as I searched for a TV show to get my teeth into. But I look crestfallen. Have things really got so bad that we are forced to watch a repeat of a 50-year-old BBC drama from 1971 – Elizabeth R starring Glenda Jackson which starts on Wednesday on BBC4?

I’m sure it packs as many punches as Netflix’s The Crown, but I’m looking for something of the moment – another I May Destroy You or Normal People – or better still, Succession season three. But sadly, it’s been delayed like so much good TV due to the Covid pandemic. 

As a result, the TV schedules are looking very thin on the ground. That’s apart from a smattering of finales: ITV’s The Masked Singer and BBC One’s serial killer drama The Serpent with Jenna Coleman, conclude this weekend. There is the final part of Russell T Davies’s brilliant Aids drama It’s a Sin on Channel 4, as well as the last episode of BBC One’s Death in Paradise season 10; always good for a bit of escapism.

The only hope next week is Sky Atlantic’s brand new TV finance thriller Devil starring Grey’s Anatomy’s Patrick Dempsey as a billionaire trader.

Where’s the choice? Gone are the days when lockdown was like one long TV feast. During the first lockdown in 2020, it was often hard to decide which TV channel to switch on. 

But this barren patch was always inevitable. The TV delays over the past year of lockdowns, as production has stopped and resumed, have finally caught up.

In the meantime, broadcasters are digging even deeper into their archives to bring us quality telly. How do we wait this out?

There are only so many TV shows to binge on: I’ve recently rewatched all episodes of The Sopranos. But the good news is that it will change. With Covid protocol filming up and running, even if the pandemic continues, more shows will be rolled out soon.

Until then, have you tried Call My Agent!?

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Culture writer