Channel 4 - 80s themed brand elements today

Does feel like they're setting it up for a fall. To be honest it is quite some time since Russell T Davies actually wrote something worth watching IMO, but this being his era should mean it is more Queer as Folk than Cucumber.

Agree Friday 9pm feels an odd slot for it but as said Deadwater Fall did well last year. Maybe they can go full circle and give the 9pm version of the new clock an outing to introduce the show itself - don't think that has been seen since this look launched in 2015.

A Very English Scandal was very good.

I missed that on his bio. I suspect this might be more Years and Years - it'll get good reviews from those that watch it, but not many will.

I agree with this. I think he can be quite overrated sometimes, I thought Cucumber and Banana were pretty dreadful but from what I remember the critics absolutely loved it. I really enjoyed the first four episodes of Years and Years and thought it was one of the most innovative dramas I'd seen in a while but it went right off the rails in the last two episodes.

This however looks like it could be really good. A lot like a British version of Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves if anyone saw that on BBC4 a few years ago.

I wonder if RTD gets overindulged by commissioners due to his success? Something like Years and Years was a bit too bleak for its own good whereas I think if he has to stick to parameters like with Doctor Who and A Very English Scandal, it produces much better work.

I don't think so - even when he was a "name" writer after Queer as Folk he still struggled to get projects away, The Second Coming was rejected by the Beeb and Channel Four and Mine All Mine was massively edited to the point the final episode barely made any sense. I think he also has the wit to know that he's got to keep coming up with the goods and he can't just be commissioned on reputation alone. Every time I've seen him interviewed he's seemed a very nice, generous man, I can't imagine him at all ranting and raving and demanding his work gets produced exactly as he demands it.

It's true he's a "name" writer but that will only get you so far. The best writers, like RTD, are the ones that are enthusiastic about TV and know how the business works. I'm reminded of Jed Mercurio, he did the series Critical for Sky which got good reviews but bad ratings and got axed. And he said he couldn't complain about that, he said they were proud of it, and Sky did absolutely everything he would have wanted in terms of support and promotion, he couldn't have asked for anything more, so he had to conclude that the audience just didn't want to watch it in large numbers, so that was that. I'm sure RTD has the same approach.

Years and Years didn't rate very well but I thought it was probably the best drama on telly last year. I actually found it much less bleak than his Doctor Who episode Turn Left, to be honest.

It wasn’t so much the bleak story but that the characters and conversations in Years and Years didn’t ring true and they were all a bit difficult to warm to. I wasn’t surprised it didn’t do well.

Jed Mercurio's attitude is better than Derren Little who came across as bitter when his shows got axed.

Derren Litten, I assume you mean (Daran Little is the soap writer). But I doubt that's true, really, he may have been disappointed that some of his shows didn't get recommissioned, but there may well have been issues behind the scenes that he felt may have limited the shows reaching their full potential. It depends on the situation.

All writers have a couple of flops, Marks and Gran used to say theit first sitcom Holding the Fort was a hit but the second one Roots was a disaster, and that they probably learned more from that being such a flop, and that they thought that writers always needed at least one hit and one flop behind them before they can say they're established and know what does and doesn't work.

I must admit, I do find RTD's work to be very hit and miss, and more recently it's been more misses than hits. I want to like It's A Sin so I'm hoping this is more akin to the first series of Queer As Folk and not like Cucumber.

See, I personally disagree. For the first 3-4 episodes it was the realness of the family unit that I enjoyed about Years and Years - the focus was on a family and their interactions whilst the world around them changed in some epic ways. But as gottago says, it really lost it in the final few episodes when the family’s actions got more and more outlandish and Anne Reid inexplicably stopped ageing!

But we digress

Please can they keep these in some way at least