ITV's back to basics

By MATT BORN
Updated:

 

ITV is abandoning its obsession with 'celebrity' programmes and reverting to its core strengths of drama and entertainment.

Director of programmes Nigel Pickard acknowledged his policy of packing the schedules with shows like Celebrity Wrestling and Celebrity Love Island had left viewers disenchanted.

Speaking at the launch of the autumn schedules, he said he was going 'back to basics' by beefing up drama and entertainment, historically ITV's 'key genres'. He would also be looking to real people to boost ratings with a clutch of gritty documentaries.

The schedule, which takes in ITV's 50th anniversary this September, will be the most expensive the channel has ever commissioned.

The word 'celebrity' has been all but expunged. The only show with the word in its title will be I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!, the jungle reality show that is returning for a fifth series.

The highlights include Jericho, a detective series set in the 1950s starring Robert Lindsay, and Footprints in the Snow, featuring Caroline Quentin, based on the true story of a woman struggling to regain her life after being paralysed in a car accident.

Matthew Kelly, host of the gameshow Stars in their Eyes, takes on his first leading role in a TV drama, playing a serial killer in Cold Blood.

Ant and Dec will front Gameshow Marathon, reviving classic shows such as Bullseye, Double Your Money and Mr and Mrs. And Ricky Tomlinson is to reprise his title role from the 2001 film Mike Bassett: England Manager in a six-part comedy.

The writing was on the wall for the celebrity experiment when the much-hyped Celebrity Wrestling was axed less than halfway through its run after poor ratings.

Fat Families and The Real Good Life were pulled even quicker, a move many saw as a sign of panic at ITV. Celebrity Love Island limped to a conclusion with critics describing it as 'contemptuous TV'.

ITV chairman Charles Allen recently admitted that its appeal was too narrow for a mass market channel, even though it proved popular with the 16-to-34 year olds the broadcaster is keen to target.

Mr Pickard refused to reveal how much the schedule had cost, but said ITV was investing an additional £20million in programming.

• A multi-million pound recreation of the Gunpowder Plot may be scrapped on grounds of taste following the London bombings, Mr Pickard said.

ITV had planned to blow up a full-size replica of the House of Lords using 'old fashioned gunpowder' to see whether the plot could have succeeded.

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