A Good Week for ITV Drama
It was a good week for ITV dramas as the broadcaster ordered additional seasons of a raft of different shows.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, ITV’s drama output was in something of a pickle. It was desperately searching for new hits but kept producing turkeys such as and Harley StreetEcho Beach – not to mention Britannia High and Demons both of which fell flat on their faces. But all of this is seemingly in the past as ITV’s drama output continues to perform well in the ratings.
It started with Whitechapel in 2009 but wasn’t really picked up on by the press until last year with Downton Abbey. The surprising success of the Edwardian drama, penned by Julian Fellowes, captured the press’ imagination just as much as it did the publics. As ratings topped 10 million inches and inches of column space was devoted to how Downton Abbey had sparked a revival in ITV’s drama fortunes…fortunes which having continued into this year. 
Marchlands performed very well for ITV earlier this year with its spooky ghost story spanning three decades and three different families. The drama starring Shelley Conn, Anne Reid, Jamie Thomas-King, Alex Kingston, and Jodie Whittaker held its audience over its five parts and final ratings for the episodes meant Marchlands had an average audience of over 6 million viewers. The drama was also, like Downton Abbey, a departure from the usual ITV staple of the crime genre.
This week it emerged that ITV had ordered new seasons of several different dramas. African based Wild at Heart – a good Sunday evening performer for the broadcaster – has once again been renewed and will return for a 10-part seventh season. The popularity of Wild at Heart doesn’t appear to be ebbing away despite its longevity relatively speaking. It was also reported this week that ITV was adapting at least one more Poirot story if not more. It seems as though David Suchet will reprise the role of the Belgian detective once more (at least) even after reports earlier this year claiming Poirot had been axed.
It isn’t just ITV’s long-running dramas though that have been rewarded with new shows – perhaps more importantly its new dramas as well. ITV’s new detective drama Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn, has been handed a second series. Vera is adapted on the books by Ann Cleves and, on Sunday evenings, has pulled in over 5 million viewers for ITV so far. A good solid performer, beating the opposition on BBC One, 
its unsurprising ITV has ordered more. ITV has also ordered a more The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher. The one-off drama aired a few weeks ago and starred Peter Capaldi and had over 6 million viewers. Also renewed (according to reports) is Case Sensitive, a two-part drama starring Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd.
The future of medical drama Monroe (which starred James Nesbitt and Sarah Parish) is currently unclear and it may not be returning. Ratings dropped across its six-part run and actor James Nesbitt is tied up filming The Hobbit in New Zealand which places a bigger question mark over its future.
ITV has also renewed Above Suspicion and Whitechapel for third instalments which demonstrate just how well ITV has managed to turn itself around in the past few years. This turn around in the fortunes has come at the same time as big casualties in ITV’s output with Heartbeat, The Royal and The Bill all axed within the past two years. Such cancellations had their critics and the impact has been big – especially as The Bill was a weekly drama – but their demise hasn’t led to the demise of drama on ITV as some had predicted.
