The director of the acclaimed period drama Wolf Hall, Peter Kosminsky, disclosed that the filming of last year’s second series was almost canceled just weeks before production commenced due to financial constraints, with British television facing a significant crisis regarding funding.
Kosminsky shared with BBC Two’s Newsnight that the decision was made to eliminate expensive outdoor scenes in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, leading to nearly all scenes being confined to “conversations in rooms.” He posited that public service broadcasters like the BBC and ITV are increasingly struggling to produce high-quality British drama.
To address these financial challenges, the Bafta and Golden Globe-winning director has called on the government to impose a 5% levy on UK subscription streaming revenues, which would be allocated to a British cultural fund.
Addressing the financial hurdles, Kosminsky revealed that six weeks before filming began, after reducing costs for props, locations, and cast, he and the producer still determined the remaining budget gap was too large to proceed with The Mirror and The Light. He noted, “That’s not something that has ever happened to me before, in all the years I’ve been making programmes, that you actually have to stop six weeks from production.”
Kosminsky, alongside Sir Mark Rylance and executive producer Colin Callender, had to take notable pay cuts to ensure the programme could be completed. He recounted that the initial script included multiple exterior scenes and even a spectacular jousting scene that had to be entirely cut due to budget limitations.
Impact of Budget Cuts
He expressed pride in the final outcome, though it deviated significantly from the original vision, which intended to depict more of Tudor society outside the usual regal settings. Kosminsky argued that the current financial climate now makes it impossible for public broadcasters to fund projects like Wolf Hall or significant dramatisations such as ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, underlining that British audiences may soon miss out on such programs altogether.
Need for a Streaming Levy
Kosminsky suggested a streaming levy similar to regulations in some European nations that leverage the proceeds to support domestic content creation. However, concerns arise about potential pushback from US-based streaming services. He pointed out that the UK’s funding situation has worsened since the filming of Wolf Hall, emphasizing that films like Adolescence, which gained popularity on Netflix, would struggle to get backing from BBC or ITV due to excessive costs compared to the project budgets of public service broadcasters.
As industry experts express alarm over the escalating costs in TV production, partly attributed to the pandemic and rising energy prices, calls for systemic changes to uphold the quality of British drama are becoming increasingly urgent. Kosminsky’s advocacy for a cultural fund underlines the pressing need to adapt and secure future storytelling that reflects the UK’s rich narrative tradition.
