The Daily Telegraph

Female writers pen open letter against all-male scripted TV

- By Nicola Harley

MORE THAN 70 female scriptwrit­ers have penned an open letter criticisin­g television executives for the “overwhelmi­ng” number of dramas being written by men.

It comes as ITV revealed that of nine forthcomin­g dramas, only one would involve a female writer.

The letter, published on the website Broadcast Now, says the writers were full of “rage”. It claims that BBC’S Silent Witness has employed only five female writers during its 20-year run and Doctor Who had five series written solely by men. “Less than 10 per cent of new drama greenlit by ITV for this year will be written by women. Perhaps you can now understand our rage?” the letter says. “The gap between being commission­ed and being produced seems disproport­ionately large when it comes to women’s work. And we’d really love to know why.”

It adds that while it is “great to see women’s stories now being told”, they felt they were better able to tell them.

Polly Hill, ITV’S head of drama, said recent hit programmes including Victoria and Vera had female writers.

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