Rose Ayling-Ellis Is Fantastic in “Code of Silence”

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Welcome to Worth Watching.

Hope you’re having a good Friday.

Two things took place one after the other on Wednesday, which I think show how the TV industry is at the moment.

Channel 4 released its annual report, highlighting record streaming views on its website (up 13% year-on-year). Whilst its content spend is among the smallest in the broadcaster’s history, which may reflect the ongoing weakness in television advertising, it is also scaling up its drama and comedy slate in the months ahead, which suggests there are green shoots to the difficulties the industry has been facing.

Then, the same morning, ITV announced huge changes to its daytime lineup of programmes. Lorraine and Loose Women are to be reduced to 30 weeks a year rather than every week (with Lorraine reduced to just 30 minutes). These shows are set to move out of Television Centre, whilst Good Morning Britain is to fold into ITN’s news operation, a far cry from the show being an independent company during the TV-AM and GM:TV years. Reportedly, more than 220 out of 440 people are to lose their jobs.

An Ofcom report last July highlighted that we have had two consecutive years of record decline in traditional television viewing, as streaming continues to rise. It is also notable that the types of shows people watch on streaming tends to be dramas and documentaries, rather than discussion and daytime shows.

For those who work in the TV industries, these new changes must sting at an already troubling time. I talk about this some more in an article I’ve written for Yahoo.

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SHOW OF THE WEEK

Code of Silence (ITVX, all episodes) – There’s a new police procedural practically every week at the moment, so a new one has to have something special to invest your time in. This new series, starring Rose Ayling-Ellis is one of them.

It is about a deaf police canteen worker who is drafted into a police surveillance operation because she can lipread, but she ends up getting too involved and close to the people they are spying on. There’s lots of twists and turns and I like it because every time you think you have the plot worked out in your head it goes in a different direction.

It’s a fantastic performance by Ayling-Ellis and just like the BBC’s Reunion, you learn a fair bit about deafness and issues facing the community, without you feeling as if you are being lectured to. It is first and foremast, a great drama.

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