Tony Garnett

It was quite comforting to know that this man whose career has been much longer than my life stated one of the theories I've been saying for years- that drama (be it TV, film or theatre) is all about entertainment and education (sounds rather simple now I type it, but I'm sure it's quite deep).

Tony Garnett is a producer who is mostly linked to films and TV shows about social realism- such as 'This Life', 'Cathy, Come Home', 'Kes', 'The Cops' and 'Law and Order'. As a producer he does want the audience to be educated and entertained, as with 'The Cops' he wanted to show the darker side of Tony Blair's Britain where poverty still exists, as well as the effect of power on ordinary people. 'The Cops' lasted for two series before Garnett decided to move on. He said that, in being true to life, 'The Cops' had no real ending- plot threads weren't tied up neatly, characters still had problems and so on. Clips where shown from that show and 'This Life', which caused the lecture to overrun and question time was cut short.

What the lecture did leave me thinking about notions of education and entertainment in drama- how do you balance between the two, like how true to life should a piece be before it becomes dull? Should truth be sacrificed for entertainment?