It is a battle as traditional as Maggie Smith’s dowager countess herself. And as Downton Abbey returns to screens for its highly anticipated final series this weekend, so does the annual Sunday-night television showdown that signals the beginning of autumn.
The all-important Sunday 9pm slot will see the BBC take on ITV’s costume drama behemoth with its production of LP Hartley’s The Go-Between, the latest of the corporation’s adaptations of 20th-century literary classics.
And for viewers who prefer their period pieces a little closer to the present day, Channel 4 will air the second episode of Shane Meadows’ acclaimed This is England ’90.
All three are flagship dramas for their broadcasters’ autumn seasons, and each comes with hopes of gaining an early advantage in the fight for ratings.
The BBC however, has a tough fight on its hands. Downton Abbey, an unprecedented global success, drew audiences of 8.4 million for the premiere of season five, and 9.5 million for the opener of season four. There is already much eagerness and fanfare around this sixth and final season.
By contrast, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the first in the BBC’s season of four literary classics, which aired at the beginning of September, drew audiences of just 4.9 million. The LP Hartley is, however, one of the most anticipated of the adaptations, with a cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent.
Ben Preston, editor of the Radio Times, described the scheduling clash as “odd” and said it was almost inevitable that Downton would win. “This is the third of four literary adaptations so the BBC have got two away before Downton, but you do have to wonder the thinking behind this scheduling,” he said.
“Downton is so supremely well dug in its foxhole and as this is the last series it is obviously going to attract people’s attention. So it is brave, if not foolhardy, of the schedulers to expect The Go-Between and their final literary adaptation, Cider With Rosie, to go head to head with Downton and be able to compete. It doesn’t help that they will attract very similar audiences.”
The BBC may be hoping that The Go-Between will draw audiences who became enamoured of its most talked-about drama this year, Poldark, watched by 6.9 million. The Go-Between’s 40-second trailer even features a topless Ted Burgess, played by Ben Batt, scything in the fields, an image similar to the one that caused such ripples across social media during Poldark.
The Go-Between’s director, Peter Travis, said he was confident the much-loved book would draw in audiences. “As soon as I told people we were adapting it, so many friends and family would tell me it was their favourite book of all time,” he said at a screening of the drama. “It’s popular because it’s optimistic, it’s heartfelt and has hope it in it – hope gets thrashed a lot of the time but it still manages to survive.”
He added: “There seems something really compelling to me about seeing the world from a 13-year-old’s perspective and I think we’ve tried very hard to do that. The feeling and the camera work is all about evoking what it will feel like to be Leo.”
Channel 4’s decision to put This is England up against both period dramas, however, makes “perfect sense”, said Preston. “If your bag isn’t period adaptations, it’s the perfect counterpart, and is therefore an example of great scheduling.”
Nonetheless, Preston said that while in the past such clashes had been a great source of annoyance for audiences, in an age of online catch-up and streaming services, they had much less of an effect on ratings.
A BBC spokesperson said: “BBC1 is well known for playing drama on Sunday nights at 9pm and has done so for many many years. It is not remotely unusual.”
