Everybody is talking about Peter Morgan. His seductive portrait of a monarchy in crisis, The Queen, made by Granada and largely funded by ITV, opened to critical acclaim and prizes for Morgan and lead actress Helen Mirren at the Venice Film Festival. His stage play Frost/Nixon is a sellout at the Donmar Warehouse with talk of a West End transfer and a scramble for the movie rights. In all the hubbub about this talented "new" writer, there has been little acknowledgment of the role ITV has played in Morgan's career. Perhaps this isn't surprising given the perception that ITV is suffering a creative crisis and its drama isn't exactly making headlines these days. But the reality is that, apart from an embarrassing glitch back in 2003, ITV has been showcasing Morgan's work for the best part of 15 years.
In partnership with Mark Wadlow - now one of Coronation Street's leading writers - Morgan began his career writing training films which led to script-doctoring assignments on a handful of Hollywood movies. His first solo commission came from Andy Harries - then Granada head of comedy - who was producing a season of one-off comedies for Rik Mayall. Mickey Love, in which Mayall played an alcoholic gameshow host, kicked off the season and seeded a long relationship with Harries, who has since gone on to oversee all of Morgan's screen work.
He went on to write two distinctive but undervalued series for ITV, Metropolis and The Jury. Both had all the characteristics of the cutting-edge contemporary drama now being talked about as typifying the kind of thing ITV needs to restore its reputation. He was also responsible for the Emmy award-winning Henry VIII starring Ray Winstone. Though this was a ratings and critical success, after it was shown ITV declared that it was no longer in the market for costume drama. A decision incidentally which meant that it missed out on Helen Mirren's multi-award-winning Elizabeth I.
But it was with Channel 4's The Deal, his extraordinary realisation of the personalities behind the Brown and Blair "partnership", that Morgan made his breakthrough. This film was made by Granada and originally commissioned by ITV. But at almost the 11th hour the network got cold feet. Whether this failure of nerve was political (ITV was negotiating for cuts in its licence payments and a relaxation of some of its public service commitments) or commercial (the newly unified ITV was busy applying cost benefit analysis to the commissioning process) we can't be sure, but the outcome was that the film was decommissioned, picked up by C4, and became one of the television events of 2003. In the light of recent ructions in Downing Street, the film now looks to have captured the defining political story of recent times. ITV's anxiety looks unfounded and its decision, to put it mildly, a misjudgment.
It hasn't made the same mistake with The Queen. Perhaps because of its broad appeal - one of Morgan's triumphs is to make a film that satisfies both monarchists and republicans - the film will play on ITV next year despite huge efforts in Horseferry Road to wrest it away. C4 has, however, secured Morgan's next film, again produced by Harries for Granada (aka ITV Productions). This is Longford, which imagines the famous and unlikely encounters between the anti-porn campaigning peer and Moors Murderer Myra Hindley. Given his track record getting under the skin of PM Blair and HM Queen, it should be a cracker.
In Morgan, ITV discovered and supported a talent with an exceptional ability to build an imagined but completely convincing narrative around real-life events. Where drama-docs aim through meticulous research and verification to give viewers a more rounded picture of recent events, Morgan's drama uses much the same kind of research effort to give us more human insights into the people who made those events. We think we know all about them but Morgan tells us more, makes us question what we know. This is surely the function of good television and great drama.
His timely success, after years quietly producing distinguished work, has more than one lesson for ITV as it struggles to regain its premier position in the nation's affections and its living rooms. Sticking by talent you believe in through thick and thin pays dividends in the end. There's no substitute for growing your own; chasing other people's is an expensive short cut but not a long-term investment. By identifying, showcasing and keeping faith with talent like Morgan's, you signal your ambition, your values, and the kind of channel you intend to be.
