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BBC and ITV slash big-budget TV spend as US streamers pour money into UK

Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky also among UK broadcasters making cuts as Netflix, Disney and Amazon pile on pressure

UK broadcasters slashed their spending on big-budget TV shows to the lowest level in almost a decade last year, even as their US rivals Netflix, Disney and Amazon ploughed hundreds of millions more into British-made premium content. Last month, Peter Kosminsky, director of Wolf Hall, provided written evidence to a select committee of MPs investigating the UK production market stating that he, the producer, the writer, and the star, Mark Rylance, had had to take “significant” pay cuts to get a second series of the Golden Globe-winning drama made because no streamer would co-fund it. The figures also reveal the dramatic effects of the surging costs of making productions and signing talent, with the increase in overall spend coming despite more than 40 fewer premium TV shows being made last year.

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