So, to the surpise of no-one, Boris Johnson has announced that the UK is officially in Lockdown. Given that we were effectively 95% of the way there prior to his live announcement at 8pm today, it’s basically the cherry on the cake. My life has already been turned upside-down in the past couple of weeks, so Boris announcing that my life is going to change is kinda “meh”. But it was still nice of him to make the effort.

However, what I found interesting was something which happened just shortly before that. On Channel 4 News, (Still the best of the news shows on the old UK broadcast channels.) a correspondant was talking outside Westminster about the “rumours” of looming shutdown. (An old traditional UK reporting stance, where a reporter is talking about voices inside Westminster whilst being just outside of Westminster- a stance which was already looking a bit old-hat even before the current situation.) And then this happened.

Before now, the bloke in the background with a sign would be bundled off shot almost as soon as he appeared. However, this did not happen. In fact, he was within shot from midway through the reporter’s 2 minute segment until the very end. His appearance was not commented upon during the segment or afterwards. It was if he had never appeared.

Why? Social distancing, of course. He could not be bundled off shot because of social distancing. Even more than that, he could not be seen to be bundled off shot during a live television broadcast, again because of social distancing, but also the public broadcaster’s duty to promote social distancing. And the bloke with a sign probably knew that. And Channel 4 News probably knew that he knew that. So the show just ignored him. I noted this on Twitter, albiet in a slightly sarcastic way.

However, this incident was not the only example of how the current situation impinged on news gathering. In fact, Channel 4 News is quite honest in showing their workings. I have wondered about how this epidemic is impacting on how contemporary television is made. The obvious example in news programmes is how interviews are being conducted over webcams, Skype, Zoom, etc. So now you’re seeing an interview, and the interviewee, who would previously have been made up, and shot in flattering light and clothes in a studio, are now grumpy and in casual clothes in their living room.

However, Channel 4 News goes further. Although most of the presenters are broadcasting from their home, (Shout out to Jon Snow, who, apart from being an excellent journalist, seems to make an extra effort in selecting eye-melting ties to wear each night.) you do see interviews in Channel 4 News studio. However, it’s only 2 people in shot at any one time. (And presumably, 2 others on camera at a safe distance.) And any shot of the two at any time is carefully shot to emphasise the distance between the two. This ethos also applies to outside reports: when someone is being interviewed in the field, there is always an overall shot to emphasise the social distancing between interviewer and interviewee.

Of course, social distancing is the new normal, so you’d expect news programmes to run with this, but how would this work with other television programmes? How, for example, would this work with drama? Already, we’re seeing that soaps, usually a reliable staple of telly, are running out of episodes to broadcast, because obviously they can’t tape any new episodes in the meantime. And that’s the least difficult drama to film. If we’re talking about more involved productions, then the more filmic look we’ve been getting used to over the past 20 years for dramas is going to be difficult at best to acheive in the current climate.

Interestingly enough, we’ve already seen a couple of examples of using social distancing as a dramatic device from established drama programmes on social media. The first notable one was from the offical Twitter account of Doctor Who, which recently ended it’s most recent series in March. Filming was due to begin this autumn, with a Dalek-themed special “Revolution of the Daleks” to be broadcast on New Year’s Day in 2021, and a probable series afterwards. Obviously, that’s up in the air now, and any pre-production will have to be done remotely, but the fact that this was posted on the official Who tweetline, despite the fact that it’s obviously been done by the lead actor in her own house via her own phone in selfie mode, is quite interesting. Even more significantly, this is a pinned tweet, something that the account wants to keep alive.

Perhaps Doctor Who’s showrunner, Chris Chibnall, might have had some input into the dialogue here, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter if this was the case or not. This is Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, in costume and in character, offering some reassurance to the show’s younger viewers about current times. There might be reference to the militaristic Whoniverse aliens the Sontarans, (an interesting take on the World War 2 “Blitz Spirit” lens which has often framed Covid-19 coverage.), and there’s no specific reference to Covid-19, but the context is pretty plain.

Even more interesting is the take from “Derry Girls” . They’re also in a lockdown, but this lockdown is rooted in a specific point in history: 1996, when peace negotiations have broken down in Northern Ireland, and there’s mass rioting in their home town of Derry. This clip ups the ante visually, using a faux video camcorder found footage style rather than phone selfie video.

What’s interesting about this take is that it frames the current lockdown (Which might go on until at least June as far as we know) in terms of a lockdown that has already took place in history, and ended on a positive note. (So far, barring No-Deal Brexit complications.) If I have any criticism of this clip, it’s that the lockdown here is taken not-very-seriously by one of the characters, which might make sense in terms of the lockdown depicted here, but not neccessarily the lockdown we’re currently experiencing now. On the other hand, it has a similar message to Doctor Who’s video- that, however dire things appear now, this will pass.

Of course, the problem I have with both clips is that they’re clearly performed and staged as if they have (However inadvertendly) foreknowledge of what’s going to happen in the future- and right at the moment, we don’t really have that luxury, and neither do the makers of these clips. On the other hand, whatever happens, the pandemic is likely to pass in whatever form, so the overall positive message is genrally welcome.

These two clips appeared on social media, which of course has a faster turnaround than usual TV drama. One could imagine the current situation fuelling a demand for “found footage” or Skype/Zoom/Houseparty based drama. However, given the slow turnaround of filmed drama, this sort of drama might only be just getting commissed as the Lockdown winds down. I wouldn’t be surprised, if, or when, we all emerge from this crisis, that this crisis, inspires a new kind of drama. I remember a tweet from a friend, who was scouting for stories for their next anthology, saying, in effect: “All the submissions I’m reading are from when people could meet together in cafes and so on.”

In effect, I think we can get over this, but I think we’re not going to get over these past couple of months, or however long it takes. Unless… We make Art of it.