Comedian and actor Munya Chawawa has said British TV is dying, not because of online platforms like TikTok, but “because it’s lost its willingness to take risks”.
The comedian, 32, who turns political discourse into satirical videos online, was given a standing ovation after he delivered the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday.
In his speech, Chawawa said: “Meticulously crafted, traditionally-produced TV shows have come to terms with the fact that the apex of their existence might be as a pixelated repost on TikTok soundtracked by the Jet2holiday theme song.
“The horsemen of the apocalypse, the broadsheets, bellow out unanimously ‘traditional TV is dying’, and perhaps the most devastating impact is the fact that much of it is self-inflicted.
“In the face of a rapidly-changing landscape, British television has ignored evolution and the same outdated gatekeepers have stuck to the same outdated guns whilst yelling, ‘Hey guys, remember this one?’ like an out-of-touch dad doing the worm.”
He continued: “British TV isn’t dying because of TikTok. It’s dying because it’s lost its willingness to take risks, to throw caution to the wind and to gamble on great ideas.
“While traditional television desperately throw texts to its ex with the promise of nostalgia and reboots of all the favourites, the audience swipe through a collection of new hot guys, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.”
In July, an annual Ofcom report revealed that YouTube is now the second most-watched media service in the UK behind the BBC and ahead of ITV.
In a separate report, the regulatory body said that traditional public service media (PSM) is under threat and that the Government should bring forward legislation to help “ensure that PSM content is prominent and easy to find on the (sharing) platforms, and on fair commercial terms”.
Chawawa also spoke about the surprising success of Netflix dystopian drama Squid Game, which is a non-English language title whose figures have made it one of Netflix’s most watched shows globally.
“Now, whatever doubts you had about the internet’s ability to outmatch TV was settled when the first series (of Squid Game) dropped on Netflix, given Squid Game was a revolutionary Korean-language international streaming show.
“However, it set records for what audiences for high-end drama could reach after the first season it sat at a colossal 265 million views. Debate settled. TV wins.
“Until a few months later, when a YouTuber named Mr Beast recreated the show up on his channel and got 850 million views.”
The US YouTube star published a video on the platform that was based on the popular South Korean show, which sees 456 people compete for a cash prize.
Chawawa said: “The message was clear, anything you can do, we can do better, and now present-day evidence supports that theory more than ever. ”
He added: “To survive, tele has to move forward … where creators have passion, TV can sculpt it into ideas and formats, where creators have ideas, we can bring them into formats where creators have formats already. TV can inject budget to elevate them to their full potential.”
After his speech, Chawawa spoke about the precarity of working in TV and said: “I could have been someone who worked at my digital following, had a shot on TV and then just blew it, just by virtue of the fact that it was such an alien landscape.
“There was no sort of nurturing up through to those points… it can’t be that our relationship with digital talent is prove to us you are somebody, then we’ll put you on the big shows, and if you flop that’s the end of your TV career.”
Chawawa won best breakthrough comedian at the 2021 National Comedy Awards and has starred in entertainment shows including Would I Lie To You? and Taskmaster.
Former Countdown star Carol Vorderman and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are among the public figures who have delivered the Alternative MacTaggart lecture before.
The Observer’s editor-in-chief, James Harding, delivered the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture lecture on Wednesday and spoke about recent criticisms directed at the BBC.
