Following hot on the heels of the launch of WGGB’s Equality Writes campaign in May, tackling under-representation of women writers in the film and TV industry, the BFI is running a month-long season celebrating TV dramas written by women.

Drama She Wrote (which runs 7 September to 8 October 2018) is based on the premise that between the 1950s and 70s the most influential form of drama, the single play, was over 90% a male preserve. Yet in a male-dominated industry, Fay Weldon, Susan Pleat, Elaine Morgan, Julia Jones and others regularly managed to produce fascinating and intriguing works – examples of which are screened during the season, many unseen since their original broadcast.

The season kicks off this Friday (7 September 2018) with a screening of Andrea Newman’s ITV drama Choice (1974), followed by a panel discussion moderated by WGGB Chair Gail Renard and featuring Andrea Newman and WGGB Deputy Chair Lisa Holdsworth.

The independent report WGGB launched in May – to kickstart the Equality Writes campaign – found that only 14% of prime-time TV drama in the UK is written by women, and Dick Fiddy, TV programmer for the BFI, commented: “As the industry faces questions about the lack of gender equality regarding the writers of current high-end TV drama, the quality and diversity of the material featured in the Drama She Wrote season should serve as a timely reminder of what we could be missing.”

Full details of the BFI season, including online booking for individual events, can be found here.

Photo: Shutterstock.com/Kichigin