Television production takes place within an economic context. Discuss the influence of economic factors on Life on Mars and The Bridge. [30]

Public service broadcasting (PBS) is where television is for the benefit of the public as the shows that are shown (like the news) are to help people be aware of what is going in in the world. An example of this is the British tv industry BBC as their focus is to inform, educate and entertain the audience that watched their channels. The BBC is an independent body which is held in the trust of the British people. As they are a public industry they do not have commercials in any of their channels as they do not sell advertising time. They are instead funded by a television licence fee which TV viewers are required to pay annually, including viewers who watch real-time streams or catch up services of the BBC's channels online or via mobile phone.
As TV drama is huge right now, PBS producers such as the BBC feel they have to ‘raise their game’ and have high budget, high quality dramas, which are expensive. Shows such as Sherlock, Peaky Blinders and Bodyguard feature well known casts, flashy visuals, special effects etc. The Night Manager (starring Tom Hiddlestone) cost £3million per episode, whereas usual TV dramas cost £700,000-£800,000 per episode. Selling these shows abroad becomes very important, as does spreading the costs and minimising the risks. International co-productions not only broaden the potential audience, but they also spread the risk and lessen the impact of big budget failures.
Denmark and Sweden have much smaller populations than the UK, so don’t make as much money from TV licences. Whilst SVT/DR do sell some of their shows abroad, in order to lessen risk they partnered up for Bron/Broen. Bron/Broen (The Bridge) is a Swedish/Danish co-production of Filmlance International (Sweden) and Nimbus Film (Denmark) and financed by SVT (Sveriges Television) and DR (Danmarks Radio), which are their country's national public broadcaster. They are also both funded by TV licence fee.