Posted in: Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: Douglas is Cancelled, opinion, steven moffat

Douglas is Cancelled: Has Steven Moffat's Series Been Sidelined?

Douglas is Cancelled, Steven Moffat's major new comedy-drama starring Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillen, seems to be marginalised - but why?

There's a bit of a mystery surrounding Sherlock co-creator and former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat's latest miniseries Douglas is Cancelled. A dark comedy-drama examining cancel culture, public shaming and #MeToo, it starred a cast of British A-listers such as Hugh Bonneville, Karen Gillen, Alex Kingston, Nick Mohammed (whose career is shooting up with a whole range of very different characters including Ted Lasso), Simon Russell-Beale (a highly respected theatre actor who has been played major roles in Penny Dreadful and most recently House of the Dragon) and Ben Miles (who previously starred in Moffat's hit comedy series Coupling), you'd think the series might have made a bigger splash. It hasn't, which led to Moffat joking during an interview that viewers in Canada should pirate it if they want to see it, emphasizing that he was joking.

Douglas is Cancelled Seems to be Ignored by the UK Media

In the UK, reviews of Douglas is Cancelled have been muted at best and contemptuously dismissive at worst, and it hasn't been part of the cultural discourse the way you would expect a drama with those topics and from a powerhouse A-lister writer and producer team (Moffat's wife and partner Sue Virtue) might be gotten. Instead, it's mostly been crickets after it was broadcast in the UK in June, though many viewers have posted on social media about how much they enjoyed it and how shocking, surprising and relevant it is. The mainstream British media has been silent. The series has not gotten a premiere date in the US or Canada, which is surprising considering most major British TV series get picked up by a North American cable channel or streaming service almost immediately after its UK premiere. So far, there has been no news.

Nobody in the US or Canada has seen the show or really knows about Douglas is Cancelled unless they're already fans of Moffat's work and live on the internet. In the end, Moffat condemns the industry and the men in it. Alex Kingston is clearly inspired by a former real-life female tabloid editor who was a monster, and Moffat and Kingston show it. In the end, he's on the side of Gillen's character and what she has to do to survive in the business. Moffat originally wrote Douglas is Cancelled as a stage play but got no interest from theatres at all. Gillen was the one who encouraged Moffat to turn his stage play into a TV miniseries, and a lot of people are saying this is the best performance of her career.

Did the UK Media Sideline the Show?

The question to the UK media's non-reaction to Douglas is Cancelled is, has it been marginalized because it cuts a bit too close to the bone? Some people think the characters are directly inspired by several real-life figures in UK media, not just recent TV personalities whose careers have ended because they were #MeToo'd, and even the female tabloid editor played by Alex Kingston might be based partially on a real-life tabloid editor, one of the few women in charge of a tabloid newspaper. Is there a consensus to sweep the series under the carpet and just let it languish? It is, after all, available to stream to UK viewers on ITVX, but they're not really marketing or advertising to viewers that it's something worth seeing.

And does the new trailer suggest that Showtime may have picked up the series for cable and streaming in North America?

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