A quiet revolution is underway on our screens. Forget the gruff, emotionally constipated male leads of yesteryear. The new man of British television is vulnerable, articulate, and frequently in need of rescue. And he is, crucially, written by women.
This is not a drill. This is a shift in power dynamics that the Westminster lobby might call a 'soft coup.' The writers' rooms are the new backbenches, and the female showrunners are forming a formidable voting bloc. Their output dominates the BAFTA nominations, the Netflix algorithm, and the watercooler moments that define the cultural moment.
The template was arguably set by Phoebe Waller-Bridge's 'Fleabag.' The hot priest. A man of God, undone by desire. Vulnerable, yes. But also powerful in his surrender. He was not a sidekick. He was a fully realised, complex figure. Women wrote him, women directed him, and women watched him with a hunger that surprised even the broadcasters.
Now, the trend is undeniable. Consider 'Slow Horses.' Mick Herron's novels provided the raw material, but the television adaptation, crafted by a team including executive producer Jamie Laurenson, breathes a different kind of life into its male characters. Jackson Lamb is a misanthropic wreck, but his emotional core is laid bare. He is a man written with a sensitivity that feels authorial, feminist even.
Then there is 'One Day.' David Nicholls wrote the novel, but the series showrunner Nicole Taylor and director Molly Manners turned Dexter into a walking wound. His redemption arc was not a heroic triumph. It was a slow, painful excavation of toxic masculinity. The audience wept for him. Not despite his flaws, but because of them.
The phenomenon extends to the genre-heavy end of the spectrum. 'Bodies' on Netflix saw a team of female writers, led by newcomer Lucie Tidbury, take a time-traveling policeman and inject him with a pathos rarely seen in a genre show. The detective was not just solving a crime. He was wrestling with his own irrelevance, his own mortality.
What is driving this? Anecdotally, industry insiders point to a pipeline problem being fixed. More women are being commissioned. More women are being given the final cut. The result is a broader, deeper, more humane portrayal of men. Men as they are, not as marketing departments think they should be.
This is not without its critics. Some male writers grumble about 'woke casting' or 'tokenism.' But the data does not lie. The most streamed, most discussed, most awarded dramas of the past two years share a common DNA. They present men as emotionally intelligent, frequently damaged, and always, always written with a woman's hand guiding the quill.
The political analogue is obvious. Just as the Commons has slowly shifted its gender balance, so too has the writers' room. And just as a more diverse parliament passes more nuanced legislation, a more diverse writing team produces more nuanced men. The result is a new archetype. The male lead as emotional proxy. A man who is allowed to be weak, allowed to be wrong, allowed to be loved for it.
Watch this space. The next wave of British drama will likely double down. Expect more male tears. More male vulnerability. More men written by women. It is the hottest new TV trend, and it shows no signs of cooling. The lobby will be watching. So should you.
More follows.
