Scripting the Real: Mike Leigh’s Practice as Antecedent to Contemporary Reality Television Texts The Only Way Is Essex and Made in Chelsea

Abstract

This chapter aims to investigate what can now be regarded as Mike Leigh’s institutional conventions intended to closely recreate reality, as the tradition from which The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) (2010-) and other television ‘dramality’ programmes such as Made in Chelsea (2011-) have emerged. The terms ‘dramality’ and ‘reali-drama’ have emerged into common usage from the media, whose mainly critical attitude is based in the fact that these programmes purport to be ‘reality’ but actually include fictional elements designed to promote drama. The narrative construction and industrial practices involved in the production of these recent dramatised, reality television texts can be traced back to and aligned with Leigh’s improvisational workshops that resulted in films like Bleak Moments (1971) and one of his most iconic works, the television drama Abigail’s Party (1977). Leigh’s commitment to reproducing reality on film and television in as authentic and convincing a manner as possible for the purposes of social realism involves a unique approach to screenwriting methods that, whilst not popular with financiers, attracts critical acclaim.