Maureen Lipman has criticised the lack of investment in one-off television plays.
The veteran actress, 63, claimed that the days of the TV play are "numbered", arguing that broadcasters do not have the money to invest in projects which cannot be turned into a full series.
"They've got no money to do it - you have a crop of British films this year, which are basically television plays in my opinion: An Education, Nowhere Boy, Fish Tank, all these films would be Play For Today and we'd discuss them the next day," she said.
"Now there's no plays on television, only series, because plays 'don't have a hook'. The great days of television plays are numbered."
Her Ladies Of Letters co-star Anne Reid added: "My husband was very much in favour of the single play. He said it was the only way to discover new writers.
"No-one's going to sit down and write a whole series, people get started by writing one play. But they don't seem to think there's an audience for the single play."
Ladies Of Letters airs on Monday, April 12 on ITV3.
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:18 pm