The problem with British drama.

There is quite a lot of British drama. There are soap operas and sci-fi dramas and historical dramas and other kinds of dramas. Despite the amount of dramas produced, I find very few of them entertaining. After thinking about this for well over 2 minutes I have come to the following conclusion. British dramas aren't realistic.

Now I know dramas are fictional (unless they're docu-dramas) but British dramas aren't realistic, because they overlook one key fact: British people aren't naturally very dramatic. We don't tend to do big gestures to express our emotions, or even shout that often. In dramas things have to be, well, dramatic, but by nature we aren't dramatic. An American drama might have a main character (who hasn't had things go his way) go on a furious rant, drive for miles, get in a car crash with an explosion and end up accidentally killing a lorry driver. If that was British the main character would probably just tut. If us Brits are angry at people then we are either silent about it and keep any feelings firmly pent up, or punch them in the face, utter a two word phrase ending in 'off' then walk away. 

All of this makes it difficult to make a good British drama, because you have to be subtle, really subtle. We aren't outlandish or expressive enough to have explosions and massive gestures in our dramas, because then they just wouldn't be realistic. We also don't talk about things if they could in any possible way make things awkward or cause a confrontation. Without confrontation it is difficult to make things dramatic. When people don't say how they feel it is difficult to write a drama. If a character is furious and displays no more emotion than a shake of the head, it is difficult to make dramatic.

Got to be subtle.