Perusing an article in a TV magazine we did a double take when we saw the cost of the forthcoming “House of the Dragon” series described as “only” £16m an episode.
The entertainment industry is apparently aghast at how production costs have been kept so low for the eagerly anticipated prequel to Game of Thrones.
In fairness it is considerably lower than the £25m per episode cost of the just completed season 4 of Stranger Things.
And the other big release of the Autumn schedules, Amazon’s epic Lord of the Rings’ back story, The Rings of Power, is said to have cost a staggering £48m per episode.
The advent of streaming services able to produce such expensive blockbuster series and lockdown have introduced many to the phenomenon of “binge watching”.
But it would be wrong to think watching a single TV title for hours on end is something new. In fact, the whole world enjoyed such an event over 50 years ago and the costs of that TV phenomenon overshadow even today’s binge series.
In the build up to the Apollo 11 space mission the decision was made to not only land on the moon but to also broadcast the historic moment back to Earth. As a result, a camera and broadcast equipment became part of the essential cargo and a whole new technical challenge emerged.
When Neil Armstrong took his famous small step for mankind, a black and white Westinghouse television camera filmed it and the pictures were beamed back via an antenna on top of the lunar lander. This umbrella-like antenna was lined with 38 miles of fine gold-plated wire, thinner than human hair, to reflect the signal a quarter of a million miles back to earth.
Over 650 million people tuned in worldwide. In Britain the 1969 Moon landing was shown continuously for 11 hours – the first ever all-night broadcast and the birth of binge-watching TV.
The first pictures were actually upside down, as that’s the way the camera had been packed, so they were flipped by the Australian observatory that received them before being beamed round the world.
Science has moved on since those days and so has TV, with binge-watching now so prevalent health advice has been issued to get you through the night.
The top tips include inviting friends round to avoid social isolation, have regular stretch breaks and plan ahead so you have a variety of food on hand – rather than simply reaching for the crisps and nuts.
At the time of the moon landing TV dinners were in their infancy, the taste often as insipid as the grey plastic it came in. Thankfully things have moved on considerably and the SK range means you can enjoy food tastes from around the World as you settle down to watch – you can even pair different world foods with different box sets.
The oriental range is perfect for the South Korean thriller Squid Game; Tex-Mex hits the spot for the New Mexico-set Breaking Bad, and what better accompaniment for the splendour of Downton Abbey that our traditional range featuring toad in the hole or cheese and pickle bites.
It’s unlikely any TV event will ever surpass man landing on the moon, but at least the food will.
