The British Export

British drama became, at some point, one of the country's products. Downton Abbey carried the upstairs and downstairs of a great house into living rooms around the world, and The Crown (released 14 November 2016) made the inside of the royal household a flagship of streaming. This is not a matter of impression; there are figures. According to the export report compiled by the UK's association of independent producers, international sales of British television content in 2024/25 came to £2.02 billion, up from £1.82 billion the year before and past £2 billion for the first time. Scripted drama accounts for 46% of that. The largest export market is the United States, up 34% on the previous year. The interesting part is that library titles make up 44% of the total. This is an industry that keeps putting out new work and, at the same time, one whose past work keeps selling off the shelf. Seventy years after the day television became something that stays (→ Filmed TV and the Rerun), what stayed has become national earnings.