IN a sign of the times, the BBC announced yesterday morning it was reviving Doctor Foster after almost a decade off our screens.

Then, in the afternoon, it ­confirmed it was axing its ­brilliant hit drama Industry.

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Suranne Jones will be back as TV medic Doctor FosterCredit: BBC
 

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Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure in series one of Line Of DutyCredit: Handout
 

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Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Debicki in the first series of The Night ManagerCredit: Handout
Of course, it is fantastic to see ­Suranne Jones resume her role as the embattled medic struggling to get revenge on her cheating husband, played by Bertie Carvel.

Doctor Foster was an ­instant hit when it first aired in 2015, and by the time the second series hit screens in 2017, it had more than seven million of us tuning in for the stormy conclusion.

But let’s not forget we are talking about a show that started out 11 years ago, and one which most of us had either forgotten about or just assumed had run its course.

Meanwhile, bonking-and-banking drama Industry, which only debuted in 2020, has enjoyed a sensational four-series run. Yet it is already being shelved.

There will be a fifth series next year — hallelujah! — then it is ­curtains for a show which has been widely acclaimed as one of the best things on telly right now.

The trouble is that Industry is one of the few examples of a new hit, while Doctor Foster is the latest long-running drama being revived.

Which begs the question: Where are all the new dramas coming from — on terrestrial telly, at least?

Like most viewers, I am genuinely delighted to see the return of Line Of Duty, which starts filming its seventh series next week with Martin ­Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar all coming back.

I was one of millions punching the air at the news that Peaky Blinders was returning for not one but two series, this time set in the 1950s.

Like the rest of the country I was gripped by the sensational finale of Happy Valley, which returned to our screens in 2023 after a seven-year absence.

It was also understandable to see The Night Manager brought back in January despite there being a decade between the first and second series.

But where is the next Line Of Duty, Peaky Blinders, Happy Valley and Night Manager coming up the ranks?

There is not much hope on the horizon.

Only last year it was confirmed that the BBC was also reviving The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole — a show which debuted 41 years ago.

It is not just the Beeb, either. There is talk of bringing back Footballers’ Wives on ITV, and Channel 4 comedy The Inbetweeners.

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Gian Sammarco and Lindsey Stagg as Adrian and PandoraCredit: Alamy
 

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Jodie Comer in series two of drama Doctor Foster in 2017Credit: Handout
 

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Suranne Jones and Bertie Carvel in Doctor FosterCredit: BBC
Even big hits such as Rivals on Disney+ have more than a bygone whiff to them, evoking memories of the mini-series and bonkbuster adaptations that were constantly on our screens in the Eighties.

All of the above represents good news, I hasten to add.

I have zero problem with them bringing these shows back. But it also makes me wonder: Why?

Before anyone says we are just in the middle of a renewed wave of nostalgia, I would urge caution.

Sure, there is a sense that we are hankering after simpler times.

There is definitely a desire to look back to when thrillers were more thrilling and dramas were more dramatic.

Even some of the revivals have shown that the past ten years have seen a dilution of what is ­acceptable viewing on terrestrial TV.

Look no further than The Night Manager which, in the first series in 2016, had central character Jonathan Pine bed three different women.

In this series, the closest this ­supposedly Bond-style spy got to sex was a bizarre dance with a gay man — and with a woman which involved lots of rubbing of noses and intense stares.

Then, in the ultimate example of how confused our moral values have become, the gay character gets shot dead at the end of the series.

Here was me thinking we had abandoned these drama tropes 20 years ago.

Part of the problem is that the real petri dishes for new dramas have traditionally been BBC Two and Channel 4.

Let’s remember, BBC Two was the place where Line Of Duty, Peaky Blinders and, more recently, Industry first aired. Only after they found audiences were they shifted to BBC One.

But when was the last time you saw a sexy new show on BBC Two — one that had some longevity to it and was not bought in from another country?

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The bizarre sexual dance in the second outing of The Night ManagerCredit: THE NIGHT MANAGER S2 2025 © The Ink Factory/BBC/Amazon – Photographer: Des Willie
 

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Robert Carlyle, who will guest star in rebooted Line Of DutyCredit: Alamy
 

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Marisa Abela, Kit Harington and Myha’la in IndustryCredit: BBC
It has been a similar story over on Channel 4, where money troubles have seen the channel seriously stem its drama output.

One notable exception was 2021’s It’s A Sin from Russell T Davies, the same edgy writer who sparked a bit of a ­revolution in telly in 1999 with Queer As Folk.

He is also the man behind the recent, doomed series of Doctor Who, which ended in disaster due to force-feeding viewers endless woke storylines.

And that is another big part of our messy TV landscape — to get noticed these days you need to make a drama that is unquestion- ably edgy.

But in doing so, any writer, director or producer also enters a spider’s web of trip wires where one wrong move could spell ­disaster for them.

So the creative figures end up going to the streamers instead, where they do not come under the same level of scrutiny and where, let’s face it, we expect to be shocked.

Heck, we actually pay for the privilege of being triggered in some way.

The White Lotus, Baby Reindeer, Slow Horses, Black Doves, The Bear, The Crown, Landman, and Daisy Jones & The Six — they are all modern classics which have some core of controversy.

And don’t tell me it is just about money.

Adolescence, for example, could have been made by almost any channel, on any budget.

But I suspect its subject matter would have made executives at ITV, the BBC, even Channel 4 become instantly jittery.

And perhaps that is what is at the heart of them bringing back the tried-and-tested, better-the- devil-you-know dramas. They are just playing it safe.

In the warped moral minefield that is modern British telly, it seems the only hazard-free route left is the one they have already taken.