TV Cloning as Transcultural Adaptation: The Reformatting of the Medea Myth via Doctor Foster

Abstract

This special issue asks the question of what new digital technologies bring to the re-telling of old stories. In our contribution, we discuss how the practice of TV cloning on transnational digital streaming platforms has affected almost a decade of remixing and reformatting the Medea myth. In 2015, British playwright Mike Bartlett, best known for his work in theatre, adapted Medea to British television. The resulting BBC production Doctor Foster was a hit and spawned a second series in 2017. Subsequently Doctor Foster became a global phenomenon as it was remade in a variety of surprisingly diverse cultural milieus. The localized adaptations of Doctor Foster are cases of franchise diversification and expansion that gave new traction to the tradition of ‘programme adaptation’ (Keane/Moran) and has been dubbed ‘TV formatting’ (Moran/Malbon, Miller) or ‘TV cloning’ (Fung/Zhang). They are not a new phenomenon, as early 21st century precursors predate the world of television streaming or what Amanda Lotz has called ‘internet-distributed television’, but the diversified world of platform TV seems ideally suited to the practice of TV cloning. According to Michael Keane and Albert Moran (6) the format is ‘the total package of information and know-how that increases the adaptability of a program in another place and time’. Possession of the format enables producers to grant licenses and enforce copyright. The context for this study that seeks to address both the emerging textualities and practices of these digitally transformed TV industries is the fluid redistribution of television consumption zones across the planet.