[robertlagrant]

> ITV and Sky manage to find plenty of poor actors, so clearly having good actors is not just some inherent unearned feature of British TV

Sure, and good British actors do well in the US. The BBC just is more prestigious than ITV/Sky, and might pay better. BBC also has its share of bad actors, of course. I'm just saying that the quality of top British content is more coming from the acting (down to acting schools) than the production house.

> this is a misconception. if you don’t want to pay for the BBC, you don’t have to. it’s just a crime to use it without paying

I think this is a little tricksy - the BBC has had pretty dystopian ads[0][1] out for a long time that mean people pay the licence fee just out of worry about being caught.

[0] https://images.app.goo.gl/5bmE7wpBG23peFVe6

[1] https://images.app.goo.gl/bd1caeqH9NCrSP427