From Central Cee to Adolescence: in 2025 British culture had a global moment - but can it last?

On the face of it, British culture looks doomed. Our music industry is now borderline untenable, with grassroots venues shuttering at speed (125 in 2023 alone) and artists unable to afford to play the few that are left; touring has become a loss leader that even established acts must subsidise with other work. Meanwhile, streaming has gutted the value of recorded music, leading to industry contraction at the highest level: earlier this year the UK divisions of Warners and Atlantic - two of our biggest record labels - were effectively subsumed into the US business. Brits abroad … (Clockwise from top left) PinkPanthress, Slow Horses, Oasis, The Ballad of Wallis Island, Lily Allen, Adolescence, Central Cee, Charli xcx.Composite: Apple TV +, Getty Image, Courtesy of Netflix, Focus Features ©2025 All Rights Reserved, BBC/Various Artists Limited/James Stack Cool Britannia … Mr Bates vs the Post Office.Photograph: ITV/Shutterstock Viral hit … 28 Years Later.Photograph: Miya Mizuno Close encounter of the furred kind … Jade Thirwall performing at Glastonbury 2025.Photograph: Harry Durrant/Getty Images Orange theory … Devonté Hynes.Photograph: Alessandro Bosio/Alamy Funny business … Such Brave Girls.Photograph: BBC/Various Artists Limited/James Stack Playing chicken … Amelia Dimoldenberg at the Oscars.Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters In comedy, the Edinburgh fringe - the crucible of modern British standup, sketch and sitcom - is in existential crisis thanks to a dearth of sponsorship and prohibitively high costs for performers. Our film industry is at this point almost totally reliant on (dwindling) US funds; while Britain remains a popular filming destination due to tax breaks and appealing locations, the vast majority of the productions made here ultimately generate American profits. As the BBC, bedrock of our cultural life, lurches from crisis to crisis, the TV industry at large has been ruinously compromised by broadcasters’ inability to pay for programming due to advertising cuts and ballooning costs. Like film, it has become dependent on international investment - to the extent that many are concerned that we’ve lost the ability to make programmes exclusively for British audiences. Shows that cannot attract foreign money rely on goodwill, with directors, writers and stars of flagship dramas taking significant pay cuts just to get them made (see: the second instalment of the double-Bafta-winning Wolf Hall). Unlike US-based streamers, we are incapable of converting viewership into profit: ripped-from-the-headlines drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office attracted an audience of more than 13 million and still lost around £1m, something ITV boss Kevin Lygo attributed to its lack of sales in other territories. How on earth do we sustain an uncompromising, idiosyncratic arts sector in these circumstances? One result of the globalisation of entertainment is that success is now judged by the number of nationally indistinct eyeballs or eardrums culture can attract. As a small island, we are surely destined to matter less and less. Except something strange has happened. Amid this catastrophe, British culture is booming. Not only are we dominating the global zeitgeist, but we’re doing so with art that reckons with our heritage and sensibility...

Preview: ~500 words