The vastly influential showrunner Shonda Rhimes may be American, but she knows a lot about the British way of life. You need only watch her TV blockbuster Bridgerton to prove that point.

As for Britain’s creative edge – the theme of this year’s RTS London Convention – Rhimes puts it down to a mysterious “secret sauce”. 

She says: “It’s no secret that the UK has one of the world’s leading film and TV industries and is undoubtedly a source of iconic entertainment. From Bond to Monty Python, Sherlock to The Crown, the UK’s renowned tradition of creative brilliance, craftsmanship and highly skilled crews is what makes it an amazing place for storytelling.

“For me, this is the special combination. The winning secret sauce. And that is what makes the UK unique.”

For ITV’s This Morning presenter Dermot O’Leary, the “secret” is more elemental. “I think it has a lot to do with the rain and the moistness in the air. Because we spend so much time having to run indoors. I mean it! 

“For a country as small as we are, and one so brilliantly diverse, it always amazes me how much we punch above our weight.”

Co-presenter Alison Hammond agrees: “We’ve got such creative people: great writers, great producers.” She cites Mr Bates vs the Post Office: “Incredible! And Baby Reindeer. And Bake Off – what a great show!”

In the music world, veteran musician Nile Rodgers, of Chic fame has a huge soft spot for Britain. “What makes the UK great, as far as I’m concerned, is it seems like there’s been a tradition of exposing the public to all sorts of music,” he says. “I noticed that when I first started working here. The artists were all very familiar with American music of all forms – jazz, R&B, rock’n’roll – and it made it much more comfortable for me because, whatever projects I got involved in, it was just artistically satisfying.”

“Artistic satisfaction” is also music to the ears of one of Britain’s finest actors, David Tennant, who is cast in Netflix’s adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestselling crime caper The Thursday Murder Club. Tennant says: “Theatre, film and television feed each other in this country, and people flit between the three mediums very happily and energetically. That creates a nice creative circle.

“It makes us all very proud that our industry has such a powerful creative hub in the UK and that so much is made here. It’s a country, obviously, with a great theatrical tradition that a lot of people have come up through — directors, writers and actors.

“That’s something we do very well in this country. It’s something we need to protect, to be careful of. We need to treat it is as precious.”

Tennant’s co-star in The Thursday Murder Club, Tom Ellis, feels that the UK has one vital advantage over Hollywood: “The biggest difference I’ve found from being on a set in the UK and in America is that the feeling of ‘a company’ is very much in our DNA here,” he says.

“Most British actors have started in the theatre, and when you do that, it’s all about everyone being equal: we are a company, working together to achieve one thing. There’s not really the star system that’s in place in Hollywood. That’s something I’ve really felt on this show.”

The world of fashion also plays its part, constantly feeding into the hub of UK creativity. Christopher Kane, the Scottish fashion designer based in London, says: “Fashion, music, art, TV … they’re the best in the world. People look to us for leading the trends. People will always look to the UK for imagination, the best ideas, and breaking the boundaries. 

“That’s what it’s all about. Being creative means not being stagnant. It’s about pushing barriers and just being explosive. Explosions all around!”

Welsh playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan thinks there’s something special in the UK’s island mentality. “There’s a kind of containment to that. But it’s also an open-door island, I like to think, so it’s the multitude of different voices that we have in the UK that have both a British identity but also a global identity.”

Morgan cites the UK’s long and rich literary history and its vibrant theatre scene. “That’s been a hotbed — new writers, new directors, new actors, and so much has fed into the wider creative platform of TV and film.”

So the UK is creatively brilliant, no argument. But how can it stay that way?

Tennant says: “You have to keep looking after the conveyer belt, as it were. We have to protect arts funding, which has done very well for this country, both in terms of  creative output but also what that means economically for our country.”

Speaking from the set of The Thursday Murder Club, he points to “productions like this, being shot in the UK, a British product, full of British stars, from a novel by a British writer. But it’s an international piece of work, and I think we do that very well. We just need to make sure we can keep doing it in future.”

Kane says: “How do we retain the creative edge? From the roots up. It’s all about giving children freedom of expression and never holding back. We need to bring art and music and all those things back into schools. The creative industry  – TV, film and music - it’s real industry. It’s real jobs out there.

“We have this punk attitude that sets us apart. People look to us for that, and hopefully they always will. I think the future’s very bright for the industry.”

Rhimes has no doubts about what would be lost if that bright future is squandered: “Generations of experienced and talented artists have honed their crafts to become the best in their field, and so many of them are right here in the UK. Whether it’s the set designers, the costume artists or prop-makers, the UK has created and cultivated an extraordinary ecosystem to help bring ideas to life.” 

All of the above were speaking in footage filmed for the RTS London Convention. Report by James Bennett.