What's dystopian is not the tv license, is their style of public communication. In general public communication in the UK feels sometimes very direct and almost threatening. The sense of authority and hierarchy implied is palpable. Not for nothing the UK is source of some wonderful parodies on the theme: for example the Scarfolk series:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/digging-through-the-ar...
Or one of my favourite Monthy Python sketches:
"How not to be seen": https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGv8oAHxekU