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24 January 2014

INTERVIEW

DIARY OF A DG

IN FOCUS

Page 22

Pages 4 & 5

Page 28

True North: getting Exclusive: Tony Hall’s down to business first months in office

Culture clash: Midsomer heads to Denmark

C4 unveils £20m indie fund

Broadcaster plans ‘adrenaline shot’ for UK production sector with launch of its Growth Fund

BY CHRIS CURTIS

Channel 4 will give the UK production sector a £20m “adrenaline shot” by investing in a raft of indies over the next three years.

The broadcaster is to take stakes of up to 25% in production companies, and expects to strike its first deals by the end of March. It is close to appointing a high-profile head of its Growth Fund to lead the initiative, and will also create an advisory board to provide strategic guidance and act as the fund’s “conscience”.

The broadcaster trailed the strategy at the RTS Cambridge Convention in September, and chief executive David Abraham told Broadcast this week that it was a “genuinely exciting moment in C4’s history”.

“This is a new interpretation of C4’s remit, a way of helping the next generation of producers to grow,” he said.

Indies keen to win C4 investment will need to present a balanced case: they will be expected to have a highquality pipeline of ideas and content, as well as a strong business case to explain what the cash would enable them to do. That could be adding development or production staff, improving infrastructure or investing in technology.

C4 will consider producers with a turnover of less than £10m, a higher figure than initially mooted at Cambridge. The new figure means it could strike deals with wellestablished suppliers – the likes of Keo Films and Windfall Films would fall in that bracket, based on Broadcast’s Indie Survey last year.

This is a new interpretation of C4’s remit, a way of helping the next generation of producers to grow

Abraham: investment by Channel 4 would boost an indie’s kudos, but there will be no guarantee of work

C4 GROWTH FUND KEY FACTS Channel 4 will invest £20m over the first three years. Its ambition is to grow the fund if successful ■ C4 will build balanced portfolio of indies across genres ■

While there is no formal agreement in place with Pact, the trade body confirmed it is on board with the plans last week, following assurances from C4 that the scheme will be operated fairly and all indies will be treated equally by commissioners.

Abraham stressed that indies that win investment will not be offered an output deal. He said:

C4 happy to invest alongside commercial companies’ umbrella deals ■ Head of fund will report into group finance director Glyn Isherwood ■

“There is no guarantee of work, but an investment by C4 would boost an indie’s kudos. It might help them attract more funding, or open doors in other markets.”

The plan is for C4 to hold its investment in the indies for around five years.

“We’re acting neither as a charity nor as a VC – it’s about us squaring that circle. We will help

fantastic companies create value, and share in that,” Abraham said.

Any money generated will either refresh the fund or go into C4’s commissioning budget. Abraham said he hoped the size of the fund would grow after its initial three years.

The head of the fund will report to group finance director Glyn Isherwood, while the advisory board is likely to be chaired by Film 4 controller Tessa Ross and will include indie sector grandees.

By taking stakes of less than 25%, C4 will ensure the producers retain their official ‘qualifying indie’ status, so they remain part of the various PSB quotas.

Companies can register their interest in the initiative via growthfund@channel4.co.uk.

Editor’s Choice

Broadcast, 101 Finsbury Pavement, London EC2A 1RS or email lisa.campbell@broadcastnow.co.uk

Online this week www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Lisa Campbell, Editor

Top News

C4’s right to strengthen indie ties But broadcaster must continue to broaden TV’s supply base

I

t seems that it’s never been a better time to be an indie, as buyers from ITV Studios to Sky Vision line up for a piece of IP. Last week, we reported that Sony had finally done a deal with Karl Warner’s start-up, while Hat Trick announced it had set aside funds for backing talent and start-ups.

Rumours that Betty owner Discovery is in talks with another indie are doing the rounds, while this week we report that

‘Channel 4 will have to prove to cynics that it is not about propping up declining ad revenue’ Time Warner has accelerated its deal to take full ownership of Shed Media – three years ahead of schedule (see page 3).

Now, Channel 4 is putting its money where its mouth is – some £20m in fact – with plans to buy stakes in indies, as announced by David Abraham at the RTS Cambridge Convention in September.

The Growth Fund is bigger than expected, so C4’s intention to play a major role supporting new talent and start-ups is clear.

What has also emerged is that further down the line, the broadcaster may look to do umbrella deals with more established names – a recognition of natural churn in the industry and a bid to encourage key creatives to strike out on their own.

It’s a ground-breaking move, designed to “add a new dimension” to the broadcaster’s existing support for 2 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

è Sherlock producer Hartswood Films and Waterloo Road indie Shed Media have added their voices to calls for changes to the BBC’s quotas.

è US broadcaster Esquire Network has indies by stimulating growth outside of the normal commissioning cycle. In a climate in which everyone else seems to be snapping up rights, it’s important not to be left on the sidelines, not least when indies could be in line for a bigger piece of the commissioning pie should charter renewal shake up BBC quotas.

Abraham will not want his legacy to be solely about building online viewing and targeted advertising; when he does decide to move on, he’ll want to leave behind a broadcaster unhampered by its publisher-broadcaster status in a rapidly changing landscape. Above all, he’ll want C4 to be a company that has imaginatively reinvented its remit to nurture the independent sector.

C4 hasn’t had the smoothest of relationships with suppliers over the past year or two, but providing this alternative source of funding is one way of forging stronger links with the sector.

While the fund will deliver additional commercial return to C4, the broadcaster will have to prove to cynics that it is not about propping up declining ad revenue or saving tax but, first and foremost, about fostering growth and taking indies to the next level.

Critics have already expressed such concerns, which is why appointees to C4’s advisory committee will be key in ensuring the broadcaster makes the right choices, has an arms-length relationship with those in which it invests and, importantly, in an industry desperately lacking diversity, makes sure C4 continues to broaden television’s supply base.

commissioned Jane Root’s Nutopia to make doc series Downfall, which charts the rise and fall of prominent people.

è All3Media International is on the brink of selling Ross Noble: Freewheeling, Dave’s tweet-driven comic travelogue, as a format to Turner in the US.

Ratings Top Five 1 The climax of ITV’s Coronation Street’s euthanasia storyline delivered 10m on Monday, its best ratings in nine months.

2 BBC1’s Call The Midwife returned for a third run on Sunday night with 9.6m, its biggest audience to date.

The Voice UK dipped to 7.6m, but the BBC1 talent contest remained the mostwatched show on Saturday night.

3

4 BBC1’s Hidden Kingdoms was squashed by the competition on Thursday night – pulling in 3.4m viewers.

5 Ben Miller’s exit doesn’t appear to have harmed Death In Paradise as it hit 7m viewers on Tuesday.

Talking TV podcast è Visit broadcastnow.co.uk or iTunes to download our latest podcast, featuring an interview with Channel 4 commissioner Nick Mirsky and a look ahead to Henry Winkler’s new CBBC show.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

Time speeds up Shed buyout It is believed Time Warner’s strategy is based on its preference for full ownership of companies

BY liSa CaMpBell

Time Warner wants to accelerate a plan to take full ownership of Shed Media ahead of schedule, Broadcast has learned.

Warner bought a controlling stake (55.75%) in Shed in October 2010 for close to £100m.

It has now emerged that the 2010 deal was structured over seven years and divided into two parts.

Under the first part, company founders received an immediate payout, as well as securing a bonus payment three-and-a-half years later (March 2014), when they are scheduled to sell their current 21.37% stake.

This will be paid out in a few months to individuals including Eileen Gallagher, Nicholas Powell, Brian Park, Anne McManus and Alex Graham.

The second part of the deal is the element that is set to be brought forward. It involves the US company acquiring the remaining 22.88% of the company, which is owned by Shed’s minority stakeholders.

The Voice: BBC1 talent contest is produced by Shed Media’s Wall to Wall

That had been scheduled to take place in 2017, but it is understood that Warner’s proposals to take 100% ownership of the company now was agreed by the Shed board late last year.

Warner’s plan would also have to be approved by Shed’s

minority stakeholders, who are believed to comprise the current management teams of Shedowned companies such as Twenty Twenty, Wall to Wall and Ricochet.

Those shareholders would receive an unexpected windfall

now rather than in 2017, but would miss out on any upside delivered over that period.

There are also questions around the retention of staff if they receive bonus payments early, although it is understood this is being factored into negotiations.

It is believed that Time Warner’s strategy is based on its preference for full ownership of companies rather than operating joint ventures. “The culture of part-owning a business is a bit odd for them,” said one source.

Any deal would also simplify certain processes such as accounting, with marked differences between practices in the US and UK creating different sets of profitability figures.

Shed Media and Time Warner declined to comment.

Argonon expands indie base with Blacklisted BY peTer WhiTe

Argonon has invested in new drama indie Blacklisted Films, run by Leopardrama exec David Chikwe, as it expands its range of umbrella deals.

The group has backed the joint venture, which will focus on pitching “off-the-beaten-track” drama to digital platforms such as Netflix and Hulu, as well as terrestrial broadcasters.

Blacklisted Films has a slew of projects in development: sitcom Living Well, about a male-tofemale transsexual, written by EastEnders and Casualty writer Steve Keyworth, which is thought to have secured interest from the BBC; The Willows, a psychological thriller from Afterlife creator Stephen Volk; and coming-out www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Blacklisted looks to work in a space that’s off the beaten track, both in genre and talent terms David Chikwe, Blacklisted

Chikwe: heading up joint venture

drama Forward, written by playwright Stephen Laughton.

Chikwe, who was most recently a development producer at Leopardrama, will continue to coproduce its projects, including feature films Danny La Rue and Mother Of Sorrows, plus CBBC kids’ drama Eve, which he co-created.

Leopardrama will focus on more mainstream, mass-appeal dramas for the main terrestrial networks as a result of the launch of Blacklisted.

Argonon chief executive James Burstall said the strategy was to provide creative talent with the infrastructure to help manage their own businesses.

“It’s not dissimilar to the old Hollywood studio system,” he said.

“It’s important that the world of

television doesn’t become homogeneous and full of corporate blobs, otherwise we’ll lose those individual voices.”

Chikwe will be supported by executive producer Joey Attawia, with whom he has worked on projects including Quentin Crisp’s An Englishman In New York.

“Blacklisted looks to work in a space that’s off the beaten track, both in genre and talent terms, but always keeping an eye on how a proposition can cross over and capture a mainstream audience,” said Chikwe.

Blacklisted is the latest indie in which Argonon has invested.

Others are Britespark Films, established by former Cineflix head of documentaries Nick Godwin, and Transparent Television, which Argonon acquired last year.

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 3

News & Analysis

Diary of a director general An exclusive look at the people Tony Hall has met in his first seven months at the BBC helm

BY JAKE KANTER

The political pressure and manoeuvring that comes with being director general of the BBC has been laid bare in an analysis of Tony Hall’s diary for his first seven months in office.

Hall held meetings or had calls with senior government figures and high-profile politicians 18 times between 2 April (his first day) and 24 October 2013, according to a Freedom of Information Act request by Broadcast.

That compares with two meetings with major indie bosses (see box, right) and 11 with broadcasting peers or grandees, including ITV chief executive Adam Crozier and Michael Grade.

Exactly a month into the job, Hall visited Downing Street to spend 30 minutes with prime minister David Cameron and, later in the day, an hour with chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne.

The meetings, which were also attended by BBC director of strategy and digital James Purnell, would have represented a welcome party for Hall as he bids to rebuild trust in the corporation following the Jimmy Savile crisis in 2012.

Contact was maintained with Downing Street when Hall had lunch with Cameron’s director of communications Craig Oliver on 15 July, and he also met deputy prime minister Nick Clegg on 22 May. Further analysis of Hall’s diary reveals how much energy was put into preparing for parliamentary committee hearings. During the period examined, Hall twice gave evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee – a general session on 25 April and a 22 October annual reports hearing – and appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 10 July to discuss payoffs.

The three events required more than 30 hours of preparation and 4 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

practice questioning, which often involved BBC spin doctors, such as head of corporate and public affairs Andrew Scadding and former head of communications Julian Payne.

Discussions with culture secretary Maria Miller and other members of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) were also a feature of Hall’s first seven months, with four formal conversations.

He spoke to the culture secretary on the morning of the BBC’s calamitous PAC hearing on senior management payoffs in September, which the director general did not attend, and their paths crossed two days later on 11 September at the RTS Cambridge Convention.

Question marks over the BBC’s governance reached fever pitch at

on vid Camer a D r te is in Prime M

As you would expect, Tony Hall meets a range of people from across public life Spokesman, BBC

the event, at which Miller said the broadcaster had suffered an “annus horribilis”. The contact that Hall and right-hand man Purnell have had with the DCMS will pave the way for charter renewal negotiations, which are likely to start this year, ahead of implementation of the new BBC operating agreement in 2016.

Senior Labour party figures also featured in Hall’s schedule, including shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman – the first politician he formally met after taking office.

Hall saw shadow chancellor Ed Balls and former culture

Maria Miller, DCMS e Osborne g r o e G r o Chancell

secretary Ben Bradshaw on 4 July, while he met Tessa Jowell on 10 July.

Hall also made time for political figures in the nations. He spent an hour with Alex Salmond on 1 May, in a meeting that could prove crucial if Scotland votes for independence and the first minister sets about breaking up the BBC. The director general also sat down with Welsh first minister Carwyn Howell Jones on 17 June at the National Assembly for Wales.

Hall’s other notable meetings included one-to-one sessions with PAC chair Margaret Hodge, skills and enterprise minister Matthew Hancock and Lord Marland, the parliamentary undersecretary for intellectual property. A BBC spokesman said: “As you would expect, Tony Hall meets a wide range of people from across public life.”

Details of Hall’s diary were released to Broadcast last week following a request in October 2013. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

For all the latest breaking news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk

MEETINGS WITH MEDIA MINDS

t , All3Media Farah Ramzan Golan

Tony Hall met the great and the good of the UK media industry as he familiarised himself with the task in hand at the BBC. He breakfasted with ITV chief executive Adam Crozier and shared an evening drink with Channel 4 boss David Abraham, while there was a phone call and coffee with Tom Mockridge (pictured), the newly installed Virgin Media chief executive.

Hall also picked up the phone to BT boss Gavin Patterson, but the same could not be said of Sky

30

The number of hours Tony Hall spent preparing for parliamentary committee hearings

boss Jeremy Darroch, who did not feature in the BBC director general’s schedule.

Newspaper chiefs were also prominent, with Sarah Sands the first to get her foot in the door as the Evening Standard gears up to launch London Live.

The Financial Times’ Lionel Barber, former Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher, Daily Mirror boss Lloyd Embley and Simon Heffer, editor of the Daily Mail’s comment section RightMinds, also spent time with Hall.

In contrast, indie bosses barely featured in the director general’s diary. All3Media chief executive Farah Ramzan Golant snatched a drink in June, while Avalon Entertainment managing director Jon Thoday also secured a meeting.

But there was no recorded session with Pact chief executive John McVay.

PASSION FOR THE ARTS

MS

TV zier, I o r C Adam

UNIONS AND OTHER BUSINESS Hall’s itinerary shows real engagement with trade unions, who were granted at least nine formal meetings with the director general.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet and her Bectu counterpart Gerry Morrissey featured most heavily as Hall actioned Dinah Rose’s Respect at Work review on bullying. He is likely to have hosted other discussions on Delivering Quality First job cuts and the corporation’s 2013-14 pay offer.

If union meetings are commonplace, there were also some more unusual entries in the

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC director general’s diary. Among them was a session with former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, while Hall also sat down with Doreen Lawrence on 19 June – the day a concert was announced in memory of her murdered son, Stephen Lawrence, which BBC1 aired in October. Another notable entry was lunch with former deputy DG Mark Byford (pictured) in October, amid the payoffs scandal.

Hall’s passion for arts and culture is clear from the pages of his diary, which is packed with big hitters from the creative industries. Hall has pledged a 20% funding boost for BBC arts content and is hunting for an executive to lead the expansion. His meetings with industry figures are likely to have helped shape this vision.

Hall evidently has a good relationship with Arts Council chief executive Alan Davey – whom he made time for twice – while there were further appointments with at least two former Royal Opera House colleagues.

The director general also sat down with Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota and Dominic Dromgoole, the artistic director at Shakespeare’s Globe, who may play a role in the BBC’s plans to digitise its entire Shakespeare archive to mark the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death in 2016. Hay Festival founder Peter Florence also secured a slot in Hall’s diary.

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 5

News & Analysis

TV is second screen for kids CBBC controller cites BBC iPlayer data as evidence of children’s viewing and gaming habits

BY JAKE KANTER

CBBC controller Cheryl Taylor has claimed that the television has become the second screen for children as she prepares to launch a wide range of digital projects.

BBC iPlayer figures and other online data show that tablets and mobiles have overtaken television as the primary platform through which children consumed programming over the past year, according to Taylor.

“We talk about second screen, but within the past few months, the television has become the second screen and, for our audience, tablet and mobiles are the first screen,” the former BBC comedy controller told Broadcast.

Earlier this month, CBBC launched its first playalong app to accompany Boom Pictures and Cube Interactive’s 20 x 30-minute sci-fi series Ludus. The iOS and Android app allows viewers to compete at the same time as the show’s contestants as they battle to defeat a dastardly space villain.

“We’ve all been playing it madly for the past couple of weeks and the tech has held up really well,” Taylor said, adding that the audio watermarking technology used will also support a companion app for Horrible History spin-off quiz Gory Games.

The game, which is due to launch in April as part of a wider Horrible Histories show app, will test contestants’ knowledge of history. CBBC plans to air episodes from previous series to give children the chance to play along at home with the repeats for the first time.

Taylor suggested that the technology, which allows secondscreen content to sync with the TV, may be rolled out to other brands including Blue Peter and Operation Ouch!. “As a public service tool that is entertaining and gently educative, it’s going to be really useful,” she said.

Taylor also has one eye on further technological developments, which merge live video and gaming on a single screen. “What 6 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

Ludus: CBBC launched its first playalong app for Boom Pictures and Cube Interactive sci-fi series (above and below)

Television has become the second screen for our audience – tablets and mobiles are the first screen Cheryl Taylor, CBBC

we will probably move to with the playalong experiences is doing them as an overlay on one half of the mobile device. You might not even need two devices,” she said.

However, Taylor admitted that this was some way off and while the BBC is aiming to increase the sophistication of online offerings, a split-screen proposition is not yet being formally developed.

Elsewhere, CBBC is preparing to launch its first standalone online interactive drama on 24 February.

Dixie centres on a teenage girl’s

attempts to discover who hacked into her profile on the eponymous fictitious social networking site.

CBBC will distribute 30 daily episodes via its website and give visitors the opportunity to discuss the story in web chats as they attempt to solve who stole the Dixie identity. A mock version of the social network has also been created, where the characters will post messages to each other.

Inventive content The Kindle Entertainment series is designed to highlight the potential perils of posting too much personal information online and its launch has been timed around Safer Internet Day on 11 February.

Kindle’s Melanie Stokes is the executive producer.

“The message is ‘be careful what you do on social networking sites’.

We don’t like being heavyhanded with education, but this is very inventive and dramatically engaging,” Taylor said.

“If it works in the way we want it to, who knows? It might grow into something that becomes a longer narrative on the channel. It’s like piloting characters and ideas.”

The digital projects, including a series of webisodes launched this month to support drama The Dumping Ground, represent an experimental period for CBBC, which has been tasked by the BBC Trust with keeping pace with the fastevolving children’s content market.

Taylor explained: “Even if all the things don’t achieve the success we want, there’s no looking back now. I’ve got no doubt that we will be looking at how we can take these ideas forward, particularly on established brands. It’s about giving the ardent fans other things to think about in more accessible places.”

She added that including interactive elements within a programme is helping indies to secure a commission, and while budgets for digital-only projects remain smaller than traditional television tariffs, she will fight for more funding in the space. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

5 February 2014 | Grosvenor House | London

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Commissioning News

BBC drama targets new writers The Secrets will bring outstanding voices, writing original pieces, to the BBC

BY AndreAs WisemAn

BBC1 has commissioned Working Title Television to produce drama strand The Secrets, which will pair emerging writers with established acting and directing talent.

The strand will comprise 5 x 30-minute dramas, with a five-week shoot launching in London this week ahead of broadcast later this year. Director Dominic Savage will oversee all five episodes, which are connected by an explosive secret.

Playwrights Nick Payne and Elinor Cook make their TV debut for the strand, alongside emerging talents Ben Ockrent and Sarah Solemani. Executive producers are Juliette Howell for Working Title Television and Lucy Richer for the BBC. The strand was commissioned

by Ben Stephenson, controller, BBC drama commissioning, and BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore.

The first of two episodes from Payne will star Olivia Colman, Alison Steadman and Steve Oram in the story of a vet expecting her first child, who has access to drugs that put pets to sleep, and a mother who is chronically ill and wants to die.

Lucy Richer, BBC

sarah solemani: the actress is best known for her role in BBC3’s Him & Her

The writer’s well-received play, Constellations, starring Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins, was nominated in 2012 for the Olivier Award for Best New Play.

Ockrent, a playwright, has previously written on Big Talk’s Youngers and Shed’s Waterloo Road, while Cook won the 2013 George Devine Award for most-promising playwright. Actress Solemani is known for her roles in Him & Her, The Wrong Mans and Bad Education, and recently wrote and starred in Sky Living’s well-received Aphrodite Fry.

The commission represents a renewed commitment to emerging writing talent by the BBC after its decision to stop the long-running Writers Academy following the departure of its head, John Yorke.

The initiative has been replaced by smaller-scale Shadow Schemes.

Meanwhile, drama executives including Caryn Mandabach have expressed concern about the lack of support for new writers across the industry (see Broadcast, 24.10.13).

The order follows the announcement at the 2012 Edinburgh Inter-

ITV2 gives green light to Release The Hounds

Discovery orders four-part nature series from Blink

Nutopia wins commission from new Esquire channel

ITV2 has commissioned a full series of Gogglebox Entertainment’s horror gameshow Release The Hounds following a successful Halloween pilot. The channel has green-lit a 6 x 60-minute series following a pilot episode that consolidated with 361,000 (2%) viewers on its launch on 28 October and gained another 658,000 (5.8%) for its second airing on Halloween. Release The Hounds, fronted by Reggie Yates (pictured), was commissioned

by ITV commissioning editor for entertainment Kate Maddigan and director of digital channels and acquisitions Angela Jain. It is exec produced by Gogglebox Entertainment’s Adam Wood and Mat Steiner.

Discovery has commissioned a four-part natural history series from Blink Films about relationships between humans and animals. Discovery Networks International has ordered My Wild Affair, a 4 x 60-minute series, to air on Animal Planet in the UK in late spring.

Co-produced in association with Canadian indie Newroad Media, the series includes the tale of an orang-utan that teaches sign language and a black rhino that lives in a suburban family home. It is exec produced by Blink’s Dan Chambers, Newroad Media’s Marlo Miazga and Ann Marie Redmond, Discovery Networks International’s Helen Hawken and PBS’s Bill Margol.

Jane Root’s Nutopia has scored an order from nascent US broadcaster Esquire Network. The broadcaster has commissioned documentary series Downfall (w/t) from Nutopia, which will track the spectacular rise and fall of prominent businessmen, politicians and athletes. Downfall is the latest US order for Nutopia, which is run by former BBC2 controller and Discovery Channel US president Root.

Esquire is a joint venture between Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal, and ties in with the male lifestyle magazine. It launched last year, replacing The Style Network in the US.

8 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

E4 orders pilot for fantasy drama Alt to air in spring E4 is piloting a fantasy drama from Being Human writer Jamie Mathieson, produced by Mammoth Screen. The digital

national TV Festival of the BBC’s Drama Talent Scheme, aimed at showcasing new writers alongside established creatives and cast.

Savage said: “Working with new and talented writers along with the best actors the UK has to offer is a real privilege and I can’t wait to get started.”

Richer added: “With the creative hand of Dominic Savage and his unique collaborative way of working, The Secrets will bring critically acclaimed and outstanding voices, writing original pieces, to screen on the BBC.”

For details of all commissions, see

http://greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

broadcaster has ordered Alt to enter production this month ahead of a broadcast in the spring. Alt is billed as a ‘mind-bending’ comedy drama, with Games Of Thrones’ Gethin Anthony (pictured) in the lead role as 24-year-old Danny.

The hour-long pilot was com-

missioned by C4 deputy head of drama Beth Willis. It was written

by Mathieson and directed by Ben Caron, who has worked on Derren Brown’s shows and My Mad Fat Diary. It is produced by Toby Welch and exec produced by Rebecca Keane, Preethi Mavahalli and Damien Timmer. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

For more projects in development and the latest commissions, visit

http://greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

Q&A sTEVE TITHERINgToN steve Titherington senior commissioning editor, Global news, BBC World service What’s your most recent commission and why?

An investigation into virtual slavery of fishermen in Thai fishing boats. It covers the effect this has on communities there and how the events are connected to the global food trade. It forms the opening of our Freedom2014 season, which looks at the state of freedom around the world.

How much has the programme changed from what was initially pitched?

We have internationalised it more and tried to pick out the individual stories. But this was a well-researched pitch that was part of our internal Creative Challenge bidding process, which encourages everyone working in BBC Global News to come up with bold ideas.

What was it that grabbed you?

It would only work if we immersed the story in the people and the place. We need to get out of the building more. I like our reporting to be out there “in the world”, and this was it.

What would you like more of?

Adventurous ideas that are truly international and really matter.

What’s a definite no for you?

People talking about things they don’t care about or know about.

What’s the best line you’ve heard in a pitch?

“I want to know what the world imagines the future looks like.” That was it. We launched a worldwide competition on the basis of that, which brought in hundreds of fantastic images and ideas from across the globe. We are doing something similar this year with Freedom2014 – asking our worldwide audience what freedom looks like to them.

What’s the worst line you’ve heard in a pitch?

“This will definitely work across all media…” without saying why.

What’s your riskiest commission and why?

New programmes are always risky. There’s only so much you can do in terms of research – you have to do what you feel is right and will attract new audiences. The World Service broadcasts a programme called The Fifth Floor, which highlights the journalism and journalists from the language services. It’s very funny and satirical, as they take many more risks than a UK-centric journalist ever would. I think it changed our perception of what the World Service can do in terms of opening up to the real debate within any country.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Trying to mend old racing bikes while listening to reruns of Car Talk from Public Radio in the US. What is the most important lesson life as a commissioner has taught you?

Don’t avoid making a decision.

How quickly do you aim to respond to an idea?

Instantly, when possible.

Who has final sign-off?

Me. How should producers pitch to you?

One sheet of A4. Be very clear as to the story, the treatment and why the World Service should do it. We are not Radio 4.

What’s your top pitching tip for producers?

If you don’t care passionately about making it work, don’t do it.

Further information and programming tariffs available at: http://greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

RECENT CommIssIoNs

THailand’S Slave fiSHermen

miSSing HiSTorieS: CHina and japan

Production company BBC Radio Current Affairs Duration 1 x 60 minutes TX 9am, Saturday 25 January, BBC World Service Summary Becky Palmstrom investigates this tale of modern day slavery.

She travels to Thailand and Burma to find out why and how illegal migrants are being forced onto Thai fishing boats, many of them working for months unpaid. She hears allegations of cruelty and even murder.

Production company BBC Radio Current Affairs Duration 2 x 60 minutes TX 9am, Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 February, BBC World Service Summary Chinese journalist Haining Liu visits Japan, hosted by Japanese journalist Mariko Oi. Mariko then travels to China, hosted by Haining. Together they explore their countries’ troubled pasts and discover that despite deep cultural links between their two nations, history remains a barrier.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 9

International News

‘The future is co-productions’ British and European indies are keen to build closer ties following recent cross-border successes BY peTer whITe

European indies including The Returned (Les Revenants) producer Haut et Court and Crossing Lines producer Tandem are keen to agree more international co-productions to boost the volume of English-language series they are developing.

Speaking at the Totally Serialized event at the Institut Français in London, Haut et Court producer Caroline Benjo said she intended to leverage the success of the French zombie drama to develop the nation’s scripted efforts.

She admitted that Haut et Court had been approached by international broadcasters keen to commission it directly, but said the company preferred to use the global interest to foster relationships with French broadcasters.

“We’re trying to build a connection with other countries,” she said.

“Since we’re approached by international broadcasters, we want to convince them to work with the broadcasters we like in France.”

Benjo believes that a vibrant French drama industry will ultimately result in a healthier market for the country’s producers.

In addition to a second series of The Returned, Haut et Court is working with UK indie Warp Films on heist drama The Panthers for Sky Atlantic and Canal+. The series is based on the true story of an international crime gang that emerged from the former Yugoslavia after the Balkans war.

It is also working with US cable network A&E to remake The Returned for the US. Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse, who is currently working on series two of Psycho prequel Bates Motel, is in talks to exec produce an English-language version, which is set to be a co-production with Fremantle Media North America.

Meanwhile, Tandem Communications, the company behind mini-series The Pillars 10 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

The Tunnel: co-producer Canal+ is looking for more english-language co-pros following the series’ success

Of The Earth, which aired on Channel 4, and procedural drama Crossing Lines, acquired by Lovefilm, revealed it is looking to grow its UK division and will forge closer ties with sister firm Red Production Company.

Last Tango In Halifax producer Red was acquired in December by Studiocanal, which also owns a stake in Germany-based Tandem.

“We are so happy Studiocanal invested in Red Production Company. This is a company that has a strong position in this market and will help us as we look to expand,” Tandem

founder Rola Bauer told Broadcast at the Totally Serialized event.

“Considering their track record and what they’ve done, I’m very pleased with that relationship.”

Cross-Channel connections At the event, several UK and French producers met to discuss the increasing opportunities for coproductions between the countries.

Dominique Jubin, director of French drama and co-productions at pay-TV broadcaster Canal+, which co-produced Kudos’s The Tunnel with Sky Atlantic, said she was hunting for more English-

BARBARELLA AT A GLANCE Amazon is hoping that a French co-production can help it to rival Netflix as it prepares to launch a VoD service.

The online retail giant is developing a remake of Barbarella, the iconic 1968 film starring Jane Fonda (pictured), after striking a deal with producer Gaumont International Television.

French pay-TV network Canal+ originally greenlit the series, which will be executive produced by Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn. Its British writers, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, previously penned the James Bond film Skyfall.

Amazon Studios has now come on board the project, produced by Gaumont – the company behind Netflix’s own Hemlock Grove – which will help to kick-start its push into long-form, scripted television.

language co-productions following the success of the crime drama.

Canal+ is preparing to produce Versailles, an English-language series set in the court of Louis XIV. Written by Spooks creator David Wolstencroft and Criminal Minds’ Simon Mirren, the 12 x 60-minute show is being produced by Zodiak Media-owned French indie Marathon and Capa Drama. The project is targeting international partners.

Meanwhile, Mammoth Screen managing director Michele Buck revealed she was keen to forge new relationships with broadcasters across the Channel. “The French are becoming more interested in English drama,” she said. “I think it’s the beginning of a new era.”

Separately, Hilary Norrish, who has worked on series including BBC2 drama White Heat and BBC1’s Garrow’s Law, also has an as-yet-undisclosed French-English co-production project in development, while Death In Paradise creator Robert Thorogood said he was weighing up more opportunities following the success of the BBC and France Télévisions cop drama.

“The future is co-productions,” Thorogood said. “This is the only way that we can afford to make television now.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

For all the latest breaking news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Sideline wins first UK commission with C5 series BY peTer whITe

You can expect murder, sex, betrayal, battle, torture and intrigue

Channel 5 has ordered a sixpart documentary series about castles from Sideline Productions, marking the Irish indie’s first ever UK series commission.

Great British Castles is a loose remake of Sideline’s Irish series Tales Of Irish Castles, which is set to air on TV3 later this year.

C5’s 6 x 50-minute doc series will be presented by Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England, as part of a deal to front a number of history series for the Northern & Shell-owned broadcaster.

The show, a co-production with GroupM Entertainment, will tell the stories of six of Britain’s best-loved castles and their role in British history using aerial footage, CGI renders and reconstructions.

Sideline Productions creative director Billy McGrath said the Irish version was slightly lighter in tone and covered up to 50 castles, whereas the C5 version will have one castle per episode.

“It’s like the difference between Popstars and The Voice,” he said.

McGrath said he wanted to make the show fun and not take an overtly academic approach to the stories.

Sideline will start talks with international distributors and

McGrath said he was keen to do more. “There’s no reason we can’t do Great German Castles,” he added.

Great British Castles was commissioned by C5 factual commissioning editor Simon Raikes, who said the show was a great “kick-off project” for Jones, whom he

Boxatricks strikes Nordic World first-look deal

All3Media America wins CNBC gambling series

Boxatricks, the UK format company set up by Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? co-creators Michael Whitehill and David Briggs, has struck a first-look deal with distributor Nordic World.

Boxatricks will develop formats for the owners of Nordic World – broadcasters TV2 Norway and TV4 Sweden – which the Scandinavian firm will then distribute internationally. Whitehill and Briggs are in development with a number of ent formats but have yet to reveal any commissions. The agreement is the debut first-look deal struck by Nordic World, which is keen to increase its global reach. Last week, the company acquired Dutch format firm Absolutely Independent.

All3Media America is delving into the high-stakes world of sports gambling with a series for US network CNBC. The news broadcaster has commissioned the 8 x 60-minute series Money Talks from All3Media’s US arm, which will be produced in association with UK feature film indie Lost Tribe Productions and US producer Turn Left Productions.

Money Talks (left) will follow Steve Stevens, a sports handicapper who runs betting firm VIP Sports out of Las Vegas, as he sells his picks to gamblers. The series was ordered by Jim Ackerman, senior vice-president, primetime alternative programming, at CNBC, who will exec produce alongside All3Media America boss Stephen

Lambert, plus Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Todd Crites, Jackson Nguyen and Myles Reiff.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Simon Raikes, Channel 5

Tales Of Irish Castles: series is being remade as Great British Castles

described as one the “hottest names in history at the moment”.

“You can expect murder, sex, betrayal, battle, torture and intrigue,” said Rakes. “British castles are not just the most visible traces of our past; they are the stages on which the most extraordinary, iconic and visceral human dramas in British history were played out.”

A US version of the format is unlikely due to the country’s lack of historical castles but, regardless, Sideline will be heading to the Realscreen Summit in Washington DC next week to pitch new projects including The Food Fairy, The Giant DIY Challenge and Rock N Roll Truckers.

Arrow breaks for the border with Travel Channel series The Travel Channel has ordered documentary series Border Rico from Arrow Media, focusing on the US-Puerto Rico border, host to multimillion-dollar drug busts, smugglers and stranded migrants.

The 6 x 30-minute series order is the latest international commission for John Smithson’s factual indie following deals for Inside Waco for Investigation Discovery and JFK: The Lost Tapes for Discovery. Border Rico, which will air on Travel Channel in the US, was ordered by director of programming Bill Howard, who will exec produce along with Arrow Media’s Nick Metcalfe.

Storyville to air Spurlock’s Chinese web addict doc BBC4 has acquired a documentary

about internet addiction in China. Feature-length doc Web Junkie (above) will air as part of BBC4’s Storyville strand later this year after BBC4 picked it up from distributor Dogwoof. The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, looks at internet addiction in China, the first country to label overuse as a critical condition. It focuses on a treatment facility designed to detox and cure teenagers. The doc is directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medali. It is exec produced by Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock, Eve Ensler, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin and Jeremy Chilnick.

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 11

Multiplatform News In BrIef Maker hires Rechtman Multichannel video network Maker Studios has hired Rene Rechtman as its first president of international. Rechtman, a digital veteran who sold branded content firm Goviral to AOL before becoming senior vice-president of AOL International, will oversee Maker’s growth outside of the US and develop strategic partnership relationships.

Sherlock makes case for immersive gaming apps

Fox Problem comes back Online entertainment series The Fox Problem is to return for a second 10-part series after producer Telegraph Hill struck a sponsorship deal with computer giant HP. The show, which is fronted by hosts including BBC Radio 1 presenter Gemma Cairney and streamed live via YouTube in front of a studio audience, uses social media to engage with viewers throughout its broadcast.

Mr Bean returns online Endemol Beyond, the superindie’s online multichannel network (MCN), is to revive comedy character Mr Bean for an animated series. The shortform videos, which are currently being developed by show creator Rowan Atkinson, will be distributed online and on TV from this autumn. Endemol, which committed £25m to its MCN at its launch in November, is eyeing other brands, including Fear Factor and Wipeout, for further online spin-offs.

Mr Selfridge iTunes debut The second run of ITV period drama Mr Selfridge is being made available to download on iTunes three days ahead of its TV debut. Every episode of the 10-part Jeremy Piven series will be made available on the download-to-own platform ahead of its linear transmission after NBC Universal struck a distribution deal with Apple.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 12 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

BY Alex fArBer

Immersive games tied to TV dramas are gaining traction following the launch of Hartswood Films’ Sherlock app and the creation of The Secret Experiment studio

by Tern Digital exec Simon Meek.

The £2.99 app, Sherlock: The Network, which went on sale earlier this week and instantly became the number one paid-for app in the iTunes store, proves there is high demand for immersive adventure games, according to developer The Project Factory.

The app, jointly funded by Hartswood and The Project Factory, was overseen by show execs Mark Gatiss and Sue Vertue. The story was written by David Varela for The Project Factory.

It casts users as one of Sherlock’s lieutenants, who must travel around London solving 10 cases by completing mini-games, before cracking one overarching storyline.

Creative director Rob Barnes said the game would help to engage audiences while the TV show was off air, as well as providing a new revenue source for producers.

“Lots of production companies have seen this kind of project as risky, but we hope The Network will show that it is worth doing,” he said. “Audiences are seeing

Games have used cinema as their benchmark, but they should be using long-running series Simon Meek, The Secret Experiment

the value and, helped by better technology, are comfortable with viewing an increasing amount of video on mobile devices.”

Barnes added that the 20 minutes of bespoke audio and video in the game, featuring stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, was vital in offering users a high-quality experience.

“A TV show needs to have reached a certain level before it is possible to launch this kind of game. There needs to be a level of engagement with the characters and storylines from viewers.”

Separately, Tern head of digital Simon Meek has left the indie to establish games studio The Secret Experiment.

Meek has begun conversations with several indies about developing existing IP into games, in exchange for a slice of revenue generated.

“There is a need for a migration of skills,” he said. “The games industry needs people who have

experience of storytelling. Typically, games have used cinema as their benchmark, but they should be using long-running series such as The Sopranos or Breaking Bad.” Meek pointed to Telltale Games’ series The Walking Dead as proof that healthy demand exists. He claimed the adventure, in which players help characters navigate scenes, has sold 17 million units.

Meek argued that indies should reconsider gaming after years of digital “damp squibs”.

“The perception is that digital is a marketing tool rather than a commercial opportunity, but indies are missing out on potential revenue,” he said. “As well as this, the audience profile on games platforms is distinct from TV, so it allows indies to extend their IP to new demographics.”

In 2011, Meek established Tern spin-off Digital Adaptions, which went on to publish immersive thriller The 39 Steps. His new outfit will also develop original IP, and is in talks with console manufacturers Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

These companies are actively seeking ideas from outside the driving/shoot-em-up space, according to Meek, and are keen to secure platform-exclusive content from fresh sources. “All the console manufacturers have pots of money for innovation,” he added. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Technology & Facilities CrEatIvE rEvIEW

The TasTe

Ross Kemp: exTReme WoRld

The musKeTeeRs

Post Evolutions Client CPL Productions Brief Picture and audio post for the 10 x 60-minute cookery competition fronted by Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre.

How it was done Dubbing mixer Michael Wood mixed the audio in Pro Tools. Where appropriate, he enhanced and highlighted the cooking sounds to add to the atmosphere of the busy kitchen. Colourist Tim O’Brien used Baselight to give the show a gritty but warm feel, taking his cues from the green and earthy tones in the set design. During the crucial tasting scenes, some of the shots of the food were captured in slow motion and the colours enhanced to increase the overall dramatic effect. Online editor David Frisby used Avid Symphony tools such as Paint Effects and Timewarp to finish the series.

Watch it Tuesdays, 9pm, Channel 4

Post The Farm Client Freshwater Films Brief Picture and audio post-production for the third run of the 6 x 60-minute Sky 1 factual series in which Ross Kemp and his team gain access to some of the most dangerous places in the world.

How it was done Perry Gibbs graded the series using Nucoda Film Master, giving each episode and location its own particular style. The seedy underworld of child prostitution in India warranted an extreme grade to complement the content. Gibbs used Nucoda’s blending modes to dramatically increase colour and contrast, making the pictures hot and vivid. By slightly desaturating the blacks, Gibbs helped add a sense of grittiness to the intense scenes. Editor Tam Osman completed the online with Avid Symphony, while senior dubbing mixer Nick Fry mixed the audio in Pro Tools 11.

Watch it Tuesdays, 9pm, Sky 1

Post Molinare Client BBC Productions and BBC America in association with BBC Worldwide Brief Picture post services for the 10 x 60-minute adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel for BBC1.

How it was done Senior colourist Gareth Spensley’s brief was to create a vivid world with a grubby and grimy 17th century Paris at its centre, with films such as Pirates Of The Caribbean used as a reference for the look. Spensley used Baselight’s colour curves to shift the Alexa’s colour palette towards coppery browns and cool blues, skewing the camera’s gamut at the LogC stage before applying primary correction. Senior online editor Justin Eely used Avid DS to add sword sparks, muzzle flashes and musket ball hits to many shots.

Including fixes and embellishments, he worked on more than 500 shots over the course of the series.

Watch it Sundays, 9pm, BBC1

You can view clips at broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/creative-review To include your work, email george.bevir @broadcastnow.co.uk

Harris Broadcast finalises acquisition of Imagine Harris Broadcast has completed the acquisition of OTT and mobile video technology firm Imagine Communications. Harris said the deal, which was announced in December, would boost its range of offerings. “TV Everywhere is the future of our industry, and our customers are pursuing this path to expand their business models and improve the monetisation of content across any screen,” said Harris Broadcast chief executive Charlie Vogt.

Loft London buys Zodiak’s post production team Loft London has completed its acquisition of Zodiak Rights’ in14 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

house post-production arm, which has worked on Killer Karaoke (pictured). As part of the deal, Loft has been awarded a five-year post contract for content management and processing, in addition to its contract to provide disaster recovery, business continuity and QC services.

Zodiak Rights chief operating officer Sara Wookey said: “The transition has been remarkably smooth, with no interruption to business continuity, thanks to the close collaboration between our companies.”

PlayBox bolsters sales team with two appointments Channel-in-a-box firm PlayBox Technology has appointed Phillip Neighbour and Maurice de Jonghe

to its sales team. The pair will work alongside Alan Bunting, who joined the company in July.

Neighbour joins from Grass Valley and will focus on expanding Playbox’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

De Jonghe, who has worked at Claratech, Drake Electronics, Vistek and Snell, will focus on dealer sales growth. His main objective will be to grow the company’s presence in Africa.

Look, Listen, Experience lines up more exhibitors Arri, Blackmagic Design, Canon and Sony are among the manufacturers that will exhibit at the Look, Listen, Experience roadshows.

They will be joined by Holdan, Sachtler, Vinten, O’Connor, Litepanels, Sennheiser, Pag and Petrol. The roadshows, hosted by Broadcast in association with Visual Impact and Root6, will

visit Glasgow (above), Bristol Salford, Cardiff and London. A discussion about the state of the post industry will take place in each venue, with Envy managing director Dave Cadle, Halo chief executive John Rogerson and The Farm managing director David Klafkowski leading the debate in London. See looklistenexperience.com for more.

Wohler launches tool for DPP standard compliance Wohler Technologies has launched a tool for producing content that complies with the Digital Production Partnership’s (DPP) standard www.broadcastnow.co.uk

For the latest technology and facilities news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

Sequence founder exits to launch post technology firm

BY GEORGE BEVIR

Sequence Post founder Ben Foakes has stepped down as managing director of the facility to set up a short-form production and post consultancy and technology business.

Foakes, who founded Sequence 10 years ago, has formed We Are One Media. The company will produce content including broadcast promos and idents, as well as providing post-production consultancy services such as workflow design and post supervision.

The start-up is also working on aggregating a raft of digital tools to create a digital backbone for productions that aims to “streamline the process of file-based film and broadcast video production”.

Following a six-month handover period, post-production manager Kabir Jutla has now taken over responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the DCD Mediaowned Sequence, but Foakes will continue to work with the company on a consultancy basis.

for file-based deliverables.

WohlerDPP, which is based on the company’s RadiantGrid platform, repackages file-based content in the AS-11 format specified by the DPP. “By enabling and automating DPP packaging and compliance assurance, this powerful solution dramatically increases efficiency, saves our customers money, and reduces errors in the provision of DPP deliverables,” said vice-president of sales for the Wohler RadiantGrid business line Craig Newbury.

avid reassures clients over Nasdaq delisting threat Avid has moved to reassure its customers after it emerged that the company faces being delisted from the Nasdaq. Avid chief financial officer John Frederick said that if delisting occurred, its shares would trade on an alternative market while the company works to complete the restatement of its www.broadcastnow.co.uk

The Alps Murders: Channel 4 doc was completed at Sequence Post

He said: “The media industry is experiencing prolific change, led by the acceleration of some revolutionary digital tech, a growing volume of multiplatform content production and constantly shrinking client budgets. It’s the right time to focus my energy on building a completely fresh-thinking and reactive group of integrated businesses.”

DCD Media acquired Sequence Post in early 2012 after the business went into voluntary liquidation. Foakes said that since 2012, the facility had been “busier than ever”, and had grown revenues by 25% over the past year.

Sequence’s credits include Ibiza Rocks; Dispatches; The Alps Murders; and Nick Hewer: Countdown To Freetown.

accounts. “Should that happen, we intend to promptly apply for relisting on Nasdaq as soon as we regain compliance with their listing requirements,” said Frederick.

Daniel Dubreuil said: “Their innovative chassis design makes the monitors perfect for use in situations with portability demands or space constraints, such as OB vans.”

Sony unveils redesigned range of HD LCD monitors

Nugen releases stereo audio manipulation toolset

Sony has unveiled a raft of new HD LCD monitors (pictured). The range comprises the LMDA240 (24-inch, 1920 x 1200), the LMD-A220 (22inch, 1920 x 1080) and the LMDA170 (17-inch, 1920 x 1080).

Sony said the monitors were developed as part of a broader redesigning of the company’s professional monitor line-up to become lighter and slimmer in build. Sony Europe senior product marketing manager

Nugen Audio has launched Stereopack, a toolset for manipulating stereo audio. The product is made up of three elements, including stereo image manipulation tool Stereoizer, the Monofilter plug-in for aligning and balancing low frequencies, and balancing control tool Stereoplacer. “Stereopack gives audio professionals everything they need to create the big sound they’re striving for, rapidly and intuitively,” said

Platform finishes first long-form 4K post project Platform Post has completed its first long-form 4K project, providing picture and audio post services and VFX for CBBC show Hank Zipzer.

Director Matt Bloom said he wanted to shoot the 13 x 30-minute series in 4K to overcome the restrictions of a limited budget and working with child actors. “You can’t make a modern show without a lot of coverage, so you either shoot for a long time or create shots digitally. Shooting at 4K allowed us to triple our coverage,” he said.

Bloom estimates that 40% of the Red Epic-shot show used resized images, such as singles cropped from wide shots and close-ups taken from two-shots. He said: “It put pressure on Platform Post but they were extremely innovative and they coped extraordinarily well.”

Platform Post director and colourist Simon Cruse said the approach “doubled, if not tripled” the time taken to online edit the series. “The process works but it increases the cost and can cause log jams,” he said. ➤ See broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils for more

Nugen Audio creative director Jon Schorah. “They can gain absolute control of their stereo panorama with no unwanted artefacts and the assurance of superb mono compatibility.”

MGI in partnership deal for Gallery’s Sienna products Media Group International (MGI) has become an approved systems integration partner for Gallery’s range of Sienna products. The partnership gives MGI’s customers access to Sienna systems for news, sport, live event and multi-camera production. MGI sales manager Roger Barton said: “We’re committed to bringing the latest technology and products to our customers, and Gallery’s Sienna products absolutely fit this brief. It is also important that you’re able to back up your sales with integration services and after-sales support locally.”

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 15

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Comment

The runner helps out the camera team. The grip will help out the gaffer. Even the stylists carry heavy bags Deborah Bayer Marlow on Denmark’s production culture, In Focus, page 28

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18 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

Our duty is to show, and care If contributors are happy, we have done our job, says Brian Woods

T

he media hysteria over Channel 4’s Benefits Street raises important questions about our duty of care to contributors.

One view is that post-Big Brother, anyone who lets themselves be filmed deserves everything they get. At the other extreme, there’s the view that producers have a huge responsibility to care for those generous enough to let them into their lives, before and after broadcast.

Love Productions managing director Richard McKerrow recently told The Guardian: “There isn’t enough funded aftercare for people who have been brave enough to be on television, whether [the funding is] from broadcasters or the government.”

Richard’s right in part: there isn’t enough, though both C4 and the BBC have agreed extra funding when we’ve presented specific aftercare cases to them. But this is always informal and ad hoc. Perhaps a more formal structure, a fund that all producers could apply to, is worth considering.

The question is less the broadcasters’ willingness to ‘do the right thing’, and more the producers’ and commissioning editors’ awareness of what ‘the right thing’ might be. Not because we are cold-hearted, cynical exploiters, but because this stuff is complicated, and figuring out when and where we might cross the line between film-maker and social worker can sometimes be hard.

Our BBC3 series Growing Up Poor (pictured) followed six teenagers “struggling to get by” (as we put it in the pre-title). It featured teen pregnancy; young dads debating whether to go out stealing to pay for nappies, heating and food; contributors being arrested; and one especially memorable scene of a 17-year-old girl carefully doing her week’s budget

and concluding she could afford one pack of fags, before remembering she also needed to buy toilet roll.

They’d all seen the films and were happy that they accurately reflected their lives, but they knew some people might have a go at them, and indeed they did.

The reaction was typically mixed: some condemned the government for making kids live like this; others criticised the kids for complaining about not having enough money for food, yet affording cigarettes.

Overall, the response was positive – we had been lucky enough to get the balance right between portraying a gritty reality but maintaining viewers’ empathy.

Poverty is in fashion right now (and yes, we too have films in production in this area), but it’s always been a vital subject for TV to cover. We must show Britain to itself, ideally not to scorn or mock, but to understand, to empathise and to see that our differences are smaller than the things that connect us.

But with every hysterical headline about Benefits Street, it sadly becomes harder to portray the real lives of those struggling most in Britain. Since its first episode aired, we have lost two contributors (though we’re still hoping to win them back).

So from commentary-free ob doc to the most constructed of reality, how do we know if we have done ‘the right thing’? For me, the test is how our contributors look back on the experience. If they are happy and feel that we have been honest with them and given them support, I’m content that we have done our duty – however a newspaper may choose to spin the story. ➤ Brian Woods is managing director of True Vision

‘We must show Britain to itself, not to mock, but to understand and empathise’

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Your sAY

In MY vIEw Be fair to young in creative industries

London Live: BAME support

Diversity is key to creative success Simon Albury is quite right to say that it is unforgivable that BAME employment in the creative industries has fallen so drastically (‘BAME: this time we must act’, Broadcast, 17.01.14).

Worse still, I was shocked when recruiting for our new television station London Live that the BAME applicants consistently appeared to be on worse contracts and had lower wages than their white counterparts, even though they often had better skills.

Well-intentioned targets, initiatives and schemes have all been tried and failed. The hope now is that, ultimately, common business and editorial sense will prevail as audiences show us there is an appetite for BAME presenters and programming on our screens.

When the industry sees the creativity of a diverse workforce and the benefits it brings, we believe BAMEs will become sought-after rather than sidelined.

Jane Mote, launch programme director, London Live Response on broadcastnow.co.uk to our story ‘Top slicing back to haunt BBC’ (Broadcast, 17.01.14) If the BBC cannot produce a convincing plan for achieving fair BAME representation in its workforce within a rapid timescale, then top-slicing the licence fee to create an organisation that can should be a priority. When you ask BAME people what they want and when, the answer is often fair representation, and now. There may be insuperable organisational obstacles in the BBC that make necessary change impossible to deliver.

Simon Albury, former chief executive, Royal Television Society www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Comment

Broadcast, 101 Finsbury Pavement, London, EC2A 1RS or email bcletters@emap.com

The figures contained in the Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s creative industries report last week are a timely acknowledgment of the vital importance of the creative sector to job creation in the UK. It is interesting to see that employment in the creative industries increased at a rate of six times the rise in employment for the whole economy between 2011 and 2012.

But we must also recognise that it is not only the jobs you create, but who benefits from them, that matters. As we stand, the number of young unemployed people could fill the Royal Albert Hall 180 times over. The creative industries are a major youth employer, with up to a quarter of employees under the age of 30, but far too many of those young people are on unpaid internships or in low-paid posts.

That needs to change, and the creative sector’s job-creating power must work to support more young people from all backgrounds. Until that happens, what we are celebrating is an industry that benefits too narrow a segment of society and is failing to create the conditions for sustainable growth in the long term.

Pauline Tambling, joint chief executive, Creative & Cultural Skills Response on broadcastnow.co.uk to our story ‘No apology from C4 to Benefits Street’ As the controversy about Benefits Street continues, it is a positive move that Channel 4 has agreed to screen a debate about the programme, which should give the participants a chance to confront the producers.

When C4 began, producers and commissioners had to appear on Right To Reply to explain themselves and face the viewers or participants.

Whatever C4 and Love Productions say about the series, it is clear that some residents of James Turner Street are unhappy about their portrayal. The opportunity to discuss this, and the nature of the ob doc, should be welcomed.

I hope the residents do not get distracted by insisting on an apology before they appear. If they insist on anything, it should be that the show is live and held in Birmingham.

Dorothy Hobson, vice-chair, RTS Midlands

Those in charge of funding must pile on BAME pressure Real action requires organisations in power to demand transparency, says Janice Turner

C

reative Skillset’s revelation that fewer ethnic minorities are working in our industries than six years ago came as no surprise to Bectu. Ignorant and racist assumptions about BAME professionals’ talent, qualifications and experience have blighted their chances of work. We know, for example, of one production company phoning an international award-winner to offer unpaid work as a runner. Talented minority ethnic professionals are going to the US, Nigeria and elsewhere, believing – rightly – that there are better opportunities to be found.

Things won’t change without external pressure; Simon Albury is right to describe the past 10 years as a lost decade (Broadcast 17.01.14).

Those with the power to hasten race equality and diversity chose to do little other than gently ‘encourage’ change, so those who weren’t interested could ignore the matter.

The pressure should come from those on whom the creative industries depend to make money: Ofcom, which hands out broadcasting licences in the name of the public; and the Arts Council of England and the British Film Institute (BFI), which award funding on the public’s behalf.

It is time these organisations, and the creative industries, recognised that the public has the right to know how well they are reflecting the diversity of those they claim to serve, and whose money they are spending.

It is disgraceful that the UK Film Council has never required film companies to carry out equality monitoring of performers and crew on the productions they fund. The BFI is still deciding what action it intends to take. So only a tiny fraction of the film industry’s London workforce is BAME, compared with nearly half of London’s population.

The Arts Council collected equality monitoring data from its clients but kept it secret, claiming client confidentiality.

Ofcom reversed the practice of predecessor the Independent Television Commission, which had openly published the facts about whom its licencees employed.

Ofcom not only decided to withhold the broadcasting licence holders’ equality monitoring data, but then stopped enforcing compliance with this compulsory

‘The BFI, Arts Council and Ofcom must use their powers to hold the industry to account’ licence requirement. This only came to light when Bectu took legal action under the Freedom of Information Act, which Ofcom fought right up to the Information Appeals Tribunal, and succeeded in keeping the broadcasters’ equality monitoring data secret.

It is good that culture minister Ed Vaizey was sufficiently alarmed at Creative Skillset’s revelations that he called a roundtable to discuss it. If he really wants change, he must require the BFI, the Arts Council and Ofcom to use their power and hold the industry to account. They must require equality monitoring, and publish it. Funding or licence renewal should be conditional on progress being made.

The major broadcasters, in turn, must require the same of indies, to avoid race furores such as the one that plagued Midsomer Murders.

Failure to engage with diversity has wider effects within the creative industries. We need real action, not platitudes. Anyone making a doc about the fact that more than 50% of black youth is unemployed should know already where some of the blame lies. ➤ Janice Turner is diversity officer, Bectu 24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 19

7-10 April 2014 Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France

F O U R DAYS. 4, 0 0 0 B UYE RS. ALL NE W CONTENT. The truth is MIPTV welcomes more international buyers than any other content market of the new year. 4,000 buyers from 100 countries gather in Cannes to screen and acquire the freshest content for TV, digital platforms and every screen.

This April, MIPTV launches the MIP DIGITAL FRONTS, the NEW international screenings showcase for original online video and multiplatform content.

MIP TV.C OM F E E D YO UR PASSIO N FO R FRESH CO NTENT To participate, exhibit, advertise or sponsor please contact Peter Rhodes on 020 7528 0086, peter.rhodes@reedmidem.com

Don’t forget to register for and , the weekend before together, they form the world’s largest gathering for the non-fiction community. experience.

Part of the whole

:

Comment How to get aHead in tV Lesson 33

the resolutions that really matter Steven D Wright offers his top tips for advancing your television career in the year ahead

F

orget the US networks with their hysteria about the Polar Vortex.

The TV industry here has been stuck in a grim, Arctic wasteland for ages now – it’s so freezing cold that a healthy, breathing idea can die within seconds of receiving an icy glare from a bored commissioner.

January is always a bleak time in the TV calendar but, as befits my industry elder status – imagine an avuncular Morgan Freeman type, smiling kindly but with more swearing – it is, at least, good for making new year resolutions.

So here are a few suggestions for 2014. n Think

beyond the terrestrials

Don’t make my mistake and only use your MacBook Air for downloading porn (at least, not until you’ve got good anti-virus software).

Thanks to Netflix, proper telly is now on computers. But even more galling is that, while the rest of us were prepared to wait to be patronised by the channels, some enterprising youths broke the rules and #startedtobroadcasttheirownshit.

While I’ve been guilty of rubbishing YouTube videos of skateboarding kittens, soon we’ll all www.broadcastnow.co.uk

be working for these hateful hashtaggers. So get ready. Oh, and start wearing a beanie… n Stop

sleeping with researchers

Although it’s virtually the only perk left in telly, this simply can’t continue in 2014. We’ll all have to start shagging celebrities instead, as attaching a famous name is the only way to get your idea commissioned. Don’t be daunted by this.

‘Forget the market research science: success always comes down to chance and/or luck’ Luckily, almost any Z-lister from a reality show is now just as valuable as a genuine Hollywood icon (if you don’t believe me, just send in two copies of your latest series idea: one with Joey Essex attached and the other with John Travolta. See which one gets the greenlight first). n Use more US TV industry terms in everyday speech

As a Ukip-voting, neo-racist fuddy duddy, I normally despise Americanisms, but I’ve discovered there is a huge advantage to using terms like ‘cycle’ instead of ‘series’ when

chatting with a commissioner. Words like ‘season finale’ imbue you with a coating of international glamour and make you sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Which leads me to… n No

one knows anything, so chill out

As Hollywood legend William Goldman first said back in 1983 in his book Adventures in the Screen Trade, “nobody knows anything” about what makes something popular, or even what makes the viewers watch. So forget the market research science: success always comes down to chance and/or luck. Even worse, it doesn’t have anything to do with quality.

This might be a good time to point out that the pool in Splash! is filled with the tears of award-winning documentary-makers who haven’t had a commission since the ’90s. n Watch

telly for fun

Amazingly, if you forget the moral indignation of watching a rival producer’s show (that you thought of originally, of course) and stop smirking at seeing shows sink in the schedules, telly can be really good fun and a brilliant way to spend an evening at home. Who knew? ➤ Steven D Wright is creative director at Whizz Kid Entertainment 24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 21

The Broadcast Interview True NorTh ANDreW ShelDoN AND MArC AlleN

True vision: Andrew Sheldon (left) and Marc Allen

Getting down to business Following True North’s best ever year, Chris Curtis speaks to two of its key execs about building relationships in China and making the most of the indie’s assets

S

hows about children de-licing dogs and drunken fisticuffs in Cardiff don’t seem the most obvious bedfellows. Throw in a series about Chinese designers and you’ve got a really unusual mix – which is just how True North likes it.

The Leeds-based indie had its best ever year in 2013, generating turnover of £10m, and has set its sights on further growth in a structured and strategic way.

Crucial to that has been the appointment of managing director Marc Allen 12 months ago. He was brought in by True North’s three founders and creative directors – Andrew Sheldon, Jess Fowle and Glyn Middleton – to add “business ballast” and free them up to focus on programming.

It has been a challenging but rewarding process, Sheldon says: “Letting go of things you hold dear is 22 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

really difficult, so it’s quite significant to bring someone in at a senior level and give them authority to tell you to do things.

“We were growing rapidly and had a lot of assets, but we didn’t have enough visibility of that. We needed to plan ahead for three or five years, which is quite a challenge when indies traditionally focus only on the next production.”

Learning on the job Allen’s background is in business affairs at the BBC, but prior to joining True North, he was head of television at Ideal Shopping Direct. The role was, Allen says, “like going to business school”.

“I was learning about things like structured finance and mezzanine debt at a £150m-turnover company.

But I wanted to apply those lessons back in the TV sector.”

‘It’s easy to add creatives and producers, but indies are like seesaws – you need to balance the other side as well’ Marc Allen

True North was one of the indies that had “caught his eye” while working at the BBC, and he joined the company after “several months of courting”. He is the latest business-focused exec to take up a role at a medium-sized indie – think Debbie Manners at Keo Films or Joely Fether at Raw TV – and thinks he is part of a positive trend.

“It’s easy to add creatives and producers, but indies are like seesaws – you need to balance the other side as well.

“If companies want to expand beyond scale, they need someone bringing in experience from the outside, who can deal with different broadcasters, territories and rights.”

The confidence that Allen’s planning has given the company has helped raise its creative ambitions, both in terms of genres and territories.

True North has moved far beyond its mainstream factual heritage and www.broadcastnow.co.uk

For all the latest breaking news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk

while Sheldon insists that single Panoramas and Dispatches films remain part of its DNA, the company is now thinking about how to build on its MTV reality hit The Valleys.

Sheldon says: “We learned to use a Cue Ball set-up on that show and we’ve got a little rig now, so we’re thinking about what we can do with it. Can we take it into a zoo? What can we spin off? It’s the same with some of the specialist factual we’ve made for Nat Geo with dramatisation shot on Red cameras – where can that lead us?”

The plan is to replicate what the company has quickly achieved in children’s, where it previously had no track record.

Consciously embracing the BBC’s move to Salford, True North sold its mainstream factual approach to CBBC to win two series of Dick & Dom Go Wild, and then used its experience of tricky documentary and current affairs compliance to produce the seemingly problematic Junior Vets for the same channel. That too has been recommissioned.

Sheldon says the indie’s breadth of output is one of its strengths.

“Lots of indies have a real vulnerability to one or two channels; one or two commissioning editors. To some people, we’re the animal specialists; to some, we’re the crime specialists; and to others, we’re the specialists at offending Welsh people.”

The Valleys came about thanks to former TOWIE and Geordie Shore producer Fiona O’Sullivan, who joined True North in May 2011.

An equally canny hire was specialist factual expert Liz MacLeod, whose appointment led directly to True North landing a 3 x 60-minute order from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV-9 for Designed In China, a series about attempts to create the first truly global brand of Chinese origin.

Allen stresses how valuable the commission could be, especially for a producer of True North’s size.

“Everyone’s running at that door to see if it might give, but you need 10 years’ experience to gain the trust of Chinese broadcasters. Liz has worked closely with them for that period of time – and she delivers.”

Also in the works is a 60-minute exploration doc for CCTV-9 and Nat Geo. Allen says the size of the opportunity is “vast”.

“We’re asking ourselves whether we need a Chinese or international partner, but we’re definitely past first base.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Clockwise from top left: Bloody Tales; Designed In China; Junior Vets; The Valleys; below: Dick & Dom

That international growth also has implications for the indie. While Sheldon and Allen do not have ambitions to turn True North into another All3Media, they are pondering its corporate future.

Industry globalisation

‘If you’d said two years ago that we’d be working with China on a regular basis, we wouldn’t have believed you’ Andrew Sheldon

Sheldon says: “The industry has changed rapidly and become so global, and my sense is you need to be plugged into that. We have a good foothold in China and we need to have one in the US, and that plays to the idea that at some point in the future, you need to engage with other companies.”

Their ideas are based more on partnerships than a straight sale or acquisition of smaller players, and there are “several doors” that Allen “wants to push against”.

He says: “Would we invest all of this year’s money setting up an office in the States? That’s probably not sensible, but we would like to set up some transAtlantic partnerships with genuine IP value exchange.

We want smart

ideas and nice, organic ways of finding opportunities.”

There’s one more opportunity that is also exercising True North: landing a truly breakout hit. Sheldon knows that a series that really cuts through would raise the indie’s profile; Love Productions, Keo, Blast! Films and Twofour are the peers he aspires to sit alongside.

“We’ll be working over the next 18 months on creating a schedule-dominating hit, something that sits at the heart of peak for a channel for the next three years. We haven’t got a 999: What’s Your Emergency, a 24 Hours In A&E or an Educating Yorkshire.”

It’s a big challenge, but not impossible, given how far the company has come in recent years. As Sheldon puts it: “If you’d said two years ago that we’d be working with China on a regular basis, or running YouTube channels, we wouldn’t have believed you.

“Now we’re looking at a project for the Tour de France when it comes to Yorkshire later this year, which will be entirely for YouTube. There are so many things we just wouldn’t have contemplated before.”

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 23

Ratings Analysis viewing figures 2013

Dramatic improvement at iTv A strong drama slate helped ITV become the only broadcaster to increase share across the board in 2013, as rivals BBC, C4 and C5 enjoyed mixed fortunes. Stephen Price reports

T

he success of Broadchurch and the continuing appeal of Coronation Street, Downton Abbey and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! helped ITV become the only terrestrial network to grow share across its schedule in 2013.

Consolidated Barb data from Attentional reveals that ITV’s allhours share grew by 3.5% last year, while its peak share was up 5.6%.

The figures show mixed fortunes for the other PSBs. BBC2 enjoyed significant increases in peak (up 4.6%), but a weaker daytime slate pushed its overall share down by 5.4% to 5.83%, just ahead of the 5.79% recorded by Channel 4, Average I’m A Celebrity audience which was hit by a share, up 7% from 10.8% OlympicBetter news came 2012 fuelled drop. in the short run of Channel 5 came away The Undateables, a shade down on 2012 in all whose 3.4 million% time and just under 2% down in across its five episodes was up peak. BBC1’s all-time share was 11% on 2012’s three episodes. down 1.6% (6.6% in peak). BBC1 2013 confirmed 2012’s promise and C4 suffered due to comparithat the mass-appeal sitcom is sons with the 2012 Olympics and back. The five episodes of BBC1’s Paralympics but, more signifiMiranda in January 2013 averaged cantly, the bankers on both chan9.1 million/31%, while Mrs Brown’s nels showed declines.

Boys averaged 9.5 million/30% One major contributor to ITV’s (the two Christmas 2013 episodes growth was the performance of its averaged 11.4 million/37%). long-running serials. Coronation Boxing Day’s Still Open All Hours Street grew share by more than (12.2 million/44%) did the 6%, while Emmerdale grew by 3%. strongest business.

By contrast, BBC1’s EastEnders dropped by more than 4.5% and Sitcom struggle Holby City by 5%. Casualty was ITV’s initial forays into traditional BBC1’s only long-runner to show sitcom were not so stellar. Vicious growth (1.8%). averaged 3.9 million/15% on While C4’s Hollyoaks was up spring Mondays at 9pm (its a strong 7% in share terms, it Christmas special on 27 December was not enough to counter the achieved 3.7 million/15%) but will slippage of the channel’s peakbe back for a second series, while time bankers. 24 Hours In A&E’s its double bill partner The Job Lot run was nearly double the length managed 3.2 million/12%. It too of 2012’s but its 2.9 million/11% will be back, on ITV2. Pre-waterrepresents a share decline of more shed Pat And Cabbage (2.9 than 10%, and One Born Every million/12%) also fell short.

Minute’s 3.3 million/12% was But as 2014 dawned, the perfordown 26% in share. mance of rebooted Birds Of A

‘ITV’s all-hours share grew by 3.5% last year, while its peak share was up 5.6%’

40%

24 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

Feather (9.1 million/33% for the first two episodes) showed that ITV is now fully in the sitcom game.

In entertainment, I’m A Celebrity averaged 11.1 million/40%, up 7% in overall share terms and 8% among both 16-34s and ABC1 adults. Share for ITV’s other autumn entertainment beast, The X Factor (9.8 million/36%), was down 2%. The profile of 16-34s was down 8% and ABC1 adults’ profile declined 5%.

While pleased that the declines have slowed, ITV will need The X Factor to rediscover its advertiserfriendly youthful and upmarket audience pronto.

BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing reiterated its lead over The X Factor, equalling its 2012 performance with 10.7 million/41%. C5’s summer run of Big Brother averaged 1.8 million/8.8%, compared with 1.6 million/7.2% in 2012.

Drama had a good year. As well as Downton Abbey (11.8 million/ 40% for the autumn series), ITV launched two new hits. Broadchurch (9.4 million/31%) and Mr Selfridge (8 million/27%). BBC1 got some good traction with The Village (6.5 million/23%)

alongside Call The Midwife (10.5 million/32%) and the long-established New Tricks 8.1 million/31%.

BBC2’s The Fall averaged an impressive 4.3 million/16%, ahead of comedy drama The Wrong Mans (3.3 million/12%) and The Politician’s Husband (2.8 million/11%), while Peaky Blinders and Dancing On The Edge each averaged 2.4 million/9%.

C4’s best was The Mill (3.2 million/13%), with Southcliffe next on 2.4 million/9%. With all this, plus Sky’s critically acclaimed The Tunnel and Netflix’s House Of Cards, drama, not so long ago an endangered genre, is now in high demand.

PSB DIGITAL NETWORKS The 5 December episode of E4’s The Big Bang Theory was the highest-rated show on the PSB digital channels with 2.8 million/10% at 8.30pm. Not far behind was ITV2’s Celebrity Juice, the best of which was 2.5 million/12% on 28 February at 10pm.

NON-PSB DIGITAL NETWORKS The top six ratings for the best non-PSB digital networks (excluding sport) were all boosted by more than 1 million via recording.

The best, Sky 1’s US apocalypse drama Revolution, achieved 2.2 million/8% after a live rating of 640,000/3% on 29 March 2013.

The best UK commission was Karl Pilkington. The Moaning Of Life on 21 October with 1.6 million/5%.

Outside of Sky, Watch’s Dynamo: Magician Impossible on 11 July was top with 1.4 million/6%. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Data supplied by Attentional

Source. BARB

TOP 100 hIGhEST SINGLE EPISODE Programme 1 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

New Year’s Eve Fireworks I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

Britain’s Got Talent Doctor Who Strictly Come Dancing. The Results Wimbledon 2013. Men’s Final Still Open All Hours Downton Abbey Mrs Brown’s Boys Coronation Street The X Factor Call The Midwife Miranda Broadchurch Comic Relief: Funny For Money EastEnders Children In Need Wimbledon Doc Martin The Voice UK The Great British Bake Off Uefa Champions League Live Mr Selfridge Emmerdale New Tricks Jonathan Creek Dancing On Ice Foyle’s War Africa Ant And Dec’s Sat Night Takeaway The Royal Variety Performance The Apprentice Lewis Death In Paradise The Village England V Poland (WC Qualifier) I'm A Celebrity... Coming Out Shetland Up The Eurovision Song Contest Death Comes To Pemberley Scott & Bailey Countryfile Mayday Rugby Six Nations Last Tango In Halifax Silent Witness The Lady Vanishes Endeavour Atlantis

Date

Start

31 Dec 17 Nov 8 Jun 23 Nov 21 Dec 7 Jul 26 Dec 10 Nov 25 Dec 21 Jan 1 Sep 3 Feb 1 Jan 22 Apr 15 Mar 1 Jan 15 Nov 5 Jul 2 Sep 20 Apr 22 Oct 5 Mar 6 Jan 16 Oct 27 Aug 1 Apr 6 Jan 24 Mar 2 Jan 23 Mar 9 Dec 10 Jul 7 Jan 8 Jan 31 Mar 15 Oct 11 Dec 10 Mar 1 Jan 18 May 26 Dec 3 Apr 17 Mar 3 Mar 16 Mar 26 Nov 10 Jan 17 Mar 14 Apr 28 Sep

24.00 21.00 19.30 19.50 20.40 13.50 19.45 21.00 21.30 20.30 20.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 19.00 20.00 19.30 18.30 21.00 20.20 20.00 19.30 21.00 19.00 21.00 21.00 18.15 20.00 21.00 19.00 19.30 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 19.30 20.00 21.00 18.30 20.00 20.20 21.00 18.30 21.00 16.25 21.00 21.00.

20.30 20.00 20.30

Viewers Share Channel (m) (%) 13.52 13.52 12.85 12.80 12.79 12.28 12.23 12.16 11.52 11.26 11.19 10.85 10.47 10.46 10.28 10.03 9.99 9.78 9.51 9.50 9.45 9.39 9.36 9.15 8.89 8.75 8.66 8.58 8.52 8.52 8.30 8.24 8.21 8.20 8.17 8.16 8.12 7.97 7.91 7.83 7.81 7.74 7.71 7.68 7.61 7.60 7.59 7.44 7.43 7.36

61.87 46.37 53.12 40.88 46.50 72.45 43.85 41.31 36.26 38.04 40.00 32.36 33.31 34.59 39.37 33.56 38.77 45.05 35.87 36.45 33.84 33.48 31.06 41.11 32.55 28.68 32.34 29.15 28.08 34.63 32.00 31.13 26.16 30.59 28.08 30.26 31.95 26.99 28.58 34.03 29.94 27.84 32.88 26.11 38.04 28.71 27.19 25.75 25.81 29.08

BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC2 ITV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1

Programme 50 52 53 54 55 56 57 57 59 60 61 61 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 81 83 84 85 86 86 88 89 90 91 92 92 94 95 96 97 98 98 100

Gangsta Granny Toy Story 3 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories Crimewatch UK The Brit Awards 2013 Let’s Dance For Comic Relief Midsomer Murders Ripper Street The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher Our Queen The White Queen All Star Family Fortunes Vera Six O’Clock News The Syndicate Vicious Her Majesty’s Prison – Aylesbury Antiques Roadshow MasterChef Casualty Poirot Luther Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor The Great Train Robbery Ten O’Clock News The Ice Cream Girls Our Girl The National Television Awards 2013 Celebrity MasterChef Long Lost Family British Academy Television Awards The Escape Artist Catchphrase Splash!

Off Their Rockers Inside Death Row With T McDonald What Remains Through The Keyhole Pointless Celebrities Blandings The British Soap Awards 2013 Law & Order: UK Have I Got News For You The Paradise Love And Marriage Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs The Security Men Pirates Of The Caribbean National Lottery – Saturday Draws National Lottery – In It To Win It

Date

Start

26 Dec 25 Dec 8 Mar 14 Oct 20 Feb 16 Feb 9 Jan 20 Jan 12 May 17 Mar 16 Jun 6 Jan 1 Sep 18 Jan 23 Apr 29 Apr 18 Feb 17 Mar 2 May 9 Feb 13 Nov 2 Jul 4 Aug 18 Dec 17 Jan 19 Apr 24 Mar 23 Jan 6 Sep 17 Jun 12 May 29 Oct 14 Apr 5 Jan 14 Apr 17 Jan 25 Aug 31 Aug 14 Dec 13 Jan 19 May 14 Jul 5 Apr 20 Oct 5 Jun 16 May 12 Apr 29 Dec 21 Dec 5 Jan

18.05 15.20 21.00 21.00 20.00 18.50 20.00 21.00 20.00 20.00 21.00 19.45 21.00 18.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 19.30 21.00 21.10 20.00 21.00 19.00 20.00 22.00 21.00 21.00 19.30 20.30 21.00 20.00 21.00 18.50 20.00 19.30.

21.00 21.00 21.20 17.50 18.30 20.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 20.30 21.00 20.00 21.50 20.55

Viewers Share Channel (m) (%) 7.36 7.33 7.17 7.15 7.14 6.98 6.95 6.95 6.93 6.79 6.75 6.75 6.74 6.73 6.71 6.70 6.64 6.58 6.53 6.49 6.44 6.43 6.37 6.35 6.34 6.33 6.31 6.29 6.28 6.26 6.19 6.19 6.18 6.16 6.15 6.13 6.13 6.12 6.11 6.09 6.08 6.07 6.07 6.04 6.02 6.00 5.95 5.93 5.93 5.90

29.89 39.65 26.99 25.45 27.45 31.08 24.58 22.61 26.23 23.54 24.68 24.20 26.93 28.81 25.00 24.29 23.29 24.90 24.71 26.06 24.80 24.12 29.90 25.26 28.52 23.64 22.17 23.05 26.12 25.08 23.75 23.30 27.63 24.71 24.92 21.06 23.43 28.61 30.37 22.72 24.12 23.70 23.46 21.53 22.19 25.93 21.36 22.32 26.00 23.29

BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1

MeThoDology

Broadchurch www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Africa

The top 100 programmes of 2013 were compiled using consolidated Barb data provided

by Attentional. To provide a useful assessment for a variety of programmes, only the highest-rated episode of each show, or highestrated match if it’s a sporting competition, is included. In the case of news, we have included the highest-rated bulletin.

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 25

➤

Ratings Analysis viewing figures 2013 BBc1 TOP 10 ShARE: DOWN 1.6% ALL hOuRS; DOWN 6.6% PEAK Rank

Programme

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

New Year's Eve Fireworks Doctor Who Strictly Come Dancing: The Results Wimbledon 2013: Men's Final Still Open All Hours Mrs Brown's Boys Call The Midwife Miranda Comic Relief. Funny For Money Eastenders

Date 31 Dec 23 Nov 21 Dec 7 Jul 26 Dec 25 Dec 3 Feb 1 Jan 15 Mar 1 Jan

Start time 24.00 19.50 20.40 13.50 19.45 21.30 20.00 21.00 18.59 19.59

Viewers (m) 13.52 12.80 12.79 12.29 12.23 11.52 10.85 10.47 10.28 10.03

Share (%) 61.87 40.88 46.50 72.45 43.85 36.26 32.36 33.31 39.37 33.56

BBc2 TOP 10 ShARE: DOWN 5.4% ALL hOuRS; uP 4.6% PEAK Rank

Programme

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9

The Great British Bake Off Top Gear Horizon Comic Relief: Funny For Money The Fall The Wrong Mans MasterChef: The Professionals Children In Need Wimbledon The Last Days Of Anne Boleyn

Date 22 Oct 10 Mar 13 Jun 15 Mar 10 Jun 24 Sep 12 Dec 15 Nov 28 Jun 23 May

Start time 20.00 20.00 21.00 22.30 21.00 21.00 20.00 22.00 17.50 21.00

Viewers (m) 9.45 5.89 5.15 4.79 4.65 4.45 4.45 4.30 4.24 3.71

Share (%) 33.84 17.21 20.87 25.16 17.83 16.31 18.27 19.69 23.59 14.42

ITV TOP 10 ShARE: uP 3.5% ALL hOuRS; uP 5.6% PEAK Rank

Programme

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Britain's Got Talent Downton Abbey Coronation Street The X Factor Broadchurch Doc Martin Uefa Champions League Live Mr Selfridge Emmerdale

Date 17 Nov 8 Jun 10 Nov 21 Jan 1 Sep 22 Apr 2 Sep 5 Mar 6 Jan 16 Oct

Start time 21.00 19.30 21.00 20.30 20.00 21.00 21.00 19.30 21.00 19.00

c5 TOP 10 ShARE: DOWN 0.7% ALL hOuRS; DOWN 1.8% PEAK

Viewers (m) 13.52 12.85 12.16 11.26 11.19 10.46 9.51 9.39 9.36 9.15

Share (%) 46.37 53.12 41.31 38.04 40.00 34.59 35.87 33.48 31.06 41.11

c4 TOP 10 ShARE: DOWN 10.8% ALL hOuRS; DOWN 7.8% PEAK Rank

Programme

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

My Big Fat Gypsy Valentine Richard III: The King In The Car Park Educating Yorkshire Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Man With The 10-Stone Testicles Red 24 Hours In A&E The Mill Peter Kay: The Tour That Didn’t Tour Skint

Doctor Who 26 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

Date 11 Nov 4 Feb 5 Sep 27 Sep 24 Jun 24 Mar 10 Apr 28 Jul 5 May 20 May

Start time 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 21.00

Viewers (m) 5.05 4.87 4.76 4.52 4.49 3.90 3.86 3.83 3.82 3.81

9.5m

Record audience for the finale of The Great British Bake Off

Share (%) 16.45 17.57 18.04 18.01 17.77 15.15 14.39 14.50 15.86 14.17

Rank

Programme

Date

1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Celebrity Big Brother CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Under The Dome The Polar Express On Benefits & Proud CSI: New York Shoplifters & Proud The Mentalist Angels & Demons (2009) Wentworth

3 Jan 20 May 19 Aug 15 Dec 14 Oct 21 May 21 Oct 17 Dec 13 Oct 28 Aug

Start time 21.00 21.00 22.00 16.50 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 22.00

Viewers (m) 3.83 2.98 2.98 2.79 2.70 2.68 2.59 2.52 2.45 2.42

Share (%) 16.04 10.94 15.45 15.41 9.50 10.87 9.46 9.08 8.50 13.35

muLTIchANNEL (ExcL SPORT) TOP 10 Rank Programme

Date

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5 Dec 28 Feb 29 Mar 1 Aug 26 Jun 21 Jul 8 Dec 23 Mar 30 Jun 2 Jun

The Big Bang Theory Celebrity Juice Revolution Red Match Of The Day Live Family Guy I’m A Celebrity…

Foyle’s War Star Wars III The Only Way Is Essex

Richard III: The King In The Car Park

Start time 20.30 22.00 22.00 21.00 21.00 20.50 22.20 22.00 21.00 18.20

Consolidated (m) 2.78 2.45 2.15 2.11 2.07 1.94 1.89 1.81 1.73 1.65

Share (%) 10.29 11.96 8.20 10.74 7.82 10.76 9.46 8.23 10.78 8.35

Channel E4 ITV2 Sky 1 Film 4 BBC3 BBC3 ITV2 ITV3 ITV2 ITV2

The Big Bang Theory www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Data supplied by Attentional

ENTERTAINMENT/COMEDY BBC1’s Still Open All Hours on Boxing Day (12.2 million/44%) was 2013’s best comedy performer, followed by Mrs Brown’s Boys’ 11.5 million/36% on Christmas Day. Both are keeping easy company with big shiny-floor beasts such as ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent (12.9 million/53% for 8 June finale), just ahead of BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing (12.8 million/47% for its finale results). ITV’s I’m A Celebrity also performed strongly, with 17 November’s launch the best with 13.5 million/46%.

DRAMA Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary episode (12.8 million/41%, plus simultaneous cinema attendances) pipped Downton Abbey’s autumn series finale (12.2 million/41%) for top drama episode of 2013. Call The Midwife’s best (10.9 million/32%) was just ahead of the best of ITV’s Broadchurch (10.5 million/35% for the 22 April denouement). ITV’s other newbie, Mr Selfridge, peaked on 6 January with 9.4 million/31%.

FACTUAL BBC2’s The Great British Bake Off signed off with a record 9.5 million/ 34%. BBC1’s Africa averaged 7.5 million/ 25% for the 9pm series, the best of which was 2 January’s 8.5 million/ 28%. ITV’s best was the single Our Queen on 17 March (6.8 million/24%), but the appearance of returners Long Lost Family (6.3 million/25% the best of the series) and Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs (best: 6 million/ 26%) will have been commercially and strategically satisfying.

TOP 10 ENTERTAINmENT & cOmEDY 2013 Rank

Programme

Date

Start time

Consolidated Consolidated (m) share (%)

Gain (m)

Gain (%)

Channel

1

New Year’s Eve Fireworks

31 Dec

24.00

13.52

61.87

n/a

n/a

2

I’m A celebrity… Get me Out Of here!

17 Nov

21.00

13.52

46.37

1.63

13.72

ITV

3

Britain’s Got Talent

8 Jun

19.30

12.85

53.12

1.73

15.59

ITV

4

Strictly come Dancing: The Results

21 Dec

20.40

12.79

46.50

1.30

11.36

BBC1

5

Still Open All hours

26 Dec

19.45

12.23

43.85

2.80

29.66

BBC1

6

mrs Brown’s Boys

25 Dec

21.30

11.52

36.26

2.12

22.49

BBC1

7

The x Factor

1 Sep

20.00

11.19

40.00

1.24

12.51

ITV

8

miranda

1 Jan

21.00

10.47

33.31

1.43

15.82

BBC1

9

comic Relief: Funny For money

15 Mar

19.00

10.28

39.37

0.41

4.19

BBC1

children In Need

15 Nov

19.25

9.99

38.77

0.34

3.50

BBC1

Date

Start time

10

BBC1

TOP 10 DRAmA 2013 Rank

Programme title

Consolidated Consolidated (m) share (%)

Gain (m)

Gain (%)

Channel

1

Doctor Who

23 Nov

19.50

12.80

40.88

2.63

25.80

BBC1

2

Downton Abbey

10 Nov

21.00

12.16

41.31

2.18

21.86

ITV

3

call The midwife

3 Feb

20.00

10.85

32.36

1.63

17.69

BBC1

4

Broadchurch

22 Apr

21.00

10.46

34.59

1.74

19.90

ITV

5

Doc martin

2 Sep

21.00

9.51

35.87

1.55

19.45

ITV

6

mr Selfridge

6 Jan

21.00

9.36

31.06

1.97

26.75

ITV

7

New Tricks

27 Aug

21.00

8.89

32.55

1.38

18.40

BBC1

8

Jonathan creek

1 Apr

21.00

8.75

28.68

1.75

24.94

BBC1

9

Foyle’s War

24 Mar

20.00

8.58

29.15

1.45

20.41

ITV

Lewis

7 Jan

21.00

8.21

26.16

1.60

24.15

ITV

Gain (m)

Gain (%)

10

TOP 10 FAcTuAL 2013 Rank

Programme title

Date

Start time

Consolidated Consolidated (m) share (%)

Channel

1

The Great British Bake Off

22 Oct

20.00

9.45

33.84

1.02

12.15

BBC2

2

Africa

2 Jan

21.00

8.52

28.08

2.03

31.23

BBC1

3

countryfile

17 Mar

18.30

7.71

32.88

0.20

2.65

BBC1

4

crimewatch uK

14 Oct

21.00

7.15

25.45

0.46

6.94

BBC1

5

Our Queen

17 Mar

20.00

6.79

23.54

1.21

21.59

ITV

6

her majesty’s Prison – Aylesbury

18 Feb

21.00

6.64

23.29

1.09

19.55

ITV

7

Antiques Roadshow

17 Mar

19.30

6.58

24.90

0.07

1.04

8

Long Lost Family

17 Jun

21.00

6.26

25.08

0.69

12.33

ITV

9

Inside Death Row With Trevor mcDonald

17 Jan

21.00

6.13

21.06

1.16

23.29

ITV

Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs

16 May

20.30

6.00

25.93

0.78

15.02

ITV

10

BBC1

audience data system

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24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 27

In Focus MidsoMer Murders The killings of copenhAgen

Joining forces: Ann Eleonora Jorgensen (DCI Poulsen) and Neil Dudgeon (DCI Barnaby)

A long way from Midsomer British murder drama meets Nordic noir in next month’s 100th-episode special. Olly Grant catches up with the cast in Copenhagen and finds a very different production culture CREDITS Broadcaster ITV Length 1 x 120 minutes TX 8pm, Wednesday, tbc, February Production company Bentley Productions Writer Paul Logue Director Alex Pillai Producer Louise Sutton Executive producer Jo Wright Line producer Ian Strachan Line producer (Denmark) Deborah Bayer Marlow Director of photography James Moss Production manager (Denmark) Emilie Steen Casting director Louise Cross Production designer Paul Booth Commissioners Steve November; Charlie Hampton Distributor All3Media International

N

eil Dudgeon, aka DCI John Barnaby, is pressing the flesh at a meet-and-greet, but he’s a long way from the picturesque villages of Midsomer. On a crisp autumn afternoon, he’s a fish out of water in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, where his day begins with a two-hour grilling by journalists (“Is this your first time in Denmark?” “Why do you think the show is so popular here?” “My editor is a big fan. Could you sign this for her?”).

Next up is a drinks party with fans from Borgen. The real-life Borgen, that is. “Maybe next time we could team Barnaby with [The Killing’s] Sarah Lund?” suggests Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for culture and leisure.

If the cultural love-in between Scandinavia and Britain ever had a high water mark, this is probably it.

Next month, Midsomer will celebrate its 100th episode with The Killings Of Copenhagen, a one-off special in which Barnaby leaves the traditional rural killzone of Causton and Badger’s Drift to pursue leads in Denmark.

28 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

The series’ first-ever foreign shoot has been part-funded by Danish broadcaster DR, home of The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen, with additional funding from the Copenhagen Film Fund. The series regulars are joined by a clutch of actors from Denmark’s two most famous exports, including Ann Eleonora Jorgensen (The Killing) and Birgitte Hjort Sorensen (Borgen) as a pair of Copenhagen cops who spar with Barnaby and sidekick DS Nelson (Gwilym Lee).

Unlikely mash-up Given that DR is synonymous with searing Nordic Noir and Midsomer with light-hearted rustic whodunits, this sounds, superficially, like the most unlikely brand mash-up since Cowboys & Aliens. In fact, it’s simpler than that; think of it rather as “a regular episode of Midsomer with a Danish flavour,” explains producer Louise Sutton.

“We’re not doing a pastiche of a Danish drama; this is very clearly an episode of Midsomer, but with some-

thing slightly different in it that might attract new viewers,” says Sutton, joining the mayoral gathering after a morning in central Copenhagen filming non-Dudgeon scenes.

“Obviously we love those Danish crime shows, but I think our audience, both in Britain and Denmark, would have felt short-changed if they got an episode of The Killing set in Midsomer.”

Indeed, fans will be reassured that the plot is set in motion by some poisoned biscuits from a hithertounmentioned Midsomer bakery. The differences, says Sutton, are more about character than style.

“It’s been fun to take a character like Barnaby, who is used to being number one, put him opposite somebody who is used to exactly the same thing [Jorgensen’s DCI Poulsen], and watch the friction between them.”

The idea for the episode arose from a chance conversation at Mipcom. “I was speaking at a dinner and, at the end, the Dutch buyer came up to me and said, ‘Why don’t you come and do www.broadcastnow.co.uk

For all the latest breaking news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Midsomer in Holland?’” says Sutton’s colleague Jo Wright who, as executive producer on a show that sells to 225 territories, is well acquainted with its massive global popularity.

Wright liked the idea, but began thinking further afield. “We talked Australia, Germany, France,” she says, before an article in The Guardian alerted her to the scale of the drama’s following in Denmark (where, as elsewhere outside the UK, it is known simply as Barnaby).

The Danes have a good claim to being Midsomer’s keenest international fans. The series has been airing there for 12 years. DR, the country’s prime public service broadcaster, screens it on Saturday nights at 9pm, where it beats all competition with a 30-40% audience share (in the UK, typically scheduled on a Wednesday at 8pm, it tends to get 20% and up, depending on what it’s up against). When Wright took the idea to DR acquisitions executive Kaare Schmidt, he nearly snapped her hand off. “He was thrilled,” she says. “It was a no-brainer for him.”

Light relief So how exactly did the land of superdark crime fall for Midsomer? Perhaps because it’s such an obvious counterpoint to all that bleakness, says The Killing’s Nicolaj Kopernikus when we meet at the nearby Palace Hotel, where he is about to play a suspect. “I personally like the combination of a good sense of humour and a good crime plot,” he explains. “You can watch it with your family. You can go off and make a coffee. ‘Did I miss anything?’ ‘No – we still think it’s him. But there’s something suspicious about her also...’

It’s a relaxed crime drama.”

Most of the crew on the four-day shoot were Danish. “We only took HODs, the sound man and his boom op, the gaffer, and one driver,” says Wright when we catch up post-filming. The Danish crew marvelled at the Brits’ efficiency: “We turned over after 11 minutes on the first day; that’s unheard of in Denmark,” Wright chuckles. The Brits, meanwhile, experienced the Danes’ health-conscious catering. “We’d have biscuits while they had nuts, fruit, figs and the most fabulous coffee.”

The Brits were also impressed by the Danes’ egalitarian production culture.

The actors made their own way to set, mostly on bicycles. They weren’t given trailers; cast and crew mingled on the services bus between takes. This convention is routine in Denmark, www.broadcastnow.co.uk

‘We’re not doing a pastiche of a Danish drama; this is very clearly an episode of Midsomer’ Louise Sutton

according to production services manager Deborah Bayer Marlow of the Copenhagen Film Company.

“We don’t really have trailers over here,” says Marlow, an American who began her career on Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and has been based in Copenhagen since 2000. “In a sense, it goes against the cultural paradigm in Denmark: the idea that we’re all in this

Top down: shooting in the centre of Copenhagen; Birgitte Hjort Sorensen and Gwilym Lee (DS Nelson)

together; the egalitarian ideal. Here, the runner helps out the camera team.

The grip will help out the gaffer. Even the stylists carry heavy bags.

“When American productions visit, it can be a point of contention, and we usually have to go and get a caravan for them from Germany. But it’s really quite frowned-upon as it’s seen as frivolous and elitist. Overall, I’d say that 80% of actors are very happy with it, even the Americans.”

Could we see further foreign crossovers for Barnaby? Tentatively yes, says Wright, though not if they felt contrived. “If there’s a story that lends itself to the show, so that it doesn’t look like a stunt, then I’m not against it.”

Having set the precedent, however, someone is going to have to placate the series’ other international buyers, who are now hankering for their own branded slice of the Midsomer pie.

“They’ve all said ‘Why Denmark?’”

Wright jokes. “I think all the buyers would love to have their own special.

But Midsomer is what it is. It’s set in Midsomer. This isn’t something we’ll be doing all the time.”

MidsoMer Murders geTTing The dAnish look Scandi-TV fans will recognise at least one of the locations in The Killings Of Copenhagen. The police station exteriors were shot at Politigarden, Sarah Lund’s HQ in The Killing.

“We tried to make every shot as Danish as possible – like Friends did with London, when they went off to Big Ben and Buckingham Palace,” explains production designer Paul Booth.

Booth says he was treated “like a king” when he did a pre-shoot recce to source props. “I went to Arne Jacobsen’s factory; they let us have the most beautiful furniture – very Danish in style, like the egg chair. It looked absolutely fantastic. They saw it as a great way of showing off Danish design.” Fritz Hansen provided further pieces, and Christiania Bikes furnished them with the classic trailer bicycles (pictured).

For interiors, Booth went spare and minimalist.

“Barnaby’s no bumbling bobby but there’s a lot of paperwork and files in his office,” he explains. “So we decided that the Danish police station would be paperless, much slicker and more modern. We had

an interactive desktop computer and the police have tablets rather than files. We wanted there to be a complete difference between England and Denmark.”

Ironically, the police interiors were largely filmed in north London. “We filmed some of the scenes in Brent Town Hall, on a staircase overlooking Wembley,” Booth smiles. “It was marble and black slate, a bit 1920s, so it gave us the right kind of look.

It should hopefully be completely believable.”

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 29

Marketplace

To advertise here, contact Jon Thornley on 020 3638 5065 email jonathan.thornley@broadcastnow.co.uk

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30 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

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Appointments

To advertise here, contact Jon Thornley on 020 3638 5065 email jonathan.thornley@broadcastnow.co.uk

ELSTREE STUDIOS Managing Director

“I want to let you know how delighted we have been with the response to the recruitment advertisements we have recently been running in Broadcast.

As you know we do not typically need to advertise, but we had to fill numerous roles pretty quickly. These roles were varied and outside our normal area of expertise and knowledge. The responses came in thick and fast and the vast majority were of a very high quality. We have now filled most of the roles with people who applied to the advertisements in Broadcast”.

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The UK indie radio production trade body seeks a Managing Director.

Candidates will have seniorlevel industry experience and demonstrate real vision for this emerging sector.

The role initially involves the equivalent of 2 days a week with regular London meetings.

Apply at www.radioindies.org

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Maternity cover required for PR & Marketing Manager at Elstree Studios Start April 2014 on a temporary 9 – 12 month basis.

Legal & Business Affairs Manager Tiger Aspect is recruiting for an experienced Legal & Business Affairs Manager to oversee the legal and contractual/business aspects of productions and projects primarily within Children’s/Animation, Comedy, Entertainment and Factual Entertainment. In this role you will be responsible for negotiating agreements with broadcasters, co-production partners, distributors, performers, writers and rights holders generally. You will provide trusted advice on legal, commercial and business affairs issues surrounding the development, financing, production and distribution of programmes and ancillary rights.

For further information, including a full job description and details how to apply please visit www.tigeraspect.co.uk/jobs/ The closing date for applications is Friday 7th February 2014.

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CONTROLLER OF COMEDY PRODUCTION, UK £COMPETITIVE + BENEFITS | CENTRAL LONDON BBC Comedy Production is the most prolific comedy producer in the country, both on TV and Radio. It is the place where hits such as Little Britain, Absolutely Fabulous and The Office came from and more recently has carried on its award winning form with much loved programmes such as The Thick of It, Mrs Brown’s Boys, The Wrong Mans, Twenty Twelve, Big School, Miranda, Bluestone 42, Jonathan Creek, Pramface, Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, Psychoville, Gangsta Granny, Still Open All Hours, Citizen Khan, The News Quiz and The Now Show.

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You will be a visible champion of BBC Comedy. You will collaborate with other genres – Entertainment, Drama and Films and have a close relationship with Genre and Channel Controllers and also with BBC Worldwide.

You will have a keen editorial, strategic and commercial mind. With in-depth experience of comedy production and/or commissioning, you’ll need to show you can set an exciting, effective comedy strategy, develop and retain a diverse range of comedy talent, including writers, producers, directors and on-screen talent. You’ll also have a passion for delivering the most innovative, funny and original programmes, ensuring value to the breadth of our audiences.

If you meet the requirements for this role, please submit your CV and a covering letter to Ian Critchley at Ian.Critchley@bbc.co.uk by Friday 31st January 2014.

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 31

Ratings Mon 13 Jan – Sun 19 Jan

BBC has its time in the Sun Strong starts for Death In Paradise, The Musketeers and Call The Midwife lift the winter gloom

BY Stephen price

When I was a humble ratings estimator, an agitated sales exec asked why I’d rated so highly a drama that had yet to air. “Because it’s on in January and it’s got the word ‘summer’ in the title,” I blurted. To my relief, it was believed. But judging by the ratings for Caribbean-based Death In Paradise this week, this tactic still has vim. Elsewhere, and sounding rather like a sales promotion a posh department store would never countenance, “all for one and one for all” caused Mr Selfridge some discomfort.

On Monday, BBC1’s Panorama special I Want My Baby Back, an investigation into family courts, averaged 2.2 million/9%. Opposite, ITV drama The Bletchley Circle fell 340,000 on last week to 4 million/16% (199,000 +1).

Winning the slot, however, was Channel 4’s controversial Benefits Street on 4.3 million/18% (plus a whopping 805,000 +1). It was up 800,000 on last week.

BBC1’s Holby City (4.9 million/ 21%) fended off BBC2’s The Great Sport Relief Bake Off (4.4 million/19%) on Tuesday while defeating ITV’s Weight Loss Ward (2.2 million/9%; 134,000 +1). At 9pm, the new series of Death In Paradise began with 7.1 million/30%, its best ever live rating.

Opposite, ITV’s Paul O’Grady’s Animal Orphans achieved 3.1 million/13% (315,000 +1).

On Wednesday, ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup Replay: Manchester City v Blackburn Rovers averaged 3.3 million/15% (72,000 +1) between 8pm and 10.15pm. At 8pm, 32 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

BroadCaSt/BarB top 100 network programmeS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 42 44 45 46 47 47 49 50

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Call The Midwife Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street Coronation Street EastEnders The Voice UK The Musketeers EastEnders EastEnders Emmerdale Death In Paradise Countryfile Winter Special Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale EastEnders Birds Of A Feather BBC News Dancing On Ice Silent Witness BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News At Six Silent Witness BBC News At Six Mr Selfridge BBC News At Six Benidorm The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins BBC News Benefits Street Holby City Casualty Fake Or Fortune?

The One Show BBC News At Ten BBC News At Ten The One Show The One Show Dancing On Ice: The Results BBC News At Ten All Star Family Fortunes The One Show The Great Sport Relief Bake Off The Great Sport Relief Bake Off

Sun Mon Fri Wed Mon Mon Fri Thu Sat Sun Fri Tue Mon Tue Sun Fri Tue Thu Wed Thu Wed Thu Sun Sun Fri Mon Fri Tue Thu Thu Sun Wed Thu Sat Sat Mon Tue Sat Sun Thu Tue Thu Tue Mon Sun Fri Sun Wed Tue Wed

20.00 19.30 19.30 19.30 20.00 20.30 20.30 19.30 19.00 21.00 20.00 19.30 19.00 21.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 20.00 19.00 19.00 20.00 20.30 22.00 18.15 21.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 21.00 18.00 21.00 18.00 21.00 20.20 22.00 21.00 20.00 21.10 18.00 19.00 22.00 22.00 19.00 19.00 20.30 22.00 19.45 19.00 20.00 20.00

9.61 8.88 8.32 8.03 7.88 7.74 7.62 7.59 7.50 7.41 7.41 7.38 7.27 7.13 7.05 6.98 6.88 6.88 6.80 6.76 6.67 6.17 6.02 5.77 5.73 5.67 5.51 5.50 5.48 5.44 5.27 5.20 5.16 5.13 5.11 5.10 4.92 4.86 4.81 4.70 4.69 4.67 4.67 4.64 4.47 4.45 4.41 4.41 4.39 4.31

36.12 38.26 39.37 36.73 32.28 30.81 32.80 35.36 32.48 28.88 33.09 33.84 33.37 29.74 29.51 34.70 32.72 29.94 32.83 32.61 28.75 25.45 29.28 24.99 24.12 28.91 29.84 28.81 22.60 29.30 20.53 27.65 21.26 23.17 23.87 20.79 20.94 21.58 21.78 22.64 25.01 24.68 22.20 21.30 16.51 21.81 17.21 20.69 18.67 18.51

BBC1/Neal Street Productions ITV ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1/Wall to Wall BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1/Red Planet Pictures BBC1 ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1 ITV/Retort/Quirky Media BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Tiger Aspect BBC1 BBC1 C4/Love Productions BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Thames BBC1 BBC2/Love Productions BBC2/Love Productions

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

call the Midwife

Death in paradise www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Source: BARB

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 62 64 65 66 66 66 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 83 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 92 94 95 96 97 98 99 99

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

ITV News & Weather The One Show The Great Sport Relief Bake Off BBC News At Ten Pointless The Bletchley Circle Take Me Out Inside Out ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather BBC News ITV News & Weather Pointless Pointless Pointless ITV News & Weather BBC News BBC News At Ten Pointless Splash!

ITV News & Weather Miranda Despicable Me The Great Sport Relief Bake Off The Graham Norton Show Dynamo: Magician Impossible A Great Welsh Adventure With Griff…

Match Of The Day The Chase Hidden Kingdoms Paul O’Grady’s Animal Orphans The Chase FA Cup Replay: Man City V Blackburn The Chase Waterloo Road The Chase The Martin Lewis Money Show Celebrity Mastermind Tonight: Is Britain Back In Business?

Reflex The Chase Match Of The Day 2 P Morgan’s Life Stories: Neil Morrissey Fake Britain Special ITV News & Weather University Challenge BBC News At One BBC News At One BBC News At One The Jonathan Ross Show

Mon Fri Thu Wed Fri Mon Sat Mon Thu Fri Sun Tue Thu Wed Mon Sun Sat Mon Tue Sat Wed Fri Sat Mon Fri Sat Mon Sat Mon Thu Tue Tue Wed Thu Wed Fri Fri Fri Thu Sat Wed Sun Fri Mon Sun Mon Wed Fri Mon Sat

18.30 19.00 20.00 22.00 17.15 21.00 20.30 19.30 18.30 18.30 17.30 18.30 17.15 17.15 17.15 18.00 17.15 22.00 17.15 19.00 18.30 20.30 17.10 20.30 22.35 17.35 20.00 22.20 17.00 20.00 21.00 17.00 20.00 17.00 20.30 17.00 20.00 19.30 19.30 18.15 17.00 22.25 21.00 20.30 22.00 20.00 13.00 13.00 13.00 21.45

4.29 4.27 4.26 4.22 4.18 4.17 4.16 4.07 4.04 4.03 4.02 4.01 4.01 3.98 3.97 3.95 3.95 3.95 3.92 3.86 3.79 3.73 3.72 3.71 3.66 3.64 3.58 3.54 3.47 3.41 3.37 3.36 3.34 3.34 3.33 3.32 3.28 3.22 3.20 3.16 3.15 3.14 3.14 3.13 3.11 3.09 3.02 3.00 2.91 2.91

20.08 21.23 18.04 22.52 26.33 16.97 18.56 17.54 20.10 20.13 20.25 19.79 25.75 25.49 24.66 18.93 23.80 21.12 24.84 16.82 18.85 16.05 19.82 14.76 25.01 19.56 14.67 21.67 22.49 14.44 14.05 22.23 14.98 22.37 14.44 21.81 14.67 15.24 14.90 15.72 20.97 22.77 13.23 12.46 15.13 12.67 40.04 41.56 39.67 13.84

ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC2/Love Productions BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/World Productions ITV/Thames BBC1 ITV/ITN ITV/ITN BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/Twofour ITV/ITN BBC1 ITV BBC2/Love Productions BBC1/So Television BBC1/Inner Circle Films/Phil McIntyre ITV/Modern Television BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Shiver ITV ITV ITV BBC1/Shed Productions ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1/Objective Productions ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1/Screenchannel Television ITV/ITN BBC2 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV/Hot Sauce

*To include producer credits email robin.parker@emap.com by noon on Tuesday. Tables exclude programmes timed under 5 minutes long and omnibus editions, eg soaps.

Mr Selfridge www.broadcastnow.co.uk

hidden Kingdoms

BBC1’s EastEnders achieved 6.7 million/29%. The audience then halved to 3.3 million/14% for Waterloo Road at 8.30pm. At 9.30pm, it was down by a third again as Live At The Apollo slipped to 2.2 million/10%. BBC2’s best performer of the night was The Great Sport Relief Bake Off at 8pm, with 4.3 million/19%.

On Thursday, BBC1’s new natural history series Hidden Kingdoms began with 3.4 million/14% at 8pm – half the audience of ITV’s winning Emmerdale (6.8 million/29%; 121,000 +1). At 8.30pm, Birds Of A Feather dropped 900,000 to a low, though

‘Death In Paradise began with 7.1 million/30%, its best ever live rating’ still impressive, 5.9 million/24% (242,000 +1). At 9pm, BBC1’s Silent Witness (5.5 million/23%) beat ITV’s Benidorm (4.8 million/19%; 554,000 +1).

Friday’s second part of Silent Witness beat episode one with 5.7 million/24%, eclipsing the 2.9 million/12% (276,000 +1) for Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’ with Neil Morrissey on ITV. On Saturday, BBC1’s repeats of UKTV’s Dynamo: Magician Impossible (3.6 million/20%) rolled on at 5.45pm, before Reflex averaged 3.2 million/16%. At 7pm, BBC1’s The Voice UK achieved 7.5 million/33%; 750,000 short of last week but still ahead of ITV’s Splash!, which, although up more than 100,000 on last week, lost with 3.6 million/16% (209,000 +1).

On Sunday, ITV’s Dancing On Ice averaged 5.6 million/24% (109,000 +1) from 6.15pm to 7.45pm. Opposite from 7pm, BBC1’s Countryfile won with 7.1 million/ 30%. At 8pm, BBC1’s Call The Midwife returned with a chart-topping 9.6 million/36%, its best ever live rating and ahead of ITV’s All Star Family Fortunes (4.3 million/17%; 127,000 +1) at 7.45pm and Dancing On Ice: The Results (4.3 million/16%; 214,000 +1) at 8.30pm. At 9pm, ITV’s Mr Selfridge had its lowest live rating – 4.9 million/19% (415,000 +1) – as BBC1’s The Musketeers swung into action with 7.4 million/29%.

See over for digital focus, plus channel and genre overviews 24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 33

Ratings Mon 13 Jan – Sun 19 Jan Channel Overview

Bun fight fails Benefits test BY stephen price

Last year, there was a Twitter-based hoo-ha about one of the Bake-Off finalists. It was largely ludicrous, if unpleasant for the baker involved, but creator Love Productions probably felt that as controversies go, it was manageable. How they must yearn for such innocent times, as after two weeks there was little sign of the vitriolic benefits controversy ending. This week, in a cruel reminder of those floury halcyon days, Love’s shows vied for top spot.

Benefits beat the buns.

Behind Channel 4’s table-topping Benefits Street (5.1 million/ 21% incl +1), the best of BBC2’s The Great Sport Relief Bake Off was Tuesday’s at 8pm, on 4.4 million/ 19%. It made mincemeat of C4’s Location, Location, Location (1.9 million/8%; 287,000 +1) and Channel 5’s Gibraltar: Britain In The Sun (1 million/4%; 47,000 +1).

BBC2’s An Island Parish returned on Friday at 8.30pm with 2.1 million/9%. At 8pm, C4’s Jamie And Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast achieved 1.3 million/6% (120,000 +1), ahead of C5’s Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge (700,000/3%; 65,000 +1).

C5’s best was Sunday’s Celebrity Big Brother at 9pm (2.3 million/9%; 370,000 +1), against C4’s Don’t Look Down (1.5 million/6%; 293,000 +1) and BBC2’s Top Gear repeat (1.1 million/5% from 9.15pm).

Source: BARB

WEEk 3 Average hours per viewer Daytime share (%) Peaktime share (%) w/c 13.01.14 Peaktime share (%) w/c 14.01.13 yEAR TO DATE Average hours per viewer Audience share (%) Audience share (%) 2013

BBC1 6.04 20.55 24.10 24.19 BBC1 6.42 22.12 21.13

BBC2 1.92 6.66 8.87 6.98 BBC2 2.04 7.04 6.30

ITV1 4.20 13.87 19.89 20.76 ITV1 4.36 15.00 15.77

C4 1.65 5.66 6.69 6.65 C4 1.79 6.17 6.54

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

34 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

Total 26.97 100.00 100.00 100.00 Total 29.04 100.00 100.00

TOP 30 BBC2, ChANNEL 4 AND ChANNEL 5 Title

Day

1

Benefits Street

Mon

21.00

5.10

20.79

C4

2

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off

Tue

20.00

4.39

18.67

BBC2

Share %

Broadcaster

3

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off

Wed

20.00

4.31

18.51

BBC2

4

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off

Thu

20.00

4.26

18.04

BBC2

5

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off

Mon

20.30

3.71

14.76

BBC2

6

University Challenge

Mon

20.00

3.09

12.67

BBC2

7

Celebrity Big Brother

Sun

21.00

2.71

10.57

C5

8

24 Hours In A&E

Wed

21.00

2.60

11.64

C4

9

Celebrity Big Brother: Live Eviction

Fri

21.00

2.51

11.11

C5

10

Celebrity Big Brother: Live Eviction

Wed

21.00

2.49

11.78

C5

11

Celebrity Big Brother

Tue

21.00

2.45

10.20

C5

12

Celebrity Big Brother

Thu

21.00

2.37

9.76

C5

13

Celebrity Big Brother

Mon

21.00

2.29

9.35

C5

14

Masters Snooker

Sun

19.00

2.15

8.46

BBC2 BBC2

15

An Island Parish

Fri

20.30

2.11

9.10

16

The Undateables

Thu

21.00

2.08

8.60

C4

16

Mastermind

Fri

20.00

2.08

9.30

BBC2

16

Location, Location, Location

Tue

20.00

2.08

8.85

19

Flog It!

Sat

18.00

2.07

10.38

20

8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown

Fri

21.00

2.05

8.64

C4

20

Speed With Guy Martin

Sun

20.00

2.05

7.70

C4

22

Wild Brazil

Wed

21.00

2.03

9.07

BBC2

23

Wild Brazil

Tue

21.00

1.94

8.07

BBC2

C4 BBC2

24

Wild Brazil

Thu

21.00

1.90

7.85

BBC2

25

Celebrity Big Brother

Sat

21.45

1.89

8.99

C5

26

The Restoration Man

Wed

20.00

1.87

8.01

C4

26

Autopsy: Whitney Houston’s Last Hours

Tue

22.00

1.87

11.14

C5

28

Qi

Fri

22.00

1.84

9.10

BBC2

29

Don't Look Down

Sun

21.00

1.76

6.86

C4

30

Great British Railway Journeys

Mon

18.30

1.74

8.15

BBC2

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Multichannel 35.60

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s BBC2 sitcom House Of Fools beat slot average by more than 300,000

Others 11.93 49.08 35.60 36.72 Others 13.15 45.29 46.02

Daytime is 09.30-18.00. Peaktime is 18.00-22.30. Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

DAyTImE ShARE (%) w/c 13.01.14

PEAkTImE ShARE (%) w/c 13.01.14

1.3m

C5 1.24 4.19 4.86 4.69 C5 1.27 4.38 4.26

BBC1 24.10

ITV1 19.89

C5 4.86 C4 6.69

BBC2 8.87

Multichannel 49.08

1.8m

Opposite Sunday night’s big 9pm dramas, Channel 4 held slot average for Don’t Look Down

BBC1 20.55

ITV1 13.87

BBC2 6.66 C5 4.19 C4 5.66

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Genre Overview

Source: BARB

top 10 ChiLdren’S proGraMMeS Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9

Day

Newsround Gigglebiz The Adventures Of Abney And Teal How To Be Epic @ Everything Gigglebiz Old Jack's Boat 64 Zoo Lane Sarah & Duck Just Kidding Katie Morag

Thu Mon Mon Thu Tue Mon Mon Mon Tue Sun

top 10 faCtuaL proGraMMeS Start

Viewers (Age 4-15)

08.15 253,700 17.25 252,400 18.00 251,600 08.00 246,900 17.25 243,100 17.40 231,300 18.10 222,700 16.40 221,600 16.00 217,800 17.40 217,800

Share (%)

Channel

19.58 15.11 12.85 17.09 14.07 12.47 10.91 15.81 20.26 11.11

CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBBC CBeebies

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Countryfile Winter Special Benefits Street Fake Or Fortune?

The One Show The One Show The One Show The One Show The Great Sport Relief Bake Off The Great Sport Relief Bake Off The One Show

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Mon Sun Thu Tue Mon Wed Tue Wed Fri

19.00 21.00 18.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 20.00 20.00 19.00

7.05 5.10 4.81 4.70 4.67 4.64 4.41 4.39 4.31 4.27

29.51 20.79 21.78 22.64 22.20 21.30 20.69 18.67 18.51 21.23

BBC1 C4 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 BBC2 BBC1

➤ In an unusual turn of events, newsround was the highest-rated children’s show, fending off competition from CBeebies shows Gigglebiz and the adventures of abney and teal. In fact, CBeebies had a good week, clinching seven entries.

➤ A Countryfile winter Special took the honours, but not without Benefits Street claiming some of the limelight, attracting more than 5 million viewers. the one Show had its usual slew of entries, while two episodes of the Great Sport relief Bake off featured for BBC2.

top 10 draMa proGraMMeS

top 10 entertainMent proGraMMeS

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Call The Midwife The Musketeers Death In Paradise Silent Witness Silent Witness Mr Selfridge Holby City Casualty The Bletchley Circle Waterloo Road

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Sun Tue Fri Thu Sun Tue Sat Mon Wed

20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.10 21.00 20.30

9.61 7.41 7.13 5.73 5.48 5.27 4.92 4.86 4.17 3.33

36.12 28.88 29.74 24.12 22.60 20.53 20.94 21.58 16.97 14.44

BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1

➤ Call the Midwife returned with a record audience on Sunday and provided a whopping inheritance for the Musketeers, which debuted with more than 7 million. death in paradise also achieved record ratings on its return in a good week for BBC1 drama.

up Countryfile adds 1.2m viewers

down The Voice UK loses 700,000

up Friday’s Silent Witness gains 230,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Birds Of A Feather Benidorm Miranda Live At The Apollo Birds Of A Feather The Big Bang Theory The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons

The Voice UK Dancing On Ice National Lottery: Who Dares Wins Dancing On Ice: The Results All Star Family Fortunes Pointless Take Me Out Pointless Pointless Pointless

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sat Sun Sat Sun Sun Fri Sat Thu Wed Mon

19.00 18.15 20.20 20.30 19.45 17.15 20.30 17.15 17.15 17.15

7.50 5.77 5.13 4.47 4.41 4.18 4.16 4.01 3.98 3.97

32.48 24.99 23.17 16.51 17.21 26.33 18.56 25.75 25.49 24.66

BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1

➤ the Voice uk lost nearly 700,000 viewers on its second outing, but still easily topped the entertainment table. There was more woe for dancing on ice, with viewers continuing to desert the format, while pointless snagged four places.

up Call The Midwife up 300,000 on 2013 launch

down Who Dares Wins drops 840,000

up Death In Paradise adds 200,000 on 2013 debut

top 10 MuSiC & artS proGraMMeS

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Thu Thu Fri Wed Sun Thu Mon Wed Thu Fri

20.30 21.00 20.30 21.30 22.15 20.30 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00

6.17 5.16 3.73 2.15 1.89 1.77 1.53 1.52 1.40 1.38

25.45 21.26 16.05 9.77 10.98 7.29 7.78 8.09 7.54 7.47

ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV E4 C4 C4 C4 C4

➤ Birds of a feather slumped to a low, but it remained imperious in the comedy line-up, with its Sunday night repeat also clocking up nearly 1.9 million. Benidorm also hit a series low, but eased ahead of BBC1 entries Live at the apollo and Miranda. next week Sport and Current affairS www.broadcastnow.co.uk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

down Dancing On Ice slips 330,000

top 10 CoMedy proGraMMeS Title

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 6 8 9 9

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Born To Be Wild: Golden Age Of… Top Of The Pops: 1979 Random Acts Guitar Heroes At The BBC Slade At The BBC Paul Tortelier At The BBC The Film Review TOTP: The Story Of 1977 The Film Review Top Of The Pops: 1979

Fri Thu Tue Fri Sat Fri Fri Sun Fri Sat

21.00 19.30 23.55 23.30 23.00 20.00 21.45 21.00 17.45 24.00

0.47 0.41 0.31 0.27 0.20 0.18 0.18 0.17 0.16 0.16

1.96 1.89 5.11 3.46 1.61 0.79 0.74 0.66 0.95 2.12

BBC4 BBC4 C4 BBC4 BBC4 BBC4 BBC News Yesterday BBC News BBC4

➤ In a quiet week for music and arts content, Born to Be wild: the Golden age of american rock scraped to victory with 470,000 viewers. It was BBC4’s week as the channel clinched six of the top 10, while BBC News’ the film review made a very rare appearance.

See over for demographic and digital focus 24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 35

Ratings Mon 13 Jan – Sun 19 Jan Demographic focus Channels

Source: BARB

Individuals Share (%)

Adults ABC1 Share (%)1

Adults ABC1 Profile (%)2

Adults 16-34 Share (%)1

Adults 16-34 Profile (%)2

Male Share (%)1

BBC1

22.47

26.55

ITV

15.71

14.01

Male Profile (%)2

Female Share (%)1

Female Profile (%)2

48.59

13.18

10.09

22.06

44.64

22.81

55.36

36.67

13.01

14.25

12.62

36.53

18.29

63.48

BBC2

7.10

8.38

48.56

4.64

11.26

8.16

52.25

6.22

47.75

C4

5.95

6.05

41.83

8.64

24.98

5.66

43.28

6.19

56.72 64.85

C5

4.92

4.68

39.10

6.00

20.98

3.81

35.15

5.85

ITV3

2.36

2.13

37.26

0.64

4.71

2.02

38.95

2.64

61.05

ITV2

2.23

1.88

34.61

3.63

27.99

1.90

38.77

2.51

61.23 55.86

E4

1.99

1.94

40.11

5.42

46.86

1.93

44.14

2.04

Sky Spts 1

1.58

1.99

51.70

2.36

25.71

2.48

71.39

0.83

28.62

BBC 3

1.33

1.24

38.36

3.09

40.00

1.52

52.01

1.17

48.00

Film 4

1.21

1.19

40.54

1.14

16.19

1.51

56.74

0.96

43.23

More 4

1.18

1.22

42.47

1.06

15.47

1.09

41.83

1.26

58.17 38.39

Dave

1.14

1.14

41.01

1.93

29.07

1.55

61.61

0.81

BBC4

0.90

1.17

53.83

0.29

5.48

1.03

52.06

0.79

47.92

ITV4

0.90

0.79

36.13

0.54

10.29

1.22

61.83

0.63

38.19

Sky 1

0.86

0.82

39.25

1.67

33.28

0.98

51.73

0.76

48.27

5 USA

0.86

0.69

33.27

0.72

14.37

0.77

40.94

0.93

59.08

Drama

0.69

0.65

38.65

0.21

5.33

0.73

48.08

0.66

51.94

Yesterday

0.68

0.61

36.35

0.17

4.23

0.89

59.40

0.51

40.60

20%

BBC1 almost doubled its 10.5% average share of 25-34s at 9pm on Sunday with Musketeers. It outperformed slot average across all age groups, with 55-64s also delivering – 39% of all viewers versus the 23% average.

Share covers all hours. Figures include HD and +1 where applicable 1: Each channel’s share of total demographic. 2: Demographic as a percentage of the channel’s total viewers.

Digital focus

Geeks help out E4 cops

BY Stephen price

E4’s geeky boffins have competition from a cop whose new boss wants less fun and more criminal capturing. Meanwhile, over on BBC4, Britain’s oldest butcher did rather nicely.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine launched on E4 at 9pm on Thursday with an impressive 1.1 million/4%. With The Big Bang Theory at 8.30pm flying high with 1.8 million/7%, Thursday nights might be fun for the channel for a while.

However, the second episode of The Tomorrow People on Wednesday at 9pm dipped to 1 million/4%, nearly 400,000 short of last week’s record launch.

There’s no tomorrow for all the victims of ITV3’s Midsomer Murders, which hit 1 million/4% on Tuesday at 8pm.

At 9pm on Wednesday, BBC4 launched Hidden Histories: Britain’s Oldest Businesses to 720,000/3%. That wasn’t quite the channel’s best though: that was Saturday’s 9pm episode of The Bridge (1 million/5%).

36 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

Source: BARB

digiTal HOMes

TOP 30 MulTicHaNNel PrOgraMMes Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 11 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 20 20 23 23 25 26 27 27 29 30

Live Ford Super Sunday The Big Bang Theory Live Ford Sat Night Football Brooklyn Nine-Nine The Bridge Ii Hollyoaks Live Ford Mon Night Football Hollyoaks The Tomorrow People Midsomer Murders Hollyoaks Hollyoaks Live Ford Super Sunday Family Guy The Bridge II Hollyoaks The Big Bang Theory The World Is Not Enough The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Doc Martin The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Rosemary And Thyme Family Guy The Big Bang Theory Hidden Histories The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Day

Sun Thu Sat Thu Sat Mon Mon Thu Wed Tue Tue Wed Sun Fri Sat Fri Thu Sat Thu Tue Sat Wed Mon Fri Sat Sat Tue Wed Mon Fri

Start

15.30 20.30 17.00 21.00 21.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 19.00 12.30 23.25 22.00 19.00 18.30 21.00 20.00 18.30 20.00 18.30 18.30 20.00 19.00 23.45 20.30 21.00 18.00 18.30

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

2.01 1.77 1.30 1.06 1.04 1.03 0.99 0.99 0.98 0.96 0.95 0.95 0.93 0.90 0.89 0.89 0.87 0.86 0.85 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.77 0.77 0.75 0.73 0.72 0.72 0.71 0.70

11.10 7.29 6.50 4.35 4.63 4.71 4.51 4.76 4.38 4.05 4.53 4.58 9.17 8.78 4.46 4.41 4.32 4.37 3.70 4.01 3.63 4.01 3.60 3.43 3.26 7.65 2.97 3.21 3.62 3.50

Channel

Sky Spts 1 E4 Sky Spts 1 E4 BBC4 E4 Sky Spts 1 E4 E4 ITV3 E4 E4 Sky Spts 1 BBC3 BBC4 E4 E4 ITV2 E4 E4 ITV3 E4 E4 E4 ITV3 BBC3 E4 BBC4 E4 E4

Channels

Share (%)

BBC1 ITV BBC2 C4 C5 Total multichannel ITV3 ITV2 E4 Sky Sports 1 CBeebies BBC3 Film 4 More 4 BBC News Dave BBC4 ITV4

22.47 15.71 7.10 5.95 4.92 43.85 2.36 2.23 1.99 1.58 1.40 1.33 1.21 1.18 1.16 1.14 0.90 0.90

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

412k BBC4 hit slot average with the start of a repeat run of classic comedy Ever Decreasing Circles

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

NoN-PSB toP 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (000s) Share (all homes) %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Live Ford Super Sunday Live Ford Saturday Night Football Live Ford Monday Night Football Live Ford Super Sunday The Simpsons Live Championship Gillette Soccer Saturday The Simpsons Live Sunderland V Southampton Gillette Soccer Saturday The Simpsons NCIS Hawaii Five-0 The Simpsons Criminal Minds The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Kumars Storage Hunters The Simpsons The Simpsons Would I Lie To You? The Simpsons The Simpsons Storage Hunters The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Mock The Week Mock The Week The Simpsons The Simpsons QI XL Storage Hunters The Simpsons The Simpsons Gavin & Stacey QI XL Lizard Lick Towing NCIS: LA Storage Hunters Not Going Out The Simpsons Would I Lie To You? Lizard Lick Towing The Simpsons Red Dwarf Jonathan Creek QI XL

Sun Sat Mon Sun Sun Sat Sat Sun Sat Sat Tue Fri Sun Tue Mon Wed Fri Wed Wed Sat Mon Thu Mon Sun Thu Sat Tue Fri Mon Tue Tue Wed Fri Mon Sat Sun Thu Sat Mon Sat Sun Sat Fri Mon Sun Sat Sun Sun Mon Fri

15.30 17.00 19.00 12.30 19.30 12.00 15.00 19.00 12.00 12.00 19.00 21.00 21.00 18.30 21.00 18.30 19.00 19.00 21.00 15.30 19.00 19.00 22.00 20.00 19.30 19.30 19.30 18.30 19.30 22.40 22.00 19.30 19.30 21.00 10.30 20.30 18.30 21.40 19.00 16.00 22.00 15.00 21.40 18.30 22.00 16.30 18.30 18.00 21.00 23.00

2,009,300 1,302,600 993,100 932,000 493,100 468,000 451,300 450,700 448,500 446,700 444,900 437,700 429,600 425,800 395,700 387,500 384,700 372,600 370,700 368,400 361,800 353,000 351,500 349,100 349,000 348,300 342,400 338,600 333,300 328,200 326,000 324,800 324,400 320,000 316,100 311,700 311,300 308,700 307,600 306,500 301,200 301,100 291,600 289,900 289,300 280,400 279,800 278,800 272,800 270,700

Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky 1 BT Sport 1 Sky Sports News Sky 1 Fox Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky Living Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1/Avatar Films/Hat Trick Prods Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/Zeppotron Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/Angst TV Dave/Angst TV Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/Talkback Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/Baby Cow Dave/Talkback Dave Sky 1 Dave/T Group Dave/Avalon Sky 1 Dave/Zeppotron Dave Sky 1 Dave Drama Dave/Talkback

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Mob City www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Gavin & Stacey

11.10 6.50 4.51 9.17 2.03 4.76 3.60 1.92 4.49 3.72 2.12 1.84 1.67 2.10 1.61 1.93 1.91 1.80 1.66 3.08 1.66 1.70 1.97 1.33 1.63 1.49 1.57 1.69 1.44 2.63 1.79 1.49 1.54 1.30 3.97 1.15 1.55 1.41 1.37 2.39 1.75 2.70 1.32 1.36 1.55 1.98 1.24 1.28 1.18 2.43

370k The return of The Kumars – this time on Sky 1 – scored three times slot average

Tidy result for Dave

BY Stephen priCe

Amid mobs and all the excesses that Babylon has come to represent, only outdone by modern day football, the appeal of two young lovers from Essex and South Wales continues unabated, with a whole series splurged out at once for avid fans.

Fox launched two new series this weekend. On Friday at 10pm, after NCIS at 9pm (440,000/1.8%, the channel’s best of the week) it began Mob City in front of 106,000/0.6%. On Saturday, spoof melodrama The Spoils Of Babylon began with a tiny 18,000/0.1% at 9pm. The 11.30pm repeat beat that with 64,000/0.6%.

It’s likely both shows will perk up significantly after recording.

Sky Living’s Criminal Minds was again the channel’s best with 396,000/1.6%. Sky 1’s best was an episode of The Simpsons (493,000/2%) at 7.30pm.

On Saturday, Dave repeated the entire first series of Gavin & Stacey from 9pm, the best of which was episode two at 9.40pm with 309,000/1.4%. This week’s best for the channel was Saturday’s Storage Hunters at 3.30pm with 368,000/3.1%.

The best football showing this week was Sky Sport 1’s Chelsea v Manchester United, which averaged 2 million/11% from 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon, with a peak of 3.1 million/17% at 5.20pm.

24 January 2014 | Broadcast | 37

Ratings Mon 6 Jan – Sun 12 Jan

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Consolidated Ratings

C4 reaps the Benefits

BY Stephen price

The year is now well under way and the schedules are beginning to take shape. Returning code-crackers got off to a decent start for ITV, while a British children’s classic has been given a youthful American rubdown for E4. BBC1’s own reboot of an ages-old detective finished with elementarily whopping numbers. Meanwhile, another US conspiracy thriller arrived on Channel 4 and arguments over benefits helped ensure its newest series got off to a flier.

ITV: The Bletchley Circle ITV’s The Bletchley Circle returned on Monday 6 January. The first series in 2012 averaged 5.6 million/23%, with a 5.8 million/ 22% high for the launch episode.

Series two began spiffingly with a

Source: BARB

consolidated 6.2 million/20% after 1.5 million recorded and watched, making it the highest-rated episode so far. Its ABC1 content was also strong: 3.4 million – more than half of its audience and a 23% share for the 9pm slot, the best volume of upmarket viewers to date.

Saturday 11 January at 9pm with a live rating of 1.5 million/6%. After more than 750,000 recorded and watched, it ended on 2.2 million/8%. The most recent series of fellow Israeli adaptation Homeland averaged 3.1 million/11% on its Sunday outing last autumn.

C4: Benefits Street

E4’s import of The CW network’s sci-fi drama The Tomorrow People began strongly on Wednesday 8 January at 9pm with 1.4 million/ 6%. After more than 500,000 recorded and watched, it finished on 2 million/7%. Two repeats added another 880,000.

Channel 4 has apparently sneaked out a low-key, observational documentary series called Benefits Street.

It began on Monday 6 January at 9pm with a live rating of 4.5 million/18%. After almost 1 million viewers watched via recording, it ended on 5.4 million/18%. Another 2.2 million/12% tuned in for the repeat on Wednesday after 451,000 watched via PVR. It was repeated six further times on 4Seven, the best of which was Sunday’s at 9pm with 311,000/1%; the best ever audience for a show on the channel.

C4: Hostages Hostages, Channel 4’s new US thriller from CBS, launched on

E4: The Tomorrow People

BBC1: Sherlock

Both episodes of BBC1’s The 7:39 added more than 1.6m via PVR and catch-up

BBC1’s Sherlock concluded on Sunday 12 January at 9pm with a consolidated audience of 11.4 million/36% after more than 2.6 million watched via PVR. This third series averaged 11.8 million/37% – the best for a BBC drama series in 10 years – and included the show’s best ever: New Year’s Day’s 12.7 million/38%.

TOP 30 CONSOlIDaTED RaTINgS: RaNkED By gaIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 19 21 22 23 23 23 26 27 28 28 30

7.4m UP Celebrity Big Brother rises above 3m DOWN Benidorm down 1m

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Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Gain (m)

Gain %

Sherlock Silent Witness Silent Witness The 7.39 The 7.39 The Bletchley Circle Birds Of A Feather Benidorm Midsomer Murders Benefits Street Casualty Hostages Coronation Street EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders The Graham Norton Show Coronation Street EastEnders Emmerdale Coronation Street The Bridge Coronation Street The Bridge The Tomorrow People 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown Celebrity Big Brother EastEnders Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe Emmerdale

Sun Thu Fri Mon Tue Mon Thu Thu Wed Mon Sat Sat Fri Wed Tue Mon Fri Fri Thu Thu Mon Sat Wed Sat Wed Fri Mon Fri Thu Thu

20:30 21:00 21:00 21:00 21:00 21:00 20:30 21:00 20:00 21:00 21:20 21:00 20:30 20:00 19:30 20:00 22:40 19:30 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 19:30 22:00 21:00 21:00 21:00 20:00 22:00 19:00

11.38 7.20 7.33 7.35 7.41 6.16 8.61 6.92 6.62 5.42 6.06 2.22 9.05 7.49 8.46 8.91 4.31 9.19 8.12 7.94 9.77 1.49 9.68 1.36 1.97 2.75 3.08 7.87 1.64 7.58

36.20 24.42 26.30 24.37 27.12 20.10 32.21 23.26 24.39 17.87 22.88 8.26 35.97 27.69 35.57 33.80 25.61 39.10 34.58 31.11 36.63 5.62 39.77 6.03 7.26 9.80 10.13 31.94 7.81 32.99

2.60 1.93 1.82 1.69 1.63 1.45 1.33 1.00 0.98 0.96 0.92 0.75 0.74 0.72 0.68 0.64 0.61 0.59 0.58 0.58 0.57 0.54 0.53 0.53 0.53 0.50 0.48 0.47 0.47 0.46

29.60 36.70 33.00 29.80 28.30 30.80 18.30 16.80 17.40 21.60 17.90 51.60 8.90 10.70 8.70 7.70 16.40 6.90 7.70 7.90 6.20 56.40 5.80 63.90 36.70 22.00 18.40 6.40 39.80 6.50

Broadcaster BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV ITV ITV C4 BBC1 C4 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC4 ITV BBC 4 E4 C4 C5 BBC1 BBC2 ITV

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

38 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

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ALL A TWITTER

thing called “facing down the angry man”. As to what that entails, she’s already said too much: “I think it’s secret information.” Bain said it made for good team bonding: “It’s good fun, running around with guns.”

“Sex Box to be remade in the US”. US version will feature a Deal Or No Deal element where you can swap your box if you don’t like your wife. @chuckthomasuk (Chuck Thomas) Producer

Jill Halfpenny: suffering for her art

Life’s a riot on Babylon

And what of that title? Jesse Armstrong said it played on both the Biblical illusion of breaking down languages and finding new ways to communicate, and of the Rastafarian word of choice for police (though Rastas are thin on the ground in the pilot). We await C4 continuity announcers wrestling with its pronunciation, however, after actor Patterson Joseph insisted it must be said in true Rasta fashion, with emphasis on a long flat ‘a’ sound.

Warmed that some of the best examples of nuanced writing are coming out of the ‘soaps’ at the moment. Popular doesn’t have to mean shite. @Sonic_Screwup (Sophie Petzal) Writer, Wolfblood

@pete_sinclair (Pete Sinclair) Writer, Have I got News For You

AND FINALLY ...

Steve Toussaint Actor, Line Of Duty and Silent Witness

The sound of the police

The cast of Channel 4’s upcoming police drama Babylon were put through their paces in the name of authenticity. At a Bafta preview of Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s show this week, actress Jill Halfpenny revealed that she undertook riot training in which she was pelted with glass, petrol bombs and bricks, and endured some-

David Beckham is making a guest appearance in Only Fools And Horses. Such a shame Trigger won’t be there to call him Rodney. #SportRelief

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Do you have a story that you’d like to share?

Among the politicians and media grandees, Tony Hall’s diary (see pages 4-5) threw up some other curious moments. A day trip to Derry on 24 May 2013 was wiped out after the emergency landing of a BA flight to Oslo, while mystery shrouds his trip to San Francisco in August, with the BBC choosing to redact the names of executives Hall met at Google, Samsung and Apple. Whatever can it mean?

What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told?

“I saw you in that thing; you were fabulous.”

What’s the best advice you have ever been given?

“If you put your name to something, make sure it’s the best something it can be.”

Mrs JP Bryan (my mum).

What TV shows would be in your fantasy schedule?

The Wire, The West Wing, The Newsroom, Dexter, Homicide and Cracker.

Who would you be on Stars In Their Eyes?

Peter Wyngarde as Jason King (below). He didn’t sing, but damn, he looked good.

What are the best and worst things about working in TV or radio?

Worst: the almost endless waiting around. Best: the camaraderie that develops among performers in that waiting around.

Who would you put in the Celebrity Big Brother house?

Malcolm X, Quentin Crisp, Alexandre Dumas, Julius Soubise (look him up), Mary Seacole and Barack Obama.

Last remaining tables/seats! Book now or you may miss out! Contact Hannah Grix T 020 3033 2889 E hannah.grix@mb-insight.com Sponsored by

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40 | Broadcast | 24 January 2014

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