Broadcast 23 August 2013 by Media Business Insight

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

23 August 2013

Edinburgh bumper issuee

HOT SHOTS 2013 Meet TV’s rising stars in our 36-page supplement

INTERVIEW Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan p34-35 PRODUCTION Penny Woolcock and grass-roots film-makers p32-33 COMEDY FOCUS C4’s Phil Clarke; producer Lisa Clark; Inside No. 9 p25-30

Commissioning flaws exposed ■ Indies slam culture of cancelled meetings ■ Inconsistency revealed as major problem

The midjourney turn-back is now part of our working lives

BY CHRIS CURTIS

Indies’ lives are blighted by commissioners from the BBC and Channel 4 cancelling their meetings, and they claim the quality of input they receive from commissioners at C4, Channel 5 and Sky is very inconsistent. These are among the findings of a comprehensive survey of commissioning carried out by Broadcast and GfK for the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The survey, which generated contributions from 76 of the UK’s top 100 indies, illuminates a widespread culture of cancelled, rushed or interrupted commissioning meetings, with multiple respondents claiming to have been sat in reception when told that their meeting had been called off. Almost 60% of respondents had had meetings cancelled in the past 12 months; of those, half had experienced it at the BBC and 65% at C4. That contrasts strongly with ITV and C5, which were responsible for cancelling only 6% and 3% of meetings respectively. One respondent summed up the complaints: “The BBC and C4 regularly cancel or change meetings at the last minute, or even on the way over for a meeting. The midjourney turn-back is now part of our working lives.” The subject was among the most emotive in the survey, with one respondent branding C4’s behaviour “hopeless and inexcusable” and another calling it a “perennial BBC bad habit”.

Survey respondent

Twenty Twelve: industry suffers from meetings from hell

FIVE-YEAR PATTERN INDIES RATE COMMISSIONING 67% 49%

47%

38% 20%

16%

14% 24%

20%

ITV

Sky

BBC

23% Other

44% 61% C4

But the BBC fared better in terms of the quality of input its commissioners deliver. Some 43% of indies scored the corporation 8-10 out of 10 for the quality of its input after commission, compared with just 7% scoring it 1-3 out of 10. ITV performed even better, with 49% of respondents rating it 8-10 and 8% 1-3.

Channel 5

A lot or a little better A lot or a little worse

Both broadcasters significantly outperformed their major rivals. The data showed indie experiences with C4 are very inconsistent, with 26% scoring it highly (8-10), but 24% of indies who work with the broadcaster awarding it 1-3 out of 10. C4’s commissioning team also came in for anecdotal criticism, with a typical comment suggesting

it suffers from “inexperienced and nervous commissioners, with unclear guidance both internally and externally”. A Channel 4 spokesman said: “C4 has gone further than any other broadcaster in expanding its supply base and this survey only reflects a very small proportion of the 460 suppliers we worked with last year. “We topped both the Broadcast and Pact surveys as best broadcaster for indies to deal with and have introduced industry-leading measures to improve the process for our suppliers. If we’re not getting it right in every instance, we want to know – we have introduced the role of indie advocate and would encourage producers to use it.” There was also an inconsistent picture at C5 and Sky, where the split between positive and negative feedback was 30% to 30% for the former, and 21% to 17% for the latter (see page 8). The BBC and ITV also outperformed C4 and C5 when judged over five years in terms of the overall commissioning process (see graph). The findings will be discussed in detail on 23 August at 3.15pm at a Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival session called We Need to Talk About Commissioning.

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

Broadcasters: must do better Commissioning survey highlights indies’ discontent at TV process

he results of this week’s commissioning survey back up what we’ve been hearing from producers for well over a year: there are some serious failings in the process of making television, from initial meeting stage right up to the point of TX. The survey was conducted by independent research company GfK to inform an Edinburgh debate this week and was sent to Broadcast’s database of top 100

‘There are some serious failings in the process of making TV, from initial meetings to the point of TX’ indies. It was undertaken by 76 of the 100 indies and by senior individuals, 80% of whom have been in production for more than 16 years. The aim: to expose problems and, more importantly, to discuss solutions. That almost 60% of producers have had meetings cancelled at the last minute – many while they waited in the lobby – is unacceptable. Discourteous in the extreme, not to mention expensive for those in the nations and regions, the survey shows it’s a common practice within the BBC and Channel 4. It has to stop. This week, BBC head of television Danny Cohen (right) responded by pledging that meetings with indies based out of London will not be cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice – unless due to illness. Rearranging cancelled meetings with producers will be prioritised. Let’s hope others follow his lead. 2 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Meanwhile, almost 60% of producers have been encouraged to start production on a commission without an official ‘green light’. All broadcasters do this, but 40% of respondents named C4. The question is why and whether it matters if payment is made eventually. Does it adversely affect an indie’s cashflow – particularly a small supplier? Does it affect a producer’s bargaining power with a broadcaster or a broadcaster’s with a talent agent if a project is already some way down the line? Does the delay in official contracts stem from a disconnect between business affairs and commissioning departments? C4 does not come out well in the survey compared with its rivals ITV, which performed well overall, and the BBC, which despite this has several areas in which it needs to improve (see page 3). It is true that this survey represents a snapshot of the 460 suppliers with which C4 works, but the reality is that the bulk of its output comes from indies in the top 100 table. C4 boss David Abraham has questioned previous coverage in Broadcast, arguing that complaints about ‘undue interference’ come from producers who want an unrealistic, hands-off approach. However, this survey proves that producers do not want passive commissioners. Almost 60% want constructive feedback following viewing of pilots/rushes and runthroughs, and 45% want creative input into the programme idea/script (see page 8). There will be much to debate this week and beyond, but identifying quality feedback, and making that consistent, is very much of the essence.

è BBC Studios and Post Production is to pull out of its central London facility after just 12 months. BBC S&PP chief executive Anna Mallett (below) said the current business model was “not commercially viable”.

è Zeppotron co-founder Neil Webster and Ben Palmer, director of The Inbetweeners Movie, have joined forces to create indie Happy Tramp.

è Raw TV will use its Digital Rig social media technology to help produce Freshers (w/t), a C4 series about life as a first-year student at Leicester University.

Ratings Top Five 1 Mentorn Media’s C4 doc Crazy About One Direction pulled in 630,000 on Thursday, around 1m below slot average. 2 David Walliams’ comedy Big School (below) registered more than 4m for BBC1 on Friday. 3 BT Sport’s Premier League coverage of Liverpool vs Stoke debuted with a peak audience of 760,000, well ahead of ESPN’s launch weekend in 2009.

The Mill, Darlow Smithson Production’s period drama for C4, closed on Sunday with an average of 2.3m over its four parts. 4

Big Brother came to a conclusion with a peak of 2.5m – the reality show’s biggest final for C5 for a noncelebrity version. 5

Team Tweets è Team Broadcast preparing for all the news and gossip from #GEITF. See you in The George from midnight @broadcastnow

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

Cohen makes indie pledge I want companies to be able to hold us to account if we don’t deliver

BY jake kanTeR

Danny Cohen has introduced a raft of indie relations guidelines after the production community voiced frustrations about the broad caster’s commissioning processes. The BBC director of television has pulled together a “charter of editorial commitments” that gives guidance on how commissioners should deal with producers. It was prompted by direct feed back from indies and a Broadcast/GfK survey for the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (GEITF), which found that, for example, BBC commissioners are some of the worst offenders when it comes to rescheduling meetings at short notice. Plans to improve indie relations were also set out in a wideranging shakeup of the BBC’s television operations in February, when it committed to being more mindful of producer needs. Among Cohen’s guidelines is a pledge not to cancel commis sioning meetings with outof London indies with less than 48 hours’ notice, and the BBC hopes to extend that deadline to all producers. All cancellations will be done over the phone and via email,

Danny Cohen, BBC

Last Tango In Halifax: regional producers such as Red will benefit

while postponed meetings will be given priority when rescheduling. BBC commissioners will also acknowledge receipt of new pro gramming ideas within a week and an initial decision to reject or take forward a proposal will be made within a month. In highvol ume factual areas and for scripted submissions, commissioners will be granted six weeks to respond. The We Need to Talk About Commissioning survey showed that, on average, the BBC takes between three and four weeks to acknowledge an idea. However, it was considered to be one of the

better communicators and the majority of producers felt its commissioning processes had improved over the past five years. Cohen not only wants commis sioners to pledge to reject ideas promptly, but to also provide detailed reasons for the decision. However, this might not always be the case in factual, where the BBC receives a lot of proposals. Other commitments include providing producers with consist ent and clear updates on develop ments and a structured timeframe for escalating completed scripts to controllers. In comedy, this will be

a twoweek process, while drama scripts will be given four weeks. Cohen insisted the guidelines were not just “lip service” and he has promised to measure the BBC’s performance on the standards every year, as well as in the corporation’s biennial commissioning survey. “By publishing these new guide lines, I want companies to know exactly what to expect and to be able to hold us to account if we don’t deliver,” he said. “I want BBC television to be the most creative and exciting com missioner of worldclass program ming. I hope these commitments will make us the first choice for brilliant ideas and scripts.” Other broadcasters have also recently introduced new initia tives. In June, ITV revealed it will survey indies on an annual basis about how it works with them, and in March Channel 4 introduced an indie advocate and cut its response time to pitches from 28 days to 21.

C4 sees off rivals to land Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. BY peTeR wHITe

Channel 4 has acquired high profile US superhero series Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. after a fierce bidding war. The broadcaster beat a number of broadcasters, including Sky, to the Marvelproduced series. S.H.I.E.L.D., a spinoff of movie Avengers Assemble, was the most notable show to come out of this year’s LA Screenings. The show was shrouded in secrecy at the event in May, with buyers forced to sign nondisclosure agreements in advance of seeing the pilot. This is the first major US acqui sition C4 has made since the www.broadcastnow.co.uk

S.H.I.e.L.D.: most notable show to come out of May’s La Screenings

departure of acquisitions boss Gill Hay earlier this year. The deal is understood to have been struck by Channel 4 chief

creative officer Jay Hunt, head of commercial affairs Martin Baker and Disney senior vice president and general manager of

media distribution, EMEA, Cathe rine Powell. The series was produced by the television arm of comic book company Marvel, ABC Studios and Mutant Enemy, the production company run by Avengers Assemble director Joss Whedon. S.H.I.E.L.D. is the first live action TV series to be produced by Marvel, and focuses on the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforce ment and Logistics Division. It revolves around the character Phil Coulson, who appeared in the movie, and will include a number of characters that weren’t in the feature film but exist in the wider comicbook world. 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 3

News IN BrIef Hill to join Ged Allen indie The Foundation co-creator and managing director Vanessa Hill is leaving the Zodiak Media kids’ TV producer to join Ged Allen’s new indie Jacabo. She will be replaced by head of production Gwen Hughes. Hill founded the kids’ production company with Allen in 1997 and has cocreated and exec produced series including Finger Tips, Tricky TV, and Ministry Of Mayhem.

Airey moves to Yahoo! Dawn Airey (left) has moved to Yahoo! to become senior vice-president of the internet business’ EMEA operations. The former Channel 5 chief executive left European broadcast group RTL in April after five years. Reporting to Yahoo! chief operating officer Henrique de Castro, Airey will start in the role on 1 November.

Sky launches FB app Sky has launched a Facebook app that allows users to set Sky+ recordings and receive TV recommendations based on shows being discussed by friends. The Sky Share app, which has been developed along with digital agency Jam, bolsters the broadcaster’s existing Remote Record service.

MTV orders beauty series MTV UK has commissioned reality series Beauty School Drop Outs from True North. The 8 x 60-minute series will feature four girls and four boys attending a beauty industry school in Manchester to learn body building, personal training, tattooing, waxing, massaging and hairstyling techniques. The series will air in October and was commissioned by senior vice-president and general manager, MTV UK, Kerry Taylor and Steve Regan, vice-president of production. It will be exec produced by Regan and True North’s Fiona Sullivan.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 4 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

ITV loses third NIC appeal but prompts consultation BY Jake kaNTer

ITV has lost a third court appeal in a long-running legal battle with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to avoid paying actors’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) – but has claimed a victory of sorts over the issue. The broadcaster went to the Court of Appeal to argue that it should not pay employers’ NICs of 13.8% for acting talent on ITV Studios shows such as Coronation Street. The case first went to court in 2009, when it was determined that actors should be treated as being employed for NI purposes – dismissing the broadcaster’s argument that the stars should be regarded as contractors, thereby allowing it to avoid paying NICs. ITV lost appeals in 2010 and 2011 and was thwarted again last month by Lord Justice Rimer, Sir Stanley Burnton and Sir James Munby. However, the latter described the current legislation as “most unhappily drafted”. ITV will not appeal again, but pointed out that the case had

Coronation Street: ITV claimed it should not pay NICs for actors

helped prompt an HMRC consultation proposing a number of reforms to the current NICs regime for ‘self-employed entertainers’ in the TV and film industries. One of the key options put forward by HMRC will effectively mean that all producers no longer have to treat on-screen talent as employees for NI purposes. The change would affect actors, singers, musicians and other performers. Interested parties have submitted their views to HMRC.

An ITV spokesman said: “ITV, in a lead industry case, invited the court to determine whether NICs should be payable by ITV in respect of actors who are engaged in television productions. “The legislation created uncertainty in the industry. We therefore welcome the HMRC’s decision to launch a consultation process inviting industry stakeholders to provide their views on simplifying the future NIC regulations for selfemployed entertainers.”

DG Hall improves BBC relations with unions BY Jake kaNTer

The National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) has settled its pay dispute with the BBC, and general secretary Michelle Stanistreet has hailed Tony Hall’s “considerable shift in approach” to industrial relations. The NUJ, Bectu and Unite dropped the threat of strike action last week after an agreement was thrashed out with director general Hall over pay terms following months of dispute. They have accepted the BBC’s offer of an £800 salary rise for staff earning less than £60,000 a year and a 1% increase to the potential minimum and maximum salaries within each pay grade. The corporation has also scrapped plans to cut redundancy consultation periods, while a

BBC strike: no further action

proposal to end flexibility allowances for new employees – cutting compensation for those working unsociable and unpredictable hours – will form part of a wider pay discussion in the autumn. The talks will form the backbone of the BBC’s staff pay offer next year and Stanistreet said

she had been impressed by Hall’s “constructive” approach since taking the reins in April. “We will sit down and evaluate all the problems on pay and remuneration in the broadest sense and hopefully reach some sensible solutions,” Stanistreet told Broadcast. “We haven’t experienced this sort of positive dialogue with the BBC in years.” She added that Hall had put in “personal time” repairing relations with the unions and there had been a “considerable shift in approach” compared with his predecessors. Back in March, the unions had complained that BBC relations were at a “low ebb”. Several BBC services, including Radio 4’s Today programme, were disrupted in February and March amid two rounds of industrial action. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

Frow brings drama back to C5 It’s not going to be Downton Abbey, but it stands a good chance of washing its face

BY PEtEr WhitE

Channel 5 has ordered its first original British drama in eight years – a 10-part crime procedural called Evidence. The Northern & Shell-owned broadcaster has commissioned the crime thriller from Newman Street, Paul Marquess’ drama division that operates as part of Fremantle Media UK. C5 director of programmes Ben Frow said: “We could mess around and do lots of pilots, but this is a very good opportunity to just jump in head first. It’s not going to be Downton Abbey, but it stands a good chance of washing its face.” Evidence will feature 10 selfcontained episodes in which three detectives investigate a different case each week. The drama will be filmed in a similar way to a factual series and will feature plenty of improvised scenes. Frow described the method as a new approach to drama, where series don’t have to cost £500,000 per episode. “Drama has always been very expensive and very high risk. We don’t have as much money as other people [but] I like the idea of taking drama and telling it in a factual way,” he said.

Ben Frow, C5

Crime Stories: inspired C5 to approach Newman Street for Evidence

The show is Marquess’ second drama commission, following daytime drama Crime Stories, which aired on ITV last year. Marquess, who will exec produce the series, was exec producer on The Bill for three years and ran his own BBC Worldwidebacked indie Cliffhanger Productions before a stint in charge of Hollyoaks for Lime Pictures. C5 approached Newman Street with the drama idea after seeing how

the company filmed Crime Stories in a documentary style. The series also contained footage made to look like CCTV, to give it an authentic edge. The broadcaster hopes that the homegrown series can replicate the success of the US procedurals it airs, including CSI and The Mentalist. “Procedurals are becoming a rare beast. Imagine if we could create our own procedural that

delivered half the numbers of CSI? They are very repeatable and stackable,” said Frow. The series will launch in the first quarter of 2014 and will return with 10 episodes in the autumn if it is deemed successful. Frow added that he was looking for more drama ideas and was in talks with three other UK indies about producing low-cost scripted series. Separately, the broadcaster has unveiled a raft of factual commissions including DIY Dummies from IWC Media, Undercover Store Detectives from Optomen, The Spy Who Brought Down Mary Queen Of Scots from Quickfire Media, OCD doc Can’t Stop from Crackit, Baby Faced Brides from Crackit and GroupM Entertainment, and On Benefits & Proud and Caught On Camera from its in-house division 5 Production.

Sky poised to strike first deal with GroupM We are looking to work with broadcasters more as their budgets come under pressure

BY PEtEr WhitE

Sky is set to work with GroupM Entertainment for the first time and has lined up a 20-part factual format from Leopard Films. The planned series is significant as it will be the first deal GME has struck with a pay-TV broadcaster in the UK. Sky is thought to be close to commissioning the 20 x 60-minute as-yet-untitled series, which is set in a studio environment, from the Argononowned indie. The commission is set to be made by Celia Taylor, who was recently promoted to head of factual commissioning, following www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Richard Foster, GME

Dog rescuers: GME co-pro for C5

the restructure of its factual and factual entertainment teams. It is understood that it was originally pitched as a 10-part series but as a result of GME’s investment, Sky has ordered a further 10

episodes. The series will likely be exec produced by GME head of programming Tony Moulsdale and will be the first co-production between an Argonon-owned indie and GME. Earlier this month, GME managing director Richard Foster

told Broadcast it had begun conversations with digital and pay-TV broadcasters, as well as a large section of the production community. “We are looking to work with broadcasters more as their budgets come under pressure or if they, or the producers, need an alternative source of finance beyond the substantial original commissioning budgets in place,” Foster said. GME works regularly with Channel 5 and has done deals to co-produce drama and entertainment formats with ITV. It also has a number of entertainment projects under way with Channel 4, including magic format Troy. 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 5

News & Analysis

BBC’s The Lab to pilot fresh factual formats BY Chris CurTis

The factual arm of BBC Production has put together a development unit designed to marry the corporation’s PSB values with format creation skills. The unit is called The Lab and it has already generated a strand for The One Show that it hopes may ultimately become a series, plus a yet-to-be-announced series that will play in primetime for BBC1. It has been set up by controller of factual production Natalie Humphreys and BBC Worldwide directors of factual Jo Sermon and Mark Reynolds, and comprises three key execs: Mike Benson, who previously managed Shine Group’s international development slate and whose credits include developing The Magicians, Walk On The Wildside and Great American Road Trip; Kathy Myers, an award-winning exec producer whose development credits include Coast, The One Show and Father Brown; and Andrea Daniels, who was previously head of factual brand and content strategy at BBC Worldwide. The trio have been tasked with developing and piloting

Great British Bake Off: the sort of content The Lab aims to come up with

returnable factual formats, with the ambition that shows should ultimately sell internationally and generate returns for the corporation via BBCW. Humphreys said: “The singular focus of The Lab is to help BBC Factual to make new standout public service programmes that can deliver more to viewers by becoming much-loved returning favourites in the schedules both here in the UK and abroad.” Love Production’s The Great British Bake Off is likely to be the

kind of content The Lab will look to create, and Humphreys said it would add value to “what in-house factual already does brilliantly”. She added: “Development works best when there’s powerful collaboration. With The Lab, it’s between our specialist teams who have unrivalled deep expertise, married with people who can flip a format, which makes for something really interesting.” The Lab’s upcoming item on The One Show will see Britain’s mums take on workplace problems.

Hairdressers go head to head for BBC3 challenge BBC3 is planning a Great British Bake Off-style series to unearth some of the UK’s most talented unqualified hairstylists. The youth channel wants to pit budding hairdressers against each other over six weeks in the BBC inhouse series, which will be filmed in the final two months of 2013. In much the same style as The Great British Bake Off, the contestants are likely to be set tasks testing their technical skills and ability to recreate classic looks. They will also be tasked with producing a hairstyle with a particular theme, such as bridal. Contestants will not have to hold a National Vocational Qualification in hairstyling, but will have to demonstrate flair and an eye for a future trend. BBC3 is currently finalising the commission and plans to get the series on air in early 2014. The order will be overseen by BBC3 controller Zai Bennett and Emma Willis, commissioning executive producer for documentaries. E4 attempted something similar in 2011 with The Great British Hairdresser, where celebrity stylist James Brown put 10 hairdressers through their paces in an elimination contest. The Splash Media show was axed after a single series.

London Live boss Boseley urges indies to think outside the box Part of my remit is producing something new for London

BY Lisa CampBeLL

“Efficient tariffs” will be a key driver in encouraging indies to produce new and distinctive content for London Live, according to its new programming director Jonathan Boseley. Speaking for the first time since being appointed to the post five weeks ago, Boseley said budget constraints meant producers would have to think differently about what, and how, they produce for the channel. The ex-Disney vice-president of programming and production, UK and Ireland, encouraged 6 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Jonathan Boseley, London Live

Boseley: inspired by online content

producers to seek inspiration online, where content is “creatordriven and not overly editorialised or formatted”.

He added: “Why is there such a lack of diversity on mainstream TV – from film-makers, to approaches to genres – and so little new talent? Part of my remit is producing something new and fresh for London. We’re reaching out to film-makers, indies, new writers and on-screen talent, and encour-

aging them to think differently about how they structure and shoot content.” Boseley also promised to mix up the schedule with short films, stripped shows and live events. The channel has formed a partnership with film-makers’ showcase The Smalls to encourage London directors to pitch films and will run a late night “open access” slot, currently titled London Raw. Boseley said: “We are not a niche channel. With our Freeview slot [number 8 on the EPG] we have a reach of 9 million and we will promote content in the Evening Standard every day.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

What indies really think... Survey reveals inconsistencies in broadcasters’ commissioning and production processes The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival joined forces with Broadcast and independent research company GfK to commission a survey on the commissioning and production process. It was sent to Broadcast’s database of Top 100 independent producers in July and gave them the opportunity to speak openly about what is and isn’t working when it comes to the relationship between indie and commissioner.

WHO iS taking tHe riSk? haVE You BEEn EnCouragEd To STarT ProduCTIon WIThouT an offICIaL grEEnLIghT?

57% Yes

■ A total of 76 of the top 100 undertook the survey

18%

BBC

19%

■ 60% of respondents were 45+

ITV

■ 80% have been in the industry for 16 or more years ■ 52% are either chief executive officers or managing directors Some of the key findings are featured below and will be debated during the session We Need to Talk About Commissioning (The Pentland, 23 August). The panellists – the BBC’s Danny Cohen, ITV’s Peter Fincham, C4’s Jay Hunt and Sky’s Stuart Murphy – will listen to the feedback and engage in discussion about what can be improved. Broadcast will be reporting on the session in detail in next week’s issue.

11%

OF THOSE THaT SaID YES

Channel 5

Sky Other

41%

tOp tipS FOr imprOving tHe prOductiOn prOceSS and prOducer/BrOadcaSter relatiOnSHip WhaT CouLd CoMMISSIonErS do To IMProVE ThE ProduCTIon ProCESS?

8 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

WhaT do CoMMISSIonErS do ThaT undErMInES ThE ProduCTIon ProCESS?

Constructive feedback (59%)

Constant Interference (51%)

Expedite Contractual Process (49%)

no liaison with others in the broadcaster (32%)

Creative Input (45%)

Lack of effort to tie up contractual matters (27%)

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Our Survey Said…

meetingS time taken tO Set up a meeting tO diScuSS a prOpOSal/treatment/cOncept BBC ITV

21%

28%

8% 12%

all

13%

26%

17%

Other

11%

33%

24%

Channel 5

16%

34%

18%

Sky

32%

21%

On gOOd and bad practice

22%

25%

13%

16%

30%

Within a week

1 to 2 weeks

16%

more than half (54%) of producers stated that the average time taken to set up a meeting was more than a fortnight. Only 16% of respondents claimed it was a week or less. Channel 4 scored well in this context. Sky and Channel 5 are the slowest to arrange meetings.

“Sit on projects forever and then say no.” “No decisions in meetings. Everything is referred up.” BBC “Science and natural history are very good at collaborating in development and making sure you get the right tone for the controller.” “BBC Entertainment has been brilliant to deal with – responsive, collaborative and very proactive.”

“We were delayed at the BBC by 40 minutes. We were given no apology and then told we had 10 minutes before that person was going to lunch.” ITV “Jo Clinton-Davis is exceptional in her charming, intelligent and prompt dealings with all our productions for ITV.”

ON EmaIl rESpONSES

BroadCaSTErS rankEd ouT of 10 for ThEIr InPuT PoSTCoMMISSIonIng 1 to 3 (out of 10)

43%

26%

“The lack of communication between controller and commissioning editor leading to totally incorrect steers. Commissioning editors don’t have the power to make decisions.”

“We got into a stalled feedback proc ess, where the idea hadn’t been read, them couldn’t be found.”

BrOadcaSter input pOSt-cOmmiSSiOning

8 to 10 (out of 10)

“C4 factual is quick, clean, straight forward.”

“Suffers from poor communication and arrogant and dismissive commissioners”

a month or more

Based on responses only from producers who deal with the broadcaster

49%

C4 “The docs department in particular is swift and decisive.”

“We want a quick ‘no’ to an idea with a concise explanation of why it’s not suitable and a good steer of a better direction to head in. These are rare but appreciated.” “Sent series of oneliners to ITV and got a response for each saying why they were or weren’t suitable.”

30% 21%

26%

“Email requests for re-write after rewrite about minor and hugely subjective points.” ON pOST-prODuCTION

BBC

ITV

17% 24%

30%

Sky

13%

Other

C5 most indies welcome constructive feedback and want good-quality creative input from broadcasters. BBC and ITV were rated the highest overall with little negative feedback. C4 and C5 performed less well, indicating that while some is very good, not all broadcaster input is of a high standard

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

“at C4, a vast number of personnel changes meant no continuity and terribly slow response to cuts. lots of changes of mind meant unnecessarily long and expensive edits.” “The biggest problem is commissioners are often much less experienced than those directly making the programmes – giving feedback and then being over ruled by those higher up. Multiple view ings, confusing feedback and huge overspends. The curse of the industry is multiple broadcaster viewings with dif ferent notes.”

23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 9

Commissioning News

For more projects in development and the latest commissions, visit

http://greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

C4 reveals latest comedy pilots Conaty plays a woman determined to turn over a new leaf on her 30th birthday

BY roBin parker

A Chlamydia sufferer’s mission to come clean to his ex-partners and a group of amateur superhero crimefighters are among the subjects featured in the latest round of pilots for Channel 4’s 4Funnies strand. The four pilots, all of which are intended for TX, include Scrotal Recall, which follows the disastrous exploits of twentysomething Dylan Witter. Teaming up with best friend Evie and terrible influence Luke, he revisits former sexual conquests to tell them about his STI. The comedy was created by Tom Edge, whose credits include Midnight Beast and Pramface, and is produced by Charlie Leech (The Wrong Mans) for Clerkenwell Films. Jack and Harry Williams animated series Full English has been axed after one series but the pair have developed The Revengers!, a mockumentary featuring ordinary people donning lycra superhero costumes to fight crime in Croydon. It is produced by their indie Two Brothers Pictures. Both were commissioned by C4 deputy head of comedy Nerys Evans.

Rounding out the latest run are Caitlin Moran’s previously announced semi-autobiographical comedy Raised By Wolves, cowritten with her sister Caroline for Big Talk, plus an as-yet-untitled sitcom from rising comedy star Roisin Conaty.

The performer, who has several of C4’s online Comedy Blaps under her belt, plays Marcella, a woman determined to turn over a new leaf on her 30th birthday. Charlotte Lewis is producing for Objective. These pilots were ordered by commissioning editor Rachel Springett.

ITV4 gives the green light to Touring Car doc

Shiver to map British mysteries for ITV

Channel 5 brings back Stone Age kids’ show

ITV4 has commissioned a threepart doc about touring cars from Gaucho Productions. Touring Car Legends is a 3 x 60-minute doc looking at the history of the motor sport. Kicking off in the 1950s, the series will track the evolution of the British Touring Car Championship (pictured), including its 1980s shake-up and surge into mainstream popularity in the 1990s. The series has been ordered by ITV4 head of programme strategy John Claridge to air this winter. Claridge said the series would lift the lid on the past 60 years of ‘tin-top’ racing. Touring Car Legends will be exec produced by Gaucho’s Alistair Weaver.

ITV has ordered a new factual series, Mystery Map, that will follow Ben Shephard and Julia Bradbury on a tour of Britain as they explore a range of unexplained mysteries, such as whether King Harold survived the Battle of Hastings, who left 100 miles of footprints in snow across Devon in 1855, and how the body of a man who crashed his plane into the sea ended up on top of a hill. Controller of factual Jo Clinton-Davis ordered the 2 x 60minute Mystery Map from Shiver, the in-house factual arm operated by ITV Studios. It will be exec produced by Jonathan Levi, series produced by Daisy Lilley and directed by Fernando De Jesus.

Channel 5 has recommissioned Calon TV’s prehistoric kids series Igam Ogam. The Northern & Shellowned broadcaster has ordered a 26 x 10-minute second run of the pre-school series to air in its morning Milkshake! block. Igam Ogam is narrated by Gavin & Stacey star Ruth Jones and follows energetic cave girl Igam and her prehistoric pals including Roly the monkey, Birdie the know-it-all pterodactyl, Doggie the lickisaurus, Triple Tog the sabre-toothed tiger and Big Daddy the T-Rex. The series is a co-production between Welsh indie Calon and Irish indie Telegael.

10 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

roisin Conaty: 4Funnies run will include her as-yet-unnamed sitcom pilot

Channel 4 opts for second helping of Food Fight Club Fresh One has won a recommission from Channel 4 for Jamie & Jimmy’s Food Fight Club. In the 4 x 60-minute second series,

C4 head of comedy Phil Clarke said he hoped to announce three further pilots this autumn, some of which could be non-TX. Greg Davies’ upcoming sitcom Man Down – which also stars Conaty – was commissioned as a 4Funny but escalated to series without being aired. Clarke also revealed that he is talking to Rev co-creator James Woods about two potential projects and is soliciting more comedy film ideas off the back of the success of The Inbetweeners. ➤ See Interview, page 26

For details of all commissions, see

http://greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty will set up their headquarters in a café on Southend pier and invite celebrities to work in its kitchen and serve the dish of the day. The Essex duo will also travel the UK to bring some forgotten foods back to life and Jamie will cook a weekly

‘blowout’ recipe. The show was ordered by factual entertainment commissioning editor Rich Evans, who said it would combine “roadtrip adventures and money-can’tbuy food events”. The series will be executive produced by Dermot Caulfield and Zoe Collins, and will air in early 2014. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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For more projects in development and the latest commissions, visit

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Q&A mAry wilkinson Mary Wilkinson Head of commissioning, BBC World News What’s your most recent commission and why? Escape From The Boardroom – a Twofour show that gets company heads out from behind their desks. It’s produced in partnership with the Open University. We’ve got a line-up that includes Oxfam, Spyker Cars and Dubai Airport. It should appeal to our ambitious, business-minded audience. How much has it changed from what was initially pitched? Apart from a few tweaks, not much. What was it that grabbed you? Some of this will be new territory for TV. Since the 1990s, when the BBC first started doing those wonderful business docs such as Trouble At The Top and Blood On The Carpet, business has become more global and complicated. We know a fair bit about M&S and Cadbury, but what about the non-UK firms? How quickly do you aim to respond to an idea? Two weeks with an initial response. What would you like more of? Investigative current affairs. What’s a definite no for you? Fiction. Who has final sign-off? I do. How should producers pitch to you? By emailing us via our website at www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning.

What’s the best line you’ve heard in a pitch? “We’ve spent 10 months filming undercover with escapees from North Korea in China.” It was a team from South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. We turned the material into an award-winning doc. What’s the worst line you’ve heard in a pitch? Someone once sent me a version of a pitch they must have prepared for CNN. They’d forgotten to replace the CNN with BBC World News. What’s your riskiest commission and why? Any time we send a team somewhere dangerous is sobering. Tell us something that would surprise us about you. I’ve got a degree in Engineering, which surprises me sometimes. Which programmes do you wish you’d commissioned? Putin, Russia And The West. What’s been your biggest disappointment? That I’m not Lyse Doucet. I started off wanting to be a reporter. What’s the most important lesson life as a commissioner has taught you? Work with very talented people if at all possible. If you weren’t a commissioner, what would be your ideal job? Foreign correspondent. What single thing outside TV inspires you most? Travel. How would you like to be remembered? With a smile.

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

recent commissions

EscapE from THE Boardroom

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Indie Twofour Length 6 x 60 minutes TX 21 September 2013 Summary Six chief executives will leave their desks to experience working life at the sharp end of the organisations they manage.

Indies Films of Record; Duke & Earl Length 6 x 30 minutes TX 2 February 2013 Summary A contemporary look at the new generation of wealthy men and women that have emerged in the past two decades.

12 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

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International

CBeebies plans co-pro push Chop Chop! is one of the first series to be guaranteed a tax break by the BFI

BY PeTeR WhiTe

Studio AKA has been commissioned to make animated series Chop Chop! for CBeebies in the UK and across the globe, as the BBC children’s channel ramps up its international projects. BBC Worldwide operates CBeebies across Asia, Australia, Latin America, Poland, South Africa and the Nordic territories, and Chop Chop! will be the most significant co-production between CBeebies’ in the UK and its international channels since Karrot Entertainment’s Sarah And Duck. The 52 x 7-minute Chop Chop! is also one of the first series to be guaranteed a tax break by the BFI on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. Henrietta Hurford-Jones, BBCW director of children’s said another three projects are at various stages of development and pre-production, and there are plans for “a couple of these bigger commissions per year”.

Chop Chop!: represents Studio AKA’s first major kids’ commission

Chop Chop! follows the adventures of The Squirrel Club, a diverse group of animals and personalities led by club leader Chop Chop. The group, which includes Tag the rhino, Roly the hyperactive hippo, Norrie the chatty mouse, Betty the jolly octopus and Happy

the friendly crocodile, will perform an activity each week and are awarded badges when they complete their tasks. The series was created and directed by Grant Orchard, who worked on Oscar-nominated short film A Morning Stroll, and will be produced by Studio AKA head

of production Sue Goffe and producer Janine Murphy. Studio AKA is a commercial agency that has worked on campaigns for Lloyds TSB, Toyota, Skype and the Science Museum. It has also made idents for kids’ brands such as Disney and Cartoon Network, but this is its first major children’s commission. The series, which will launch in autumn 2014, will be exec produced by Hurford-Jones and Jackie Edwards, executive producer, animations and acquisitions, CBeebies UK. BBCW will hold all international and commercial rights for Chop Chop!.

UKTV buys King & Maxwell to fill gap on Alibi Cable shows are a good fit for us because they’re edgier and more experimental

BY PeTeR WhiTe

UKTV has acquired edgy US crime drama King & Maxwell to replace procedural Body Of Proof, which was cancelled earlier this year. The cable drama from NCIS: Los Angeles creator Shane Brennan will air on UKTV’s crime drama channel Alibi, where it will play alongside other high-profile US series such as Rizzoli & Isles and Castle. UKTV director of programme acquisitions Catherine Mackin said the broadcaster had made a sizeable multi-series commitment for the show, which performed well for US cable network TNT when it aired earlier this summer. “Cable shows are a good fit for us because they’re clearly edgier and more experimental. We have a similar sensibility,” said Mackin. The show, which is based on a series of novels by David Baldacci, 14 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Catherine Mackin, UKTV

King & Maxwell: Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn appear in the title roles

stars X-Men and Ugly Betty’s Rebecca Romijn and The Closer’s Jon Tenney as private investigators Michelle Maxwell and Sean King. Both are former Secret Service agents and use their skills to track down bad guys. “It’s a neat show and we moved quickly to buy it,” said Mackin. “It’s got Alibi written all over it.”

Alibi will launch the 10 x 60-minute series in early 2014. It is produced by CBS Television Studios and Shane Brennan Productions and launched on TNT in June with more than 3.5 million viewers. It is UKTV’s latest deal with CBS Studios International, which is distributing the series, after

acquiring dramas Beauty And The Beast and Emily Owens MD. Mackin struck the deal with Stephen Tague, CBS Studios International’s senior vice-president of Europe. Mackin added that the channel is also in discussions with the Hollywood studios to acquire a number of series following the LA Screenings and she expects deals to be struck soon. King & Maxwell will fill the hole left by Body Of Proof, which was cancelled by ABC after its third season. It starred Dana Delany as a medical examiner. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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TV3 invites UK pitches for soap Every major broadcaster has its own soap and this is the perfect time to launch one for TV3

BY PETER WHITE

Republic of Ireland broadcaster TV3 is looking to commission its first-ever soap opera and wants UK indies to pitch ideas. The commercial network will start a tendering process next month for a long-running soap that could run to more than 100 episodes per year. “It’s quite a commitment, but launching a homegrown soap reinforces the landscape of the channel. Every major broadcaster has its own soap and this is the perfect time to launch one for TV3,” said director of programmes Jeff Ford. Ford will be heading to the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival to talk to indies, and wants the UK’s leading soap producers to pitch alongside their Irish counterparts. It is hoping for a mainstream, accessible series, set in an urban location, that will air twice a week. TV3, which already airs Coronation Street, wants to compete with

Jeff Ford, TV3

PSB RTÉ, which plays homegrown soap Fair City alongside EastEnders. UK indies will face competition from the likes of Ireland’s Tyrone Productions, which produces Irish-language soap Ros Na Rún for TG4, and Sideline Productions, which is working on a local remake of Cheers.

“It makes perfect sense to open this up to UK indies,” said Ford. “But we shouldn’t underestimate the Irish producers, who know how to make quality shows on a budget.” TV3 is open to new funding models and is happy to talk to co-production partners about the

project, which will likely launch in 2015. The broadcaster launched a state-of-the-art HD studio in Dublin earlier this year and Ford wants international producers to use the facility both for its own soap and other, external projects. “There’s a lot of space around the studios and given the closure of Television Centre, it’d be great to get some indies to come and work here,” added Ford. The studio is already being used by Tyrone Productions to film RTÉ’s School Around The Corner and Northern Irish indie 360 Productions’ Real Cool Stuff for BBCW’s international networks.

Shed Media US boosts development team

BBC2 acquires ‘German Band Of Brothers’

NBC picks up remake of Spanish crime drama

TV3 cooks up local version of Great British Bake Off

The US arm of indie Shed Media has boosted its development team with two senior hires. Firecracker Films exec Dan Snook has joined as senior vice-president of development, while Dave Kuba has been hired from High Noon Entertainment, the ITV Studios-owned indie, as vice-president of development. Snook held the same post at the US arm of Firecracker Films, where he developed programmes including Gypsy Sisters for TLC, The Preachers’ Wives for Lifetime and Zombie Apocalypse (pictured) for Discovery. Kuba was senior director of development at High Noon Entertainment, where he worked on series including Collection Intervention for Syfy and Making Mr Right for VH1.

BBC2 has bought its first foreignlanguage drama since 2001 – a series dubbed the German Band Of Brothers. The broadcaster has acquired ZDF’s Generation War, which follows the lives of five German friends between 1941 and 1945, and helped spark a discussion about the role of ordinary Germans during World War II when it aired in May. The 3 x 90-minute series was described as “a turning point in German television” by newspaper Der Spiegel after it drew record audiences of more than 7 million. Generation War was produced by TeamWorx for ZDF and ORF in association with Beta Film. The distributor is Beta Film in co-operation with Arrow Films in the UK.

NBC has picked up crime drama The Mysteries Of Laura, a remake of a Spanish series distributed by London-based firm New Media Vision. The broadcaster will produce a pilot for the show, described as similar to supernatural series Medium, which centres on a female detective. The Mysteries Of Laura pilot, written by Cashmere Mafia writer Jeff Rake, will be produced by Arrow exec producer Greg Berlanti and Terra Nova exec producer Aaron Kaplan. The deal was struck after New Media Vision, run by former Viasat exec Todd Lituchy, brought the scripted format to the US. Lituchy will also exec produce. The Mysteries Of Laura,, originally titled Los Misterios De Laura, was initially produced by Spanish indie Boomerang for TVE.

Irish broadcaster TV3 is to launch a local version of The Great British Bake Off (below) as part of its autumn schedule. The remake of Love Productions’ baking format will be fronted by Anna Nolan following a deal between TV3 and BBC Worldwide. It will be produced by Dublin-based indie Sideline. The commission coincides with director of content Jeff Ford pledging to increase the amount of local productions from its current level of 40%. Commercial broadcaster TV3 is also launching a local remake of Celebrity Apprentice and will air UK series including Ant And Dec’s Dec Saturday Night Takeaway, Takeaway The X Factor and The Cube. Cube

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Ros Na Rún: producer Tyrone Productions is likely to pitch for TV3 order

23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 17

Multiplatform News in brief Twitter goes crazy for 1D Channel 4’s doc Crazy About One Direction became the broadcaster’s most-tweeted-about show ever last week, drawing almost 370,000 tweets. Mentorn’s 60-minute doc generated Twitter messages from 132,000 unique users, around 20% of the 630,000 viewers who tuned in. Activity spiked with more than 6,000 updates per minute, beating the total of previous top performer – an episode of E4’s Made In Chelsea – by more than 65,000.

Sky app targets drinkers Sky Sports has launched an app aimed at football fans in pubs. The Sky Sports Pub Challenge allows fans to compete with each other via a series of polls, predictions and trivia questions during games to win tickets and cash prizes. The app, developed with second-screen specialist Monterosa, has launched as Sky’s wi-fi network The Cloud revealed a threefold year-onyear increase in the number of customers logging in from pubs.

Tweets vital to UKTV UKTV chief executive Darren Childs has revealed how vital Twitter is becoming to the broadcaster for engaging with viewers and gauging reaction to shows. He said UKTV uses instant viewer feedback on Twitter, as well as Barb data, to judge a show’s performance. “Twitter gives us a live feedback loop so we don’t need to wait until the next day,” he said.

BT streams 21 channels BT has begun live-streaming 21 channels including Comedy Central, TLC, Eurosport and Watch via the main YouView EPG. The IP-based channels, which have been made available following deals with A+E, Discovery, Fox, NBC Universal, Viacom and UKTV, can now be accessed via the main YouView EPG from slot 400.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 18 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

UKTV cooks up a Google+ treat for Valentine fans BY Alex FArBer

UKTV is preparing to host its first live event on video-calling platform Google+ Hangouts to support the launch of a forthcoming Valentine Warner cookery series. The broadcaster, which has almost 10,000 fans of its Google+ profile, will host a hangout on 30 August called Good Food presents… Valentine Warner’s Scandinavian Supper, ahead of the mid-September broadcast of Rockabox’s Valentine Warner Eats Scandinavia TV series. The hangout, managed by digital agency Crush London, will be the climax of a social media campaign in which three competition winners will be taught how to cook a Scandinavian-themed meal by Warner live via the platform. Each wannabe chef will have the ingredients delivered to their home ahead of the hour-long show. During the live stream, Warner will be joined in his studio kitchen by Scandinavian food bloggers with significant online fan bases, including Trine Hahnemann. The chef will also respond to questions sent in via Twitter while instructing the competition winners at home. The latter will be selected via a random draw, which they can

Valentine Warner eats Scandinavia: prominent social media campaign

It is an excellent opportunity for new viewers to find the channel Clare Laycock, Good Food

enter by casting a vote via a Facebook app. The vote will also determine the recipes that will be cooked during the hangout. Every vote cast will be posted on Twitter with the hashtag #EatScandi, and the competition

final will be available to view ondemand via the Good Food website, YouTube, Facebook and Google+. Good Food general manager Clare Laycock said the campaign was designed to leverage the channel’s social media following, which includes around 30,000 Facebook and Twitter fans. “It is an excellent opportunity for new viewers to find the channel and levy interest in our upcoming series,” she said. The campaign is being overseen by Good Food online producer Anna Sbuttoni.

Web WaTch cbeebies app

he BBC has launched a channel-wide CBeebies app that is designed to help child development and features shows such as Alphablocks, Octonauts, Something Special and Tree Fu Tom (pictured). The free CBeebies Playtime app is available across Android, iOS and Kindle Fire devices, and includes four games that help children with reading and writing and to develop their teamwork and motor skills. The app, developed by an in-house team working with games developer Mobile Pie, allows profiles to be created for up to four children, who then collect a series of CBeebies ‘bugs’ as rewards for their progress. Parents are able to record their own voice messages into the app, which can be used as the ‘bugs’. A dedicated area for grown-ups offers information about how to help children get the most from the app. The app is designed to work offline and does not include any opportunities for in-app purchases.

Developers BBC in-house; Mobile Pie URL Google Play; iTunes; Kindle Store

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Technology & Facilities CReATive RevieW

Boom Town

Big School

Top Boy (SerieS Two)

Post Clear Cut Pictures Client Knickerbockerglory Brief Full post-production on the 6 x 30-minute genre-bending sketch show, in which the people are real people but the place itself, Boom Town, is fictional. How it was done Following the outrageous and quirky nature of the characters, colourist Enge Gray produced a grade that is visually striking, with a hyper-real, saturated look. To remain sympathetic to the natural skin tones of those on screen, Gray isolated each face to compensate for the increased saturation. The Digital Vision Optics toolset on Nucoda Film Master was used thoroughly as the image was pushed for maximum impact. Dubbing mixer Ben Newth was given free rein with the tracklay to make it as funny as possible, with exaggerated stings and spot effects used to enhance the jokes to an almost cartoonish level. Watch it Wednesdays, 10pm, BBC3

Creative Light Creative Client BBC Brief Create a nostalgic and warm title sequence for the comedy, written by and starring David Walliams as a chemistry teacher who falls in love with Catherine Tate’s French teacher. How it was done The titles are based around a school photo, which serves as a device to introduce the cast. The titles also highlight performances that help to provide an insight into each character. The sequence, by creative director Ant James and director Richard Acton, was shot in slow-motion to bring out the subtlety of performance and give the piece a nostalgic feel. Edited by Maggie Lam using Adobe Premiere Pro, extra children were composited into the sequence by Max Joseph, who used After Effects to create the wide resolve shot that couldn’t be captured on the day. Watch it Fridays, 9pm, BBC1

Post The Look Client Cowboy Films Brief Grade Channel 4’s returning 4 x 60-minute drama about youngsters on a fictional estate in Hackney. How it was done The second series was again shot with anamorphic lenses on the Arri Alexa to Pro Res Log-C. Where the first series was shot in bright sunshine and hard light, the second was shot in winter. The overcast skies meant The Look managing director and colourist Thomas Urbye had to work harder to create more shape in the image, increasing the amount of contrast compared with the first series. Urbye said: “I used strong S-curve contrast for the shadows and highlights and gamma contrast for strong skin tones. Specific colour saturation and hue changes also created the Top Boy look.” Grading was done on Quantel Pablo. Watch it Tuesdays, 9pm, C4

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

BBC S&PP exits capital base BBC Studios and Post Production (BBC S&PP) is to pull out of its central London facility after just 12 months as part of a shake-up of its post-production division. BBC S&PP chief executive Anna Mallett said it would exit the premises after a review found its current business model was “not commercially viable”. BBC S&PP will retain its post capacity at Elstree and will continue to provide post-production for EastEnders and Holby City, but from 2014 it wants to move to a “project-based, client-tailored post model”.

BBC sport extends GFX deal BBC Sport has renewed its deal with Deltatre for the supply of 20 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

GFX. The three-year contract will include all BBC coverage of live football matches (pictured), with Deltatre responsible for collating match results data and powering on-screen graphics. Deltatre has supplied results and graphics for BBC Sport’s football programming since 2006. Under the new deal, the company’s role will be extended beyond football to include the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, rowing, amateur boxing and crosscountry running.

DPP offers technical guidance for Ultra HD The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) is set to bolster its technical standards for the file-based delivery of programmes with guid-

ance on the use of Ultra HD cameras. The AMWA AS-11 standard, introduced in January last year, will also include audio compliance to the EBU R128 Loudness specification. The updates will be introduced next month.

BBCW appoints facilities for international distribution BBC Worldwide has appointed four facility houses to provide content management and distribution services for its supply chain. The facility houses selected are BBC Studios and Post Production, JCA, Loft London and Technicolor. They will provide tape and file-based services to duplicate and distribute content to international broadcasters.

WRN takes on Davies for business development WRN Broadcast has appointed Andrew Davies (pictured) to the

role of head of sales and business development. Davies joins from TSL Middle East, where he was general manager and worked on projects including the Sky News Arabia installation. He replaces Jonathan Low, who has joined Arqiva as head of new business.

Arqiva’s Cherowbrier wins RTS technologist award Arqiva business manager Daniel Cherowbrier has scooped this year’s Royal Television Society (RTS) Young Technologist Award. As business manager at Arqiva Digital Platforms, Cherowbrier www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Grass valley looks to forge closer ties with UK Si firms This is where we see most investment going and we are well positioned

BY GeorGe Bevir

Grass Valley wants to do more business with systems integrators in the UK as it looks to drive sales of its production and playout equipment. Senior vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Said Bacho told Broadcast that in the past six months, the company had focused its attention on its sales and product divisions and attempted to increase sales in the emerging markets of the EMEA region. Bacho’s recruitment in April was one of a number of changes made by Tim Thorsteinson, who was appointed president and chief executive at the start of the year, a position he had previously held in 2002. Bacho said Grass Valley was now keen to forge closer relations with systems integrators (SIs) following the sale of its integration business to Germany’s Parter Group last year. Previously, engagement with the channel and

SIs happened in an ad hoc and reactive manner, and there was no consistent, region-wide strategy, Bacho said. “In the past, we competed with SIs and it takes time to rebuild those ties. It is not something that can be reversed in a few months,

helps clients bridge the divide between traditional platforms and emerging technologies. Judges chair Terry Marsh said: “The jury was impressed with Daniel’s technical know-how, drive and management skills.”

Nicholas to head the firm’s CG department. Before joining Rushes, Nicholas was technical director and CG lead at The Mill, working on commercials, feature films and computer games development.

Said Bacho

Bacho: ‘reaching out’ to UK Sis

Snell unveils Alchemist OD Snell has released Alchemist OD, a software-only version of its standards converter. It is the first product to use Snell’s On Demand technology, a media-processing framework that provides access to Snell’s signal-processing algorithms in a file-based, virtualised environment. Snell signalled its intention to move away from hardware-based products when it unveiled its On Demand platform at NAB.

Rushes hires Nicholas to lead CG department Rushes has appointed Andy www.broadcastnow.co.uk

LipSync bolsters vFX team LipSync Post has recruited VFX supervisor George Zwier (above) and VFX producer Paul Driver to its visual effects department. Zwier joins from Double Negative, where he worked on films including Thor: The Dark World. Driver joins the post firm from Cinesite, where

but we have been reaching out to systems integrators across the region to strengthen relations.” Bacho singled out the production sector as the most “vibrant” area of Grass Valley’s product set. “This is where we see most investment going and we are well positioned with our range of cameras, production switchers and slow-motion solutions and infrastructure.” Bacho added that Grass Valley had been successful selling playout and disaster recovery systems, in particular its K2 Edge playout solution. “This line has been most successful in the UK and we continue to have strong market share with this product,” he said.

he worked on 300: Rise Of An Empire and Jack Ryan.

Technicolor to showcase HevC-equipped kit at iBC Technicolor will demonstrate its HEVC-equipped kit at IBC with the launch of two HEVC devices: the Px39 HEVC Media Server and the Px36 set-top box. The Px39, which is the company’s first HEVC media Server, uses a Broadcom chipset to support HEVC 4K/p60 Ultra HD video. The Px36 is an Android-based mobile set-top box that is wi-fi-enabled and allows users to access TV Everywhere services on their mobile devices over 4G LTE.

FilmLight set to unveil mini Baselight Flip at iBC FilmLight will showcase a smaller version of its on-set tool Baselight Flip at IBC. It includes connectivity for two cameras, the option

Quantel hires Claman for USbased CTO post Quantel has recruited former Avid chief technology officer Tim Claman to its US division. Claman, who joined the manufacturer this week, has been appointed CTO with a remit that includes acting as a bridge between the US and the company’s UK-based R&D team. Quantel has previously employed a CTO based in the US, although the role has not been occupied for the past few years. Quantel R&D director Simon Rogers highlighted the company’s emerging revolutionQ software for fast-turnaround productions as one of the areas on which Claman would work. The first product from the nascent software is expected to be unveiled at IBC next month. “The US has always been a very important market for Quantel and having a CTO of Tim’s capabilities based there will ensure that we stay as close to our customers’ needs and aspirations as possible,” said Rogers. Before joining Quantel, Claman worked for Avid for 11 years.

of battery power and, for the Arri Alexa, the ability to log grading metadata to camera data over wi-fi. The company will also unveil Baselight 4.4, an upgrade to the grading system that features composite-style layer blending and simplified workflows. Baselight 4.4 runs on all Baselight systems, including the new Baselight One diskless tower system.

Thieves make off with £30,000 Alias Hire kit Alias Hire’s central London office was burgled last week. Thieves stole Sony decks and drives worth around £30,000, including an HDW-M2000, a J-H3, some U2s and a U1. Managing director Mike Smith said he believed the kit had been stolen to order. The thieves “smashed through the doors of all the offices on our floor, but they only stole from ours”, he said. 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 21

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We might have been cancelled in the second or third season if Netflix and subscription VoD hadn’t existed Vince Gilligan on Breaking Bad, Interview, page 34

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24 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

A shift in the balance of power OTT services are changing the TV landscape, says Kate Bulkley

’m taking a break in the US at present, but even on holiday it’s worth keeping an eye on some key TV industry trends – not least as what’s happening in the States is often a good indication of what will soon happen in the UK. So when my DirecTV system broke down (it’s a satellite pay operator, a US equivalent of BSkyB), I noted that the company’s response was marvellously efficient. It sent out an engineer the next day, who identified the fault and promptly installed a new dish on my roof and super-small set-top boxes for both my TVs. I paid $50 for the callout – and nothing for all this fancy new equipment. I thought all this was pretty impressive – and extremely cheap – and the reason is simple: the payTV companies (both satellite and cable) are less scared of each other now than they are of the emerging OTT services such as Netflix and Hulu. That power shift is having dramatic consequences in the US. Time Warner has been battling with CBS over VoD rights, a fight that has led the cable company to block the broadcaster from its system for more than three weeks. Can you imagine Virgin Media blanking ITV for that long? CBS, home to the likes of The Big Bang Theory (pictured), wants to unbundle its VoD rights so it can extract an extra payment from Time Warner, while also negotiating with Netflix et al for the same rights. Both sides know that VoD is an important revenue stream and neither wants to blink in a showdown of great significance. Meanwhile, consolidation is in the air among the pay-TV industry. Liberty Global’s John Malone has been on a buying spree (including the purchase of Virgin Media in the UK) and there is now talk that Malone is

pursuing the purchase of the much bigger Time Warner Cable, which has an enterprise value of $55bn. Malone, CableVision boss Chuck Dolan and Dish Network owner Charlie Ergen (the big boys of pay TV) are trying to figure out their next move against the power of content owners, and the fast and furious OTT crowd that is willing to write big cheques for key shows. Google and Intel are the latest companies to get in on the OTT act. Google recently launched its Chromecast dongle, which allows users to put the internet on their TV from other devices, and former BBC tech guru Erik Huggers is launching a service at Intel that will offer TV in the US without a cable or satellite hook-up. Dish Network’s Ergen told analysts this month that consolidation is the way for pay-TV operators to counter the “monopolistic” power of programmers, who are raising their rates by three to five times inflation. Michael White, the chief exec of Dish’s biggest competitor DirecTV, concurs, telling analysts: “The balance between content providers and distributors is out of whack. Further industry consolidation does make sense to help address what I think are unsustainable cost increases for the average customer.” No wonder rumours about a DirecTV and Dish Network merger are rife. After all, the first question I asked my DirecTV engineer after he hooked up my set-top box was: “How can I get Netflix on my TV?” ➤ Kate Bulkley is a print and TV journalist and awards secretary of the Broadcasting Press Guild. Follow her on Twitter @katecomments

‘TV companies are less scared of each other than of emerging OTT services’

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Your saY

Food Tube: ‘strikingly similar’ to TV

YouTube and linear TV can live in harmony I agree with Adam Penny that broadcasters and brands can learn from YouTube (Broadcast, 09.08.13). There are learnings about audi ence involvement, incorporating feedback and quickly adapting content. But he does broadcasters a great disservice by suggesting they are “formulaic” compared with supposedly more “creative” and “interactive” online channels. People can interact with You Tube content just as they can with linear TV via a second screen, but evidence of true innovation is sparse. Penny mentions Jamie Oliver’s excellent Food Tube, but this is strikingly similar to Jamie’s very engaging thing of cooking and talking on linear TV, just in short form. You can watch another video straight away, and comment, but that’s hardly revolutionary. Millions already do this on social media or on a show’s website or app. Some of YouTube’s most popular subscription channels, from gaming ones such as Pew DiePie to popular vloggers The FineBros or Rooster Teeth, are very formulaic and borrow heavily from linear TV. But to argue over who is driving innovation is not the point. TV and YouTube are enormously comple mentary. YouTube is one of the many ways to deliver TV content; they happily coexist. YouTube is effectively TV’s PR department, sparking interest and whetting appetites for more (Britain’s Got Talent got plenty of new viewers thanks to Susan Boyle on YouTube). It’s also TV’s audition room: be talented, go viral, get on the news and you might make it into the professional world of TV and the greater legitimacy, fame and opportunity that secures. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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In mY VIew YouTube will not “eventually steamroll TV”. There is no war. And to assert that TV advertising “restricts a brand’s ability to reach consumers” is absurd. TV advertis ing reaches 98% of the country each month and is proven by all major studies to be by far the most effective advertising form. According to Barb and UKOM, for every minute spent with YouTube, the average person spends nearly an hour watching linear TV. Linear TV viewing has reached and maintained a record high at exactly the time that YouTube and other online video platforms have blossomed. People are social beings; they like sharing experiences. Very few things bring us together like live TV – add social media to it, as many now do, and you’re not just watching with whomever else is on the sofa; you’re sitting on a virtual sofa with the world. YouTube is fantastic and will grow but it is flawed to assume that it will inevitably cannibalise or kill linear TV. They do different things and they are enjoyed for different reasons. We can appreci ate and enjoy it all. Lindsey Clay, managing director, Thinkbox Response on broadcastnow.co.uk to our story ‘That Puppet Show fails to string along viewers’ I quite liked it. I think puppets can be very funny. The only problem is that the BBC is stuck with it in that timeslot for the next few weeks at least. Anything to save us from backtoback quiz shows, which is all BBC1 seems to want to put on Saturdays now. The odd risky series is a real breath of fresh air. Producer Sat in Australia where the public is being subjected to an endless diet of The Voice Australia, Australia’s Got Talent, X Factor Australia, Australia’s Next Top Model and Big Brother, you are reminded just how hard it is even to get slots for new and original ideas. I’m proud that BBC1 and BBC Entertainment are trying something new such as That Puppet Game Show, and hope it finds its audience over the next few weeks. Pat Younge, former chief creative officer, BBC Production

To be successful in TV, you must be prepared to fail Working in the industry requires a thick skin, but don’t shy away from risk, says Lisa Clark

uccess has many fathers. Failure is an orphan. Televi sion is a bastard. Make a suc cessful programme and people line up to take credit. Screw up, they’ll run for the hills. The only ones who can’t hide are the presenters; no wonder they can be tetchy. In TV, experiencing failure is as important as achieving success. To originate or innovate, you have to take risks. As education and crea tivity specialist Sir Ken Robinson states: “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” In an unpredictable industry, all you can do is make the shows you truly want to make and produce them with equal passion and belief. As a twohour daily live show, The Big Breakfast was a masters degree in live entertainment pro duction. I produced the first edition and stayed there for more than two years. I had an equal amount of failures and successes, but I dwelt on the failures. I quickly learned that avoiding potential screwups demands planning and attention to detail – and accepting it might all fall apart anyway. Fast forward 15 years. After ITV broadcast my company Pett Television’s The All Star Impression Show, The Sun dedicated its entire TV review to trashing it. My brother asked how I could cope with such a public flogging. Easy: a fivemile run, a fag and a glass of wine, in no particular order. The show did what it said on the tin: stars doing impressions. But we’d started with John Thomson and Ronni Ancona and ended up with Bobby Davro and Paul Daniels. I’m not blaming them, but there is a thin line between celebrities with a wow factor and those with slightly more of a wanker factor. It was a simple concept, but one of the hardest shows to produce.

Perhaps if we’d called it The Halfarsed Impressions Show, people’s expectations might have been lower. It’s both great and shit that you can’t predict how a show will turn out. Use the correct ingredients, mix them perfectly, but still it might not cook. No one wants to come to the table with a flat cake, but there’s no foolproof recipe. And as Red Or Black? showed, cash isn’t always the answer. I’d wanted to make The All Star Comedy Show for years. We had big

‘It’s both great and shit that you can’t predict how a show will turn out’ Alist comic stars performing some of the best sketches I’d ever read. I was preparing for a clean awards sweep. But for whatever reason, it didn’t hit the mark. Critics, smell ing blood, went in for the kill. I am still incredibly proud of it and I’d make another series in a heartbeat. In comedy it’s seemingly impos sible to please viewers, critics and the social media sharks desperate to slate any new show before the opening titles have finished. Some shows are ‘cool’ to like; others you cannot possibly admit to having watched, let alone enjoyed. Here’s a game to play in Edin burgh: ask people if they liked Ben Elton’s The Wright Way. I bet they say no. Ask if they’ve actually watched it. I bet they haven’t. “Well not a whole episode, I caught the end or switched off after the first minute.” Hardly a fair review, is it? I love a challenge and I’ll carry on striving for success till the day I die. Which if I continue to run and smoke at my current rate, will probably be this time next year. ➤ Lisa Clark is director of Pett Productions and Pett Television. She is a panellist on The Worst TV I’ve Ever Made And Everything It Taught Me at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 25

The Broadcast Interview PhiL CLarke

‘What is the alternative?’ Channel 4’s head of comedy tells Robin Parker that in a boom time for the genre, it is still the place where talent can experiment with the kind of shows you won’t see anywhere else

et’s get this out of the way first: Phil Clarke does not want to spend his first interview as Channel 4 head of comedy laying the finger of blame at Twitter, that bête noire of comedy commissioners. “People heckle,” he states. “It’s part of our culture and our heritage, so let’s embrace it as a healthy thing. All good comedies polarise opinion because everyone’s a comedy expert – they know what makes them laugh.” Comedy is, he says, above all else a gamble. At any one time, C4 has 16 projects on the go – who knows which ones will land? He’s spent longer at the coalface than any other currently serving comedy chief, through producer stints at BBC Radio and TV, then Talkback and a decade at Objective. Naturally, his appointment did nothing to silence the accusations of a C4/Objective love-in, but it’s hard to argue with a track record that includes Peep Show, QI, Big Train, Balls Of Steel, Pete vs Life, Brass Eye, Reggie Perrin, Fresh Meat and Bo’ Selecta. You know which of those make you laugh, and chances are they won’t square precisely with my choices – and, he would say, nor should they. Clarke’s enthusiastic about the wide field for comedy right now, from amateur YouTube skits to the likes of Sky and Comedy Central opening their cheque books. “I do love comedy shows, failures and successes. I’m delighted there’s so much – comedy breeds comedy.” Oddly though, and perhaps out of self-preservation, he declines to name even one show on a rival channel he’s enjoyed recently; only “the stuff I’ve produced or commissioned” gets his seal of approval in our chat. As befits someone who has had a senior role in indies and now commissions exclusively from them, he insists it’s a boom time for indies too after some tough years. “Companies can now survive as there are more ports of call, and we get to talk to companies that couldn’t have existed before.” So, more comedy in more places, and more opportunities to heckle from the sidelines. Where does that leave C4,

26 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

FaCT FiLe

once the proud home of ‘alternative’ comedy, especially when The Comic Strip migrates to UKTV and sitcom pilot Chickens transfers to Sky? “C4 comedy is hard to define now,” he admits. “Sky, ITV2 and BBC3 all do the kind of comedies that used to be the sole possession of C4. We’re an alternative channel – so what is the alternative?” His attempt to define this – “the home of good writing and broad voices” – doesn’t quite answer the question but it nods towards his broader ambition. “We’re saying to established talent: ‘You can come here and do stuff you can’t do elsewhere’.” Ricky Gervais’ Derek, he argues, is a case in point; right now, David Baddiel’s

Career January 2013-present Head of comedy, C4 2003-2013 Head of comedy, Objective Productions 2001-2003 Comedy editor, Talkback 1999-2001 Producer, Talkback 1998-1999 Producer, Absolutely Productions 1990-1997 Producer, BBC comedy Age 52 Education Rickmansworth School, then Manchester University Career break Joining BBC Radio as a trainee producer Lives Chiswick, London Family Married with two children Interests Gardening; kickboxing

doing read-throughs on his show Sit.com; while Rev co-creator James Wood has brought two projects to the table: one a solo project, the other a collaboration. The BBC, where Clarke’s predecessor Shane Allen now presides over comedy, is trumpeting Peter Kay’s involvement in new comedy Car Share, but the comic took his fact ent spoof Malachi’s Millions to the channel that made him.

Strong ﬂavours “A strong writer’s voice is the only thing that stands a chance of success,” Clarke declares. “I don’t believe in making it to order. I get sent a lot of scripts and you know when it’s not there in the comic voice. If you suck in your breath and say ‘Can we do that?’ when you’re reading it, it’s probably a good script. We like strong flavours.” With this emphasis on writer/performers, Clarke distances himself from the likes of the derided Kookyville – an Objective show aired on C4 just before he was hired – and BBC3’s Boom Town, sketch shows that hijack reality TV tropes with sketches starring ‘real’ people. Nor is he rushing to order more animation after C4’s misfire Full English, though he has ordered a pilot, The Revengers!, from the producer Two Brothers Pictures. No, for Clarke, it’s all about liveaction narratives, all – bar an IT Crowd

PhiL CLarke ON... His comedy epiphany “In 1984, I went to see a friend in a show at Edinburgh. I had no idea until I went how incredibly exciting it was. If we [C4] can reﬂect this excitement, this world of doing things you couldn’t believe you could, that would be great. I’m proud that our team has had a presence throughout this year’s Fringe.”

Giving notes “I know what it’s like when a broadcaster is heavy-handed and

when they take no interest in your show. Some writers love notes, some want distance and I really understand that.”

a steep learning curve for me, but ‘if only we had more cash’ is something you always say when you’re producing.”

Budgets

The IT Crowd Christmas special

“I’ve still got £30m to play with but when you want to do narratives, budgets are an issue. As a commissioner, it’s

“It’s a masterclass in making a show. I wish I could’ve taken a host of young producers to watch it. There’s nothing they’ll let go in the search for a laugh.”

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Clockwise from left: Greg Davies in Man Down; Ricky Gervais’ Derek is returning; Matt Berry in Toast Of London

Christmas swansong – single camera. He pushed the button on several existing pilots when he joined, among them Greg Davies’ Man Down (“very well constructed, big and bold”) and Arthur Mathews’ Toast Of London, starring Matt Berry (“a big, silly comedy that had me crying with laughter”); while London Irish and Bwark’s E4 show The Drifters both introduce new female writing voices (Lisa McGee and Jessica Nappit respectively). Derek’s coming back, as are Friday Night Dinner and Matt Morgan’s Mimic, while he’s talking to duo Anna and Katy about something new after their self-titled sketch show failed to take flight. Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s Bad Sugar fell victim to time pressures on both writers and cast, and discussions continue over when Peep Show will come to an end. Meanwhile, one mercurial talent Clarke is trying to pin down is Doctor Brown, a cult favourite on the live scene with his mime act; last summer, C4 aired a frequently inspired half-hour www.broadcastnow.co.uk

‘If you suck in your breath and say ‘Can we do that?’ when you’re reading it, it’s probably a good script’

show drawn from shorts Brown made for its online platform Comedy Blaps. “He’s a really interesting talent and the trick for us will be to capture the magic of his live show on screen.” C4 has had various structures in place to progress comic talent up the ladder. Right now, this starts with Blaps – “pilots for pilots” at £10,000£50,000 a time that allow performers to experiment without being overexposed straight away. Next come 4Funnies, pilots that may either TX or be held back for a series. An eponymous 4Funny from Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Roisin Conaty came out of a Blap and could jump to the next stage. She’s also in Man Down, which went to series before the pilot was aired. It joins the aforementioned The Revengers!, Clerkenwell Films’ Scrotal Recall and Caitlin Moran’s Raised By Wolves (Big Talk) in the current roster of pilots, with more planned this autumn. Clarke’s also keen to push on from series to film, The Inbetweeners having

paved the way to box office gold and a sequel now in the works. So, what’s next? Peep Movie, anyone? “It’s early days, but I’m asking writers [of established shows] if they’d like to do a film, or a script commission. I don’t want them to do films instead of TV, but the opportunities are there to do more and I’m hoping that becomes a regular thing.” Seven months into the job, Clarke marvels at the opportunities it affords to “get to play with everybody” rather than staying head down on one show at a time. Having worked as a producer with both raw and established talent, he vows to keep a light touch to preserve the creators’ voices. “Each show is like a child and needs different things,” he concludes. “On some, we’ll be very hands-off, but we’ll always be collaborative. When you work with new companies, it’s like toddlers: once they’re up and walking, you don’t need to hold their hand any more. It’s a privilege to be part of this.” 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 27

In Focus

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InsIde no. 9

Tales from the dark side Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have pared things down for their new project, a twist on Tales Of The Unexpected. Paul Whitelaw has the first dispatch from the set CREDITS Production company BBC in-house Commissioners Janice Hadlow; Cheryl Taylor Length 6 x 30 minutes TX BBC2, tbc, Autumn Director David Kerr Writers Reece Shearsmith; Steve Pemberton Executive producer Jon Plowman Producer Adam Tandy Summary An anthology of darkly comic tales from the co-creators of The League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville. The guest cast includes Gemma Arterton, Tamsin Grieg and Timothy West.

t’s an arresting spectacle. In a TV studio in London, a gaggle of notable names, including Katherine Parkinson, Anne Reid, Tim Key, Marc Wootton and the man who partially engineered this situation, Reece Shearsmith, are crammed inside an imposing wardrobe. Mere feet away, The Hour co-stars Julian Rhind-Tutt and Anna Chancellor frolic on an old bed, seemingly unaware of the spies in their midst. Meanwhile, on the sidelines, veteran comedy producers Jon Plowman and Adam Tandy survey the scene like a pair of benign pepper pots. We’re inside no. 9, one of six such numbered residences in the new anthology series from The League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville cocreators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. “Being in the middle of filming a third series of Psychoville would be utterly depressing,” mutters Shearsmith, during a break in filming. “This is exciting.” But what is “this” exactly? Like most of Shearsmith and Pemberton’s work, their latest BBC2 project is influenced more by horror than comedy. Plowman likens it to classic TV anthologies such as Tales Of The Unexpected and Alfred Hitchcock Presents – “albeit with the

Inside No. 9: Pemberton, Shearsmtih and guest Gemma Arterton

sort of comedy that Reece and Steve are known for”. “We know our territory,” chuckles Pemberton, whose tweedy costume stands in stark contrast to Shearsmith’s black curly wig and headband combo, which makes him look as though he’s just emerged from a dismal ’70s rock festival. “People know what to expect in the sense of the dark things we do,” admits Shearsmith, “but this feels slightly different

shearsmITh and pemberTon on… Casting themselves “We literally didn’t think about who we’d play in each episode, which is a good thing, because it means we weren’t changing the story to suit us. Of course, we’re aware that it’s our thing and we do want to be in it; there’s an element of people actually enjoying seeing us perform. But it wasn’t as proscriptive as: ‘I’ll play this really angry character.’ Generally we found something in each one that we are able to do. “The nature of an anthology is that each week it needs to reinvent itself, so we didn’t want it to feel like a sketch show where we turn up and go, ‘Hey, I’m this character this week!’” We didn’t want to dominate it, so we sometimes play fairly minor characters. But we know that, say, if we were writing something about two burglars, we’d be the burglars. We have that chemistry, and that’s a short

28 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Chemistry: duo in The League of Gentlemen

cut you can’t buy. When you’ve only got five days to make something, there’s times when we’re able to quickly get on and do stuff. We know exactly what we’re going to do.”

‘This feels slightly different because it’s less massive and grotesque. It’s quite a bit subtler, I think’ Reece Shearsmith

because it’s less massive and grotesque. It’s quite a bit subtler, I think.” A series of six tonally varied, standalone plays in which the writers play a different character each week, Inside No. 9 signals a shift away from the ongoing thriller-esque narrative of the critically acclaimed yet only moderately successful Psychoville. “It’s kind of a reaction to that,” says Shearsmith. “We’d been so involved with labyrinthine over-arcing, we thought it would be nice to do six different stories with a complete new house of people each week. That’s appealing, because as a viewer you might not like this story, but you’ve got a different one next week.” Inspired by a memorable episode of Psychoville, which, in homage to Hitchcock’s Rope, was filmed on one studio set using just two extended takes, Inside No. 9 – “old-fashioned, in a good way”, says Pemberton – aims ➤ www.broadcastnow.co.uk

DELUXE NUTRITION built for perfect performance

In Focus

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INSIDE NO. 9 JON PLOWMAN ON… Inside No. 9

Psychoville: one-set Rope episode inspired Inside No. 9

for a claustrophobic, stripped-down feel. “There were points when we were writing the scripts when we could’ve taken things outside, but we had to keep them all in this house. That becomes its own rule, and you have to give your own rules to things. It gives it an air of heightened intensity.” Inside No. 9 came to fruition with significant assistance from Plowman, whose glittering comedy pedigree, from Smith & Jones to Absolutely Fabulous, The Office and The Thick Of It – speaks for itself. “He absolutely knows what he’s talking about,” says Pemberton of the producer who’s nurtured them since the first series of The League Of Gentlemen in 1999. “We were in the controller’s office with Janice Hadlow, the scheduler and the head of comedy. Jon’s got that clout to say: ‘Let’s all be in the same room and then we can decide if we’re going to do this or not.’ Otherwise, 18 months of passing scripts around and phone calls and conference calls can take all the energy out of a project.”

Scheduling strife The pair admit they’re delighted with their current position, especially in light of the BBC’s rather shoddy treatment of Psychoville series two. Following disappointing viewing figures – its creators wonder aloud if the summer slot wasn’t conducive to such a dark, wintry fable – the final episode was ignominiously bumped into a late-night slot on a different day. “Mock The Week was deemed more important that week,” says Shearsmith, dryly. “People would come up to us and ask if we were doing any more League or anything like it. We’d tell them about Psychoville, and they’d never heard of it. That’s actual fans.” 30 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

‘On Psychoville, we only had five minutes to do a scene, because what we were trying to do was so ambitious’ Steve Pemberton

Pemberton continues: “We should’ve been told about the rescheduling, but we weren’t. It wasn’t a good way to treat what was a very good programme. It was very disappointing to see week on week that, according to the official viewing figures, it was dipping. We didn’t know what to put it down to, really. It was complex and something you had to follow. But who knows? All you can do is make the best programme you think you can make, the kind of thing you want to watch. That’s what we always do, and we’re very passionate about the quality of what we do.” Having accepted that Psychoville had run its course – not least because they’d killed off most of its characters – Shearsmith and Pemberton feel they’ve now tapped into a refreshing new seam. “We’re gradually trying to make our lives easier,” says Pemberton. “We started off playing 30 characters in a big, sprawling sketch show. Then we did something with fewer characters. Now it’s one character and one set. It’s nice to just focus on what you’re doing. “Quite often on Psychoville, we only had five minutes to do a scene properly, because what we were trying to do was so ambitious. People don’t realise you do an episode in five days. One of the reasons behind this was to simplify things and concentrate on the stories. It’s just about some good actors in a wardrobe with a good story.” ➤ Inside No. 9 will air in early 2014

“It’s quite a good discipline to write things happening in one place. The one we’re filming today takes place in one house; another takes place in a theatre dressing room. Reece and Steve have given themselves a sort of design haiku of keeping them in relatively small places. They’re great, partly because they know what they want and they know how filming works. “Sometimes you’re working with people who rely on the cast and crew to make the thing work, whereas Reece and Steve know all these film references; they know what they’re trying to get at. Part of it is finding directors and cinematographers who will be as enthusiastic about the references as they are.”

Sitcom “I think audience multi-camera sitcoms are slightly out of favour. But you have to say, ‘Well, hooray. Thank God Television Centre’s closed, because if they were in favour every studio in London would triple its prices.’ I think TV Centre closing down is very sad, of course. But reading comedy scripts is really tricky. If I hadn’t met Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant before reading The Office, I might have thought, ‘Well, it’s all right, quite interesting characters. But is this character a bit stupid? Are there enough jokes in it?’ “So much of what makes something work is who’s in it and what the characters are. I think characters are far more important in comedy than anything else. If you get them right then you sort of don’t need the jokes. I’ve told writers to take jokes out because sometimes they feel like things they’ve forced in. Suddenly characters who are not at all sharp-witted are coming out with stuff that you don’t imagine they would.”

The myth of canned laughter “There are always complaints in the newspapers about canned laughter. Graeme Garden once said to me: ‘Shall we let writers know about the secret of canned laughter?’ Namely: what you do is you ask people to come and sit in the studio and they laugh. But I think if that ever gets out, then we’re screwed. In any case, if only I knew where the can was.”

The late Mel Smith “I knew him from my first term at university. There was an inter-college drama competition, judged – as I remember – by Anthony Hopkins, and I did a nice, small, three-people thing. Mel [left] did a 35-minute version of Marat/Sade with a cast of about 40. Well done, mate! “He was a wonderful actor, and I think he really changed comedy acting. Before Mel, there was a slight tendency to deliver quite big performances in sketches, but he always went for the truth of the thing. And he found a way of doing comedy that was serious and sort of revolutionary. After that, I don’t think people really did big comedy acting again. I loved Mel.”

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Production

Jacqui Bellamy, Pixelwitch Pictures / sheffield doc/fest

Grass-rooTs film-makinG Penny Woolcock

TV that changes the world Penny Woolcock’s last film put her in the middle of Birmingham’s gang war and led to a series of initiatives to end the violence. But don’t call her brave, she tells Lisa Campbell

ften described as a ‘brave’ filmmaker, Penny Woolcock says she is anything but – at least when it comes to showcasing her work, which she describes as “traumatic”. “I feel incredibly vulnerable,” she admits. “And it always happens – although I’ve got better at dealing with it. I used to want to run away.” Trying to fathom why a 63-year-old, award-winning documentary veteran, a woman who took on both gangs and police in her most recent project One Mile Away, should experience such angst is difficult. Woolcock suggests that her immersion in the film-making process means she has no time for fear, meaning it all surfaces at the end. “I’m blinded by passion when I’m making the film,” she states, a passion that spills over when she talks about any of her projects, from Tina Goes Shopping and One Day to her current treatment for a film about Jake Davis, the notorious young hacker recently released from Feltham Prison and Young Offenders Institution. “I’ve co-written it with Jake and it’s a fiction film set in the world of hacking,” she relates. “It’s about these young teens living a virtual life and able to do grand political gestures and 32 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

pranks that most of us can only dream about. It offers great insight, but it’s also funny. Jake’s super-clever, so it’s a real pleasure collaborating with him.” Although Sky turned down the treatment, deeming it too risky, Woolcock is hopeful it will find a home at Film 4. Woolcock’s passion is matched by her compassion for the often marginalised subjects of her films: “All the people who’ve trusted me, if there’s a bad reaction, I feel it’s my fault.” The rise of social media made this a topic of much debate at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, where Woolcock offered her insights to young grass-roots filmmakers at a ‘Truth and Youth’ panel (see box). Can film-makers argue that a mauling on Twitter is simply part of the landscape now? Not according to Woolcock. “Film-makers should feel responsible; they should feel guilt,” she asserts. “It’s people’s lives. We have to be very mindful of that.” Nevertheless, she believes Twitter can present less of a problem to contributors than those closer to home. “It’s more about the people who know you, who then change their view of you,” she says. Nowhere is that more true than on her most recent project One Mile Away,

‘It used to be easier to get money from TV for risky films. We have to find other ways of finding money and making an impact’ Penny woolcock

which charted the attempted truce between two rival Birmingham gangs: the Burger Bar Crew and the Johnsons. Many of those who featured remain under threat as former gang members’ decision to call for peace is seen as a weakness to be exploited, rather than the hugely brave move it actually is.

Peace work Woolcock remains heavily involved in all the projects borne of the film that are helping to keep gang killings at bay in Birmingham, which has one of the country’s worst records of gang deaths. And some of the initiatives under the Road to Freedom Tour banner, such as YouTube videos, school programmes, ‘philosophical boxing clubs’ and camping trips, are now being rolled out nationwide. Woolcock notes that TV underserves certain youth audiences, notably those at the edges of society. For them, it still plays a role, albeit a less important one, as budgets and slots decrease and grass-roots projects increasingly catch fire in the digital world. “You have to accept that the world’s changed,” Woolcock reflects. “It used to be much easier to get money from TV for risky films. I’m reasonably well www.broadcastnow.co.uk

In the middle of filming, I looked around. Everyone present, from crew to interpreters, was in tears Fergus O’Brien, Behind the Scenes, page 36

Grass-rooTs meDia comPanies GiVinG yoUTH a Voice

Fully Focused: refusing to be marginalised

known and it’s very hard for me too. I worked for eight months on the film without any TV involvement.” With no funding, she lived for free with nuns in a convent. Although C4 aired it in a 11.10pm slot, it still trended on Twitter and 75,000 people watched on 4oD over the following three days. “We have to find other ways of finding money and showing films and other ways of films making an impact,” continues Woolcock. “It’s great if it’s shown on TV, but people watch it at home in their living room and then forget about it. We showed the film on a Bermondsey council estate and it was more powerful because there was a discussion afterwards about trying to adopt some of the initiatives stemming from it.” Simeon ‘Zimbo’ Moore, one of the film’s main protagonists, agrees: “The film was a stepping stone to get to where we are now – a great platform to plant the seed into more communities.” “Film is about changing the world,” concludes Woolcock. “What’s the point otherwise?”

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Clockwise from top left: Penny Woolcock; a scene from her last ﬁlm One Mile Away; Woolcock with stars and crew at the One Mile Away screening

a number of grass-roots media organisations have sprung up across the country, partly as a response to what the young people involved describe as the “demonising and marginalising” of youth by the mainstream media. one such outfit is fully focused, a production company set up by teddy Nygh in 2007, which now has a staff of 19 young people. “we use the power of film to challenge perceptions of young people and give them the opportunity to work in all areas – editing, marketing, filming and producing docs, films and music videos,” says Nygh. one successful project is the film Riot From Wrong,, begun on the fourth day of the 2011 riots and borne out of frustration with the mainstream media. “the media was demonising and marginalising youth,” says Nygh. “No one was looking at the underlying causes. mark duggan had been shot by police and two days later his family still hadn’t been informed. what started as peaceful protest turned to violence and the film takes a deeper look at all the issues.” it has now had more than 63 screenings everywhere from estates and prisons to the houses of Parliament and oxford university. “this shows the power of film to create a movement,” says Nygh. “No deeper conversation was happening and we didn’t want issues swept under carpets. so we had q&as at

screenings. even though we had no budget or time to prepare, we’ve created something that has a life. it’s even being screened in europe now.” he admits that changing mindsets is slow and hard to measure, but claims that the films are a valuable call to action, giving youth a voice. “every panel we’re asked to speak at, it’s always adults talking to kids. we insist some of our young people engage directly,” adds Nygh. similarly, hi8us south, which created L8R and L8R Youngers for BBc learning and for schools, uses film for outreach and impact. according to chair Jerry rothwell, mainstream media is falling short. “docs and youth don’t sit well side-byside,” he says. “a lot of under-25s don’t watch docs, which is odd because young people are attached to truth more than anyone else in this society. “we engage with communities to make changes, from a short film getting a youth club opened, to giving them tangible skills so they can take their work forward. we’re a community of people trying to bring the work they make to a more mainstream audience using feature docs.” as Nygh says, the longevity of these projects is less about the mainstream media and more about collaborating to gain strength in numbers. “strategic partnerships and creative alliances allow you to create something bigger,” he states.

23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 33

Interview VINCE GILLIGAN

‘I feel like I won the lottery’ The creator of hot US crime drama Breaking Bad talks to Peter White about how VoD turned the show from a near flop into a global phenomenon

reaking Bad is the most talkedabout television show that hardly anyone in the UK ever watched on TV, with figures that made Mad Men look like New Tricks. The first two series of the US drama aired on 5USA and Fox (then known as FX), where its first seven episodes averaged just over 100,000 viewers. But it has since become the hippest US show to namecheck since Charlie Brooker discovered The Wire. However, as the show wraps up its final few episodes, it has found a new lease of life in the UK via streaming service Netflix, which is airing it hours after it debuts in the US on cable network AMC. This makes it the most significant day-and-date TV release since Sky 1 aired the purgatorial finale of Lost in the early hours. Creator Vince Gilligan believes viewers may never have got the chance to see Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth overlord Walter White descend into Scarfacestyle hell had it not been for online subscription VoD services helping audiences catch up by binge watching. “We might even have been cancelled in the second or third season if Netflix and subscription VoD hadn’t existed and the show took off in re-runs,” he said. It has grown every year, with the first of its latest episodes (deemed the second part of season five following the start of the season last year) doubling its overnight audience to 6 million viewers in the US. Binge viewers have, it seems, caught up, and now they’re tuning in as one and facing a whole week of cold turkey between episodes. Gilligan and his team – including Cranston, Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) Anna Gunn (Walt’s money-laundering wife Skyler), Dean Norris (smart but dim cop and brother-in-law Hank

34 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Schrader), as well as numerable writers, are preparing for the end, the climax of a bloody descent endured by White, the most notorious TV anti-hero since JR Ewing and Tony Soprano. Gilligan has long talked about turning Mr Chips, the eponymous schoolteacher penned by English writer James Hilton, into Scarface – a pithy but evocative mission statement for the edgy drama. “Walter White might have already become Scarface,” he concedes.

Slow start However, whereas in the Al Pacino movie (itself based on the 1932 Howard Hughes-produced film) Tony Montana became a slave to the world he created, White has been more cerebral. “Scarface would impulsively murder someone, whereas Walter White would weigh up the pros and cons and then probably shoot them,” says Gilligan. The show had a protracted start. Produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Television, it was originally picked up by FX, but languished in development limbo before being dropped. It was subsequently shopped to a number of other broadcasters before ending up at AMC. Gilligan jokes that the classic movie channel was a less likely home than the Food Network, given it was a drama about cooking meth. It went on to become a global success, selling to more than 170 territories. However, Gilligan remains surprised that anyone outside of the States is watching his “crazy little show”, which is set in a small town in New Mexico.

BREAKING BAD HABITS Breaking Bad is one of the most pirated TV shows globally. Just 12 hours after Blood Money, the ninth episode of season five, launched on AMC in the US this month, it had been downloaded illegally more than 500,000 times, according to data from BitTorrent firm TorrentFreak – 16% of these in Australia and 8.5% in the UK. The figure could have been higher had Sony Pictures Television not struck a deal with Netflix UK & Ireland. “It was a complex feat of collaboration between Sony, Netflix and many people to ensure we could deliver materials for Netflix to release the day after the US while protecting the integrity of the US premiere,” says Keith LeGoy, president of international distribution.“We wanted to get the show out to fans across the world as quickly as we could, as we believe making episodes available immediately after US airing in concert with our legal distribution partners is one of the best ways of fulfilling fans’ desire for immediate access to their favourite shows while combating piracy.” Sony, which also produces and distributes series such as FX’s legal drama Damages and NBC’s forthcoming crime thriller The Blacklist, expects more dayand-date deals to reduce piracy. “We’ll see more of this for key shows where there’s such a high degree of worldwide attention,” adds LeGoy. “And Breaking Bad is definitely the show that’s captured the global imagination.”

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Clockwise from top left: Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul); Vince Gilligan; Skylar White (Anna Gunn)

‘I’d love to see a UK version of Breaking Bad’ Vince Gilligan

Once Breaking Bad finishes, he will be in huge demand. The Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros and his current home Sony, are battling it out to strike an overall deal with the showrunner to develop new TV projects. He has also been vocal about his intentions to direct a movie.

Future projects

500,000 Number of times ep 9 of season 5 was downloaded illegally within 12 hours

“When Walter White seems to generate interest not just in the US but around the globe, I can’t chalk it up to anything. I feel like I won the lottery,” he says. International broadcasters have been keen to develop their own versions. Sony Pictures Television is producing Metastasis, a pan-regional Latin American version produced in Colombia. Gilligan is thrilled that his script, initially based on an article in The New York Times about a DIY meth cook working out of a camper van, has found global favour, adding that he would “like to see versions all over the globe; I’d love to see a UK version”. In fact, Gilligan’s model is more British- than US-leaning, particularly US network TV, where teams of writers craft up to 24 episodes a year. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

“I don’t know if I could work on a network show,” admits Gilligan. “Even though one of my favourite shows, The Good Wife, is on CBS, they do 22 episodes a season and I’m used to 13, or in the past couple of seasons eight. I prefer the British model of doing fewer episodes.” Gilligan started out writing feature film scripts, including Home Fries, which starred Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson, and the Dennis Quaid-fronted Wilder Napalm, but got his big break working for seven years on The X-Files, where he wrote an episode starring Cranston, and spin-off The Lone Gunmen.

Gilligan told Broadcast he will be performing a live reading of Two Face, a movie script he wrote in the ’90s dealing with racism, at the Austin Film Festival in October with Ryan Johnson, who has directed a number of Breaking Bad episodes. If it goes well, it could well be his next project. “It will be interesting to see what it seems like in front of an audience. Who knows what will come of it? It may get reinvigorated [as a movie]. I’m very proud of it,” he says. Nor has he ruled out reworking a script he pitched to CBS eight years ago. Action buddy cop drama Battle Creek centres on the battle of wills between a police officer and an FBI agent in Michigan. Today, he says, it would be more likely to find a cable home than a network slot. He may also pitch to British broadcasters when he hosts a Breaking Bad masterclass at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Following the success of shows such as Downton Abbey in the US and deals to remake series such as Broadchurch, the pressure is on, Gilligan says. “It seems more shows are coming westwards than eastwards,” he adds. “A lot from the UK are coming over here to be remade. I’ll have to think of something good to pitch.” 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 35

Behind the Scenes Stephen Fry Out there

What being gay means in the 21st century Our exploration of gay rights around the world uncovered some heartbreaking stories that had the whole crew in tears, says Fergus O’Brien Fergus O’Brien Series producer/ director

n the 21st century, why are there still people who have a problem with how some of humankind love? Attempting to answer this question, and looking at the fallout from homophobia in different parts of the world, presented a number of challenges from the outset. It was never going to be possible in a two-part series, made on a reasonable but limited budget, to visit every corner of the globe, so some important decisions had to be made early on about how to shape the films. We had to try to provide a representative cross-section of what it means to be gay around the world. We felt reasonably confident of finding gay people to tell their stories; our principle concern was to ensure that those who did would not be put at risk if they lived in parts of the world where being gay involves potentially violent reactions, imprisonment or even death. While these risks could be managed to some extent, it was ultimately the bravery of our contributors – and their wish to speak out about the oppression and discrimination they experience – that motivated them to take part. And what about the anti-gay voices? How could we convince them to take part when clearly having an openly gay presenter like Stephen Fry would give them a fair idea of the point of view the series would be taking? 36 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

This was a concern from the outset but we were always clear that there was little point in making a series purely for a gay or gay-sympathetic audience. It was important for us to reach out to people who had fearful or hateful, anti-gay opinions so that Stephen could attempt to get to the root of their beliefs. We also wanted to see if there was any factual basis for these anti-gay positions. We arranged an interview with Stephen and a reparative therapist in LA to explore in what science he rooted his claims of being able to ‘cure’ gay people. As it turned out, we had no problem finding people with homophobic views willing to come forward, whether from a political, religious or psychiatric background. These contributors were so convinced of their position that they were only too glad to share their views. Thankfully, in Stephen we had a presenter who had the wit, intelligence and clout to challenge their arguments, which made for lively discussions that we hope will help the audience understand the roots of homophobia. Inevitably, a number of our contributors, on both sides of the argument, were not English speakers, and I worried that the emotional impact of their stories might be lost in translation. For me, it was vital that we were able to film Stephen reacting in the moment to what they were telling him. To facilitate this, I opted to use a ‘real-time’ interpretation process. This involved fitting Stephen, the crew and I with earpieces and a radio link

‘there was little point in making a series purely for a gaysympathetic audience. We had to reach out to people who had anti-gay opinions’ Fergus O’Brien

stephen fry out there

production companies Maverick Television; Sprout Pictures Length 2 x 60 minutes tX BBC2, tbc, September 2013 Commissioners Janice Hadlow; Charlotte Moore producer/director Fergus O’Brien executive producers Mark Downie; Gina Carter Dop Johann Perry post house Molinare summary Stephen Fry explores what it means to be gay in different parts of the world.

fergus o’Brien My tricks of the trade n Talk to all the production team –

those from home and particularly those you hire abroad – to ensure they are sympathetic to the subject matter. n On time-pressured and expensive foreign shoots, always have a backup plan. You may have done the best research prep possible but you will inevitably see things differently on the ground. n When filming in far-flung places, ensure everyone is carrying an up-todate vaccination passport. This will make travelling between countries much smoother. n Don’t over-cram the shoot schedule. It’s tempting, but things often take longer when you’re away from base.

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to an interpreter who was listening to the interview on their own radio link in another room, and translating ‘in the moment’ back to us. Another interpreter was present in the interview room and translating Stephen’s questions for the contributor. In this way, we were able to capture Stephen’s immediate emotional response to what was being said, which made for a much more powerful sequence. One experience in particular on the shoot sums up not just the efficacy of this method but also the message of the series. In Brazil, we met a mother whose teenage son was abducted, brutally tortured and murdered by a gang of anti-gay thugs. In the middle of filming the interview, I looked around. Everyone present, from crew to interpreters, was in tears listening to her heartbreaking story. As Stephen said in a piece to camera that followed, it was a stark and powerful reminder that behind every statistic for homophobia, there is a beating human heart and many other lives left in tatters from the hatred it ignites. If this series can put this message across, then it will have been well worth the two and a half years it took to make it. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Clockwise from bottom left: director Fergus O’Brien surrounded by children in India; presenter Stephen Fry with Stosh in Uganda; Fry in India; preparing for a shoot in LA; ﬁlming in Brazil

Stephen Fry Out there GLOBAL StOrIeS Mark Downie Executive producer

Given that there are 84 countries that still criminalise homosexuality, making a series about the experience of being gay around the world was never going to be easy – particularly when your presenter (pictured in Brazil with Renata Peron) is one of the most famous and recognisable ‘out’ gay men in the world. We sought specialist advice from the BBC and were told that if we wanted to film in Saudi Arabia, Iran or any of the five countries where there is a death penalty for being gay, we’d have to go undercover. Even then, we’d probably be followed by secret police who, after we’d left, would interrogate our interviewees, who could be tortured or imprisoned. We couldn’t risk the lives of our contributors, so we sought out gay Iranians in exile. We discovered a group living over the border in Turkey. But the Turkish Interior Ministry refused us filming permits. Trying to unpick the reasoning behind that deci-

sion, it seems that Turkey doesn’t want it to be widely known that it provides temporary refuge for gay Iranians fleeing persecution. In the end, we found a gay Iranian refugee closer than I ever expected: near my hometown of Glasgow. Farshad was in a loving but clandestine same-sex relationship in Iran for four years. When his boyfriend’s father found out, he falsely accused Farshad of raping his son. His boyfriend corroborated the story to escape the death penalty and is now effectively a prisoner in his own home. His father is said to be planning a face-saving heterosexual marriage. Ironically, Farshad now finds himself in the peculiar position of having to prove that he’s gay to the Home Office. If he can’t, his asylum application may be refused and he could be sent back to Iran. “I’d rather kill myself” he told Stephen. “At least this way, it will be my choice.”

23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 37

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£COMPETITIVE + BENEFITS LONDON JOB REF: BBC/TP/7179/385 BBC Four aims to be British television’s most intellectually and culturally enriching channel, offering an ambitious range of UK and international Arts, Music, Culture, Factual, Comedy and Entertainment programmes. With content spend of £49m a year and over 14% of the UK using the channel’s services each week, BBC Four plays an important role in offering intelligent and diverse broadcasting. As Channel Editor for BBC Four you’ll be responsible for the day-to-day management and running of the channel. Through commissioning and programme scheduling you’ll enhance BBC Four’s distinctive identity within the BBC’s channel portfolio. Reporting to the Channel Controller for BBC Two and BBC Four, you will be expected to collaborate closely with BBC Two to create a complementary offering across content, scheduling, marketing and digital innovation. We are looking for a recognised industry figure with extensive programme-making experience, sharp editorial judgment and a collaborative approach. This is a significant leadership role and the successful candidate will be able to lead and inspire a team as well as creating and aligning people around an artistic vision. To find out more and apply, visit bbc.co.uk/careers using reference BBC/TP/7179/385. Closing date: 25 August 2013.

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Ratings Mon 12 Aug – Sun 18 Aug

ITV scores winner at Wembley England v Scotland match draws a mid week crowd, while Harry Potter works his magic on Saturday BY Stephen price

Master showman PT Barnum prob ably didn’t say “there’s a sucker born every minute”, but he did appar ently say “the public is wiser than many imagine”. As the schedules look increasingly like market stalls trying to sell their shiny new wares (‘‘roll up roll up, get your fresh bananas/new drama for tuppence a pound/£900k an hour”) the veracity of that Barnum rule will be tested once again. The Autumn’s coming and the discerning public will pick their favourites and reject the bruised bananas out of the host of ‘coming soons’. Before that, though, comes August and among other things, ITV found that dogs have their lim itations, while BBC1 went to work, polished its step, set up the tin bath in the parlour and left its back door open. You could in them days. On Monday, ITV’s Long Lost Family dropped by nearly 500,000 on last week and lost a couple of share points at 9pm but its 4.7 million/21% (179,000 +1) remained too strong for the repeat of BBC1 drama Death In Para dise’s 3 million/14%. Tuesday’s Holby City on BBC1 at 8pm achieved its now familiar 4.8 million/23%, too much as usual for ITV’s Love Your Garden with its nevertheless not bad 3.2 million/16% (76,000 +1). At 9pm, the old dogs of New Tricks, with 6.9 million/31%, demolished ITV’s more covert canines: its Secret Life of Dogs managed just 1.8 million/8% (197,000 +1). The best Celebrity Master Chef for BBC1 was on Wednesday 40 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

BroadcasT/BarB Top 100 neTWork programmes 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 33 35 36 37 38 39 39 39 42 43 44 45 46 47 47 49 49

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street Emmerdale New Tricks Int’l Football: England V Scotland Emmerdale EastEnders Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale EastEnders Emmerdale EastEnders EastEnders Countryfile Antiques Roadshow BBC News At Ten Long Lost Family Holby City BBC News At Ten Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix BBC News Casualty BBC News At Six Rip Off Food BBC News Law & Order: UK Big School BBC News At Ten BBC News At Ten Who Do You Think You Are? Paul O’Grady’s Working Britain The National Lottery: Break The Safe BBC News BBC News At Ten Match Of The Day BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News At Six Tonight: Where Does Our Food Come From? Pointless Celebrities The One Show Celebrity MasterChef BBC News Mrs Brown’s Boys The One Show The White Queen

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

19.30 20.30 19.30 20.30 20.30 20.00 21.00 19.30 19.00 20.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.30 19.00 20.00 19.30 19.00 20.00 22.00 21.00 20.00 22.00 19.00 22.00 20.50 18.00 19.30 18.35 21.00 21.00 22.00 22.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 22.10 22.00 22.30 18.00 18.00 18.00 20.00 17.45 19.00 20.00 17.25 21.30 19.00 21.00

8.34 8.07 7.78 7.64 7.07 7.02 6.90 6.75 6.62 6.52 6.41 6.39 6.36 6.30 6.25 6.18 6.11 5.61 5.55 5.11 4.84 4.75 4.66 4.54 4.53 4.51 4.43 4.34 4.29 4.27 4.24 4.22 4.09 4.09 4.07 3.97 3.91 3.90 3.84 3.84 3.84 3.77 3.76 3.73 3.69 3.65 3.61 3.61 3.50 3.50

38.62 35.78 43.21 35.99 34.29 35.42 31.19 31.38 33.01 29.28 34.98 35.49 34.60 32.98 37.21 32.80 31.99 30.13 25.86 28.05 22.24 23.42 25.36 23.21 23.49 21.72 29.12 22.81 26.09 19.30 20.58 23.30 22.06 17.48 20.00 20.20 21.61 22.07 29.15 24.99 24.58 23.53 16.88 22.46 20.09 16.53 24.25 17.76 19.09 15.80

ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1/Wall to Wall ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV/Wall to Wall BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Betty TV BBC1 ITV/Kudos Film & TV BBC1/Bert Productions BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Wall to Wall BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV BBC1 BBC1/Boc-Pix/RTÉ BBC1 BBC1/Company Pictures

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Big School

paul O’Grady’s Working Britain www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Source: BARB

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 59 59 62 62 64 64 66 67 67 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 83 85 86 87 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 98 100

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

The One Show Celebrity MasterChef Tonight: The Health Traps ITV News & Weather BBC News At Six Celebrity MasterChef Love Your Garden Michael Mcintyre’s Comedy Roadshow Pointless Doc Martin The One Show Tipping Point: Lucky Stars Fake Britain Tonight: The Great British Diet My Dwarf Family Tonight: What’s In Our Food? The One Show ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather Death In Paradise ITV News & Weather I Love My Country Pointless Dragons’ Den Pointless Fightback Britain ITV News & Weather Pointless BBC News At One University Challenge BBC News At One Pointless Match Of The Day 2 BBC News At One ITV News At Ten & Weather BBC News At One Nigel Slater’s Dish Of The Day Britain’s Big Wildlife Revival Athletics: World Championships Benefits Britain 1949 Athletics: World Championships ITV News & Weather You’ve Been Framed! Have I Got A Bit More News For You BBC News At One The Burrowers: Animals Underground Athletics: World Championships The Mill 24 Hours In A&E ITV News & Weather

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

19.00 20.00 19.30 18.30 18.00 20.30 20.00 21.40 17.15 21.00 19.00 19.00 19.30 20.00 21.00 19.30 19.00 18.30 18.30 21.00 18.30 19.15 17.15 20.00 17.15 20.30 18.30 17.15 13.00 20.00 13.00 17.15 22.25 13.00 22.00 13.00 19.30 17.35 15.35 21.00 12.40 18.45 18.30 22.35 13.00 21.00 13.15 20.00 21.00 22.00

3.49 3.45 3.40 3.37 3.31 3.25 3.24 3.21 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.13 3.13 3.12 3.12 3.10 3.07 3.07 3.00 2.99 2.94 2.91 2.89 2.86 2.81 2.76 2.73 2.57 2.53 2.52 2.42 2.37 2.36 2.36 2.35 2.34 2.31 2.31 2.27 2.25 2.24 2.21 2.20 2.19 2.18 2.17 2.15 2.14 2.14 2.13

19.37 16.83 17.82 20.22 21.62 15.76 15.94 16.45 26.01 15.34 15.64 16.82 14.48 16.55 15.34 16.23 18.29 18.41 17.78 13.74 16.35 15.62 22.07 13.35 22.07 12.24 16.97 19.63 33.57 11.33 33.42 18.77 18.05 32.45 12.96 32.21 12.86 15.90 19.49 10.32 23.19 13.11 12.61 17.23 33.64 10.59 19.63 9.98 9.14 11.01

BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV ITV ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV ITV/Spun Gold BBC1/Open Mike Productions BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/Buffalo Pictures BBC1 ITV/ RDF TV BBC1/Screenchannel Television ITV ITV/Victory Television ITV BBC1 ITV/ITN ITV/ITN BBC1/Red Planet/Kudos Film & TV ITV/ITN BBC1/Avalon/Talpa BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC2 BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC2 BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Outline BBC2 C4/Twenty Twenty BBC1 ITV/ITN ITV BBC1/Hat Trick Productions BBC1 BBC2/Dragonfly Film & TV BBC1 C4/Darlow Smithson C4/The Garden ITV/ITN

*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.

My Dwarf Family www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Benefits Britain 1949

at 8pm with 3.7 million/17%. It was followed by Leslie Sharp’s journey on Who Do You Think You Are? in front of 4.1 million/17%. Not bad, considering ITV was evoking memories of the old Home Nations football tourna ment in front of a whopping 6.8 million/31% (86,000 +1) for its coverage of England v Scotland from 7.30pm; it peaked at 9.45pm with 9.1 million/38%. On Thursday, Paul O’Grady’s Working Britain – a rare BBC1 appearance for the ITV star – achieved a decent 4.1 million/20% from 9pm, enough to loom large over ITV’s My Dwarf Family’s 3 million/15% (115,000 +1).

‘Big School was quietly satisfying, but not big enough to fuel hopes of a monster hit’ BBC1’s new comedy Big School launched on Friday at 9pm. Its 4.2 million/21% is in that goldilocks territory of big enough to be quietly satisfying, but not so big as to fuel hopes of a monster hit; episode two will be the bruised bananaornot test. At 9.30pm, a Mrs Brown’s Boys repeat achieved 3.6 million/18%. Opposite, ITV’s Doc Martin repeat scored 2.9 million/14% (213,000 +1). Episode two of BBC1’s That Puppet Game Show lost 340,000 on launch with 2 million/12% at 6.35pm, just behind ITV’s You’ve Been Framed! (2.2 million/13%; 71,000 +1). The wait for The X Factor is nearly over for ITV as the trails, much more about the music it seems, start rolling out. But in the meantime, a boy wizard is holding things together nicely for ITV. From 7.05pm, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix achieved 4 million/21% (650,000 +1) for two and a half hours. The bestperforming show of BBC1’s night was Casualty at 9.05pm with 4.5 million/22%. After 10 weeks, the final episode of BBC1’s The White Queen bowed out with 3.5 million/16%, about what it had been getting since episode five but not enough to earn a recommission. ITV’s Law & Order: UK won with 3.9 million/18% (344,000 +1).

See over for digital focus, plus channel and genre overviews 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 41

Ratings Mon 12 Aug – Sun 18 Aug Channel Overview

C4 reaps the 1949 Benefits BY Stephen price

This week, three unflinching dramas all ended on Sunday night, making Monday something of a struggle. Elsewhere, it was historical benefits, age avoidance, restorations and dragons. On Monday at 9pm, Channel 4’s new Benefits Britain 1949 averaged 2 million/9% (291,000 +1), beating Channel 5’s Big Brother (1.3 million/6%; 219,000 +1) and BBC2’s Horizon (1 million/4%). On Wednesday at 8pm, C4’s How Not To Get Old fell 400,000 on last week’s launch to 900,000/4% (149,000 +1), about the same as C5’s Nurses (970,000/4%; 20,000 +1); both were behind BBC2’s Restoration Home (1.7 million/8%). BBC2’s Top Of The Lake ended on Saturday with 1.2 million/6% at 9.15pm, passing the 1 million mark in live ratings for the first time since episode two. C4’s film Knight And Day achieved 1.5 million/8% (255,000 +1) from 9pm. The second of BBC2’s Dragons’ Den latest run matched the launch with 2.9 million/13% at 8pm on Sunday. Opposite, C4’s The Mill ended on 1.9 million/9% (201,000 +1). The finale of C4’s Southcliffe at 9pm fell to its lowest live rating with 1 million/4% (199,000 +1). BBC2’s Hairy Bikers: Restoration Road Trip’s 1.9 million/9% won, with C5’s Big Brother next on 1.3 million/6% (164,000 +1).

Source: BARB

WeeK 33 Average hours per viewer Daytime share (%) Peaktime share (%) w/c 12.08.13 Peaktime share (%) w/c 13.08.13 yeAR TO DATe Average hours per viewer Audience share (%) Audience share (%) 2012

BBC1 5.67 21.11 22.25 22.95 BBC1 6.40 22.08 22.99

BBC2 1.83 6.96 7.85 8.21 BBC2 1.76 6.08 6.43

ITV1 3.90 11.07 20.91 19.43 ITV1 4.76 16.44 16.01

C4 1.48 5.98 6.06 6.72 C4 1.71 5.89 6.52

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

42 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Total 26.20 100.00 100.00 100.00 Total 28.96 100.00 100.00

TOp 30 BBc2, cHANNeL 4 AND cHANNeL 5 Title

Day

Broadcaster

Dragons’ Den

Sun

20.00

2.86

13.35

BBC2

University Challenge

Mon

20.00

2.52

11.33

BBC2

Athletics: World Championships

BBC2

Benefits Britain 1949

The Burrowers: Animals Underground

Fri

15.35

2.27

19.49

Mon

21.00

2.25

10.32

Fri

21.00

2.17

10.59

BBC2

The Mill

Sun

20.00

2.14

9.98

24 Hours In A&E

Wed

21.00

2.14

9.14

Gardeners’ World

Fri

20.30

2.00

9.71

BBC2

The Hairy Bikers: Restoration Road Trip

Sun

21.00

1.93

8.74

BBC2

Athletics: World Championships

Tue

15.30

1.76

13.83

Kirstie’s Fill Your House For Free

Tue

20.00

1.72

8.48

How To Get A Council House

Thu

21.00

1.72

8.45

Big Brother: Live Eviction

Fri

21.00

1.72

8.78

Athletics: World Championships

Mon

15.30

1.70

12.83

BBC2

Restoration Home

Wed

20.00

1.66

7.53

BBC2 C4

BBC2

8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown

Fri

21.00

1.66

8.09

Knight And Day

Sat

21.00

1.64

8.83

Athletics: World Championships

Thu

15.35

1.63

13.85

BBC2 BBC2

Wild Cameramen At Work

Tue

19.30

1.62

8.50

Mastermind

Fri

20.00

1.61

8.53

BBC2

Dispatches: Ryanair: Secrets From The Cockpit

Mon

20.00

1.59

7.13

Raymond Blanc: How To Cook Well

Mon

20.30

1.58

7.01

BBC2

Big Brother

Thu

22.00

1.58

9.59

CSI: NY

Tue

21.00

1.55

7.00

Big Brother

Mon

21.00

1.49

6.86

Big Brother

Sun

21.00

1.42

6.42

Food Unwrapped

Mon

20.30

1.41

6.26

Big Brother

Tue

22.00

1.36

8.32

Blackadder The Third

Sun

22.00

1.35

7.39

BBC2

The Simpsons

Thu

18.00

1.34

8.76

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Multichannel 38.73

C4 prank show I’m Spazticus was below 679,000 slot average, but in line with series one’s average

Others 12.23 50.69 38.73 37.66 Others 13.13 45.35 43.72

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

DAyTiMe SHARe (%) w/c 12.08.13

peAKTiMe SHARe (%) w/c 12.08.13

500k

C5 1.08 4.19 4.20 5.02 C5 1.21 4.16 4.33

BBC1 22.25

ITV1 20.91

C5 4.20 C4 6.06

BBC2 7.85

Multichannel 50.69

2.2m

Debut figure for BBC2’s new fixedrig wildlife series The Borrowers: Animals Underground

BBC1 21.11

ITV1 11.07

C5 4.19 BBC2 6.96 C4 5.98

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Genre Overview

Source: BARB

toP 10 ChiLdren’s ProGrammes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

toP 10 FaCtuaL ProGrammes

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (Age 4-15)

Share (%)

Channel

Title

All New Marrying Mum And Dad Alphablocks Let’s Play Tracy Beaker Returns Alphablocks Big Barn Farm Shrek Get Squiggling Get Squiggling! Letters Tree Fu Tom

Thu Thu Sat Tue Fri Thu Fri Sat Fri Sat

10.00 09.40 09.10 18.00 09.40 09.25 17.30 09.30 09.20 11.25

197,000 195,000 189,200 184,600 183,300 181,300 177,600 175,800 174,900 173,100

16.67 16.57 17.50 11.64 15.26 15.33 11.96 14.37 17.31 15.20

CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Countryfile Antiques Roadshow Long Lost Family Rip Off Food Who Do You Think You Are? Paul O’Grady’s Working Britain The One Show Celebrity MasterChef The One Show The One Show

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Sun Mon Wed Wed Thu Wed Wed Tue Thu

19.00 20.00 21.00 19.30 21.00 21.00 19.00 20.00 19.00 19.00

5.61 5.55 4.84 4.34 4.09 4.07 3.69 3.65 3.50 3.49

30.13 25.86 22.24 22.81 17.48 20.00 20.09 16.53 19.09 19.37

BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1

➤ CBBC’s all new marrying mum and dad topped the table, but it was CBeebies that dominated. The pre-school channel managed seven entries, compared with its sister station’s three places. alphablocks was the most popular, clocking two entries.

➤ Countryfile returned to the top of the table after Long Lost Family slipped back into third place. It topped a strong week for BBC1, with the likes of who do you think you are? and Paul o’Grady’s working Britain featuring.

toP 10 drama ProGrammes

toP 10 entertainment ProGrammes

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

New Tricks Holby City Casualty Law & Order: UK The White Queen Doc Martin Death In Paradise The Mill CSI: NY Top Of The Lake

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Tue Tue Sat Sun Sun Fri Mon Sun Tue Sat

21.00 20.00 20.50 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 21.10

6.90 4.75 4.51 4.27 3.50 3.14 2.99 2.14 1.55 1.19

31.19 23.42 21.72 19.30 15.80 15.34 13.74 9.98 7.00 5.89

BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 C4 C5 BBC2

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

➤ new tricks gained more than 400,000 viewers and retained its place at the top of the drama line-up. Elsewhere, the final instalment of the white Queen was beaten by Law & order: uk, while the mill ended with good numbers for Channel 4. top of the Lake bowed out with 1.2 million.

uP New Tricks adds 400,000

down Long Lost Family loses 490,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 10

Int’l Football: England V Scotland Match Of The Day Match Of The Day 2 Athletics: World Championships Athletics: World Championships Athletics: World Championships Athletics: World Championships Ford Saturday Night Football Athletics: World Championships Athletics: World Championships

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sat Sat Wed Sun Sat Tue Thu Mon Mon Fri

20.00 17.45 17.15 19.00 19.15 17.15 17.15 17.15 20.00 17.15

3.97 3.73 3.14 3.13 2.91 2.89 2.81 2.57 2.52 2.37

20.20 22.46 26.01 16.82 15.62 22.07 22.07 19.63 11.33 18.77

BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 BBC1

uP The White Queen rises 330,000

down That Puppet Gameshow drops 500,000

uP Top Of The Lake up 310,000

toP 10 Current aFFairs ProGrammes Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Wed Sat Sun Fri Sun Sat Tue Sat Mon Thu

19.30 22.30 22.25 15.35 12.40 13.15 15.30 17.00 15.30 15.35

6.75 3.84 2.36 2.27 2.24 2.15 1.76 1.70 1.70 1.63

31.38 29.15 18.05 19.49 23.19 19.63 13.83 10.14 12.83 13.85

ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 Sky Sp 1 BBC2 BBC2

➤ England’s 3-2 win over Scotland was easily the most-watched sports show of the week, netting nearly 7 million viewers for ITV. Elsewhere, the return of Premier League football resulted in match of the day being reinstated, while the world athletics Championships performed well. next week Comedy and musiC & arts www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Start

➤ national Lottery: Break the safe topped the table in the absence of any strong entertainment challengers. The line-up was dominated by daytime vehicles, with Pointless performing particularly well for BBC1. Otherwise, i Love my Country remained consistent.

down Holby City loses 160,000

uP Break The Safe gains 110,000

toP 10 sPort ProGrammes Title

National Lottery: Break The Safe Pointless Celebrities Pointless Tipping Point: Lucky Stars I Love My Country Pointless Pointless Pointless University Challenge Pointless

Day

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tonight: Where Does Our Food… Tonight: The Health Traps Tonight: The Great British Diet Tonight: What's In Our Food? Dispatches: Ryanair… The Queen Why Did Oscar Pistorius Kill Our… Newsnight Newsnight Newsnight

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Mon Thu Fri Tue Mon Sun Thu Mon Tue Wed

20.00 19.30 20.00 19.30 20.00 16.30 20.00 22.30 22.30 22.30

3.76 3.40 3.12 3.10 1.59 1.33 0.78 0.64 0.58 0.57

16.88 17.82 16.55 16.23 7.13 10.00 3.82 4.90 4.45 4.35

ITV ITV ITV ITV C4 ITV C5 BBC2 BBC2 BBC2

➤ A special run of tonight shows on food helped the ITV current affairs show dominate the table, racking up the top four spots. Elsewhere, Channel 4’s controversial Ryanair dispatches documentary figured in fifth place, while newsnight grabbed three places.

See over for demographic and digital focus 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 43

Ratings Mon 12 Aug – Sun 18 Aug Demographic focus Channels

Individuals Share (%)

Adults ABC1 Share (%)1

Source: BARB

Adults ABC1 Profile (%)2

Adults 16-34 Share (%)1

Adults 16-34 Profile (%)2

Male Share (%)1

Male Profile (%)2

Female Share (%)1

Female Profile (%)2

54.96

BBC1

20.47

24.79

47.22

11.99

10.61

19.94

45.04

20.93

ITV

14.42

13.15

35.56

11.19

14.05

12.02

38.55

16.48

61.45

6.63

8.33

48.99

4.28

11.69

7.26

50.66

6.08

49.34

BBC2 C4

5.45

5.79

41.39

7.19

23.87

5.06

42.85

5.80

57.16

4.33

3.80

34.23

4.28

17.92

3.56

38.04

4.99

61.96

ITV2

2.80

2.53

35.29

3.99

25.82

2.42

40.04

3.12

59.95

ITV3

2.47

2.21

34.83

0.40

2.90

1.87

35.05

2.99

64.97 58.56

1.65

1.72

40.69

4.73

51.92

1.48

41.39

1.80

Film 4

1.54

1.39

35.18

1.95

22.97

1.66

49.93

1.43

50.12

Sky Spts 1

1.51

1.80

46.39

2.38

28.46

2.32

71.12

0.81

28.87

BBC 3

1.48

1.40

37.09

3.28

40.22

1.72

54.01

1.26

45.99

Dave

1.34

1.36

39.52

2.18

29.40

1.75

60.42

0.99

39.58

More 4

1.22

1.42

45.61

1.08

16.06

1.03

38.95

1.38

61.05

5 USA

1.13

0.81

28.15

0.72

11.59

1.06

43.55

1.18

56.42

ITV4

1.07

0.99

36.21

0.82

13.86

1.41

61.23

0.77

38.74

BBC4

0.78

1.06

52.82

0.32

7.36

0.92

54.41

0.66

45.62

Yesterday

0.71

0.63

34.74

0.19

4.98

0.92

60.21

0.52

39.74

Sky 1

0.70

0.75

41.92

1.26

32.68

0.77

50.89

0.64

49.06

Drama

0.68

0.64

36.80

0.22

5.91

0.73

49.58

0.64

50.40

35%

C4 tripled its slot average of under-24s with its Crazy About One Direction doc. Under-15s made up 15.8%, up from the 3.5% average, despite the 10pm TX; 16-24s accounted for 19.4%, up from 10.3%. Typically, the dominant group is 45-54s, but here it was 25-34s with 23%.

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

Drug doc gives BBC3 a high BY Stephen price

Many moons ago, I went to a pub in Willesden with magic toilets. People would trudge in wearily only to reappear minutes later spouting break-neck chat. The restorative powers weren’t from relief; it was more artificial. On Monday at 9pm, BBC3 looked closely at this phenomenon. Cocaine Capital Of The World: Stacey Dooley Investigates achieved 715,000/3% (1.9 million after four repeats). On Wednesday, BBC3’s new sketch show/reality series Boom Town achieved 255,000/1% at 10pm and the same again at 12.30am. A repeat at 10.45pm on Sunday in the coveted post-Family Guy (970,000/6%) slot performed better with 370,000/3%. BBC4’s King Alfred And The Anglo Saxons achieved 753,000/3% (1.2 million after two repeats). The best non-sport show was Sunday’s 10pm Family Guy on BBC3 (1.1 million/6%). 44 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

Source: BARB

DIGITAl hOmeS

TOp 30 mulTIChAnnel prOGrAmmeS Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 14 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 26 26 26 26 30

Ford Sat Night Football Live Ford Super Sunday Sky Sports News Family Guy Live Ford Super Sunday The Shawshank Redemption Foyle’s War Family Guy Family Guy The Bourne Supremacy The Big Bang Theory King Alfred & The Anglo… Lewis Family Guy Cocaine Capital Of The… Hollyoaks The Big Bang Theory American Dad! Hollyoaks Family Guy Hollyoaks Family Guy Bridget Jones’s Diary New Girl The Big Bang Theory Armageddon Family Guy Hollyoaks Family Guy The Big Bang Theory

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Day

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

Start

17.00 15.30 19.00 22.00 12.30 21.00 19.00 22.25 23.25 21.00 18.30 21.00 21.00 23.00 21.00 19.00 18.30 23.45 19.00 23.00 19.00 23.25 21.00 21.00 20.00 19.40 23.25 19.00 23.00 18.30

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

1.70 1.34 1.06 1.05 1.04 1.00 1.00 0.97 0.83 0.78 0.76 0.75 0.74 0.72 0.72 0.71 0.69 0.67 0.66 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.62

10.14 10.18 5.09 5.64 11.35 6.09 5.22 6.40 10.45 4.29 4.22 3.40 3.88 6.89 3.29 3.55 4.17 10.80 3.66 6.16 3.55 7.96 3.54 2.94 3.27 2.84 6.82 3.43 5.95 3.71

Channel

Sky Spts 1 Sky Spts 1 Sky Spts 2 BBC3 Sky Spts 1 ITV2 ITV3 BBC3 BBC3 ITV2 E4 BBC4 ITV3 BBC3 BBC3 E4 E4 BBC3 E4 BBC3 E4 BBC3 ITV2 E4 E4 BBC3 BBC3 E4 BBC3 E4

Channels

Share (%)

BBC1 ITV BBC2 C4 C5 Total multichannel ITV2 ITV3 E4 Film 4 Sky Sports 1 BBC 3 CBeebies Dave More 4 5 USA ITV4 Pick TV

20.47 14.42 6.63 5.45 4.33 48.70 2.80 2.47 1.65 1.54 1.51 1.48 1.47 1.34 1.22 1.13 1.07 1.01

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

1.2m BBC3’s Boom Town debuted to just 255,000, but strong repeats added 400%

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*

Ford Saturday Night Football Live Ford Super Sunday Sky Sports News Live Ford Super Sunday Live Championship Megatruckers An Idiot Abroad 2 QI XL NCIS Body Of Proof Gillette Soccer Saturday Live Liverpool V Stoke City QI XL Storage Hunters NCIS QI XL The Simpsons Not Going Out Ford Saturday Night Football The Simpsons Live Cricket: The Ashes Geordie Shore Inferno Perfect Storms: Disasters That Changed… Have I Got A Bit More News For You NCIS Not Going Out CSI: NY The Simpsons The Simpsons Not Going Out Jonathan Creek Have I Got A Bit More News For You The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Gillette Soccer Saturday Megatruckers New Tricks QI XL CSI: Miami The Simpsons Brit Cops: Rapid Response Gold Rush CSI: NY The Simpsons The Simpsons Brit Cops: Rapid Response Have I Got A Bit More News For You

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

17.00 15.30 19.00 12.30 12.00 19.30 21.00 21.00 22.00 21.00 15.00 11.30 21.00 20.30 22.00 21.00 18.30 21.40 17.00 19.30 10.00 22.00 21.00 21.00 22.00 22.55 23.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 22.20 21.00 22.00 19.30 19.00 19.00 18.30 12.00 19.00 21.00 22.00 22.00 18.00 22.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 20.30 21.00 22.00

1,704,300 1,339,100 1,060,100 1,037,300 615,800 509,400 489,700 478,500 465,000 457,000 455,600 446,500 436,200 435,100 422,800 419,000 404,500 403,800 401,000 393,700 388,300 387,700 382,400 380,200 378,400 369,500 363,600 363,500 361,000 358,600 358,200 357,300 356,200 352,900 352,500 349,100 347,500 345,400 344,800 338,600 336,100 333,100 330,400 328,700 325,900 323,900 322,400 321,700 319,000 317,800

Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 2 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Dave/Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder Pick TV/Risk Productions Dave/Talkback 5 USA 5 USA Sky Sports 1 BT Sport 1 Dave/Talkback Dave/T Group 5 USA Dave/Talkback Sky 1 Dave/Avalon Sky 2 Sky 1 Sky Sports 2 MTV 5 USA Yesterday Dave/Hat Trick Productions 5 USA Dave/Avalon 5 USA Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave Drama Dave/Hat Trick Productions Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky Sports News Dave/Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder Drama/Wall to Wall Dave/Talkback 5 USA Sky 1 Pick TV/Steadfast TV Discovery 5 USA Sky 1 Sky 1 Pick TV/Steadfast TV Dave/Hat Trick Productions

10.14 10.18 5.09 11.35 6.90 2.67 2.21 2.20 2.82 2.10 3.98 5.05 2.14 2.16 2.52 1.89 2.45 2.10 2.39 2.03 4.39 2.38 1.96 1.87 2.30 3.94 3.00 1.64 1.73 2.00 2.13 1.77 2.16 1.85 1.92 1.90 2.09 3.19 1.88 1.66 2.07 2.05 2.24 1.88 1.47 1.51 1.61 1.46 1.56 1.95

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Body Of Proof www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Brit Cops: Rapid Response

447k Audience for BT Sport’s first high-profile match – Liverpool vs Stoke City

BT Sport kicks off strongly BY stePhen PRiCe

In 1988, Maureen Lipman’s Beattie rang her miserable grandson to say that having an O-level in an ‘ology’ – even a socio one – makes you a scientist. That gentle advert seemed light years away this week as BT began its football rights fisticuffs proper with Sky; but we all know it’s really about broadband subscriptions. With Sky showing football wherever it can and BT getting a decent start, the gloves are very much off. BT Sport 1 kicked off the new season on Saturday, with Liverpool v Stoke achieving 447,000/5% from 11.30am (764,000/8% peak at 2.30pm); the last-minute carriage deal with Virgin helped no end. From 5pm, Sky Sports 1’s first live match, Man United v Swansea City, achieved 1.7 million/10%; 2.5 million/14% peak at 7pm. It was also live on entertainment channel Sky 2 (401,000/2%) and even Pick TV with a tiny 12,200/0.07%. The best-performing non-sport programme was Dave’s Megatruckers on Tuesday at 7.30pm (509,000/3%). Jonathan Creek, meanwhile, is doing steady work for UKTV’s new Drama channel, with 357,000/2% on Friday at 9pm, and New Tricks was not far behind with 339,000/2% on Thursday at 9pm. That was still some way behind rival ITV3’s best this week: 1 million/5% for Foyle’s War at 7pm on Saturday. 23 August 2013 | Broadcast | 45

Ratings Mon 5 Aug – Sun 11 Aug

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Consolidated Ratings

Dragons come roaring back BY Stephen price

I’m not one for fantasy dramas; life is weird enough and already full of strange creatures and peculiar goings on without dreaming up new weirdos and worlds to put them in. I nevertheless accepted that dragons were fierce beasts who would thrive in any circumstance and deal a fiery final blow to any foe. However, it seems they are a bit more set in their ways than I thought. They appear much more at home at 8pm with their pipe and slippers than the hotter 9pm arrangement, if the new series of Dragons’ Den is anything to go by. Elsewhere, ITV tried to make us like the City of London again, while in the closing stages of the Bradley Walsh v White Queen drama-off, the mac-wearing copper was out in front.

Source: BARB

BBC2: Dragon’s Den BBC2’s Dragon’s Den returned on Sunday 11 August at 8pm. Despite the success of Channel 4’s The Mill (consolidating to 3 million/12% this week) the grizzly entrepreneurs returned with 3 million/14% live ratings. After more than 400,000 recorded and watched, it finished on 3.4 million/14%; that’s more than 1 million up on 2012’s 9pm series and fourth best in 2011’s 9pm/8pm Sunday/Monday mix.

ITV: Stephen Fry’s Key To The City Stephen Fry’s Key To The City achieved a live rating of 3.3 million/14% at 9pm on ITV on Tuesday 6 August. After a very chunky 656,000 recorded and watched, it finished on 3.9 million/ 15%. That’s an 11% increase in volume and 9% higher share than slot average this year.

ITV: Law & Order: UK BBC1: The White Queen ITV’s Law & Order: UK stayed

ahead of BBC1’s plusher The White Queen this week. The legal procedural achieved 4.4 million/20% on Sunday 11 August, growing to 5.5 million/21% after recording. Opposite, the BBC1 medieval monarch’s live rating of 3.2 million/ 14% rose to 4.2 million/16% after recording; close, but the chase is proving a difficult one.

Sky 1: The Café Sky 1’s newest ruse, a response you might think to the arrival of BT in the ‘my broadband’s bigger-than-your-broadband’ game, is to premiere new stuff on its On Demand service. Among the first shows to earn this treatment are much-ballyhooed Chickens and series two of The Café. In TV viewing terms, this week’s episode of The Café on Wednesday at 9pm achieved 376,000/2% after the same number of people (189,000) recorded and watched via PVR as viewed live. It will be very interesting to see the On Demand numbers.

TOP 30 CONSOLIDaTeD RaTINgS: RaNKeD By gaIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 10 11 12 12 12 12 16 17 18 18 20 20 22 23 23 25 26 27 27 27 30

4.1m Part one of BBC1 drama The Field Of Blood added 710,000 in PVR and catch-up.

UP Geordie Shore viewers up 100,000 DOWN New Tricks down 1.1m

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Gain (m)

Gain %

New Tricks Law & Order: UK Coronation Street The White Queen Celebrity Masterchef Casualty EastEnders Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street The Mill Eastenders Southcliffe The Field Of Blood Southcliffe CSI: New York EastEnders Coronation Street Stephen Fry’s Key To The City Top Of The Lake Celebrity MasterChef Coronation Street Celebrity MasterChef The Field Of Blood Emmerdale Geordie Shore Film: Harry Potter And The Goblet Fire Family Guy 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown Emmerdale

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

21.00 21.00 20.30 21.00 20.30 21.10 19.30 19.30 20.00 20.30 20.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 19.30 19.30 21.00 21.10 20.00 19.30 20.00 21.00 19.00 22.00 19.00 22.00 21.00 20.00

7.77 5.52 8.84 4.16 3.57 5.11 7.13 9.01 6.87 9.79 2.99 7.57 2.01 4.06 2.48 2.26 7.01 9.01 3.94 1.50 4.54 9.53 4.42 3.00 7.00 1.01 5.22 1.76 2.46 7.08

28.90 21.06 36.87 16.07 15.14 23.77 36.13 44.47 32.54 39.43 12.37 32.03 7.70 17.85 9.97 8.30 34.81 44.67 14.51 7.12 20.98 42.82 20.17 13.48 37.87 5.22 27.07 8.57 11.03 31.94

1.29 1.10 1.06 0.99 0.84 0.79 0.77 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.73 0.71 0.71 0.71 0.71 0.69 0.67 0.66 0.66 0.62 0.62 0.59 0.58 0.58 0.55 0.53 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.47

19.90 24.80 13.60 31.40 30.70 18.10 12.20 9.10 12.30 8.20 32.30 10.40 54.80 21.10 39.80 44.40 10.60 7.90 20.00 70.20 15.80 6.60 15.20 23.80 8.50 108.10 10.60 39.70 25.50 7.10

Broadcaster BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV C4 BBC1 C4 BBC1 C4 C5 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC2 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV MTV ITV BBC3 C4 ITV

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

46 | Broadcast | 23 August 2013

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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ALL A TWITTER #BREAKING BAD

Perhaps the final episode could culminate in Harrison making a ‘bad ting good’ and teaching his dad the error of his ways?

Two for T?

Breaking Bad is so good we might all just as well give up. Can’t be beaten. Give up, put your cameras, booms, pens, laptops down. Go home. @AlCampbell (Al Campbell) Director Dexter: rolling with Da Easy Crew

Dexter’s natty cred Dexter fans worried about the parenting skills of the eponymous serial killer can rest easy. The character’s son, Harrison, has found an altogether healthier role model in catching bad guys: Rastamouse. The cheese-loving crimefighter has gained a cult following Stateside thanks to his permanent fixture on Dexter’s TV screen.

In the US there really is an extreme gardening show called Raking Bad.

Could this be the tabloids’ next BBC scandal? We’re as shocked as anyone to discover that not only has the corporation pulled the wool over our ears, but that Mr T himself has been deceiving us. Word reaches Off Cuts that the A-Team star can’t always commit to the full production schedule for his BBC3 show World’s Craziest Fools. For re-records, chunks of his voiceover are spoken by an impersonator. How long till T’s dropped entirely in favour of his cheaper understudy?

@prodnose (Danny Baker) Broadcaster

Confounded brilliance, all expectations broken. Isn’t it exciting when there’s a TV show which watching is such an event? @jackthorne (Jack Thorne) Writer

So has anyone seen this drama series on American television called Breaking Bad? Why does no one ever mention it?

With critical praise for Breaking Bad reaching fever pitch, we were delighted to take delivery of this eclectic collection of tie-in products. After all, it’s not every day blue crystal meth (thankfully, a sweet variety) arrives at your desk.

@RealMattLucas (Matt Lucas) Writer/performer

AND FINALLY ... Danny Cohen BBC director of television

What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Concentrate on making the programmes really good and everything else will look after itself. What’s the worst rejection you’ve ever had? I was turned down for the BBC trainee scheme when I left university.

What do you do to relax? Watch football and cricket. Have you recently given up/ taken up anything? Pilates. What subject would you choose if you were appearing on Mastermind? Charles Dickens [below]. What’s the one thing you couldn’t live without? My wife. ➤ Danny Cohen is taking part in the 38th Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival on 22-24 August. Visit www. geitf.co.uk to register

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