www.broadcastnow.co.uk
10 January 2014
COMMENT
INTERVIEW
PRODUCTION
Pages 18-19
Page 20
Page 22
Addison Cresswell and Storyville’s execs are Allan McKeown tributes shaking things up
How can young writers break through?
Pact: BBC quotas will change Trade body says fresh stance from BBC points to overhaul of the WoCC and guarantees BY JAKE KANTER
Pact believes a shake-up of BBC commissioning quotas is now inevitable as the corporation reshapes itself for charter renewal. Over the festive period, the BBC formally declared for the first time that commissioning guarantees need to be examined, as part of a BBC Trust submission to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. The Trust said it did not have a “firm view” over whether current supply arrangements “continue to be necessary”, and Pact chief executive John McVay is certain the existing quotas will be changed. Current arrangements guarantee in-house 50% of output, hand the indie sector 25%, and ask the two to compete for the remaining 25% in the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC). McVay stressed that Pact was doing “a lot of work” on its charter renewal submissions and said the BBC must address some significant questions if it is going to continue to deliver value for licence-fee payers. He said: “Under the commissioning structure of the WoCC, the BBC is having a problem, because if the market is supplying close to 50% of all BBC programmes, why should in-house get any more protection? Why not just open up all BBC commissioning to the market? Because if the market supplies a great programme at a great price, then that is all the BBC should care about.” The BBC is highly unlikely to take the radical step of dropping BBC Productions’ guarantees, but
Sherlock: indies are guaranteed 25% under current BBC quotas; below: C4 nations commissions to be tripled
If the market is supplying close to 50% of all productions, why should BBC inhouse get any more protection? John McVay, Pact
there is a clear change in position from the Trust, which in March 2013 said the WoCC “works well”. The Trust added that quotas need “careful consideration and analysis” in the approach to charter renewal in 2016. It follows BBC creative director Alan
Yentob’s off-the-cuff intervention at last year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival, where he said production guarantees “will change” in an evolving market. In its Culture, Media and Sport Committee submission to the Future of the BBC inquiry, the Trust made a pointed reference to the growth of “very large” indies, particularly those owned by other broadcasters or multinationals. But McVay said this was a “red herring”, arguing: “Why does that matter to the BBC? It has never had a problem
spending millions of pounds on movies from US studios.” ■ Separately, this week Ofcom revealed Channel 4’s nations commissioning quotas are set to be tripled, resulting in a £12m boost for Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish indies. The media regulator intends to award C4 a new 10-year licence, with the only major change being to increase the broadcaster’s minimum volume of spend and hours in the nations from 3% to 9% by 2020.
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
Traditional TV proves its worth Success of sitcom revivals shows it’s still all about tent-pole shows
H
appy new year! Out with the old and in with the, er, rehashed. Recent ratings-busters have reinforced what we’ve known all along: viewers love nothing more than to retreat to familiar and old-fashioned territory, particularly over the festive period. Still Open All Hours, BBC1’s revival of the 1970s comedy, achieved a whopping 9.4 million (39.9%) on Boxing Day, in line with the equally old-fashioned sitcom Mrs Brown’s
‘Despite the tablet frenzy, there isn’t a digital format to knock even dusted-down sitcoms off their perch’ Boys. It wasn’t just viewers too stuffed/ sozzled to pick up the remote either – 2.7 million more sought out the David Jason comedy after its broadcast to make it the most-watched show over Christmas. Birds Of A Feather made it a happy new year for ITV, returning 16 years after its last BBC1 outing with almost 8 million viewers (a 31.9% share) last Thursday evening. ITV hasn’t achieved figures like that for an episode of a sitcom since the Gwen Taylor comedy Barbara in 2000. And then there’s Benidorm, in its sixth series, which had 6.6 million viewers tuning in for some much-needed fun in the sun. Hoping to cash in on the trend – for charidee, of course – Only Fools And Horses duo Del and Rodney are to return for a BBC Sport Relief special in March. Despite record sales for tablets over Christmas, entertainment is still all about tent-pole 2 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
è Neil Crombie and Joe Evans, the duo behind Bafta-winning All In The Best Possible Taste With Grayson Perry (below), have set up Swan Films for the follow-up.
è C4’s next fixed-rig doc from The TV shows, not innovative digital formats. There may be talked-about Vines and virals, games and memes, but we’ve been dying to write about a killer app or a game-changing digital format for what seems like years now, and there’s still nothing to knock even dusted-down sitcoms off their perch. But how much longer will this be the case? Consumers have increasingly different desires and expectations on mobile and tablet, and just as webisodes often fail to translate to TV, so made-for-TV does not always translate well to these devices. Soon, the industry will hit the sweet spot and there will be a meeting in the middle where content that properly exploits the benefits inherent in a range of platforms wins out. There are encouraging signs: Endemol’s Big Brother 2.0 is Utopia – filmed over a year, streamed live online with contestants interacting with the outside world, and with the TV element taking a documentary form. It’s ambitious and forwardthinking (see page 12) – as is Israel’s Rising Star, which puts talent show judging in the hands of viewers via an app. In some ways, Sherlock too was an interesting attempt to involve the audience, certainly beyond the usual Twitter hashtag. It may not have got it exactly right – the criticism around the incorporation of fans’ theories and fourth-wall breaking at the expense of story was loud and clear – but at least it recognises that audiences want to be involved. In this brave new world, those who listen to their demands, and reflect changing viewing habits while preserving a show’s integrity, will be the champions.
Garden Productions will be set in Luton Police Station. 24 Hours In Custody will use a fixed-rig and handheld cameras.
è A PwC report says senior BBC execs did not have “sufficient” grasp of the Digital Media Initiative (DMI) to challenge its faltering progress before it was axed at a cost of £98.4m.
Ratings Top Five 1 Benefits Street was the C4’s mostwatched show since The Snowman And The Snowdog in December 2012, drawing 4.3m viewers. 2 Celebrity Big Brother returned with a peak of 4.2m for Channel 5, seeing off all competition bar BBC1’s Silent Witness.
Birds Of A Feather (below) returned after a 16-year absence with nearly 8m viewers on Thursday – ITV’s biggest sitcom launch in more than a decade. 3
4 ITV’s celebrity diving contest Splash! took a tumble on Saturday after returning with 5m, its lowest ratings to date.
Sherlock made a triumphant return to BBC1, pulling in its biggest overnight audience to date: 9.2m. 5
Team Tweets è I’ve binged Breaking Bad, watched every ep of The West Wing and appreciate The Sopranos’ ending, but Danny Dyer on EastEnders is special. Peter White @peterzwhite
www.broadcastnow.co.uk
News & Analysis Addison Cresswell colleagues vow to carry on his legacy Staff at Addison Cresswell’s Off the Kerb and Open Mike Productions are still struggling to come to terms with his death over Christmas, but are determined to continue his legacy. Agent Cresswell, whose clients included Jonathan Ross and Jack Dee, died from a suspected heart attack aged 53. His death prompted tributes from industry figures such as Objective’s Andrew Newman and BBC head of comedy Shane Allen, who said: “British comedy has lost its captain” (see broadcastnow.co.uk and obituary, page 18). Open Mike head of production Andrew Beint said this week: “I worked right next to Addison over 15 years, and it was a joy – every day was a high, a low, a blast. He loved the ‘family’ that he created and all of us are dedicated to steering the company forward, carrying on Addison’s legacy of creating ground-breaking comedy and entertainment programmes.” Beint will continue to head the company he ran with Cresswell, while management firm Off the Kerb will continue to be headed by company partner Joe Norris. A spokeswoman added: “From Chatty Man to The Last Leg, everyone’s carrying on, as that’s what Addison would have wanted.”
Sky strikes deal with US indie Ugly Brother BY PeTer WhiTe
Sky has invested in US indie startup Ugly Brother Studios through a development deal that will beef up its production and distribution business, and improve its ability to make US co-productions. The deal is the pay-TV broadcaster’s first major partnership with a producer since it acquired Parthenon Entertainment in July 2012. Ugly Brothers was set up at the end of last year by former Zodiak exec Mike Duffy and his brother Tim Duffy. The latter was previously senior vice-president, original series, at MTV-owned, male-skewing US cable network Spike TV. The deal comes a year after former Sky Vision managing director Carl Hall headed to Los Angeles to scout US indies. Following Hall’s departure, his replacement Jane Millichip took over the hunt, and is understood to have gone to the US in December to finalise the deal. The Duffys are also understood to have visited the UK at the start of December to meet Sky executives including Stuart Murphy.
Deadliest Warriors: series developed by Ugly Brother founder Tim Duffy
Millichip said the arrangement would allow the two companies to develop formats together for Sky’s own channels and international networks. “This deal gives both parties the opportunity to create exciting and commercially relevant programming on an international scale,” she said. Ugly Brother Studios will concentrate on producing unscripted formats and doc series for US and international broadcasters. The indie has already received its first commission. It is making
reality cooking competition House Of Food for MTV and has a threeproject development deal with Spike TV. Prior to setting up Ugly Brother Studios, Mike Duffy was executive vice-president at T Group Productions, working on series including truTV’s Container Wars and Food Network’s Mystery Diners. Tim, who started as a production manager at Dick Clark Productions, developed series including Deadliest Warrior, Jesse James Is A Dead Man and Ink Master.
ITV scraps Exposure block in favour of single films BY JAke kAnTer
ITV plans to schedule investigative journalism strand Exposure throughout the year instead of in a single block of episodes – sparking fears the brand may be scaled back. The commercial broadcaster will sprinkle special instalments of the strand over the course of 2014, ditching the strategy of airing it as a weekly series, which ITV has employed since Exposure launched three years ago. ITV says the change is a positive step, allowing it to be more flexible about the deadlines to which films are delivered, particularly www.broadcastnow.co.uk
ITV has not confirmed how many Exposure films it will order this year
Truth About Jimmy Savile: exposé
as they can be subject to heavy legal scrutiny. The broadcaster also hopes it can publicise the documentaries in a more tailored way, giving voice to their individual messages, rather
than promoting Exposure as a collective block of films. However, the change has led to concern in some corners of the factual production community that ITV may cut back on the number of Exposure docs it commissions each year. “I suspect there will be fewer this year than last,” said one producer.
ITV has not confirmed how many films it will order this year and pointed out that the number has changed every year, based on the quality of ideas it has received. ITV broadcast five Exposure films last year, eight in 2012 and six in 2011. ITV director of television Peter Fincham has in the past spoken with pride about Exposure and it is seen by many as a brand-enhancing addition to the broadcaster’s programming slate. Exposure’s highest-profile film to date remains its Jimmy Savile exposé in 2012, which ultimately forced BBC director general George Entwistle to resign. 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 3
News & Analysis
Storyville to examine nuclear close shaves BY RoBIn paRkeR
BBC4 plans to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb with a “visceral” study of the history of nuclear near-misses. Acclaimed documentary-maker Eugene Jarecki is adapting Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser’s book Command And Control as a feature-length documentary for the Storyville strand, to air in 2015. Storyville editor Nick Fraser said the film would keep people “focused” on the issue of nuclear science in the anniversary year of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. “If you have to live in a world where there are nukes, what do you do about it? You can never make them safe as the margin of human error is so large and these are such cumbersome, dangerous things,” he said. “The book is gripping as it tells the story of nukes as if it’s something from The Simpsons – here’s Homer dropping a spanner, and boom, a nuke goes off. It’s very visceral and immediate.” Jarecki’s most recent Storyville film, The House I Live In, took four
The House I Live In: director Jarecki to study nuclear near-misses for BBC4
years to get to the screen. His other credits include Emmy Awardwinning Reagan and The Trials of Henry Kissinger, one of the first docs to air on BBC4. Fraser also plans to scale back acquisitions, which tend to make up about a third of the strand, in favour of more seed investment in co-productions. Other Storyville docs in development include The Notorious Mr Bout, in which directors Maxim Pozdorovkin (Pussy Riot: A Punk
Prayer) and Tony Gerber examine the home movies of a Russian arms dealer; Nick Read’s look inside the Bolshoi ballet, Bolshoi Babylon; and Unlocking The Cage, in which veteran film-makers DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus follow a Harvard lawyer’s attempts to secure legal rights for a chimpanzee. The strand kicks off its latest run next week, with a trio of films profiling Nelson Mandela, Ai Wei Wei and Colonel Gadaffi. ➤ See Interview, page 20
BBC to adapt US comedy pilot rejected by CBS The BBC is developing The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, a Jon Plowman-produced comedy that was originally piloted by US network CBS. It is thought to be the first time a UK broadcaster has adapted a pilot that never made it to air in the US. The Rich Inner Life Of Penelope Cloud was created in 2007 by Jeff Greenstein, who wrote on Will & Grace and Desperate Housewives. It follows author Penelope Cloud, who wrote a “culture defining” novel aged 27 but then spent the next 10 years of her life coasting. She is joined by ex-boyfriend and agent Claude, her younger sister, who doesn’t speak English, and a student who Cloud accidently plagiarised for her novel. The UK project came about after Greenstein met Plowman when the former BBC comedy chief visited the set of Will & Grace. Greenstein told The Nerdist Writer’s Panel podcast: “We’ve all been through writing a beautiful pilot and there’s this weird sense that it’s over and you’re not allowed to touch it again, which is really peculiar.” Penelope Cloud is thought to be earmarked for BBC3.
‘No change’ to 3D commitment as Sky’s Cassy exits BY LIsa CampBeLL
Sky 3D channel director John Cassy is leaving the broadcaster after 10 years to launch his own media venture. His departure means that Sky will no longer have a dedicated 3D head, with Cassy’s responsibilities being divided between existing sport and entertainment teams. Channel management will now be overseen by Sky Sports director of strategy and planning Jonathan Licht, in addition to his current responsibilities. Commissions, such as David Attenborough’s 3D projects, including next Christmas’s Conquest Of 4 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
The Skies, will continue to sit with head of factual Celia Taylor. A Sky spokesman said there was “no change” to Sky’s 3D commitment, despite not directly replacing Cassy. Sky 3D launched in April 2010 as part of the top-tier Sky World package, but last year introduced a basic-tier TV subscription for 3D, Entertainment Extra+, designed to boost uptake. Subscribers are now believed to be nearing 700,000, up from 500,000 in July. However, 3D has not taken off internationally to the level that Sky originally anticipated. Last year, Disney announced plans to shut its ESPN 3D sport network in the US
3D has not taken off internationally to the level that Sky had originally anticipated Galapagos: 3D projects to continue
and the BBC pulled the plug on its 3D pilot – both citing low consumer demand. Nevertheless, Sky believes the technology gives it a point of difference in the competitive
pay-TV environment. Its 3D output deal with Colussus, a joint venture with Atlantic Productions, runs until the end of the year. Cassy joined Sky in 2003 and launched Sky Arts. In his 3D role, he oversaw sporting events such as the Ryder Cup and several highprofile natural history series. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
News & Analysis
BBC hires development head Ana has a special skill in originating head-turning ideas, which makes her a great fit for BBC in-house
BY Jake kanTeR
The BBC is to draft in Twenty Twenty director of development Ana De Moraes to lead the inhouse central development unit created by Danny Cohen. De Moraes will join BBC Productions in the spring after nearly a decade at Shed Media-owned Twenty Twenty, where she helped launch the career of The Choir star Gareth Malone. She will become creative director, development, leading a central team helping to deliver nonscripted ideas alongside the BBC’s various in-house genre divisions. It is a key role in director of television Cohen’s plans to rejuvenate in-house and De Moraes will report to Natalie Humphreys, BBC Productions’ controller of factual and daytime. De Moraes will have a share of a £2m increase in the BBC’s development budget to play with – much of which will be ploughed into recruitment, taster tapes and pilots – and will aim to bring her indie sensibilities to creating shows at the BBC.
Natalie Humphreys, BBC Productions
The Choir: De Moraes helped to launch Gareth Malone’s career
This is important for Cohen, who last year said he believed the corporation did not treat development with the same reverence as the indie community.
On De Moraes, he said: “I have worked with her over many years at BBC1 and BBC3 and believe her to be one of the industry’s leading development creatives.”
Humphreys added: “Ana has a special skill in originating headturning ideas that are authentic and full of passion, which makes her a great fit for BBC in-house.” As well as BBC2’s The Choir and its other iterations, De Moraes’ credits include Channel 4’s First Dates and My Transsexual Summer. BBC1’s Garrow’s Law and Sky Living’s Styled To Rock are also among the shows she has helped to develop. Controller of factual and daytime Humphreys works alongside Mark Freeland, the recently appointed controller of fiction, as part of a divided BBC Productions leadership team, following the departure of Pat Younge last year.
Film 4’s Butler joins Raw TV to build ‘bold slate’ We share an ambition to tell compelling stories about the world we live in
BY anDReas wIseMan
Raw TV, the indie behind feature doc The Imposter, has hired Film 4 deputy head of film Katherine Butler. She will leave the broadcaster at the end of February after nine years to become the indie’s head of film and TV drama. Butler will work alongside Raw founder Dimitri Doganis, creative director Bart Layton and new chief executive Joely Fether, and will spearhead the indie’s drive to become “a major force in film and drama production, building a slate of bold, authored UK and US productions”. Ties between the two companies are strong. Butler executive produced Raw’s Bafta-winning feature The Imposter, about serial imposter www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Katherine Butler
The Imposter: Raw’s Bafta winner
Frédéric Bourdin, and the indie has five projects in development with Film 4, including Layton’s next project, American Animals, and scripts by Peter Straughan, Gregory Burke and Joe Barton. Butler’s other high-profile executive producer credits include Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur,
Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and Sightseers, plus Clio Bernard’s The Selfish Giant. She said it had been a privilege to work “under Tessa Ross’s guiding hand” at Film 4, but that the opportunity with Raw was a natural next step and “too good to miss”. “We share an ambition to tell compelling stories that ask big questions about who we are and the world we live in, as well as to work with film-makers and writers
with strong voices who have a desire to connect with and challenge audiences,” she continued. Raw’s Doganis said its drama slate was expanding rapidly in TV and film, and that Butler’s “vast experience, expertise and her amazing relationships with the very best writers and directors, can really supercharge this growth”. She will work closely with head of scripted development Zander Levy, who joined the indie in 2012. Tessa Ross, controller of film and drama at C4, said Butler had been an exceptional colleague. “With her passion for film and for talented people, she has developed and commissioned wonderful work. Katherine has helped to define Film 4 for this decade.” Film 4 is yet to determine how Butler will be replaced. 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 5
News & Analysis
Ecosse gives Shine first look BY Peter WhIte
Mistresses producer Ecosse Films has struck a first-look deal with distributor Shine International as the production company looks to ramp up its global activities. The indie, which was founded by Douglas Rae, has inked a threeyear deal with the sales arm of Lis Murdoch’s production company, which will represent all of its scripted series from 1 January 2014 onwards. Previously, the drama producer had worked with different distributors on a show-by-show basis. The deal will not include Ecosse’s existing series, such as Sky Atlantic’s forthcoming miniseries Fleming (pictured), which is distributed by BBC Worldwide, or ITV’s Tom Bradby-penned The Great Fire, which is being sold by ITV Studios. However, the deal is understood to potentially include a new epic drama that Ecosse has in development with Sky, and could also include The Few, a television project from Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie and Harry Potter producer
Shine really understands our ambition to grow Ecosse into a truly international company Douglas Rae, Ecosse Films
Fleming: Sky Atlantic series is not part of the Shine International deal
Lionel Wigram, which is set during the Battle of Britain. Other series that Ecosse has in development include The Dying Light, a four-part dystopian serial adapted from the novel by Henry Porter, and Taboo, a series about a
Californian forensic investigator who moves to Dublin to hunt down a notorious serial killer. The agreement was struck between Rae, Shine International chief executive Nadine Nohr and senior vice-president of acqui-
sitions Georgia Brown. Rae said: “Shine is a great choice for Ecosse. Lis Murdoch has established a very dynamic, entrepreneurial and inspiring company and Shine International really understands our ambition to grow Ecosse into a truly international business.” He added: “We already produce the 13-part BBC series Mistresses for the ABC network in the US and have several other projects, which will appeal to a global audience.” Nohr said Shine International was proud of its drama catalogue and delighted to be working with Ecosse Films. “Douglas and his team have a reputation for creating high-end, distinctive and internationally appealing drama,” she said.
ITV set to air The Widower as killer loses appeal This is a quite extraordinary story, far more chilling than any fiction
BY JAke kAnter
ITV is clear to broadcast a Jeff Pope drama about Malcolm Webster after the murderer lost his appeal against conviction in December. Broadcast first reported on The Widower in April 2013 and production has since been completed on the drama, but Webster’s appeal prevented ITV from discussing the mini-series in any official capacity until now. Co-written and executive produced by ITV Studios’ award-winning factual drama boss Pope, the 3 x 60-minute series will tell the story of how male nurse Webster murdered his first wife Claire Morris in 1994, attempted to do the same to his second wife in New 6 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Jeff Pope, ITV Studios
Shearsmith: stars as Webster
Zealand, and plotted a further scheme to deceive his third fiancée. Pope and co-writer James Barton have structured the story so that each of the three episodes
focuses on Webster and one of the three women. In the third and final instalment, he is tracked down and arrested by detective inspector Charlie Henry (played by John Hannah). Suspicions were first raised about Webster’s crimes, which led to him being prosecuted in the Scottish courts, 17 years after the death of Morris in an apparent car crash. He was eventually jailed for a minimum of 30 years in 2011.
Webster will be played by The League Of Gentlemen star Reece Shearsmith, while Sheridan Smith – who won a Bafta for her performance in ITV drama Mrs Biggs last year – stars as his first wife Morris. ITV director of drama commissioning Steve November ordered The Widower and the producer is Kwadjo Dajan. Paul Whittington is the director, while detective Henry acted as an advisor to the production alongside Webster’s second wife Felicity Drumm and former lover Simone Banerjee. “This is a quite extraordinary story, far more chilling than any fiction. Webster was a banal, almost benign face of evil,” said Pope. Pope’s other factual dramas for ITV include Appropriate Adult and See No Evil: The Moors Murders. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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Expert Women
EXPERT WOMEN
CAMPAIGN TAX BREAK
CAMPAIGN
Time to rise to the challenge
A new year brings a fresh opportunity for broadcasters to show they’ve changed, says Lis Howell
O
ur latest Expert Women monitoring, for the week beginning 11 November, shows a big improvement for Sky News At Ten, with a ratio of four to one male to female experts, up from last month’s disappointing six to one. However, it’s looking bad for ITV News At Ten and BBC News At Ten, both of which had a ratio of six male to every female expert. Yet BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, for so long the villain of the piece, has shot up to 2.5 male experts to every woman – a great result. We also monitored Channel 4 News, which, depressingly, was on par with the norm at 4:1. However you look at it – whether you take into account packages and studio discussions, breaking stories and different genres – when you crunch the numbers, it comes out the same. There are four times as many male as female experts interviewed, throughout UK news and current affairs programmes. This has only improved by around half a percent since the campaign started, despite all the protestations and endeavours of the broadcasters.
Chance to show progress Of course, these things take time to filter through, but shouldn’t we be seeing more tangible results? It’s not as if any broadcaster has defended the old position, and most have said they want improvement. So now is a chance to show it. Publishing in the first Broadcast of 2014 gives us an opportunity to issue a challenge to the industry. From now on, we’ll measure the same five programmes each month. These are BBC News At Ten, ITV News At Ten, Channel 4 News at 7pm, Sky News (at various evening hours) and, of course, Today on BBC Radio 4. Why these five? BBC News At Ten is still believed by many to be the most popular news programme in the UK, although BBC News At Six 8 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Sky News: showed a big improvement in November, with the ratio of male to female experts rising to 4:1
These things take time to filter through, but shouldn’t we be seeing more tangible results? has overtaken it recently. Its ratio of male to female experts is as bad as other news programmes but it has nearly twice as many male as female reporters and correspondents – and it attracts an equal number of male and female viewers. ITV News At Ten looks more female friendly because it has more female than male presenters, as well as a high proportion of female reporters, but it is worse than BBC News At Ten for women experts. Its audience of 2 million – half that of BBC News At Ten – is, as with much of ITV, predominantly female. C4 News signed up to the Broadcast pledge to increase the ratio of male to female experts to 3:1, but it hasn’t always succeeded, as the November figures show. Because it
airs at 7pm, when the stockbrokerbelt is arriving home, it has been assumed that this attracts a classy male audience, although it’s not specifically targeted at men. Sky News At Ten is one of the few news programmes to attract slightly more men than women. Sky News does not see its 10pm news programme as a ‘flagship’ show as such, and does not sum up the news of the day in the same way as ITV and BBC, so it seems fairer to monitor Sky News across a variety of evening slots. Today has caused a lot of controversy when it comes to gender. When we started to survey the programme, we would frequently listen for an hour without hearing a female voice. But now, not only are there more female presenters, but the expert ratio seems to be improving too, although these are only recent changes and don’t affect the overall figures much. For the next few months, let’s see how these five programmes perform. All are for general audiences and have an almost 50:50
Male/feMale raTio BBC News At Ten 6:1 ITV News At Ten 6:1 Channel 4 News 4:1 Sky News 4:1 Today 2.5:1* Period covers week beginning 11 Nov *monitored between 6am and 7am
split between male and female viewers/listeners. All deal with similar topics and stories. All have indicated that they feel women should be better represented. Both Channel 4 News and Sky News signed the Broadcast Pledge to increase the number of female experts. The BBC has put its marker down through the BBC Academy Expert Women training days and recent gender representation objectives set by the BBC Trust. ITV prides itself on its people-centred news. So they should all rise to the challenge of showing noticeable change. Wouldn’t that be great? www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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Commissioning News
Sky and GME link up for Pick doc It is a very revealing series, showing the British public as they’ve never been seen before
BY Peter White
Sky has worked with GroupM Entertainment for the first time to order its first original series for free-to-air station Pick TV – a 10-part ob-doc series using an innovative filming technique. Bodycam: Britain Caught On Camera is a 10 x 60-minute series co-produced by Britain’s Bravest Cops indie Leopard Films and GME. It is the first commission for Pick since it relaunched on Freeview in 2011. The show uses point-of-view body cameras to capture the work of professionals, including police officers, taxi drivers and firstaiders, who deal with the public on the frontline. The show will follow key characters in these professions in real-life situations, and will be largely self-shot. The deal is also significant as it is the first between GME and Sky. GME managing director Richard Foster told Broadcast last year that it was aiming to work more with non-terrestrial broadcasters and broaden its scope of deals, which until now have been struck exclu-
sively with Channel 5, Channel 4 and ITV. The series was commissioned by Sky commissioning editor of factual Siobhan Mulholland and is produced by Leopard Films’ Charlie Bunce and GME’s Abigail Adams and Tony Moulsdale.
Stephen Ladlow, director of Pick TV, said: “I’m thrilled with Bodycam: Britain Caught On Camera, which promises to be a dramatic and engaging series. With its use of technology that offers unprecedented access to the work of professionals who interact
The Garden joins police for C4 fixed-rig series
Alisa Pomeroy as series director and Flavia Taylor producing.
wright, produced by Karen Lewis and directed by Euros Lyn and Jill Robertson. The executive producers are Nicola Shindler for Red and Matthew Read for the BBC.
ITV axes The Dales as Klein plans output refresh
Walsh turns from sinner to saint in BBC1 comedy pilot
ITV’s Adrian Edmondson-fronted factual brand The Dales (below) will not return for a fourth series.
Comedian Seann Walsh will star as a reformed benefits cheat in a BBC1 sitcom pilot set in a monastery. The stand-up will appear in Monks, a studio comedy that will be produced by the BBC’s in-house comedy unit. The “warm-hearted” comedy centres on Walsh’s character, Gary Woodcroft, who decides to become a monk after years defrauding the benefits system. Monks has been created and written by Danny Robins, whose other credits include Mock The Week, and Dan Tetsell. Tetsell has featured in BBC3’s Mongrels and Miranda for BBC1. The pilot will be produced by Alex Walsh-Taylor, while Pete Thornton is the execu-
Director of factual Richard Klein has decided to axe the show, which immersed itself in the landscape and life of the Yorkshire Dales, as he prepares to refresh ITV’s output in the genre next year. The Dales launched in 2011 and has played in an 8pm slot for three series, pulling in audiences of up to 4.3 million.
Channel 4’s next fixed-rig doc from The Garden Productions will be set in Luton Police Station. The series, 24 Hours In Custody, which follows the indie’s successful 24 Hours In A&E, is expected to air in two 10 x 60-minute runs from this autumn. Greenlit by C4 head of documentaries Nick Mirsky, the show will follow the dayto-day workings of a busy police station and reveal the challenges faced by staff . The series will go into production this month, with filming expected to last six weeks, ahead of a delivery in the summer. Simon Ford (Coppers) Emma Tutty (24 Hours In A&E) and Jonathan Smith (The Family) will exec produce, with 10 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Stephen Ladlow, Pick TV
War On Britain’s roads: previous self-shot Leopard series aired on BBC1
BBC1 commissions third run of Last Tango In Halifax BBC1 has ordered a third series of Bafta-winning drama Last Tango In Halifax. The series achieved its highest rating to date during its second run, pulling in a consolidated 7.6 million viewers (6.3 million overnight). Series one averaged 7.3 million viewers (27%). The third outing of the series, which is produced by Red Production Company, was commissioned by BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore and controller of BBC drama commissioning Ben Stephenson. It is due to air later this year. The series is written and exec produced by Sally Wain-
with the public on a daily basis, I think it will really appeal to our viewers, who have a passion for exciting and eye-opening observational documentaries.” Foster added: “We’re delighted to be working for the first time with both Leopard Films and Sky on what is going to be a very revealing series, showing the British public as they’ve never been seen before.” The series will TX in the first quarter of 2014.
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tive producer. The producer is Dominic Brigstocke.
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International News
What is 2014’s rising star? Broadcast looks at the international shows that could take the world by storm this year BY PETER WHITE
The UK is arguably the most important global market for entertainment formats – ahead even of the more risk-averse US – both in terms of creating them and in taking chances on ideas from all corners of the world. From Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Big Brother to Eyeworks’ more recent Dutch format Sterren Springen (Splash!), and now Keshet International’s talent competition Rising Star, UK broadcasters have often been the launchpad for global format rollouts. But what will be the next MasterChef or The X Factor, and where will British commissioners come across it?
Utopia: John de Mol reality series has been dubbed the new Big Brother
HollAnd uTopiA; BeAT THe CroWd; milky WAy mission
denmArk mArried AT firsT siGHT
The Netherlands shows no sign of losing its reputation for creativity, from Big Brother and Deal Or No Deal to The Voice. Perhaps the most significant new format is John de Mol’s Utopia, a reality series that, for obvious reasons, has been dubbed the new Big Brother. Produced and distributed by Talpa for SBS, Utopia is like Survivor scripted by Thomas More. The show, which takes place over a year, encourages 15 contestants to create their own society. Participants are given a piece of land with a used silo, two cows, 20 chickens and a small amount of money. One person is eliminated from the show every month. The remaining contestants must survive in this scenario but, unlike in Big Brother, they are allowed to converse with the outside world. On a less sociological note, Talpa is also launching gameshow Beat The Crowd. The format, which launches domestically this month on RTL4, puts the wisdom of the crowd – in this case, an audience of 200 – to the test. The audience’s answers are averaged, with viewers at home invited to play along using an app. The contestant must outwit the crowd to win the jackpot. “It’s a bit early to confirm any specific countries,” said Gepke Nederlof, head of sales at Talpa. “But we are already talking to some of the big players in the key television markets.” The next format frontier is space, according to Dutch producers Tuvalu Media and Simpel
Probably the most controversial new format – and therefore the most likely to make it to the UK – is Denmark’s Married At First Sight. In this social experiment, six single people marry total strangers with the help of a psychologist and a matchmaker. After six weeks of marriage, they can then decide whether to stay married or sign the divorce papers. The format, which has already been picked up in France, Germany and Australia, was created by Danish indie Snowman Productions for DR3 and is distributed by Red Arrow International. Managing director Jens Richter said it had already been set up in development with a UK broadcaster after being pitched by Red Arrowowned indie CPL Productions.
12 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
‘Holland is one of those countries that takes new formats, so it’s not surprising that they picked it’ Wayne Garvie, Sony Pictures Television
Media. Public broadcaster Nederland 1 has commissioned the pair to produce Milky Way Mission, a Space Camp-style reality series in which 10 celebrities prepare to become astronauts as part of the Space Expedition Corporation’s space travel program, which launches later this year. Sony Pictures Television is distributing the format and its chief creative officer Wayne Garvie says it is looking at developing a production hub in the Mojave Desert in the US to film a number of international versions. “Holland is still one of those countries that takes new formats, so it’s not surprising that they picked it up first,” Garvie said. He admitted that UK broadcasters have been sceptical of the project so far because space formats have previously failed to materialise, including Survivor creator Mark Burnett’s Destination Mir. However, Garvie believes that one of the main terrestrial networks or Sky will come on board the project this year.
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BelGium CHef des CHefs; THAT AWkWArd momenT
AsiA Go BABy Go; Hide And seek; WHere Are We GoinG, dAd? After Banzai, Takeshi’s Castle and Hole In The Wall, the latest wacky gameshow concept from Japan is Go Baby Go, which pits a group of infants against each other. The show, which was created by TV Asahi, challenges babies under 12 months to compete over a series of obstacle courses before being reunited with their mothers. While this programme may not be the type of project that would get an airing on the BBC, a digital network could be interested in picking up the controversial concept. UK indie Zig Zag is also pitching its own Japanese gameshow to UK commissioners – Danny Fenton’s firm is hoping it will get its own game of Hide And Seek under way. In the show, based on the traditional game, a family group of contestants play hide and seek for a cash prize. It airs on TV Tokyo in Japan and has been optioned in the US by Jack Black’s indie Electric Dynamite. Asian formats outside of wacky Japanese gameshows (and Dragon’s Den) have tended not to travel to the UK. However, Korean network Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) believes it can punch through with its warm and family friendly format Where Are We Going, Dad?. The show follows a group of dads who are usually more preoccupied with work, as they go on heart-warming adventures with their children. The format has already been sold to Chinese broadcaster Hunan, and international business exec Jean Hur said it will now widen its scope. “Influenced by the success in China and the universal topic of the father-child relationship, we have already sold the format rights to several countries in South-East Asia and are actively talking with broadcasters in Europe and the US,” she said.
Holland’s next-door neighbour is fast becoming a television rival, with formats such as Off Their Rockers (originally known as Benidorm Bastards) travelling to networks including ITV. RTL Belgium recently ordered cooking format with a twist Chef Des Chefs from Belgium indie KNTV. The show, which is distributed internationally by DRG, pits foodies against one another to show off their passion for food and culinary knowledge, but doesn’t ask them to cook a single dish. Instead, they perform tasks such as identifying ingredients by taste. DRG hopes it can rival The Taste or Bake Off globally. “Even though there’s lot of great cooking formats around, this is different because nobody cooks. It’s all about a passion for food and showing off,” says Albertina Marfil, formats manager at DRG. “Cooking is a hugely popular subject and it’s tough finding something that’s not been done before.” Rival commercial broadcaster 2BE has launched sketch show That Awkward Moment, which dis-
tributor Can’t Stop Media hopes will replicate the success of Benidorm Bastards, which originally aired on the same channel. The show, which films embarrassing moments such as a phone going off during a funeral, has already been optioned by ITV Studios in Australia and Dutch network SBS, and Can’t Stop Media chief exec Matthieu Porte is now pitching it in the UK. “I am convinced a remake would do very well on Channel 4, ITV2 or Comedy Central,” he said.
iTAly mAsTerpieCe Despite JK Rowling and EL James selling millions of books each year, there’s very little literature on television. Rai and Fremantle Media have teamed up to change this and hope that Masterpiece, an elimination format starring aspiring writers, can be a MasterChefmeets-The X Factor for authors. In the series, a group of judges – including Romanzo Criminale
author Giancarlo De Cataldo and Ghana Must Go scribe Taiye Selasi – preside over a series of literary challenges. Fremantle Media Italia chief creative officer Alessandro Lostia said: “Why can’t we do The X Factor for novels? It needs to have a good balance between good writing and being an entertaining show.”
isrAel deAr neiGHBours; duel GAmes Rising Star was the most successful international format of 2013, notching up sales in 10 territories and keeping Israel in the spotlight for both entertainment and scripted formats. While it will be tough for Israel to match that in 2014, Keshet International hopes that Dear Neighbours can attract a few deals. In the show, a couple recruit their community to help find a date for their daughter. The concept, created by Fuchsia Productions, has already been snapped up in Holland, Italy, Spain, India and Turkey. Keshet International managing director Alon Shtruzman hopes it can snatch a UK deal
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similar to the one it agreed with ITV2 for Girlfriends. “Dear Neighbours challenges the traditional structure of reality shows by mashing up genres. It’s dating reality meets romcom with a lot of laughs and a bit of cinematic inspiration from Yentl and Hello Dolly,” he said. Dori Media is selling street-fighting format Duel Games. A contestant chooses a random stranger to fight a duel using one of the unusual ‘weapons’ from the host’s cart. “Duels are part of British history,” said Dori Media chief exec Nadav Palti. “The format is smart, entertaining, and easy to produce and adapt.”
10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 13
Multiplatform News in brief iPlayer off to record start BBC iPlayer enjoyed a recordbreaking start to 2014 – as Doctor Who topped the online Christmas battle with 2 million views. The corporation’s VoD service enjoyed its best day ever on 1 January, receiving 11 million requests to stream iPlayer content. That was up 35% on New Year’s Day 2013, when there were 8.1 million requests. Christmas Day’s EastEnders was second with 1.6 million requests, followed by its Boxing Day effort with 1.4 million.
Voice fans to battle it out Fans of The Voice UK will be able to compete against each other via a mobile app that will award points for correctly guessing the opinion of the onscreen judges. The Voice UK app, developed by Tellybug for iOS and Android devices, will feature the HomeCoach Game, in which users can listen to exclusive previews of Blind Audition clips before deciding if they would back each contestant.
Netflix in pricing trials Netflix is testing a new pricing model that allows multiple users to log in simultaneously to a single account from a variety of devices. The VoD provider is trialling two payment tiers in the US: one that limits users to a single log-in for $6.99, and a $9.99 premium version that allows three screens to be used at once.
BBC seeks linking help The BBC is to spend as much as £500,000 on boosting the number of links to external websites across its online platforms. The corporation is hunting for a firm to provide an external linking service, with the contract worth £85,000 annually over the next three years and a potential £75,000 worth of future development. Last May, a Trust review revealed that the BBC will miss its target of doubling click-through rates to 22 million by 2013/14.
For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 14 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
C4 pulls all shows from YouTube to focus on 4oD BY Alex FArBer
Channel 4’s decision to pull all of its long-form programming from YouTube suggests the balance of power in VoD has taken a significant swing towards broadcasters. The broadcaster removed thousands of hours of C4, E4 and More 4 shows from its 65,000-subscriber YouTube channel in December. But it will continue to offer short-form content via new strands, such as 4Shorts and Mashed, through the VoD service. As the first broadcaster to strike a long-form programming deal with YouTube in 2009, C4’s decision marks a significant development. It shows that it no longer feels it needs to rely on the traffic generated by the service and can offer users a good experience on 4oD, while not having to hand over a cut of its revenues to YouTube owner Google. This has been no knee-jerk decision from C4. It has steadily expanded the range of platforms on which 4oD is available, most recently including Sky’s Now TV box and the Xbox One games console. At the same time, the broadcaster has ratcheted up the level of
4oD: Channel 4 has expanded the range of platforms for its VoD service
It shows the broadcaster no longer feels it needs to rely on the traffic generated by YouTube personalisation it offers on 4oD by using various incentives, such as bonus content, to encourage users to create their own account. The limited amount of information Google is prepared to share with its partners has long frus-
trated executives across the media industry. C4’s determination to take possession of its own viewing data is likely to have been a key factor in the decision. Other broadcasters that offer long-form shows via YouTube, which include the BBC and Channel 5, as well as international partners, will be keen to learn whether C4 can maintain traffic – and revenue – levels. YouTube has evolved in recent years to move away from its usergenerated content (UGC) roots to offer an increasing range of highquality professional content.
Web WaTCh LifeTimeTv.Co.uk
A
+E networks has launched a female-focused magazinestyle website to support its newly launched entertainment channel Lifetime. Alongside articles on Lifetime shows, the site will carry reviews and tips on ways to ‘get the look’ of a range of shows’ lead characters, as well as lifestyle articles covering relationships, beauty and cooking. The site, which has an editorial team of 20 journalists, also includes videos of show highlights and interviews with cast members. Designed by Mail Online designer Brand42, the website is part of the network’s broader digital strategy, which also includes a strong presence on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, to encourage engagement with viewers beyond the linear TV channel. A+E Networks UK director of digital media Caroline Casey said: “Our strategy for Lifetimetv.co.uk was to develop a beautiful, magazine-style site with excellent functionality and intelligent content that takes viewers beyond our TV channel.”
URL http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk Developer Brand42
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Post Prime Focus Client Hartswood Films. Brief Complete the online edit and grade all three episodes of the third series, each to the creative vision of a different director and writer. How it was done Avid Symphony online editor Scott Hinchcliffe created graphic sequences for text messages, blog posts, online chats and Sherlock’s assessment of clues. In addition, he created VFX sequences that included Sherlock’s ‘mind palace’, blending the images to give the viewer insight into Sherlock’s thought process as he reaches his conclusions. Hinchcliffe used Boris, Sapphire and Tinder plug-ins across the series. Colourist Kevin Horsewood said there were no limits to the boundaries of the grade. He used Baselight to achieve a variety of techniques, including a bleach bypass and a warm sepia look. Watch it Sunday, 9pm, BBC1
Titles Halfmanhalfpixel Client Pett Productions Brief Design a title sequence for Reeves and Mortimer’s new BBC2 sitcom. The open brief allowed for a modern style blended with a retro piece. How it was done Halfmanhalfpixel’s Tim Johnston pitched the idea of parodying The Good Life sitcom title sequence from the 1970s, which featured colourful bubble writing wrapped around a flower with the words being written on by a dove. The dove was replaced with a toy rat, while the circular wiping motion that was used to bring on the text matched the original. Cast members were placed behind period set walls with large holes punched in them as windows, matching the shape of the flower. A retro music track was chosen to create an inviting and cosy feel, in contrast to the quirky graphics. All animation was produced in After Effects by Johnston. Watch it Tuesdays, 10pm, BBC2
Post Envy Client Wall to Wall Brief Provide picture and audio post production for the third series of the talent show, which focuses on singing rather than looks. How it was done Senior editor Marc Corrance said that although the format of the show had changed very little, the introduction of new coaches Kylie Minogue and Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs led to the use of new VFX effects to give the series an energetic opening and feel throughout. The effects were produced using the latest version of Genarts Sapphire. Super slowmotion cameras were also used to give the opening episode a fresh and filmic look. Senior dubbing mixer Andy Hodges used Pro Tools with some new EQs and limiters to make sure the programme adhered to new loudness guidelines. Watch it Saturday, 7pm, BBC1
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BBC S&PP promotes McLaren to commercial manager BBC Studios and Post Production has promoted account manager Meryl McLaren (pictured) to the position of commercial manager. She replaces Charlotte Layton (formerly Forde), who joined The Farm as commercial director at the end of last year. In her new role, McLaren will lead and develop the commercial delivery of studios and postproduction services.
measurement sales manager at Boxer Systems will be responsible for driving, managing and expanding the company’s direct sales to customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Over a career spanning nearly two decades, Graham has worked with an amazing array of measurement and test equipment, both as a system designer and sales manager,” said Wohler vicepresident of sales John Terrey.
Taylor joins Wohler as EMEA sales director
JVC Professional hires Eyre as video sales manager
Wohler has appointed Graham Taylor to the role of EMEA sales director for the company’s range of monitoring products. The former broadcast test and
JVC Professional has appointed Dani Eyre to the role of professional video sales manager. Eyre, who joins JVC from G-Technology, where she was channel manager,
16 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
replaces Kris Hill, who joined Fineline Media Finance last year. Prior to her role at G-Technology, Eyre worked at Digi-Box, where she sold AJA video products.
GB Labs recruits first EMEA regional sales manager GB Labs has recruited Oliver Au to the newly created role of regional sales manager for the EMEA region. Au formerly worked for fibre storage specialist Bright Technologies and German reseller Dreamwalks. “Oliver brings a great depth of knowledge to the company, and his understanding of the needs of broadcast and post-production markets will be a great asset to GB Labs,” said GB Labs sales and marketing director Ben Pearce.
Artem brings E4 sign Eefer to life with 3D model Physical special effects company Artem has created a 3D model of
Eefer, the robotic E4 sign that helped launch the channel in 2001. The model (above), which features in E4’s latest series of idents, was originally created by MPC. It was brought to life by Artem using a computer numerical control (CNC) routing machine, which formed a flat-pack body that was combined with individual joint components.
The Look adds Pablo Rio system to Quantel range Picture post facility The Look has purchased a Quantel Pablo Rio colour-correction and finishing www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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iABM: strong year ahead for vendors BY GeorGe Bevir
Broadcast equipment vendors are set for a strong 2014, with the prospect of the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and changes to the make-up of the outside broadcast (OB) facilities sector prompting expectations of bumper kit sales. The annual International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM) survey of 90 broadcast manufacturing and media technology companies suggests the market is at its most buoyant for two years, with 60% of respondents indicating increased confidence for the year ahead, and only 6% holding the opposite view. IABM director general Peter White said he fully expects to see “decent results” from vendors in 2014, following a “particularly poor” previous 12 months. White’s view was shared by Medialease managing director Paul Robson, who is confident that spending will increase in 2014. He expects the Winter Olympics and World Cup to drive investment in production equipment, while post-production facilities will continue to spend in preparation for
system. The Pablo Rio will operate alongside The Look’s two existing Quantel Pablo systems and Neo control panel. The Look owner and senior colourist Thomas Urbye described the Neo as “the bestdesigned and fastest panel on the market”, and said the addition of Pablo Rio 4K would “make a huge difference to all our clients and our workflow”. The Look’s TV credits include Last Tango In Halifax, Top Boy, Quirke and Whitechapel.
Broadcast equipment: Winter olympics and World Cup set to boost sales
the deadline for the shift to filebased delivery. Robson said: “It will be a challenge for smaller post houses and could push a few under, although most managed the shift to HD. There were some casualties, but that was a result of poor management, not the move itself.” Fineline Media Finance sales and marketing director Gareth Wilding said changes to the OB sector, in particular the closure of SIS Live’s
OB division, would continue to have an impact on the market. “The demand for OB facilities is set to grow even further as Sky seeks to fill its sport schedules with Championship football and rugby matches,” he said. “Also, ITV will be host broadcaster of the Rugby World Cup in 2015, and will obviously be eager to make an impression. “I doubt that the winners of all these new contracts will want to
Netflix, PBS and Universal Studios. The company received an Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development for its Fasp protocol. The deal is expected to close by the end of March.
monitoring equipment were supplied by DB Broadcast, with finance from Fineline Media Finance. Hospital Club head of studios Sam Dunlop said: “This is the first phase in a multistage plan to update of all the major systems in the Hospital Club studio.”
Broadcast Networks adds Sony PSE staff to tech team
iBM primed to snap up technology firm Aspera IBM is set to acquire file-transfer technology firm Aspera. The computer giant said the deal would provide it with “new and complementary capabilities to better enable companies to move big data, on premise or in the cloud, at global distances with the speed required by today’s business”. Aspera’s clients include www.broadcastnow.co.uk
The Hospital Club begins studio improvements The Hospital Club (above) has kicked off £250,000 worth of improvements to its studio facilities by investing in a new vision mixer and switchers. The Sony MVS-7000 vision mixer, Miranda switchers and HD
Systems integrator Broadcast Networks has recruited five former Sony Professional Solutions Europe (PSE) staff to its technical team. Solutions architect Peter Timmons, proposal bid manager Francis Lea, broadcast engineer Ben Curtis and senior 3D design engineers Nick Petty and Philip Walters all worked at Sony PSE with Broadcast Networks’ recently appointed director of media and broadcast solutions Malcolm Robinson. “Our new recruits
turn up to their first match with someone else’s cast-off gear, so I expect all things OB to be high on the shopping lists, both for the OB companies themselves and the rental companies that service them.” Azule Finance managing director Peter Savage agreed that changes to the OB sector were a significant factor. “Two years ago, when SIS was dominating, OB didn’t seem to be the place to be. But it’s hot at moment,” he said. Savage added that he had seen more demand for camera channels in the past two months than ever before, driven in part by 2014’s upcoming sporting events and the desire to refresh equipment, with Sony’s 1500 camera channels being replaced by the manufacturer’s newer 2500 model. Despite the optimism for the year ahead, the IABM found that respondents’ profits were down 24% on average in 2013, while aggregate sales rose by 4.5%. “Although sales held up, it is an indicator that there is pressure on prices,” added White. “With the shift to software and commoditisation, manufacturers can’t command the same prices.”
bring a wealth of knowledge to the company, specifically in the areas of solution design and project management,” said Robinson.
TV says goodbye to Stanley Productions founder The founder and owner of Stanley Productions, Stanley Aarons, died on 31 December after a long illness. The Wardour Street business was set up nearly 40 years ago after Aarons, who started his career as a clapper boy at Denham Studios, saw a gap in the market for a business that could supply film stock rapidly and economically. Stanley Productions went on to stock equipment and accessories for the TV and film industry, and offered copying and duplicating services and repairs. The funeral took place on 3 January. Donations can be sent to The North London Hospice. 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 17
Comment
It’s distressing how broadcasters who used to show tons of documentaries have drifted off into formats
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Storyville editor Nick Fraser, Interview, page 20
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18 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Farewell to a comedy giant Graham Smith pays tribute to Open Mike founder Addison Cresswell
I
t’s difficult to imagine our little world of showbiz without Addison Cresswell – the ‘Man with the Mazda Touch’ has given his last bear hug, never again to regale a crowded Edinburgh Festival bar with tales of his latest ‘nightmare’, or to invent yet another of his celebrated ‘Addisonisms’. The kick-boxer in Liverpool has been stood down… There are precious few real characters in the world of live comedy these days, and even fewer in television, but Addison was exactly that. He was a genuine character: noisy, impossible to ignore and very successful. Through his management company Off The Kerb and his TV production company Open Mike, Addison became one of the key figures in British comedy. He was definitely a complicated fellow. Addison could be a garrulous extrovert, to the point of rudeness, but he could also be extremely generous and loyal. Catch him in a quiet moment and he’d be thoughtful and kind, even a little gauche. Despite his insecurities, he believed that the ‘outward-facing’ Addison had to be the 100mph fast-talking, goldplated barrow boy (always a delicious irony, considering his liberal arts, middle class Sussex upbringing). Addison could be both great company and a royal pain in the arse. He was often hilarious, sometimes unintentionally, as his famous ‘Addisonisms’ poured out. This fabulous flood of mangled malapropisms was shared merrily by friends and enemies alike: “the boot’s on the other shoe”; “he was sweating like a bucket”; “he’s got the Mazda Touch”; and my own personal favourite, the lyrical and surreal “he’s like a bull at a china gate”. I first met Addison in the early 1980s when, as a puffed-up art student, I would often mince down to
Brighton’s Savannah Club, which he was running out of a seafront hotel basement. He had previously booked bands at Brighton Poly and now had the entrepreneurial bug. Looking around for moneymaking opportunities, he was sharp enough to suss out that there was profit to be made from the new generation of young, alternative comedians. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Addison steadily built a talent agency, representing the likes of Jeremy Hardy and Julian Clary, and booking Jo Brand’s gigs. His business definitely stepped up a gear in the early 1990s when he took on Jack Dee (bottom right) and Lee Evans. During this time, I had set up a production company called TV21 with Dave Morley and we shared offices with Addison. Our company worked with him on Jack Dee’s first Channel 4 series, the debut show for Addison’s Open Mike Productions. Throughout the 1990s, as the new breed of comics migrated from clubs to theatres and then to TV, Addison shrewdly developed the careers of his ‘boys’. He understood the power of television as the fastest route to live ticket sales and national recognition. He defended his clients as if they were his own kids. He could be brutal in negotiation and managed a growing slate of high-quality television productions that predominantly featured his own clients. Addison was at the vanguard of packaging comedians for television, understanding completely the art of managing their careers and producing their shows. In the process, Open Mike became one of the UK’s leading indies.
‘He was a genuine character: noisy, impossible to ignore and successful’
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He trusted his instincts, too, and took risks – demonstrably when he took on Jonathan Ross (below) in 1997. Ross’s career was becalmed at this point; a channel boss told me at the time that Ross was “a busted flush”. Addison had a different view, and was proved right, turning Jonathan’s career around and placing him at the heart of British broadcasting on BBC1 and Radio 2 by the early 2000s. Like all great entrepreneurs, he could spot and exploit an opportunity, most famously when he turned the potential disaster of Jonathan’s post-Sachsgate suspension into triumph. He did this by offering to fill the Friday night gap in the BBC’s schedule with the new series of Live From The Apollo. The first episode was hosted by Michael McIntyre, an Addison turn. McIntyre stormed it, and was promptly given his own show, Comedy Roadshow. These two Open Mike productions were instrumental in sparking the explosion of stand-up comedy into arenas. In 2012, McIntyre played 10 nights at the O2. So, Addison was, based on success alone, an extraordinary man. To those who knew him, the many who experienced his humour and energy, and who traded tales of his exploits, he was so much more than just a thriving talent agent. Make no mistake, there are plenty of people who couldn’t abide him, and even his closest friends and colleagues suffered his tantrums and frequent bad behaviour. But whenever folk from the comedy business, or the funny end of telly, got together, it wouldn’t be long before Addison stories and quotes would emerge – and hilarity would ensue. I’m going to miss the bear hugs, the headlocks, the cigar smoke, the bottles of “your finest house white”, and being told, in that conspiratorial way of his, that I was family. Farewell, Ads. ➤ Graham Smith is a director of television development consultancy Grand Scheme Media
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Comment
ALLAN MCKEOWN
Death of a true industry pioneer is a great loss to broadcasting Allan McKeown successfully did what many others believed to be an impossible task, says Rod Allen
McKeown: worked with Nitin Ganatra (left)
A
llan McKeown, who died at his home in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, was a pioneer in many areas of the television industry. He successfully crossed over from the advertising business to programme-making; he was one of the earliest British independent producers; he co-founded Meridian TV; and he was one of the few British producers to break into mainstream Hollywood production. Starting out as a hairdresser, with credits on such films as If… and Get Carter, he made an abrupt career change in 1969 and joined James Garrett & Partners, a leading commercials producer, where he soon became managing director. McKeown knew that the key to successful British TV comedy and drama was the writer, and when the opportunity arose to form a production company with Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, he left Garretts and created Witzend Productions. He also formed Alomo Productions with writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. Prior to any statutory requirement to use independents, broadcasters recognised that having control of the writers gave McKeown the upper hand, and acquired such major series as Lovejoy and Birds Of A Feather (currently being revived by ITV) from him. In 1986, he reversed his companies into SelecTV plc, thus becoming the first indie quoted on the London Stock Exchange; he subsequently tackled
Hollywood with apparent ease, producing shows such as Tracey Takes On… with comic actress Tracey Ullman, whom he had married in 1983. SelecTV became a 10% shareholder in the successful Meridian TV bid, with an astute programme supply deal built in. He sold SelecTV to Pearson, and returned to Hollywood where, when I met him for lunch in the 20th Century Fox commissary, he seemed to be comfortably established for the rest of his career. But, in fact, there was a fifth leg of his career to come, this time on the West End stage as producer of shows such as Jerry Springer: The Opera, which later enjoyed heated controversy upon its BBC2 broadcast. McKeown was a true industry pioneer. He achieved things that others rejected as impossible, such as selling to broadcasters and conquering Hollywood. He was an affable and sometimes hilarious companion, and he will be greatly missed. ➤ Rod Allen is a former editor of Broadcast
INDUSTRY TWEETS RIP Allan McKeown, founder of Witzend & Alomo. He pioneered indie TV production, told great stories and changed lives – including mine. @mauriegran (Maurice Gran) Co-creator, Birds Of A Feather
Sympathies to Tracey Ullman on the loss of her husband Allan McKeown. Sending strength and good memories. @jerryspringer (Jerry Springer) US talk show host and subject of Jerry Springer: The Opera
RIP Mr Allen. Thankyou for all the entertainment. And laughs. @GanatraNitin (Nitin Ganatra) Actor, Mumbai Calling 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 19
The Broadcast Interview NICK FRASER AND KATE TOWNSEND STORYVILLE
Pushing the doc boundaries From football in South Sudan to a chimpanzee’s court case, Storyville’s commissioning editor and exec producer tell Robin Parker about a doc slate that challenges how we view the world FACT FILE Nick Fraser Career 1997-present: editor, Storyville; 1994-1997: editor, Fine Cut; 19921994: commissioning editor, Channel 4; 1982-1988: founder, Panoptic Productions Kate Townsend Career 2011-2013: exec producer, Storyville; 2004-2010: series producer, Horizon Previous credits Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends; Paddington Green; Power To The People Storyville: coming up Mad Dog: Gaddafi’s Secret World (Fresh One); Coach Zoran And His African Tigers (Century Films); Shooting Big Foot (Minnow Films); Bolshoi Babylon (Red Zed Films); Unlocking The Cage (Rosadel Valera/ Frazer Pennebaker); An Honest Liar (Left Turn Films); Particle Fever (Anthos Media)
“W
e try to stay away from worthy,” muses Nick Fraser as he pores over Storyville’s upcoming slate, a typically eclectic bunch of docs examining everything from South Sudan’s first football team to the first court case brought by a chimpanzee. As an international factual strand on the BBC’s most highbrow channel, commissioning editor Fraser and exec producer Kate Townsend would be forgiven for occasionally straying into chin-stroking territory. But, they say, what is increasingly uniting the strand is a lightness of touch. Fraser says the South Sudan film, Coach Zoran And His African Tigers, is “basically a black comedy” about the potentially dry subject of nationbuilding, told through the prism of football. Townsend points to a moment in the film when the coach, apoplectic with rage, declares that the team will be called the Tigers, only for a player to puncture the moment by pointing out that there are no tigers in South Sudan. “It summed up the fact that this is a passionate man and there’s a lot of tension,” says Townsend. “We saw a memorable character who cared desperately about this. You immediately want to know what’s going to happen.” Meanwhile, in Shooting Bigfoot, Morgan Matthews is chipping away at disenfranchised white working class American men by meeting a subculture obsessed with hunting the mythical beast, while The Notorious Mr Bount is built around the video diaries of an arms dealer. “He does some very bad disco dancing in it and it’s very funny, but it’s telling you a lot about the arms industry and the grey, murky area of hypocrisy and the scapegoating of this individual,” Townsend says. The latter is co-directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin, whose Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (left) ushered in a new era for
20 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Storyville last year. Its mix of punk rock and politics, against the backdrop of a high-profile trial, was an irresistible combination and the BBC was on board from the start, pitching in the first of two tranches of development money upon the group’s arrest. It became the first BBC4 programme to debut online, trailed on Newsnight and Radio 1 and uploaded to iPlayer as part of a stripped miniseason alongside Smash & Grab – The Story Of The Pink Panthers and The Great Hip Hop Hoax.
Online ambitions Neither executive is forthcoming on numbers, nor any future web plans, but there’s a feeling that a young audience sampled the docs, and Fraser sees it as a toe in the water for his bigger dream of a permanent home for docs online. “No one has successfully created a place online for people to go and look for contemporary reporting,” he says. “I believe somebody will put this idea together and make it work. We’d love to – it would need the prestige and the energy of the BBC – but if not, I hope somebody else does.” These docs also signal a longer-term desire to rely less on acquisitions, which have tended to account for around a third of Storyville films, despite ready-made films such as Blackfish: The Whale That Killed pulling in some of the strand’s biggest audiences. “A lot of people still think
there’s this designer depot somewhere full of shelves lined with documentaries and you just pull one off,” says Fraser. “In practice, the way we work is to get in earlier with international filmmakers and use our leverage with development money to give impetus to attract funding from other broadcasters. It’s the opposite of the BBC’s mainstream model of making and selling its own shows and recouping the costs. We’re trying to give value for money in this bizarre, borderline random, antisystem of doc funding. The money is there; you just have to find it.” The Americans, the Dutch and the Danes remain the most consistent production partners, the latter benefiting from a halo effect of BBC4’s support for dramas such as The Killing and Borgen. “They fund films generously and are flexible, interesting people to work with because they interpret ‘Danishness’ very loosely and don’t insist on films having ethnic origins, all that boring stuff,” notes Fraser. Due to the scale of these projects, the pair typically try to think a couple of years ahead; in the case of Eugene Jarecki’s acclaimed The House I Live In, they had to wait four. That’s where the journalistic instincts kick in, and where even a film from such veterans as DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus can be a calculated risk. “It sounds crazy to say we’re taking a risk because it’s a privilege to work with them, but in terms of what the www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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‘We’re trying to give value for money in this bizarre, borderline random, anti-system of doc funding’
Clockwise from top: Coach Zoran And His African Tigers; Blackfish; The House I Live In
Nick Fraser
NICK FRASER AND KATE TOWNSEND ON… Drama-documentaries NF “The Arbor was a masterpiece; strangely, it was more real and it communicated with great passion some truths about contemporary life. I like The Imposter [pictured] and thought Catfish was a clever film about people who lived in an illusory world, and its form addressed that. We don’t get sent much like that.”
Female directors KT “Just a couple of years ago, it was very
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blokey; even the contributors to the films were mostly prostitutes. It’s great that we have great stories like Pussy Riot and films in development with Daisy Epic] and Kim Asquith [Irish Epic Longinotto [the archiveCourtship).” based Love And Courtship
BBC4 editor Cassian Harrison NF “He’s a wonderfully studious eccentric. Not in a marginal way; he just has a very interesting, off-beam take
on things while attending to the central problem of getting people watching. And he’s very funny.”
Each other NF “It’s great working with Kate because for the moment at least, we’re interchangeable. We never have any rows about content and hand films onto each other in mysterious ways. That’s great for me, though I often wonder if it’s so great for Kate.” KT “We have similar instincts because we come from similar journalistic backgrounds. Clarity of the story is the starting point.”
film’s going to be, there’s a question mark,” says Fraser. “In general, if we know the story is at a pivotal point and something is going to happen and the team is strong, we’ll go with it.” The film in question, Unlocking The Cage, examines the first court case brought by an animal – a chimpanzee. A judicial conundrum rather than an animal rights film, it will document the outcome of a lifetime’s ambition for one Harvard law professor. “What is the judge going to say? We don’t know,” says Fraser. “If they throw it out as absurd, there’s a film in that too.” The shift is not just a strategic step to own more of the editorial of Storyville’s output from an early stage, says Fraser. “It’s distressing how many broadcasters who used to show tons of documentaries just 10 years ago have drifted off into formats,” he laments. Thankfully, it’s not all bleak: it bodes well that Blackfish performed for CNN, while in the UK, Fraser praises the health of factual at ITV and welcomes Sky Atlantic’s move into high-end docs. He’s uncharacteristically muted on Channel 4 though, other than to mumble that he’s “not sure” what True Stories’ ethos is right now. Despite Delivering Quality First cutting into BBC4’s output, Storyville’s overall budgets remain steady and, indeed, with less drama on the channel, it’s now well placed to host event pieces. For Townsend, that means shaking things up. “We’re pleased that with this run, quite a few films have taken stylistic risks, and we want to encourage that. We’re in a lucky position because we have quite a large slate and can tell people to push the boundaries.” Make no mistake, says Fraser: whatever the issues over outlets, it’s a golden age for documentary-makers. “At last, they’re able to describe the world in the way they want to. The stronger the story, the easier it is today to take liberties with form. These films ask questions you’d expect to find asked in newspapers, but they’re not like other TV journalism. They can satisfy your curiosity not just about what goes on in the world, but how you look at it.” 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 21
Production WRITING FOR TV GETTING A BREAK
How to make it as a writer From film school to the BBC Writers’ Room, Ben Lamy looks at different routes into the industry and examines whether enough is being done to nurture the next generation
“N
o one cares about writers anyway.” A recent graduate of the London College of Communication’s Screenwriting MA course, and a finalist in the Page Screenwriting Awards, Rob Klecha has the air of a professional about him. Just off the phone from his agent, and with pages of scrawled script notes tucked into his folder, Klecha is tucked away in the recesses of the BFI Southbank. His throwaway line – spoken half in jest – is familiar territory for many of the new generation of screenwriters. With hundreds graduating every year from Masters programmes across the country, discovering a dearth of opportunities to receive that careerdefining first commission, is the TV industry doing enough to protect and nurture the singular British voice? As Klecha matter-of-factly puts it: “Until you see that pay cheque, you’re not a professional writer.” Twenty-first century British TV drama is hardly in a rut – shows as varied as Sherlock, Downton Abbey, Broadchurch and Misfits have been international critical and commercial successes. Yet, more than ever, the industry is seen as a closed shop to outsiders, while getting an agent is often dependent on some prior success or formal training. Increasingly, it seems, film schools have taken on the mantle as the new industry gate-keepers. Understandably, this view is not entirely shared by Nik Powell, head of the National Film & Television School. “Film schools are just one of the many paths into the industry, but obviously the route is a recognised way,” he says. Partly funded by the broadcasters, the NFTS is the current recipient of all three International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT) awards – the first time in the Association’s history that this has happened. Competition for places is intense and there is understandably a need to deliver. “There is a pressure, as there should be, to develop talent and craft skills,” says Powell. “I think it’s very healthy 22 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Him & Her: penned by new writer Stefan Golaszewski
‘Until you see that pay cheque, you’re not a professional writer’ Rob Klecha, screenwriting MA graduate
that creative people compete. It’s part of the job of a film school, or any educational institution, to give confidence to writers and others to make an impression. You have to have guts to be successful.”
Practical skills Unlike most others, the NFTS screenwriting course includes practical film-making skills as part of its core curriculum, plus a theatre module offering writers an opportunity to see their work performed live. While the likes of the London Film School and the Met Film School are able to overlap into the practicalities of filmmaking, most schools focus only on the craft of screenwriting and development of the writer’s voice. The common, tangible benefit is that film and television schools are
creative hubs for contemporary screenwriting, and therefore attract attention from agents and producers seeking the next break-out talent from an increasingly filtered selection. Though able to provide industry access, film schools offer no guarantee of future paid work, and the courses they offer can be expensive. For those who choose not to go down this route, there are relatively few other options. Fringe theatre has been a constant, if relatively lowkey, source of screenwriting talent. Lucy Prebble won a series of playwriting awards before turning her hand to Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, and former Broadcast Hot Shot Stefan Golaszewski (left) broke through with his BBC3 series Him & Her following his critically acclaimed The Stefan Golaszewski Plays. Another, increasingly popular, route is the Bafta-hosted Rocliffe www.broadcastnow.co.uk
The biggest challenge was translating the show for a British audience. The US version was too big, brash and bold Claire Nosworthy on The Taste, Behind the Scenes, page 24
New Writing Forum, which provides a showcase of selected writers’ work to an industry audience. “It’s often a springboard for their careers,” says Farah Abushwesha, who set it up. “We try to set them up with meetings with agents and industry guests who give friendly advice. What starts to happen is that writers tend to get work.” While Bafta offers industry support through its scholarships and Breakthrough Brits schemes, Rocliffe offers a focus purely on the script in a manner akin to BBC1’s The Voice: gender, age, experience and social or ethnic identifiers are removed before the scripts are read. “It gives everyone an even playing field. The personality of the writer doesn’t enter into it at the selection stage,” says Abushwesha. Offering advice on turning craft into career, her blog is already topping 15,000 hits after only a few months online. “Opportunities only come to those who make them – you have to commit to a career and not a screenplay,” she says. Someone who knows all about developing screenwriting careers is Company Pictures managing director John Yorke, who previously set up and ran the BBC Writers’ Academy, which nurtured new writers on long-running series such as Holby City and Casualty. “Writing is the ultimate free market. If you’re good, unless you’re terribly unlucky, you will be discovered, and then it’s down to the decisions you make after that,” he says. Describing his recent attendance at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, Yorke admits that the difficulty for new writers is the sheer number of competitors: “When I started, there seemed to be a continual desperate hunt to find writers for our shows; now there’s much more competition, but arguably that’s a really good thing as well.” Is there a benefit to taking the film school route? “You may have more chance of getting picked up by an agent because an agent will come to a showcase, but the real benefit is not necessarily the teaching, but that it provides a framework to allow you to write,” says Yorke. Reflecting on his years at the BBC, he adds: “I could make extravagant claims for the Writers’ Academy, and certainly the success rate of the graduates has been very high, but really what it gave those students was the chance to write and fail while paying their rent.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Channel 4 offers support for new writers through its fiercely competitive Coming Up series and its new 4Screenwriting course, which pays 12 new writers to participate in writing an original drama episode alongside a working script editor. ITV’s initiatives, meanwhile, have included Original Voices, which offered local BAME writers the chance to write for Emmerdale. The BBC, for its part, runs the Writers’ Room, to which writers can submit unsolicited screenplays. Other opportunities are run under the umbrella of BBC3, with three different talent schemes in operation. Two of these – for comedy and drama – target new writers. “It’s really important that you have opportunities and schemes – ways that people can be paid and mentored,” says BBC3 controller Zai Bennett. “There’s a pipeline, a proper process at the BBC and BBC3, where you can go from a short film to making documentary series, and with narrative form as well.’
‘Writing is the ultimate free market. If you’re good, unless you’re terribly unlucky, you will be discovered’ John Yorke, Company Pictures
Relieving the pressure Using the popularity of the iPlayer as a less-pressured introduction, BBC3’s Comedy Feeds pilots eight to 10 original shows –a mix of comedy entertainment and narrative pieces. The channel also commissions three original short dramas a year, acting as a route to the main channels. “These are places where people get their flight time up,” Bennett says. “It’s important that we link everything up to the biggest possible windows, but allow things to grow at a pace that’s right for them.” So who should shoulder the burden? “Everybody needs to take responsibility,” Bennett says. “Anyone running a production company is probably even more desperately trying to find new writing talent because they’re the lifeblood of the industry. You can’t open the floodgates, but it’s about working closely with people who know what they’re doing and are getting better at it. The truth is, I don’t see enough stuff that’s good enough.” The idea that writers are not cared for is a myth. Yes, we may rightly feel under-serviced, but opportunities are out there and, along with a sparkle of talent, it takes a huge amount of guts to succeed. Ben Lamy is a Screenwriting MA student at the National Film & Television School and works for Newscope Films
British writing talent: (top down) Sherlock; Downton Abbey; Misfits; Secret Diary Of A Call Girl; Casualty; Broadchurch 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 23
Behind the Scenes THE TASTE
Taking cooking back to basics Nigella is back in the headlines, but this time for all the right reasons. Claire Nosworthy on making ‘big, brash and bold’ US food format The Taste palatable for British viewers THE TASTE
Production company CPL Productions TX Tuesdays, 9pm, from 7 January, Channel 4 Length 10 x 60 minutes Commissioner Dominic Bird Executive producers Murray Boland; Anthony Bourdain; Nigella Lawson; Danielle Lux; Claire Nosworthy Series director Andy Devonshire Series editor Richard Greenwood Series producer Rob Clifford Production designer Derek Brown Post house Evolutions Studio Pinewood
Claire Nosworthy My tricks of the trade ■ Always have a back-up
plan – and a back-up plan for that too. Expect the unexpected and enjoy the ride. ■ Shouting rarely gets you anywhere – a steely gaze and expressive eyebrows are much more effective. ■ It can be hard to trust people when you’re a control freak, but do try. ■ Always have a Diet Coke fridge. ■ Try to have fun. It’s only telly.
Claire Nosworthy Executive producer
I
t was impossible to say no: a new show for Channel 4; three of the best culinary names around, including two of my heroes. Did I want to come in for a chat? Too right. Danielle Lux and Murray Boland had the idea back in sweltering June. After they had grilled me (a lot – Murray is a robust interviewer) I knew it was a show I had to do. The format, developed by Kinetic Content in the US, has a simple premise: a cooking competition that’s all about the taste. Contestants’ food is tasted blind – the judges don’t know who cooked it, or, in some cases, what on earth it is. It’s an appealing prospect. In a world of foams, smears and drizzles on the dullest of dishes, it strips everything back to basics: does the food taste good? The heroes? Anthony Bourdain is legendary and his book Kitchen Confidential made me respect, fear and admire chefs in a whole new way. Nigella Lawson’s books are the most thumbed cookbooks on my shelves, bar none. Then there’s Ludo Lefebvre, the hottest new chef around – brilliant, instinctive, with a mad Gallic charm. You couldn’t hope for three better judges. July and August were a heady whirlwind. The casting team (led by Victoria Howarth) had the almost impossible job of finding the best cooks in Britain, both amateur and professional, in just six weeks. There were guest chefs to book, spoons to choose, and a whole plethora of decisions to be made. By far the biggest challenge we faced was translating the show for a British audience. American shows have their own style and grammar so we needed a different approach. The first thing we looked at was the set. The US version is
24 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
the epitome of a shiny floor studio gameshow: big, brash and bold. It’s not at all what we wanted. We put it out to pitch and got back the perfect idea from the gloriously bearded Derek Brown. He turned Pinewood’s Stage B into an old-school market building with such brilliant attention to detail, it was easy to forget that none of it was real. The other key was the focus on the food – specifically flavour, not presentation or technique. The mentors make their judgement with
‘In a world of foams, smears and drizzles on the dullest of dishes, it strips everything back to basics: does the food taste good?’ Claire Nosworthy
just one spoonful of food to taste. No second chances; no analysis of a halfeaten plate. The most important part of every contestant’s story is also the most fleeting – those few seconds as the mentors taste the food. This is where Andy Devonshire, our brilliant series director and resident attack dog, came into his own. He focused his attention on how to make the most of these moments, getting right into the detail of the food and taking the viewer right into the heart of those spoons.
September was punctuated with a fact-finding trip to LA where, for the next month, Nigella, Tony and Ludo would be filming the second US series. So began the most surreal part of the process: writing scripts by the pool (at 7am, a lot colder and less glamorous than you’d imagine), final casting decisions in the Beverly Wilshire (paperwork was the bulk of my hand luggage) and getting mistakenly papped on our set visit by tourists on the Universal Studios Tour. Suddenly it was October and we decamped to Pinewood for a month to shoot the show. Filming there was great in lots of ways, not least team bonding – although housing everyone at the Copthorne in Slough did sometimes feel like we’d created a detention centre for errant production staff. I guess at this point I’m supposed to share horror stories of everything going wrong but genuinely, for a first series, we couldn’t have hoped for a better time. The mentors, knackered and jetlagged (they literally wrapped shooting in LA and got straight on a plane) couldn’t have been more receptive to our ideas. The team was the best I have ever worked with, everyone helping to make the show a little bit better. Supporting us all the way at Channel 4 were Jay Hunt and Dom Bird, who cheerfully humoured us and some of our maddest ideas. It’s been a truly unforgettable experience in so many ways. Can I have a lie down now please?
Left to right: mentors Ludo Lefebvre, Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson
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ANTHONY’S KITCHEN
The Taste: amateur cooks battle it out on the Pinewood Studios set
LUDO’S KITCHEN
THE TASTE SERVING UP A VISUAL FEAST Andy Devonshire Series director
NIGELLA’S KITCHEN
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The show’s core idea is that the cooks must focus all of their effort onto just one spoonful of food to be blind-tasted by the judges. It’s a fascinating concept: all the effort, all the energy of the people involved crammed onto just one spoon, their dreams and fate resting on one mouthful of food. But how to best serve this idea visually and practically? Derek Brown’s design was a work of art. We wanted the feel of a real space, so three kitchens, themed for each mentor’s style, were set into a marketplace. At the heart of this space was the tasting room. One of my favourite paintings is Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. A glassfronted American diner spills light onto the street. One character sits with his back to the viewer; you can’t see what he’s eating or thinking.
In a roundabout way, this fitted the idea for the taste room. As the cooks watch and listen, awaiting their fate, light spilling onto their faces, the mentors taste their food with their backs to them. Viewers can see the mentors as they taste, and so we pull focus, through glass, between taster and cook, to witness in detail every reaction, every moment of angst and joy as they listen. The space defined, it was then all about underlining the moments of tasting. For this, we partly used Sony F5s (pictured) for slomo. I must be the luckiest man in TV as a software update came out the day of our tech, meaning we could use moments of slo-mo up to 120fps to dissect every nuance of reaction. To mirror our intricate scrutiny of the cooks and judges, we needed to pay similar attention to the food. We used two different macros on Canon C300s to scrutinise, in minute detail, the spoon’s texture – every fleck of its seasoning. It is, after all, all about the taste.
10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 25
Marketplace
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CONTROLLER OF COMEDY PRODUCTION, UK £COMPETITIVE + BENEFITS | CENTRAL LONDON BBC Comedy Production is the most prolific comedy producer in the country, both on TV and Radio. It is the place where hits such as Little Britain, Absolutely Fabulous and The Office came from and more recently has carried on its award winning form with much loved programmes such as The Thick of It, Mrs Brown’s Boys, The Wrong Mans, Twenty Twelve, Big School, Miranda, Bluestone 42, Jonathan Creek, Pramface, Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, Psychoville, Gangsta Granny, Still Open All Hours, Citizen Khan, The News Quiz and The Now Show. Reporting to Mark Freeland, Controller of Fiction and Entertainment, BBC Television, you’ll be Comedy Production’s key creative and business leader, responsible for delivering the very best in-house comedy programming to all BBC channels and platforms. You will have outstanding experience in the genre, being able to work on all types of comedy, from big BBC One audience sitcoms, to critical jewels on BBC Four. You will
www.broadcastnow.co.uk
have extensive experience of working with and running teams – passionate about on-screen and off-screen talent. You will be a visible champion of BBC Comedy. You will collaborate with other genres – Entertainment, Drama and Films and have a close relationship with Genre and Channel Controllers and also with BBC Worldwide. You will have a keen editorial, strategic and commercial mind. With in-depth experience of comedy production and/or commissioning, you’ll need to show you can set an exciting, effective comedy strategy, develop and retain a diverse range of comedy talent, including writers, producers, directors and on-screen talent. You’ll also have a passion for delivering the most innovative, funny and original programmes, ensuring value to the breadth of our audiences. If you meet the requirements for this role, please submit your CV and a covering letter to Ian Critchley at Ian.Critchley@bbc.co.uk by Friday 31st January 2014.
10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 27
Ratings Mon 30 Dec – Sun 5 Jan
Oldie but goodie for ITV Reboot of BBC’s Birds Of A Feather pulls in a strong audience as Sherlock returns on a high BY Stephen price
At Christmas, time becomes your own personal property; it’s always five minutes past the yardarm somewhere and there’s usually time for one more mince pie. As the festive blur moves deep into some dreamlike state, time is measured in leftovers: turkey sandwich time, bubble and squeak past eggnog o’clock. After that, it gets really vague: it’s light or it’s not light. Eventually, you’ve been sedentary for so long it’s impossible to remember a time when you weren’t on the sofa eating nuts. However, in our little corner of London, we knew precisely when 4:02 turned up. For on the button and every day for one week, a pandemonium of parrots would descend on a tree at the back of the house to sit, squawk and eat berries. I’m sure one of them was called Tracy for they weren’t just our feathery timekeepers – instead, flocking together, they foretold of riches to come for ITV’s reboot of a sitcom favourite to rival BBC1’s return to Arkwright’s emporium (9.4 million/40% live ratings for Still Open All Hours on Boxing Day). On Monday 30 December, ITV’s movie Quantum Of Solace achieved 4 million/17% (448,000 +1) at 8.30pm, in the trail of the biggest audience of the day: Coronation Street’s 8.8 million/37% (272,000 +1) at 7.30pm. BBC1’s EastEnders at 9pm achieved 6.9 million/28%, followed by Mrs Brown’s Boys’ 8.7 million/36% at 9.30pm. On New Year’s Eve, and in a blizzard of alliteration, BBC1’s 28 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
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 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 35 37 38 39 40 41 41 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 49
Title
Day
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
Share %
Broadcaster/ Producer*
New Year’s Eve Fireworks Gary Barlow’s Big Ben Bash... Continued Sherlock Coronation Street Sherlock Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year Special Coronation Street Coronation Street Birds Of A Feather Coronation Street EastEnders EastEnders Emmerdale EastEnders Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale EastEnders Gary Barlow's Big Ben Bash Live Dancing On Ice Emmerdale Benidorm BBC News BBC News At Six BBC News Silent Witness EastEnders BBC News At Six Silent Witness BBC News At Ten Emmerdale Pointless Celebrities Antiques Roadshow BBC News Dancing On Ice: The Results Countryfile All Star Family Fortunes BBC News BBC News At Ten BBC News At Ten FA Cup Live: Arsenal V Tottenham Celebrity Mastermind BBC News Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ITV News & Weather Splash! Dolphins – Spy In The Pod Celebrity Mastermind The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins Celebrity Mastermind
Tue Tue Wed Mon Sun Mon Fri Wed Thu Fri Fri Thu Thu Wed Mon Thu Fri Mon Tue Sun Wed Thu Mon Fri Sun Fri Tue Thu Thu Wed Tue Sat Sun Mon Sun Sun Sun Tue Fri Thu Sat Fri Wed Wed Wed Sat Thu Thu Sat Mon
23.55 24.10 21.00 19.30 20.30 21.30 19.30 19.30 20.30 20.30 20.00 19.30 20.00 20.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 23.15 18.15 19.00 21.00 18.30 18.00 22.00 21.00 19.30 18.00 21.00 22.25 19.00 19.00 19.30 22.10 20.30 18.00 19.45 18.30 22.00 22.00 16.45 19.00 18.25 20.00 18.45 19.20 20.00 19.00 19.50 19.00
13.70 10.21 9.18 9.09 8.84 8.71 8.63 8.34 7.82 7.78 7.72 7.54 7.33 7.30 7.29 7.17 7.12 6.91 6.76 6.76 6.71 6.65 6.62 6.46 6.43 6.22 6.15 6.13 6.10 6.04 5.90 5.87 5.85 5.65 5.59 5.59 5.55 5.45 5.40 5.31 5.17 5.17 5.15 5.10 4.98 4.92 4.90 4.82 4.78 4.78
67.46 58.49 33.85 38.39 31.87 35.56 36.90 32.18 31.86 31.76 32.28 32.81 31.12 27.78 31.83 32.60 31.84 27.91 38.37 27.53 27.18 26.77 30.72 31.32 29.40 25.14 29.30 31.26 24.57 28.79 27.97 25.22 23.03 25.79 19.57 23.48 21.79 26.31 24.49 25.54 25.22 23.12 22.93 19.17 21.23 21.08 20.39 21.89 20.50 20.87
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Hartswood Films ITV BBC1/Hartswood Films BBC1/Boc-Pix/RTÉ ITV ITV ITV/Retort/QuirkyMedia ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV ITV/Tiger Aspect BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Thames BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV/ITN ITV/Twofour BBC1/John Downer Productions BBC1 BBC1 BBC1
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Sherlock
Birds Of A Feather www.broadcastnow.co.uk
All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional
Source: BARB
Title
Day
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
Share %
Broadcaster/ Producer*
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 57 59 60 61
The Graham Norton Show ITV News & Weather Casualty ITV News & Weather BBC News Celebrity Mastermind Quantum Of Solace BBC News Take Me Out Pointless Celebrities A Question Of Sport
Tue Sun Sat Fri Sat Sun Mon Sun Sat Fri Fri
22.15 18.00 20.40 18.30 18.10 19.00 20.30 17.35 20.50 17.10 19.30
4.76 4.69 4.62 4.56 4.54 4.52 4.45 4.45 4.36 4.35 4.32
26.58 21.04 19.71 21.07 20.72 18.37 18.72 21.17 18.54 25.09 18.46
62
Catherine Tate’s Nan
Sat
21.30
4.30
18.41
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 83 85 86 87 88 89 90 90 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
BBC News ITV News & Weather BBC News At Ten Gnomeo & Juliet It’ll Be Alright On The Night The Martin Lewis Money Show Celebrity Mastermind Pointless Celebrities ITV News & Weather Celebrity Mastermind ITV News & Weather Shrek Forever After Miranda Holby City Match Of The Day The Graham Norton Show The Chase Tonight: Do You Know Your Neighbours? BBC News At One Mary Poppins Kung Fu Panda 2 John Bishop Live: Rollercoaster Tour Celebrity Big Brother: Live Launch Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year Special ITV News & Weather The Chase The Chase: Celebrity Special Top Of The Pops New Year Two Doors Down Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: June Brown BBC News At One Dave Allen: The Immaculate Selection Christmas University Challenge BBC News At One Dave Allen: God’s Own Comedian ITV News At Ten & Weather Celebrity Eggheads BBC News At One
Sat Thu Tue Wed Sun Fri Sat Thu Mon Tue Tue Mon Fri Tue Wed Fri Fri Thu Fri Mon Wed Tue Fri Sun Sun Thu Sun Tue Tue Fri Tue Sat Thu Mon Sat Thu Mon Thu
22.05 18.30 22.00 18.45 21.00 20.00 18.30 17.10 18.45 19.00 18.45 19.30 20.30 20.00 22.50 22.35 17.00 19.30 13.00 16.15 17.05 24.30 21.00 22.25 22.00 17.00 16.45 17.30 21.00 21.00 13.00 22.00 19.30 13.00 21.00 22.00 18.00 13.00
4.24 4.23 4.17 4.15 4.13 4.09 4.00 3.98 3.89 3.87 3.86 3.83 3.75 3.75 3.65 3.64 3.46 3.44 3.42 3.41 3.35 3.35 3.34 3.27 3.24 3.23 3.18 3.00 3.00 2.99 2.95 2.87 2.84 2.78 2.75 2.66 2.62 2.60
19.19 20.35 22.27 16.64 15.14 17.07 17.51 24.61 17.90 18.33 18.53 16.23 15.32 18.55 29.52 21.90 20.33 14.95 35.35 20.62 16.11 32.53 14.87 19.75 14.81 20.46 16.69 15.85 15.43 12.09 28.20 13.69 12.37 27.54 11.71 13.02 12.88 30.20
BBC1/So Television ITV/ITN BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Thames BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1/Tiger Aspect/Bovvered Productions/Pozzitive Television BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/ITN BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/So Television ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 C5/Initial BBC1/Boc-Pix/RTÉ ITV/ITN ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC2 BBC2 BBC1 BBC2 ITV/ITN BBC2 BBC1
*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.
Splash! www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Dolphins – Spy in the pod
Gary Barlow’s Big Ben Bash Live averaged 6.8 million/38% from 11.15pm to 11.55pm. From 11.55pm to 12.10am, BBC1’s New Year’s Eve Fireworks averaged 13.7 million/67%. At midnight, BBC1 peaked at 14.5 million/70% for five minutes, 1 million more than last year. After midnight, the Big Bash averaged 10.2 million/58%. On New Year’s Day, and following EastEnders’ 7.3 million/28% at 8pm, BBC1’s Sherlock achieved a record 9.2 million/34% from 9pm. Opposite, ITV still held its head high with the premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: 4.4 million/17% (655,000 +1).
‘After 16 years away, 7.5 million tuned in for ex-BBC1 favourite Birds Of A Feather’ At 8pm on Thursday, BBC1’s new Dolphins – Spy In The Pod achieved 4.9 million/20%. It was roundly beaten by ITV’s Emmerdale (7.1 million/31%; 186,000 +1) and, after 16 years away, 7.5 million/31% (276,000 +1) for ex-BBC1 favourite Birds Of A Feather at 8.30pm. At 9pm, Benidorm returned to 6 million/24% (653,000 +1), just eclipsed in the moment by BBC1’s returning Silent Witness: 6.1 million/25%. On Friday, part two of Silent Witness improved slightly with 6.2 million/25% at 9pm, ahead of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’ 2.8 million/11% (172,000 +1) for ITV. On Saturday, ITV’s Splash! returned at 7pm to 4.8 million/ 20% (193,000 +1); the lowest live rating of the two series so far. BBC1’s Pointless Celebrities beat it with 5.9 million/25% at 7pm. From 7.45pm, National Lottery Who Dares Wins achieved 4.8 million/21%. ITV’s Dancing On Ice swansong season began at 6.15pm with 6.3 million/26% (487,000 +1), 1.3 million fewer than 2013’s launch show. At 7.45pm, All Star Family Fortunes’ 5.4 million/21% (157,000 +1) gave way to The Skate Off at 8.30pm (5.4 million/19%; 181,000 +1). BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow’s 5.9 million/23% from 7.30pm was followed at 8.30pm by Sherlock’s second episode of the week, which drew 8.8 million/32%.
See over for digital focus, plus channel and genre overviews 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 29
Ratings Mon 30 Dec – Sun 5 Jan Channel Overview
Top Gear stars battle it out BY Stephen price
You have barely had time to forget the embarrassment of welcoming in the new year by singing into a hairbrush, or adjust to a new calendar, or manhandle into the garden the huge tree that seemed such a good idea to bring indoors three weeks ago, than a whole bunch of celebs start vying for your attention. In the Top Gear production office, bragging rights must surely belong to Jeremy Clarkson. On BBC2 at 9pm on Thursday, PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster, which he wrote and presented, achieved 2.3 million/9%, putting it ahead of Channel 4’s My Big Fat Gypsy Holiday (1.2 million/5%; 495,000 +1). Channel 5’s sadistically timed repeat of 50 Shocking Facts About Diet And Exercise averaged 900,000/4% (103,000 +1). The next night, C5’s Celebrity Big Brother launched at 9pm with 3.1 million/14% (212,000 +1), 140,000 short of 2013’s winter launch but enough to beat Clarkson’s Top Gear co-host James May, with his BBC2 series James May’s Toy Stories getting 2 million/8%, and C4’s 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown achieving 1.5 million/6% (345,000 +1). On Sunday at 9pm, BBC2’s Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow averaged 2.6 million/ 9%, ahead of C5’s Celebrity Big Brother (2.1 million/8%; 282,000 +1).
Source: BARB
WEEk 1 Average hours per viewer Daytime share (%) Peaktime share (%) w/c 30.12.13 Peaktime share (%) w/c 31.12.12 yEAr TO DATE Average hours per viewer Audience share (%) Audience share (%) 2013
BBC1 6.73 16.46 24.82 22.67 BBC1 6.73 21.33 20.53
BBC2 2.38 7.23 8.19 7.45 BBC2 2.38 7.58 6.80
ITV1 4.50 11.01 20.64 20.86 ITV1 4.50 14.29 14.85
C4 1.83 5.97 5.79 6.80 C4 1.83 5.82 6.77
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
30 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Total 31.53 100.00 100.00 100.00 Total 31.53 100.00 100.00
TOP 30 BBC2, CHAnnEl 4 AnD CHAnnEl 5 Title
Day
Share %
Broadcaster
1
Celebrity Big Brother: Live Launch
Fri
21.00
3.34
14.87
C5
2
Dave Allen: The Immaculate Selection
Sat
22.00
2.87
13.69
BBC2
3
Christmas University Challenge
Thu
19.30
2.84
12.37
BBC2
4
Dave Allen: God’s Own Comedian
Sat
21.00
2.75
11.71
BBC2
5
Celebrity Eggheads
Mon
18.00
2.62
12.88
BBC2
6
Nature’s Weirdest Events
Wed
20.00
2.59
9.86
BBC2
7
Jools’ Annual Hootenanny 2013
Tue
23.30
2.56
18.61
BBC2
8
Operation Grand Canyon With Dan Snow
Sun
21.00
2.55
9.35
BBC2
9
David Blaine: Real Or Magic
Wed
21.00
2.50
9.20
C4
10
Celebrity Eggheads
Tue
18.00
2.48
12.60
BBC2
11
Christmas University Challenge
Tue
19.30
2.41
11.47
BBC2
12
Christmas University Challenge
Fri
20.30
2.40
9.81
BBC2
13
Christmas University Challenge
Mon
20.00
2.39
9.90
BBC2
14
Bad Teacher
Sun
21.00
2.36
9.97
C4
14
Sacred Wonders Of Britain
Mon
20.30
2.36
9.79
BBC2
16
Celebrity Big Brother
Sun
21.00
2.33
8.52
C5
17
PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster
Thu
21.00
2.26
9.08
BBC2
18
Flog It!
Mon
17.20
2.25
12.76
BBC2
18
Nature’s Weirdest Events
Sun
20.00
2.25
8.28
BBC2
20
Nature’s Weirdest Events
Tue
20.00
2.22
10.99
BBC2
21
Flog It!
Tue
17.05
2.18
12.37
BBC2
22
James May’s Toy Stories
Fri
21.00
2.03
8.19
BBC2
23
The Thirteenth Tale
Mon
21.30
2.02
9.31
BBC2
23
Dad’s Army
Mon
19.30
2.02
8.69
BBC2
25
Dad’s Army
Sat
19.30
1.99
8.54
BBC2
26
Kangaroo Dundee
Fri
20.00
1.97
8.23
BBC2
27
Nature’s Weirdest Events
Fri
19.00
1.91
8.35
BBC2
27
Rab C Nesbitt: Rab In Hoodie
Thu
22.00
1.91
9.63
BBC2
29
Catch Me If You Can
Sun
17.45
1.89
7.88
BBC2
30
8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown
Fri
21.00
1.88
7.59
C4
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Multichannel 36.39
Ghostly drama The Thirteenth Tale was in line with BBC2’s slot average
Others 14.80 55.49 36.39 37.65 Others 14.80 46.91 46.91
Daytime is 09.30-18.00. Peaktime is 18.00-22.30. Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
DAyTiME SHArE (%) w/c 30.12.13
PEAkTiME SHArE (%) w/c 30.12.13
2.0m
C5 1.28 3.84 4.17 4.56 C5 1.28 4.07 4.14
BBC1 24.82
ITV1 20.64 C5 4.17 C4 5.79
BBC2 8.19
Multichannel 55.49
2.5m Magic numbers for Channel 4 as David Blaine: Real Or Magic proves a New Year’s Day hit
BBC1 16.46
ITV1 11.01
BBC2 7.23 C5 3.84 C4 5.97
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
Title
Day
Chuggington Katie Morag Octonauts Special Katie Morag Justin’s House Katie Morag CBeebies Ugly Duckling The Dumping Ground Swashbuckle Katie Morag
Fri Fri Fri Thu Thu Thu Fri Sat Sun Fri
top 10 faCtuaL proGraMMeS Start
Viewers (Age 4-15)
16.40 216,300 17.15 211,600 16.50 209,600 17.30 207,900 11.35 207,000 17.15 199,500 16.00 198,600 10.30 192,900 11.00 190,700 17.30 188,100
Share (%)
Channel
12.03 10.61 11.02 11.56 14.55 11.85 11.61 14.75 13.69 9.58
CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBeebies
Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Antiques Roadshow Countryfile Dolphins – Spy In The Pod P Morgan’s Life Stories: June Brown Dave Allen: God’s Own Comedian Nature’s Weirdest Events Operation Grand Canyon... Frozen Planet: The Epic Journey Sacred Wonders Of Britain Aussie Animal Island
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Sun Sun Thu Fri Sat Wed Sun Sat Mon Mon
19.30 18.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 17.10 20.30 18.00
5.85 5.59 4.90 2.99 2.75 2.59 2.55 2.48 2.36 2.29
23.03 23.48 20.39 12.09 11.71 9.86 9.35 12.65 9.79 11.27
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC2 BBC2 BBC2 BBC1 BBC2 ITV
➤ CBeebies had a barnstorming week in the children’s table, notching up all but one of the top 10 entries. Chuggington came out on top with 216,300 viewers, while katie Morag was not far behind. the dumping Ground was CBBC’s only entry.
➤ antiques roadshow came out on top in the factual line-up, winning the tussle with its usual bedfellow Countryfile. BBC2 had an unusually strong week, clocking up four entries, the best of which was dave allen: God’s own Comedian.
top 10 draMa proGraMMeS
top 10 entertainMent proGraMMeS
Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sherlock Sherlock Silent Witness Silent Witness Casualty Holby City Gangsta Granny The Thirteenth Tale Moving On Midsomer Murders
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Wed Sun Fri Thu Sat Tue Wed Mon Sun Tue
21.00 20.30 21.00 21.00 20.40 20.00 13.05 21.30 13.15 20.00
9.18 8.84 6.22 6.10 4.62 3.75 2.22 2.02 1.28 1.09
33.85 31.87 25.14 24.57 19.71 18.55 14.49 9.31 10.43 5.48
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 BBC1 ITV3
➤ Sherlock returned with record ratings on New Year’s Day, while its second instalment was not far behind. The two episodes were streets ahead of the competition, which was mainly made up of other BBC1 offerings. A Midsomer Murders repeat booked a rare place for ITV3.
up Sherlock up 400,000 on previous high
down Splash! down 700,000 on 2013 debut
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year Special Birds Of A Feather Benidorm Catherine Tate’s Nan Miranda John Bishop Live: Rollercoaster... Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year Special Two Doors Down Dave Allen: Immaculate Selection Birds Of A Feather
New Year’s Eve Fireworks Dancing On Ice Pointless Celebrities Dancing On Ice: The Results All Star Family Fortunes Celebrity Mastermind Splash! Celebrity Mastermind National Lottery: Who Dares Wins Celebrity Mastermind
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Tue Sun Sat Sun Sun Fri Sat Thu Sat Mon
23.55 18.15 19.00 20.30 19.45 19.00 19.20 19.00 19.50 19.00
13.70 6.76 5.87 5.59 5.55 5.17 4.92 4.82 4.78 4.78
67.46 27.53 25.22 19.57 21.79 23.12 21.08 21.89 20.50 20.87
BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1
➤ new Year’s eve fireworks was the highest-rated show of 2013, knocking i’m a Celebrity… Get Me out of Here! off top spot. It had more than double the audience of rival dancing on ice, which returned with record low ratings. Splash! also tumbled to a low on its return.
up Friday’s Silent Witness adds 120,000
down Mrs Brown’s Boys loses 700,000 on Xmas special
up New Year’s Eve Fireworks best ever
top 10 MuSiC & artS proGraMMeS
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Mon Thu Thu Sat Fri Tue Sun Tue Sat Sun
21.30 20.30 21.00 21.30 20.30 00.30 22.25 21.00 22.00 22.15
8.71 7.82 6.65 4.30 3.75 3.35 3.27 3.00 2.87 2.13
35.56 31.86 26.77 18.41 15.32 32.53 19.75 15.43 13.69 11.42
BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 ITV
➤ Although the irrepressible Mrs Brown’s Boys topped the comedy table, ITV can look back on a positive week. Birds of a feather launched with ITV’s biggest audience for a sitcom since 2000, while Benidorm also made a very steady return. next week Sport and Current affairS www.broadcastnow.co.uk
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9
down Dancing On Ice down 1m on 2013
up Birds Of A Feather soars with 7.8m
top 10 CoMedY proGraMMeS Title
Title
Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Gary Barlow’s Big Ben Bash: Cont. Gary Barlow’s Big Ben Bash Live Top Of The Pops New Year Jools’s Annual Hootenanny 2013 New Year’s Day Concert/Vienna The Secret Life Of Mary Poppins... Top Of The Pops: 1979 – Big Hits Top Of The Pops: Story Of 1979 New Year’s Day Concert 2014 Old Grey Whistle Test: 70s Gold
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Tue Tue Tue Tue Wed Mon Fri Fri Wed Fri
00.10 23.15 17.30 23.30 11.15 18.30 22.00 21.00 19.00 23.00
10.21 6.76 3.00 2.56 1.30 1.17 0.63 0.60 0.48 0.40
58.49 38.37 15.85 18.61 10.42 5.24 3.10 2.42 1.86 3.62
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC2 BBC2 BBC2 BBC4 BBC4 BBC4 BBC4
➤ Gary Barlow’s Big Ben Bash Live on New Year’s Eve easily outmuscled the competition in the music and arts table, which also included a place for Jools’s annual Hootenanny. Otherwise, there were three entries for various incarnations of top of the pops.
See over for demographic and digital focus 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 31
Ratings Mon 30 Dec – Sun 5 Jan 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
54.93
BBC1
21.00
24.36
47.65
16.05
13.82
20.23
45.07
21.69
ITV
14.43
13.44
38.27
11.75
14.74
12.82
41.58
15.85
58.42
7.51
8.94
48.86
4.73
11.41
7.87
49.05
7.19
50.95 53.13
BBC2 C4
5.81
5.67
40.11
8.10
25.24
5.81
46.86
5.80
C5
4.43
4.37
40.45
4.42
18.06
3.98
42.06
4.83
57.94
ITV2
3.06
2.67
35.82
4.29
25.40
2.91
44.55
3.19
55.46
ITV3
2.27
2.28
41.27
0.69
5.50
1.68
34.58
2.79
65.42
E4
1.96
1.93
40.43
4.87
44.93
1.90
45.41
2.01
54.59
Film 4
1.77
1.61
37.35
2.41
24.54
1.91
50.43
1.65
49.57
Dave
1.55
1.43
37.82
2.29
26.70
1.89
57.04
1.25
42.96
BBC 3
1.44
1.46
41.73
2.72
34.27
1.67
54.28
1.23
45.72
More 4
1.24
1.41
46.48
1.21
17.61
1.10
41.28
1.37
58.72 55.06
5 USA
0.98
0.78
33.00
0.67
12.34
0.94
44.95
1.01
ITV4
0.97
0.87
36.85
0.71
13.24
1.27
61.13
0.71
38.81
BBC4
0.88
1.28
59.81
0.35
7.27
0.94
49.92
0.83
50.05
BT Sport 1
0.84
1.08
52.54
1.16
24.95
1.25
69.06
0.49
30.92
Sky Spts 1
0.83
0.93
46.28
1.17
25.47
1.20
68.05
0.50
31.97
Sky 1
0.82
0.84
41.99
1.49
32.87
0.92
52.52
0.73
47.45
Yesterday
0.69
0.65
38.65
0.29
7.56
0.81
55.15
0.58
44.93
55%
Channel 4 doc Doggy Styling attracted a slightly more upmarket crowd than the 9pm Monday slot average for ABC1s. C1s were the greatest beneficiary: up from 27% to 32%.
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
The force is with ITV2 BY Stephen price
It’s Christmas so it must be time for a movie franchise or two. BBC3’s intrepid archaeologist returned some good numbers, while ITV2 did nicely with second or third instalments. Meanwhile, Scandi noir returned to BBC4. ITV2’s best of the week was Star Wars: Episode VI – The Return Of The Jedi. Its 1.2 million/5.5% on Monday at 5.50pm was enhanced with 910,000 from the Tuesday 4.30pm repeat. The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor achieved 710,000/3.6% on Wednesday at 4pm. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown’s 1.2 million/7% was ahead of Beethoven’s 2nd on Saturday at 5.30pm (710,000/3.3%). Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade was BBC3’s best this week (900,000/3.5% on Wednesday at 7pm), ahead of Tuesday’s Temple Of Doom (750,000/3.8% at 8pm). BBC4’s Danish/Swedish drama The Bridge returned with 1.1 million/4.5% on Saturday at 9pm and 830,000/4% for ep two at 10pm – almost exactly in line with 2012. 32 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
Source: BARB
DIgITAL hOMES
TOp 30 MuLTIChAnnEL pROgRAMMES Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 10 13 14 15 15 17 18 18 20 20 20 23 24 25 25 27 27 29 30
Live Man Utd V Tottenham Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Live Ford Football Special Live Man Utd V Swansea Midsomer Murders The Bridge II Goldeneye The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Indiana Jones… Last Crusade Hollyoaks Die Hard With A Vengeance The Bridge II Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Indiana Jones… Crystal Skull Agatha Christie’s Marple Love Actually Family Guy Agatha Christie’s Poirot Hollyoaks Indiana Jones… Of Doom Family Guy Raiders Of The Lost Ark Beethoven’s 2nd The Mummy… Dragon Emp Casper Agatha Christie’s Poirot The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Day
Wed Mon Wed Wed Sun Tue Sat Fri Fri Fri Wed Thu Sat Sat Tue Thu Wed Mon Fri Sat Mon Tue Thu Mon Sat Wed Wed Sat Fri Tue
Start
17.15 17.50 14.10 12.30 16.15 20.00 21.00 21.00 18.30 19.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 22.00 16.30 20.00 16.50 21.00 23.25 21.00 19.00 20.00 23.25 21.00 17.30 16.00 12.15 18.50 18.00 18.55
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
1.31 1.22 1.18 1.14 1.10 1.09 1.05 0.99 0.97 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.90 0.83 0.80 0.80 0.78 0.77 0.77 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.72 0.71 0.71 0.68 0.68 0.67 0.66
5.69 5.49 7.00 7.45 5.30 5.48 4.47 4.84 4.48 4.07 3.53 4.12 4.04 3.95 4.41 3.27 3.69 3.89 6.35 3.39 3.29 3.76 6.86 3.14 3.27 3.63 4.63 2.91 3.24 3.16
BT Sport 1 ITV2 ITV2 Sky Spts 1 BT Sport 1 ITV3 BBC4 ITV2 E4 E4 BBC3 E4 BBC3 BBC4 ITV2 BBC3 ITV3 ITV2 BBC3 ITV3 E4 BBC3 BBC3 BBC3 ITV2 ITV2 ITV2 ITV3 E4 E4
Channels
Share (%)
BBC1 ITV BBC2 C4 C5 Total multichannel ITV2 ITV3 E4 Film 4 Dave BBC3 BBC News CBeebies More 4 5 USA ITV4 BBC4
21.00 14.43 7.51 5.81 4.43 46.82 3.06 2.27 1.96 1.77 1.55 1.44 1.31 1.24 1.24 0.98 0.97 0.88
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
412k ITV2’s The Magaluf Weekender returned with just over half of series one’s 767,000 debut
www.broadcastnow.co.uk
All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional
NoN-PSB toP 50 Title
Day
Start
Viewers (all homes)
Share %
Broadcaster/ Producer*
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Live Manchester United V Tottenham Live Ford Football Special Live Manchester Utd V Swansea City Live Derby County V Chelsea Storage Hunters Live Blackburn Rovers V Manchester City Storage Hunters Live World Darts Championship Live Southampton V Chelsea Gillette Soccer Saturday Storage Hunters D Attenborough’s Nat Hist Museum Alive Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Storage Hunters
Wed Wed Sun Sun Wed Sat Wed Wed Wed Sat Wed Wed Wed Wed Wed Wed
17.15 12.30 16.15 13.30 14.30 12.00 14.00 20.00 14.15 15.00 13.30 18.30 15.00 13.00 12.30 18.00
1,308,300 1,140,900 1,102,800 662,300 644,000 643,500 630,100 619,400 611,100 606,800 592,300 582,600 558,600 538,000 531,800 511,800
5.69 7.45 5.30 4.89 3.89 6.02 3.99 2.44 3.46 4.28 3.83 2.37 3.25 3.65 3.79 2.35
BT Sport 1 Sky Sports 1 BT Sport 1 BT Sport 1 Dave/T Group BT Sport 1 Dave/T Group Sky Sports 1 BT Sport 1 Sky Sports News Dave/T Group Sky 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave/T Group
17
Storage Hunters
Wed
17.00
505,200
2.56
Dave/T Group
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
Storage Hunters Gillette Soccer Special Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Live World Darts Championship Blackadder Goes Forth Storage Hunters Gillette Soccer Saturday Storage Hunters Gillette Soccer Special The Simpsons The Simpsons Storage Hunters Storage Hunters The Simpsons Elf The Simpsons Storage Hunters The Simpsons The Simpsons Storage Hunters Star Trek Into Darkness Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Not Going Out Top Gear Storage Hunters Have I Got A Bit More News For You Not Going Out Storage Hunters
Wed Wed Tue Sat Wed Wed Wed Mon Wed Sat Sat Wed Wed Sun Sun Sat Wed Sun Sat Sun Mon Tue Tue Tue Fri Fri Fri Sat Sat Sat Mon Sat Thu
12.00 15.00 20.30 19.00 16.00 15.30 17.30 19.00 22.20 19.30 15.00 18.30 12.00 19.00 19.30 15.30 16.30 18.00 15.45 18.30 20.30 18.30 19.00 15.30 20.00 16.30 20.30 21.40 18.00 10.30 22.00 21.00 20.30
500,200 496,700 478,900 476,400 476,200 466,000 456,400 454,900 441,600 437,900 431,700 426,100 420,600 417,100 393,200 388,600 386,200 382,600 374,500 367,000 366,100 364,500 363,600 357,100 353,900 351,000 348,600 346,700 345,600 344,800 342,500 337,100 335,500
3.84 2.74 2.36 2.06 2.65 2.66 2.18 1.98 2.17 1.88 3.05 1.83 2.50 1.70 1.57 2.96 2.03 1.66 2.39 1.50 1.57 1.75 1.72 2.91 1.46 2.50 1.42 1.51 1.55 4.42 1.70 1.43 1.37
Dave/T Group Sky Sports 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Sky Sports 1 Dave Dave/T Group Sky Sports 1 Dave/T Group Sky Sports News Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave/T Group Sky Movies Premiere Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave/Avalon Dave Dave/T Group Dave/Hat Trick Productions Dave/Avalon Dave/T Group
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Star Trek Into Darkness
375k Audience for Sky 1’s afternoon showing of Elf – previously a Channel 4 festive staple
Year kicks off with football BY STepHeN prIce
Judging by the top programmes list, all too many of us were able to do, weighed down by delicate constitutions following New Year revelry and left-over Christmas trimmings, was watch others run about booting a ball or wonder abstractly what might be hidden in the loft. BT Sport 1’s coverage of Manchester United v Tottenham achieved 1.3 million/5.7% on New Year’s Day at 5.15pm, matching the channel’s previous best (Boxing Day’s Manchester City v Liverpool; 1.3 million/6%). Sky Sport’s coverage of Swansea City v Manchester City from 12.30pm was just behind with 1.1 million, but had a bigger 7.5% share. The final of the Live World Darts Championship from 8pm to 11pm delivered 619,000/2% to Sky Sports 1. Away from sport, the best performer was Dave’s reliable Storage Hunters, on Wednesday at 2.30pm, with 644,000/4%. Sky 1’s David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive captured 583,000/2% on Wednesday at 6.30pm, while the channel’s screening of movie Elf achieved 375,000/2% at 3.45pm on Saturday. Sky Movies Premiere’s pick of the week was Star Trek Into Darkness, which picked up 354,000/1.5% on Friday at 8pm. 10 January 2014 | Broadcast | 33
Ratings Mon 23 Dec – Sun 29 Dec
All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional
Consolidated Ratings
Christmas win for Mrs Brown BY Stephen price
Between 21 December and 1 January, the BBC received 80 million iPlayer requests for TV. Doctor Who’s Christmas Day episode had 2 million requests on its own – the revolution is slowly gathering pace. In TV terms, total all-day viewing (0600-2600) on Christmas Day was down 2.7% on last year, while evening viewing (1800-2300) was down 1.1%. The best show of the week was a reboot of a sitcom launched in the days of three channels; the Square v Abbey scuffle was reasonably even; and a man in drag came top on the big day.
ITV: Downton Abbey Since 2011, the big Christmas Day ding dong has been a head-to-head battle between ITV’s Downton
Source: BARB
Abbey and BBC1’s EastEnders. In 2011, EastEnders won the live ratings battle with 9.9 million/33% at 9pm, while for two hours Downton averaged 8.7 million/31%. After recording, that was reversed, with Downton’s 12.1 million/36% running out the winner against EastEnders’ 11.3 million/32%. In 2012, EastEnders won in live ratings (9.4 million/34% against Downton’s 7.3 million/28%) and consolidated to 11.3 million/34% against Downton’s 10.3 million/ 32%. This Christmas, EastEnders pulled 7.7 million/29% live ratings at 8.30pm, ahead of Downton’s 7.2 million/28%. However, after recording, Downton caught up, with 9.41 million/30% against EastEnders’ 9.36 million/30% – a Downton-leaning draw.
BBC1: Doctor Who In 2012, BBC1’s Doctor Who played at 5.15pm on Christmas Day. In 2013, it moved to 7.30pm and was up against Coronation Street. The combination of a later slot, the regeneration story and momentum
from the 50th anniversary special all helped it deliver. In 2012, after 2.3 million recorded and watched, Doctor Who settled on 9.9 million/ 39%. In 2013, after 2.8 million recorded and watched – the week’s best – it ended on 11.1 million/35%.
BBC1: Mrs Brown’s Boys The top show of Christmas Day was BBC1’s Mrs Brown’s Boys at 9.30pm. It delivered a final rating of 11.5 million/36% after 2.1 million recorded and watched; its second best ever. The highest remains 2012’s Christmas Eve episode, with 11.7 million/42% at 10.15pm.
ITV: Coronation Street
Total audience for part one of BBC1’s Death Comes To Pemberley after 2m caught up
ITV’s best show of Christmas Day was Coronation Street with 9.8 million/31% – 466,000 ahead of EastEnders – after 1.3 million recorded and watched.
UP Doctor Who’s most-watched Christmas episode since 2010
BBC1: Still Open All Hours
DOWN Atlantis ends on 4.9m series low
The week’s biggest show was BBC1’s Still Open All Hours on Boxing Day at 7.45pm, with a consolidated rating of 12.2 million/44%.
TOP 30 CONSOlIDATeD RATINgS: RANkeD By gAIN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 30
7.8m
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Title
Day
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
Share %
Gain (m)
Gain %
Doctor Who Still Open All Hours Downton Abbey Mrs Brown’s Boys Call The Midwife Death Comes To Pemberley Last Tango In Halifax EastEnders Death Comes To Pemberley Gangsta Granny Death Comes To Pemberley Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special Midsomer Murders Atlantis Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Downton Abbey Toy Story 3 EastEnders Tangled EastEnders Big Fat Quiz Of The Year 2013 Coronation Street Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street Agatha Christie’s Marple Call The Midwife Emmerdale
Wed Thu Wed Wed Wed Thu Tue Wed Sat Thu Fri Wed Tue Sat Wed Wed Thu Fri Wed Tue Wed Fri Thu Fri Fri Mon Mon Sun Sat Tue
19.30 19.45 20.30 21.30 18.15 20.15 21.00 20.30 21.00 18.05 21.00 17.00 20.00 20.10 19.30 18.15 19.15 16.45 15.20 19.30 15.25 20.00 21.00 20.30 19.30 20.00 20.30 20.00 15.15 19.00
11.14 12.23 9.41 11.52 9.16 7.81 7.39 9.36 6.05 7.36 6.00 8.84 5.46 4.90 9.83 7.07 8.37 3.39 7.33 8.52 3.66 9.19 3.70 9.20 9.36 7.95 9.00 5.57 2.56 7.02
35.33 43.85 30.21 36.26 33.85 29.94 26.89 29.62 23.48 29.89 24.24 37.93 20.29 19.22 30.86 25.80 32.69 17.25 39.65 33.01 19.19 36.01 16.41 35.26 36.31 29.88 32.51 20.70 17.94 28.84
2.79 2.67 2.17 2.10 2.09 2.00 1.74 1.69 1.60 1.59 1.55 1.54 1.27 1.26 1.16 1.13 1.12 1.02 0.99 0.96 0.94 0.93 0.88 0.87 0.85 0.84 0.81 0.80 0.80 0.76
33.40 27.90 30.00 22.20 29.60 34.40 30.80 22.00 35.80 27.60 34.80 21.00 30.30 34.50 13.40 19.00 15.50 42.70 15.70 12.70 34.70 11.30 31.20 10.50 9.90 11.80 9.90 16.70 45.00 12.20
Broadcaster BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 C4 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
34 | Broadcast | 10 January 2014
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Road could be deluged by those with an axe to grind. (Thanks to TV editor Jonathan Sloman for spotting this).
I feel like I have failed some middle class white person test in that I have absolutely NO idea what is going on in #DeathComesToPemberley
Two brains rises to challenge
@tommacwriter (Tom MacRae) Writer, Threesome
Evacuation point: shelter at C4
No fire without smoke... Channel 4’s Benefits Britain hit a ratings bullseye, but it has ruffled a few feathers, with some critics claiming it demonises benefits claimants, and some contributors claiming they were duped as to the documentary’s aims. C4 execs will be hoping no fires break out in Chadwick Street Job Centre, SW1, as Horseferry
Is the misspelling of captions a joke thing on this Mel Smith tribute? So far “Griff ” spelled “Gryff ” and “Fincham” spelled “Finchham”.
Some will be familiar with former Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer’s “two brains” moniker, so it was no surprise that he led a team of alumni to victory in the Christmas University Challenge (pictured). The master of St Peter’s College, Oxford, scored 50 points for his Cambridge Gonville & Caius team in the starters for 10. Jeremy Paxman claimed his old boss had now achieved “deathless glory”.
Damazer: University Challenge
@jonmacqueen (Jon Macqueen) Associate producer, PhoneShop
OK. Plan to keep all happy. Take half Sherlock budget; give it to Ripper Street. Sherlock, simplified, improves. R Street lives on. #WinWin @dannykellywords (Danny Kelly) Broadcaster
Another opening scene that escalates from scary to surreal only to be revealed – surprise! – as a nightmare. Can we stop doing this now? The trope shows up this season in Sleepy Hollow, The Following, Grimm, The Blacklist…
ge
SURVEY DISTRIBUTORS
way Drama leads the£1.1bn as revenues hit
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BBC, and for all new share ures nlabels y the which rd the ossal will careers rce betiality staff o sha sation suitabilit an paymasterclass club tio Central’, ced ent era The pilots. bod t at int boa and of om sou er irm tapes em the , taster pro ing col ing and ari tha ideas. unera cha ings e conver ten’s contenting lf, nag recruitment its , imparattract uld or genevery t oth secret high- Ofc reviewed television division. beect rat Pat st’s C to and amore joiners in theen y itse to ma wever Th stand and it wo iti- rem dir hoping prevenand ties, ythe a unit. s opeSeparately, Ho Heg isBB ses . 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Mark Damazer said handing Ofcom responsibility for the BBC could work, but warned: “If you go down this route, it would require Ofcom to have, deep in its remit, operating procedures and culture, an understanding of the BBC’s
2013 20 September
t? Trusform in-house C tra B B ns to e n thhe r Co w fo t no a h W THE SCENES 26 BEHIND
How do you get your own way? Persistence, charm and prescription drugs. Where would you put a webcam? BBC Contracts’ department. The mind boggles. Who or what would you put into Room 101? TV shows with flimsy formats. What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Don’t do commercials – they rot your soul. What TV shows would be in your fantasy schedule? Porridge, The Good Life and The Incredible Hulk. Who would you be on Stars In Their Eyes? Chris de Burgh. What do you do to relax? Count the notes in rejected cues. What law would you most like to break? Eating a swan. What’s the worst rejection you’ve ever had? Amanda Hurst, Heckmondwike Grammar School, 1982. What keeps you awake at night? Netflix.
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Michael Price Composer, Sherlock
How do you know when your indie’s come of age? When 10 of your team have babies. Capping a bountiful 2013 for True North, producer/director Will Rowson (left) and editor Nick Thorpe bumped into each other in adjacent rooms at Leeds General Infirmary’s maternity ward just before Christmas.
@brooligan (Stephen Gallagher) Writer, Crusoe
cr nic Th Reco.uk roadcastnow. ta of Ti
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£1m severance deal for former BBC director general Mark Byford was a particular flash point, with ex-Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons admitting that he discussed the payment, but did not approve it. Trust director Nicholas Kroll told MPs repeatedly that the governing body is only allowed to intervene on remuneration matters relating to the director general, meaning it could not prevent other payoffs. Neither did the Trust secretariat brief Lord Patten on the issue when
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