Broadcast 16th May

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16 May 2014

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INTERVIEW

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China: a market hungry for ideas

Britdoc’s Jess Search on opening up the genre

Mr Sloane: the unswinging ’60s

All3 boss hails £550m deal

Farah Ramzan Golant reveals Discovery and Liberty Global’s takeover was sealed in one month

BY JAKE KANTER

Farah Ramzan Golant has stressed All3Media’s independence as a creative force while heralding Discovery Communications and Liberty Global’s £550m takeover of the super-indie as a “landscapechanging” deal.

All3Media’s chief executive said the two US media giants will put in place checks and balances to “totally and unconditionally” preserve their new asset’s editorial freedom and federal business model. They will also support All3Media in continuing its ‘buy and build’ strategy.

Ramzan Golant (below) said Discovery and Liberty Global “had me at hello”, reflecting the speed at which the deal was done. They opened takeover talks on 3 April and announced the deal on 8 May. “I felt immediately they were surefooted, well-informed and transparent about their ambitions,” she told Broadcast.

Under the terms of the joint venture, Discovery and Liberty Global will create a new operating company, led by an alliance of executives from the two organisations.

Broadcast understands that Discovery Networks International president JB Perrette or Discovery Studios and Production Group president Lee Bartlett are candidates to sit on the unitary board, which Ramzan Golant and the All3Media executive team will report in to.

Ramzan Golant confirmed she was committed to All3Media “lock, stock and barrel”, and said she has received written guarantees that it will be free to sell ideas to custom-

Gogglebox: All3Media will retain Channel 4 as one of its 77 UK commissioning relationships

It was time to find a strategic home, rather than a financial home Farah Ramzan Golant, All3

ers of its choosing. She has passed on that reassurance to key broadcasting contacts since the deal was signed.

“We’ve got 77 commissioning relationships in the UK alone, and we must have the freedom to take our best ideas to the right home.

That is sacrosanct,” said Ramzan Golant.

The super-indie will also be supported in buying up other companies, with Discovery and Liberty Global trusting its expertise in the market. All3Media will continue to focus on its key territories – the UK, US and Germany – but Ramzan Golant hopes that Discovery and Liberty Global’s international footprint will help it “plant flags” in other countries.

“It was time for All3Media to find a strategic home, rather than a financial home,” she said, claiming a trade buyer offered more long-

term security than private equity backers, whose business model is predicated on finding a profitable exit strategy.

Broadcast understands the takeover has been welcomed by many of All3Media’s creative leaders, who met in a London pub on Monday evening to discuss the takeover. Ramzan Golant said the deal will not trigger any contract changes for leading execs and stressed that the operating companies will be “respected and left to do the right thing”.

The chief executive admitted the deal was “leftfield”, given that All3Media and former owner Permira originally held exclusive talks with Fremantle Media, but claimed it would be “transformative” for the industry globally.

Editor’s Choice

Broadcast, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ or email chris.curtis@broadcastnow.co.uk

Online this week www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Chris Curtis, Editor

All3 breathes a sigh of relief Discovery and Liberty Global deal is a positive outcome for group

R

elief seems to have been the over-riding emotion among senior All3Media execs when Discovery and Liberty Global’s joint takeover was sealed last week. Over a low-key celebratory drink at the Crown and Anchor in Covent Garden, a consensus emerged among its staff: the deal is a positive outcome after many months of uncertainty.

Without being too blunt, some of the reaction was based on self-interest. Had

‘There’s renewed optimism and the feeling that All3’s new owner wants to back the business, not get rid of it’ Fremantle Media bought All3 (or Warner Bros or NBCU, for that matter) it would inevitably have had production systems and ways of working that it would have wanted to impose. Certain job functions would have been doubled up, especially centrally, resulting in redundancies. Key execs such as Farah Ramzan Golant and Jane Turton may well have left.

Instead, by selling to two companies that aren’t really in the production sector in a meaningful way (with due respect to Discovery-owned Betty and Raw TV), those issues have been avoided.

Additionally, many of the All3 execs had grown weary of being owned by a private equity firm. Permira kept faith with the business during its seven-year ownership, but has been trying to sell it since 2011, which inevitably has consequences.

2 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Privately, All3 execs will admit there was pressure not to launch strategies that might have damaged their numbers in the short term. And there’s also a feeling that Golant may have group-wide plans that have been parked so as not to rock the boat ahead of a sale. “The horizon line,” one exec told me, “is now three, four, five years away, rather than just around the corner.

We won’t be a slave to the short-term.”

It remains to be seen whether Discovery and Liberty’s positive words translate into action, but they have certainly got All3 staff on board in the few days since the deal. There’s renewed optimism in the company and the feeling that All3’s new owner wants to back the business, rather than get rid of it.

It’s also important that All3 demonstrates its independence as quickly as possible. Various figures at the superindie have been reassuring broadcasters this week, but the sooner one of its indies sells a major factual project that could have played on Discovery to the BBC, or C4, or a rival US cable network, the better.

For Discovery, and its newly strengthened relationship with platform partner Liberty Global, it feels like the All3 deal is just part of a wider growth story. The former narrowly missed out on Channel 5 and, with cash seemingly burning a hole in its pocket, many expect it to return to pursuing free-to-air ambitions in the UK or other territories.

Whether it is broadcasting or production, there’s no doubt we are now in the middle of a significant phase of global consolidation.

Top News è C4’s Jay Hunt has hit back at claims that survival show The Island With Bear Grylls is “inherently sexist”. She said the show was “designed to be a test of modern masculinity” and women were excluded because they are “so capable”.

è C4, Sky and UKTV are among the broadcasters to have been hit by cancellations of imported series including Dracula and Almost Human.

è Idris Elba’s (right) production company Green Door has struck a development deal with Shine North as it moves into factual programming.

Ratings Top Five 1 BBC2’s Newsnight hit a 14-month low on Thursday – informing an audience of just 320,000.

2 Winner Conchita Wurst (below) helped Eurovision score 8.8m viewers on Saturday – its second-best ratings in nine years.

ITV crime drama Prey ended on a positive note on Monday – averaging 5.5m across its three parts.

3

4 Manchester City’s title-clinching performance on Sunday peaked with 1.3m viewers – well below the 2012 season climax, which hit a high of 3.2m.

Dave’s latest format 24 Hours To Go Broke got off to a slow start on Tuesday – banking just over 200,000.

5

Talking TV podcast è Visit broadcastnow.co.uk or iTunes to download the latest Talking TV podcast, featuring Hinterland creator Ed Thomas and analysis of a week of big business in UK broadcasting.

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News & Analysis

All3 deal a ‘financial coup’ Discovery and Liberty Global purchase of super-indie based on desire to focus on content

BY PETER WHITE

Smart financial engineering and a desire to make genuine strides in the IP and content creation markets are understood to be behind Discovery Communications and Liberty Global’s speedy purchase of All3Media.

Sources indicated that Discovery believes the deal has been “structured brilliantly” and that the company has been pleased with Wall Street’s reaction.

The deal represents a multiple of 8.5 times All3’s earnings, and will see Discovery and Liberty Global contribute just £90m of cash each, with the remainder coming from a combination of equity and leveraged loans.

The acquisition gives Discovery closer access to production talent on a far more significant level than its previous purchases of Betty and Raw TV. While Liberty Global’s involvement in the deal was a surprise, owner John Malone also holds a 29% voting stake in Discovery Communications. He is thought to be keen to own content companies that can supply his European and US distribution platforms.

Both companies will also benefit as they will not consolidate All3 in their financial statements.

Enders Analysis founder Claire Enders said: “Discovery wants to diminish its reliance on US earnings. It’s bought a decent business that’s reliable and is in a good market. It’s good positioning but I have struggled to see the corporate logic behind the deal.”

Several other sources indicated that they believe the two US giants saw All3 as an attractive financial asset in the same sector, rather than having a creative masterplan to radically alter the business. This tallies with Discovery and Liberty’s reassurances that they will not interfere in how All3 sells to its range of broadcasters.

Discovery Communications chief executive David Zaslav and Liberty Global chief executive Mike Fries outlined their plans to All3Media execs in an internal note. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Discovery shows: Breaking Magic (above) and Lisa Snowdon Your Style In His Hands are produced by All3 indies

The takeover will open doors to broadcast operations around the world Neil Duncanson, North One TV

“While both companies have a vested stake in your content, we appreciate your business relies on many others in the media and pay-TV business to succeed and grow. We will collaborate with you on how to best serve your global broadcast partners in addition to

long-term strategic planning and guidance,” the pair wrote.

One source familiar with all three firms said: “All3Media prides itself on its federal structure so there are no obvious economies of scale. To be cynical, Discovery has maxed out its international business, there are limited opportunities to launch more channels, so it makes sense to move into content.”

A super-indie rival added: “Discovery has made a lot of money from its overseas operations and it was tax-efficient for it to buy All3Media rather than bring the money back into America.”

TURNOVER DISCOVERY’S UK PRODUCTION ASSETS Discovery indies All3Media Raw TV (acquired in March 2014)

Betty (acquired in November 2011)

Global turnover

UK turnover

£507.5m

£288.3m

£35m

£5m

£15.8m

£13.7m

While many of the All3 indies were relieved there will be no diktats from their new owners, some believe there will be significant opportunities as a result.

“It’s the start of a tremendously exciting new era,” said North One Television chief executive Neil Duncanson. “They have made it clear that they want to invest in the content we create, and the takeover will open doors to Discovery and Liberty Global’s broadcast operations around the world.”

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of the year.

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 3

News & Analysis In Brief DLT hires STV drama chief DLT Entertainment has hired STV drama chief Margaret Enefer as its new drama head.

She will focus on developing original ideas, adaptations and generating long-running shows for UK and international broadcasters. Enefer joins from STV, where she executive produced The Poison Tree and Taggart. She was replaced at the Scottish broadcaster last week by BBC drama producer Sarah Brown.

Geater to exit Fremantle Fremantle Media UK boss Sara Geater (pictured) is to leave the business at the end of May. Thames managing director Richard Holloway will take over as interim chief executive until a permanent replacement is found. Geater was behind the group’s label strategy, creating Boundless, Retort, Thames and Talkback in 2011. FMUK recently agreed an extension to its BGT and X Factor contract with ITV.

BBC1 greenlights Woody Happy Tramp Productions, owned by Zeppotron co-founder Neil Webster, has secured a 6 x 30-minute BBC1 comedy. Starring Bradley Walsh and Kayvan Novak, Woody is set on a fictional Spanish island and tells the story of a reporter on the run after being set up by his news­ paper editor. It has been ordered

by BBC comedy commissioning controller Shane Allen and BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore.

C4 seeks viewer input Channel 4 is to create core4, an audience panel that will allow viewers to share their views on the channel and its programming. Some 10,000 viewers will be invited to participate in the panel, which will be managed by research business eDigitalResearch. C4 will ask core4 panellists for feedback on brand preferences, 4oD and programming.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 4 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

ITV to tackle diversity via informal objectives

BY Matthew Campelli

ITV’s commissioning team has been set informal objectives to increase the diversity of participants and talent in some of its most high-profile shows.

Director of television Peter Fincham told a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch this week that diversity was a “very big, broad subject” that ITV wanted to emphasise through its output.

Fincham said he was “slightly distrusting” of eye-catching initiatives, but that commissioners had been handed “annual objectives”.

ITV declined to elaborate further on the strategy, but Broadcast understands the objectives are more like informal commitments, rather than rigid targets.

“I have introduced to my commissioners annual objectives and objectives to promote diversity and reflect diversity, which I don’t think were there before. It’s a subject much discussed within ITV,” he said.

The director of television added that conversations would take place with producers about casting

Law & Order: Fincham pointed to casting of actors such as Ben Bailey Smith

for gameshows, while other genres might also come under the spotlight. Fincham emphasised the work ITV is already doing, pointing to the breadth of contestants on The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, and the casting of Ben Bailey Smith and Paterson Joseph in Law & Order: UK. He has met with Lenny Henry, who has been campaigning for increased diversity on screen since delivering a Bafta lecture on the issue earlier this year. Fincham has

also sat down with Baroness Oona King to discuss diversity.

“No broadcaster would say we’re happy with where we are on diversity, if we’re fully telling the truth.

As a public service broadcaster, it’s our job to reflect the whole of Britain,” Fincham said.

His comments follow BBC director of television Danny Cohen calling on the corporation to take tangible action on the issue. He has appointed Deena Saeed as a diversity champion.

Norman defends Crozier’s financial package

BY Matthew Campelli

ITV chairman Archie Norman has defended the £8.4m remuneration package received by Adam Crozier after it was scrutinised by shareholders at the broadcaster’s AGM. With the chief executive present, Norman responded to questions from a handful of private shareholders about the size and nature of the financial package. Norman said the headline figure published in ITV’s annual report was not one lump sum, but a “coming together of a number of schemes” that “matured over a period of time”.

These include long-term incentives, salary, bonus and shares.

Crozier’s remuneration appeared to split the room. When Norman

Crozier: £8.4m remuneration deal

argued that it was “not unreason­ able for management to receive an incentive” after adding £5.1bn of value over four years, he was met with a round of applause.

Norman said: “The management team started here when the share price was lower than today and the company was in some

difficulty. Over that period of time, we’ve added £5.1bn value to the business, and as a result the shareholders have benefited.”

He added that having an “outstanding management team, properly paid and committed to the company” was vital to the success of the business. Crozier has overseen a significant turnaround, culminating with impressive 2013 results revealed in February. ITV posted revenue growth for the fourth year in a row, up 9% to £2.4bn, while in-house producer ITV Studios’ revenues jumped 20%.

ITV published a 2014 first-quarter update this week that revealed year-on-year turnover growth of 1% to £672m, despite a revenue dip of 4% posted by ITV Studios. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

Turner reveals TruTV plans TruTv has a very clear propo­sition – it is about largerthan-life, compulsive viewing

BY Alex Farber

Turner UK is planning to invest in original shows, UK reversions and acquisitions after revealing it will launch general entertainment channel TruTV as its first British free-to-air channel this summer.

The broadcaster has secured a Freeview slot for the 24-hour channel, which will feature a raft of unscripted shows including bidding format Container Wars, gameshow Fear Factor and repo series South Beach Tow. Turner UK general manager Anthony Lukom said TruTV will share some characteristics with the likes of BBC3, ITV2, E4 and Watch, but will be the only channel in the UK dedicated to unscripted, light-hearted entertainment shows.

“This kind of unscripted programming is doing incredibly well in the UK right now and we have a very strong pipeline of content, so it seemed to be the right time to take advantage,” he said.

“Other channels have started to develop this genre in their schedule – but they are not dedicated to it. TruTv has a very clear proposi-

Anthony Lukom, Turner UK

South Beach Tow: TruTV will be dedicated to light-hearted unscripted series

tion – it is about larger-than-life, compulsive viewing.”

Lukom went on to add that the channel is available in 93 million homes across the US and is currently broadcasting in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions. TruTV has an even male/ female split and is targeting an audience that is aged around 35.

Together with Turner UK director of general entertainment Jemma Yates, who is heading to next week’s LA Screenings, Lukom has already bought several US shows for the channel, including tropical island format Redneck Island and tattoo parlour doc Ink Masters.

Lukom said he anticipated making initial forays into original

commissions next year, once the channel has bedded in. “We want to see what resonates with the audience first,” he said. “That will inform what we decide to commission.”

TruTV could greenlight UK shows as well as reversioning existing US formats. “It is not always as straightforward as just copying a format though,” he added. “Often it is the unique, engaging, larger-than-life characters who make the shows a success.”

TruTV in the US has a track record of commissioning content from UK indies. The channel has previously ordered Killer Karaoke and Hardcore Pawn from Zodiak USA, and Kentucky Bidders from ITV Studio’s US division. It also acquired BBC3 prank show Impractical Jokers, which is produced by Shed Media-owned Yalli.

A+E set to remake a slew of hit US reality series If you’ve got a great franchise, the way to make it bigger is to localise it

BY Peter White

A+E Networks UK plans to follow up its UK remake of Dance Moms with more local versions of hit US reality series across Lifetime, History and Crime + Investigation.

Female-skewing Lifetime has already commissioned ITV Studios’ division Shiver to produce 8 x 60-minute series Dance Mum. The series will launch later this year and is fronted by Brookside and Chicago star Jennifer Ellison, who plays a dance coach teaching talented youngsters with pushy parents.

A+E Networks UK vice-president of programming Heather Jones said the broadcaster originally planned to remake the format when it launched Lifetime www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Heather Jones, A+E Networks

Dance Mum: stars Jennifer Ellison

last year, but parked the idea because it couldn’t find the right dance talent.

ITV Studios subsequently pitched Ellison as a star for another project, and Jones realised that Liverpool-based dance school

Fame Academy would make a perfect setting for a local version of the show.

Jones said the UK version would be less nasty than the US original, which is Lifetime’s biggest reality hit in the country.

“I didn’t want the UK version to have the same tone as the US version, which is quite aggressive.

I don’t want to see British kids treated like that because we have a different sensibility,” she said.

The former MTV and North One exec said that remaking A+E’s format was a “solid, long-term strategy” in the UK. “If you’ve got a great franchise, the way to make it even bigger is to localise it,” she said. “We’ve done it on History [with Pawn Stars] and we’re thinking about it on Crime + Investigation.”

Jones has already earmarked several other formats for UK remakes. Preachers’ Daughters is a docusoap produced by ITVowned Thinkfactory Media that follows four religious families, while Seven Days Of Sex is made

by Shed Media US and challenges married couples who are having problems in their relationship to have sex every day for a week in the hope of saving their marriage.

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 5

News & Analysis

Cohen: listen to junior staff People have strong views and a strong voice – they just need the opportunity to use it

BY Jake Kanter

Danny Cohen has revealed that junior staff will sit on senior management interview boards to break up “hierarchical” working structures at BBC television.

The director of television wants to send out a “powerful message” about giving less experienced employees a louder voice in the organisation, including a stake in some of the BBC’s biggest recruitment decisions.

Cohen outlined his idea, which he has picked up from studying US new media companies, to staff last week. It will conceivably change the way channel controllers and genre commissioners are appointed.

“The US companies have very open, collaborative structures, where people can talk, embrace ideas and challenge. I want more of a culture where people are able to challenge, and speak up,” Cohen told Broadcast.

He wants to be flexible about the level of input from junior staff, and said whether they are given a formal tick on the recruitment

Danny Cohen, BBC

Cohen: BBC director of TV wants to send out a ‘powerful message’

process will be decided on a caseby-case basis.

The former BBC1 controller added: “The more we do it, the more normal it becomes and the less personal it will feel. Most of the time, people have got strong

views and a strong voice and they just need the opportunity to use it.”

Other changes Cohen has introduced include improving feedback processes so junior employees have the opportunity to comment on the performance of their managers.

He will also launch a monthly “temperature check” on working standards, which will involve a “short and sharp” staff survey.

“If this all feels a bit W1A – don’t panic. We held a pilot conversation with staff a few weeks ago, and there wasn’t a see-saw in sight,” Cohen told staff in an email.

“The session scored very highly with staff for its honesty and openness and I want us to replicate the mood of that session – its openness and productive spirit – right across our TV bases in the coming weeks.”

The initiative marks Cohen’s first anniversary as director of tele­ vision and he hopes it will play a part in his wider diversity push.

C4 training scheme offers Cutting Edge prize I want directors hungry to make single films… to present jawdropping ideas

BY matthew Campelli

Channel 4 is to give an aspiring documentary-maker the opportunity to direct a Cutting Edge film as part of a wider training scheme launching in September.

The commercial broadcaster will provide up to eight budding directors with the chance to win a place on the initiative, which will involve workshops from Cutting Edge film-makers.

Among the speakers are Minnow Films’ Bafta-winning director Morgan Matthews and Nick Holt, who made A Very British Storm Junkie, while C4 is currently bringing other directors into the fold.

Chosen candidates will learn to hone a host of skills, including interviewing techniques, authorship and gaining access to places 6 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Emma Cooper, Channel 4

Very British Storm Junkie: Holt film

and institutions. Following the training, an outstanding candidate will then be selected to direct a future Cutting Edge film.

“The criteria for judging the most outstanding candidate has

yet to be finalised, but they will have demonstrated a combination of good, pitchable ideas and skills they can present in the workshops,” said Emma Cooper, the Cutting Edge commissioner who is overseeing the scheme.

Cooper said that entry criteria for film-makers interested in joining the scheme had not been set in stone, but they must have directed at least one hour of documentary television in the past. She revealed that increasing

diversity was a “component” of the scheme because Cutting Edge films “should reflect the diversity of the UK”.

“We’re creating this initiative to ensure that the documentary landscape has talent coming through, now and in the immediate future,” Cooper added.

“I want directors hungry to make single films. Cutting Edge has always nailed something about modern Britain and I want this to continue. I want people to display curiosity and present jawdropping ideas.”

The training scheme, which will be formally advertised next month, is separate to C4’s existing Investigative Journalism Scheme and coincides with the 25th anniversary of Cutting Edge – a landmark that was celebrated at a Bafta event on Thursday. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

Analysis: Sky’s ‘empire’ plan BSkyB has begun talks to create ‘Sky Europe’ – a ‘worldclass multinational pay-TV group’

BY peter white

Sky’s plans to create a European mega-firm could save it hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which analysts believe could be used to supplement a combined pancontinent commissioning budget of £1.4bn BSkyB has begun talks to merge with German pay-TV platform Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to create ‘Sky Europe’ – a “worldclass multinational pay-TV group” that would have in the region of 20 million subscribers.

“This is the making of the empire,” said Enders Analysis founder Claire Enders.

The new firm would make significant savings on technology, particularly around set-top boxes, DRM and online distribution.

Investment bank Credit Suisse estimated that joint procurement could save it up to £75m a year, with more than £200m of one-off savings made through centralising costs. “Strategically, it would make sense to spend a greater proportion of this on original commissions and a larger entity would have more scope to do this,” Credit Suisse noted.

It estimated that BSkyB, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia currently

Diabolik: BSkyB and pay-TV platforms are working on adaptation for Sky 1

spend a combined £1.4bn on original content. The three firms have already started working together on jointly developing drama, starting with Diabolik, an adaptation of an Italian comic book for Sky 1.

However, Sky Europe is unlikely to be able to acquire premium movie, drama and comedy rights across Europe. Rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video have previously encountered reluctance from sellers when attempting to do this.

Paolo Pescatore, director of media at research firm CCS

Insight, said: “Unlike what we see in the telco world, there’s a lack of credible pan-regional pay-TV providers in Europe. It would make pay-TV more scalable and there are efficiencies on rights, set-top boxes and distribution.”

The merger would also allow Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to take advantage of technological advances developed by BSkyB, and vice-versa.

Sky Deutschland chief executive Brian Sullivan, himself a former BSkyB exec, has launched services

such as Sky HD Fan Zone, a multi-game, single-screen inter­ active series that ties in a sports season pass with live stats and social media.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox currently owns 57% of Sky Deutschland, all of Sky Italia and 39% of BSkyB in the UK. Fox could buy publicly listed Sky Deutschland shares on the open market by offering a premium, with a view to buying it outright.

It has no plans to increase its stake in BSkyB, but that company would ultimately be rolled into the far larger Sky Europe operation.

Enders added that some version of this deal, which will also have a number of cash flow and tax advantages for parent company Fox, has been on the table since 2007, when James Murdoch appointed Jeremy Darroch as BSkyB chief executive.

“This is an attempt at vast internal housekeeping,” she added.

iPlayer shorts pave way for BBC3’s move online iPlayer is the perfect place for people to express themselves

By Alexandra Chapman

A collection of BBC iPlayer comedy shorts will help pave the way for BBC3’s move online next year, according to the VoD platform’s head of TV content.

The corporation will launch six Pett Television-produced comedy shows exclusively on iPlayer on 1 June, and Victoria Jaye believes they will help educate viewers about the benefits of digital content.

“These pieces will lay the foun­dation for people coming to see new things on iPlayer – paving the way for the BBC3 change,” she said at a screening 8 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Victoria Jaye, BBC

Reece Shearsmith: iPlayer short

of the mini sitcoms in London this week.

In a nod to the talent involved in the project, including Frankie Boyle, Bob Mortimer, Reece Shearsmith, Stewart Lee and Meera Syal, she

added: “iPlayer is the perfect place for people to express themselves and explore ideas that are not confined by linear schedules.”

Mortimer, who wrote three of the shorts for Pett Television, added: “This new template of original pieces for iPlayer is exciting. It could be good to use as an outlet for unknown writers to put

forward their material to be used by known actors.”

Jaye also batted away concerns that content may be unsuitable for some users. While no watershed exists online, she said, each piece of content can be labelled and flagged before being streamed, with the possibility of adding warnings about strong language.

It has been suggested that a strong comedy proposition will be crucial to BBC3 cutting through when it moves online in autumn 2015. BBC comedy controller Shane Allen is currently putting together a flexible commissioning strategy to accommodate shortand long-form content. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Commissioning News

Cockroaches on agenda for ITV2 ITV2 has to stand up to the same scrutiny as other channels

BY JAKE KANTER

ITV2 plans to build its comedy credentials by ordering a full series of post-apocalyptic sitcom Cockroaches, which is penned by Jack Whitehall’s Bad Education writing partner.

Big Talk Productions will make a 6 x 30-minute series following a successful non-TX pilot last year, and ITV director of digital channels and acquisitions Angela Jain hopes it will be as ambitious in scale as award-winning ancient Rome sitcom Plebs.

Penned by Freddy Syborn, Cockroaches tells the story of two 19-year-olds who decide to have sex as one of their last acts before nuclear war breaks out. The pair survive and emerge from a basement 10 years later to deal with the consequences of their fling and the nuclear holocaust.

Hunderby’s Daniel Lawrence Taylor and relative newcomer Esther Smith will play Tom and Suze, who wander the wasteland of England, where they encounter boredom, laziness and former flames. Whitehall will play Suze’s

Angela Jain, ITV

Cockroaches: the post-apocalyptic comedy is central to ITV2’s new look

Cockroaches will sit alongside Plebs and The Job Lot, the employment centre comedy that ITV2 is inheriting from ITV. Director of television Peter Fincham said comedy will be “central” to the new-look ITV2, which will focus on scripted content to make room for the launch of female-skewing channel ITVBe later this year.

“They’re both aimed a bit younger and are important commercially, along with the sense that there’s something at ITV for everyone,” Fincham told a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch.

insufferable ex-boyfriend, and there will be cameos from Jaime Winstone, Caroline Quentin and Dan Renton-Skinner.

Jain said director Ben Taylor was doing a “terrific job” in realising the post-apocalyptic world, with production currently taking place in an unnamed location in the UK. She stressed that the environment is not “bleak or clichéd”.

“Believing in the world will be integral to the show’s success,” Jain

said. “I don’t believe in doing anything unless it’s ambitious. ITV2 has to stand up to the same scrutiny as other channels.”

She co-commissioned the series with ITV director of entertainment and comedy Elaine Bedell, and said the idea was “well-formed” when it arrived on her desk from Syborn. It will be produced by Josh Cole and Clelia Mountford, while Big Talk chief executive Kenton Allen is the executive producer.

Oxford Scientific to explore more Secret Lives for ITV

Wall to Wall brings back borstal for ITV series

C4 ties the knot with doc on polygamous marriage

ITV lines up crime dramas from Buffalo and World

ITV has ordered two more science documentaries from Oxford Scientific Films to follow The Secret Life Of Dogs. The two 60-minute docs, which will focus on babies and cats, will air this summer and effectively create a The Secret Life Of… franchise. The Secret Life Of Babies (pictured) will follow newborns in the first two years of their life, while The Secret Life Of Cats will use new filming techniques to uncover the animals’ unseen activities. Both were ordered by ITV factual commissioning editor Katy Thorogood and will be executive produced for OSF by Alice Keens-Soper. BBC Worldwide is the distributor.

Wall To Wall Television is to throw young offenders into a 1930s borstal-style regime for ITV. The 4 x 60-minute Bring Back Borstal (w/t) will feature a group of 18 to 23 year-old troubled youngsters who will be forced to endure traditional punishments and physical demands to test whether the environment deters them from a life of crime. ITV controller of factual Jo Clinton-Davis and director of factual Richard Klein commissioned the 2015 series. It will be executive produced by Mark Saben for Wall To Wall and series produced by Martin Conway. The show is the latest ITV order for Wall to Wall, which is also responsible for Long Lost Family and A Family Of My Own.

Channel 4 is to delve into the world of polygamous marriage in the British Muslim community with The Men With Many Wives – a one-off doc made by ITV-owned Shiver. The indie has gained access to the Muslim Marriage Event matchmaking service to explore the motivations behind individuals seeking multiple husbands or wives. C4 estimates that there may be as many as 20,000 polygamous marriages in the UK’s Muslim community.

The show, ordered by C4 commissioning editor for documentaries Emma Cooper, will be executive produced by Alexander Gardiner.

Masood Khan is the producer/ director.

ITV has ordered an adaptation of Julian Barnes’ novel Arthur & George and a DNA-based crime thriller from the producer of Line Of Duty. The former is a threepart series made by Doc Martin producer Buffalo Pictures. It will star Martin Clunes (pictured) as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes, and will be written by Silent Witness and Waking The Dead scribe Ed Whitmore.

Code Of A Killer is a two-part World Productions series written by Michael Crompton and directed by Broadchurch’s James Strong. It tells the story of the first major UK case solved using DNA profiling.

10 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

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International News

Networks start drama push Superheroes, movie stars and trusted franchises are key themes for next week’s LA Screenings

BY PETER WHITE

Superheroes, celebrity showrunners and movie stars dominate the US networks’ new series, with broadcasters making a renewed push on drama for next week’s LA Screenings.

Marvel’s Agent Carter is one of the biggest comic book adaptations of the season. The period drama, which will air on ABC, is set in 1946 and stars Hayley Atwell as a spy and former love interest to Captain America.

The show follows last year’s Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., which was a hit for ABC, and comes ahead of Marvel’s fourseries deal with Netflix, which includes a remake of Daredevil.

The 2014/15 season also features three series based around DC Comics characters.

Fox’s Batman prequel Gotham is produced by Warner Bros Television and The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller. It stars The OC’s Ben McKenzie as detective James Gordon, who eventually becomes Batman’s crime-fighting partner, Commissioner Gordon.

CW’s The Flash is a spin-off of Greg Berlanti’s Arrow, which has been successful for the youthskewing broadcaster. It follows Barry Allen, a comic book-crazed forensics investigator who moves to a new town to solve a series of unexplained robberies.

Also, NBC has commissioned Constantine, based on the comic about the supernatural detective.

The show, which is produced by Da Vinci’s Demons showrunner David Goyer, stars Matt Ryan (Torchwood; Layer Cake) as John Constantine.

All three series are produced and distributed by Warner Bros Television, via its deal with DC Comics.

In addition to the growing influence of graphic novels, the networks are responding to last year’s drama failure, when there were a record number of cancellations, by returning to existing hit franchises.

CBS has ordered CSI and NCIS spin-offs CSI: Cyber and NCIS: New Orleans. The CSI spin-off, 12 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Gotham: superhero and comic books will dominate the LA Screenings, with Fox’s Batman prequel one to watch

which is exec produced by franchise creator Anthony Zuiker, has been ordered despite the recent cancellations of CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. It follows Patricia Arquette’s Avery Ryan, who is in charge of the cyber-crimes division of the FBI in Quantico, Virginia.

The NCIS spin-off stars Scott Bakula and Paige Turco, and follows the opening of an office covering Mississippi, Louisiana and the Texas panhandle.

Big-name producers The rise of the celebrity showrunner continues, with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Will Ferrell and Jennifer Lopez joining established TV figures such as Kevin Williamson and Tina Fey. The most anticipated show is from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House creator David Shore. Battle Creek, commissioned

by CBS and distributed by Sony Pictures Television, is a buddy cop drama that centres on a battle of wills between a police officer and an FBI agent.

The series was originally pitched by Gilligan nine years ago, but his recent meth-related success and the involvement of Shore has made it a hot property.

Spielberg is back with two new projects: CBS summer sci-fi series

Extant, which stars Halle Berry as a female astronaut, and ABC’s The Whispers. The latter is a sci-fi thriller based on a Ray Bradbury short story that chronicles the race against time to defeat an unseen alien enemy.

CBS is hoping it can replicate the success of Fox’s serial killer thriller The Following by partnering with creator Kevin Williamson on Stalker, a psychological detective drama starring Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q. Meanwhile, NBC is in business with Jennifer Lopez, who exec produces and stars in Shades Of Blue, an FBI drama produced with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

In terms of actors, Knocked Up star and Grey’s Anatomy alumni Katherine Heigl is starring in NBC’s State Of Affairs, a drama about a CIA attaché who counsels the US president on international affairs while balancing her complicated personal life. And Friends star Matthew Perry is fronting a remake of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s The Odd Couple for CBS. In comedy, 30 Rock’s Tina Fey has created NBC’s Ellie Kemperfronted Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Ellen DeGeneres is behind Kelly Brook’s gay-themed sitcom One Big Happy; and Will Ferrell has created the Kate Walshfronted Bad Judge.

UK SHOWS THE BIG HOPES Every year, several UK series hope to recreate the success of The Office or House Of Cards. BBC3 comedy Dead Boss had been the frontrunner in 2014, but Fox did not take the series forward.

However, one of NBC’s biggest bets is a very British affair. Odyssey is a Trafficesque thriller starring Anna Friel (pictured) that was shep-

herded by the UK division of Red Arrow Entertainment and Simon Maxwell, who joined Channel 4 as head of international drama.

ABC’s musical comedy Galavant, with songs written by Disney songman Alan Menken, is expected to be produced in the UK after its pilot, filmed in the West Country, was picked up to series.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

China targets UK partners Broadcasters aim to build stronger ties with UK companies to break formats internationally

BY PETER WHITE

Chinese broadcasters are rapidly ramping up their local content commissioning and are keen to partner more with UK companies to break their formats into the international market.

Networks and local indies began talks with British producers at this month’s inaugural Sino-British TV Summit, looking to link up on creating original content and acquiring rights to international formats.

Hong Kong-based Chinese network Phoenix Satellite Television operates a number of entertainment channels and is keen to develop original ideas. Chief operating officer Liu Shuang said if producers in China and the UK worked together, they would create better programming for the 1.3 billion people who live in the country.

“There should be a seamless integration between China and the UK and we want to act as an incubator for ideas,” he said. “Producers from China and the UK should grasp this opportunity to inspire each other.”

Nearly 100 channel executives, commissioners and producers attended the event and unveiled their content shopping lists.

Sichuan TV wants to boost its documentary output and variety shows, while country-wide network The Travel Channel is looking to bolster its tourism, fashion and golf output with new family entertainment programming.

Zhejiang TV, which covers the city of Hangzhou and its nearby population of 55 million, is hoping that a slate of youth-skewing programming, including music-based reality shows, can help it fend off the threat of younger viewers increasingly moving online.

Deputy director Ma Baozhou said creating formats that can travel around the world is a priority. “In three to five years, there will be a Chinese format that will be exported to a number of countries, and then we will exert more influence in the international market,” he said. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

East meets West: Vivid Media’s Are You Normal? remake; below: CCTV’s Sing My Song, acquired by ITVS GE

Last month, ITV Studios Global Entertainment struck a landmark deal with Chinese public broadcaster CCTV to acquire the international rights to Sing My Song.

The music talent format, which aired on CCTV earlier this year to 480 million viewers, is a studiobased search for the best original songs in the country.

It was the first time that a major western distributor had picked up a Chinese format, and local producers are hoping it can open doors to other deals. The show is made by Star China, which is part of the country’s burgeoning independent sector.

Enlight Media, another promising producer, has made Chinese versions of formats including The Biggest Loser, The X Factor and Clash Of The Choirs.

It is now moving into original productions with series such as The Birthday Party Of Super Stars for Shenzen TV. Su Ming, general manager of Enlight Media’s variety show department, said it is developing seven new original

projects. “We are here to find partners to work with and we are looking for good producers that can help us work on our formats,” he said.

Dual-purpose formats Producer Wang Gang makes a number of formats for Jiangsu TV, including scientific reality series The Strongest Brain and dating format If You Are The One. He said that China needs to come up with formats that can work across TV and online, with international appeal. “It’s high time for us to change the landscape. We have to adapt,” he said.

The landscape is changing rapidly in China, with online streaming services such as Ten Cent moving aggressively into commissioning.

Producers from China and the UK should grasp this opportunity to inspire each other Liu Shuang, Phoenix Satellite TV

The digital company recently commissioned Vivid Media to remake All3Media’s Zoo Productions format Are You Normal?, which offers a prize for assessing typical behaviour of friends and colleagues. Ten Cent, along with rivals including Sohu and You on Demand, is now expected to commission more.

But despite the growing appetite for content, there are still a few concerns, particularly as copyright infringement remains a major issue in China.

Cheng Helin, deputy director general of broadcaster Phoenix TV, said: “Seven days a week, you can see shows with different names but the format is kind of similar.

This is a big issue in China. We need to learn from the West and protect our original ideas.” ➤ See Comment, page 21 16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 13

Multiplatform News IN BRIEF YouView to hire 50 staff On-demand TV service YouView has launched a recruitment drive, seeking developers, test engineers and project managers to fill roles in its technology team. The company will recruit more than 50 people over the next 12 months, doubling the size of its technology department. YouView is now in more than 1 million UK homes.

C4 plans ‘revolutionary’ revamp of 4oD service

ITNP wins another innings ITN Productions has extended its partnership with News UK to provide clips of England international cricket matches. The supplier will create fast-turnaround packages for The Times and The Sun online, with games including Test series against Sri Lanka and India, as well as next year’s Ashes. The cricket will supplement ITNP’s existing sport production work for News UK.

Keo series for Waitrose Keo Digital has created a short cookery series for British supermarket Waitrose’s online TV channel. Hosted by Ching-He Huang, the 8 x 5-minute series features the chef preparing two dishes from four classic sauces each episode. It will provide a historical overview of all the showcased meals, as well as a step-by-step recipe guide.

Johnston to partner Sky Johnston Press has entered a partnership with Sky to sell local TV advertising focused on specific areas. The partnership will use Sky AdSmart, a localised advertising product that has been used by more than 100 advertisers since its launch. The partnership will begin in markets covering Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield, as well as Milton Keynes, Northampton and Peterborough. Johnston Press is a leading local media company, reaching 24.5 million people a month across multiple media platforms.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 14 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

4oD: revamped service will combine live, catch-up, archive and short-form content with interactivity and support

BY ALEX FARBER

4oD RISE IN VIEWS

Channel 4 is preparing a crossplatform revamp of 4oD after the number of visits to the broadcaster’s web and mobile sites fell year-on-year.

C4’s annual report last week revealed that the number of visits to its web and mobile services was down from 356 million in 2012 to 351 million in 2013.

This was offset by a surge in the number of visits to its apps – up 36 million year-on-year to 186 million. Apps now account for 35% of the 537 million total visits C4 registered across digital services in 2013 – up from 506 million the previous year.

The broadcaster is hoping that a multimillion-pound overhaul of 4oD can help it tap into the expanding breadth of platforms on which its services are available.

4oD’s total views have grown for three years running (see box).

Speaking after C4’s annual report was published, chief executive David Abraham said the broadcaster was working on a “revolutionary way” to aggregate

429m 2011

450m 2012

476m 2013

Source: Channel 4

the digital content it produces in an accessible format.

The revamped service will combine live, catch-up, archive and short-form video content with programme interactivity and supporting information.

“Up until now, all of these aspects have been developed by the industry in relatively individual ways,” said Abraham. “We are working on a revolutionary, joined-up way to present this.”

The service, currently being tested by users and due to be unveiled at C4’s autumn Upfronts, was dubbed a “design breakthrough” and will be available across a range of platforms, span-

ning mobile, desktop, tablet and connected TV. “It’s a very insightful solution to challenge how viewers navigate coherently between what is on now, what was on last night, what was available from several years ago and all the related information and interactive features,” said Abraham.

“We have more new shows every night for viewers to discover, so we have to maximise people’s ability to do so and to interact with the great content we produce.”

The data, which C4 has gathered from 10 million registered users – including 50% of the UK’s 16 to 24 year-olds – has informed the service, along with insights from its second-screen app, 4Now. “We are starting to learn from the behavioural data we are capturing,” said Abraham. “We are allowing people to navigate the archive in a particular way, driven through recommendations and improvements in our algorithms.”

He added that the revamp is also designed to continue to drive consumption of C4’s short-form video content, through initiatives such as 4Shorts. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Technology & Facilities Creative review

A Poet in New York

In the Flesh

Playhouse Presents: The Cruise

Post Bait Studio/Gorilla Group Client Modern Television for BBC Brief Complete VFX for the feature-length drama exploring how Welsh poet and broadcaster Dylan Thomas came to die in New York in 1953.

How it was done Set in New York but filmed in Cardiff and Carmarthenshire, VFX was used to create the look and feel of 1950s New York. VFX supervisor Llyr Williams oversaw the filming process plus the images of New York and stock footage used in the drama. Rather than use a 3D matte painting of the scenes, the elements were modelled. This allowed the team to control the light, which was important in night shots as car headlights and neon signs had to bounce and reflect off each other. Modelling was done in Autodesk 3DS Max, while Nuke was used for compositing.

Gorilla’s Emyr Jenkins graded using Baselight.

Watch it Sunday, 9pm, BBC2

Post Encore Client BBC Brief Provide picture and audio post for the second season of BBC3’s zombie drama.

How it was done Colourist Jet Omoshebi desaturated the Arri Alexa-shot images, paying close attention to the skin tones of the living and the partially deceased.

She used Nucoda’s tracking software to make sure the skin tones were individually treated to reflect the various stages of undead. The sound team created a lifeless, uneasy setting for the six-part series, crafting a soundscape that was often bleak but punctuated by moments of hyper-realism. Sound editor Joe Fletcher made original recordings of rural atmospheres for sound effects and design elements, while head of sound David Old’s main challenge was to remove evidence of 21st-century life from the recordings.

Watch it Sundays, 10pm, BBC3

Post Envy Client Emu Films Brief Provide picture and audio post services for the tale of a couple’s once-in-a-lifetime holiday.

How it was done Senior sound designer and dubbing mixer Ian ‘Arge’ Hargest said director Stuart Sugg wanted a cinematic and, at points, exaggerated and hyper-real soundtrack. For the fast-cut montages, unexpected sound elements were mixed with conventional sounds to make the sequences punchy and exciting. During a sequence in which one of the characters is hypnotised, the brief was to emphasise his fear of The Poseidon Adventure. This was achieved through recreations of sounds from the original film that were treated to reflect his anxieties. Colourist Vicki Matich completed the grade, while Andrew Mitchell was online editor.

Watch it Thursday, 9pm, Sky Arts 1

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

Re:fine takes on Greenwall for ent and distribution role Re:fine has hired James Greenwall (below) as director of its home entertainment and distribution division. Greenwall joins the content-processing business from his previous position as director of business development at communications agency Premier, a role he assumed when the company bought post business Dubbs-Eyeframe.

Parity Group buys Golden Sq in administration deal Parity Group has acquired VFX firm Golden Sq in a pre-pack administration deal. Parity Group is an AIM-listed business that supplies people and technology to government, industry and marketing 16 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

agencies. Parity Group chairman Philip Swinstead said the addition of the VFX facility is part of the company’s plans to expand the group into a wider technology company through growth and acquisition.

“Minimal” job losses are expected, and Golden Sq founders Phil Gillies and Alan Young will continue to head the Soho-based business.

Sony appoints Fleming to Entry Level Production team Sony Professional Solutions Europe has appointed Robbie Fleming to the position of European product marketing manager for its Entry Level Production team, where he will look after its range of entry-level professional camcorders.

Fleming replaces Kanta Yamamoto, who will focus on Sony’s high-end consumer and entrylevel professional camcorders.

Bottle Yard plays host to Mantel’s Wolf Hall shoot BBC2’s adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novel Wolf Hall has begun filming at The Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol. Producer Mark Pybus said: “The Bottle Yard Studios is the perfect place for us to base Wolf Hall. It is convenient for our locations across the west of England, and the adaptable space allows us all the flexibility and facilities we need.” Company Pictures used the Bristol facility for C4 drama New Worlds, which aired last month.

Prime Focus system tackles audio distortion issues Prime Focus’ audio department has developed a system that it says tackles the problems of distorted

audio created by the use of small cameras and user-generated content. “By combining iZotope RX3 with Cedar Dialogue Noise Suppression and extensive Waves Restoration plug-ins, we can now deliver world-class mixes from some slightly-less-than-worldclass recordings,” said head of audio Ben Hooper. The tools were used for Leopard Films’ BritCam (above) series for Sky.

MCPS hires CueSongs for members’ licensing CueSongs has been appointed

by MCPS, the membership www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Ericsson finalises Red Bee buyout

BY GEORGE BEVIR

Telecoms giant Ericsson will position the UK as the hub for its burgeoning broadcast business following the completion this week of its deal to buy Red Bee Media.

Ericsson’s global annual revenue of £20bn is predominantly generated by the sale of equipment and services to the telecoms industry, but it has grown its Nordics-focused broadcast services division with two deals: the acquisition of playout and content services firm Red Bee, and its 2012 purchase of Technicolor’s UK, France and Netherlands playout business.

Red Bee has pulled back from former chief executive Bill Patrizio’s focus on products under his replacement Patrick Tillieux, and Ericsson head of broadcast services Thorsten Sauer indicated that the emphasis on services would continue.

“We propose technology as a managed service or platform – we sell an outcome or SLA. By providing a service, we can pass on the benefit of scale to customers,” Sauer said.

organisation that represents the rights of more than 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, to carry out sync licensing activity on behalf of its members. CueSongs is a licensing system for content creators and film-makers to access music for use in digital and online media, specifically branded content and editorial. “We are looking forward to working with MCPS to increase the royalties from this burgeoning area for their members,” said CueSongs co-founder and chief executive Ed Averdieck.

timeline sets up OB for Man City victory parade Timeline provided OB facilities for Manchester City’s Premier League victory parade earlier this week.

The company’s OB Truck, four cameras and 11 hops of microwave links were used to relay live footage from the open-top buses www.broadcastnow.co.uk

People want to watch video in new shapes and at a time that is convenient to them on portable devices Thorsten Sauer, Ericsson

Red Bee: firm will focus on developing content everywhere services

Sauer added that work will now begin on a combined range of services: “Over the next couple of months, you can expect to see some exciting new offerings from us. We have lots of good ideas from both sides and we will continue to push boundaries.”

Sauer also highlighted September trade show IBC as an “important date” for the potential

unveiling of the fruits of the tie-up, and indicated that the increasing consumer demand for content is one area of focus.

“People want to watch video in new shapes and at a time that is convenient to them and on portable devices,” he said. “Linear remains important, but what we will focus on is making content available for audiences wherever they are.

and the parade route to big screens around the city and viewers of the football club’s website.

switched to deliver 1080p, 1080i or 720p video at 50, 59.94 or 60 hertz frame rate.

Camera Corps adds MeerCat to speciality camera range

Roll to Record installs Calrec console at Wimbledon

Camera Corps has added the MeerCat (right) to its range of speciality cameras. The camera has been developed in response to demand from sport, reality and stage-show producers. “[The MeerCat] is based on a new imager, which delivers video with very wide dynamic range, low noise and excellent colour rendition,” said Camera Corps business development director Shaun Glanville. The imager is a third-inch MOS sensor with 1944 x 1092 effective pixels that can be

NEP’s UK provider of custom studios and control rooms Roll to Record has installed a Calrec Audio console in its studio operation at Wimbledon TV Studios. The permanent installation eliminates the need to install a flyaway console each time NEP provides equipment for shows based at Wimbledon Studios. “Having the new Calrec console in place means we can easily attract more customers to our production service at Wimbledon Studios,” said NEP Roll to Record head of sound Paul Fournier.

“We are looking at new playout technology and how we can make content available and manage media for linear and non-linear; that is of extreme importance and we have complementary skills in those areas.”

Tillieux is set to depart Red Bee following a transitional period, with Ericsson Broadcast Services UK managing director Ian Brotherston – who held the role of commercial director at Red Bee from 2007 to 2009 – set to lead the combined UK operation.

With Red Bee’s contract to provide the BBC with playout services due to expire in March 2017, one of Brotherston’s priorities will be to secure a new deal with the broadcaster.

Ross video hands Newham EMEa development role Andy Newham has joined Ross Video in the newly created position of EMEA business development manager for switchers and OpenTruck. Newham joins Ross from his role as account manager at Arqiva. He has also worked for Harmonic, Harris and Omnibus Systems. As well as working with the company’s switcher product line, Newham will develop business for Ross Video’s OpenTruck OB vehicle initiative.

RRsat digitises British Pathé clips for Youtube RRsat has reformatted 85,000 British Pathé clips for uploading to YouTube. The process involved RRsat digitising the library and creating a metadata package for each of the clips to make it easier for users to access the videos on YouTube.

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 17

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Comment

Our rationale is ‘if this was your best friend, would you encourage them to spend three years doing it?’

Britdoc’s Jess Search, Interview, page 24

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Give women the ‘hot’ credits Female directors need more breaks at entry level, says Beryl Richards

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or the past two years, I’ve been immersed in the cold, hard reality of the lack of women directing in British television – and I’ve seen how it’s getting worse.

In that time, Directors UK’s Women’s Working Group has analysed more than 28,000 episodes of 142 long-running and popular shows across many areas of TV. Last week, our report ‘Women Directors – Who’s Calling the Shots?’ prompted much debate over the problem and the ways to redress the balance. It shows a downward trend in much of drama, comedy and entertainment.

A snapshot: from 2003 to 2012, 15% of drama series and serials had female directors; by 2011-12, this was 11%; for sci-fi and fantasy in our samples, the comparable figures were 4% and 0%. In fact, many popular drama, entertainment and comedy shows have never been directed by a woman. Why? In drama, it’s very competitive to get in even at entry level, but more so if you’re female – just 14% of soap episodes are directed by women. I feel particularly passionate about the lack of women directing shows that act as a fast-track to the bigger-budget, higher-end productions.

Here is where emerging talent is scouted by many producers looking for a director to follow on from a biggername lead director; where up-and-coming talent gets its break. We need more women to get these opportunities.

In drama, we are talking about shows such as Misfits or Being Human, which had no female directors on them during our timeframe. At the start, one in four Skins (pictured) directors was female; in its final years, this dropped to zero. These are really ‘hot’ credits to have.

In children’s, where our survey shows only 9% of drama is directed by women, series such as The Sarah Jane Adventures, M.I. High or Wolfblood (created by a

woman, with female writers and leads) can also be helpful genre credits for directors wanting to progress to adult drama. None were directed by women in 2011-12.

In factual, there’s a 50/50 split between male and female directors, which looks great. But when you look more closely at formatted shows, women often direct body image, food and lifestyle. It seems hard for them to get work on science, driving or technology shows, which suggests a level of gender stereotyping.

What concerns our members is that this work won’t give a director the skills and experience they need to go on and make the bigger, single docs, where you can tell a story with your own singular vision – a career aspiration for many factual directors.

As with drama, the early opportunities directors get to learn and develop their craft and storytelling skills is what sets them apart, and prepares them for working on more authored narratives. We need production companies to ensure that women are also directing higherend docs and bigger-budget factual series, where their singular visions and stories should also have a place.

Across all genres, without the visibility that these ‘fast-track’ programmes offer, it is harder to make the step up to the next level. With strands such as First Cut and Coming Up shortening their runs, it is tough for directors of either gender to get slots, but for women, opportunities are even harder to find.

If things continue as they are, when we report back in 2015, the figures will be even worse. ➤ Beryl Richards is a Bafta-winning director and chairs the Women’s Working Group at Directors UK

‘Drama is very competitive even at entry level, but more so if you’re female’

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China: time to seize the moment Three British TV executives share their experiences of the first UK-China TV summit Glyn Middleton Creative director, True North Production

Mick Desmond Chair, IPCN

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he idea that the timing of a pitch is as important as the idea itself kept flashing through my mind during the first UKChina TV summit, held at Double Happiness Island in Xiamen Province.

The idea was for a clutch of hungry, ambitious British indies, backed by Pact, to establish relationships with Chinese broadcasters and producers. With this vast new market opening up, this was a way to bridge the cultural and linguistic divide, and forge bonds that would benefit both sides for years to come.

By the end, we felt we understood our hosts, and their commissioning needs, much better. We had a more realistic grasp of how development and production could physically work in this vast country. But my overriding feeling was that there is a limited window of opportunity, which will pass quickly if we don’t grasp it.

Chinese professionals said they regard themselves, in TV terms, as teenagers and we Brits as the mature adults – with knowledge hewn from years of success and failure, challenge and adversity.

Their anxiety to listen, learn and understand was more than just polite Chinese deference – they wanted our insight into the needs of the audience, our grasp of new platforms and the way they dovetail with linear content, and our ability to take risks.

But for how long? The Chinese have an astonishing facility to learn, absorb and adapt to all forms of business, and TV is no exception.

The more I listened to our hosts, the more obvious it became that the clock is ticking fast.

The Chinese teenager will soon catch up with the middle-aged Brit. There’s no way they will still be asking the same questions in 10 years, or five. Maybe not even next year.

True North is about to deliver the three-part series Designed In China to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV9. We’re acutely aware that without sustained dialogue and regular interaction, our early advantage by no means guarantees future success.

Now is the time to make this experience of ours count, to impress our hosts with our quality, our ingenuity, our international outlook, and our ability to make things pay.

Delay, even for a year or two, and the chance may be gone forever.

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O James Burstall Chief executive, Argonon

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aunching Argonon in China, we found a warm, creative community receptive to work with us. They are ambitious, with money to invest, and they are open about the need to tap into our creative and production expertise.

At the summit, I presented Argonon to 200 delegates in Mandarin as ‘Neng Ge Chuanmei Jituan Gongsi’ or ‘Neng Ge’ for short, inspired by a popular Chinese expression that means ‘Can Do’. Fortuitously, it sounds a little like ‘Argonon’ in Mandarin and it made them laugh.

We were complimented a lot and it stuck.

We have been asked if we would pitch to coproduce a new cross-platform gameshow we are researching, and were offered an office in Beijing.

I came away impressed. I met some warm and clever people and some good potential production partners. We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface in considering the opportunities for British indies. It is a dynamic, creative and hungry nation, with a huge appetite to grow and innovate. They want us to help them. They act fast and are smart and passionate about media, cinema, art, food, travel, fashion, technology and the universal truths: crying and laughing.

They are set to become the world’s biggest economy and they want to be creative global players. The message to the UK production community is simple: China is open for business.

utside the buzz and networking of the conference, it is important to recognise that there is already a huge amount happening on the ground in China. Shiny-floor hits like China’s Got Talent and The Voice deliver audiences of more than half a billion, and after three series, they are trusted, commercially successful brands.

More complex entertainment formats like The Cube have delivered quality demographics, while strong factual entertainment brands are being embraced in the primetime schedule.

Secret Millionaire and Super Nanny (produced by independent Chinese production company 80 Entertainment) have gone from pilot to full series. There’s also China’s Next Top Model, while Sport Relief has signed an exclusive cooperation deal to debut in China in 2015.

In 2007, my partner Rebecca Yang and I founded IPCN, which has successfully harnessed some of the strongest creative output from the UK and Europe with the ever-changing and increasing demands of China’s media owners. We have quietly and systematically set about distributing, financing and exec producing and co-producing titles with 80 Entertainment. We’ve executed landmark sponsorship deals and built strong ancillary rights.

Having executed more than 1,500 hours of primetime programming, we know that the Chinese media can seem like a maze. It is not what you imagine it to be looking from afar and it cannot be managed from a distance.

China is a country and a media economy where relationships and reputations matter most; where foreign companies need to ‘belong’ to thrive. Here’s what you need to know: n Do your homework in advance. Be clear what you want, create a strategy to achieve it, and budget accordingly. n Be prepared to play the long game. There are no short cuts to success. You earn respect by your actions, performance and reputation. n Be prepared to be flexible in delivering your content. Be aware of cultural and regulatory issues as well as political trends. n Choose your partners carefully. Beware representational companies that approach you with great claims offering instant success. n Beware joint ventures that look fantastic on paper for a market announcement, but simply gather dust, tying up your content for years.

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 21

News Editor Interview Robin Elias managing editor, ITV News

Setting the agenda for ITV ITV News’ managing editor talks to Lis Howell about increasing diversity in the newsroom, getting more women on screen, and the decision to broadcast footage of Lee Rigby’s killer What are the defining characteristics of ITV News At Ten and how does it differentiate itself from its direct BBC rival?

As with all ITV News programmes, we try to make our coverage as engaging and relevant as possible.

That can sometimes be achieved by telling the news through human examples and putting people at the heart of each story, rather than through pressure groups or politicians.

I’d say our agenda is broader – covering a wide range of subjects that affect people’s lives, or those stories that viewers will find interesting.

A few years ago, the Royal Television Society said News At Ten was the programme that consistently “gets Britain right” when deciding on stories that appeal to audiences. There is something for everybody, told through powerful pictures and strong writing, and that still stands.

The BBC is blessed with phenomenal resources around the world, but ITV News has a reputation for swift decision-making and fast deployment. That means we can match, and frequently beat, our much bigger competitors.

Q

In May 2013, ITV News departed from conventional news coverage by showing a video of the killer of Lee Rigby ranting to camera immediately after the event, still holding the blood-stained weapon. What discussions took place about this, and to what extent is it a sign of how news values are changing?

That wasn’t a departure from the news values that we have held dear for six decades. It was a difficult decision, but one that has since been supported by Ofcom. It was controversial, but it gave a unique insight into what really happened that afternoon.

This was at a time when no one really knew the motive for a brutal attack on the streets of London.

The decision to broadcast was taken only after discussions at the highest

‘I believe our reporting [of Lee Rigby’s murder] and language was measured and responsible throughout’

In every programme, we would expect to use front-line reporting to reflect major developments at home and abroad, but also find time for stories and series that viewers may find intriguing, amusing, or just plain interesting.

What measures and policies do you have regarding diversity either on or off screen?

Across all editorial staff, the malefemale ratio is about even. Our head of home news is a woman [Rachel Corp], as are two of our four programme editors. And let’s not forget that former editor Deborah Turness has recently gone on to run NBC News in the US, while Cristina Nicolotti Squires has moved over to become editor of Channel 5 News. So ITN has a record of developing and promoting strong women in our newsrooms.

We also run many initiatives to attract interest from BAME jobseekers. We team up each year with Media Trust to run Breaking Into News, a scheme giving young people from under-represented backgrounds the chance to pitch story ideas and produce a piece of television with the help of a mentor from an ITV newsroom.

Q

Robin Elias, ITV News

level. I believe our reporting and language was measured and responsible throughout.

How do the news values and treatment of subjects in your lunchtime and early evening programmes differ from the flagship bulletin?

The journalistic values are the same, but the agenda may vary. News At Ten should always be a comprehensive round-up of the important news stories of the day, but with added context and in-depth analysis from our most expert journalists and specialist editors.

Q

Q

22 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Controversy: ITV News aired a video of Lee Rigby’s killer just after the event www.broadcastnow.co.uk

EXPERT WOMEN

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how they fared Expert Women, ApriL 2014 Today 2:1 Sky News 2.5:1 Channel 4 News 3:1 ITV News At 10 7:1 BBC News At 10 8:1

ITV News: presenters Mark Austin and Julie Etchingham

We also work with a number of support groups to run masterclasses in subjects like script-writing and video-journalism.

One weekend last year, we had a shadow production team that worked alongside ITV News producers so they could experience the pressures of bulletin producing.

We are also working on expanding our apprenticeship programme, which has resulted in a young apprentice securing a contract to work at ITV News on a permanent basis.

We are constantly looking for new ways of sending out the message that we want a broad-based and diverse news team.

‘ITN has a record of developing and promoting strong women in our newsrooms’ Robin Elias, ITV News

What plans do you have to develop or grow ITV News?

No company that makes news can believe that its job is done and its product is complete. We need constantly to look for new ways of gathering content, telling stories, and delivering them to ever-changing audiences.

A good example is the itv.com/news live stream, which has offered our viewers a new way to access our news, rather than article-based websites.

Technology and the explosion in social media mean there is more content out there. But that brings with it the challenge for news broadcasters to safeguard the principles of accuracy, balance and impartiality.

Q

What is going on here? We have the best ratio of male to female experts ever for Sky News, Today and Channel 4 News, and the worst for ITV News At Ten and BBC News At Ten. No doubt the mix on the flagship 10pm programmes will be attributed to the male-dominated Ukraine story but, beyond that, there was a huge spread of topics.

Why should four men be interviewed about inflation on ITV News on Tuesday 15 April? Why is the Islamisation of Birmingham schools (BBC News At Ten, Monday, 14 April) subject to an all-male debate? Both stories cried out for a female voice.

These figures show that a massive effort is needed from broadcasters to change this. Every reporter should ask: “Is this news package representative?”, rather than leaving it up to someone else to balance overall.

The same stories cropped up with widely different contributors.

Fair representation of women can be done, as Channel 4 News, Sky News and Today showed us in April. Come on, BBC and ITV. Lis Howell

Female Reporters under-represented The ratio of male to female reporters has doubled since October last year, from 2:1 to 4:1. Is there a danger of ITV News reverting to more macho news values?

Bald statistics can give a misleading impression. We are satisfied that our reporting team is well-balanced with regard to gender.

Just looking at the past few months, we have appointed women to some of our most high-profile on-screen roles, including health editor Catherine Jones and China correspondent Lucy Watson [pictured]. Our UK bureau, led by UK

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meetings, where we encourage every­ one to have a voice. Sometimes the best ideas come from the most surprising quarters. You have to be prepared to listen to views from right across the news operation.

But you still have a ratio of 4:1 male to female experts on ITV News At Ten, and it was 7:1 last month. Is that acceptable? editor Lucy Manning, has six women to one man, and there is an even split between male and female presenters.

Our news programmes are discussed at editorial and planning

We are working hard to make our on-screen portrayal reflective of the UK today. Good journalists realise that expediency can be the biggest obstacle to this and there’s a danger that we will turn to tried-and-

tested experts just because we know they are available and will give us a concise response.

With a little more thought and better research, we are broadening our pool of experts. We’ve given specialist producers time off from their routine work to search out a more diverse network of commentators – and that means more women, and more representatives from minority communities.

There isn’t a specialist area we cover where there aren’t good women who are ready and willing to speak. We need to work harder to find them, and then get them on air.​

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 23

The Broadcast Interview JESS SEARCH BRITDOC

The passion behind the doc The chief executive of Britdoc talks to Robin Parker about showcasing the directors and docs with a story worth telling, and how the body is adapting to changing funding models

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he singular pursuit of an often elusive documentary subject, with no knowledge of the outcome, can be an odd and exhausting way to spend one’s time. Britdoc chief executive Jess Search, who has sifted through 9,000 submissions since establishing the funding and distribution body nine years ago, knows this better than many. How, then, does she know when to back something and when to pass?

“Our rationale is ‘if this was your best friend, would you encourage them to spend three years doing it?’,” she explains. “The best documentaries are passion-driven and worthy of that level of commitment.”

To cultivate that familiar relationship, Britdoc’s office has something of the friendly, open house about it.

Documentary-makers are hot-desking; comedy writer/performer Sally Phillips and her current writer partner have just been in; there’s a green garden space complete with shed; and the obligatory Soho office pet dog has his own generous space.

Three of Britdoc’s four founding partners, all of them ex-commissioning editors, remain the core of a 15-strong team that works across seven or so films at any one point. From TV recalibrating its slots to the emergence of new funding models, many things have changed since it was founded in 2005, but Britdoc’s central purpose – to help public service-oriented documentary feature directors realise their vision – remains unchanged.

“The reputation, social value and quality of documentaries has never been higher,” says Search, pointing to a poster of Britdoc-backed Oscarnominated film Dirty Wars. “With less resource for investigative journalism and a more corporate media culture, the plucky individual who’s committed to the journey of making their doc begins to shine.”

Search left a commissioning role at Channel 4 to launch the organisation, modelling it initially on “C4 when it started”. This month, the broadcaster committed to two more years of

24 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

‘The reputation, social value and quality of documentaries has never been higher’ support, but on terms that reflect how the goalposts have shifted. While at first Britdoc was ostensibly what she calls “an outlying department of C4 – it was our sole commissioner”, now C4 has a first-look option and can “come into any project at any point, in any way”.

So, no pot of C4 money for Britdoc to manage, but the broadcaster can come on board projects that the organisation has started with other funding bodies.

This changing partnership has other reciprocal benefits too. C4 asked Britdoc to turn Sri Lanka doc No Fire Zone into a feature film of

Britdoc backing: No Fire Zone; above: Ping Pong

record for the international market, where it attracted the attention of the United Nations, while Britdoc secured Edward Snowden, the subject of another of its documentaries, for C4’s Alternative Christmas Message.

Having built its reputation over the best part of a decade, Search is now in a position to work with philanthropic people on a case-by-case basis, as well as securing longer-term partners such as the Bertha Foundation, with which Britdoc operates a £500,000-a-year journalism fund.

The attitudinally similar Kickstarter came to one of Britdoc’s The Good Pitch events, at which film-makers appeal to non-government organisations for funding and outreach support. Now, just five years since it was set up, it’s involved with half of Britdoc’s features.

Search says she can see a future where the likes of C4 collaborate with Kickstarter on content in which the likely viewers have already invested.

Changing partners “When we began, the only partner a doc-maker could have would be a TV company, which would perhaps send a DVD to an NGO afterwards,” she reflects. “These docs have advocates, fans and potential funders from across society, and they’re all there at our international Good Pitch events. TV is often the last to come on board, if it comes on board at all.

“We all have a stake in the doc and understanding the effect of a film in the world can be as transformative as making and editing the film itself. By the end, the plan seems so obvious that you can’t imagine you didn’t have it in the first place.”

Being open to those twists in a doc’s journey is central to Britdoc’s philosophy. Take Ping Pong: what began as a light-hearted film about old people playing table tennis became a profound look at the sport’s life-saving benefits.

“It turned out that it’s the sport all old people should play: it’s great for balance, which can hold off dementia, and you can play it at any level of mobility.”

One of Britdoc’s latest films is The Possibilities Are Endless, a poignant ➤ www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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The Broadcast Interview

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JESS SEARCH BRITDOC ‘Understanding the effect of a film in the world can be as transformative as making and editing the film itself’ piece about singer Edwyn Collins’ recovery from a stroke (C4 has backed this, along with a doc about Tamilborn performer MIA; both will air on Film 4). Two young film-makers approached Collins as fans and, looking for ways to depict a stroke that had already happened, shot some visualisations of what was happening inside his head, on 35mm.

For Search, it crystallises the beauty of the documentary art form. “It can encompass both the muscular politics of No Fire Zone and the deep empathy of this one, where we’ve been talking to the Royal College of Nurses about an outreach programme.”

Changing slots Search is pragmatic about the shifts in TV, with True Stories moving from More 4 to Channel 4 in a shorter, higher-profile run, and international slots across the board harder than ever to find. “Obviously, we’d want more slots for this kind of work, and much less exposed ones too,” she says. “I totally understood the restructure of More 4, and True Stories’ move was an inadvertent outcome of what was already happening.

“Creatively, TV is producer-driven.

If people go into TV thinking ‘I want to become a director that follows their own vision’, they’re in the wrong place.

But at Britdoc, it’s the director who applies to us, and that’s who we have the meeting with.”

The world of documentary-making can often feel like it exists in a rarified bubble, with the attendant danger of preaching to the converted, or at least those pre-determined to seek them out. Acutely conscious of this, Search has made outreach a central tenet of the Britdoc philosophy from the start.

One of its most innovative initiatives is Doc Academy, which shows award-winning films to teachers and pays them to produce National Curriculum-centred course notes, using cleared clips, for use in their classrooms. Currently in 300 schools, Search has ambitions for a national rollout. “It lights up a classroom www.broadcastnow.co.uk

and opens students’ horizons to see other lives from around the world,” she says.

She also sees Britdoc’s role as a curator for the curious and is proud finally to have found a way to address the perennial question she is asked: “What should I watch?” Something Real, which launched this week, is an email newsletter that highlights and contextualises two documentaries each week and directs users to where to watch or download them online.

Clockwise from top: The Possibilities Are Endless; Dirty Wars; Virunga

“On Netflix and iTunes there’s a lot on offer, but it’s hard to distinguish because they buy them in big bundles and their algorithms aren’t yet good enough to direct you to the best stuff – the audience for feature docs hasn’t been targeted in the same way as horror films or comedies.”

Search has another agenda: to determine how many of these films aren’t available on digital media and raise funds to liberate them. The medium might change, but the mission continues.

JESS SEARCH ON...

Tessa Ross (below) “She leaves big boots to fill at Film 4. She’s amazing at bringing someone’s best film out of them, and that’s something we’re inspired by. It’s not about bossing them

about – it’s the director’s cut and we’re here for the creative rough and tumble. Plus she’s incredibly modest: you never see her at awards or film festivals trying to hog the limelight.”

Feature-length docs “People always ask how come we’re still doing feature docs – isn’t that a bit old-fashioned?

But it’s the best starting point.

You can always cut them to TV length or shorts for the web. If you start short, you can’t get into cinemas or film festivals as

easily. A feature doc still gets a lot more press and attention, and they live on much longer.”

The Good Pitch “We started in Oxford in 2008 and now we’re in New York every year. We’ve done India, China and Buenos Aires, and this year we’ll be in Mexico and Australia. It’s raised $11.5m [£6.8m] to date for films like Virunga [above], which premiered at Tribeca last month. It’s grown the number of partners in society who want to work in docs.”

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 27

Behind the Scenes Mr Sloane

The not-so-swinging sixties Nick Frost and the American creator of his new Sky Atlantic comedy talk to Benji Wilson about recreating a brown and beige British 1960s pub culture a world away from Mad Men MR SLOANE

Production company Whyaduck; Big Talk Productions Length 1 x 60 minutes; 5 x 30 minutes TX Fridays, 9pm, from 23 May, Sky Atlantic Commissioner Lucy Lumsden Writer/director Robert B Weide Executive producers Kenton Allen for Big Talk; Robert B Weide for Whyaduck; Lucy Lumsden for Sky Producer Clelia Mountford Summary Bittersweet comedy set in 1960s Watford, starring Nick Frost.

28 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

O

n a dull morning at Twickenham Studios, Nick Frost is trying to fix Ophelia Lovibond’s pipes. The double entendre is entirely intended; in fact, it’s already a joke in the script of Mr Sloane, a 1960s-set comedy about, as Frost puts it, “a depressive schlub whose life is in the shitter”.

In the scene we’re watching, Sloane (played by Frost) is in an avocado bathroom suite, desperately trying to impress a spry young girl after his wife (Olivia Colman) leaves him and he is sacked from his job. He emerges from under the sink, spanner in hand, triumphant. Lovibond’s flower child is impressed.

Then Frost, who can do knockabout physical comedy with the best of them, gets up from his knees, stumbles into her washing, knocks over half her make-up tray and ends up with a bra on his shoulder. The difficulty with the scene is, he can’t quite get the bra to fall correctly – it keeps ending up on the floor. “Preset the bra,” shouts an American voice from behind a monitor.

The voice belongs to Bob Weide, Mr Sloane’s creator and director, and it’s incongruous because the scene he’s directing couldn’t be less American. The world of Mr Sloane is late-1960s Watford.

Later, we watch a pub set-up with Frost, Peter Serafinowicz (below), Lawry Lewin and Brendan Patricks.

Pipe smoke, crusty velour and tankards of mild abound. Haight-Ashbury, the Madison Avenue of Mad Men, or even swinging Carnaby Street, this emphatically is not.

“I liked the idea that it’s set in a time when there is a cultural revolution happening – but Sloane isn’t a part of it,” says Weide. “People lived in these London satellite towns like Watford and it was just the same thing – going to the local pub or staying in and watching telly. All that was happening with music and

culture and politics at the time? None of that enters Sloane’s life.”

It’s a fertile premise, but it begs the question: how would he know?

California resident Weide is best known for directing episodes of Larry David’s HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm. He says it was a very specific moment of inspiration that led him to the London suburbs.

“About two years ago, I was on a freeway in Los Angeles driving out to see my mother when suddenly, I noticed a guy in the car next to me. He

‘I liked the idea that it’s set in a time when there is a cultural revolution happening – but Sloane isn’t part of it’ Bob Weide, creator and director

had these dark, horn-rimmed glasses and a jacket and tie. He looked like a very conservative, buttoned-down, kind of a Mad Men-era version of Nick Frost. So I just started to think, ‘Who is that guy?,’ and my imagination started to run away with me.”

If that man had looked like someone other than the Shaun Of The Dead and Spaced star, Weide says, he might not have made Mr Sloane English, and we might not have landed up in Watfordvia-Twickenham making pipe-fixing gags. “I started thinking about doing a show with Nick. Obviously it was going to be set in England, and if the guy I saw had looked different, it might have been a different show.”

Weide was nine years old in 1969.

He had never been to Watford. Yet he says he didn’t immerse himself in film reels and cuttings.

“There was a bit of research, but not a whole lot. I wrote a show that to me was interesting, and I certainly don’t know anything about pub life at that time, in a place like this.”

Initially, he wrote scenes of Frost and his friends being served food by a

waitress – before it was pointed out to him that in a pub in Watford, 1969, this was about as likely as monkeys wearing jetpacks. But he says this was a rare cross-cultural blunder.

“It is a human story, it is about relationships and it is about hopefully some universal experience, so the things that made it historically accurate or British are all things that could be tweaked later on,” he says.

Much of that tweaking came once Weide had a broadcaster. He came to London to pitch the show last year.

Lucy Lumsden, Sky’s head of comedy, jumped in first.

“Bob said to me: ‘I bet you won’t go for this because it’s set in 1969 in Watford and it’s about a guy who tries to commit suicide in the opening shot,’” Lumsden recalls. “I wasn’t worried about it being a period piece because I could see the period setting was vital for the story. More than that, it was just really good timing. It’s quite a black comedy and on Sky Atlantic we’ve carved out a space for comedies that are very authored, and they usually have quite a big character at their heart.”

Dark humour Frost and Weide’s connections led to the casting of Olivia Colman as Sloane’s wife Janet – who leaves to ‘find herself ’ as the series begins.

In the bathroom scene we are watching, Colman reappears in a dream sequence, mocking Frost’s attempts to ingratiate himself with the young girl – it’s that pipe-fixing gag again.

But much of the series is darker than that. Not only is the brown and grey production design (see box) a far cry from the gilded image of the ’60s that’s become the TV norm, but Sloane himself is a comic hero never more than a step from tragedy.

“He isn’t a figure of fun,” says Frost.

“If people go with him when he is at his lowest ebb, the comedy will work so much more. It means they can empathise with the fact that this man is at the lowest point of his life. Then when we see him pratting around with a bra they will – hopefully – laugh at that.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Clockwise from top: Brendan Patricks, Nick Frost, Lawry Lewin; Frost and Olivia Colman; Frost and Ophelia Lovibond; Lovibond and Bob Weide

Mr Sloane stepping back in time Dennis De Groot Production designer

The major design challenge on Mr Sloane was to create a period comedy on a budget. We didn’t have the resources to do any major renovation work so we had to go with what we found. It’s the silly little things that crucify you when, for example, you film down a street. It’s almost impossible now to find rows of terraced houses that don’t have uPVC windows. So it’s a constant hunt for sites; little time machines where not a lot has happened.

A lot of effort went in to sourcing the right stuff.

We got some fantastic help from a company called Trevor Howsam. They and Superhire were the unsung heroes of the art department – they’re a depository both of knowledge and great props.

We were consciously trying not to make the show look too ‘60s’. I think Mad Men is brilliant but shows like that tend to become a design coffee table book in which everything is modern and current. But in 1969, people still had their parents’ furniture; it was a lot more eclectic.

Reality is more layered than Mad Men, which presents a glamorous world. Mr Sloane is closer to Up The Junction than James Bond.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 29

Marketplace

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30 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

To advertise here, contact Paul Martin on 020 3033 4238 email paul.martin@broadcastnow.co.uk

Director of creative ServiceS, UKtv HammersmitH UKTV is looking for a Director of Creative Services who will be instrumental in shaping and realising our creative vision. We are creatively ambitious, with the desire to make a bold statement through our creative, driving our commercial performance and improving year on year on our current Promax tally of 2 golds. We want to continue to successfully compete beyond broadcast, with the marketing & creative community at large.

The Director of Creative Services reports to, and works closely with, the Marketing Director, to shape a clear & compelling creative vision & road-map for UKTV, its brands, and their marketing communications. With the opportunity to help set the overall creative direction and oversee & influence all creative output, you’ll lead the UKTV Creative Services team, oversee an outsourced creative team based within our office, and own the creative relationship with our external agency partners.

We’re looking for a proven leader, commercially astute, with exceptional creative skills and the senior level experience to influence, inspire, motivate, and creatively direct others across all media.

For further details and information on how to apply please see our careers page at www.uktv.co.uk We are not accepting applications from previous applicants

Appointments

About us dock10 is one of Europe’s leading digital media service providers. operating at the heart of MediaCityuK in Manchester, dock10’s clients have access to HD tV studios, digital post-production, cloud media management services and advanced connectivity options.

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Working with all of the major broadcasters and leading independent producers to deliver some of the uK’s most recognised studio formats, the studio Manger is the commercial and technical focal point on dock10’s studio projects. through responsive and clear communication you will lead the delivery of the productions’ requirements in our state of the art studios at MediaCityuK. You will need to develop effective customer relationships and manage the delivery of projects and productions from taking detailed specifications through to delivering on time and within budget.

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Please send CVs to jobs@dock10.co.uk by Friday 13th June 2014. www.dock10.co.uk

Online Editor Yellowmoon, Northern Ireland’s largest post facility, has a vacancy for an experienced online editor to join its’ existing finishing department.

The candidate must have an excellent knoweldge of all aspects of onlining and programme delivery. Experience of Avid Symphony, tapeless workflows and all VTR formats is essential. The successful applicant will have the oppurtunity to work on high end television drama as well as contributing to our highly regarded local output.

If you think this job is for you and don’t mind the usual anti social hours alongside the often ridiculous demands of Film & Television then please forward your CV, along with a covering letter to clare@yellowmoon.net

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Ratings Mon 5 May – Sun 11 May

BBC1 hits the right note Eurovision draws best audience since 2011, but ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent stays at the summit

BY Stephen Price

In times of ubiquitous bad temperedness, Saturday’s annual reality holiday felt especially welcome. Who needs real life barging in when you can have Borgen’s troubled spin doctor singing all about China, or people dressed in white climbing ladders for no obvious reason, warbling some dreadful version of Beethoven’s 9th?

There was mild controversy in the UK over the Polish racket – not since Deryck Guyler has anyone used a washboard quite like that in primetime TV. In the end, Austria’s Conchita Wurst came first: Euro­ vision’s collective two fingers to a certain politician’s appetite for prejudice. Meanwhile, the Big Yin began to think about the ‘big bye’, while the Britain’s Got Talent bandwagon rolled inexorably on.

On Bank Holiday Monday, BBC1’s When Corden Met Barlow drew a fairly untaxing 3.4 million/14%, losing to the second part of ITV’s three-part thriller Prey’s 4.9 million/20% (200,000 +1), which was 870,000 short of last week.

After BBC1’s Holby City on Tuesday at 8pm (4.6 million/23%), the second part of Happy Valley at 9pm dropped by more than 800,000 on last week’s launch to score a nevertheless slot-winning 5.5 million/25%. Opposite from 7.30pm to 10.15pm, ITV played a rare mid-week movie in Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire – the first in a run of wizards – to just 2.3 million/11% (250,000 +1).

At 8pm on Wednesday, BBC1’s MasterChef achieved 4.9 million/ 23%, ahead of ITV’s Big Star’s 32 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Broadcast/Barb Top 100 network programmes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 35 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Britain’s Got Talent Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders Coronation Street Countryfile Emmerdale Vera Emmerdale BBC News Emmerdale Emmerdale BBC News Emmerdale Happy Valley BBC News At Ten Emmerdale Antiques Roadshow Prey The Crimson Field MasterChef MasterChef BBC News At Six Holby City MasterChef Have I Got News For You Pointless Celebrities BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News BBC News At Ten Pointless BBC News At Ten BBC News BBC News The One Show BBC News At Ten Parking Mad BBC News At Ten Pointless The One Show Off Their Rockers The One Show

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

19.00 20.00 19.30 19.30 19.30 20.30 19.30 20.00 19.30 20.00 20.30 19.00 19.00 20.00 19.00 18.30 19.00 19.00 22.00 19.00 21.00 22.00 20.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 20.00 18.00 20.00 20.30 21.00 18.20 18.00 18.00 18.00 23.35 22.00 17.45 22.00 18.30 18.00 19.00 22.00 21.00 22.00 17.15 19.00 19.30 19.00

9.39 8.79 7.32 7.21 7.07 6.89 6.85 6.81 6.73 6.68 6.29 6.25 6.11 5.97 5.87 5.81 5.80 5.80 5.67 5.61 5.45 5.42 5.22 5.12 5.11 5.05 5.02 4.94 4.71 4.62 4.57 4.54 4.44 4.38 4.36 4.36 4.24 4.20 4.19 4.11 4.03 4.02 3.86 3.82 3.79 3.74 3.72 3.70 3.66 3.63

44.48 41.93 35.87 31.96 36.53 27.96 35.60 28.71 33.76 31.67 27.74 30.59 32.68 25.84 31.61 31.36 28.08 32.37 30.14 32.26 25.26 29.45 23.71 22.41 20.62 21.60 22.92 22.73 29.18 23.03 20.14 21.15 25.25 27.20 29.62 29.77 35.91 22.98 25.52 23.35 22.07 26.16 20.80 18.24 18.16 21.30 28.17 20.62 17.37 18.57

ITV/Syco/Thames BBC1 ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV/Red Production Company BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Red Production Company BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV BBC1/Shine TV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV BBC1/Hat Trick Productions BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Century Films BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 ITV/CPL Productions BBC1

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Eurovision

When Corden Met Barlow www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Source: BARB

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 66 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 79 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 87 89 90 91 92 92 94 95 95 97 98 99 100

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

The One Show The National Lottery: In It To Win It Pointless Big Star’s Little Star Catchphrase World Championship Snooker Party Election Broadcast: UKIP Pointless Formula 1: The Spanish Grand Prix When Corden Met Barlow ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather Pointless Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off The One Show Gogglebox ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather Party Election Broadcast: Green Party Party Election Broadcast: Labour Party ITV News & Weather The Graham Norton Show A Question Of Sport Match Of The Day Outnumbered Lewis Question Time 24 Hours In A&E Party Election Broadcast: AIP Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs Weekend Escapes With Warwick Davis BBC News At One Tonight: Living With Dementia Party Election Broadcast: Lib Dem BBC News At One You’ve Been Framed!

Match Of The Day New You’ve Been Framed!

Bang Goes The Theory Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire Gino’s Italian Escape BBC News At One Amazing Greys BBC News At One Wanted: A Family Of My Own ITV News & Weather BBC News At One Miranda Match Of The Day F1: The Spanish Grand Prix – Qualifying

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

19.00 19.10 17.15 20.00 18.45 19.00 22.35 17.15 12.15 21.00 18.30 18.30 17.15 21.00 19.00 21.00 18.30 18.15 22.35 18.25 18.30 22.35 19.30 22.25 21.30 21.00 22.35 21.00 18.25 20.30 20.00 13.00 19.30 18.25 13.00 18.30 22.30 18.30 19.30 19.30 20.00 13.00 20.00 13.00 21.00 18.30 13.00 20.30 22.40 12.20

3.62 3.60 3.58 3.56 3.55 3.51 3.48 3.46 3.44 3.43 3.36 3.34 3.31 3.30 3.27 3.22 3.18 3.18 3.17 3.13 3.07 3.01 2.99 2.90 2.89 2.89 2.87 2.86 2.82 2.82 2.81 2.79 2.71 2.70 2.67 2.59 2.58 2.58 2.57 2.54 2.50 2.45 2.45 2.40 2.32 2.32 2.31 2.28 2.26 2.25

17.53 16.92 26.39 16.38 18.26 15.21 22.86 29.07 28.69 13.85 19.48 18.73 27.25 15.35 18.79 15.42 19.74 18.09 21.36 18.57 19.43 22.66 15.47 26.28 14.23 13.83 24.19 13.29 18.47 12.93 13.33 39.95 13.60 17.75 40.81 13.76 21.26 14.98 11.40 12.54 10.55 37.99 11.12 29.86 11.12 12.82 37.83 9.24 21.65 23.98

BBC1 BBC1/12 Yard Productions BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/12 Yard Productions ITV BBC 2 BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/Burning Bright Productions BBC1 C4/Studio Lambert ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1/So Television BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Hat Trick Productions ITV BBC1/Mentorn C4/The Garden ITV ITV ITV/Love Productions BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV/Wall To Wall ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 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.

Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

24 Hours In A&E

Little Star (3.4 million/15% (200,000 +1). At 9pm, ITV launched Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off to a slot-winning 3 million/14% (230,000 +1), ahead of Channel 4’s return to 24 Hours In A&E (2.3 million/11%; 500,000 +1). BBC1 documentary Vertigo Road Trip came in third with 2 million/9%.

BBC1’s best MasterChef of the week was Thursday’s 5 million/ 23% at 8pm, just behind ITV’s Emmerdale (5.1 million/23%; 160,000 +1) but comfortably ahead of a repeat of Paul O’Grady’s For The Love of Dogs (2.7 million/12%; 100,000 +1). At

‘Eurovision averaged 8.8 million – the second best in the past nine years’ 9pm, the final episode of BBC1’s Parking Mad (3.8 million/18%) defeated ITV’s penultimate Wanted: A Family Of My Own (2.2 million/10%; 150,000 +1).

At 9pm on Friday, BBC1’s Have I Got News For You (4.5 million/ 21%) came out on top, followed

by C4’s Gogglebox (2.7 million/ 13%; 500,000 +1). ITV’s Lewis (2.8 million/14%; 130,000 +1) came next, along with BBC1’s Outnum­ bered repeat (2.9 million/14%).

Before the madness of Euro­ vision, ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent got itself done and dusted with the week’s best: 8.7 million/41% (700,000 +1) for an hour from 7pm. From 8pm, and for nearly three-and-a-half hours, Eurovision 2014 averaged 8.8 million/42%; the best since 2011’s 9.5 million/ 40%, beating it on share, and the second best in the past nine years.

Opposite at 8pm, ITV’s Amazing Greys withered to 2.1 million/9% (300,000 +1).

On Sunday, BBC1’s best was Countryfile at 7pm with 6.3 million/31%, ahead of ITV’s Catchphrase (3.4 million/18%; 140,000 +1) and Off Their Rockers’ 3.4 million/16% (140,000 +1). At 8pm, ITV’s Vera ticked up on last week by 400,000 to 5.6 million/24% (400,000 +1), ahead of Antiques Roadshow (5.1 million/22%) at 8pm and The Crimson Field’s 5.1 million/22%; 600,000 up on last week.

See over for digital focus, plus channel and genre overviews 16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 33

Ratings Mon 5 May – Sun 11 May Channel Overview

BBC2 pots a TV winner BY stephen price

So that’s that then: another year’s wait until a waistcoated world champion contender vigorously chalks his cue while pondering the balls on the baize. Meanwhile, ace adventurer and woodland menu item Bear Grylls dropped some chaps on an island to fend for themselves, kicking off a decent week for Channel 4.

On Bank Holiday Monday, C4 launched The Island With Bear Grylls to 1.9 million/8% (290,000 +1) at 9pm. Opposite for an hour, BBC2’s snooker averaged a winning 3.7 million/15%. Overall from 7pm, the final averaged 3.5 million/15%, up from 2.7 million/ 13% for 2013’s less tense affair.

On Tuesday at 8pm, BBC2’s The Big Allotment Challenge (1.9 million/9%) perked up from last week’s low (1.7 million/8%) and remained ahead of Channel 5’s The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door (1.4 million/7%; 100,000 +1) and C4’s Embarrassing Bodies: Live From The Clinic (1.1 million/6%; 200,000 +1).

C4’s The Supervet began at 8pm on Wednesday to 1.5 million/ 7% (240,000 +1). Opposite, BBC2’s Under Offer: Estate Agents On The Job achieved 1.5 million/7% but C5’s new series Minute By Minute: 7/7 Commuter Carnage drew just 390,000/2% (43,000 +1).

On Friday, BBC2’s Great British Menu averaged 1.6 million/8%.

Source: BARB

WEEK 19 Average hours per viewer Daytime share (%) Peaktime share (%) w/c 05.05.14 Peaktime share (%) w/c 06.05.14 Year to date Average hours per viewer Audience share (%) Audience share (%) 2013

BBC1 5.71 20.49 23.33 22.66 BBC1 5.86 21.89 21.35

BBC2 1.43 5.34 7.02 6.18 BBC2 1.77 6.60 5.60

ITV1 3.40 10.88 18.30 21.90 ITV1 4.12 15.39 16.38

C4 1.45 5.41 6.39 5.99 C4 1.54 5.76 5.99

Viewers (m) (all homes)

34 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Total 25.20 100.00 100.00 100.00 Total 26.76 100.00 100.00

Top 30 bbc2, channel 4 and channel 5 Title

Day

Start

Share %

Broadcaster

1

World Championship Snooker

Mon

19.00

2

Gogglebox

Fri

21.00

3.51

15.21

BBC2

3.22

15.42

3

24 Hours In A&E

Wed

21.00

C4

2.86

13.29

4

The Island With Bear Grylls

Mon

C4

21.00

2.22

8.96

5

World Championship Snooker

C4

Mon

14.00

2.12

20.14

6

BBC2

Great British Menu

Tue

19.30

2.03

10.58

BBC2

7

The Big Allotment Challenge

Tue

20.00

1.85

9.22

BBC2

8

Gardeners’ World

Fri

20.30

1.82

8.04

BBC2

9

Watermen: A Dirty Business

Tue

21.00

1.80

8.33

BBC2

10

The Supervet

Wed

20.00

1.75

8.07

C4

10

Posh Pawn

Thu

20.00

1.75

8.00

C4

10

Mr Drew’s School For Boys

Tue

21.00

1.75

8.10

C4 BBC2

13

The Minster

Fri

20.00

1.67

7.90

14

Alan Carr: Chatty Man

Fri

22.00

1.65

10.37

15

Great British Menu

Fri

19.30

1.58

8.16

BBC2

16

Great British Menu

Mon

18.30

1.54

8.19

BBC2

16

QI XL

Sun

22.00

1.54

9.11

BBC2

18

Man On A Ledge

Sat

21.00

1.52

7.10

C4

19

Fargo

Sun

21.00

1.48

6.41

C4

C4

20

The Comedy Vaults: BBC2’s Hidden Treasure

Sun

21.00

1.46

6.24

BBC2

21

Dad’s Army

Sat

20.00

1.45

6.72

BBC2

21

Under Offer: Estate Agents On The Job

Wed

20.00

1.45

6.68

BBC2

21

The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door

Tue

20.00

1.45

7.21

C5

24

Great British Menu

Wed

19.30

1.42

6.95

BBC2

25

The Birth Of Empire: The East India Company

Wed

21.00

1.40

6.53

BBC2

26

Great British Menu

Thu

18.30

1.38

7.73

BBC2

27

For The Love Of Cars

Sun

20.00

1.37

5.98

C4

28

NCIS

Wed

21.00

1.36

6.32

C5

29

Embarrassing Bodies: Live From The Clinic

Tue

20.00

1.34

6.68

C4

29

NCIS

Fri

21.00

1.34

6.41

C5

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Multichannel 41.47

Audience for The Comedy Vaults: BBC2’s Hidden Treasure at 9pm on Sunday

Others 12.24 53.60 41.47 39.56 Others 12.42 46.41 46.69

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

daytime share (%) w/c 05.05.14

peaktime share (%) w/c 05.05.14

1.4m

C5 0.97 4.28 3.49 3.70 C5 1.06 3.95 4.00

BBC1 23.33

ITV 18.30

C5 3.49 C4 6.39

BBC2 7.02

Multichannel 53.60

1.8m Channel 4’s new factual series The Supervet got off to a strong start on Wednesday at 8pm

BBC1 20.49

ITV 10.88

C5 4.28

BBC2 5.34

C4 5.41

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Genre Overview

Source: BARB

Top 10 children’s programmes Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

What’s New Scooby-Doo? How To Train Your Dragon Splatalot Newsround How To Train Your Dragon Grandpa In My Pocket Gigglebiz Newsround Peter Rabbit The Dumping Ground

Top 10 Factual programmes

Day

Start

Viewers (Age 4-15)

Share (%)

Channel

Fri Sun Thu Fri Fri Wed Wed Wed Sun Mon

16.00 09.25 16.30 16.25 17.00 17.30 17.15 08.15 09.00 09.10

208,500 203,900 195,800 195,500 191,800 179,300 179,100 175,300 174,300 173,500

28.99 17.14 14.94 25.05 16.33 13.33 13.43 16.79 16.77 16.87

CBBC CBBC CBBC CBBC CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBBC

How To Train Your Dragon

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Vera Happy Valley Prey The Crimson Field Holby City Lewis Fargo Midsomer Murders NCIS NCIS

UP Countryfile adds 970,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Off Their Rockers Outnumbered Miranda Miller’s Mountain The Big Bang Theory The Comedy Vaults Dad’s Army Benidorm The Simpsons The Simpsons

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Tue Mon Sun Tue Fri Sun Sun Wed Fri

20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 16.20 21.00 21.00

5.97 5.45 5.11 5.05 4.62 2.89 1.48 1.45 1.36 1.34

25.84 25.26 20.62 21.60 23.03 13.83 6.41 9.50 6.32 6.41

ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV C4 ITV C5 C5

DOWN Prey falls 870,000

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Sun Thu Wed Fri Thu Thu Tue Wed Mon

19.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.30 19.00 21.00 19.00 19.00 19.00

6.25 5.12 5.02 4.94 4.57 3.86 3.79 3.70 3.63 3.62

30.59 22.41 22.92 22.73 20.14 20.80 18.16 20.62 18.57 17.53

BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1

Agnetha: Abba And After

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Britain’s Got Talent Have I Got News For You Pointless Celebrities Pointless Pointless National Lottery: In It To Win It Pointless Big Star’s Little Star Catchphrase Pointless

DOWN Lewis down 130,000

UP Britain’s Got Talent up 170,000

UP Vera rises 440,000

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sat Fri Sat Mon Wed Sat Thu Wed Sun Tue

19.00 21.00 18.20 17.45 17.15 19.10 17.15 20.00 18.45 17.15

9.39 4.54 4.44 4.19 3.72 3.60 3.58 3.56 3.55 3.46

44.48 21.15 25.25 25.52 28.17 16.92 26.39 16.38 18.26 29.07

ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1

DOWN Parking Mad drops 160,000

UP HIGNFY gains 120,000

Top 10 music & Arts programmes

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Fri Mon Tue Thu Sun Sat Mon Wed Thu

19.30 21.30 20.30 22.40 20.00 21.00 20.00 22.15 18.00 18.00

3.66 2.89 2.28 1.83 1.61 1.46 1.45 1.30 1.14 1.08

17.37 14.23 9.24 14.51 7.30 6.24 6.72 8.63 7.06 6.68

ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 E4 BBC2 BBC2 ITV C4 C4

next week sport and Current Affairs www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Countryfile Antiques Roadshow MasterChef MasterChef MasterChef The One Show Parking Mad The One Show The One Show The One Show

Day

Top 10 Entertainment programmes

Day

Top 10 comedy programmes Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Off Their Rockers

Top 10 Drama programmes Title

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 10

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Agnetha: Abba And After Perspectives: Emeli Sande…

Eurovision Semi-Final Later Live... With Jools Holland Eurovision Semi-Final Alan Bennett At 80 Deborah Kerr: Talking Pictures The Rolling Stones At The BBC Top Of The Pops: 1979

Sat Sat Sun Thu Tue Tue Sat Sat Fri Thu

20.00 23.55 22.00 20.00 22.00 20.00 21.00 13.50 22.10 19.30

8.79 1.58 0.85 0.66 0.62 0.56 0.46 0.38 0.38 0.36

41.93 21.84 5.26 3.11 3.40 2.68 2.06 3.76 2.35 1.82

BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC3 BBC2 BBC3 BBC4 BBC2 BBC4 BBC4

See over for demographic and digital focus 16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 35

Ratings Mon 5 May – Sun 11 May Demographic Focus Channels

Individuals Share (%)

Source: BARB

Adults ABC1 Share (%)1

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

BBC1

21.28

25.31

48.50

12.09

9.89

20.56

44.36

21.90

55.64

ITV

15.49

14.35

37.78

12.36

13.90

12.28

36.40

18.21

63.61

BBC2

7.24

8.11

45.63

4.53

10.89

9.11

57.74

5.66

42.26

C4

5.23

5.49

42.81

7.18

23.90

4.75

41.74

5.63

58.26

C5

4.04

3.44

34.77

3.79

16.36

3.59

40.81

4.42

59.18

ITV2

2.50

2.16

35.21

4.43

30.90

2.16

39.66

2.79

60.35 64.02

ITV3

2.24

1.99

36.18

0.62

4.79

1.76

35.97

2.66

E4

1.93

1.88

39.74

5.53

49.95

1.80

42.91

2.04

57.06

Sky Spts 1

1.83

2.34

52.11

2.48

23.53

2.76

69.11

1.05

30.87

BBC3

1.39

1.34

39.34

3.43

42.96

1.60

53.00

1.21

47.07

ITV4

1.38

1.47

43.20

1.18

14.89

2.09

69.20

0.79

30.79

Film 4

1.35

1.17

35.22

1.10

14.20

1.67

56.98

1.07

43.03

Dave

1.29

1.27

40.27

2.25

30.36

1.72

61.18

0.93

38.84

More 4

1.09

1.16

43.16

1.00

15.96

0.90

37.96

1.26

62.06

BBC4

1.02

1.45

58.01

0.31

5.31

1.07

48.28

0.98

51.76

5 USA

0.85

0.61

29.33

0.52

10.72

0.69

37.55

0.98

62.36

Drama

0.82

0.82

40.76

0.30

6.41

0.68

38.04

0.94

61.99

Sky 1

0.77

0.77

40.79

1.57

35.53

0.82

48.83

0.73

51.17

Yesterday

0.71

0.68

39.28

0.26

6.40

0.88

57.22

0.56

42.76

10%

One in 10 viewers of BBC2 doc Blurred Lines: The New Battle Of The Sexes was 16-24 – up from the 4% average. It also attracted more 25-34s: 12% vs 9% average. The doc was fairly evenly divided in gender terms: 47% male vs 53% female (slot average: 50%/50%).

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

Talent sees off Eurovision

BY Stephen Price

In Blackadder III, Prince George declared himself as thick as a whale omelette, but even he’d have known a hit when one clouted him. BBC4’s Georgian commissioners certainly do. Elsewhere, BBC3’s Eurovision semi-finals luckily didn’t go to penalties, while ITV2’s talent kept thriving.

BBC4’s The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain achieved 1 million/5% on Thursday at 9pm, just 200,000 short of last week’s opener.

The best of BBC3’s Eurovision semi-final build-up was Thursday’s 660,000/3% at 8pm, ahead of Tuesday’s 558,000/2.7%. The average of the two (609,000/2.9%) was better than last year’s (586,000/ 2.7%). Despite Eurovision on BBC1 opposite, ITV2’s Britain’s Got More Talent at 8pm on Saturday achieved 1.6 million/7%, a fraction behind last week and the second best of this series so far.

E4’s best was, as ever, The Big Bang Theory on Thursday at 8pm with 1.6 million/7%.

36 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

Source: BARB

digital homes

Top 30 multichannel programmes Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 12 14 15 16 17 18 18 20 21 22 23 23 25 26 27 28 28 30

The Big Bang Theory Britain's Got More Talent Live Ford Mon Night Football Midsomer Murders Celebrity Juice How I Met Your Mother Live Ford Super Sunday Foyle’s War Live Ford Football Special Hollyoaks The First Georgians POTC: Curse Of The Black…

Hollyoaks Doc Martin Hollyoaks POTC: Dead Man’s Chest Game Of Thrones Live Ford Super Sunday Hollyoaks Made In Chelsea Hollyoaks Only Connect Brooklyn Nine-Nine Britain’s Got More Talent The Big Bang Theory Family Guy The Big Bang Theory Eurovision Semi-Final Britain’s Got Talent Storage Hunters

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Day

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

Start

20.00 20.00 19.00 20.00 22.00 20.30 14.55 20.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 20.00 19.00 19.40 21.00 14.00 19.00 22.00 19.00 20.30 21.00 17.45 18.30 23.40 18.30 20.00 16.40 20.00

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

1.61 1.60 1.19 1.17 1.08 1.07 1.04 1.03 1.01 1.00 0.97 0.94 0.94 0.92 0.91 0.86 0.84 0.83 0.83 0.82 0.76 0.75 0.74 0.74 0.73 0.72 0.67 0.66 0.66 0.65

7.30 7.28 5.40 5.62 6.61 4.91 7.79 4.80 4.88 5.37 4.65 4.26 5.24 4.16 4.87 3.78 3.39 6.02 4.01 4.67 4.37 3.04 3.55 4.35 3.90 6.84 4.24 3.11 4.41 3.34

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

Channels

Share (%)

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

23.03 13.68 5.74 5.60 4.12 47.84 2.65 2.44 1.82 1.60 1.46 1.43 1.41 1.37 1.37 1.17 1.03 1.00

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

462k Audience for BBC4’s Alan Bennett At 80 (9pm, Sunday)

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

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

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Live Ford Monday Night Football Live Ford Super Sunday Live Ford Football Special Game Of Thrones Live Ford Super Sunday Storage Hunters Live Spanish F1 Grand Prix 24: Live Another Day Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Lizard Lick Towing Live Championship Live Football League Live Championship Lizard Lick Towing The Simpsons 24: Live Another Day Spanish F1 GP Qualifying Live Championship New Tricks The Simpsons Storage Hunters Storage Hunters The Simpsons Storage Hunters The Simpsons The Simpsons NCIS Storage Hunters The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Elementary Storage Hunters The Simpsons Bones Storage Hunters Open All Hours Storage Hunters Arrow Hawaii Five-0 Gillette Soccer Special Open All Hours The Simpsons The Simpsons Lizard Lick Towing Open All Hours Top Gear Salvage Hunters Have I Got A Bit More News For You

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

19.00 14.55 19.00 21.00 14.00 20.00 12.00 21.00 20.30 18.30 20.30 19.30 17.00 17.00 20.00 20.00 22.00 12.00 19.30 21.00 20.30 18.00 17.30 20.00 17.00 19.30 19.00 21.00 11.00 19.00 18.00 18.30 21.00 11.30 19.30 21.00 16.00 21.40 16.30 20.00 21.00 12.00 20.20 19.00 19.00 10.00 21.00 17.00 21.00 22.00

1,189,000 1,042,300 1,013,200 839,800 831,100 650,000 642,200 606,100 574,600 471,000 457,400 452,800 429,400 427,300 424,200 420,700 419,700 414,100 403,600 395,300 392,200 388,600 385,100 381,200 380,600 377,300 372,200 360,900 358,200 354,200 352,100 351,200 347,700 346,600 343,700 342,400 340,100 332,500 332,300 329,700 329,100 326,300 326,200 319,400 316,600 315,700 314,000 313,600 312,200 309,200

5.40 7.79 4.88 3.39 6.02 3.34 5.46 2.82 2.79 2.50 2.06 2.16 2.77 2.49 2.00 1.98 2.63 4.54 1.91 1.96 1.76 2.29 2.59 1.70 2.82 1.89 1.99 1.73 4.56 1.98 2.09 1.86 1.61 4.23 1.68 1.59 3.18 1.76 2.79 1.50 1.41 2.54 1.46 1.55 1.70 4.15 1.48 2.04 1.45 1.95

Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 2 Sky Sports 1 Sky Atlantic Sky Sports 1 Dave/T Group Sky Sports F1 Sky 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 2 Dave Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky Sports F1 Sky Sports 1 Drama/Wall To Wall Sky 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Sky 1 Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Fox Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky Living Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky Living Dave/T Group Yesterday Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky Sports News Yesterday Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave Yesterday Dave Quest Dave/Hat Trick Productions

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

24: Live Another Day www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Game Of Thrones

457k Dave import Lizard Lick Towing’s best performance was Wednesday at 8.30pm

Jack’s back with a bang

BY Stephen Price

Jack’s back, covered as he is in scars inflicted by eight series of fist-fights, shootouts, drugs and the odd momentary death. Once more, rogue agent Bauer is rampaging about the place to save a president. Only this time it’s in London – one you sort of recognise, but not all the time (don’t even try watching it with an A-Z to hand; it’ll drive you potty). Elsewhere, it was a familiar tale: thrones, storage and football.

On Wednesday, Sky 1’s 24: Live Another Day launched in primetime at 9pm to 606,000/3% live ratings followed by 420,000/3% for the 10pm part of the double bill. This followed the simultaneous transatlantic late night launch on Monday, which at 1am achieved 11,000/1%. After recording, this nocturnal transmission grew to 554,000/15%.

The best football performance of the week was Sky Sports 1’s Monday coverage of Crystal Palace scuppering Liverpool’s title chances. The match averaged 1.2 million/5% from 7pm, peaking at 8.40pm with 2.3 million/9%.

The best non-football performer was – what else? – Sky Atlantic’s Game Of Thrones with 840,000/ 3% at 9pm on Bank Holiday Monday. The second-best nonfooty show was Dave’s Storage Hunters on Tuesday at 8pm with 650,000/3%.

16 May 2014 | Broadcast | 37

Ratings Mon 28 Apr – Sun 4 May

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Consolidated Ratings

BBC1 is happy in the valley

BY Stephen Price

It’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for valleys, lying as they do beneath the la-di-da hills with all their sun and fresh air. The lowland might feel pride in the melancholy grandeur of mining communities but equally, and not unreasonably, weary with forever being Tennyson’s valley ‘of death’. Punk band The Skids didn’t help by making it quite clear they were narked at having to go Into The Valley at all.

Ironically entitled or not, Happy Valley has perked up the reputation and continued BBC1’s jolly Tuesdays with style as Vera, joining a long line of soulful, shambling TV ’tecs, further enhances ITV’s strong Sunday detectives. Meanwhile there’s no more tomorrows for The Tomorrow People, who will soon be yesterday’s people.

Source: BARB

BBC1: Happy Valley BBC1’s new Sally Wainwright drama Happy Valley launched on Tuesday 29 April at 9pm. It began with a live rating of 6.3 million/ 27%. After almost 1.4 million recorded and watched, it ended on 7.6 million/29%.

Tuesdays at 9pm has become very much BBC1’s drama slot and Happy Valley is continuing that tradition: Shetland enjoyed a series average of 5.7 million/22%, and Death In Paradise a whopping 8.5 million/31%.

ITV: Vera The two consolidated episodes of ITV’s latest four-part series of Vera are hitting new highs. The series launched on Sunday 27 April at 8pm and consolidated to a record 7.6 million/29%. The second episode on 4 May reached 7.2 million/27% after 1.4 million watched via PVR.

E4: The Tomorrow People E4’s The Tomorrow People launched with a bang on Wednes-

day 8 January 2014 at 9pm, scoring its still-unbeaten rating of 1.97 million/7%. It remains E4’s second-best title of the year so far, behind The Big Bang Theory’s 2.7 million/10% on 23 January.

This week’s episode achieved 428,000/1.9% in live ratings, but after more than 470,000 watched via PVR, that grew to 900,000/3.6%. Two more repeats that week added another 360,000.

Then, alas, US network The CW went and cancelled it.

BBC4: The German Kings Who Made Britain BBC4’s three-part series The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain launched on Thursday 1 May at 9pm with a live rating of 1.2 million/5.6%, beating BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the process. After a modest 66,000 recorded and watched, it ended on 1.3 million/5%, making it BBC4’s best factual programme of 2014 to date. Another 200,000 watched the late night repeat, delivering a total of 1.5 million.

Top 30 Consolidated Ratings: ranked by gain

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 13 15 16 17 17 19 19 21 22 22 24 25 25 25 25 29 30

7.6m

Total audience for ITV thriller Prey’s opener, after adding 1.4 million via PVR

UP BBC1’s Over To Bill adds 300,000 via PVR DOWN C5’s Person Of Interest down 320,000 in a later slot

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Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Gain (m)

Gain %

The Crimson Field Prey Vera Happy Valley Casualty Gogglebox Britain’s Got Talent The Mentalist Derek EastEnders MasterChef Coronation Street MasterChef Coronation Street Law & Order: UK Coronation Street The Following Game Of Thrones One Born Every Minute Person Of Interest Fargo Have I Got News For You EastEnders Coronation Street Person Of Interest The Graham Norton Show Elementary EastEnders The Big Bang Theory Criminal Minds

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

21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 20.30 21.00 19.15 22.00 22.00 19.30 20.30 20.30 20.00 19.30 21.00 20.30 22.00 21.00 21.00 22.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 19.30 23.00 22.40 21.00 19.30 20.00 21.00

6.01 7.57 7.17 7.64 5.74 4.04 10.88 1.98 2.07 8.21 4.83 7.74 5.19 8.50 4.54 8.49 0.82 1.71 2.71 1.48 2.14 5.10 8.47 8.05 1.12 3.86 0.94 7.93 2.31 0.93

21.65 28.22 27.00 28.91 26.05 16.26 47.74 10.18 10.22 39.32 19.51 30.97 21.23 40.11 18.11 34.08 4.27 6.58 10.22 7.75 7.75 20.29 36.03 39.20 10.85 24.66 3.53 37.78 9.11 3.47

1.59 1.39 1.38 1.36 1.01 0.98 0.90 0.86 0.80 0.79 0.78 0.77 0.74 0.74 0.70 0.69 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.65 0.64 0.63 0.63 0.62 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.56 0.55

35.90 22.50 23.90 21.60 21.40 32.20 9.00 77.50 63.70 10.60 19.30 11.10 16.60 9.50 18.30 8.80 403.10 62.20 31.40 77.10 43.30 14.10 8.00 8.30 109.20 17.70 162.00 7.90 31.60 147.80

Broadcaster BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 C4 ITV C5 C4 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic C4 C5 C4 BBC1 BBC1 ITV C5 BBC1 Sky Living BBC1 E4 Sky Living

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

38 | Broadcast | 16 May 2014

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Off Cuts

robin.parker@broadcastnow.co.uk

ALL A TWITTER

while an ITV team revealed that it was really an acronym for Illiterate Tramp Virgins. But there could be only one winner: Twofour’s lovingly crafted tribute to the late HR Giger’s iconic Alien design.

“TV Producer” on my train is impressing passenger with his new sitcom plans. Both seem unaware two of the actors are no longer with us.

Winner: Jonny Coller in Alien T-shirt

Twofour has it all sewn up The creative juices were flying at the Edinburgh International Television Festival’s We Love TV Quiz, where a Great British Sewing Bee challenge resulted in a spectacularly tasteless range of T-shirt designs. Off Cuts counted no less than five featuring Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst,

Apparently #PREY is proving hugely popular in the Kuala Lumpur illegal download market. Flattered. Never fuelled a crime racket before.

Pointless co-host and walking encyclopedia Richard Osman (below right) was there to aid Endemol in its quest to repeat last year’s victory, but no dice. Outgoing Edinburgh TV Festival chair Elaine Bedell helped steer ITV Entertainment’s team to the top prize, leaving rival BBC Entertainment for dust in last place. Did the hosts – comedian Mark Watson and Countdown’s Rachel Riley (left) – mark the latter down for BBC Entertainment controller Katie Taylor’s particularly vocal heckling?

@nickmurftweets (Nick Murphy) Director, Prey

Next week, they are sending #bbcqt to Coventry. How ironic. How appropriate, some might say. @alstewitn (Alastair Stewart) Presenter, ITV News

On Monday, Roger Graef played to a packed house at Bafta for a celebration of 50 years of film-making and more than 160 documentaries – “like your own memorial service, without actually dying”, he said.

BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore reeled off Graef ’s list of pioneering ‘firsts’, but struggled for any of his ‘lasts’… except, that is, for his garrulous reputation as the last to bed each night at Sheffield Doc/Fest.

Apparently the last 40 years of BBC2 comedy are an iPad copy that shows only ten seconds of great lost comedy shows. What a craptrunk. @quantick (David Quantick) Writer/broadcaster

David Sonnenthal Dealer, Four Rooms (Channel 4)

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

I used to smoke as a teenager and would constantly tell my parents that it was someone on the bus next to me.

What is your biggest regret in life?

I wish I hadn’t cared so much about what people thought of me in the past.

What TV channel would you most like to launch?

A late-night radio station featuring all original blues music from the 1940s through to the 1980s.

What do you do to relax?

I like to keep fit – usually boxing.

It keeps me cool.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Fine red wine.

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

Always listen to other people carefully and think about what they’re saying or showing you – then make your decision. Never before.

What TV shows would be in your fantasy schedule?

Sopranos, Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad [below], Mad Men. What are the best and worst things about working in TV or radio?

Best: the challenge of putting yourself out there. Worst: watching yourself back on TV.

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AND FINALLY ...

ITV scores Pointless victory

@H_A_Robinson (Hilary Robinson) Radio producer

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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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