Broadcast hot 100 lr by Media Business Insight

Tony Hall - Adam Crozier - Danny Cohen - Kevin Lygo – Sophie Turner-Laing - David Abraham - Marc Watson - Richard Foster Farah Ramzan Golant - Ben McOwen Wilson - John McVay James Purnell - Darren Childs - Tom Mockridge - Peter Fincham Janice Hadlow - Ben Stephenson - Stuart Murphy - Charlotte Moore - Jay Hunt - Elaine Bedell - Zai Bennett - Emma Tennant Ben Frow - Emma Willis - Shane Allen - Richard Klein - John Hay Julian Bellamy - Hamish Mykura - Antonia Hurford-Jones Tabitha Jackson - Cecilia Beacon – THE Jane Featherstone - Kenton Allen - Alex Graham - Anna Beattie - Grace Reynolds - xxxxxxxxxx - Chris Shaw and Emma Read - Ben Bowie - Magnus Temple & Nick Curwin - Paul Broadbent - Patrick Spence - Nicola Shindler Pippa Harris - Gub Neal - Alexander Gardiner - Damien Timmer & Michele Buck - Jeff Pope - Michael Kelpie - Jeff Foulser - John Smithson - Marc - Jane - James Hawes TheMunden industry industr industry’s y ’sTreays lleading eading llights iiggghts hts - Callum Macrae - Penny Woolcock - James Strong - Jim Field-Smith - Ben l Execs & Lowthorpe l Writers Industry Leaders Commissioners Producers l Directors Anthony - OllylLambert - Philippa - Suel Talent Bourne - Leo Maguire - Felicity Lanchester - Jamie Payne - Coky Giedroyc Olivia Colman - Mel & Sue - Peter Capaldi - Jake Humphrey Mishal Husain - Paul O’Grady - David Tennant - Clare Balding Karl Pilkington - Emma Willis - Grayson Perry - Sheridan Smith - Ade Adepitan - Alice Roberts - Stephanie and Dominic Parker Chris Chibnall - Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss - Sally Wainwright - Andrew Davies - Dennis Kelly - Russell T Davies - Alan Cubitt - Heidi Thomas - Sam Bain/Jesse Armstrong - Dominic Mitchell - Jed Mercurio - Tom Bidwell - Julia Davis - Sammy Leifer – Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond

HOT

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Hot 100 2013 LEADER

Time to celebrate success

Of all the supplements that Broadcast produces, Hot 100 is always the one delivered closest to the wire. Not just because we take the political and potentially ego-bruising ramifications of ranking the industry’s creative and strategic forces seriously, but also because talented people have a habit of moving on up. ROBIN PARKER After we compiled our initial list, Channel 4’s SUPPLEMENT Tabitha Jackson announced she was off to Sundance. EDITOR But she’ll still be working with indies, and it would be a shame to ignore her credits just because she’s moving to the US, so she stays. And when last week’s news of her successor John Hay was met with a warm response, we realised we couldn’t leave him out either. We’ve got some of the creative talent behind the big shows, from Educating Yorkshire to Broadchurch and The Great British Bake Off. Success has many fathers but we’ve drilled through the credits to celebrate the people who made their shows sing that little bit louder. Then there are the big signings who we’re all waiting to deliver – from Tony Hall to Charlotte Moore – and whose power and influence is so wide that they naturally rise towards the top of our lists. Elsewhere, our Talent list shows how the Olympics and Paralympics have ushered in new faces and cemented others in the nation’s affections, while a bumper crop of stylish authored dramas across the channels has brought some big names to the Writers and Directors categories. These are the people who have shaped the TV landscape over the past year, and the ones who are taking it forward into a bright – but, as ever, uncertain – future. Time to celebrate success. Finally, a quick note on categories: previously we have covered Digital and Craft here. We’re not ignoring them but have bigger plans for more indepth coverage of the players in these categories in 2014. Watch this space.

Contents 04-07

Industry Leaders

08-11

Commissioners

14-17

Execs & Producers

18-20

Directors

21-23

Talent

24-27

Writers

Broadcast Editor Lisa Campbell Supplement Editor Robin Parker Production Editor Dominic Needham Group Art Director, Media Peter Gingell Contributors Lisa Campbell, Chris Curtis, Alex Farber, Jake Kanter, Jane Marlow, Peter White Deputy Sales Manager Sonya Jacobs Business Development Director Patricia Arescy Group Commercial Director Alison Pitchford

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6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 3

Hot 100 2013 Industry Leaders notch on a remarkable rise through the television ranks. Still only 39, Cohen is overseeing a commissioning budget of just under £1.8bn and a production empire that makes thousands of hours of programming a year. His big mantra is collaboration and growing the BBC’s reputation for world-class content in an age when the competitive landscape is changing following the arrival of platforms including YouTube and Netflix. Cohen is also keen to be a more visible ambassador for BBC television than his predecessors, so expect him to be forthright in his defence of the corporation’s content, and face the music when necessary. Tony Hall: BBC

Tony Hall

Director general, BBC

Tony Hall tops our list, not least because of the sheer scale of his task at the BBC. Plucked from the Royal Opera House, he inherited a broadcaster still reeling from the fallout of the Jimmy Savile scandal and is attempting to sure up its footing on two fronts. Most pressingly, the BBC is yearning for an extended period of stability as it prepares for charter renewal negotiations in 2016, when it will face questions about its entitlement to the licence fee. Hall also has long-term ambitions, which include fixing a vision for what the BBC will look like in its centenary year, 2022, when digital consumption will have transformed the broadcasting landscape. This will centre on making iPlayer the ‘front door’ to BBC content, as well as offering a more personal service for audiences. “People should not be saying ‘the BBC’, but ‘my BBC’,” he said when setting out his vision in October. The signs are encouraging, with Hall making confident decisions and winning plaudits from staff. But with increasingly vociferous political threats, union unrest and further Savile fallout on the horizon, Hall’s honeymoon period is well and truly over. 4 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Adam Crozier Chief executive, ITV

ITV is almost unrecognisable from the business Adam Crozier inherited just under four years ago. The chief executive is successfully implementing a fiveyear transformation plan to wean the commercial broadcaster off its dependence on the advertising market, and develop more reliable engines of growth in production, pay-TV and online. The company has changed culturally too, with relations between ITV Studios and the network rarely so good, and staff buying into the ‘one ITV’ vision in a bid to ward off what chairman Archie Norman has in the past branded a “failure of delivery”. Creatively, ITV is more diverse as well, with Crozier giving director of television Peter Fincham license to tinker with more reputation-building content, such as topical chat show The Agenda.

Danny Cohen,

Director of television, BBC

Danny Cohen’s promotion from BBC1 controller to BBC director of television in April was another

Kevin Lygo

Managing director, ITV Studios

ITV Studios is at the very heart of ITV’s transformation plan and Kevin Lygo was the man appointed by Adam Crozier to spearhead its rejuvenation. Since he took the reins in 2010, the production arm’s revenue has more than doubled from £335m in 2009 to £712m last year, with a particular focus on drama and factual entertainment programming, such as Mr Selfridge. Lygo has also been the protagonist in ITVS’s acquisitions drive, securing deals for seven indies in the past year alone. Three of

Kevin Lygo: ITV Studios www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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12 months, BT Sport has landed a portfolio of high-quality rights, costing at least £1.7bn in total, after signing exclusive rights to the Champions League and Premiership Rugby, as well as a Premier League football package. Watson has shown he has the financial backing to sign big deals and, in describing Sky as like “a rottweiler running away from a new-born puppy”, the nerve for a battle too. Away from the Sport channel, BT has continued to aggressively distribute its YouView set-top boxes. Watson is taking a strategic gamble that could become one of the most audacious shifts in the TV landscape since the launch of Sky.

these purchases have been in the US, where ITVS is now one of the top five independent production outfits. It’s one of the reasons Lygo has taken on more of an international focus, leaving Denise O’Donoghue to oversee its strengthened UK operations.

Sophie Turner-Laing

Managing director, content, Sky

The Sky juggernaut continues to roll on and Sophie TurnerLaing is the one holding the purse strings of a business that in 2012-13 contributed £5.9bn to its UK GDP, with 76% of this revenue retained in the UK, according to Oxford Economics. The former BBC exec, who has been with the pay-TV operator for 10 years, is in charge of all of its entertainment propositions – including Sky 1, Sky Living and Sky Atlantic – plus its eponymous news channel and the recently launched digital streaming service Now TV. Turner-Laing is also leading the broadcaster’s charge to put together biggerbudget international productions to rival US shows such as Game Of Thrones, and is involved in projects such as The Panthers, its Warp Films co-production with Canal+, and Starz co-pro Fortitude. Turner-Laing also oversees Sky Vision, the company’s inter national production and distri bution division, which launched

David Abraham: Channel 4

last year. Another launch, Sky Academy, aims to create oppor tunities for up to 1 million young people by 2020.

David Abraham

Chief executive, Channel 4

Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham may have allowed himself a private grin when director general Tony Hall unveiled his vision for the BBC. Hall’s plan to put iPlayer front and centre, and for licence fee-payers to sign in to a BBC account to get a personalised experience, bears more than a passing resemblance to the

work Abraham has been doing over the past few years at Channel 4. Maintaining (or even growing) share on the main channel remains a big challenge, and as Abraham’s battle with advertisers at the start of the year proved, C4 can’t keep relying on the ‘family of channels’ defence. But with more than 6 million registered 4oD users and new ad models, plus the ad sales account for the new home of Champions League-winning BT Sport, Abraham’s commercial strategy is gaining traction. The chief exec has also floated the idea of investing in fledgling indies. A potentially prickly idea, but one that shows Abraham likes to put innovation at the heart of his thinking.

Sophie Turner-Laing: Sky www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Marc Watson

Chief executive, BT TV

No one in TV has spent more this year than the boss of BT’s broadcast arm, who reached for his chequebook to secure a dizzying raft of sport rights. Over the past

Richard Foster

Managing director, GroupM Entertainment UK

If you spent more than 30 seconds with any producer in the UK this year, talk eventually turned to GroupM Entertainment. Whether they were questioning its business model, asking for its phone number or telling you about its latest commission, the content arm of the WPP-owned ad agency was one of the hottest topics in television. Managing director Richard Foster has been leading this charge, securing more than 30 commissions this year alone, reportedly taking the total number of series it co-produces to more than 100. Foster has done deals for high-profile entertainment series such as Channel 4’s The Alpine Games, with Twofour, and Troy, with ZigZag, as well as bigbudget dramas such as ITV’s Lucan, and most of Channel 5’s current output. As well as securing overall deals with C5, C4 and ITV, he added Sky and multichannel broadcasters such as UKTV to his list this year, and the list looks set ➤ to grow further in 2014. 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 5

Hot 100 2013 Industry Leaders becomes viewed in an increasingly multiplatform capacity – with mobile now accounting for more than 25% of its watch time and with an ever-expanding support for connected TVs – it appears to be in rude health. McOwen Wilson’s challenge is convincing broadcasters and indies that the service remains friend rather than foe.

of the burgeoning VoD and digital markets. 2013 was also the year when Pact was part of the coalition that convinced the DCMS and, even more impressively, the Treasury to offer tax relief to animation plus high-end drama and documentaries. With more than 30 dramas certified between April and November, the impact could by seismic.

Farah Ramzan Golant Chief executive, All3Media

The energetic Farah Ramzan Golant has settled in comfortably to her role at the head of superindie All3Media, which topped this year’s Indie Survey with its £278m UK turnover. While still in the very early days of her tenure, the former AMV boss has managed with little fuss the departure of Steve Morrison – now non-executive chairman – and the exit of chief financial officer Adam Jones. A move to open an All3Media production hub in LA late last year helped secure NBC entertainment show Million Second Quiz, which will help bolster the 50% of revenues the super-indie currently generates from overseas. Ramzan Golant also supported the move by All3Media commercial and digital director Andy Taylor to establish YouTube-focused production company Little Dot Studios. While significant change has yet to occur, these moves nod to her openness to expanding the group’s business. 6 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Chief executive, Pact

Ten years on from what many consider Pact’s finest achievement – the terms of trade agreed as part of the 2003 Communications Act – chief executive John McVay is back at the negotiating table, as determined as ever. Deals that update the terms for the digital era have already been agreed with Channel 4 and the BBC, and talks are progressing with ITV. Channel 5 may be a harder nut to crack, but that won’t deter McVay in his quest to help UK indies make the most

Farah Ramzan Golant: All3Media

John McVay

James Purnell

Director of strategy and digital, BBC

If Tony Hall is the leader of the BBC’s forward advance, then James Purnell is his right-hand man. The former work and pensions secretary is the engine room behind plans to shape the corporation for a sea change in viewing and listening habits. Purnell is also a key figure in the BBC’s Westminster relations, tasked with building bridges with politicians, as well as representing the corporation at events such as Select Committee hearings. His experience in two previous BBC licence fee negotiations, from both sides of the table, will be pivotal to the corporation’s future. His strength may also be his weakness, however, as Purnell is not a favourite among the right-wing press, who will doggedly remind readers that he is Labour to the core.

Ben McOwen Wilson

Director of content partnerships, YouTube

YouTube is becoming a serious rival to traditional broadcasters as it continues to strengthen its position as the de facto video-ondemand service. The Original channels, funded by McOwen Wilson last year during its £10m content push, remain active, with the Broadcast Award-winning Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube alone reaching 500,000 subscribers. While YouTube has now scrapped its funding for the channels, McOwen Wilson continues to secure high-profile talent including Ricky Gervais and Simon Cowell, whose most recent venture, The You Generation, used the platform. As YouTube

James Purnell: BBC www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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to order shows such as Crackanory and Ross Noble: Freewheeling. He’s a keen advocate of the broad caster’s multiplatform strategy and has returned the UKTV corporate logo to viewers’ screens, helping to cross-promote its channels and giving the whole portfolio a stronger identity.

Darren Childs: UKTV

Darren Childs

Chief executive, UKTV

When he’s not cycling to Paris to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK, Darren Childs is the highly skilled, low-key chief executive of UKTV. A key achievement has been managing UKTV’s balancing act –

increasing its Freeview footprint while keeping the pay platforms happy has helped it become the UK’s only genuine hybrid broadcaster, with a significant presence in both camps. Childs also greenlit UKTV’s origination strategy, ramping up its budget to £110m and handing Emma Tennant and the commissioning team the power

Tom Mockridge Chief executive, Virgin Media

After buying the quad-play provider to establish its first hold in the UK market, global content

player Liberty, which is managed by fierce Rupert Murdoch rival John Malone, hired former News International chief executive Tom Mockridge to renew Virgin’s battle with Sky. The New Zealander takes control of a business with approaching 4 million subscribers, including 1.7 million TiVo homes, and has a firm eye on positioning Virgin as an aggregator of services rather than a content player. A deal to carry emerging rival VoD provider Netflix on its platform, joining fellow subscription-based app Spotify, points to the new direction of the business that Mockridge will be charged with navigating. A longer-term, potentially trickier, challenge will be to manage the roll-out of a highspeed fibre broadband network to position Virgin to overtake rivals BT and Sky. Delivering on his promise of speeds that mean movies can be downloaded in four minutes is top of his agenda.

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Hot 100 2013 Commissioners plus The Wrong Mans, Peaky Blinders and The Fall. Firm foundations on which to build this new relationship.

Peter Fincham: ITV

Peter Fincham Director of television, ITV

The ITV rebrand earlier this year was heralded as a landmark moment in the company’s history, highlighting an increasingly confident, coherent proposition. While The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, Coronation Street and Downton Abbey remain valuable workhorses, Peter Fincham has also triumphed with the likes of drama Broadchurch, ent hits Splash! and on-form I’m A Celeb rity, as well as the decision to turn the spotlight on Jimmy Savile in its RTS Award-winning Exposure. The comedy push continues with Vicious and The Job Lot, the latter now joining comedy hit Plebs on ITV2, adding to ratings banker Benidorm. With a deal in place to keep BGT and The X Factor at ITV for another three years, Fincham will be hoping its new Israeli format Rising Star will grow to become a similar megabrand. Meanwhile, Fincham was clearly delighted on stage at Edinburgh when the Broadcast/ TV Festival’s commissioning survey, produced with GfK, showed ITV performed above rival broadcasters in many areas. 8 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Janice Hadlow Controller, BBC2

The launch controller of BBC4 and current controller of BBC2 completed a virtuous circle this year by adding BBC4 to her remit once again. Janice Hadlow will now work with newly appointed BBC4 channel editor Cassian Harrison to provide content that will run across both channels. With BBC2 aiming to take a contemporary spin on a given subject and BBC4 going for a more historical context, it’s Hadlow’s job to preserve the channels’ distinctive voices and remits but deliver a joined-up raft of programming that makes each channel feel more than the sum of its parts. Picking up Broadcast’s Channel of the Year Award last year, BBC2 continues to ride high on the success of The Great British Bake Off – now off to BBC1 –

Ben Stephenson Head of drama, BBC

Ben Stephenson dispelled rumours that he was gunning for the BBC1 top job by announcing it was just too exciting a time in BBC drama to make the move. Instead, he talked about applying the “Danny Boyle vision” to BBC drama to increase the breadth and ambition of his output. From Last Tango In Halifax and Call The Midwife to Doctor Who’s explosive 50th and BBC4’s biopic swansong Burton And Taylor, it would appear he is succeeding. At one end of the scale sits the disturbing psychological drama The Fall, part of BBC2’s reinvigorated drama slate, while more escapist fare includes mytho logical extravaganza Atlantis – with a launch audience of 8.4 million, the biggest new Saturday night drama series since Merlin in 2008. Stephenson’s goal to maintain BBC drama as a cultural institution is gaining traction.

Stuart Murphy Director, Sky Entertainment Channels

After two years talking about Stuart Murphy’s massive commissioning budget, we’re now seeing the fruits of that investment and ambition to take big,

bold creative risks. Sky’s record number of Bafta nominations this year, plus an International Emmy for comedy Moone Boy, is a huge fillip for Murphy. Kudosproduced The Tunnel has proved a much-needed British injection into Sky Atlantic, helping it climb to a 2% share, while Mad Dogs has doubled Sky 1’s slot average and Yonderland is winning over family audiences in the Sunday teatime slot. Murphy is continuing to up the ante with 100 hours of drama across 20 shows, including Ray Winstone in Moon fleet and Jed Mercurio’s Critical. While the spend has led to critical success, in phase two we will see if these dramas, combined with its comedy success, are a big enough engine to power that allimportant subscription growth.

Charlotte Moore Controller, BBC1

Inside Claridge’s, Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die and a little show called The Great British Bake Off already made up an impressive CV for BBC factual controller Charlotte Moore before she was made acting daytime controller and then the big one: controller of BBC1. She was a leftfield choice for some, with big-hitters such as BBC drama head Ben Stephenson, BBC entertainment’s Mark Linsey and ITV’s Elaine Bedell in the frame, but for DG Tony Hall, there was only one choice. Described as “personable” and “unshowy”, and regularly praised by producers in our Indie Survey, Moore joined the BBC in 2006 from the independent sector. It’s this variety of experience and the expectation that she’ll bring a fresh pair of eyes to the mainstays of BBC1’s output – entertainment, comedy and drama – that make her appointment so exciting. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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latest run of commissions has hit a peak with Tiger Aspect’s Crackanory launching with more than 400,000 live viewers, and has made UKTV a go-to broadcaster for independent producers.

Jay Hunt Chief creative officer, Channel 4

It’s been a rocky year for Jay Hunt – albeit with some creative highlights – which began with Charlie Parsons’ criticism that Channel 4’s relationship with the indie sector had turned sour. Much of the attack centred on Hunt’s micromanagement and the criticism continued in the Broadcast/Edinburgh International TV Festival commissioning survey, in which C4 lagged behind its rivals. But something was working well when it came to C4 gems Edu cating Yorkshire, Richard III: The King In The Car Park, The Mill, Utopia and Gogglebox, which are among 2013’s best and most influential shows. The push to widen C4’s supply base has also paid dividends, with plenty of start-up and smaller indies quick to sing Hunt’s praises after winning work from what had previously felt like a closed shop. She may have lost key lieutenants such as Damian Kavanagh and George Dixon, but the Grand National was expertly covered and brought more than 8 million viewers, while C4 dominates the shortlists for News & Current Affairs and Single Documentary for the forthcoming Broadcast Awards.

Elaine Bedell Director of entertainment and comedy, ITV

Not many jobs in programming at ITV come with more respon www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Zai Bennett: BBC3

10 sibility than director of enter tainment and comedy. Not only does Elaine Bedell’s slate include The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, but it’s also widely recognised as the key pillar of the schedule. No pressure then – apart, of course, from the nagging question about what will fill that gap when these shows run out of steam. Commissioning Splash! for Saturday night met with success, while Catchphrase, Off Their Rockers and Through The Keyhole are among the year’s highest-rating entertainment shows, adding to the jubilant return of Saturday Night Take away. Bedell also made a brave foray into new comedy but her task now is to turn Israeli format Rising Star – a talent show with a tech twist – into ITV’s next big Saturday night hit.

Zai Bennett Controller, BBC3

In the third year of Delivering Quality First, finding a watertight raison d’etre for BBC3 has never been more important and its critically acclaimed mental health season, It’s A Mad World, was just the ticket to show BBC3 naysayers that referencing sixyear-old show F**k Off, I’m Ginger has finally had its day. While drama has become a victim of budget cuts – though In The Flesh is an impressive addition – Zai Bennett’s comedy and factual series have boomed. Cuckoo, The

Call Centre and Bluestone 42 have all been awarded BBC1 repeats and Jack Whitehall comedy Bad Education is being reworked for a pilot on US network ABC. With Baftas for Our War and The Revolution Will Be Televised, and the addition of women’s football to his schedule, Zai Bennett’s BBC3 is thriving.

Emma Tennant Controller, UKTV

It was Dynamo that chipped away at UKTV’s reputation as the home of dusty David Jason comedies and Top Gear re-runs. Now, with a budget that puts UKTV commissioning power on a par with BBC3, Tennant has big ambitions to build on its growing success in originating content. In entertainment, this means high-end, talent-driven, riskier formats. Shrewdly playing to her strengths as a flexible broadcaster, Tennant talks about developing passion projects in drama and adopting a commissioning style similar to HBO. Tony Jordan’s series Legion, which will air on newly created channel Drama, is an indicator of the scale of her ambition. Dave’s

Piers Wenger Head of drama, Channel 4

Former Doctor Who executive producer Pier’s Wenger’s buzzwords when he arrived at Channel 4 in 2012 were “scale” and “range”. He wanted the next year of drama output on C4 to be a shop window displaying the diversity of style he hoped would characterise his drama schedule. These were encouraging words that suggested original UK drama would grow under his tenure at the broadcaster. And Wenger was true to his word. The slate he unveiled in March this year was indeed broad and diverse, and summer provided a drama feast, from smash hit The Mill and Dates, by Skins writer Bryan Elsley, to the gritty trio of Run, Top Boy and South cliffe. Big things are expected in 2014, with Peter Flannery’s New World set to be joined by new projects from Russell T Davies, Paul Abbott and Danny Boyle.

Ben Frow Director of programmes, Channel 5

Under Ben Frow’s leadership, Channel 5 was able to say for the first time since it launched in 1997 that it had, for a week at ➤ 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 9

Hot 100 2013 Commissioners least, a higher audience share than Channel 4. Quite an achievement, however small the margin and however nuanced the definition (C4 certainly had a different take on it); moreover, it’s quite ironic that former C4 staples Big Brother and cricket delivered the blow. But the man for whom “share is everything” didn’t want to dwell on the moment. Frow’s focus is on shaking off C5’s downmarket reputation and ensuring it earns respect as a blue-collar channel. He made his mark on the channel quickly with a commissioning team shake-up that signified he’ll take a hands-on approach to commissioning. Super Scroungers was his first order and a return to original UK drama as the stalwart CSI franchise drops away indicates desire to keep the channel fresh and exciting.

Emma Willis

Head of documentaries, BBC1/2/4

When the commissioning editor for documentaries job was left vacant as Charlotte Moore settled into her new role as BBC1 controller, the opportunity was taken to split her duties. Emma Willis was duly appointed head of documentaries for BBC2 and BBC4, leaving BBC3 docs and features for Sam Bickley to look after (they both work across BBC1 commissioning). The Secret History Of Our Streets and The Tube are recent commissions, but she’s probably best known for the triumph that is The Great British Bake Off, a show she’s been with from the start and from which have sprung The Great British Sewing Bee and now Grow, Make, Eat. It’ll be the award-winning commissioner’s job to ensure the delicate balance of homespun yet competitive charm that has made GBBO a success is preserved on its bigger, brasher sister channel. 10 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Shane Allen

Head of comedy, BBC

Shane Allen jumped ship from C4 just over a year ago, leaving the door swinging on acclaimed hits such as Black Mirror, as well as controversies such as Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights, and an infamous parting email and ‘roast-style’ leaving do. The BBC offers the top job in comedy but still the appointment of this maverick surprised some. Nevertheless, Allen is embracing the old and the new as he tries to attract and retain comic talent on a development plan that straddles the BBC’s platforms. While Sky is flinging money at UK content to the tune of £600m, you’d think he’d have his work cut out, but Allen has already commissioned House Of Fools, a sitcom from Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, revived Open All Hours and enticed C4 stalwart Peter Kay to the BBC to make Car Share, which will premiere on iPlayer.

Richard Klein

Richard III: The King In The Car Park: Channel 4

highest-rated programme, the Gracie Fields biopic Gracie!. Other successes include A Volatile History, A History Of Christianity and RTS-award-winning Newswipe with Charlie Brooker. Looking at his work as head of documentaries at the BBC makes his move to ITV seem less incongruous. His orders in that role included Motorway Cops, The Choir and Britain from Above, the kind of populist factual programming that might give a hint of what’s to come at his new home.

John Hay

Head of arts, Channel 4

Director of factual, ITV

Richard Klein’s leap from the rarified atmosphere of BBC4 to the populist slopes of ITV as director of factual in May this year was an intriguing one, to say the least. Klein became controller of BBC4, the channel that applies “a new lens to our artistic and cultural landscape”, in 2008 and went on to commission the channel’s

Tabitha Jackson is a tough act to follow (see right), but John Hay’s appointment as Channel 4 head of arts last week has been well received. As specialist factual commissioning editor at Channel 5, Hay emerged as one of the most respected commissioners in the industry in feedback to our Indie Survey. He’s already slotted nicely into C4 as history commissioner, covering for Julia Har-

rington’s maternity leave. He helped to deliver the event TV of Richard III: The King In The Car Park, which managed to turn an archeological dig into edgeof-your-seat viewing for an audience of nearly 4 million, and made the monarch an unlikely poster-boy for the channel. His other projects range from DDay: As It Happens to Beneﬁts Britain 1949. All eyes will be on how he’ll draw on his arts production experience in his new role.

Julian Bellamy,

Head of production & development, Discovery

Julian Bellamy declared an intention to make global megaseries for Discovery networks. Two years later, he’s talking about survival show One Car Too Far. Never heard of the Dragonfly format? Bellamy doesn’t mind because 100 million people around the world have, which means the grandiose language describing his ambitions for Discovery might not have been as hyperbolic as it sounded. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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For Bellamy, whose worldwide brief means he judges success in terms of tens of millions, this hit compares to the Superbowl. Whatever the concerns over how international ratings are collected, there’s no doubt that Bellamy has succeeded in reaching out into the UK independent sector to broaden its supply base. With Shine, Endemol and All3Media knocking at his door, Bellamy has created a hive of creativity for those wishing to tap into the opportunities its international networks have to offer.

Hamish Mykura

Executive vice-president & head of international content, Nat Geo

The rewards that come with a successful long-running factual entertainment format with international appeal mean that competition to commission the best ideas is intense. Walking into the arena armed with a multimillionpound spend makes Nat Geo’s Hamish Mykura’s job a little easier, as do his connections with the UK independent production sector cultivated while at Channel 4. One project that fulfills his ambition is King Fishers, a 10-part series from ITV Studios that will launch on Nat Geo in the UK and then air on 171 inter national networks before its US

launch. Mykura’s next move is to inject some personality into Nat Geo’s brand by bringing on board presenters that can become the faces of the channel.

Antonia HurfordJones Director, Sky Living

When Antonia Hurford-Jones was appointed boss of Sky Living, Stuart Murphy sent a memo to staff that described her intention to “combine big, broad, stylist brands with cheeky, mischievous entertainment, and that is just the start”. And he was right. In the months since, Hurford-Jones has brought the channel, and the perception of its female audience, into new territory by taking the radical view that women are quite normal and have interests that extend beyond dating, weddings and things that are pink. Rather than gender-defined content, her emphasis is on a shared viewing experience and the move towards US and homegrown drama is paying dividends, with Elementary,

Mount Pleasant: Sky 1

The Blacklist and homegrown comedy Mount Pleasant helping the channel to grow its share by 5% year on year.

Hamish Mykura: Nat Geo www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Tabitha Jackson, Director of Sundance Institute Documentary Film Programme

With budgets getting tighter and the clamour for audience share growing ever more intense, arts programming is always likely to get squeezed. But thanks to Channel 4’s clout, Tabitha Jackson brought big names to the channel. All In The Best Possible Taste With Grayson Perry was universally acclaimed and won a Specialist Factual Bafta, while When Bjork Met Attenborough proved a meeting of minds. Jackson’s heading off to the Sundance Institute in the US to head up its documentary programme, but she’s not cutting ties with UK indies, which will vie for up to 25 international commissions a year.

Cecilia Beacon

Director of broadcast & marketing, Fox

FX UK’s transformation into the more gender-neutral sounding Fox has been powered by a plan to commission up to 50 hours of original UK content. Suddenly, Cecilia Beacon and her £10m commissioning budget started to turn heads. Beacon said the aim was less about attracting more women to the male-skewed channel and more about creating a flexibility that would allow commissioning across new programming genres. Richochet was one of the first to win orders from Beacon, for eight-part series Russians In The City. A greater emphasis on comedy is also part of the plan to revamp the channel’s image. Beacon’s aim is to find content that creates an impact and can sit alongside stalwart shows such as The Walking Dead and Falling Skies. 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 11

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Hot 100 2013 Execs & Producers to BBC1 after averaging 7 million viewers this year, thanks in large part to Beattie’s belief that people obsessed with baking make for more interesting contestants than people who just want to be on TV.

Jane Featherstone, Chief executive, Kudos Film & TV

2013 has certainly been Jane Featherstone’s year; the chief executive of Kudos has shepherded some of the year’s most talkedabout shows, including Broadchurch, Utopia and The Tunnel. Kudos had arguably the biggest drama of the year in Broadchurch, in addition to securing a US remake with Fox, while The Tunnel has been a big hit for Sky Atlantic and Utopia was recommissioned for a second series by Channel 4. Throw in fire service drama The Smoke, which is Sky 1’s big hope for next year, a renewal for ITV comedy Vicious and snagging a first-look deal with Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall’s indie Imaginary Friends Productions. Topping off the company’s 21st year was an Emmy win for Abi Morgan’s Kudos-produced period drama The Hour, leading to BBC1 commissioning Morgan to write crime drama River.

The Tunnel: Sky Atlantic

taking Big Talk into new territory. He broke the company into ITV primetime with sitcom The Job Lot. While it might not have delivered the numbers hoped for, the broadcaster knew a good thing when it saw it and decided to give it another shot in perhaps its most natural home, ITV2. A rare TV drama for the indie, The Town, also aired. Over on E4, he secured pre-watershed drama Youngers, which is also set to return. Allen has also charmed Sky, luring Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe to Sky Arts with A Young Doctor’s Notebook and dusting off C4 pilot Chickens for a full series on Sky 1.

are stagnating, The Voice is entering a new phase with a change of presenter and judges. Graham is leaving quite a legacy after a quarter of a century, but he’s not done yet and will exec the US edition of WDYTYA? – “the one decent idea I’ve had in my life”, as he describes it. He’s shaped this powerhouse into a consistent presence in our Indie Survey peer poll and his succession planning has been spot on, with Leanne Klein taking over as chief exec.

Kenton Allen,

Chief executive, Big Talk

It’s been a big year for comedy producer Big Talk – and not just because it was bought by ITV. Kenton Allen is the comedy producer with the Midas touch right now, cannily seeking out new opportunities in the expanding outlets for comedy and serving up just what the channel wants, while 14 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Alex Graham

Co-founder, Wall to Wall

The co-founder of Wall to Wall is stepping down, but he’s bowing out on a high. In BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? and ITV’s Long Lost Family, the indie has two of the most emotionally engaging factual entertainment hits out there. BBC1 stalwart New Tricks continues to take on all comers, while at a time when many argue that talent contests

Anna Beattie

Grace Reynolds Producer, Educating Yorkshire

Channel 4’s Educating… strand is so warm, well-cast, compelling and sensitively made that it’s easy to forget its first series, Educating Essex, marked the producing debut of one of its key creative forces: producer/director Grace Reynolds. Indeed, Reynolds won an award for Best Producer or Director Debut at the Edinburgh International Television Festival last year. Together with David Brindley, she shaped Essex and follow-up Yorkshire into fascinating glimpses of school life, striving to reflect simultaneously the universality of pupils’ experiences, the idiosyncrasies of each teacher and the character of the local community. These are on the surface simple, narrative-led documentaries, but behind the scenes they’re anything but, with Reynolds and crew facing tricky compliance procedures and rigging up 64 cameras and miles of cable around the classrooms and corridors.

Joint creative director, Love Productions

Anna Beattie’s journey over the past four years is a lesson in sticking with your instincts. Amazing as it seems today, that’s how long it took to get The Great British Bake Off commissioned, and it’s testament to Beattie and fellow chief head Richard McKerrow’s tenacity that it escaped ghettoising as a potential daytime show and proved itself in primetime. The show is the envy of other broadcasters, a global format hit spawning spinoffs such as The Great British Sewing Bee, and is now moving

Steve Anderson Managing director, Peacock Productions

Steve Anderson was one of the driving forces behind Mentorn Media’s success after a nearly a www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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decade at the indie and a sevenyear stint overseeing BBC1’s flagship Question Time – his impact rewarded with a promotion to editorial director of Tinopolis last year. The former Watchdog editor is also behind The Big Questions and BBC3’s Free Speech, and despite the challenges of quick turnarounddocs, his experienced hand has ensured success for the likes of The Cleveland Captives and Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened?, the latter securing over a million viewers for BBC3 and snapped up by broadcasters from the US to China. Anderson is now tasked with establishing NBC News’ factual arm Peacock Productions in the UK, where he will hope to build on its global hit, Skywire Live.

Chris Shaw & Emma Read Editorial director & head of factual and features, ITN Productions

From fast-turnaround docs and big investigations to topical debate show The Agenda, Chris Shaw and Emma Read have turned ITN Productions into a formidable production house that frequently sets the news agenda. This year’s highs include Dispatches: The Police’s Dirty Secret, which peaked at more than 1.5 million viewers. The co-pro with The Guardian included the revelation that undercover police tried to undermine Stephen Lawrence’s family, setting the news agenda for more than a week and provoking an emergency Parliamentary statement from the home secretary. Meanwhile, The Agenda attracted political leaders including the prime minister. But it’s not all about news. In digital, there’s YouTube channel TruthLoader, Premier League clips for News UK and a move into ob docs and fact ent – Sky 1’s Harrow school series being a notable example. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Ben Bowie Managing director, Darlow Smithson

Over the past two years, Darlow Smithson Productions has been about the combined creative forces of Julian Ware and Ben Bowie. With Ware retiring after 40 years in the business, Bowie has stepped up to become managing director. DSP is in good shape, delivering two major Channel 4 hits in the past year: The Mill and Richard III: The King In The Car Park. Bowie will be overseeing follow-ups to both shows next year. He’s clearly attracted to big stories and enjoys straddling the factual and drama divide, with credits including BBC2’s Neil Armstrong: First Man On The Moon and C4 biopic Hawking. With new head of development Charlotte Surtees by his side, Bowie is ushering DSP into a new era.

Made In Chelsea: Channel 4

faith in Temple and Curwin’s formats that it splashed out £19m to buy the company, and its Mipcom stand in October was packed with international buyers and producers eager to hear from the duo. Their potential work with new ITV factual boss Richard Klein is a lip-smacking prospect.

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Magnus Temple & Nick Curwin Co-founders, The Garden

So good they sold their indie twice, The Garden founders Nick Curwin (above left) and Magnus Temple (above right) have a reputation for being among the UK’s most innovative and creative programme-makers. This time a year ago, their indie was wowing viewers with the ob-doc gold of Inside Claridge’s, before 24 Hours In A&E returned to cement its place as one of Channel 4’s most valuable shows. ITV has so much

and some moving moments. It’s up for two Broadcast Awards in February and is also set for a Chinese remake.

Paul Broadbent Producer, Gogglebox

“Why would anyone want to watch people on TV watching TV?” came the cry when Gogglebox arrived on Channel 4 earlier this year. As series two comes to a close, many of us wonder why more people aren’t watching what is simultaneously a brutally honest review show, a portrait of British domesticity and, essentially, a comedy show that’s fast approaching TV Burp territory in the industry’s affections. As series producer, Paul Broadbent deploys his experience blurring genres on the likes of Made In Chelsea and The Only Way Is Essex, expertly casting it to showcase larger-than-life characters with good humour

Patrick Spence Founder, Fifty Fathoms

Fifty Fathoms was set up by former BBC commissioner Patrick Spence in 2010 under the Tiger Aspect umbrella. However, it was earlier this year that Spence, who commissioned and developed the scripts for Line Of Duty and Top Boy, received its first commission: big-budget drama Fortitude. The 13 x 60-minute drama, which was created by Simon Donald and tells the story of a violent crime in the safest town on Earth, is being produced for Sky Atlantic and US network Starz. It is argu ably Sky’s most ambitious drama to date and much of the pressure will fall on the shoulders of Spence, who is exec producing. Fifty Fathoms has a number of developments set up with the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and is also expected to deliver further series for Sky next year. ➤ 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 15

Hot 100 2013 ExEcs & ProducErs quartet of Shakespeare historical plays. Should more Shakespeares come her way, they’ll undoubtedly be prime targets for the new drama tax breaks. But first, Harris will be taking advantage of them for Penny Dreadful, a horror series set in Victorian London for US cable channel Showtime and Sky Atlantic.

The Hollow Crown: BBC2

and Cucumber – for Channel 4. Expect a flurry of attention as TX approaches in 2014.

Nicola Shindler Founder, Red Production Company

RTS North West honoured Nicola Shindler in September when she was interviewed about her career for the annual Antony H Wilson Memorial Lecture. It’s not hard to see why. Red Production Company began 2013 by winning Indie of the Year at the Broadcast Awards, thanks to a powerhouse drama slate that includes the twin juggernauts Scott & Bailey and Last Tango In Halifax. The latter returned last month with more than 6 million overnight viewers, despite coming up against an England football international, and has reminded the industry that a brilliant, older-skewing show can draw huge numbers. Plus, Red ended the year with two eagerly awaited commissions, with Nicola reuniting with Russell T Davies for his spiritual successors to Queer As Folk – Banana 16 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Pippa Harris

Gub Neal Co-founder, Artists Studio

Artists Studio is a boutique indie run by Cracker creator and former C4 head of drama Gub Neal, along with Justin ThomsonGlover and Patrick Irwin. But there was nothing small about its Gillian Anderson-fronted crime drama The Fall, which was a huge hit. The drama, which followed Anderson’s Stella Gibson, a police officer investigating a string of murders in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was BBC2’s highestrated drama launch in eight years and was subsequently recommissioned for a second series and

sold to Netflix in the US. The second run will go into production next year as a result of Anderson’s previous commitments. While Artists Studio only develops a handful of projects each year, the remake of classic John Nettles-fronted cop drama Bergerac for the BBC could be another whopper.

Alexander Gardiner Director, Shiver

If you were mapping the sequence of events, you might say that Alex Gardiner was responsible for bringing down the man who topped our Hot 100 Industry Leaders poll last year: former BBC director general George Entwistle. Not that that would have been his intention when executive producing Exposure: The Other Side Of Jimmy Savile, which blew the lid off decades of allegations of sexual abuse against the late Jim’ll Fix It presenter. His oversight of the project was later rewarded with a promotion to oversee all ITV Studios’ factual

Head of ﬁlm and TV, Neal Street Productions

Two years ago, Neal Street Productions was known more for the films of Sam Mendes than for its fledgling TV drama output. Thanks to co-founder and former BBC drama exec Pippa Harris, this changed overnight when the first episode of Call The Midwife became BBC1’s biggest drama launch in more than a decade with 8 million viewers. Harris had held the project close to her heart after it was pitched to her as a possible feature film, and the rest is history as the show became BBC1’s weapon against Downtown Abbey in the drama ratings wars. Harris also shepherded The Hollow Crown, an ambitious

Endeavour: ITV www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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output under the newly unified banner of Shiver. It wasn’t all hard-nosed current affairs either; his unit created Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs, which averaged just shy of 5.7 million viewers for ITV earlier this year.

Damien Timmer & Michele Buck Managing directors, Mammoth Screen

Former ITV Studios executives Damien Timmer and Michele Buck oversee one of the busiest drama production houses in the UK, boasting an enviably highend slate of shows, including ITV detective show Endeavour and BBC1’s Blandings, based on PG Wodehouse’s Blandings Castle books. Bedding in the Inspector Morse prequel at ITV has been a highlight this year, while Mammoth also secured a headlinegrabbing commission to bring back 1970s period drama Poldark. Along the way, the indie has signed a deal with Syco Entertainment to develop a BBC1 drama on the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, based on Mark Stevens’ free e-book Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and The Lunatic Asylum. Timmer and Buck also produced the finale of Agatha Christie’s Poirot on a freelance basis for ITV.

basis for ITV.

Jeff Pope Head of factual drama, ITV Studios

Docu-dramas are hot this year and Jeff Pope, head of factual www.broadcastnow.co.uk

drama at ITV Studios, has been responsible for his fair share of them. Not only did Mrs Biggs, the series he produced about the wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, win a Bafta for star Sheridan Smith, but he got two major projects off the ground. Two-part factual drama Lucan, which airs this month, with Rory Kinnear in the title role, will tell the story of the playboy aristocrat who vanished in the 1970s after his children’s nanny was murdered. More recently, he has been working on a drama biopic looking straight into the ITV heartland, centring on entertainment star Cilla Black. This marks a slight departure for the writer and producer, who has tended to retell crime stories, as he did in the acclaimed Fred West series Appropriate Adult.

Michael Kelpie

Mark Freeland Head of comedy, BBC Productions

Few can lay claim to overseeing the range of comedy output Mark Freeland does. This year alone, BBC in-house’s head of genre has delivered BBC1’s towering sitcoms Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda, a second series of Citizen Khan (below) and the finale of BBC2’s The Thick of It, as well as reviving Yes, Prime Minister for UKTV’s Gold and making a very decent fist of a suffragette comedy with Up The Women for BBC4 (it’s moving to BBC2 for its second run). That doesn’t even touch on The Wrong Mans, BBC2’s best comedy launch in eight years, or the fact that Freeland convinced David Jason to make a special Open All Hours for Christmas. Like all the best producers, though, you sense that he always wants more.

Creative managing director, Potato

Michael Kelpie’s star has risen at ITV Studios on the back of a string of factual and entertainment hits over the past 18 months. The most established of these shows is ITV daytime quiz The Chase, which has posted record ratings this year and continued to perform after being given a primetime slot. But perhaps the noisiest of his offerings is The Big Reunion. The ITV2 format reuniting former pop bands struck a chord with audiences, and gigs on the back of the show quickly sold out. Kelpie has taken these brands, as well as Britain’s Secret Treasures spin-off Britain’s Secret Homes, into his own label at ITV Studios, called Potato, a nod to his Irish heritage. His team will be free to develop programmes across a variety of genres.

Jeff Foulser Managing director, Sunset + Vine

The launch of BT Sport has helped Sunset + Vine have a good year. The indie has a contract with the emerging broadcaster to produce live coverage of the Premier League football and Premiership rugby union that is thought to be worth more than £100m. This comes as the company,

run by managing director John Leach, has had its Channel 4 production contract extended to cover the broadcaster’s newly acquired American football rights. C4 will become the terrestrial home of the NFL Superbowl, as well as the two games held at Wembley, poaching them from the BBC, and Sunset + Vine will produce all of this content. Additionally, it produced the highlights of this summer’s Ashes for Channel 5, in which England beat Australia three nil.

John Smithson Co-founder, Arrow Media

When John Smithson and Tom Brisley left Darlow Smithson Productions to set up Arrow Media in 2011, it was always likely that they were going to create one of the most interesting factual indies in the UK. This year, Arrow has come into its own with a number of major commissions. It recently won a major order for one-off documentary JFK: The Lost Tapes for the Discovery Channel in the US, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the US president’s assassination. Smithson also steered the indie towards two commissions for Channel 4: Terror In The Skies, its co-production with the US’ Smithsonian Channel, and Dogs: Their Secret Lives. Then there is threepart Hairy Bikers RestoRoad, ration Road which attracted good viewing figures for BBC2, and further US orders including Inside Waco for Discovery ID. 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 17

Hot 100 2013 Directors

Marc Munden Utopia

The colours. That’s what most people took away from Utopia. From the primary yellows of the marketing campaign to the saturated blues and greens of the landscape, Marc Munden’s direction set the off-kilter tone from the outset. From the claustro phobia of the dark, heavy wood of the Network’s offices to wide open fields of heather, Munden flooded the senses with each new location, running with the comic book template in every frame. It cemented a reputation as one of the most striking and innovative directors in the business, adding to a CV that already included The Devil’s Whore and The Crimson Petal And The White. As well as seeing what’s up his sleeve for Utopia 2, viewers will watch with interest what he brings to Black Sails, Starz’ riff on Treasure Island.

Inside Claridges: BBC2

series, pulling in more than 4 million viewers and rapidly becoming the envy of rival broadcasters. A long, varied career has taken in distinctive projects from Tom Daley and Prince William to male prostitutes and heroin addicts, and her fascination with human foibles lent layers of depth to this landmark series.

Jane Treays Inside Claridge’s

It’s testament to Jane Treays’ sharp eye and the investigative instincts that have informed her earlier work that Inside Claridge’s became so much more than a shop window for the luxury Mayfair hotel. Her blunt off-screen questions and tenacity teased out revealing moments and indiscretions from staff and guests, garnered across a year of filming. The access doc was a landmark BBC2 18 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

from Sri Lanka. Screening his films before diplomats, political figures and NGOs globally, Macrae’s fight to expose the oppression of Tamils goes on.

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larly restricted work on BBC4’s Enid and Fanny Hill has shown, Hawes is a man who likes a challenge. The Mill’s success rested on a drama director who could bring to life what risked being a dry subject, and Hawes found both the visual grammar of the workhouse machines in motion and a look and mood that showed the gritty lives the workers faced without letting things get too grim. BBC co-pro The Challenger threw up quite different dilemmas, but played to the cinematic strengths that Hawes had previously brought to Doctor Who.

Callum Macrae No Fire Zone

The thorn in the side of the Sri Lankan government, Callum Macrae’s mission to document the country’s civil war continues to steer him into dangerous territory. Two years on from making Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields for Channel 4, Macrae recently found himself trailed, and later trapped on a train, by pro-government protesters accusing him and his team of being funded by the Tamil Tigers. Such antagonism has become a hallmark of Macrae’s relationship with Sri Lanka. His recent film No Fire Zone was branded “chilling” by David Cameron, who has called for an independent investigation. “I am a celebrity and they want me out of here”, Macrae recently wrote

James Hawes The Mill; The Challenger

James Hawes once said he turned down Downton Abbey because he couldn’t work out what to do with it. What floated his boat instead was a low-budget, fact-based period drama from Channel 4’s history department. As his simi-

Penny Woolcock One Mile Away

Not for the first time, Penny Woolcock’s most recent project succeeding in effecting social change. With exquisite timing, One Mile Away landed on Channel 4 just one day after former prime minister Gordon Brown turned up at MipTV, urging broadcasters to use TV as a force for good. Here was the proof: with typical sensitivity and tenacity, Woolcock documented efforts to end 20 years of gang turf wars in Birmingham. There

The Mill: Channel 4 www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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have been no gang-related deaths in the area since. So hot was some of the material that Woolcock and C4 fought off a legal challenge from West Midlands police to seize the footage. She has admitted fearing for her life and those of the young men, meaning she barely slept for a year. A quarter of a century since her first TV film, Woolcock is still making films that matter. Next up: the world of dog-fighting.

pings set it apart from the pack of ITV’s offerings this year. He’s now helming the opening episode of the US remake and his next project with Chibnall, The Great Train Robbery (below left), airs this month.

The Wrong Mans: BBC2

James Strong Broadchurch; The Great Train Robbery

Following single drama United, James Strong and Chris Chibnall’s next collaboration propelled both to new heights. Strong turned the “big images” of Chibnall’s script, which wove the Jurassic cliffs of Dorset’s West Bay into the story, into a compelling backdrop for the drama of the year. Scenes were often shot without rehearsal to capture the spontaneity and rawness of its grieving protagonists’ interactions as part of Strong’s drive to present a middle ground between grim and gritty and sanitised ‘chocolate box’ dramas. Here was the British seaside in all its contradictions, with barbed wire and litter carrying on the lapping waves of the beautiful beach. Strong’s understanding of the character drama behind the crime trapwww.broadcastnow.co.uk

Jim Field-Smith The Wrong Mans

For James Corden and Mathew Baynton’s BBC2 action comedy The Wrong Mans to work, it needed to look like a Hollywood movie. Jim Field Smith, a former comedy performer who’d helmed a couple of movies before cutting his TV teeth on Episodes, proved the right man to deliver 30-minute glossy chunks of stunts and explosions. He did this by keeping it real, ruling out CGI, demanding that the cast did their own stunts and urging them at script stage to write every detail into the script and not to let up the action – “pushing us to make it faster, bigger and edgier”, as Corden has noted. The end result: a British comedy that looks like no other.

haunting 7/7: One Day In London lay simply in letting ordinary people affected by the London bombings of 2005 talk, over simple shots of the areas of devastation, leaving the distressing scenes to viewers’ imaginations and memories. Anthony picked up a Grierson Award for the film, and an almost overwhelming cavalcade of testimonies from the bereaved, survivors and emergency workers. Unfolding over 90 minutes, it captivated 1.7 million viewers when it aired last year.

Ben Anthony 7/7: One Day In London

It was a risky move: recreating a terrible moment in recent British history using the testimony of witnesses to the event. But Ben Anthony had form in handling difficult material on Sectioned, his earlier film inside a mental health unit. His strength on BBC2’s

Sunni Muslim fighters and proregime Alawite loyalists, where scores of journalists have been injured or killed. A humane and honest film-maker, Lambert excels at revealing the impact of war on the ground among the fighters in what he calls a “vortex of horror”.

Olly Lambert Syria: Across The Lines

Filming on both sides of Syria’s civil war, Olly Lambert “brought a documentary eye to a very chaotic news situation”, according to the Rory Peck Trust, which last month bestowed upon him the Features Award at its annual celebration of investigative journalism. “A brave, revealing, depressing film”, declared The Independent, one of many voices to praise Lambert’s bravery in taking a 4,500-mile round trip to smuggle himself into the one mile no-man’s land that separates

Philippa Lowthorpe Call The Midwife

The first woman to receive a Bafta Craft Award for Fiction Directing, Philippa Lowthorpe shaped the vision for BBC1’s Call The Midwife as its lead director. Hiring the director of Ipswich serial murder drama Five Daughters proved a masterstroke for producer Neal Street, with Lowthorpe bringing sensitivity to some of Midwife’s more emotional storylines and giving it a degree of toughness that ensured it would not be just another light period drama for Sunday nights. Filming has just wrapped on her latest project, BBC1’s adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn, and Lowthorpe is heading up an all-female directing team ➤ on Midwife’s third series. 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 19

Hot 100 2013 Directors

Sue Bourne

Fabulous Fashionistas

The arrival of a new Sue Bourne documentary always feels like a treat in the schedules, but the director hit new heights with her delightful Cutting Edge film Fabulous Fashionistas. Meeting five women with an average age of 80, she presented an upbeat, inspiring film that questioned assumptions about ageing without patronising its subjects or hitting the audience over the head with a message. In classic Bourne style, a simple concept became a hook to explore the minutiae of everyday lives and the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, never shying away from the frightening aspects of mortality but ultimately celebrating the colourful lives of a group of women determined to accept and embrace the moment.

Leo Maguire Dogging Tales; Gypsy Blood

It’s all about the masks. Channel 4’s True Stories film Dogging Tales contained many potentially disturbing or odd scenes, but the offthe-shelf animal masks used to disguise its subjects’ identities added an extra twist to this unusual film. To prepare for the film, Maguire drew on his photo graphy background to capture clandestine pictures of the doggers in action, before embarking on 20 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

the lonely job of travelling the country persuading people to consent to be filmed. Visually, he captured what he called the “magical and sometimes sinister quality” of its woodland setting, depicting its subjects as creatures of the night in an odd fairytale. The subject matter helped the doc attract big numbers for C4 – around 2.5 million. And Maguire’s arty, visceral take is known to be inspiring young film-makers. Africa: BBC1

Felicity Lanchester Africa

Researching environmental issues for BBC1’s Frozen Planet, Felicity Lanchester (née Egerton) never got to travel to the Poles. But on the follow-up for the Natural History Unit, Africa – four years in the making – she ventured to Sierra Leone, Kenya, South Africa and elsewhere, stepping up to the director’s plate for a series rich in big moments, from night-time scenes with the forest elephants of the Congo to blind baby rhinos and neck-entwined battles between giraffes. Building on her earlier work on BBC2’s Africa’s Great Rift, Lanchester took crews from the largest underground lake in the world to the skies for some epic helicopter shoots. The astonishing images propelled the series to big numbers – 11 million across two weekly showings – raising the bar once again for natural history film-making.

Dogging Tales: Channel 4

Jamie Payne

Doctor Who; The White Queen

From Ashes To Ashes to Call The Midwife and The Hour, Jamie Payne has worked on some of the most interesting dramas of recent years. But he stepped up a gear in 2013 with episodes of flashy US drama Da Vinci’s Demons and BBC/Cinemax co-pro The White Queen. Nevertheless, all eyes will be on him this Christmas when, as director of the Doctor Who Christmas special The Time of The Doctor, he’ll prepare viewers for Matt Smith’s swansong and usher in Peter Capaldi’s era. He previously brought some scares to the series when he directed Neil Cross’s ghostly haunted house tale Hide. Here, the canvas will undoubtedly be bigger, but it’s the emotions of the story that’ll bear his striking imprint.

The White Queen: BBC1

Coky Giedroyc

What Remains; Spies of Warsaw; Penny Dreadful

More than just a murder mystery, BBC1 thriller What Remains was a study in urban isolation in which almost all of the action took place within the claustrophic confines of a house. Filming in a 40-foot high set containing all five flats within the building, Coky Giedroyc suffused every frame with dread, with winding aerial views of a purpose-built staircase constantly disorientating the viewer. Riffing on Hitchcock classic Rear Window, Giedroyc expertly cranked up the unease throughout. Earlier credits, from The Hour to Oliver Twist, demonstrate her versatility and she’s aiming high with her next project: Penny Dreadful, Sam Mendes and John Logan’s Victorian horror series for Showtime.

What Remains: BBC1 www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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TALENT

Olivia Colman

The man who has been at the forefront of BBC Sport at the European Championships and Olympics, and the anchor of the BBC’s Formula One coverage, also still had one foot in the BBC this year when his quiz show Beat The Pack aired in March.

Broadchurch; Run; Rev; Twenty Twelve; Peep Show

The most in-demand actress of the moment, it’s the diversity of Olivia Colman’s CV that sets her apart from the crowd. Her background in comedy hits Peep Show, Rev and Twenty Twelve is well documented, but this year she extended her range and TV profile even further. She brought a naturalness to the role of DS Ellie Miller in Broadchurch and her chemistry with co-star David Tennant encapsulated the success of the ITV hit, in which she will return for series two. In Channel 4’s Run, her portrayal of a single mother of feral boys on a London estate brought unexpected depth to a gritty story. All this plus more Rev, David Nicholls’ The 7.39 and Big Talk’s Mr Sloane means she’ll (happily) continue to be inescapable.

5 Olivia Coleman: Run

Mel & Sue

The Great British Bake Off

When Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins reunited for a low-key BBC2 baking show, it didn’t feel like TV history in the making; it was more a fun chance to see if their pair’s cheeky banter was still intact. Three years on and much of The Great British Bake Off’s phenomenal success has been attributed to Mel and Sue’s humour, and their rapport with the amateur bakers. The show lives or dies by its warm, inclusive and supportive tone, and the pair almost invisibly will the contestants along before they face the judgement of Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood – and lend their shoulders for departees to cry on. They are a dead cert for the BBC1 transfer and both continue to be in demand in their own right. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Peter Capaldi

Doctor Who; The Thick Of It; The Musketeers

Forget everything Peter Capaldi (below) has done until now: acclaimed sitcom The Thick Of It, forget it; The Hour – his dour Scottish head of news was fantastic – forget that too. The Devil’s Whore, Skins – he played Sid’s dad, remember that sweet one with the glasses from series one? No, actually, don’t – forget it. Waking The Dead, Peep Show, Foyle’s War, The Vicar Of Dibley – forget them all. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor and, in the year of the cult series’ 50th anniversary, it doesn’t come more bad-ass than that. A mere glimpse of his eyebrows was enough to elicit shrieks among cinemagoers watching the 3D special. Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat even says Capaldi’s performance is the kind that makes you forget anyone else ever played the Doctor. Taxi for Matt… Who?

Jake Humphrey

BT Sport; Beat The Pack

BT has invested a huge amount in football, paying £738m last year to air Premier League matches, and now it’s wrested the rights to the Champions’ League and Europa League matches away from Sky and ITV for a cool £897m. All it needed was a gold-plated presenter to bring this content together and it found that person in Jake Humphrey. Declaring he was on a mission to change the way football is broadcast, he described the past year as the “strangest, yet most exciting, year of my working life”.

Mishal Husain Today; BBC Olympics coverage

There have been others before her – Libby Purves, Sue MacGregor and Sarah Montague – but Mishal Husain’s arrival as a core member of Radio 4’s Today programme caused something of a stir. In the wake of accusations of the flagship show marginalising women’s voices, DG Tony Hall made it clear that having another woman in the line-up was extremely important. So was Husain’s a token appointment? Not a bit. The former presenter of Sunday’s BBC News At Ten soon silenced the skeptics with an impressive, authoritative style that means she more than holds her own. Husain was also part of the BBC’s Olympics coverage; maybe one unexpected legacy of the Games is how it helped the cream of BBC’s female presenters rise to the top.

Paul O’Grady

For The Love Of Dogs; Paul O’Grady’s Working Britain

Paul O’Grady has a rare ability to move between channels and it’s testament to his combination of 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 21

Hot 100 2013 TALENT cheeky charm and Lily Savagestyle quick wit that audiences love him wherever he turns up. Although his chat show The Paul O’Grady Show started back on ITV this month after a fouryear gap, he’s had to temporarily hand over the reins for health reasons. But it’s been another stellar year for O’Grady as once again he made the nation laugh and cry on a weekly basis during ITV’s phenomenally successful Paul O’Grady – For The Love of Dogs, set in Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Whether he’s talking to celebrities, rescuing dogs or searching for the working class in the BBC’s Paul O’Grady’s Working Britain, this seasoned presenter has rarely been off our screens.

David Tennant

Broadchurch; Spies Of Warsaw; The Escape Artist

David Tennant has come a long way since he attracted the attention of Russell T Davies, who cast him as the impish, energetic, eponymous hero in Red Productions’ Casanova in 2005. The gangly Scott has made some inspired project choices – this year alone, he’s starred in Broadchurch, Spies Of Warsaw, The Politician’s Husband and The Escape Artist, with a brief nod to his fortune-maker in Doctor Who’s anniversary special The Day of the Doctor. Reprising his role in the US remake of Broadchurch may signify the next stage of his career

Clare Balding: Channel 4 Racing 22 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

David Tennant: The Escape Artist

if audiences succumb to his boyish charm as entirely as we Brits seem to.

Clare Balding

Channel 4 Racing; Clare Balding Presents

After winning over the nation with her coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012, it’s hard to imagine how things could have got any better for Clare Balding. But they have. If anything, this year Balding has been even more omnipresent. Turn on the television and you see her doing the racing for Channel 4, turn on the radio and you hear her saying Good Morning Sunday on Radio 2 as well as her Ramblings

on Radio 4. She’s at Wimbledon for the BBC and has even bagged her own talk show on BT Sport: Clare Balding Presents. But she’s everywhere for good reason. A natural broadcaster with the ability to bring viewers close to the action, the depth of knowledge and passion she brings across so many different media and genres is infectious.

comedy hitter for Sky, pulling in audiences above 1.4 million, and is rapidly becoming a (rather bewildered) face of the channel.

Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington: The Moaning Of Life

Is it his real persona or just an act? The perennial question asked about Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s former radio producer-turned-sidekick is practically redundant now: despite everything, reluctant traveller Karl Pilkington (right) is now a master of the comedy travelogue. Untethered from his comedy partners/ tormentors, Pilkington tackled serious matters from happiness to marriage and childbirth in his Sky 1 series The Moaning of Life, but his pearls of wisdom were as inspired and funny as ever. He’s a big

Emma Willis

The Voice; Big Brother

Filling the shoes of the original Big Mother, Davina McCall, as Big Brother’s anchor on Channel 5 must have been a tall order, even for Emma Willis, who had enjoyed success on Big Brother’s nursery slope show Bit On The Side. Despite the pressure of the comparisons, her performance was described as brilliant, warm and funny by McCall herself. And the rise and rise of the former MTV presenter continues. Named as the new co-host of BBC1’s flagship talent show The Voice, she joins a revamped team that includes www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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that’s not impressive enough, she’s also a TV presenter extraordinaire: Coast, Wild Swimming, The Incredible Human Journey and Origins Of Us are just some of her credits – and she finds time to write popular science books too. But this year, the academic giant took on Ice Age Giants, taking the viewer 40,000 years back in time on the trail of the beasts of the last Ice Age. She drew viewers in with her passion and scared us to death with the idea that scientists are on the verge of being able to bring these prehistoric animals back from the dead.

Kylie Minogue. Willis’s Big Brother experience of getting the best out of over-emotional contestants in high-pressure situations will no doubt stand her in good stead on Saturday primetime BBC1.

Grayson Perry

All In The Best Possible Taste With Grayson Perry

When Grayson Perry won the Turner Prize in 2003 for his ceramics depicting death and child abuse, the BBC’s rather low-key online headline read ‘Transvestite potter wins Turner’. Who could have predicted that 10 years later that same transvestite potter would be the first visual artist to deliver the BBC’s own Reith Lectures? It’s not only the BBC that has fallen for Grayson’s charm and insight. The artist and social commentator has been celebrated by that other venerable institution, Bafta, for his Channel 4 show All In the Best Possible Taste With Grayson Perry, in which he proved himself a born communicator with a natural rapport with the public. Even the Queen sat up and took notice this year by awarding the man whom one reviewer called “a true wizard” a CBE for his services to contemporary art.

Sheridan Smith Mrs Biggs; Dates; The 7.39

ITV’s Mrs Biggs aired in autumn 2012, but the love was still being felt well into this year as Sheridan Smith won Best Leading Actress at the Baftas. Her emotionally charged portrayal of Charmian (right), wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, was followed up this year with Dates, Bryan Elsley’s contribution to Channel 4’s Mating Season. David Nicholls’ The 7.39 is in the pipeline for the BBC and pairs her with that other www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Grayson Perry: All In The Best Possible Taste

actress of the moment Olivia Colman. As her ability to move effortlessly from frothy musical Legally Blonde to the dark recesses of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic and Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream has shown, she’s an actress who refuses to be stereotyped.

he can turn his hand to current affairs too. A meeting with C4 head of news and current affairs Dorothy Byrne encouraged him to become one of the faces of C4 strands Unreported World and Dispatches, with investigations into the benefits system, Cuban basketball and Nigeria’s polio epidemic.

Ade Adepitan

Paralympics; Dispatches; Unreported World

It’s hard to believe that the iconic hip-hop ident Ade Adepitan shot for the BBC was back in 2002. Since then, the Lagosborn, East London, settled-wheelchair basketball player has won gold with the British Wheelchair Basketball Paralympic team and a different kind of gold as a member of Channel 4’s team that brought us the London Paralympic Games 2012. For that achievement, the precious metal came in the form of a Bafta. The charismatic, inspirational front man has proved

Alice Roberts

Ice Age Giants; Origins Of Us; Coast

Alice Roberts is a clinical anatomist and professor of public engagement in science at the University of Birmingham. As if

Steph & Dom

Gogglebox; Four In A Bed

With their fondness for a tipple and explicit tirades, posh Stephanie and Dominic Parker (below) reveal the key to Gogglebox’s success: perfect casting. Steph is surprisingly potty-mouthed; her recent Russell Brand rant a case in point. Despite that, she doesn’t think the show goes far enough: “I think they should do an uncut version,” she has declared. “There have been some joyous moments and some stuff that hasn’t gone out because it’s too risqué. When Dom was reviewing Sex Box, he was on fire.” Dom, who after one too many Bloody Mary’s described himself as the “devil’s avocado”, also does a mean Carlson from Downton impression. The pair own a B&B and previously appeared on fellow Studio Lambert show Four In A Bed. We’d love to see even more.

Steph & Dom: Gogglebox 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 23

Hot 100 2013 WRITERS

Chris Chibnall

Broadchurch; The Great Train Robbery; Doctor Who

Before 2013, Chris Chibnall was best known for a few of episodes of Doctor Who, Torchwood and Life On Mars, BBC2’s Munich air disaster single United, and for showrunning ITV’s Law & Order: UK. Big shows, for sure, but not nearly so as big as what came next. Part crime procedural, part human drama, Broadchurch broke new ground yet felt comfortably part of the ITV heartland. A word-of-mouth hit, it was held up by industry execs as proof of the continued appeal of live viewing of drama in an ondemand age, breaking Twitter records while on air and, in a rare feat, growing its audience from 6.8 million for episode one to 8.7 million for its finale. Chibnall has hinted at writing a trilogy on this particular project –and with a first-look deal at Kudos, he’ll have commissioners chomping at the bit for his next ideas.

Broadchurch: ITV

Smith’s era and dug deep into the Doctor’s back story, Moffat is now steering the show towards Peter Capaldi’s entrance on Christmas Day. Gatiss has proved a dependable wing man as a regular contributor to the series, but it’s his drama on the origins of the show that is likely to court Bafta judges. And then there’s the little matter of Sherlock series three…

drama Happy Valley.

4 3

Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss

Doctor Who; Sherlock

It doesn’t get any bigger than this for Doctor Who. The 50th anniversary of the sci-fi show was inescapable, with weeks of activity leading up to two remarkable pieces of television: Steven Moffat’s (above left) 3D anniversary spectacular The Day Of The Doctor and Mark Gatiss’s (above right) love letter to the show, An Adventure In Space And Time. Having ushered in Matt 24 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

storyline held a vice-like grip on an average of 4.3 million viewers. This is drama at its most authored: Allan Cubitt was a constant presence on set and a driving force behind every key narrative turn. For series two, he will also direct.

Allan Cubitt The Fall

The former Prime Suspect writer returned to his forensic crime roots with one of the year’s most talkedabout dramas, which touched a nerve in its attempt to get under the skin of a psychopath. BBC2’s The Fall was no ordinary crime drama, giving equal weight to the serial killer and the detective investigating him, and exposing some of the banal truths of criminals’ actions. Questioning the very nature of dramatising crime forced viewers to consider some uncomfortable truths and he has eloquently batted away charges of voyeurism and misogyny, both in interviews and in the series itself. The compelling, slowly uncoiling

Andrew Davies War & Peace; Mr Selfridge

The grand master of period adaptations has taken on the daddy of

them all: in 2015, the BBC is set to broadcast Andrew Davies’ sixpart blockbuster War And Peace. Having brought Middlemarch, Pride And Prejudice and Vanity Fair to our screens, it was inevitable that Tolstoy’s classic would one day be given the Davies treatment – and it’s arguably the most eagerly anticipated drama right now. As if that wasn’t a sufficiently daunting task, Davies also devised and oversaw ITV’s hit Mr Selfridge and adapted one of John Banville’s crime novels for the Gabriel Byrne series Quirke. Finally, let’s not forget that if it wasn’t for Davies’ earlier adaptation, House Of Cards might never have found its way to David Fincher and Kevin Spacey – and put Netflix on the map.

Dennis Kelly Utopia

Dennis Kelly is not one to rest on his laurels. After co-writing two series of BBC3 comedy Pulling with Sharon Horgan, the accomplished playwright next scored big with his collaboration with

Last Tango In Halifax: BBC1 www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Tim Minchin on the stage musical Matilda. If any young fans of that show tuned in for his Channel 4 drama Utopia, they’re probably still in counselling. Jetblack comedy jostled with unsettling violence in C4’s boldest, most original drama in years, a paranoid thriller with comic book trappings. This was fearless writing that relentlessly shifted gears with some nasty and audacious shocks. In series one, it felt like the characters could go anywhere; in series two, now in production, all bets are off as to where they’ll end up.

the terrain of his groundbreaking 1990s drama Queer As Folk – “a work of profound genius”, according to fellow writer Jack Thorne – Russell T Davies unveiled his upcoming Channel 4 drama Cucumber and E4’s Banana, which will interweave the love and sex lives of two generations of gay men living in Manchester. It’s a far cry from the comfortable world of his most recent TV project, CBBC sci-fi adventure Wizards vs Aliens, but promises to be a personal, raw and honest story in the best tradition of C4. The Fall: BBC2

Russell T Davies Cucumber; Banana

He’s back. Yes, as the publicity machine reached fever pitch for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the man who breathed the sci-fi show back into life in 2005 revealed he had not one, but two shows on the way. Returning to

Sally Wainwright Last Tango In Halifax; Scott & Bailey; The Last Witch; Happy Valley

Last year, Sally Wainwright was riding high on this list thanks to ITV detective drama Scott & Bailey; one year on, she has delivered an even bigger drama in the shape of BBC1’s Last Tango In

Halifax. Averaging 7.3 million across its first six-part run, Wainwright mined her own family stories for the series, which proved a breath of fresh air with its warm yet unsentimental depiction of two central characters in their 70s, and the impact of their relationship upon their families. True to form, she didn’t stand still, even with series two to write, as one of the first names called upon for Sky Living’s Drama Matters strand – writing again for Anne Reid in The Last Witch – and now dark BBC cop drama Happy Valley.

Utopia: Channel 4 www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Heidi Thomas Call The Midwife

The BBC’s biggest drama launch in a decade showed no signs of fatigue in its second series. After pulling in the sixth-biggest audience last Christmas Day,

Call The Midwife returned to BBC1 in January with a record live audience of 9.3 million and went on to pull in an average consolidated audience of 10.4 million. Heidi Thomas continues to mine a reach seam with the 1950s drama, weaving light comedy and darker themes than its nostalgic look and pre-watershed slot might suggest, culminating in a fraught birth that put viewers through the emotional wringer but, crucially, ended on an optimistic note, warming things up nicely for Christmas.

Sam Bain/ Jesse Armstrong

Fresh Meat; Peep Show; Babylon

All good things come to an end, some later than initially planned. Yes, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong are preparing

➤ 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 25

Hot 100 2013 WRITERS

Line Of Duty: BBC2

to wave goodbye to Mark and Jeremy with the ninth and last series of the peerless Channel 4 comedy Peep Show. Moving on isn’t always easy – due to various time conflicts, telenovela spoof Bad Sugar didn’t make it to series – but the pair continue to mine university life for all of its grim details as showrunners of C4 comedy-drama Fresh Meat, now into its third series (but, cannily, only the students’ second year – there’s more mileage in this yet). Bigger still, their next project has lured Danny Boyle back to the small screen, as the writers tackle life in the police force for Babylon, again for C4.

26 | Broadcast | 6 December 2013

Dominic Mitchell In The Flesh

It’s testament to Dominic Mitchell’s first TV screenplay that it can stand its ground against similarly themed French drama The Returned. BBC3’s In The Flesh (left) was the other zombie drama of the year, but its depiction of the reintegration of ‘rotters’ into society was a peg to hang more domestic concerns of prejudice, depression and familial bonds – “kitchen sink horror”, in Mitchell’s words. It was a low-key, slow burner, but a rapturous reception for its three episodes persuaded the BBC to commission an expanded second series, with the playwright now stepping up to showrunner. His success is also testament to the importance of schemes such as the BBC’s writing initiative Northern Voices, where he was mentored by John Fay, writer of another key 2013 drama, The Mill.

Jed Mercurio Line Of Duty; Critical

It’s almost 20 years since Jed Mercurio exploded onto the scene with BBC1’s controversial medical drama Cardiac Arrest. The former hospital doctor has since mined his formative years further with BBC3’s dark Bodies, but returned in a big way last year with BBC2’s police drama Line Of Duty. With echoes of The Wire in its narrative complexity, Mercurio’s series continued his favourite theme of institutional corruption and his mistrust of box-ticking and bureaucracy in public services. He took a producer’s credit on the series, acting effectively as showrunner. Before The Fall came along, this was BBC2’s biggest drama in 10 years, consolidating to 4.1 million, and a second series was swiftly ordered. Next up: a return to his roots with Critical, a 13-part ‘real time’ medical drama for Sky.

Tom Bidwell Mad Fat Diary

Former Broadcast Hot Shot Tom Bidwell already had an Academy Award nomination under his belt when he secured his first TV series commission. His short, Wish 143, made waves with the Academy but closer to home, he worked his way up through the BBC Writers Academy holy quartet of Doctors, Holby City, EastEnders and Casualty, before striking gold with E4’s My Mad Fat Diary. Adapting Rae Earl’s autobiographical teenage experiences for a much broader audience than that suggests, Bidwell turned diary entries into winning and poignant comic vignettes, impressing critics with his capturing of the female voice and pulling off the tricky task of updating the story by a decade to set it in the 1990s. Series two is now in the works.

My Mad Fat Diary: BBC3 www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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ITV’s Moving Wallpaper and CBBC’s Me And My Monsters, and his directing career stretches from BBC1’s How Not To Live Your Life to online sitcom Where Are The Joneses.

Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond

Yonderland

Hunderby: Sky Atlantic

Julia Davis Hunderby

Sky Atlantic is very much about letting writers and performers unleash their passion projects, and nothing exemplifies this better than Julia Davis’s Hunderby. Not for Davis the easy way out of the semi-autobiographical single-camera format; no, here was a fully fleshed Daphne du Maurier pastiche that, in visual terms, could stand its own alongside the best period adaptations. Previous shows Human Remains and Nighty Night showed the dark heart of Davis’s comedy and she didn’t shy away from it here, with many audacious set pieces of bad taste. But what lingers is her commitment to playing this twisted farce dead straight. Hunderby cemented her reputation as one of our most original comic thinkers – all eyes are on what she’ll do next. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Sammy Leifer Plebs

Rise Films’ head of comedy Sam Leifer is the man who put ITV2

on the sitcom map this year with his Roman-era comedy Plebs. Greeted by favourable comparisons to The Inbetweeners and Blackadder, these tales of three horny young Romans earned extra authenticity thanks to input from Mary Beard. It smashed records for a comedy on the channel, launching with 1.2 million and averaging 847,000 over six episodes. Leifer – who also directed – is now working on series two. His CV also includes writing stints on

How do you follow a show like Horrible Histories? If you’re the cast – most of whom didn’t write for the CBBC show – you join forces to create a whole new world in which to play dressing up. Unbound by historical accuracy, Sky 1’s Yonderland lets the team cut loose in a fantasy world that’s one part Labyrinth to two parts Monty Python. Rickard gets an associate producer credit but it’s a team effort that fizzes thanks to a shared love of silliness. The team’s imprints can be seen elsewhere too, with Baynton teaming up with James Corden for BBC2 action comedy The Wrong Mans and Rickard penning CBeebies’ Peter Rabbit. Rickard’s returning to more familiar territory with BBC Films’ forthcoming Bill, in which he joins forces with Willbond to give William Shakespeare a Horrible Histories-esque treatment – and they’re taking this cast with them.

Yonderland: Sky 1 6 December 2013 | Broadcast | 27

Tony Hall - Adam Crozier - Danny Cohen - Kevin Lygo – Sophie Turner-Laing - David Abraham - Marc Watson - Richard Foster Farah Ramzan Golant - Ben McOwen Wilson - John McVay James Purnell - Darren Childs - Tom Mockridge - Peter Fincham Janice Hadlow - Ben Stephenson - Stuart Murphy - Charlotte Moore - Jay Hunt - Elaine Bedell - Zai Bennett - Emma Tennant Ben Frow - Emma Willis - Shane Allen - Richard Klein - John Hay Julian Bellamy - Hamish Mykura - Antonia Hurford-Jones Tabitha Jackson - Cecilia Beacon – Jane Featherstone - Kenton Allen - Alex Graham - Anna Beattie - Grace Reynolds - xxxxxxxxxx - Chris Shaw and Emma Read - Ben Bowie - Magnus Temple & Nick Curwin - Paul Broadbent - Patrick Spence - Nicola Shindler Pippa Harris - Gub Neal - Alexander Gardiner - Damien Timmer & Michele Buck - Jeff Pope - Michael Kelpie - Jeff Foulser - John Smithson - Marc Munden - Jane Treays - James Hawes - Callum Macrae - Penny Woolcock - James Strong - Jim Field-Smith - Ben Anthony - Olly Lambert - Philippa Lowthorpe - Sue Bourne - Leo Maguire - Felicity Lanchester - Jamie Payne - Coky Giedroyc Olivia Colman - Mel & Sue - Peter Capaldi - Jake Humphrey Mishal Husain - Paul O’Grady - David Tennant - Clare Balding Karl Pilkington - Emma Willis - Grayson Perry - Sheridan Smith - Ade Adepitan - Alice Roberts - Stephanie and Dominic Parker Chris Chibnall - Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss - Sally Wainwright - Andrew Davies - Dennis Kelly - Russell T Davies - Alan Cubitt - Heidi Thomas - Sam Bain/Jesse Armstrong - Dominic Mitchell - Jed Mercurio - Tom Bidwell - Julia Davis - Sammy HOT Leifer – Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond THE