Broadcast March 21st by Media Business Insight

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Indie Survey 2014 ■ Twofour

among winners in year of consolidation ■ Broadcasters: indies sing praises of ITV ■ Nations & Regions: hitting a five-year high

21 March 2014

ALSO INSIDE ■ Steven

D Wright: grieving for BBC3 Page 22 ■ Behind the Scenes: the business of sex toys Page 28

Shed signs joint venture deal with De Mol’s Talpa

Indies blame broadcasters over diversity BY ROBIN PARKER

BY CHRIS CURTIS

John de Mol’s Talpa Media has struck a joint venture deal with Shed Media Group to make its long-awaited UK debut. The two companies have created Talpa UK, which will have exclusive access to the Dutch company’s formats and co-produce them with Shed’s indies. This means the likes of Twenty Twenty, Ricochet, Renegade Pictures and Wall to Wall will be able to pitch Talpa shows, including Utopia, its ambitious attempt to reinvigorate the reality genre. Shed and Talpa will assess which UK indie is most suited for a particular show, based on its genre and the potential broadcaster. A decision has not yet been made about Utopia, a year-long social experiment that has already been picked up by Fox in the US

and TV8 in Turkey. Talpa’s slate also includes a raft of gameshows suitable for daytime or peaktime, such as The Winner Is… Wall to Wall already works with Talpa on the The Voice UK, and the strength of that relationship helped Shed become Talpa’s “preferred partner” in the UK. Talpa previously launched JVs with Shine Group in France, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia, with Nordisk Film TV for Scandinavia and Finland, and with Axel Springer’s Schwartzkopff TV in Germany. It also works with Sony Pictures Television Arabia in North Africa and the Middle East. Shed Media chief operating officer Claire Hungate hailed Talpa’s “groundbreaking formats”. She said: “The diversity of Talpa’s offering fits perfectly with the diversity we have across our seven UK production companies, which

Ricochet, Twenty Twenty, Renegade and Wall to Wall will all be able to pitch Talpa shows span every genre from entertainment to scripted series.” De Mol first mooted his ambition to create a UK arm of Talpa in mid2012, but at the time his plans were complicated by uncertainty over Endemol’s future. This January, he told Broadcast: “It’s still on the agenda. Once we find the right partner, we’re ready to go. We’ll decide in the next few months.” Shed Media is majority owned by Warner Bros International Television Production. De Mol’s format credits include Big Brother, Deal Or No Deal and Fear Factor.

£4.99

The Voice UK: Shed’s Wall to Wall has already formed a close relationship with Talpa while working on the show

The indie sector believes that broadcasters’ refusal to take risks on new production staff and onscreen talent is holding back diversity in the TV industry. Broadcast asked about diversity for the first time in the Indie Survey 2014, and 99 companies responded with their views. The consensus was that more training schemes and wider support are required – and many laid the blame at broadcasters’ door. Accusing commissioners of being “hypocritical”, one BBC and Channel 4 supplier said: “They say they want diversity and then they don’t allow indies to hire series producers or producer/directors of their choice.” Claiming that skilled black and Asian PDs are not getting the breaks, the respondent said it was “too easy” to focus on the entry level. “It’s time for broadcasters to create opportunities for people in the middle of their careers. As a producer, you’re between a rock and a hard place: you need the commission, so you can’t argue.” Another indie boss summed up the common theme: “We need to address why entry level diversity does not translate into middleranking experienced programmemakers and then industry leaders.” Turn to page 3

Editor’s Choice

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

Online this week www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Chris Curtis, Editor

Top News

Indie sector enters a new phase Consolidation continues, but true indies still wield plenty of power

ust another quiet week in the indie sector, then. In between Shed Media’s eye-catching deal with John de Mol and SPT’s latest umbrella deal – this time with a pair of entertainment execs in Northern Ireland – there is the small matter of Broadcast’s 2014 Indie Survey. The snapshot of the sector, from the biggest super-indies to the smallest producers, comprises 153 companies and provides many insights. Not least, it illus-

‘There’s no doubt that for now the creative credentials of the true indie sector remain strong’ trates the extent to which 2013 was a year of consolidation in the sector. Glance at our list of the biggest ‘true’ indies and seven are gone: IMG, Twofour, The Garden, Big Talk, Red Production Company, Raw TV and Windfall Films. All were acquired, and the effect is that while the 30 largest true independents had a cumulative turnover of £565m last year, the 30 biggest this time around accounted for just £317m. A few people have recently suggested indie sector theories to me. One is that it will become completely polarised, with only major players and small indies, and little or no middle ground. Another is that the whole sector will become consolidated, and that almost every startup will be within the confines of a wider group. Both are plausible, but there’s no doubt that for now the creative credentials of the true indie sector remain strong. Look at 2 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

è BBC in-house drama boss Kate Harwood (below) is leaving after 24 years to revive iconic production brand Euston Films for Fremantle Media UK.

è Accountant Christopher Lunn faces Love Productions’ ability to deliver both the unifying warmth of Bake Off and the divisive and controversial Benefits Street, or the stellar ambitions of Arrow Media. Its Live From Space (pictured) series for Channel 4 proved that the sky’s the limit (quite literally) for true indies and it’s interesting to note that it’s a second-generation indie, created when John Smithson, Tom Brisley and Iain Pelling left Endemol to strike out on their own again. If Love and Arrow end up being bought, there will surely be others to take their place – potentially producers who leave one of the consolidators to return to their roots. A separate element of the Indie Survey left me slightly uneasy. We’ve heard many complaints that broadcasters are too dogmatic when it comes to approving series producers, producer/directors and other key staff. That has now been linked to TV’s failure to improve diversity – if indies are obliged to stick with tried-andtested staff, nothing much will change. Broadcasters shouldn’t be able to make well-meaning statements that they welch on in reality – but neither should the production sector point the finger too much. Almost two thirds of indies say they are “happy with the diversity of their company”, which seems surprising. The Broadcast team meet a lot of execs and that diversity is not immediately apparent to us. It’s too easy to say that production is fine, and that the problems are all the fault of the broadcasters. Working together is the best way to make genuine progress – just ask Arrow Media and Nasa.

a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on four of the charges brought against the CLAC founder for defrauding HMRC.

è Dynamo: Magician Impossible commissioner Richard Watsham has been appointed director of commissioning at UKTV following Jane Rogerson’s exit.

Ratings Top Five 1 Jeff Pope’s ITV drama The Widower (below) got off to a solid start with 5.5m on Monday, trampling BBC1’s Silk. 2 Top Gear broke the 6m viewer barrier for the first time this year for the final part of its Burma special on Sunday. 3 Gogglebox settled into Friday night with 2.6m, in line with last week’s debut.

The Americans returned on Saturday with 1.3m, nearly 1 million fewer than last year’s opener. 4

5 Arrow Media’s stellar lap of the planet, Live From Space, peaked with 2.4m viewers on Sunday night for Channel 4.

Talking TV podcast è Visit broadcastnow.co.uk or iTunes to download our latest podcast ‘The Great BBC3 Debate’, featuring thoughts from indie bosses Karl Warner and Dan Baldwin, film-maker Robb Leech and Broadcast editor Chris Curtis.

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News & Analysis

UK indies eye Chinese deals An increasing number of UK indies now make a significant proportion of their revenues abroad

BY Peter White

More than 20% of UK indies are looking to break into Asia, with the majority targeting China for growth, according to Broadcast’s 2014 Indie Survey. The survey shows that 32 indies are keen to break into Asian markets including Japan and Korea, with 21 particularly targeting China. British firms are already doing significant business in China. Blakeway Productions is producing eight-part factual series The Secrets Of Brands for public broadcaster CCTV, while All3Media recently sold Studio Lambert’s Gogglebox to Jiangsu Satellite TV. True North also secured threepart doc series Designed In China for CCTV9. The show features nine talented young Chinese designers. Pact struck a deal with CCTV last year that will increase co-operation between UK producers and the network, and culture secretary Maria Miller signed an agreement with Chinese culture minister Ycai Wu under which the two countries will co-operate to increase the number of UK series on air in China, ahead of a formal co-production treaty.

Designed In China: True North production follows young Chinese designers

Content Media, which owns stakes in Peter Cowley’s multiplatform indie Spirit Digital, Jigsaw Productions, Preferred Film & TV and US indie Collins Avenue, bought a stake in a slew of Chinese indies run by Bruno Wu’s Alive Group earlier this week. Australia, Scandinavia and South America are the other priority markets for indies looking internationally, according to Broadcast’s Indie Survey.

Australia is a hot bed for drama at the moment and Pact recently signed a memorandum of understanding with its counterpart Screen Producers Association of Australia that will make it easier for UK indies to do business in the country. Keo Films recently opened an Australian office to produce a local version of River Cottage, and Title Role Productions is making an Australian version of Crimes That

Shook Britain for pay-TV broadcaster Foxtel. With the World Cup set to kick off in Brazil this summer, the country has also received a lot of attention, with indies such as Back2Back ramping up local business. Scandinavia remains a hot spot, with Fremantle Media buying indies such as Those Who Kill producer Miso Film and Sony actively hunting purchases. An increasing number of UKbased indies are now securing a considerable proportion of their revenues abroad. Terror In The Skies indie Arrow Media makes 62% of its turnover internationally, Undercover Boss producer Studio Lambert makes 73% in the US, with series such as The Million Second Quiz, and Heavy Metal Monsters producer Wag TV makes 75% of its revenues in North and South America.

Indies blame broadcasters for lack of diversity Continued from page 1 Of the 99 firms that answered the diversity questions, 61 said they were happy with the diversity at their company, citing involvement with the Creative Diversity Network and the Creative Access scheme, which part-funds internships from diverse backgrounds. They also referenced Channel 4’s production trainee scheme and groups such as The TV Collective. Among the 38 who felt they needed to improve, the managing director of one indie, which supplied more than 80 hours of shows in 2013, urged broadcasters to “stop defining the talent they want to work with and support us in taking greater creative risks when recruiting staff ”. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Stop defining the talent and support us in taking risks with recruiting staff Indie managing director

Henry: calling for BAME shows

Others also called for broad casters to be more ambitious with presenters and for senior commissioners to make more “bold statements”. One said that establishing “a culture of external advertising of positions, rather than the CV trail” would encourage commissioners to be “more open to taking on team members outside the preferred few”.

The findings came as Lenny Henry called for the BBC to ringfence money for BAME shows, employing similar criteria to its existing nations and regions policy. Giving the Bafta Television Lecture, Henry said that at least half of production and on-screen talent on such shows would be BAME and the show would have to be 30% BAME-managed. The 153 companies that took part in this year’s Indie Survey had a combined global turnover of almost £2.1bn, slightly up on last year’s £2.08bn. In a year of major consolidation, the combined turnover of the top 30 ‘true’ indies – those not majority owned by a larger group – fell from £565m to £317m. 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 3

News & Analysis In Brief Sky strikes deal with FX Sky has struck a two-year codevelopment deal with US cable channel FX as the two companies seek to create comedies to sit alongside Louie and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. The companies will look for shows that would be able to air on Sky 1 or Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland and FX in the US. The deal echoes Sky’s co-production arrangement with HBO.

Strictly wins Craft gong Strictly Come Dancing (left) will be honoured with the Special Award at the Bafta Craft Awards on 27 April. The gong celebrates the “outstanding creative and technical teamwork” behind the BBC1 entertainment show, which will have been on air for a decade this year.

London Live backs docs London Live is to create an open platform for up-and-coming documentary-makers to produce hour-long films or series on topics they feel passionate about. They will be handed a 6pm Sunday slot on the local TV station, as part of a weekend line-up of news and current affairs content, which will also include a Saturday morning football show produced by former BBC head of football Caj Sohal.

Lunn to face HMRC retrial Christopher Lunn faces a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on four of the charges brought against the founder of Christopher Lunn & Company for defrauding HMRC. The accountant stood trial for nearly five months and in January a jury found him not guilty on two of six counts of “cheating” HMRC out of income and corporation tax. The jury was unable to return a verdict on four other similar charges and the Crown Prosecution Service has announced its intention to pursue a retrial in September 2015.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 4 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Sony launches NI indie with Secret Fortune duo BY peter white

Sony Pictures Television is partnering with Secret Fortune creators Kieran Doherty and Matt Worthy to launch a Northern Irish indie. The studio is working with the former Wild Rover executives to set up Stellify Media, which will focus on entertainment formats and gameshows for UK broadcasters, to be distributed by Sony’s global sales division. The joint venture is Sony’s first move into production in Northern Ireland. Wayne Garvie, chief creative officer for international production at Sony Pictures TV, said: “It made sense to do something in Northern Ireland right now; the impact of Game Of Thrones has been very impressive.” Doherty and Worthy, who will be based in Belfast, have been working together at Phil Morrow’s Wild Rover for eight years. As well as National Lottery gameshow Secret Fortune, they created Take The Money And Run for US network ABC, and developed series including Dara O

Secret Fortune: creators Doherty and Worthy are forming JV with Sony

Briain: School Of Hard Sums and You Against The Nation. Doherty said that setting up their own firm was a “natural progression” and they are “itching” to get going. “It’s a very liberating feeling and all we need to do now is come up with a big idea,” he added. Garvie said: “What I liked about them was that they are determined to build something in Northern Ireland. As someone who spent a

lot of time building shows in Manchester, I know how difficult it is to be outside of London.” The former BBC Worldwide and All3Media exec said he didn’t envisage backing any more UK start-ups for the foreseeable future, and would instead focus on supporting its indie portfolio, including Karl Warner’s Electric Ray, Victory Television, Gogglebox Entertainment, Silver River Productions and Left Bank Pictures.

UKTV draws up manifesto for indie relations BY peter white

UKTV is launching a commissioning charter as it seeks to cement its position in the indie community. The initiative follows the multichannel broadcaster’s promotion of Richard Watsham to director of commissioning this week, following the departure of Jane Rogerson. Watsham told Broadcast that UKTV is in the process of putting together an “indie manifesto” that will set out new guidelines for how the broadcaster deals with producers, including establishing standard response times for commissioners to get back to indies. He worked with former MTV exec Heather Jones, now vice-president of programming at A+E Networks UK, on the project last year.

Watsham: working on guidelines

Watsham, a former Virgin Media executive, has commissioned shows such as Dynamo: Magician Impossible, The Happenings and Dara O Briain: School Of Hard Sums for UKTV. He has been “acting up” since October 2013 and is working on his first set of commissions since taking over full-time.

“Original commissioning is the biggest growth area we have at UKTV, so we need to continue to develop bold and original series,” he said. Watsham will report to UKTV chief executive Darren Childs. He said the broadcaster is about to hire a new drama commissioner as it looks to ramp up the amount of scripted content it orders. UKTV has already commissioned its first original drama, Tony Jordan’s forthcoming Legion, about a man who strikes a deal with the devil to save his dying daughter. Watsham is also making a number of changes to UKTV’s business affairs process that he hopes will mean producers will be able to put more time and money into its shows. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

News & Analysis

Indies lobby Trust on quotas BY Jake Kanter

The bosses of some of the UK’s biggest indies used a high-level meeting with the BBC Trust to make the case for changing the corporation’s commissioning quotas during charter renewal negotiations next year. BBC trustee David Liddiment hosted the meeting last month to assist with the governing body’s service review of BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4, which will be published this summer. The producers provided views on the channels, but also used the meeting to add their voices to calls for the BBC to review its production guarantees. Among those in attendance were Kudos chief executive Jane Featherstone, Big Talk Productions boss Kenton Allen, Left Bank Pictures chief executive Andy Harries, Carnival Films managing director Gareth Neame, So Tele vision boss Graham Stuart and Neal Street Productions director Nicolas Brown. Broadcast understands that during the discussions, the production bosses underlined the strength of the indie sector and its performance in the BBC’s Window of Creative Competition (WoCC), where in-house has been consistently outperformed in recent years.

Left to right: production company bosses Kenton Allen, Jane Featherstone, Gareth Neame and Andy Harries

Sherlock producer Hartswood Films and Shed Media Group argued earlier this year that commissioning guarantees must be overhauled to reflect developments in the production sector. They made their points in submissions to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry on the future of the BBC, in which the Trust itself said it had no “firm view” over whether current supply arrangements “continue to be necessary”. Pact chief executive John McVay told Broadcast in January that he is certain there will be changes to existing quotas, which currently guarantee in-house 50% of output, hand the indie

sector 25%, and ask the two to compete for the remaining 25% in the WoCC. Producers appear to back McVay’s views in Broadcast’s Indie Survey. Asked if they expected quotas to change, 68% (63 of the 92 that responded) said yes. A BBC Trust spokeswoman acknowledged the meeting but said the review would not look at the BBC’s commissioning quotas. At the meeting, views on BBC content were broadly positive, but drama producers felt BBC1’s output had become “softer” and broader and that it could follow BBC2’s lead in ordering edgier pieces that still appeal to a big audience.

Producers added their voices to calls for the BBC to review its production guarantees Last year, the Trust told the BBC to improve the “quality, variety and originality of new drama on BBC1”. Controller Charlotte Moore made a commitment this month to adapt more real-life stories into “provocative” new dramas for the channel, and Danny Cohen has pledged to use £30m redirected from BBC3 for drama with youth appeal.

Ifans to star in S4C remake of Under Milk Wood BY andreas wiseman

Welsh broadcaster S4C has commissioned a film version of classic radio drama Under Milk Wood that will star Rhys Ifans. The update of poet Dylan Thomas’s classic radio play about the inhabitants of fictional Welsh fishing village Llareggub was ordered by S4C drama commissioner Gwawr Martha Lloyd and will be directed and produced by Kevin Allen (Twin Town). The actor-turned-director, uncle of singer Lily Allen, secured the UK and international film rights to the radio drama after www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Under Milk Wood: update for S4C

lengthy negotiations with the Milkwood Trust. Ifans will take on the roles of First Man and Captain Tom Cat, parts played by Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole respectively in the 1972 feature adaptation, which also starred Elizabeth Taylor. The six-week shoot is due to start this summer on the west coast of Wales, with English- and Welsh-language versions filmed back to back. Casting on the supporting roles is under way. The writing team for the adaptation is Allen, Ifans, poet Murray Lachlan Young and Michael Breen. The co-producer is Stephen Malit.

The £1.6m-budgeted feature is the second production for Allen’s fFatti fFilms – a joint venture with Welsh production house Tinopolis – after a 2013 collaboration with S4C on feature The Circle. Backers include S4C and Tinopolis, with additional funding coming from the UK tax credit and gap financiers. A tentative TX date has been set for Christmas 2014. Allen is simultaneously making a documentary film about the Welsh poet Thomas, whose centenary is celebrated this year. The director’s past TV credits include ITV’s Benidorm. 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 5

News & Analysis

BBC3 orders sitcoms prior to online move BY Jake Kanter

BBC3 is lining up a sitcom set in a young offenders’ institution and has recommissioned three of its biggest comedies as it begins to increase its online experimentation. The youth channel – which is awaiting BBC Trust approval to move online in 18 months’ time – has commissioned BBC Productions to make 600 Days (w/t). It stars stand-up Elis James and stage actor Kadiff Kirwan as offenders sentenced to two years. BBC3 controller Zai Bennett said there was a flavour of Porridge about the show and he had ordered it after a read-through. “It was blow-you-out-of-thewater good – an instant commission there and then. Ellis and Kadiff ’s chemistry was outstanding,” Bennett said. 600 Days, which also stars Cariad Lloyd as a prison warden, will be written by Dan Swimer (Grandma’s House) and Adam Kay (Mongrels). James Farrell is the producer, while the executive producer is Pete Thornton. Bennett has also ordered third 6 x 30-minute runs of Bad Educa-

Bluestone 42: a third series of the in-house BBC comedy has been ordered

tion, Some Girls and Bluestone 42, made by Tiger Aspect, Hat Trick and BBC in-house respectively. Whitehall has stated that the third series of Bad Education is likely to be his last. The actor is due to front ABC’s US pilot of the show. Bennett said “never say never” about future episodes and revealed that BBC3 has struck a deal to air the US version if it is picked up. Bad Education spearheaded BBC3’s online comedy premiere strategy, and was the fourth mostwatched show on iPlayer last year.

Bennett said the station will continue to experiment ahead of next year’s digital transition, with plans to make full series of People Just Do Nothing and Chris Lilley import Jonah Takalua available online before they air on TV. He said: “Releasing them online for a few months means they can gain a critical mass before going on the linear service. It is slightly unknown, but it will help inform how and when we market shows, and when we put them on linear television.”

Leila Monks leaves Zig Zag to set up consultancy firm Leila Monks is leaving Troy producer Zig Zag to set up her own production and distribution consultancy firm, Antidote Media. Monks will be replaced at Danny Fenton’s indie by former MTV executive Matt Graff, who will become commercial director. Monks, who joined Zig Zag from distributor TVF International in 2011 as vice-president of commercial and current production, will now work with distributors and production companies in the UK, US and other Englishlanguage territories, as well as developing her own projects. “In the past two years, I’ve been across £5m in business and 14 hours in production. It doesn’t make sense to do that just for one producer,” she said. She will continue to work with Zig Zag on several projects, particularly around pre-sales, coproductions and distribution, one day a week. Graff, who was an executive consultant at Zig Zag, will now oversee all commercial opportunities for the firm. He was previously senior director of production and commissioning at Viacom in Central and Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa, and spent a large amount of time working in Israel.

Sky takes international rights in Roughcut deal BY Peter White

Sky has struck a deal with Ash Atalla’s Roughcut TV that combines development for its channels with international rights. Under the agreement, the Trollied producer will develop comedy for Sky 1 and Sky Living, which will then be distributed by Sky Vision if the programmes are commissioned. Atalla said he was keen to further strengthen Roughcut’s relationship with Sky. “It’s good for us and we hope it will be good for them, so it’s handshakes all round,” he said. Sky head of comedy Lucy Lumsden added: “Trollied has 6 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

We look forward to working with more UK indies on new opportunities Connie Hodson, Sky Vision

Trollied: Sky 1 supermarket comedy

been a huge hit with Sky customers and we look forward to developing even more great new homegrown comedy through this new partnership.”

The satellite broadcaster recently renewed the supermarket comedy for a fourth series, but the show is distributed by Fremantle Media International, which will continue to sell all of Roughcut’s other projects, such as BBC3 comedy Cuckoo. Roughcut renewed its distribution deal with the RTL-owned pro-

ducer and distributor last month for a further two years. Sky Vision has recently been ramping up the number of development and distribution deals it strikes. Earlier this month, the company inked a deal with Jews On Bikes indie Back2Back Productions, while in January it closed a deal with US indie Ugly Brother Studios. Sky Vision commercial director Connie Hodson said: “To build on Sky Vision’s momentum, we look forward to working with even more UK indies on international development opportunities, especially in entertainment, scripted and factual.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Digital panel debate Online Video distribution

Where next for digital TV? Broadcast gathered a selection of players from across the value chain to discuss the future of online video distribution and its impact on broadcasters and audiences. Alex Farber reports Why is it important for broad casters and production companies to offer cross-platform services? Alex Green Linear TV is still huge, forming around 90% of general viewing, but BT also provides the linear service on multiple platforms, and that’s really important as part of the whole BT Sport proposition. We get hundreds of thousands of people watching the big Premier League games digitally, so it clearly meets a significant demand. Luke Gaydon The only content I watch that is truly live these days is sport; otherwise, everything is some form of catch-up, whether on the big screen or VoD services. How do you decide where to focus resource and investment? Dan Fahy UKTV works hard with our pay platform partners to try to get our content on the platforms where they need to be. For our free brands, we have about eight distinct VoD verticals on the big platforms and across multiple devices. We are constantly looking at going to the big pockets of audience and then work backwards. 8 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Gulliver Smithers At BBC Worldwide,

the strategy is to pursue a video-rich, brand-led approach around the few verticals that we excel in: natural history and slightly more male-oriented things like Top Gear. Our VoD approach is to get the content out in front of the consumer in as many ways as we can and then try to draw them into a richer, deeper environment. How can broadcasters stand out from other entertainment services? AG It’s a combination of content and marketing. You can’t market a product that fundamentally is not engaging people, but if you’ve got the right product, whether it’s House Of Cards or Breaking Bad, it’s phenomenal what that can do for a platform. DF Broadcasters have a natural advantage because they can use their channels for promotion. Suits is a big show for Dave and we premiered season three online. We discovered most people came into that preview from the on-air promotion and most hadn’t used the Dave VoD service before. Tom Williams The focus has previously

‘As people start bypassing linear completely and go straight to digital, broadcasters are going to have to work a lot harder’ Tom Williams, Ostmodern

been on providing people with the ability to watch content they’ve missed. Now there’s a much larger proportion of people who visit VoD services without knowing what they want to watch. As people start bypassing linear completely and go straight to digital products, they are going to have to work a lot harder. The concept of ‘live’ and ‘linear’ is stretching. A lot of consumers think of watching a show on its day of broadcast as linear viewing. Beyond that, they start thinking it’s catch-up. Will we see more online premieres and exclusives? DF There are trade-offs around whether we are taking audiences away from the linear viewing, which is industry measured, and shooting them off into a platform that’s good for engagement but not industry measured. For some titles, it makes a lot of sense, but not across the board. It’s suitable for an established franchise with an established fan base where you want to get a conversation going. GS But you have to place your bets very carefully. The BBC’s recent www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Photographs by Theo Wood

In partnership with

Sherlock mini episode had 1 million views on iPlayer, but I don’t think it’s a standalone proposition. It very much sits around, or on, the shoulders of the main show. TW A commercial broadcaster’s best programming has to go on their channels. You might look at a bespoke online show if you want to experiment with a new format or try to break a new channel and test it out. It’s prob ably a useful programme supply mechanism, identifying shows to buy. But at this stage, it’s probably not a commercial mechanism. GS In the US, we are starting to see people paying extra to get early online access to entire series. How are VoD services becoming richer? TW I think we need to see more atomisation of content. For example, on ITV Player, once a Champions League game goes on-demand, it is two-and-a half hours long with absolutely no information about where things happen within it. But people only want to watch the bits that are important, and the same is true of certain other formats like daytime and magazine shows. It’s about being able to identify what’s happening. LG Rather than going to a service and watching an episode of a programme in a very much in-and-out experience, a lot more is being done now with recommendations and content discovery. AG But the new generation of smart www.broadcastnow.co.uk

‘There are an awful lot of platforms and not all of them deliver an ROI that makes that initial investment worthwhile’ Luke Gaydon, Brightcove

TVs deluged you with a plethora of recommended content. It’s as if they’ve totally flipped from an EPGdriven mode of behaviour into a complete YouTube-type mode. We need to be careful we don’t forget about the viewer in this transition. TW Ostmodern was creating a recommendation engine for ITV Player devices and the conclusion we came to was: just watch it! For someone like ITV, which doesn’t have a massive catalogue of content but has big shows that are really important to it, that’s what the customer experience should be. Are these advances affordable? DF UKTV always takes great care to

make sure our money is spent on screen. If you’re developing VoD services, investment is required. So we’re quite careful about what we do. We’re not yet at the stage where we’re chasing some of the technology innovations. AG It’s still hard to make money out of it, from a platform and advertising perspective. In the US, a lot of the cable companies that provide TVanywhere services are aiming to generate all-round engagement and stickiness, preventing churn, giving people more convenience and easier ways to watch rather than lots more monthly revenue. LG There are an awful lot of platforms and not all of them deliver an ROI that makes that initial investment worthwhile. But you have to ensure you are neither disappointing nor

Roundtable panel Alex Farber (chair) Online editor, Broadcast 1 Alex Green Director of TV, BT 2 Luke Gaydon Vice-president of operations, EMEA, online video platform Brightcove 3 Dan Fahy Head of commercial development, UKTV 4 Tom Williams Co-founder, digital design agency Ostmodern 5 Gulliver Smithers Vice-president of product, BBC Worldwide

neglecting an audience. A group of broadcasters in Poland have banded together and created one player as a defensive move against Netflix launching in that country. What about generating revenue from these services? GS The model is to assign the appropriate business model to the territory or the audience you’re going after. We believe we can add value through curation, personal recommendations and putting the right content in front of the right viewers. Only about 6% of ➤ the BBC’s archive is available via 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 9

Digital panel debate

In partnership with

Online Video distribution

services like iTunes. Exposing that depth of content and heritage through BBC Store is a really important part of what BBC Worldwide is trying to do. LG It all depends which business model you’re looking at and what you’re trying to defend. There is currently a very healthy DVD business, so there’s an element of wanting to offer people high-quality things that they can keep, which gives them a sense of ownership. AG The sheer convenience of being able to download something to watch and get access across other devices is phenomenal. The pay-per-download model is so much more open than the subscription world, where LoveFilm and Netflix are slugging it out. TW We’ve been working with a client in Russia that had a Netflix-style service but nobody used it because nobody wanted to pay for content. Even when we went for meetings about the project to try to stop illegal downloads, the execs would be torrenting Game Of Thrones. But then they got a promoted spot on LG and Samsung-connected TVs and had a spike in usage. They realised people would pay for convenience and quality. GS There is definitely an increased propensity to pay for content on a larger screen and we see this coming 10 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Clockwise from left: audience member uses a tablet for an interactive demo; the roundtable panel; Alex Farber, Alex Green and Dan Fahy

‘The sheer convenience of being able to download something and get access across other devices is phenomenal’ Alex Green, BT

out in the research that Netflix and others have done in this space. LG The larger the screen, the better the viewing experience. I use Netflix via Chromecast to watch House Of Cards. I just naturally wouldn’t watch it on the iPad because the experience isn’t as good. GS You also get better sound, which is something people underplay a lot. We talk a lot about video but when you look at all the research, consumers value sound above video, in terms of quality, following the narrative and being able to enjoy that richer experience. How do you steer people to services? DF It is complicated, given we have eight different VoD services across a mix of pay and free channels, offering both catch-up and library content. We work closely with the big platforms to manage that messaging and we’ve just started to put an on-demand point on our promos to let people know where they can watch our shows. We find a lot of people still aren’t aware, and are coming to us for the first time from the channels. TW For most of our clients, the tablet is the main screen. They talk about it as the second screen but it’s not. If you have a tablet in your hand, even if you’re sitting in the living room, then

you’re looking at the tablet more than you’re looking at the TV. Tablet usage has just gone through the roof but it isn’t cannibalising traditional viewing – it’s just creating a new type of viewing. Is targeted advertising taking off? DF The spectrum is so varied, from Sky AdSmart at one end to whole platforms with large volumes of VoD that don’t serve ads. If you’re a sales house, it’s really difficult. There are whole pockets of the industry that still have a lot of ground to make up just in terms of the basic rolling out. LG There is also a discrepancy between the quality of the ad versus the quality of the content. So services will have some very sophisticated technology that adjusts the show to your connection, size of window and so on, but which is preceded by a horribly grainy ad. Whether it’s relevant or not, that’s a terrible experience and completely at odds with the broadcast experience. AG I think we can learn quite a lot from the YouTube model where if the ad is not relevant, just skip it. That’s seen as sacrilegious, but advertising should work for both the consumer and the brand. If it’s not working, let the consumer move on and then you will definitely pay for those consumers who really are willing to watch the ad. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Rectify The critically acclaimed drama returns for series two.

“Extraordinary and heartbreaking new drama” Daily Beast

“Taut and engrossing.” New York Times

“A revelation that sets a new standard.” Los Angeles Times

“Compelling.” Variety

Rectify tops the charts at #1 The Hollywood Reporter Power Rankings

watch episodes at

itvstudiosge.com

Commissioning News

C4 lowers gavel on auction doc Where, other than Lots Road, could you shop for products made from polar bear tooth or whale scrotum?

BY peter white

Channel 4 is heading back to Chelsea with a documentary series about a famous auction house. The broadcaster has ordered 6 x 60-minute The Auction House, originally titled Sold In Chelsea, from Dragonfly Film and Tele vision, focusing on Chelsea’s Lots Road Auctions. The commission follows the success of Monkey Kingdom’s scripted reality series Made In Chelsea, which this week added a New York spin-off (see broad castnow.co.uk). The Auction House will follow the stories behind some of the curious and fascinating objects that are brought to sale at Lots Road. It will look at the objects from the perspective of both the buyers and the sellers, including items from the homes of some of London’s super-rich. The show will examine how boss Roger Ross and his staff strive to meet the sophisticated tastes of the locals. It will also look at how the residents acquired the pieces, what they mean to

them, why they are selling them, and what price they are hoping to get for them. The Auction House was commissioned by Channel 4 head of documentaries Nick Mirsky and is exec produced by Dragonfly’s Charlotte Desai. It is expected to air in the summer. Mirsky said: “Where, other than Lots Road Auctions, could

you go shopping for products made from the likes of polar bear tooth or whale scrotum? This is a rare chance to take a glimpse into an extraordinary world, meet an array of kooky collectors and watch as an eclectic mix of items go under the hammer.” The Auction House will be distributed globally by Shine International, which is also dis-

BBC orders trio of sitcom pilots for Playhouse revival

benefits cheat in a studio sitcom set in a monastery.

Marooned will air in the UK in May. It will also air across 224 countries, including the US, later in 2014.

BBC1 is to revive its Comedy Playhouse strand with a hat-trick of sitcom pilots. The Playhouse brand, which has launched classic comedies including Steptoe and Son and Are You Being Served, returns after a near 30-year hiatus. Spearheading the pilot strategy – which is being overseen by BBC comedy controller Shane Allen – will be Over To Bill, starring Outnumbered’s Hugh Dennis (pictured). BBC1 has also commissioned Miller’s Mountain, a 30-minute studio sitcom about a family of Mountain Rescue volunteers. Details of the third pilot have previously been announced by the BBC. Monks will star comedian Seann Walsh as a reformed 12 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Nick Mirsky, Channel 4

The Auction House: Channel 4 goes inside Chelsea’s Lots Road Auctions

Explorer Stafford makes survival return to Discovery Explorer Ed Stafford will attempt to survive in some of the world’s most remote places in his latest extreme survival series for the Discovery Channel. Endemol-owned indie Tigress Productions has been commissioned to make Marooned, in which Stafford is sent to locations including the Gran Sabana mountains of Venezuela, with no shelter or food. The 5 x 60-minute show is being series produced by Tigress Productions’ Matt Brando and exec produced by Tigress managing director Dick Colthurst and Helen Hawken at Discovery.

Lime Pictures to make liveaction series for Disney Disney has ordered a four-part liveaction series from Lime Pictures to air internationally, including in the US. The show marks the first time the broadcaster has commissioned a UK indie to produce a live-action series to air on Disney Channel US. Evermoor, a 4 x 60-minute multipart movie, follows American teen Tara Bailey, who is uprooted from her city home and brought to an English village. Evermoor has been created by Lime’s Tim Compton and Diane Whitely, who previously worked on House Of Anubis, the indie’s live-action series for Nickelodeon. Compton is exec producing with Rebecca Hodgson. The show has been co-commissioned by Disney EMEA and Disney US and will air globally in the autumn.

tributing BBC2 documentary Christie’s, another doc series about an auction house. The 3 x 60-minute series is made by BBC Productions. Dragonfly managing director Simon Dickson says: “At Lots Road, every piece tells a story. As well as experiencing the thrill of the auctions, this series will give viewers privileged access to some of London’s most extra ordinary homes.”

For details of all commissions, see

http://greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

Sky to air 100 hours of original scripted shows Sky will air more than 100 hours of original scripted programming this year as part of its original content push. Sophie Turner Laing (pictured), managing director of content at Sky, told the

BBC Radio 4 Media Show that the broadcaster will air 70 hours of original drama and 36 hours of comedy in 2014. Sky is on track to spend £600m on British content, including original programming, sport and news production, as well as rights for its distribution arm Sky Vision. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

International News

Chalkboard scores backing BY Peter White

A trio of international production companies have invested in fledg ling UK indie Chalkboard TV. French producer Elephant Group, Spanish indie Zebra Pro ductions and Middle East prod uction firm Imagic have formed the IZEN Group and acquired a majority stake in the UK indie, which was founded by former Shine exec Ben Hall, former BBC formats exec Mike Benson and Total Wipeout producer Warwick Banks. Hall told Broadcast the start-up had held talks with the “usual suspects”, such as Sony Pictures Television, Fremantle Media and Content Media, but felt most com fortable partnering with IZEN because its component companies are still run by their founders. Elephant, Zebra and Imagic are all members of Sparks Network, the European formats umbrella, but are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with major format players such as Fremantle Media and Endemol. “The formation of IZEN is a response to the closed shop of the global format market and our desire to shake it up a little. We needed to take action to ensure that we have a source of top-qual ity original formats,” said Zebra chief executive José Velasco.

Chalkboard (left to right): founders Mike Benson, Warwick Banks and Ben Hall are partnering with IZEN Group

Chalkboard plans to produce formats for UK broadcasters and international networks. “We’re looking to produce shows that can secure a second series. We’re not going to be doing one-off docs, we’ll be concentrat ing on popular factual, factual entertainment and gameshows,” said Hall. “In the formats business, it helps to have other countries and international markets that you can pitch to. There’s a real appetite for UK-originated content around the world.”

We’re looking to produce shows that can secure a second series. We won’t be doing one-offs Ben Hall, Chalkboard

Chalkboard is also looking to bring in an exec to head a drama team, as Zebra and Ele phant are both known locally for scripted programming.

The IZEN companies are cur rently in discussions about whether to start their own international dis tribution business or work with an established distributor. IZEN is expected to invest in other indies. “We’ve been talking about forming IZEN for some months now but it was the oppor tunity to invest in Chalkboard that acted as the real catalyst. We’re now looking at additional invest ment opportunities but they have to be the right fit,” said Imagic chief executive Rony Jazzar.

Keshet hires Nourmand to boost UK business BY Peter White

Israeli producer Keshet is beefing up its UK business with the hire of former DCD Media boss Sammy Nourmand. Nourmand will become chief operating officer of Keshet UK, reporting to Keshet International chief executive Alon Shtruzman. He joins as ITV gears up to launch Keshet’s talent format Rising Star in 2015. The broadcaster acquired the format in a fiercely contested process and Nourmand will be given oversight of the show. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Nourmand: ‘hard to resist joining’

Keshet also has a number of series in development, including a remake of Israeli drama The A Word at Channel 4 and various unscripted projects. Nourmand will work with Keshet’s existing UK team, includ ing Sara Johnson, the former Sky and La Plante exec who heads its drama business, and Amelia Hann, The Undateables producer who is head of unscripted programming. “The business is growing in both scripted and unscripted so it’s only natural to bring in a heavy hitter to manage it,” Shtruz man said.

Nourmand was most recently chief executive of DCD Media, which owns indies including Bridezillas producer September Films, Liberty Of London indie Rize USA and Scottish firm Matchlight. He joined September Films in 1998 from Michael Hurll Tele vision and held a variety of roles across the business before leaving last year. “The lure of Keshet’s impressive track record in creating successful shows and Alon’s irrepressible enthusiasm were hard to resist. I’m pleased to be joining at this exciting time,” said Nourmand. 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 13

Multiplatform News In Brief Hebden rejoins Fremantle Kat Hebden is returning to Fremantle Media UK to become head of interactive following the departure of Peter Cassidy. Hebden, who was a senior interactive producer at the company in 2012, will take charge of the online video channels, producing original IP and support for its slate of shows, including The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent.

Box TV revamps business to halt audience decline

Final game from Littleloud Sticks And Stones (left), the final game from defunct Bafta awardwinning studio Littleloud, has been released. The indie, which closed after 13 years in July, has rolled out the Channel 4-backed iOS game, which teaches users how to deal with bullying through a hierarchybased ‘social ladder game’.

Sky EPG shift boosts VoD Sky has rolled out the most significant revamp of its EPG in more than 15 years to put more emphasis on VoD content. The shake-up, which has also resulted in an update to the Sky+ app, positions Sky’s catchup TV service and premium rental section Sky Store alongside the channel listings on the EPG home page. Later this year, it will roll out an additional update to its Sky+HD homes that will offer a better recommendation engine based on their Sky+ Planner and downloads.

London Live airs views The opinions of Londoners will be compared live on-screen following a deal between London Live and second-screen specialist Monterosa. The local TV broadcaster, which goes on air on 31 March, is to integrate an ‘interactive backbone’ provided by Monterosa’s Lvis Studio system. It will allow London Live to solicit the views of the capital’s residents, via a dedicated app, before they are segmented in realtime and displayed on-screen.

For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 14 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Video Crush: Box TV is trialling the format, where viewers submit reviews via YouTube to be edited into TV shows BY alex farber

Music TV business Box TV is repositioning itself as a multiplatform brand as it battles to address declining audience figures. The Bauer Media/Channel 4 joint venture, which comprises seven free-to-air channels including 4Music, Kiss and Kerrang!, is being transformed by managing director Matt Rennie, who joined from Global Radio in October. Rennie said he was overhauling the culture and working practices of the business to reflect its viewers’ habits. “We are re-engineering how the business operates. We want to be a content company rather than a TV company, and we want to be relevant by engaging people across all platforms,” he said. Box’s team of 20 in-house producers has been tasked with working in an increasingly multiplatform way – delivering longform shows for the channel along with shorter videos for its portfolio of websites and YouTube channels. These are also likely to feed into its app, which was released in December and has been downloaded around 100,000 times.

We want to be relevant by engaging people across all platforms Matt Rennie, Box TV

In the past few weeks, Box TV has begun trialling two formats: Video Crush and You News, in which viewers are invited to submit video reviews and opinions via YouTube. These are then edited as integral elements of the TV show. “We get a wide range of contributors and it helps keep us fresh and relevant,” Rennie said. “It is cheap and authentic, and we receive a viral boost as some of those who submit videos have tens of thousands of online followers.” He has also forged a partnership with social media agency Mass Relevance, which provides data on the level of conversation taking place online about certain artist videos, which it then integrates into a live ‘tug of war’ on-screen graphic. “It helps bring the TV channel to life. It makes it more real, live and dynamic for the audience,” said Rennie.

Box TV suffered a viewing decline of around 8% last year across its channels, and Rennie predicts a similar fall over the next 12 months, before it flattens out. He pointed to the growth of tablets and faster mobile broadband as the main drivers behind the fall and said he expects the curve to plateau as they become ubiquitous. Crucially, audience share remains stable and its music TV market share has grown around 3% to 41%. While the bulk of the broad caster’s revenues are still generated by its linear channels, Rennie anticipates this shifting crossplatform over time, and wants to be positioned accordingly. “I’m a big believer in putting things out there and seeing how the audience reacts rather than waiting for things to happen. Gone are the days when you could just play back-to-back music videos,” he said. Rennie added that Box TV is at the “sharp end” of changing audience behaviour because it skews towards 18 to 24 year-olds, and he expects mainstream channels to experience similar audience trends. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Technology & Facilities Creative review

Silk

Life and Death Row

The Michael McIntyre Chat Show

Post Technicolor Client BBC Brief Grade the third series of the legal drama following a group of barristers’ court cases as well as their personal lives. How it was done Senior colourist Dan Coles used Baselight to grade the six-part series. He set out to create a rich look that was high in contrast, making sure that the naturally warm tones in the courtrooms were generally graded towards a cooler palette, particularly in the shadows. In other locations, he accentuated the natural warmth. Coles used vignettes and shapes to enhance detail and add depth to the pictures. The conform, online and international versions of the programme, as well as VFX work, was carried out by Technicolor senior editor Simon Giblin using Avid DS. Watch it Mondays, 9pm, BBC1

Post The Farm Client BBC Vision Brief Provide picture and audio post-production on a 3 x 60-minute factual series that examines what it’s like to live with the threat of the death chamber. How it was done Colourist Sonny Sheridan used Nucoda Film Master to emphasise the colour of inmate Richard Cobb’s eyes by keying and tracking the blue, amplifying their piercing nature. By applying a cooler, softer light to the second half of the opening episode, Sheridan highlighted the impact of the events on the families of the victims and those on death row. He emphasised the Texan heat, juxtaposing it with the coolness of the second story. He also highlighted the emotional trauma and intensity of the situation. Dubbing mixer Nick Fry mixed the audio with Pro Tools 11. Tam Osman finished the series with Avid Symphony. Watch it Mondays, 9pm, BBC3

Design Jump Client Open Mike Productions Brief Create the visual identity for the stand-up comedian’s first chat show. How it was done Art director Lee Jacobs designed an identity that referenced American-style chat shows and used an ‘old school’ font. The logo is block text and 2D, allowing the colour and McIntyre’s name to be the main focus. Referencing the comedian’s distinctive suits, a red tone fades through the letters to a shocking pink. A night time cityscape was created using Cinema 4D, allowing the camera to fly through the streets, stopping at giant screens to reveal VT clips of the show’s guest stars. Working with set designer Rudi Thackray, a wrapped around screen and set design knits together the top of the show, where studio audience and guests are introduced in one seamless move. Watch it Mondays, 10.35pm, BBC1

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

Look Listen Experience to end its tour in Wimbledon

DPP settles on standard for access services file

The final Look Listen Experience roadshow will take place at Wimbledon Studios in London on Tuesday 25 March. The roadshow, hosted by Broadcast in association with Visual Impact and Root6, will include a discussion about the dynamics of fixedrig production by execs from production company The Garden. Envy managing director Dave Cadle, Halo chief executive John Rogerson and The Farm managing director David Klafkowski (pictured) will also be on hand to discuss the issues that are affecting the postproduction sector in the capital. Visit looklistenexperience.com for more information.

The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) has agreed a common standard for access services files. The XML format builds on the EBU’s own format (EBU-TT) and has been created to help UK broadcasters with the delivery of subtitles and audio description files. The DPP said it would allow UK broadcasters and access service providers to move towards an “open, futurefacing format”.

16 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Harris Broadcast splits to form two new companies Harris Broadcast has split into two companies: Imagine Communications and GatesAir. Imagine will provide media software and IP

networks, while GatesAir will focus on “high-efficiency TV and radio over-the-air solutions”. Chief executive of both organisations Charlie Vogt said the two companies “share common customers but innovate on different ends of the technology spectrum”.

Hackenbacker joins Halo Bafta-award winning audio post facility Hackenbacker has joined the Halo Group. Following the acquisition, Hackenbacker will form a major part of Halo’s drama and film sound operation, working alongside Halo’s five 5.1 TV mix rooms and two Dolby 7.1 theatrical mix stages.

Golden Square bolsters team with four recruits Soho VFX house Golden Square has made four new appointments (above right). Matt Berry (third from left), previously a founding partner and new business and

client services director at Waste Creative, joins in the role of business director. Former Prime Focus senior producer Annika Ahl (left) joins as joint head of production and freelancer Ben Spalding (right) has been hired as a senior producer. Motion graphic designer Rinat Ashkenazi (second from left), previously at CSC Media Group, has also joined the company.

Ratings start-up secures funding from Europe A London-based start-up that provides real-time television ratings has secured £1.2m funding. TVbeat, www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Quantel and Snell form tech giant You couldn’t find two businesses with more complementary product sets

BY George Bevir

Quantel’s surprise acquisition of Snell has created a UK broadcast technology giant with annual revenues of just over £100m and a combined R&D spend of £18m. Although the two brands will remain, their manufacturing, marketing and sales teams will be combined at Quantel’s Newbury facility, which is just 20 miles away from Snell’s Reading HQ. The newly merged company will have a workforce of 680. “By this time next year, we want all manufacturing to be in Newbury, so we can be super-efficient,” said Quantel director of marketing Steve Owen. Quantel manufactures news and sport production systems such as Enterprise SQ, as well as postproduction finishing tools like Pablo. Snell is known for products such as its Ice channel-in-a-box playout platform, Kahuna production switchers and Alchemist conversion system. The firms, which are both backed by Lloyds Development Capital, are set to integrate some of their products. Owen raised the prospect of

which works with broadcasters in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, collects live data from set-top boxes and other connected devices. UKbased Episode 1 and Czech Republicbased Credo Ventures have backed the firm, which plans to expand further in Europe this year.

Steve Owen, Quantel

Quantel Pablo: finishing tool is one of company’s best-known products

Snell’s conversion technology being used in Quantel’s IP-based workflow system QTube, while Snell’s Momentum asset management system could be used with Quantel’s news and sport production tools. “Snell also has expertise in IP as a replacement for SDI, while Quantel recently made an interesting submission to SMPTE on future networking, so we are likely to see exciting stuff from both on that front,” said Owen. He added that Quantel had been looking to make an acquisition for

a couple of years but had only entered serious negotiations with Snell in the past three months. He said Snell’s product range, culture, values and geography were essential to the deal. “You couldn’t find two businesses with more complementary product sets. With some acquisitions you can end up with less than the sum of the parts, but in this case, one plus one genuinely does equal two.” Over the past couple of years, Quantel has introduced colour-

SGO appoints Amies as education mentor

stage of The Voice UK at Elstree Studios’ George Lucas Stage 1. The live shows, which start this weekend, will use BBC S&PP’s purpose-built HD gallery.

SGO has appointed former postproduction co-ordinator Peter Amies (below) as a training and education mentor. His remit will

be to help manage the training strategy for its Mistika and Mamba systems, which the firm is looking to market to the education sector.

Online music licensing hub CueSongs has won a £500,000 grant from the Technology Strategy Board to develop a music licensing solution for online broadcasters. The firm, founded by Ed Averdieck and Peter Gabriel, will invest the grant in its CuePro project and content management system, which enables rights-holders to set licence usage, pricing and revenue shares for content in real time.

BBC S&PP to provide gallery for The Voice UK live finals

Clear-Com launches ProGrid to distribute data

BBC Studios and Post Production is to supply the full production gallery facilities for the live finals

Clear-Com has launched a fibrebased infrastructure system that enables users to transport and

Re:fine unveils service to meet DPP standards Content processing and digital media company Re:fine has launched a service aimed at helping production companies, distributors and post houses meet the DPP’s incoming requirements for the file-based delivery of programmes. The service is headed up by senior solutions architect Matt Goble. Re:fine has invested in new technology, including a £120,000 upgrade of its Telestream Vantage system, and new licences for Vidchecker, Aspera and Emotion Systems’ EFF software. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

CueSongs wins grant to develop licensing solution

correction system Pablo Rio, which runs on commercial, off-the-shelf hardware, and Revolution Q media production software, which runs on generic storage. According to its last set of results, 2012 was a “difficult year” for Quantel Ltd due to weaker demand in core markets in Europe. The overall Quantel group made a profit of £21,000 for the 15 months to December 2012. However, the move from hardware to software did lead to an increase in gross margins and Owen said sales of Pablo Rio grew 44% year on year in 2013. Snell began to shift away from hardware last year when it made its image-processing kit available as software tools. It made a profit after tax of £5.7m in 2012, with “strong growth” in its TV everywhere business.

distribute audio, intercom, video and control data. Clear-Com president Bob Boster said ProGrid allows the company to provide endto-end solutions for installations that require signal distribution.

BFBS takes delivery of Vualto content system Content delivery and management supplier Vualto has delivered an online playout solution to the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). The new BFBS Player, which shows live UK TV channels including BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, began trials last month in preparation for the deployment.

Procam clarification Last week’s article about Procam’s investment in Anton Bauer HDRF kit should have made it clear that the equipment allows for multiple camera links to work in the same environment. 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 17

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My advice to anyone considering being a series producer is to first ask yourself if you really want to be one Maxine Watson, Masterclass, page 26

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20 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

W1A: the real BBC faces an uncertain future

BBC revenue doesn’t add up Whatever happens in 2017, hard times lie ahead, says John Mair

ack in 2010, during the last BBC licence fee settlement, director general Mark Thompson was effectively mugged by Jeremy Hunt in the helter-skelter negotiation. How did the BBC work out the effect of the proposals? Simple, Thompson told me, they went back to Broadcasting House and put the figures through an Excel spreadsheet. No fancy econometric modelling there. Since then, the BBC has been having to cope with the de facto 16% cuts agreed under some duress. With a new licence fee period due to start in March 2017, at the same time as the next Charter, and the noise about those negotiations already building, I decided to repeat the exercise (with help from my econometrist son) with one big assumption and two smaller ones. Earlier this month, I asked BBC Trustee David Liddiment what was the best licence fee the corporation could expect in 2017. He replied firmly: “What we have now.” So, £145.50 per household, plus annual inflation at the historic level of 3.5% and the number of licence fee payers growing by the historic rate of 0.6% annually, formed my base assumptions. Crunched into that Excel spreadsheet, the results do not make for happy reading for the BBC. To keep up with inflation, the licence fee would have to rise to £177.78 in 2017. That will never happen. The BBC is too soft a target for any government to agree to that. Kept at £145.50, there will be a very large funding gap of at least 16%, and possibly as high as 18.2% over the 2017-2022 period. In real terms, taking account of inflation, income will fall over that six-year period from £21.3bn to approximately £17.4bn. That’s an annual drop from £3.55bn to £2.9bn. At best, very hard times lie ahead.

But the situation gets even worse if you build in another assumption. If not having a TV licence is decriminalised (which may happen in theory as soon as next week) then by the BBC’s own reckoning, up to 10% of licence fee payers – double the current percentage – will join Noel Edmonds in simply not paying. Real income could fall by 21% from 2017 compared with the previous six years. Not quite a funding Armageddon – but not far off. Could that missing 16-21% cut in real income mean a licence revenue loss of up to £1 billion per year? Using the BBC’s own 2013 figures from its financial statement, that’s the total spend on BBC2 (£543.1m), BBC Online (£176.6m), BBC4 (£70.2m) and the BBC News Channel (£61.1m), with more than £100m in further savings to find each year. Whatever the final funding solution arrived at, the situation looks grim. As the political sharks circle the corporation and its commercial media rivals lick their lips, the BBC’s best hope is that the electorate in 2015 does not return a Conservative government where anti-BBC backwoodsmen hold sway. If that scenario plays out, it’s curtains for the BBC as a universal provider of broadcasting on the widest variety of platforms. Ninety years of quality and world-respected public service broadcasting could come to a messy end at the stroke of a ministerial pen. ➤ John Mair lectures on broadcast journalism at Coventry University and is a former BBC current affairs producer. His book, Is The BBC In Crisis?, is available to Broadcast readers at a special price of £15 from richard@arimapublishing.co.uk

‘Kept at £145.50, there will be a very large funding gap of 16%’

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It’s a smart move to take BBC3 online

Comment

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A new era for storytelling C4 and BBC drama experiments are exciting, says Alexander Stewart

Anastasia Scott Managing partner, research and PR firm Kindred Agency

hy has BBC3’s downfall come about so dramatically? From the outside looking in, we’d have to argue that the channel made the mistake of not properly understanding its audience. Kindred asked its advisory panel, the Kindred 100, what they thought. This is 100 members of the public of different backgrounds, locations, ages and outlooks who provide us with insight that we use to help shape our campaigns. Those in BBC3’s 16-34 demographic were not very enamoured with the channel’s commissions. Around 30 of them are in that age bracket and in January, just four picked a BBC3 show as their favourite; in February, this dropped to two: Uncle (below) and Sun, Sex And Suspicious Parents. The overwhelming response was that the channel had lost its edge, having wandered too far from the likes of Being Human, Nighty Night or Mighty Boosh into the realms of “tacky” reality TV. “It’s like a poor man’s Channel 4 – just not quite as daring and provocative,” was one comment. Words such as “silly” and “frivolous” were used. Many said no BBC3 shows made them want to stay home and watch. The Big Bang Theory (E4), Breaking Bad (Netflix), Bones (Sky 1) and The Good Wife (More 4) proved way more popular. Maybe the BBC has finally taken notice of its target audience and their viewing habits. And, just maybe, converting the channel to solely online will be the BBC’s smartest move yet. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Hooked: Alexander Stewart’s 30-minute drama aired as part of Channel 4’s Coming Up strand in 2011 Alexander Stewart Writer

hannel 4’s Coming Up scheme changed my career by a single letter. Though just a linguistic hop on the page, the leap from waiter to writer was massive. One job involved getting covered in food and sweating late into the night for bad pay, the other was waiting tables. I owe Coming Up for the right to call myself a writer, for getting me an agent and for every opportunity I’ve had since. Apart from a terrible reading of a play about a homicidal Morrissey fan I wrote at 18, I had never had anything produced before. Yet at 22, I was trusted to write an original drama, with characters that I had invented, that would be on the telly for my family to judge and, hopefully, not realise they were all based on them. Perhaps it’s easier to take a gamble on spring-fresh talent when you’ve got seven slots to play with. With Channel 4’s change of the

format from seven half-hour oneoffs to one 90-minute televised feature, I don’t know if my ‘newness’ would give me more or less of an advantage. But the odds are certainly smaller. In the positive corner, new talent is being placed on a bigger pedestal. The prestige has just increased seven-fold. A half-hour one-off could be seen, by a viewer, as more disposable than a feature. It’s a mayfly. For a writer, that was a safety net. If you failed, you could keep going with a credit and the post-scheme support of your crew (which I continue to receive from the producers and script editors of 2011’s scheme) and learn from the experience. Onwards and upwards. A 90-minuter, however, would surely have to stand out next to the Red Ridings and the Sherlocks of this world. It’s like splashing in a puddle, doing that quite well, then being shoved off a diving board. Terrifying. But if you pull it off, you’re in the hallowed company of Steven Moffat or Tony Grisoni. Ninety minutes at least feels like less narrative pressure. You have more time to explore the avenues of your own constructed world. For me, that was the highlight of the scheme: being encouraged to present my specific world view without compromise. Variety was the name of the game. Will it

remain so? Is there going to be pressure to include a whole gamut of tones to show off the scheme’s variety, but in one slot? Or would ordering a single one-off thriller feature or arty Lynchian lightshow limit the volume of talent waiting to be discovered? Like an X Factor winner’s single, would there have to be a specific tone? And will the more obvious public pressure force the Coming Up commissioners to go for a more commercial choice rather than a more diverse or left-field voice? Ultimately, these debates are moot. Coming Up is a brilliant, trailblazing scheme, a working training ground that allows writers and directors to do what they do best. And, thankfully, it’s not unique. Although the end of the BBC’s Writer’s Academy felt like another door closing, we have the next generation in the form of 15-minute iPlayer shorts. Tighter, tougher, instant. And online. The format is evolving. Coming Up was a safe place. Now I don’t know what to expect from a Coming Up feature. Nor from an iPlayer short. That’s exciting. These are new narrative shapes from new writers. And surely, isn’t that the point? For a longer version of this article, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 21

Comment How to get ahead in TV Lesson 35

I’m in mourning for a true friend We should all grieve the on-screen loss of a much-loved channel, says Steven D Wright

e all know by now that telly is horrible and any ambitious TV types soon toughen up and develop armour to protect them from the viciousness and everyday cruelty. But, awful as it is, one can easily rationalise it as a by-product of the stressful nature of programme-making. No biggie. A much more emotionally bruising aspect of telly is the tearful farewell that we experience each time a colleague’s contract expires. But, like mafia wives who have become inured to death, we no longer mourn as the next freelancer leaves – after the obligatory red velvet cupcakes and ‘we’ll miss you’ card signings, we move on and forget them. It’s all part and parcel of telly life and nothing to lose sleep over. So what will we do when BBC3, an actual telly channel and genuinely much-loved friend, disappears from our lives forever? Tony Hall’s shock judgement left the industry stunned and was met with two typical reactions: either screaming blue murder and launching public campaigns to save it – or those nonplussed ones smugly saying ‘its all for the best’, citing nonsensical budgetary reasons and claiming that going online is better than on-screen. 22 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

I was taken aback at how deeply the axing upset me and, clad in black armband, began grieving for the loss of a favourite channel (and again as a frustrated programme-maker who has lost yet another buyer in a difficult market). I quickly became lost in nostalgia for all the great stuff I’d watched – even those BBC3 blob idents – while my heart hardened even more to those fuddy-duddies who advocated its closure.

‘Whether it was the Daily Mail or Netflix that dealt the fatal blow, the death of BBC3 is bloody politics’ BBC3 was always an easy target, especially after a long campaign by right-wing hacks who cynically cite Fuck Off, I’m Ginger as evidence of BBC3’s corrupting influence. None of them seem to notice how many award-winning dramas, comedies and documentaries it produced: incredibly, BBC3 has won more awards since 2003 than Sky 1, E4, Sky Living, ITV2, Comedy Central and C5 in their combined 25-year history (or, Fuck Me, I’m Amazed as the BBC3 listings might have put it). Surprisingly for such a public scandal, the press basically ignored it and moved on to dis-

cussing more important TV topics like whether Cheryl Cole’s tiresome return to The X Factor meant the end of Louis Walsh as a judge. As the big-name columnists always say, it was enough to make me weep (if only I hadn’t had my tear ducts removed as a precaution when I started in TV). But whether it was the Daily Mail or Netflix that dealt the fatal blow, it seems that the untimely death of BBC3 is just bloody politics – and nothing at all to do with telly, iPlayer or the art of programme-making for young viewers. Like almost everyone else not aged 16-34, I also resent the implication that ‘online broadcasting’ is the future for young people – a statement that ignores the 96% of BBC3 viewers who still only watch on a television set. Patronising and ageist too – surely I’m not too old to enjoy the delights of Russell Kane, a 38-yearold comedian presenting shows for ‘da yoof ’? Of course, I’m savvy enough to realise – in what sounds like a far-fetched plot from BBCbased sitcom W1A – that it could just be a giant media hoax, much like when Family Guy announced it had killed off Brian the dog. So I won’t be burning effigies outside Broadcasting House just yet. But I am definitely keeping a lighter in my pocket until the leaving do. ➤ Steven D Wright is creative director at Whizz Kid Entertainment www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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LONDON | 25 March 2014 | Wimbledon Studios SPEAKERS

Maddy Allen Head of production Keo Films

Scarlett Ewens Head of production and managing director The Garden

CASE STUDY

Dave Cadle Founder and managing director Envy Post

Hamo Forsyth Executive producer The Garden

Nick Curwin CEO The Garden

John Rogerson CEO Halo Post

Helena Ely Head of production Wall to Wall

David Klafkowski Managing director and technical director The Farm

24 HOURS IN A&E Fixed-rigged productions offer a new way of capturing real-life action without using an intrusive camera crew. The Garden discusses filming challenges, engineering highlights and the new techniques.

Joe McLusky Head of production Lime Pictures

PROGRAMME 10.00-10.45 24 HOURS IN A&E: CASE STUDY SPEAKERS: Hamo Forsyth, executive producer, The Garden; Scarlett Ewens, head of production and managing director, The Garden; Nick Curwin, CEO, The Garden

11.45-12.30 PRODUCTION BUDGET PLANNING SPEAKERS: Joe McLusky, head of production, Lime Pictures; Maddy Allen, head of production, Keo Films; Helena Ely, head of production, Wall to Wall

11.00-11.30 POST TO THE POWER OF THREE root6

14.00-15.00 LIGHTING ON THE RUN SPEAKERS: Jonathan Harrison, DoP

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DRAMA

Production MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

In The Flesh: Timeline transferred rushes overnight via Aframe’s cloud platform

How the cloud is changing TV From sending rushes to archiving, managing assets over remote servers is becoming a vital part of the production process. Adrian Pennington looks at four recent examples

anaging media held on remote servers is becoming integral to all manner of broadcast and post-production applications – from recorded and live programme production to ad clearance and digital archive. The following are four current uses of cloud-based media asset management.

ALAMY

BBC3: In The Flesh The second series of BBC3 zombie drama In the Flesh was shot around Manchester and required rushes to be transferred to London overnight in a more cost- and time-effective way than dispatching a courier. During the 75-day location shoot, which ended earlier this month, more than 10 hours of footage was uploaded each week to Aframe’s cloud platform via Timeline North at MediaCityUK in readiness for the edit at Deluxe in Soho the following morning. The production created about 30GB of DNx36 HD formatted footage daily, 24 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

‘We have facilities in Ealing, Soho, iCity and Salford and the cloud enables us to manage media from four central locations’ Eben Clancy, Timeline North

which was uploaded to Aframe’s private cloud, while the native rushes were stored and backed up at Timeline. Deluxe downloaded the files with attendant metadata, sent to it for offline editing on an Avid, and created dailies and weekly assemblies for review and approval by around 16 producers and BBC execs. While the conform was made with the highresolution media from hard drives couriered to London, the initial cloud-based process made viewing copies available in less than five hours, instead of the usual 35. “We have facilities in Ealing, Soho, iCity and Salford and the cloud enables us to manage media from four central locations and allows the production to access and

sign off final versions at home or on the train,” says Timeline post-production director Eben Clancy. Aframe generates a low-res proxy that can be viewed on a web interface, giving production teams the chance to browse, log, sub-clip, annotate and organise the rushes online. “Producers do still like to be sat in the post house to supervise work, but it’s also practical for people to continue to work on projects wherever they are,” says Clancy.

NBC Sports: Winter Olympics Every two years, the summer and winter Olympic Games presents NBC Sports with a massive logistical exercise. Following up on coverage of London 2012, where it faced criticism for running highlights of popular events in primetime long after the results were known and showing no events live online, the US broadcaster upped the ante for Sochi. For www.broadcastnow.co.uk

The sound of gloves going on and toys going into the bin is punctuated by hilarious insights into customers’ sex lives Jonny Young, Behind the Scenes, page 28

the first time, it streamed the entire Games – 98 events in all – live and online, and provided on-demand content, including highlights, for internet-connected devices. To do that without spiralling costs, it put together a cloud-based model in which a significant portion of its operation took place in the US. Up to 25 video streams were routed from NBC’s base at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) at Sochi to its Stamford, Connecticut, HQ over fibre. At the IBC and in Stamford, the feeds were recorded on Harmonic MediaDeck servers with hundreds of terabytes of capacity. In less than a minute, content created on the Sochi MediaGrid system was replicated on the Stamford system, enabling production personnel on both sites to have direct access to footage via Avid Interplay media asset management. As soon as recording began, dozens of loggers, producers and editors in Stamford compiled highlight files. Using extensive live logs and stats, plus scoring and timing information embedded as metadata, editors made shot lists for automatic conform in proxy resolution for streaming, or conformed in high resolution for use in NBC Sports’ broadcast edit suites. Once prepped and assigned with appropriate advertising, the media was ingested into Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, encoded, copy protected and finally distributed over the Akamai content delivery network and played back on mobile and PC devices using Adobe software.

Clearcast: Online clearance In April, broadcast advertising preclearance specialist Clearcast will launch an online clearance system capable of accommodating significant growth in the number of scripts and ads, particularly online video formats, it is receiving. Last year, 35,000 TV ads were approved and 65,000 versions of video ads were uploaded onto the current system, Adway. “We also operate a pre-production clearance service. Agencies submit a script and we provide them with an indication of the possible restrictions on its broadcast should it go into production,” says chief technology officer James Morgan-Yates. “It’s an incredible amount of material and we are a small organisation – just 56 staff – so we need a suitable means of managing and storing it all.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Ark Post: around 300 hours a week are uploaded to the arKive system

Winter Olympics: NBC Sports streamed Sochi Games live

Clearcast, which has used cloud computing since 2008, required a robust system with content accessible at all times. It selected WPP-owned brand services agency Hogarth Worldwide to implement the internet-based CopyCentral. In addition, Morgan-Yates installed a 1 Gbit/s Sohonet Media Network (SMN) connection, which not only provides faster access to material than a standard connection but, he says, gives Clearcast a resilience it didn’t have before. “It makes sense to use the speed and security benefits of SMN to back up, replicate and store copies of our business data off site,” he says. Since using SMN, the company says it has saved 50% in operating costs. “We can store all the data in one place and because it sits on the Sohonet network, we don’t have to pay to access the data again,” says Morgan-Yates.

Ark Post: arKive In 2007, Ark Post Production, in common with many facilities, introduced a large data system for file storage and to support its migration

‘Our clients typically need to access their media infrequently, but also want it to be recoverable the next day’ David Carstairs, Ark Post

to tapeless edits. Where it differed was in its alertness to a business opportunity in offering a large video intranet (arKive) as a service to producers and broadcasters looking to archive and quickly retrieve terabytes of highres assets. “Our clients typically need to access their media infrequently, but they want it to be recoverable the next day to feed returning series or programme sales,” says Ark technical consultant David Carstairs. “We had a StorNext [file storage system] linked to a modest networked storage system, which was being filled up exponentially quickly,” he explains. “We looked at different models, from LTO tape to expanded networked storage, and arrived at a solution that combined the StorNext with Quantum’s Lattus-M.” Lattus deploys object storage that complements traditional disk and tape – but is seen as doing a better job than either in terms of capacity and access speeds. Carstairs likens object storage to a sudoku puzzle. “With erasure coding, as long as you know some of the numbers, the blanks or missing information can be calculated. You can spread the data over multiple sites and retrieve assets far quicker than from LTO tape.” Quantum’s system is also capable of storage on nodes over multiple sites, which not only fits Ark’s planned expansion but also reduces the risks inherent in storage on a single site. Around 300 hours a week are uploaded to arKive, which is accessible by producers and broadcasters, who can populate it with their own data. 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 25

Masterclass SerieS Producing

can you cut it as a series producer? The job of a series producer is a tough one, and the transition from producer/director is just as challenging. What does it take to be a success in the role?

he role of series producer (SP) is sometimes labelled the toughest gig in the industry. Just what does it take to be a great and in-demand SP? And can it really be that difficult? Moving up from producer/director (PD) to SP is a big leap. New SPs have to take on significant managerial responsibilities, deal with budgets and lead a team to deliver a creative

1 The commiSSioner Maxine Watson Commissioning editor, BBC documentaries commissioning; executive producer, 2002-present Selected EP credits: Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC1); Tough Young Teachers (BBC3); Idris Elba: King Of Speed (BBC2)

My advice to anyone considering being a series producer is to first ask yourself if you really want to be one, especially if you are a talented producer/director. Maybe your talents will be best served staying as a PD rather than making the jump to producing a series. If becoming an SP is your goal, building a good team is key. Start creating a comprehensive contacts book of the best assistant producers, researchers and directors you’ve worked with and make friends with them. It is a big jump to start series producing, but as a commissioner, I recognise when a new SP will need more support. It’s part of my job, and that of the executive producer, to make it clear that the new SP can ask for advice throughout the process. No 26 Broadcast | 21 March 2014

vision. So how does a talented PD know if they can cut it as an SP? There is no halfway house between the two roles, and for those working as an SP for the first time, it is often a case of sink or swim. Here, four professionals who have worked as SPs give their insight into the demands of the role, and what wannabe SPs should consider before taking the plunge.

one expects an SP to shoulder the whole responsibility of a production, do they? It’s a team effort. No matter how many SP credits you have, always be organised and clear about what you want to achieve. Be a problem-solver and a tiny bit ruthless. My experience of series producing and exec producing programmes has generally helped me as a commissioner. Going through the process of how to make something work when it doesn’t, and how to make it work better when it does – that’s the alchemy of good series producing and exec producing.

2 The eXecuTiVe Producer Andra Heritage Executive producer, Blink Films; co-founder, the Series Producer Association; series producer, 1997-2011 Selected SP credits: The Big Experiment (Discovery); Weddings Live (Five/Discovery); True Stories (Five/Discovery)

Series producing can be a tough job and really depends on the support you have from above. If you’re on your own, then it can be hugely stressful juggling the many balls needed to

‘Always be organised and clear about what you want to achieve. Be a problemsolver and a tiny bit ruthless’ Maxine Watson, BBC

make a show – especially a new series. If you have a supportive exec producer or company, it can take a lot of the pressure off. In an SP, I rate organisational skills almost as much a creative skills. We work in a creative industry and we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have strong creative capabilities. But being an SP involves a whole lot more than the creative and editorial side of things. You have to work closely with your production manager to ensure schedules are stuck to, budgets are used effectively, teams are happy, and so on. You need to be ruthlessly organised – you are a manager in charge of a project with multiple levels. I don’t think series producing requires a specific kind of person. But it does appeal more to an individual who is interested in the whole production process (including the boring bits), not just one element of it. For instance, in my experience, the best directors are so good because they are able to focus on just the narrative and pictorial side of the job. Series producing can be a lonely experience, which is why Carolyn Payne and I set up the Series Producer Association. It now has more than 140 registered members, who share their collective experience and give support and advice. We have found that the biggest concerns for established SPs are getting work, negotiating the right rate when they’ve secured a role, and ensuring the right team is on board.

3 The SerieS Producer Amy Walker Series producer, 2007-present; founder, Media Parents

Selected SP credits: Kirstie’s Fill Your House for Free (Channel 4); Bear Grylls Extreme Survival (Discovery); World’s Scariest (Channel 5); Fantasy Homes (UKTV Home)

Adaptability is the key to series producing. Every SP job I do differs, which can be stressful, but I now have the confidence to allow myself four weeks from start-up to crack any series. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Series producer fast track scheme Matt Born Managing director, DV Talent

Series producer credits: Celebrity Wedding Planner (above); Kirstie’s Fill Your House For Free (below); Tough Young Teachers (below left)

For me, the appeal of series producing is the total immersion – the mix of development, creativity and team management gives me a buzz. The SP is often the only person who gets to meet and work with every single person on a large team. I love that. Most series producers learn on the job, but I did the BBC/TRC media series producer programme in 200809. The course gave me two days a month to think and got me in front of BBC commissioners to whom I would subsequently pitch. I had the idea for Media Parents while listening to a session by Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt. I’d worked with Jay, but being reintroduced to her at a masterclass on the course gave me the confidence to run the idea past her, and a few other people I respect, before I went for it. If you want to become an SP, I would highly recommend getting a place on a course, and if you want to series produce ob docs, don’t stop shooting. Keep your skills up to date and sharp. The worst thing about series producing? Feeling that you have to leave the pub first so everyone can really let their hair down. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

4 The Trainer Sarah Wood Executive producer, BBC Academy; series producer 2003-2012

Selected SP credits: Celebrity Wedding Planner (C5); Philippe Starck’s Design For Life (BBC2); Escape To The Country (BBC2)

I thought I had a good sense of what series producing entailed when I accepted my first job. But nothing prepared me for the shock of having to look after the editorial for multiple episodes, manage a team, make the budget work, get the shows through offline and online, build a relationship with my commissioner – the list went on and on. After that first shock I grew to love it. I quickly learned that you have to let people do the job you employ them to do. You cannot work as flat out as the casting team at the start of the production and still be standing come midnight in an offline edit several months later.

The Series Producer Fast Track Scheme is designed to address a specific but significant problem. The dearth of recog nised series producers causes indies and commissioners no end of headaches. Meanwhile, swathes of talented producers, mostly freelance, face career gridlock: unable to take the next step to SP because the broad casters and indies feel the risks are too great, with neither the time nor the resources to help manage their transition. The scheme was commis sioned by Creative Skillset to help solve this conundrum. Through tailored workshops and seminars, the delegates get to experience and tackle many of the key scenarios faced by SPs: from recruiting teams to trouble-shooting multiple edits, and from writing

‘The worst thing about series producing? Feeling that you have to leave the pub first so everyone can really let their hair down’ Amy Walker, Media Parents

and rewriting scripts to manag ing the often complex threeway relationship with execs and commissioners. The course offers sessions on what to do in your first week, storytelling across a series, scheduling and managing budgets, running teams remotely, and building a rela tionship with the production manager. There are also talks with commissioners and case studies in which guest execs deconstruct their recent series. Each delegate will be assigned an executive or com missioner mentor, whom they can meet regularly to help translate what is learned in the classroom to the workplace. The deadline for applications for Series Producer Fast Track 2014 is Monday 24 March. To apply, visit www.dvtalent.co.uk or email training@dvtalent.co.uk

You will need to enjoy problem solving. Working on a first series will present stacks of issues and the worst thing you can do is not make decisions as that can slow a production, costing money and making your team feel rudderless. Make decisions, accept that a small percentage of them will be wrong and then put them right. Try to pre-empt problems and put alternative plans in place in case it all hits the fan. You will still occasionally be blind-sided by a nightmare you didn’t see coming but don’t beat yourself up about it – roll your sleeves up and work out how to solve it. As a trainer, I think a huge challenge for new SPs is the pastoral care of their team as well as keeping their exec producer and commissioner happy. You need to keep the lines of communication open and make time for people. If you are thinking of taking the plunge into series producing, here are some useful links: www.skillset.org/ www.bbcacademy.com/ www.dvtalent.co.uk/ www.indietrainingfund.com/ 21 March 2014 | Broadcast 27

Behind the Scenes FRISKY BUSINESS

A window into British bedrooms Mixing down-to-earth employees with the mind-blowing array of sex toys they sell for online retailer Lovehoney made for ob doc material that set our pulses racing, says Jonny Young FRISKY BUSINESS

Production company Oblong Films Broadcaster Lifetime TX Wednesdays, 10pm from 26 March, Lifetime Length 6 x 60 minutes Commissioner Koulla Anastasi Series producer Karen Beland Producer/directors Jeremy Rodway; Bart Corpe; Heidi Williams; Nigel Gainsborough Executive producer Jonny Young Post house Films at 59 Summary Characterdriven ob doc series filmed in a sex toy warehouse in Bath.

Jonny Young My tricks of the trade ■ Don’t rush into filming.

Time spent with contributors up front will pay dividends later ■ PDs need to see beyond the shock factor and tease out the stories ■ Fixed rigs can be done on a budget, but cut too many corners and it will be a nightmare in the edit ■ Have a diplomatic answer for “did you get any freebies?”

Jonny Young Executive producer

“S

o that’s the Jenna Jameson three-hole doll, a multi-speed bullet, a triple butt plug pack and mint choc-flavoured lube. Anything else…?” In my career in observational docs, I’ve followed rat catchers, refuse collectors, morticians, demolition men and even cannibals. But none of this prepared me for making an ob doc series about a sex toy warehouse. I’ve never had as much fun, or learned so much… “OK, in that case then, I’d recommend the Armadildo… with balls.” In a warehouse on an industrial estate in the genteel city of Bath, 4,000 boxes a day are discreetly packed up and posted out to eager customers. This is Lovehoney, the UK’s biggest online sex toy retailer. The staff who work here have a privileged insight into the bedrooms of Britain. These are down-to-earth, ordinary people doing what most consider to be an extraordinary job. We pitched a character-driven taster tape to Lifetime well before its launch in November 2013. We were eventually commissioned to make 6 x 60-minute episodes of Frisky Business; only its second UK-based original series. From the moment we set foot in the warehouse, we knew it would make fantastic television with its combination of warm, funny and relatable characters and eye-popping products. Virtually every sexual taste is catered for; whatever you are into, there’s a toy for it. At the heart of the series is the customer care department. Here, the predominantly female staff are on the front-

28 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

line of sex toy advice. They get around 300 calls a day from customers wanting advice and guidance on what to buy – and how to use it. We focus on Chelsea, Laura and Karen. With 5,000 products on offer, they need to be incredibly knowledgeable and unshockable. Their candid advice about all things erotic is interspersed with jokey banter, singing, eating and copious cups of tea. Whether it’s Karen advising a customer about a thong, Laura extolling the virtues of flavoured lubes or

‘The crew worked hard to get the best out of the central characters… now they see innuendo everywhere’ Jonny Young

Chelsea patiently explaining to a man that she can’t say exactly how much “enhancement” a penis pump will bring him, the minutiae of our sex lives is revealed. These moments were captured by a small and unobtrusive fixed-rig camera system and we soon realised that this footage was key to keeping the observational storylines going. With 130 staff under one roof, there were enough departments to give us opportunities to intercut scenes. We rarely needed – or wanted – to leave the building. The two self-shoot teams would move between customer care, management, the content team and the returns department, which accepts items for up to 365 days, no questions asked. Working there requires a strong constitu-

tion and an innate ability to spot whether something has been used. Andrea is no stranger to a pair of rubber gloves – she used to be a cleaner – and Roy is a former drama teacher who’s lost none of his storytelling ability nor his comic timing. The pair clearly love working with each other and we couldn’t get enough of filming with them. Many returns boxes contain a letter going into great detail about how the items are too big, too small or just the wrong colour. In returns, the sound of gloves going on and the thwack of toys going into the bin is punctuated by unique and hilarious insights into customers’ sex toy lives. For example: “I am returning this item because it is too big. My wife took one look at it, called me a bastard and proceeded to beat me about the face with it.”

Internet opportunity Two friends, ex-journalists Richard Longhurst and Neal Slateford, started the company 12 years ago. They claim to be making it up as they go along, but, as self-confessed “internet nerds”, they know that the anonymity and ease of buying on the web is what buyers of sex toys want. They’re quick to seize business – and publicity – opportunities, so when we came along seeking access-all-areas for an observational TV series, they soon agreed. While the bosses were happy, we still had to build up the necessary trust for the day-to-day filming of their employees. Incredibly, out of 130 staff, only a handful chose not to be filmed. Frisky Business is a warm, humorous and often surprising series. The Oblong crew worked hard to get the very best out of the central characters and to always follow the story – whether it was a ‘design a sex toy’ competition, a Rabbit ‘recycling amnesty’ or a new vibrator being made out of an American pumpkin carver. After three months in the warehouse, they now see innuendo everywhere. The ins and outs and the ups and downs of ob docs will never quite be the same again. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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

Top to bottom: Lovehoney customer care assistant Chelsea; bondage and burlesque specialist Jess; editorial assistant Cazz and Jess; Lovehoney founders Neal and Richard; right: Cazz in the warehouse; left: Roy in the returns department

FRISKY BUSINESS LOOKING BEYOND THE SMUT Koulla Anastasi Channel editor, A&E Networks When we viewed the taster tape for Frisky Business, our initial reaction was of incredulity at the exotic range of stuff we were being introduced to, quickly followed by some quite hysterical laughter – always a winner in a sizzle. With so much variety and topicality, it seemed the perfect show to commission in the first year of Lifetime. We were still in the early planning stages for the channel, but it fit with the core values we were building, which are a fun, positive, entertaining and intelligent representation of the themes and trends that are dominating British women’s conversations. The characters were a real draw: normal and likeable while naturally funny and fascinating, and in jobs and situations that would resonate with a broad female audience. We especially liked the phone calls dealt with in the customer care department. Their hilarious and often embarrassingly intimate conversations with customers, juxtaposed with the normality and ordinariness of an office job, is just wonderfully watchable telly. Since the Fifty Shades Of Grey phenomenon took off, sex and the use of sex toys have reached an all-new level of awareness. Frisky Business is not a smutty look at the seedy

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

world of sex toys, but an amusing glimpse at the mainstream sex toy industry that is a growing presence on the UK high street. Lovehoney is a well-run, successful business and at the forefront of the ‘intimate pleasure’ industry, so it seemed a timely subject for Lifetime. To surprise our audience, we challenged the producers at Oblong Films to include as many facts and figures as possible. For example, did you know that the raunchiest place in Britain is Wilmslow in Cheshire? Frisky Business is Lifetime’s second UK commission since its launch in November 2013. We’re now in an exciting time when we can introduce more UK shows and add a UK flavour to our schedules, and this is something that we are totally committed to doing. Love, sex, family and relationships are key areas of interest to Lifetime, but every show we commission needs to take a fresh, contemporary approach to these subjects. Frisky Business encapsulates this. We also provide viewers with an eye-opening insight into the extensive uses of latex...

21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 29

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To advertise in the Marketplace section please contact: Hannah Grix 020 3033 2889 hannah.grix@mb-insight.com 30 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

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HEAD OF DRAMA, ENGLAND £COMPETITIVE LONDON | REF: BBC/TP/139984/7481 Never has there been a more exciting and buoyant time for Original British Drama. The BBC’s portfolio includes some of the most hard-hitting, thrilling and award-winning drama series on television – such as The Musketeers, Silk and Luther. As well as the nation’s best-loved and powerful continuing dramas – including EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty. Reporting to the Controller of Fiction and Entertainment for BBC Television and working closely with the Controller of Drama Commissioning, you’ll be one of BBC Drama’s key creative leaders, responsible alongside the Heads of Drama for Wales and Scotland for bringing the best in-house drama programming to all BBC channels and on-demand platforms. Whether it’s period-drama adaptations, crime thrillers, the new and the different or innovative short-form storytelling on new platforms, you will be able to marry the best performers with the best writers and producers to help push the boundaries of drama at the BBC. You will be a champion for drama and will forge close relationships with the other Heads of Drama for Wales and Scotland, as well as the other genres, in order to collaborate with BBC Comedy, Entertainment and Films. With indepth experience in drama production and/or commissioning, you’ll need to show you can develop a diverse range of drama talent including writers, producers, directors and on-screen talent, as well as have a passion for delivering the most creative and original programmes, ensuring that value is provided to the breadth of our diverse audiences. You will also have a passion for the BBC’s continuing drama series (EastEnders, Holby City, Casualty and Doctors), which form such a central part of the BBC’s output. To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to Ian Critchley (Ian.Critchley@bbc.co.uk). Closing date: Monday 7th April 2014.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 31

Ratings Mon 10 Mar – Sun 16 Mar

Soaps still clean up in ratings Audiences may have fallen over the past 20 years, but soaps’ value to the BBC and ITV is undiminished BY Philip Reevell

The number 21 million weighed on my mind this week. Why? I’ll give you a clue: it’s from a faded Guardian cutting from February 1994, just over 20 years ago. It’s about a programme that’s just moved into a brand new studio the size of a small industrial park, where its name is on the gate in very large letters. Yes, Coronation Street had 21 million viewers in 1994. This week, its best overnight was Monday’s 8.5 million/35%. And EastEnders’ best was also on Monday, where it averaged 7.1 million/33% compared with – yes – 21 million in 1994. Admittedly, it’s not entirely a straight comparison, as we would need the extra 1 million from the consolidated numbers. All ratings have fallen since the 1990s, yet despite the decline, the two soaps remain immensely valuable to their respective broadcasters. Just look at the investment in bricks and mortar in Salford Quays and, likewise, EastEnders’ planned expansion at Elstree by 2018. But while both broadcasters are ready to rebuild their soap factories, no one has successfully launched a new TV soap since Hollyoaks’ in 1995. Which is why the decision by TV3 in Dublin to tender for a new soap is so intriguing. It’s going to be fascinating to see what the first new soap this century, a coproduction from Irish company Element and the UK’s Company Pictures, looks like. It’s interesting also to think what the £30m the BBC has allocated to drama from its raid on 32 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Broadcast/Barb Top 100 network programmes 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street EastEnders Emmerdale EastEnders Coronation Street Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway The Voice UK EastEnders The Voice UK Emmerdale Countryfile Emmerdale Top Gear: Burma Special EastEnders Emmerdale BBC News Emmerdale BBC News BBC London News Jonathan Creek BBC News At Six Shetland Casualty BBC News At Ten BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News At Six BBC News Six Nations Rugby: France V Ireland BBC News At Ten DCI Banks BBC News At Ten The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins The One Show Catchphrase Mr Selfridge BBC News At Ten Holby City Uefa Champs Lge: Bayern V Arsenal The Musketeers BBC News At Ten The One Show The Cube The One Show Law & Order: UK You Saw Them Here First

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

19.30 20.30 19.30 19.30 20.00 19.00 19.30 20.30 19.00 19.45 20.00 19.25 19.00 18.45 19.00 20.00 19.30 19.00 19.05 18.45 22.00 18.30 21.00 18.00 21.00 21.30 22.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 22.20 16.35 22.00 21.00 22.00 20.40 19.00 19.00 21.00 22.00 20.00 19.30 21.00 22.00 19.00 20.20 19.00 21.00 20.00

8.46 7.77 7.59 7.38 7.11 7.07 7.07 7.06 6.97 6.91 6.81 6.70 6.36 6.34 6.28 6.08 5.89 5.88 5.53 5.49 5.49 5.47 5.41 5.36 5.20 5.18 5.05 5.00 4.97 4.95 4.89 4.88 4.86 4.84 4.82 4.80 4.77 4.76 4.75 4.74 4.63 4.53 4.51 4.47 4.42 4.32 4.05 4.04 3.97 3.96

38.82 33.55 36.47 35.91 31.38 34.33 33.16 31.32 30.73 26.99 30.94 29.22 32.71 29.90 32.21 23.39 28.17 29.96 25.77 27.96 29.20 30.59 25.24 30.06 22.86 27.47 28.39 28.98 29.50 30.28 29.49 28.60 29.62 27.24 20.98 27.65 23.46 24.26 21.28 20.89 26.79 19.99 20.08 19.69 24.24 20.94 19.25 21.02 17.96 18.67

ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1/Wall to Wall BBC1 BBC1/Wall to Wall ITV BBC1 ITV BBC2 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/ITV Studios BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV/Left Bank Pictures BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV/STV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV/Objective Productions BBC1 ITV/Kudos Film & TV ITV/Shiver

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Shetland

Law & Order: UK www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Source: BARB

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 59 61 62 63 63 63 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 72 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 98 100

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Silk The One Show ITV News & Weather Bang Goes The Theory BBC News ITV News & Weather I Never Knew That About Britain The One Show Famous, Rich & Hungry For Sport Relief ITV News & Weather Six Nations Rugby: Italy V England ITV News & Weather Room 101 Holiday Hit Squad Famous, Rich & Hungry For Sport Relief The Chase ITV News & Weather Pointless Harry’s South Pole Heroes Pointless Pointless ITV News & Weather Pointless The Chase Pointless Uefa Europa League: Spurs V Benfica Waterloo Road Party Political Broadcast: Conservative The Chase Match Of The Day Blandings A Question Of Sport University Challenge The Chase Six Nations Rugby: Wales V Scotland The Chase Student Nurses: Bedpans And Bandages F1: Australian Grand Prix – Highlights YBF! Top 100 Senior Moments Mary Berry Cooks Match Of The Day 2 BBC News At One Gogglebox Line Of Duty The Great British Sewing Bee The Michael McIntyre Chat Show BBC News At One BBC News At One Question Time One Born Every Minute

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

21.00 19.00 18.30 19.30 17.50 18.45 20.00 19.00 21.00 18.30 12.15 18.30 20.30 20.00 21.00 17.00 18.30 17.15 20.00 17.15 17.15 18.15 17.15 17.00 17.15 19.45 20.00 18.25 17.00 22.40 18.15 19.30 20.00 17.00 14.30 17.00 20.00 14.00 18.00 20.30 22.25 13.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 22.35 13.00 13.00 22.35 21.00

3.94 3.84 3.83 3.81 3.69 3.60 3.59 3.53 3.51 3.51 3.50 3.48 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.42 3.35 3.32 3.31 3.30 3.29 3.28 3.28 3.24 3.21 3.19 3.16 3.12 3.10 3.08 3.08 3.06 3.01 3.00 2.99 2.93 2.89 2.88 2.87 2.82 2.72 2.67 2.64 2.63 2.53 2.47 2.46 2.43 2.43 2.42

17.14 19.70 19.89 17.50 22.14 18.48 15.84 17.63 15.88 19.11 37.30 19.05 15.29 16.68 16.63 24.88 18.73 24.63 12.73 24.70 23.18 18.78 24.86 23.83 22.27 15.59 14.88 18.35 24.17 26.88 16.80 14.69 13.30 23.59 27.28 23.47 13.11 25.38 15.47 12.17 22.57 40.21 12.34 11.89 11.17 21.71 38.62 38.73 22.30 10.52

BBC1 BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1 BBC1 ITV/ITN ITV/Potato BBC1 BBC1/Love Productions ITV/ITN BBC1 ITV/ITN BBC1/Hat Trick Productions BBC1/Twofour BBC1 ITV ITV/ITN BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/Twofour BBC1/Remarkable Television BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV/ITN BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV BBC1/Remarkable Television ITV BBC1/Shed Productions ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1/Mammoth Screen BBC1 BBC2 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV/Twofour BBC1 ITV BBC2/Love West BBC1 BBC1 C4/Studio Lambert BBC2/World Productions BBC2/Love Productions BBC1/Open Mike BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Mentorn C4/Dragonfly Film & TV

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

Harry’s South Pole Heroes www.broadcastnow.co.uk

The Michael McIntyre Chat Show

BBC3 might buy, were it spent on a new soap. However, it’s safe to assume a decent chunk will go on dark stories with strong Nordic influences, the sort of thing delivered by the second series of Shetland, which returned with 5.2 million/23% at 9pm on Tuesday. Monday night’s drama was very competitive as lawyers took on coppers. BBC’s Silk had 3.9 million/17% but lost to ITV’s DCI Banks: 4.8 million/21%. The following night, ITV’s Law & Order: UK found itself up against BBC’s Famous, Rich and Hungry For Sport Relief and narrowly

‘Silk had 3.9 million/ 17%, but lost to ITV’s DCI Banks with 4.8 million/21%’ came out ahead: 4 million/18% against 3.5 million/16%. But if we look to soaps for weeknight consistency, we look to the weekend for competitive entertainment indicators, such as how The Voice UK did this week on Sunday. Well, better than Saturday: 6.9 million/27% at 7.45pm on Sunday, compared with the previous day’s 6.7 million/29%. This week, the format seemed a bit odd, with judges deciding which three of seven to put through to the next round. The public will have their say next week. The Voice’s audience was at the expense of ITV, with Kylie, Princess of Pop, vanquishing Prince Harry, as Twofour’s Harry’s South Pole Heroes delivered 3.3 million/13% share at 8pm. Finally, to The Michael McIntyre Chat Show. I don’t really want to rehash the show’s critical reaction – Why do we need more Michael McIntyre? Why does the BBC seem to want a new chat show at 10.35pm on Monday? – so let’s just stick with the numbers: 2.5 million/22% was lower than, say, Mary Berry Cooks on BBC2 a couple of hours earlier, with 2.8 million/12%. But there doesn’t seem to be too much wrong with the show itself – maybe the BBC will just leave it to simmer for a few years until it rises to the challenge, ready to be popped into a hotter spot on Friday night, if necessary.

See over for digital focus, plus channel and genre overviews 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 33

Ratings Mon 10 Mar – Sun 16 Mar Channel Overview

Lap of honour for Channel 4 BY philip reevell

BBC2’s weekly primetime share was almost 8%, helped enormously by Top Gear: Burma Special: 6.1 million/23% share is a huge audience, more than twice that of the next show in the table, and it would be foolish to argue against it. But I’m just not sure I really like these high-concept pieces any more, watching the three of them driving through Burma to build a bridge (yes, that bridge), living off the fat of the show’s reputation. Too much car stuff? It could be: Fast And Furious: Britain’s Banger Racers, which followed it at 9pm, fell back to 1.4 million/6%. Over on Channel 4 at the same time, the lap of the planet was well under way. The third part of Live From Space helped the channel to a weekly 6% primetime share. The two-and-half hour epic had 1.8 million/8% and here’s my mission report: gravity-tastic views of Earth; a shame we couldn’t see much of Britain because of the cloud; were those astronauts just a bit too cheery, space-PR-type guys; and, am I unreasonable to have hoped for an alien to burst out of host Dermot O’Leary’s chest during one of the many interviews that interrupted the view from the window? More Earthbound matters: the Winter Paralympics helped C4’s The Last Leg add 250,000 to reach 1.4 million/8.4% on Friday.

Source: BARB

WEEK 11 Average hours per viewer Daytime share (%) Peaktime share (%) w/c 10.03.14 Peaktime share (%) w/c 11.03.13 Year to date Average hours per viewer Audience share (%) Audience share (%) 2013

BBC1 5.65 22.33 23.46 25.68 BBC1 6.20 22.35 21.77

BBC2 1.45 4.27 7.97 6.30 BBC2 1.98 7.13 5.70

ITV1 3.84 14.53 19.65 19.60 ITV1 4.30 15.50 16.32

C4 1.38 5.76 6.01 5.82 C4 1.62 5.85 6.15

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

34 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Total 24.78 100.00 100.00 100.00 Total 27.75 100.00 100.00

Top 30 bbc2, channel 4 and channel 5 Title

Day

Broadcaster

Top Gear: Burma Special

Sun

20.00

6.08

23.39

BBC2

University Challenge

Mon

20.00

3.01

13.30

BBC2 BBC2

Mary Berry Cooks

Mon

20.30

2.82

12.17

Gogglebox

Fri

21.00

2.64

12.34

Line Of Duty

Wed

21.00

2.63

11.89

BBC2

The Great British Sewing Bee

Tue

20.00

2.53

11.17

BBC2

One Born Every Minute

Mon

21.00

2.42

10.52

Mastermind

Fri

20.00

2.31

10.50

BBC2

Gardeners’ World

Fri

20.30

2.21

9.80

BBC2

The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure

Thu

20.00

2.15

10.42

BBC2

Collectaholics

Wed

20.00

2.09

9.82

BBC2

An Hour To Save Your Life

Tue

21.00

1.97

8.66

BBC2

Live From Space: Lap Of The Planet

Sun

19.30

1.84

7.66

The Hoarder Next Door

Thu

20.00

1.82

8.82

Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away!

Mon

21.00

1.78

7.75

Dad’s Army

Sat

19.30

1.70

7.25

BBC2

Astronauts: Living In Space

Wed

21.00

1.59

7.21

Astronauts: Houston We Have A Problem

Thu

21.00

1.57

7.61

Wed

20.00

1.51

7.13

Fri

22.00

1.51

8.37

BBC2

Mon

19.00

1.49

7.04

BBC2

Secret Eaters

Top Gear: Burma Special

I Was There: The Great War Interviews

Fri

21.00

1.48

6.91

BBC2

Kirstie’s Best Of Both Worlds

Tue

20.00

1.47

6.48

C4 C5

Disney’s The Haunted House

Sun

17.05

1.45

8.76

The Hotel Inspector

Thu

21.00

1.44

6.97

Fast And Fearless: Britain’s Banger Racers

Sun

21.00

1.44

6.32

BBC2 C5

Killer Elite

Sun

21.00

1.43

7.91

The Last Leg

Fri

22.00

1.43

8.47

The Plane That Vanished: Live

Fri

21.00

1.42

6.65

Antiques Road Trip

Thu

19.00

1.42

7.07

BBC2

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Multichannel 39.17

BBC2’s Fast And Fearless: Britain’s Banger Racers lost 408,000 viewers week on week (Sun, 9pm)

Others 11.49 48.74 39.17 38.69 Others 12.53 45.14 46.01

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

daytime share (%) w/c 10.03.14

peaktime share (%) w/c 10.03.14

1.4m

C5 0.98 4.37 3.74 3.92 C5 1.12 4.04 4.04

BBC1 23.46

ITV1 19.65

C5 3.74 C4 6.01

BBC2 7.97

Multichannel 48.74

1.4m Audience for Channel 5’s fastturnaround doc The Plane That Vanished: Live (Fri, 9pm)

BBC1 22.33

ITV1 14.53

C5 4.37

BBC2 4.27

C4 5.76

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Genre Overview

Source: BARB

Top 10 children’s programmes Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Topsy And Tim All Over The Place: Australia All Over The Place: Australia Old Jack’s Boat Newsround My Story Newsround Octonauts All Over The Place: Australia Octonauts

Top 10 Factual programmes

Day

Start

Viewers (Age 4-15)

Share (%)

Channel

Wed Wed Mon Wed Wed Wed Mon Mon Thu Wed

17.30 7.45 7.45 17.40 8.15 17.15 8.15 8.00 7.45 8.00

255,900 222,900 213,800 213,600 211,600 207,400 198,000 197,500 193,600 191,100

16.82 17.43 16.35 13.47 18.06 15.25 16.22 14.13 16.13 14.48

CBeebies CBBC CBBC CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBBC CBeebies CBBC CBeebies

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Countryfile Top Gear: Burma Special The One Show The One Show The One Show The One Show Bang Goes The Theory I Never Knew That About Britain The One Show Famous, Rich & Hungry

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Sun Tue Mon Thu Fri Mon Mon Wed Wed

18.45 20.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.30 20.00 19.00 21.00

6.34 6.08 4.76 4.32 4.04 3.84 3.81 3.59 3.53 3.51

29.90 23.39 24.26 20.94 21.02 19.70 17.50 15.84 17.63 15.88

BBC1 BBC2 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1

➤ Topsy And Tim bolted to the top of the table, replacing The Dumping Ground, which did not feature after two weeks in the driver’s seat. CBeebies and CBBC shared the spoils, with the latter’s All Over the Place: Australia performing strongly.

➤ Having Prince Harry lead an expedition seems a pretty sure-fire way to attract viewers – 3.3 million watched Harry’s South Pole Heroes on Sunday, but it was roughly half the number that watched Countryfile, which attracted 6.3 million earlier on Sunday evening.

Top 10 Drama programmes

Top 10 Entertainment programmes

Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jonathan Creek Shetland Casualty DCI Banks Mr Selfridge Holby City The Musketeers Law & Order: UK Silk Waterloo Road

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Fri Tue Sat Mon Sun Tue Sun Wed Mon Wed

21.00 21.00 21.30 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00

5.41 5.20 5.18 4.82 4.74 4.53 4.47 3.97 3.94 3.16

25.24 22.86 27.47 20.98 20.89 19.99 19.69 17.96 17.14 14.88

BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1

➤ There were just three dramas with more than 5 million viewers. Below that mark were DCI Banks, Mr Selfridge, Holby City and The Musketeers. Waterloo Road down to 10th as BBC1 scooped up the majority of the entries in the table.

UP Top Gear gains 690,000

DOWN Countryfile loses 670,000

UP Tuesday’s One Show adds 370,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Blandings Dad’s Army The Perfect Morecambe & Wise The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Mock The Week Looks Back At... The Sarah Millican TV Programme

Ant & Dec’s Sat Night Takeaway The Voice UK The Voice UK National Lottery: Who Dares Wins Catchphrase The Cube You Saw Them Here First Room 101 The Chase Pointless

DOWN Jonathan Creek loses 160,000

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sat Sun Sat Sat Sun Sat Wed Fri Mon Thu

19.00 19.45 19.25 20.40 19.00 20.20 20.00 20.30 17.00 17.15

6.97 6.91 6.70 4.77 4.75 4.05 3.96 3.44 3.42 3.32

30.73 26.99 29.22 23.46 21.28 19.25 18.67 15.29 24.88 24.63

ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1

UP The Musketeers up 190,000

DOWN Silk drops 190,000

UP Casualty rises 150,000

Top 10 music & arts programmes

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sun Sat Sat Mon Wed Tue Fri Thu Sun Tue

18.15 19.30 20.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 22.00 22.00

3.08 1.70 1.41 1.36 1.23 1.18 1.15 1.04 0.97 0.96

16.80 7.25 6.18 7.62 7.53 6.98 6.69 6.25 5.62 5.63

BBC1 BBC2 BBC2 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 BBC2 BBC2

➤ Blandings took the honours in a quiet week in the comedy table, with 3.1 million. Its closest rival was a repeat of Dad’s Army, which was BBC2’s biggest show of the day on Saturday, attracting 1.7 million. The Simpsons, meanwhile, grabbed five places. next week sport and current affairs www.broadcastnow.co.uk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Day

➤ Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Take Away continued to head the table with just under 7 million, with two nights of The Voice UK snapping at its heels. Gogglebox on Friday had 2.6 million watching along with the characters watching the previous week’s television.

Top 10 comedy programmes Title

Title

1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Viking Art: Culture Show Special Articulation – For The Love Of Art James Stewart: Talking Pictures Agnetha: Abba And After Motown At The BBC California Comes To Whistle Test The Byrd Who Flew Alone Random Acts Random Acts The Film Review

Day

Start

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

Channel

Sat Mon Sat Tue Sat Fri Fri Fri Wed Fri

20.30 22.00 12.45 22.50 22.30 22.30 21.00 0.05 0.00 21.45

1.05 0.45 0.45 0.36 0.28 0.24 0.22 0.20 0.19 0.18

5.07 2.67 4.84 4.25 2.00 1.84 1.07 3.14 3.59 0.84

BBC2 BBC2 BBC2 BBC4 BBC4 BBC4 BBC4 C4 C4 BBC News

➤ A Culture Show Special on Viking Art conquered the competition in the music and arts line-up. It was more than 500,000 viewers ahead of its nearest rival. BBC4 took four places, while there was a rare entry for BBC News with The Film Review.

See over for demographic and digital focus 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 35

Ratings Mon 10 Mar – Sun 16 Mar Demographic Focus Channels

Individuals Share (%)

Adults ABC1 Share (%)1

Source: BARB

Adults ABC1 Profile (%)2

Adults 16-34 Share (%)1

Adults 16-34 Profile (%)2

Male Share (%)1

Male Profile (%)2

Female Share (%)1

Female Profile (%)2

BBC1

23.10

27.83

49.21

14.26

10.72

23.22

46.14

23.00

53.86

ITV

15.75

13.86

35.92

12.55

13.83

13.21

38.48

17.92

61.52

BBC2

5.72

7.36

52.52

3.46

10.51

6.11

48.98

5.40

51.02

5.45

6.08

45.57

7.02

22.39

5.52

46.54

5.38

53.46

4.31

3.55

33.67

4.12

16.62

3.76

40.10

4.77

59.90

ITV2

2.42

2.11

35.62

4.63

33.26

1.79

34.07

2.94

65.92

ITV3

2.41

2.03

34.41

0.68

4.89

2.00

38.00

2.77

62.02

1.91

1.60

34.25

5.27

47.91

1.82

43.77

1.98

56.23

Sky Spts 1

1.60

2.02

51.41

2.60

28.17

2.55

73.10

0.80

26.87

Dave

1.43

1.49

42.66

2.21

26.91

1.82

58.54

1.09

41.50

BBC 3

1.36

1.23

36.96

3.45

44.07

1.50

50.53

1.24

49.47

More 4

1.26

1.46

47.18

1.07

14.74

1.13

41.02

1.38

59.01

Film 4

1.24

1.15

37.95

1.33

18.59

1.42

52.64

1.09

47.37

ITV4

1.01

0.86

34.93

0.75

12.86

1.36

61.90

0.71

38.03

5 USA

0.90

0.71

32.00

0.76

14.64

0.72

36.42

1.06

63.58

BBC4

0.88

1.29

59.83

0.36

7.00

1.06

54.89

0.74

45.09

Sky 1

0.84

0.78

37.58

1.57

32.36

0.91

49.31

0.79

50.73

Yesterday

0.74

0.65

36.10

0.16

3.72

0.97

60.40

0.54

39.63

Drama

0.68

0.59

35.78

0.17

4.35

0.65

44.04

0.70

55.88

54%

All three programmes in Channel 4’s space season skewed male in slots in which females usually make up more than half the audience. Wednesday’s opening programme, Astronauts: Living In Space, had the biggest jump in male viewers, up from 36% slot average to 54%.

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

Digital focus

Great result for More 4 BY philip reevell

Football’s a regular top draw in multichannel and this week was no exception, with the clash between Manchester United and Liverpool on Sunday dominating the table with 1.8 million viewers. Meanwhile, is More 4 muscling in on BBC4’s territory by having its own show about canals? In this case, it had 810,000 viewers for Great Canal Journeys on Monday at 9pm, starring Timothy West and his wife Prunella Scales, a really nice show that is best described as a bitter-sweet travelogue and a documentary series. You might imagine it would have been on BBC4’s wishlist. However, BBC4 enjoys its reputation as a canny acquirer of international drama. It has carved out Saturday nights at 9pm, where, like clockwork, 880,000 tuned in for Salamander. Not for BBC4 anything as obvious as Educating Joey Essex, which ITV2 aired with some success on Sunday to an audience of 910,000. BBC3’s Hair had 750,000 at 9pm on Tuesday. 36 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

Source: BARB

digital homes

Top 30 multichannel programmes Title

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 12 12 14 15 16 17 18 18 20 21 22 23 23 25 26 27 27 29 30

Live Ford Super Sunday Live Ford Super Sunday Celebrity Juice Live Uefa Champs League Midsomer Murders Hollyoaks The Only Way Is Essex Live Ford Sat Night Football Educating Joey Essex The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Salamander Hollyoaks Hollyoaks Endeavour Hollyoaks Hollyoaks Great Canal Journeys Storage Hunters Salamander Doc Martin Storage Hunters Hair How I Met Your Mother The Only Way Is Essex The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Family Guy The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

Day

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

Start

12.30 15.30 22.00 19.00 20.00 19.00 22.00 17.00 21.00 18.30 18.30 21.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 20.30 21.40 20.00 20.00 21.00 20.30 22.00 18.30 18.30 23.25 18.30 18.00

Viewers (millions)

Share (%)

1.77 1.56 1.28 1.17 0.98 0.96 0.94 0.92 0.91 0.89 0.89 0.88 0.88 0.86 0.84 0.83 0.82 0.81 0.81 0.80 0.79 0.78 0.75 0.75 0.73 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.68 0.67

18.35 10.52 7.90 5.61 4.29 4.93 5.79 4.90 4.03 4.85 4.96 4.39 4.28 4.38 4.62 4.25 4.27 3.53 3.48 4.32 3.63 3.50 3.30 3.58 4.48 3.81 3.79 7.22 3.55 3.91

Channel

Sky Spts 1 Sky Spts 1 ITV2 Sky Spts 1 Itv3 E4 ITV2 Sky Spts 1 ITV2 E4 E4 BBC4 E4 E4 ITV3 E4 E4 More 4 Dave BBC4 ITV3 Dave BBC3 E4 ITV2 E4 E4 BBC3 E4 E4

Channels

Share (%)

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

23.10 15.75 5.72 5.45 4.31 45.67 2.42 2.41 1.91 1.60 1.43 1.36 1.36 1.26 1.26 1.24 1.04 1.01

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

293k BBC4’s new sitcom The Walshes debuted below the 375,000 slot average (Thurs, 10pm)

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

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

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (000s) Share (all homes) %

Broadcaster/ Producer*

Live Ford Super Sunday Live Ford Super Sunday Live Uefa Champions League Live Ford Saturday Night Football Storage Hunters Storage Hunters The Walking Dead Hawaii Five-0 Dynamo: Magician Impossible Bones The Simpsons Modern Family New Tricks The Simpsons Stella Criminal Minds The Simpsons Gavin & Stacey The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Missing: Flight MH370 NCIS The Simpsons Storage Hunters The Simpsons QI XL Ashes Modern Day Classics The Simpsons Live Hull City V Manchester City The Simpsons Gavin & Stacey Top Gear The Simpsons QI XL Gillette Soccer Saturday Gavin & Stacey Arrow Pretty Woman QI XL The Simpsons The Blacklist The Simpsons Live Australian F1 Grand Prix QI XL Grimm Sheriff Callie’s Wild West Have I Got A Bit More News For You Would I Lie To You? QI XL

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

12.30 15.30 19.00 17.00 20.30 20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 19.00 20.30 21.00 18.30 21.00 21.00 18.30 21.40 19.30 18.30 19.30 20.30 21.00 18.30 16.30 19.30 21.00 21.30 19.00 12.00 19.00 22.20 17.00 18.30 21.00 12.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 22.55 19.00 21.00 19.00 29.00 20.00 21.00 17.20 21.40 21.00 22.00

1,768,800 1,560,500 1,172,100 921,900 807,300 775,900 537,600 506,200 491,100 456,600 444,400 441,500 437,300 433,400 424,000 417,000 400,300 397,800 390,500 389,000 380,100 378,600 375,500 374,600 366,000 362,300 352,200 350,000 347,200 341,500 339,100 334,400 332,000 325,300 321,900 317,200 315,100 313,700 310,700 306,600 305,900 302,200 302,000 298,700 298,600 297,300 296,200 290,300 289,000 286,400

Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Fox Sky 1 Dave/Inner Circle Films/Phil McIntyre Sky Living Sky 1 Sky 1 Drama Sky 1 Sky 1/Tidy Productions Sky Living Sky 1 Dave/Baby Cow Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 Fox Sky 1 Dave/T Group Sky 1 Dave/Talkback Sky Sports 2 Sky 1 BT Sport 1 Sky 1 Dave/Baby Cow Dave Sky 1 Dave/Talkback Sky Sports News Dave/Baby Cow Sky 1 Gold Dave/Talkback Sky 1 Sky Living Sky 1 Sky Sports F1 Dave/Talkback Watch Disney Junior Dave/Hat Trick Dave/Zeppotron Dave/Talkback

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

The Walking Dead www.broadcastnow.co.uk

The Blacklist

18.35 10.52 5.61 4.90 3.48 3.50 2.34 2.23 2.29 2.07 2.28 1.91 2.19 2.37 1.98 1.82 2.08 2.12 1.88 2.04 1.78 1.68 1.75 2.09 2.80 1.66 1.55 1.59 1.77 3.70 1.75 2.09 2.18 1.77 1.42 2.87 1.57 1.52 1.79 3.64 1.48 1.41 1.57 31.59 1.30 1.35 2.19 1.57 1.25 1.80

315k Combined audience, across Sky 1, Fox and Nat Geo, for Seth MacFarlane-backed space doc Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

C5 beats Sky in jet doc battle BY philip Reevell

It’s interesting to see channels scramble their rapid-reaction resources to keep pace with the emerging mystery of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight. Sky 1’s Missing: Flight MH370 on Friday at 8.30pm had 378,000/ 1.7% share – compare that with the 1.4 million/7% who tuned in for Channel 5’s The Plane That Vanished Live the same evening at 9pm. C5 is very quick off the mark with its live shows. On Monday night, The Walking Dead was up to 538,000/2.3% for Fox, while on Friday at 9pm, The Blacklist, on Sky Living, had 302,000/1.4%. Meanwhile on Sunday, as Channel 4 was in orbit around the earth, Sky 1 ventured much further into space in a vehicle designed to carry the heavy legacy payload of a remade series from the distant past. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey was a follow-up from Sagan’s 1980 series, and this one had 235,000/1% share on Sky 1 at 7pm. You wait for years for a real-life spaceship to come along on TV, then you get two in the same hour. Coincidence? Finally, the table sporadically throws up a rogue Disney hit and this week, Disney Jr’s Monday teatime treat Sheriff Callie’s Wild West made the top 50 with 296,000/2.2% on Monday at 5.20pm. 21 March 2014 | Broadcast | 37

Ratings Mon 3 Mar – Sun 9 Mar

All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional

Consolidated Ratings

BBC3 fails to make impact BY philip reevell

Plenty has already been said about BBC3, but should its shows be in the top 30 consolidated shows? Those with the biggest percentage gain are BBC1’s light dramas, which are simple record decisions: the final Death In Paradise on Tuesday scored a 25% gain; Jonathan Creek on Friday shot up 28%. Other BBC1 successes include Outnumbered, with a 42% gain, and Call The Midwife, which added 22.5% to take it over 10 million. Sky Living has Elementary on Tuesday in the top 30 with 900,000, Sky 1 appears through Stella with 1.2 million on Friday at 9pm, and Sky Atlantic makes it with US drama The Following, which achieved 800,000 on Tuesday at 10pm. But you have to look hard to find BBC3 anywhere.

Source: BARB

BBC3: Ja’Mie: Private School Girl Finding BBC3 requires us to drill down into the data, as the research people like to say. Actually, it’s not so much drilling as fracking. You’ve got to go quite a long way beneath the surface before you hit Ja’Mie: Private School Girl (276,000/9.6%) on Wednesday in the early hours with a gain of 145,000. What will happen to BBC3’s viewers when the channel isn’t broadcasting? Will they find their way across to E4? Looking at its 16 to 34 year-old audience share this week, it had 5.3% compared with 3.5% for BBC3. Might E4 get a further boost and close the gap with ITV2? Or might ITV2 pick up the BBC3 audience?

ITV: Coronation Street BBC1: EastEnders Why do Coronation Street and EastEnders achieve such relatively low gains on their consolidated viewing, compared with other dramas – around 10% additional

audience? Should they be concerned that their core audience is based around the first transmission, while a show such as Line Of Duty on BBC2 can pick up almost 50% more viewers? TV has been very good at consolidating the appeal of Coronation Street and Emmerdale to 25 to 44 year-olds, holding share with this group better than EastEnders has been able to. But should it be concerned that the show’s appeal evaporates after that first broadcast? And if so, should these big, long-established soaps be starting to think about what sort of innovation in the digital space might help to refresh their core audience?

Thursdays opening episode of BBC1’s fact-based WWI drama 37 Days added 700,000 via PVR

Channel 4: Gogglebox

UP Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway tops 8m

In its new Friday 9pm home, series three of Channel 4’s Gogglebox debuted with 2.7 million. PVR has brought this up to 3.5 million, beating its previous consolidated high – 3 million for the final episode of series two on 18 December 2013.

Top 30 Consolidated Ratings: ranked by gain

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 22 24 25 25 27 28 28 30

2.9m DOWN Jonathan Creek down 800k

Title

Day

Start

Viewers (m) (all homes)

Share %

Gain (m)

Gain %

Call The Midwife Outnumbered Death In Paradise Jonathan Creek DCI Banks Silk Mr Selfridge The Musketeers Line Of Duty Casualty Birds Of A Feather The Voice UK EastEnders Coronation Street Top Gear The Mentalist Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway Coronation Street One Born Every Minute EastEnders 37 Days Elementary Mrs Brown’s Boys Coronation Street Coronation Street Gogglebox EastEnders The Following 37 Days Stella

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

20.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.20 20.30 19.00 19.30 20.30 19.59 21.00 19.00 20.30 21.00 20.00 21.00 21.00 21.30 19.30 19.00 21.00 19.29 22.00 21.00 21.00

10.09 6.16 8.52 7.18 6.64 5.42 6.38 5.69 3.46 6.03 6.10 7.65 6.51 8.17 6.29 1.93 8.01 9.22 3.22 8.60 2.89 0.94 4.60 8.73 8.56 3.50 7.71 0.82 2.14 1.21

31.49 20.85 32.24 27.99 23.09 19.18 24.27 21.96 12.35 24.77 23.83 30.85 27.75 33.06 19.74 7.19 31.89 34.39 11.39 34.20 11.15 3.51 17.09 40.31 39.48 13.55 34.51 4.42 8.35 4.70

1.85 1.82 1.69 1.59 1.41 1.30 1.26 1.22 1.11 1.00 0.98 0.97 0.96 0.89 0.88 0.86 0.76 0.75 0.73 0.71 0.70 0.68 0.68 0.67 0.65 0.65 0.64 0.63 0.63 0.62

22.50 42.00 24.80 28.40 27.10 31.40 24.50 27.30 47.60 19.80 19.20 14.40 17.30 12.20 16.40 80.00 10.50 8.90 29.50 9.10 32.00 263.80 17.30 8.40 8.30 22.80 9.10 333.50 41.70 104.00

Broadcaster BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC2 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC2 C5 ITV ITV C4 BBC1 BBC2 Sky Living BBC1 ITV ITV C4 BBC1 Sky Atlantic BBC2 Sky 1

Figures include HD and +1 where applicable

38 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

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Cain and not very able

ALL A TWITTER All the Tony Benn archive informs, educates and entertains; perhaps that could replace BBC News 24 and save BBC3 all at once. @saltbeeftv (Jeremy Salsby) Founder, Saltbeef TV

Painful truths for Gove

When Noel Edmonds buys the BBC, is he going to rename it NTV?

he sent a message to the education secretary: “On behalf of teachers, I’d like to dedicate this award to Michael Gove, and I mean dedicate in the Anglo Saxon sense, which means insert roughly into the anus of.” I think we’ve all learned something today.

So Rev’s Adam Smallbone’s had his baby and, look, in a Biblical gag, Adam’s raised a Cain. Rich Cain, to give him his full name, as reported by The Independent. But, what’s this? The Radio Times has it down as the distinctly more feminine, gag-free, Katie. It seems the Indie may have let its picture credit bleed into its caption – Rich Cain being one of the show’s publicists. Awards speeches can be dry affairs and it can be gruelling to sit through as many as 28 in one sitting, as RTS delegates did this week. Thankfully, Michael Steer, Educating Yorkshire’s dogged maths teacher, livened things up on the podium – in the most erudite way. Picking up his award,

@mrpeterharness (Peter Harness) Writer, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

So Noel, the BBC isn’t fit for the internet age? But you only access its programming online? Detector van to Crinkley Bottom, please. @WorksWithWords (Lisa Holdsworth) Writer, New Tricks

#LifeandDeathRow is @ bbcthree at its best – wonder if @benanthony would still have made it for the BBC had it just been for the iPlayer? @melbezalel (Mel Bezalel) Development producer

Houston, we are chums Space suits you sir! Arrow Media joint creative director Tom Brisley took time out from executive producing Channel 4’s Live From Space to hang out with his newfound friends at Mission Control in Houston (below).

Above: just who is Rev’s newest member?; left: Steer makes his point

What will bereft Line Of Duty fans do now the intensely addictive second series is over? BBC Worldwide could do a lot worse than take a leaf out of BBC radio comedy writer Eddie Robson’s book. Eddie’s recreations of key scenes from the BBC2 drama caught the eye of Keeley Hawes, no less, on Twitter, not least for expertly capturing DCI Denton’s fringe. Robson laments, however, that Lego doesn’t make bandaged hands…

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40 | Broadcast | 21 March 2014

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