www.broadcastnow.co.uk
9 May 2014
INTERVIEW
WOMEN DIRECTORS
DISCOVERY UK AT 25
Page 16
Page 5
Page 20
Roger Graef on keeping documentaries honest
Lifting the lid on the industry’s failings
Eight shows that defined a channel
C5 part of Viacom’s global vision Group to increase spend on original series, with an eye on its networks around the world BY PETER WHITE
Viacom is keen to bolster links between its US and UK assets once it completes its £450m acquisition of Channel 5, ramping up coproduction opportunities between the British broadcaster and the likes of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The US giant has committed to boosting C5’s spend on originations, but will do so with one eye on its global network. Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman said: “There’s a lot of possible co-operation between the US and the UK in both directions for Channel 5.” MTV US is developing more scripted content, such as a remake of horror film Scream, and male-skewing stablemate Spike TV is working on a 6 x 60-minute drama about ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun. Both could play on C5, alongside younger-skewing comedies such
There’s a lot of possible co-operation between the US and the UK for Channel 5 Philippe Dauman, Viacom
Hens Behaving Badly: Channel 5 reality series could air overseas
as Comedy Central’s Amy Poehlerproduced Broad City. The Viacom deal also paves the way for originated scripted series to return to C5, with UK projects
ALAMY
OWNERSHIP WHO IS SUMNER REDSTONE? Viacom owner and executive chairman Sumner Redstone is a mercurial figure in American media. The 90-yearold billionaire owns both Viacom (including the Paramount movie studio) and CBS, the US broadcast network and studio operated by Les Moonves. Viacom chief exec Philippe Dauman
is widely considered to be Redstone’s chief lieutenant, although he does not possess the showbusiness sparkle of Moonves. Redstone has had corporate tussles with Rupert Murdoch, John Malone and Barry Diller over the years, and famously fired MTV boss Tom Freston after he failed to buy social networking site MySpace.
receiving backing from US channels, and for C5’s reality and popular factual shows to air overseas. Viacom’s US channels, particularly MTV, have commissioned
VIACOM A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE US Selling C5 for £450m represented a tidy profit for Northern & Shell, but the deal was small fry for Viacom. The latter turned over $2.38bn (£1.44bn) in the last quarter, generating profits of $502m (£303m). It also operates in a US market in which channel deals can be far larger. Scripps paid $1.1bn (£666m) for 65% of the Travel Channel in 2009, for example.
a slew of content from British indies in recent months, including Alaskan reality series Slednecks from All3Media America, One Bad Choice from Optomen and competition series Beyond Dance from Zodiak USA, while key supplier 495 Productions, which makes Jersey Shore, has been acquired by UK-based Fremantle Media. One indie boss with several projects in development across MTV’s US channels said it will be interesting to see whether any of these projects migrate back to the UK. “Historically, there’s not been too many links between MTV in the US and the commissioners in the UK,” said the producer. There will also be scope for C5, MTV and Comedy Central to work together on acquisitions. Viacom will look to bolster C5’s daytime acquisitions, which largely comprise older series such as Columbo. Many of C5’s major US acquisitions, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and NCIS, are sold globally by CBS Studios International, a sister company to Viacom, also owned by Sumner Redstone (see box), meaning that they are unlikely to be affected by a change in ownership. ➤ See page 3 for more analysis
Editor’s Choice
Broadcast, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ or email chris.curtis@broadcastnow.co.uk
Online this week www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Chris Curtis, Editor
Top News
Tracking TV’s transatlantic trend Viacom and Leftfield deals highlight a narrowing UK/US gap
I
f anyone is still in any doubt, when it comes to the TV industry, the Atlantic is definitely getting smaller. A mere bank holiday weekend after Viacom struck a £450m deal to buy Channel 5, ITV spent £212m (the single biggest investment of the Adam Crozier era) buying Leftfield Entertainment Group. Never have the UK and US felt so close. Viacom believes C5 has momentum that it can supercharge, and seized a
‘Viacom believes C5 has momentum it can supercharge, and seized a chance that doesn’t come very often’ chance that doesn’t come along very often. It doesn’t underestimate the power of the EPG, having reaped the benefits when Comedy Central and MTV leaped up the Sky listings in 2011, and grabbed the chance to shake off its pay-TV shackles to own slot number five in free homes. The pay and free hybrid broadcaster model seems to be gathering pace. UKTV is already firmly in that space, and Discovery is making a similar move around the world. In fact, the early indications of Viacom’s C5 strategy suggest parallels with Discovery Networks International. Both are eyeing UK content to feed their raft of international channels – and both face the challenge of convincing UK indies to sign away their rights. Cash will make the most convincing 2 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
è The BBC has reprimanded Jeremy Clarkson after the presenter “begged for forgiveness” over apparently using the N-word in unaired footage from Top Gear.
è David Frank’s new investment firm, argument. IP ownership has been the bedrock of the growth of the indie sector, but plenty of the major players already cast envious glances at the tariffs achieved by US producers in exchange for rights. Perhaps a mixed ecology will emerge for indies too, with some shows gapfinanced and lucratively exported overseas, while others are fully funded with good margins, but with no significant back end. The latter is the model that made Leftfield Entertainment Group so valuable. There’s more on founder Brent Montgomery on page 4, who has put together a group that deals mainly in returning shows and has 26 series commissioned for 2014, plus 31 projects in development. Leftfield is an example of achieving success through stability, and the noises from Viacom suggest it will take a similar approach with C5. Don’t expect a radical move away from its genre mix (although scripted may ultimately be back on the agenda), nor a Richard Desmond-style cull of the commissioning team. But there are still plenty of questions to be answered. With Paul Ashford staying with Northern & Shell, who will be drafted in as the new Channel 5 chief executive? Will Viacom want to continue C5’s relationship with GroupM Entertainment ? And how will Ben Frow (left) get on if he’s forced to work in Camden? It’ll be fun finding out.
Dial Square 86, is eyeing the acquisition of UK indies after closing a multimillionpound investment round.
è The BBC found the furore over Jamaica Inn’s ’s (pictured) audio issues an “upsetting” setback after years of progress on improving sound quality, director of strategy James Purnell has admitted.
Ratings Top Five 1 BBC4 documentary The First Georgians was the channel’s highestperforming show of the year, pulling in 1.2m viewers on Thursday. 2 Madcap sketch show Cardinal Burns (below) returned for a second series on Channel 4 on Wednesday with an audience of 520,000. 3 The Crimson Field fell to a series low of 4.4m for BBC1 on Sunday night.
The return of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day tracked down 11,000 viewers for Sky 1’s 1am simulcast on Tuesday. 4
5 BBC1 drama Happy Valley slipped by around 800,000 viewers from last week’s opener to 5.5m on Tuesday.
Team Tweets è Add a layer of fun to #Gogglebox by imagining Paul Whitehouse is playing all the characters @robinparker55
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News & Analysis
C5 deal opens door for Pact We will be able to invest in more programming for C5 and utilise that on our UK pay channels
BY Peter White
Viacom’s acquisition of Channel 5 represents an opportunity for new terms of trade to be struck between Pact and the UK broadcaster. Relations between previous owner Northern & Shell and Pact had become strained and terms of trade negotiations broke down last year. Viacom is expected to be a tough negotiator, but is likely to bring a more collaborative approach to talks once the deal closes, which could take between three and six months. There have been fears that C5 could become purely a depositary for US series under Viacom, but this will not be the case. The group told US analysts it is committed to ordering originations for C5, and one of the prerequisites of the 10-year licence that Ofcom awarded C5 last year was that it airs at least 50% original commissions. Viacom will look to take more international rights for such commissions, to play them across its global portfolio of channels, particularly in Europe and Australia. But it knows it will have to pay for those rights and does not want to
Philippe Dauman, Viacom
The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door: Viacom will increase C5 originations
“frighten the horses” in the indie sector, and hopes they will buy into the opportunities Viacom offers. One example of the indie perspective came from Firecracker Films managing director Sue Oriel. She said: “My biggest concern will be the potential erosion of terms of trade; while C5 maintains its terrestrial licence, these should apply, but Viacom surely will wish to retain rights to supply its other global networks.”
The MTV owner stressed that it wants to strengthen its ties to the “vibrant” UK production marketplace. “We believe that we will be able to invest in more programming for Channel 5 that will make the channel even more vibrant and utilise some of that programming on our UK pay channels and, even more importantly, on our existing and future networks around the world,” said Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman.
Viacom will not “rip up” the existing structure of the C5 commissioning team, led by director of programming Ben Frow, and while there will be a more joined-up commissioning process between C5 and Viacom’s pay channels, there is unlikely to be a centralised commissioning process. MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon will continue to commission content in the UK, but will likely carve out a terrestrial window for their shows. Nickelodeon will work more closely with C5’s Milkshake! brand, and Comedy Central, which has been aggressively ramping up its original slate with series such as Big Talk’s Mummy’s Boys and Clerkenwell Films’ Medics, will benefit from a wider window, given the cost of such shows.
Red Bull to launch TV channel on Sky platform Red Bull has aggressively moved into content and its next step is a UK channel
BY Peter white
Red Bull is to launch a linear TV channel in the UK after securing carriage with BSkyB. The energy drink and extreme sports brand has aggressively moved into content over the past few years and its next step is a UK channel that will combine inhouse content made by Red Bull Media House and programming made by indies. It has already ordered a range of programming from key UK producers and is understood to be in its second round of commissioning. That strategy is being led by James Milnes, who has produced a number of series for Red Bull Media House, including Red Bull Soapbox Race for UKTV’s Dave. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Cave Connection: Red Bull content
Other Red Bull content around the world includes documentaries such as one-off Across The Ice: The Greenland Victory March, following explorer Sebastian Copeland, New Zealand-set The Cave Connection and Bullit, a 30 x 24-minute series that looks at exceptional locations such as underwater museums.
Red Bull also makes reality series including Free My Way, a 6 x 24-minute series starring Thai pop star Anan Anwar, and B-Boys series Break’n Reality. Red Bull is aiming to expand beyond its traditional extreme sports and exploration content and has sent out a brief to indies looking for youth-skewing factual entertainment content and formats. Red Bull already operates a linear TV channel – Servus TV – in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
It bought the broadcaster in 2007 and airs a mix of factual programming, both locally produced shows and imports such as David Attenborough’s Kingdom Of Plants, US period drama Hell On Wheels and BBC drama New Tricks. Red Bull also owns Terra Mater Factual Studios, a factual production company set up by executives from Universum, the natural history unit of Austrian public broadcaster ORF. Terra Mater produces high-end wildlife documentaries such as Asia’s Amazon: The Forbidden River, Billion Dollar Fish and Dust And Stripes. The UK Red Bull channel is expected to launch later this year. Red Bull Media House declined to comment. 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 3
News & Analysis
Analysis: ITV’s Leftfield deal Leftfield is the closest thing to a superindie in the US outside of the Hollywood studios
BY Peter White
ITV’s £212m acquisition of Pawn Stars producer Leftfield Entertainment Group will catapult it to the top reaches of the independent production sector in the US. While ITV has been solidly building up a network of production companies in the US, including Cake Boss indie High Noon Entertainment, Duck Dynasty producer Gurney Productions and Hatfields & McCoys producer Thinkfactory Media, Leftfield is by far the most evolved and respected firm it has bought. Leftfield is run by Brent Montgomery, who started his career producing US versions of Wife Swap and Blind Date, and its main subsidiary Leftfield Pictures produces more than 300 hours of largely male-skewing non-scripted programming a year. Other key shows include longrunning cable franchises such as American Restoration and Counting Cars for History, and A&E’s Monster In Laws. Leftfield is also the closest thing to a super-indie in the US outside of the Hollywood studios, with
Pawn Stars: Leftfield joined Pact after remaking the series for UK’s History
constituent parts including Sirens Media and Loud TV. Sirens is essentially a femaleskewing version of Leftfield Pictures, producing series such as The Real Housewives Of New Jersey for Bravo and Strange Sex for TLC. Loud TV is a joint venture with former Leopard Films exec Nick Rigg that makes lifestyle programming and branded content. While Leftfield Entertainment Group has an extensive and
rapidly growing non-scripted library, Montgomery himself is a key part of the deal. He has been described as a “blue-collar Stephen Lambert” and has a panache for pitching. He is also one of the few US indie producers with instant access to the chief decision-makers across the cable networks. His chief lieutenant, Ed Simpson, is a Brit with experience of producing series for the BBC,
including Top Of The Pops. It is understood that Simpson, Leftfield’s head of business development, has been a sounding block in terms of the interest the company received from the likes of ITV and other British super-indies. The deal will also help Leftfield’s significant ambitions in the UK. It recently became a member of Pact, following its production of Pawn Stars UK for History, and has been searching for a UK executive to lead a local team. Montgomery is largely targeting rights and will likely work closely with ITV Studios on future formats, which could enable Leftfield to own IP, something that is much more difficult in the US. “If I owned the international rights to Pawn Stars, I’d be a very rich man a few times over,” Montgomery told Broadcast last year.
DCMS kicks off hunt for Lord Patten’s successor There’s not going to be a massive queue. It’s an incredibly tough job
BY Jake Kanter
The BBC Trust may have to wait up to six months for chair Lord Patten to be replaced – and John Whittingdale has warned that there won’t be a “massive queue” of candidates clamouring to fill the role. The Trust chairman took the Department for Culture, Media & Sport by surprise this week by stepping down following major heart surgery. The government will launch a hunt for his successor in the coming weeks. Early names suggested include former Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer, who is now a BBC nonexecutive director, and media executive Dame Marjorie Scardino. But Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMSC) chairman Whitting4 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
John Whittingdale, CMSC
Lord Patten: major heart surgery
dale has sounded a warning about the complexities of overseeing the BBC’s governing body. “There’s not going to be a massive queue. It’s an incredibly tough job – Chris Patten has said it’s the hardest he’s done. Given the pressures and the relatively short tenure before charter
renewal, the [DCMS] may find it hard,” the Tory MP said. After interviews, the DCMS will select a preferred candidate, with input from the prime minister. That candidate will then appear before Whittingdale’s committee, which will provide a non-binding recommendation. A decision will then be formally signed off by the Privy Council. It took six months to install Patten as chairman in May 2011
and the government is not ruling out a similar timetable to find his successor. Whittingdale said this wasn’t a major issue, with Tony Hall performing as a “strong and effective DG” and vice-chair Diane Coyle acting up for Patten. The Trust does not anticipate that the personnel changes will impact its work plan for the rest of the year. Coyle pledged this week that there would be “no slowing of our busy agenda”. Its priorities include a major television services review, studies on talent pay and BBC production quotas, and the CMSC’s inquiry into the corporation. It will also need to make a decision on BBC3’s future and oversee the findings of Dame Janet Smith’s Jimmy Savile review. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
News & Analysis
TV failing women directors Directors UK research reveals some genres and shows have few or no women at the helm BY ROBIN PARKER
Directors UK (DUK) is challenging broadcasters and producers to ensure that 30% of all shows are directed by women by 2017, after a major study found significant inequality in key genres, from crime drama to panel shows. DUK unveiled Who’s Calling The Shots? Women Directors In British Television this week, which analyses a decade’s worth of British TV (2003-2012) and reveals that women are getting increasingly fewer opportunities in drama, entertainment and comedy in particular. It wants the industry to reflect its own membership, some 27% of whom – 1,418 members – are female. Women directed 22.7% of the total episodes of the 142 returning series studied by DUK, and the results are very mixed.
Setting the threshold Of those series, 41 have had no female directors at all, including ITV dramas Vera and Monroe; comedies PhoneShop and Mrs Brown’s Boys; and entertainment shows QI, Celebrity Juice and The Cube. Just over a third – 53 series – passed DUK’s suggested threshold between 2003 and 2012, and four used exclusively female directors: Big Body Squad, series one of The Voice UK, Born To Be Different and Miranda. Factual was the best-performing genre, with half of the shows directed by women, though they were over-represented in lifestyle, food, home and health programming. In drama, period pieces were the most likely to be directed by women, at 27%, compared with detective and crime drama at 12%, and sci-fi and fantasy at 4%. DUK also looked at 2011-2012 in isolation, which showed period drama had risen to 32%, but that crime and sci-fi fell to 9% and 0% respectively. Technology and science showed improvement: while 29% of shows over the decade to 2012 were directed by women, by 2011-2012, this was up to 38%. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
WOMEN DIRECTORS SPEAK OUT
Jamaica Inn “I’ve moved from docs to drama and features, and it’s those early experiences and the chance to experiment that really shape a director’s future work.”
DUK challenge: The Voice and QI represent different ends of the spectrum
Commissioners seem incredibly cautious about anyone they don’t know Andrew Chowns, Directors UK
The debate about the lack of women appearing on panel shows could also apply to the role of director: DUK research shows just 5% of gameshows/panel shows were directed by women in the period 2003-2012; this got worse in 2011-2012, dropping to 2%. Directors UK vice-chair Beryl Richards, who also chairs its Women’s Working Group, said the research laid bare the lack of monitoring of equality among the largely freelance directors workforce. “Producers feel like they’ve achieved equality in their corporate culture, but their only focus has been on full-time staff,” she said. In a move that could have repercussions for freelancers in general,
DUK has called on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky to make monitoring of freelance workers an explicit delivery requirement for producers, as part of the commissioning process. Richards pointed out that several drama series seen as a good springboard for directors, such as Being Human, Skins, Misfits and MI High, employed no female directors at all in 2011-12. “Those trusted credits go to men, who then get access to higher-end drama,” she said. She described many female directors’ CVs as “eclectic”, and said they often revealed “a zigzag” career pattern compared with men. Richards added that assumptions around childcare issues “let companies off the hook”. Directors UK chair Andrew Chowns criticised “risk-averse” commissioners for not looking beyond familiar names. “They seem incredibly cautious about having anyone they
MALE-DOMINATED GENRES THE WORST OFFENDERS Category
Shows directed by women 2003-2012
2011-2012
Sci-fi/fantasy
4%
0%
Gameshows/panel shows
5%
2%
Entertainment & comedy
12%
8%
Phillipa Lowthorpe (pictured right) Director of Call The Midwife and Jamaica Inn “Comedy is particularly underrepresented. With it being so objective, I think comedy can only benefit from hearing as wide a variety of voices as a possible.” Christine Gernon Director of Up The Women and Gavin & Stacey “Many people have a preconceived view of what a director looks like and quite often it’s male, particularly on drama, films and shiny floor studio shows. It’s all about breaking down false perceptions.” Delyth Thomas Director of The Story Of Tracy Beaker
don’t know or see,” he said. “It’s a role that requires a lot of responsibility and you have to be a leader. Inevitably, producers send them names they know.” The study examined in-house BBC and ITV shows, as well as productions from All3Media, Endemol, Fremantle, Kudos, Shed and Zodiak. Shed, Zodiak and All3Media all passed the 30% barrier in 2011/2012, but the rest fell short, with Endemol and Fremantle trailing with 8% and 9% of shows directed by women respectively. DUK plans to update the figures annually. 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 5
News & Analysis
Fraser’s 7 Wonder lands Sky series as first order BY Alex Farber
7Wonder, the indie co-founded by former Maverick boss Alex Fraser, has won its first commission: a Micky Flanagan-fronted travelogue in France for Sky 1. The 4 x 60-minute Micky Flanagan Hits The Road (w/t) will follow the comedian as he tours the country along with his long-time friend, bricklayer Noel Lynch. The duo, who began filming this week, have embarked on a fiveweek trip starting in the north of France. The journey includes stopoffs at a Belgian beer-brewing monastery and a visit to the Festival of the Cats, in which toy animals are thrown from a bell tower. More serious elements will include a trip to the World War I cemeteries and an attempt by Lynch to take on the Mont Ventoux challenge, a 21km ascent to a summit 1,900m above sea-level. 7Wonder co-founder Liza Abbott said the playfulness of the show would set the tone for the indie’s future direction. “We are mindful that shows we make
Micky Flanagan Hits The Road: travelogue could be the first of many
in the early days will define us a business,” she said. Abbott added that 7Wonder aims to work collaboratively and that Hits The Road is a “genuine” editorial co-production with Flanagan’s indie Double Busy. 7Wonder has an eye to extend the format, possibly travelling to different countries if it proves successful, and Flanagan and Lynch are keen to repeat the experience. “Micky is a great fit for Sky,” said
Abbott. “He has universal appeal and ticks lots of boxes.” The show, expected to launch on Sky 1 this autumn, will also air on Australia’s Seven Network, the broadcaster that invested in 7Wonder in March. It was ordered by Sky 1 director Adam MacDonald and factual commissioning editor Chris Wilson. Double Busy’s Christian Knowles will exec produce with Abbott, Fraser and Wilson.
Channel 4 has sewn up a new documentary about taxidermy. The broadcaster has commissioned 1 x 60-minute doc Get Stuffed (w/t) from Mentorn Media, about the growing craft. It will feature a couple who have turned their cat into a helicopter (pictured) and a stuffed flying ostrich. The show is directed by The Autistic Me director Matt Rudge and was commissioned by Emma Cooper. 6 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
C5 orders OAP doc and series on Roman Empire BY Jake Kanter
Gavin & Stacey star Larry Lamb is to front a Channel 5 series charting the history of the Roman Empire. The commercial broadcaster, which Northern & Shell agreed to sell to Viacom last week, has commissioned 360 Production and GroupM Entertainment to make four-part Rome: The World’s First Superpower. Lamb will indulge his passion for Roman history by travelling across Europe, Africa and the Middle East to explore the rise of the empire. The actor plans to visit key archaeological sites that are providing new evidence about life in ancient Rome. John Farren, the executive producer for 360 Production, said: “If you only watch one series on the history of Rome, watch this one.” Abigail Adams will oversee the series for GroupM, while the C5 commissioner is Simon Raikes, who orders factual, news and current affairs content. “The early history of Rome is a timeless epic of conquest, social upheaval and high politics. It features a remarkable cast of characters – heroes, schemers, villains and murderers,” Raikes said. C5 has also ordered 60-minute doc OAPs Behaving Badly, in which three old people blow their pensions, winter fuel allowance and children’s inheritance on alcohol and parties in Tenerife. OAPs Behaving Badly is produced by Barcroft Productions, with Sam Barcroft executive producing. It was ordered by Guy Davies, C5 commissioning editor for factual and features. Shine International will sell the doc globally.
OAPs Behaving Badly: doc for C5 www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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International News
Argonon aids indies in Asia BY peter white
A number of UK indies have landed business in Asia after partnering with a new funding firm backed by Argonon. The latter has created pan-Asian company The Bridge, which has secured £400,000 in funding from a variety of co-producers and funding agencies. It has helped Welsh indie Awen Media, The Indian Doctor producer Rondo Media and BriteSpark Films to win work. Rondo and Awen are producing The Forgotten War for Korean broadcaster JTV and Welsh network S4C, which will examine the Welsh engagement in the Korean War. Awen is also producing The RJ Thomas Story for S4C, which will highlight the work and life of Welsh missionary Robert Jermain Thomas, who is credited with introducing Christianity to South Korea. Meanwhile, BriteSpark Films, a joint venture set up by Argonon and Nick Godwin, has received investment from The Bridge for
The Bridge offers English-speaking producers an opportunity to tap into the Asian market Amanda Groom, The Bridge
The Indian Doctor: producer Rondo Media has been helped by The Bridge
a drama documentary about ancient elite armies, which it is making for an as-yet-undisclosed US cable network. The latter two projects will be sold to Korean broadcasters and are likely to have Korean coproducers involved.
The Bridge was set up earlier this year by Argonon and Amanda Groom, an Australian who previously worked at Channel 4, Sony Pictures Television and Nat Geo. It is designed to act as a conduit for English-speaking producers and broadcasters in Asia.
“My ambition is to ensure that The Bridge offers all Englishspeaking producers a unique opportunity to tap into all that the Asian production market offers, bringing all the advantages of my years of experience in Asia, combined with the global expertise of Argonon,” said managing director Groom. Argonon chief executive James Burstall added: “The world is getting smaller and ambitions for world-class content are getting bigger. So it made sense for Argonon to back The Bridge as it aligns with our global strategy. “It means that more projects of scale will get made thanks to international partnerships.”
Nat Geo orders World War II docs for global slate It’s a remarkable great escape from a concentration camp. It’s an astonishing story
BY Peter White
National Geographic Channels International has commissioned two big-budget World War II documentaries as part of its latest slate of global programming. The factual broadcaster has ordered high-end, one-off doc Nazi Death Camp from Darlow Smithson Productions and six-part series The Raid from Impossible Pictures Factual. Nazi Death Camp, a co-production with US network PBS, follows a group of prisoners who performed an audacious escape from the Sobibór concentration camp in Poland. Endemol-owned Darlow Smithson previously produced Nazi Megastructures for Nat Geo and PBS, and will use the same team to produce Nazi Death Camp. 8 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Hamish Mykura, Nat Geo
Nazi Death Camp: survival story
Nat Geo executive vice-president and head of international content Hamish Mykura said: “It’s a remarkable great escape from a concentration camp. The prisoners found out that they were going to
be executed so systematically went around bumping off the prison guards before making their way out. It’s an astonishing story.” Meanwhile, The Raid is based on a series of books from Osprey Publishing that Impossible Pictures Factual struck a deal to adapt, following its work on Channel 4 series World War II: The Last War Heroes. The 6 x 60-minute series will follow a number of the war’s
epic battles and, like Nazi Death Camp, will air across Nat Geo’s 171 markets. While World War II projects are not a key priority for Nat Geo, Mykura is still looking for other examples. “They tend to work best in Europe, which felt the brunt of the war, but World War II stories do tend to be international by nature,” he said. NGCI’s US stablemate has undergone a number of key executive changes, with president Howard T Owens and chief executive David Lyle stepping down to be replaced by former Fox Sports chief David Hill as chairman and Cour teney Monroe as chief executive. However, Mykura said these changes would not affect its global division, adding that it was “business as usual”. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Multiplatform News In Brief Horizons launches app BBC World News factual strand Horizons has launched a mobile app ahead of the launch of its fourth series. The app will give audiences access to video clips from all four Horizons series, as well as extended interviews and video diaries from presenter Adam Shaw. Users will be able to browse the content by location or theme, and add selected videos to their favourites list.
Vice News boss: fresh approach is paying off
Oobedoo signs Hit deal
S4C-backed kids’ programming app Oobedoo has signed a deal with Hit Entertainment to enable it offer subscribers access to episodes of shows including Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam (pictured), Bob The Builder, Angelina Ballerina and Pingu. The agreement builds on the hundreds of hours of content currently available via the preschool service.
Box TV personalises ads Box TV is to begin serving personalised adverts into its live stream via its simulcast player and app. The broadcaster, a joint venture between Channel 4 and Bauer Media, has partnered with technology firm YoSpace to allow brands to target audiences using viewer data.
Freesat app reaches 200k Freesat’s mobile app has been downloaded more than 200,000 times since it was released in January. The app works as a remote control and allows users to set recordings remotely. Freesat reported that it added 18,000 homes in the three months to 31 March, taking its installed base to 1.84 million. Sales of set-top boxes featuring its internet-connected service Freetime now account for 41% of all sales.
For the latest breaking news www.broadcastnow.co.uk 10 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Ukraine: Vice News reports have a ‘fresh, less mediated’ feel BY ALEX FARBER
Vice News European chief Kevin Sutcliffe has claimed that the emer ging channel is more “fleet of foot” than traditional news broadcasters. Speaking at the Frontline Showcase: The Changing News Landscape event in Paddington last week, the former Dispatches editor said Vice News was “still a baby”, but had made a strong start. “We are producing good content, we are spending money and we are opening bureaux around the world,” Sutcliffe said. “We think there is an opportunity to grow a network that doesn’t necessarily take its model from traditional media. You don’t need huge buildings in central London with massive basements, housing thousands of people.” The Vice head of news production for Europe said it was not yet clear if the channel would prove financially sustainable, but the company had a track record of making money from its entertainment channels. Vice News, which launched in March via the youth publisher’s website and YouTube, is intended to “shine a light on underreported stories around the globe”. It has posted a raft of reports of varying lengths from locations
Vice News IN NUMBERS
30m
Total number of video views
1m
Views for most popular video, Expelled From Every Other School
360,000
Number of channel subscribers Source: YouTube
including the Central African Republic, Syria and Ukraine. Sutcliffe said most of the content is made in-house or by freelancers, and the channel offers viewers a fresh approach that provides a contrast with traditional bulletins from providers such as the BBC and Al Jazeera. “We are benefiting from having an approach that is more streetlevel, more relaxed and more embedded,” he added. “There is an emotional connection between our reporters and the viewers. This is what makes it feel fresh, less mediated, managed, and less part of a corporate enterprise.” Panorama editor Tom Giles admitted he was “jealous” of the
freedom online distribution gave Vice News and argued that the BBC must evolve. “We are prisoners of our form. The reason Vice feels liberating is because it doesn’t have to worry about how a film will be marketed, or how it will fit on a certain channel or in a particular time slot.” Giles said that while traditional media is alive to the need to adapt, it remains a “supertanker” compared with its more nimble emerging rivals. “By the time we’ve got permission to go out there and get the money and a commission, Vice has done it in a completely new form. They are filling the void.” Cardiff University professor of journalism Richard Sambrook, a former director of global news for the BBC, said that while Vice’s distribution model is new, many of its reports would fit well on terrestrial channels such as BBC3. He added that the emerging entrant was “three minutes old” and as yet largely unproven. “The true nature of an organisation comes through with how it handles crises, whether economic or personal – such as the recently kidnapped Vice journalist. There will be worse than that to come and it is how a business responds when it is really under that makes or breaks it,” he said. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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Technology & Facilities Creative review
Weekend Kitchen
Happy Valley
Viasat History idents
Design Hello Charlie Client Spun Gold for Channel 4 Brief Design and shoot the title sequence, promos and branded graphics content for the Waitrose-sponsored series, presented by Steve Jones and Lisa Snowden. How it was done The aim for the title sequence was to create a domestic yet welcoming scene. Using a stop-frame rig with an Arri Alexa camera, director of photography Joel Devlin and the crew spent two days creating an engaging sequence that represents the chaos and colour of family life. The live-action promos, along with the titles, were directed by Jason Mullings and creatively produced by Chaz Golding. They feature Steve Jones and Lisa Snowden chatting about the show and the guests who will join them. All graphics were designed, animated and composited using After Effects. Editing was completed using Final Cut Pro. Watch it Saturdays, 9am, Channel 4
VFX 3sixtymedia Client Red Production Company for BBC1 Brief Create visual effects for the drama starring Sarah Lancashire as police sergeant Catherine Cawood. How it was done 3sixtymedia completed more than 50 shots for the six-part series. Most of the story unfolds in one place that was in reality two locations 50 miles apart, so visual effects supervisor Tanvir Hanif directed second-unit photography that matched the landscapes and inserted key details from both sites to create the illusion that the two locations were the same place. Another key moment required a point-of-view shot of a pedestrian being knocked over by a car, for which the director was keen to have a continuous shot without cuts or the use of a stand-in or dummy. The final effect was created using Fusion and 3D Maya. Watch it Tuesdays, 9pm, BBC1
VFX and production Golden Sq and Disqo Client Modern Times Group (MTG) Brief Complete VFX and production for a series of idents as part of a rebrand of MTG’s portfolio of channels. How it was done Golden Sq and its production arm Disqo carried out the VFX and production on a series of idents that focus on different figures from famous paintings that morph into live-action sequences in a modern-day setting. Golden Sq VFX lead Harry Jarman said that to help with the process of transitioning from the original image to the real-life scenario, they subtly altered the grade and texture of the backgrounds to make them more “painterly”, with the texture from some of the paintings copied and applied to the modern scenes. The paintings were integrated into the live action by camera tracking 3D heads over the actors’ faces and then projecting the painted faces over the top. Watch it Now, Viasat History
You can view clips at broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/creative-review To include your work email george.bevir@broadcastnow.co.uk
Clear Com recruits director of EMEA sales Clear Com has appointed Nicki Fisher (below) as director of EMEA sales. Reporting to Clear Com president Bob Boster, Fisher will be responsible for developing tactical plans and an overall sales strategy across the region. Fisher joins Clear Com from Tektronix, where she held the role of video business EMEA sales director.
Minicams supplies fixed-rig for C5 doc Minicams supplied a fixed-rig system for Knickerbockerglory’s Channel 5 ob doc GPs: Behind Closed Doors. The camera specialist provided Panasonic HE60S pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, 12 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
which were remotely controlled over cat-5 cable so that they could be located throughout the GP’s premises. A PC-based Quadrus Ingest Machine captured four individual HD streams as Avid DNxHD. “Four cameras in a consulting room are far less intrusive than a traditional set-up so they’re ideal for this kind of environment. Their flexibility meant that some scenes looked like a ninecamera shoot,” said executive producer Jonathan Stadlen.
Video platform Kaltura buys pay-TV provider Tvinci Pay-TV platform provider Tvinci has been acquired by Kaltura. Open-source video platform Kaltura said the deal would
provide it with a leadership position in the OTT market. The company, which raised £27.8m in venture capital in February this year, has already begun integrating Tvinci’s technology into its OTT MediaGo product. The Kaltura-Tvinci platform supports live, on-demand and catch-up services, SVOD, TVOD and ad-based monetisation, social interaction and personalisation.
Precision Panels will complement our existing Mistika offering and the skills of our creatives.”
Onsight equips London site with Precision Panels
AP Archive wins three Focal Awards gongs
Onsight has ordered two Precision Panels (above right) for use at its new central London premises. The Digital Vision Precision Panel provides a grading control surface that can be used with SGO’s Mistika finishing system. Onsight chief executive Simon Craddock said: “With our dedication to new techniques, the Onsight team quickly recognised that the
AP Archive picked up the Library of the Year award at last week’s Focal Awards. Along with Prime Focus Technologies, it also won the Best Archive Restoration and Preservation Project Award for its work digitising 32,000 hours of footage of 20th century events, while AP Archive employee Jenny Hammerton picked up the award for Footage Employee of www.broadcastnow.co.uk
For the latest technology and facilities news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils
BBC to use Stagebox device to boost election coverage BY Adrian Pennington
The BBC will boost its coverage of local and European parliament elections this month with the use of video-over-IP device Stagebox. The BBC R&D-devised cameramounted IP connectivity unit will be deployed at 15 councils in London as ballots are counted. “It enables one production team in a studio to cover 15 locations remotely, which would not be feasible or economically possible if we had to send out 15 outside broadcast trucks,” explained Mark Scott-South, business development director for Stagebox manufacturer L2Tek. Stagebox will convert the video, audio, genlock, timecode and other camera control information into IP packets for transmission to BBC Elstree over the Public Services Network, a government initiative connecting local authorities with a wide-bandwidth network and cloud. “Local election counts can be very boring, but there is always a
the Year. Focal’s 70 jurors picked their way through a record 239 submissions from 19 countries to make their selections. See broadcastnow.co.uk for the full list of winners.
Election Night: BBC will cover 15 London councils using video-over-IP device
chance that a high-profile politician such as Nigel Farage might turn up. Now we can be there to capture the results,” said Scott-South. Stagebox is a core part of the BBC’s plans to migrate live production to IP (internet protocol), which is considered less expensive and more flexible than conventional transmission by HD-SDI. The technology was used for Red Button coverage of last year’s Glastonbury festival and will be
used again at the Commonwealth Games in July. US broadcasters are also testing the kit. In an upcoming lab demon stration, 4K Ultra HD content will be transported over IP using four genlocked Stageboxes, with the 1.5Gbps feeds stitched into a single image using special software. This is seen as an intermediate step to 4K over IP, with HEVC encoders required to compress the stream for native 4K work.
LipSync hires Sven Taits to strengthen sound team
Footage.net in deal to access ITN Source archive
LipSync Post has appointed rerecording mixer Sven Taits (pictured) to its sound team. Taits spent seven years at De Lane Lea before
ITN Source has signed an inter national platform agreement with footage search engine Footage.net. The deal means Footage.net customers will now be able to access more than 835,000 digitised clips from the ITN Source archive. Footage.net president Domenick Propati said: “Adding the ITN Source footage both improves our offering with some fantastic footage, and gives ITN Source a gateway into the multitude of potential licensees who use our platform.”
Imagine unveils encoding and transcoding software Imagine Communications has unveiled SelenioFlex, a softwarebased transcoding and encoding system for live and file-based media processing. Imagine Communications chief executive Charlie Vogt said: “SelenioFlex is a strategic addition to our media processing and compression portfolio, building on our software-defined workflow framework to enable faster response to market trends and providing the operational efficiency, agility and insight to capitalise on the rapid growth of multiscreen media consumption.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk
going freelance in 2008. His credits include The Wipers Times and White Girl, both for the BBC, as well as films such as The Constant Gardener and Layer Cake. LipSync Group managing director Peter Hampden said: “Sven’s diverse experience and outstanding audio skills make him an ideal addition to our talented sound team.”
Avid appoints Jennifer Smith as marketing chief Avid has appointed Jennifer Smith to the role of senior vice-president and chief marketing officer. Reporting directly to Avid president and chief executive Louis Hernandez, Smith will be respon-
Broadcast and DPP link up for file delivery workshop Broadcast has teamed up with the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) for a half-day event covering the shift to file-based delivery. File Delivery Deadline Day: Are You Ready? takes place at Rada in London on Monday 12 May. It will provide an opportunity to get the latest news from the DPP and hear from companies that are already delivering to the AS-11 file spec. As well as DPP chair Mark Harrison and ITV Studios technology director and DPP board member Andy Tennant, panellists will include Lime Pictures head of operations David Boyle, The Garden production executive Steven Hunt, Deluxe Media head of digital media Ian Beushaw and Prime Focus head of operations Kate Robson. Panellists will discuss how they have prepared for deadline day and share best practice tips, while a manufacturer area sponsored by Deluxe Media will host demonstrations of the latest tools for delivering to the AS-11 file specification, including kit from Interra. ➤ For more information, email: info@mb-insight.com
sible for driving all aspects of Avid’s market presence and growth, including its strategic positioning and go-to-market strategies. Smith joins Avid from her role as chief marketing officer and senior vice-president at Progress Software.
Elemental supplies kit for live 4K internet stream Software company Elemental Technologies has supplied the video-processing kit for the world’s first live production in 4K high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) delivered via MPEGDASH over the internet. The Vienna State Opera streamed its production of Verdi’s Nabucco for viewing on UHD smart TVs via an app for Samsung’s smart TVs. Elemental encoded content captured by a Sony PMW-F55, while delivery of the 4K streams was managed by Ooyala. 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 13
Comment
It’s rather unattractive for middle-aged people to chase ‘youth’ in a cultural ghetto
Adam De Silva
Roger Graef, Interview, page 16
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14 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
London Live is far from dead Audience share isn’t the only measure of success, says Kate Bulkley
J
udging the future of London Live after a month on air is difficult – and some of the criticism of the very-near-zero Barb ratings has been harsh. The media stable that gave birth to London Live owns the London Evening Standard, the i and The Independent, and is used to being told its decisions are idiotic and then proving everyone wrong. The ES becoming a free newspaper? It would be the end of the publication, for sure. Not so, the ES is more successful now in terms of readership and advertising revenue than it has been for years. The i as a “snackable” version of its sister newspaper The Independent? Sheer folly; just asking for cannibalisation. In fact, they discovered that people want different papers for different occasions. London Live chief executive and ES and The Independent managing director Andrew Mullins has a track record of defeating the doubters. Crucially, he sees his new TV channel as part of “a blended model” of media, in which all the elements feed each other. That idea is not without merit. London Live is a linear channel but also an in-house video content creator for the ES and Independent websites. A London Live news clip about the death of Peaches Geldof was the Independent website’s second most searched-for clip all day, with more than 20,000 views. Mullins compares that with the linear channel’s 3,000 viewers per week (according to Barb) and likes what he sees. London Live is also focusing on growing through social media – soon, seven of the channel’s 65 fulltime staff will be dedicated to clipping and socialising the channel. A show called Drag Queens Of London (pictured), made by The Connected Set, was the number one trending topic on Twitter during its airing. And then
there are the YouTube programme-makers such as The T-Boy Show producer DntJealousMe, which has 117,000 subscribers and 218 million views on YouTube. Plus, some advertisers like the engaged and youthful audience and the multiplatform approach – Mullins is set to announce a sizeable sponsor for its Fresh One-created Food Junkies series. London Live also has a great EPG number (8 on Freeview) and its own research suggests 43% of its targeted 16 to 34 year-old audience don’t even know the channel exists. There’s still plenty of potential. Okay, there are a few worries – the ES, Independent and London Live brands do not target the same demographic; trying to grow a young TV audience with two newspapers whose main readers are over 35 will be tough. Also, it’s risky to launch a linear channel to a demographic already catered for by the likes of E4, ITV2 and the soon-to-be-non-linear BBC3. London Live knows it will have to create more and better monetisation opportunities, including better Barb figures. But Channel 5’s estimated £350m in annual revenues was based not only on its 6% audience share but also on its success in cross-selling with Richard Desmond’s print titles. So, good luck to London Live. Any media that is locally focused with a high level of news content deserves more than simply being beaten about the head for low Barb numbers in its early days. It’s a bit too soon to declare London Live dead. ➤ Kate Bulkley is a print and TV journalist and awards secretary of the Broadcasting Press Guild. Follow her on Twitter @katecomments
‘The London Live media stable is used to proving everyone wrong’
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Comment
The script is the start of a conversation Good or bad, right or wrong, every writer can learn from execs’ notes, says Julian Simpson
W
illiam Goldman famously used to start script meetings by taking out his pad and pen and waiting: putting the execs on the defensive, under pressure to “come up with something smart”. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. It might seem like a brilliant plan but it is, in fact, a massive dick-move. Unless you just wrote All The President’s Men, you have just started a fight you have no chance of winning. These people might be intimidated (though they probably won’t) but they’ll certainly think twice before employing you again. The Goldman manoeuvre will not work because it assumes that status can be taken. It can’t. Actors know this. Status can only be given. You can’t go on stage and “act like the king”; the other actors have to behave deferentially to you; they have to give you status. Most execs aren’t going to give the writer status in a meeting. More likely, the writer will give the execs status, and often the wrong kind. An exec once confided in me that she knows full well she’s sometimes seen as the “enemy” before she even enters the edit suite. Such is the level of hostility to her notes, before she’s even given them, that she can’t help but become defensive. So she delivers straight-up orders that can’t be questioned or discussed: “If they’re casting me as the bad guy, I’ll be the fucking bad guy.” So how should writers handle a script meeting? How about a change of attitude? We probably are too close to the script and perhaps it isn’t the best it can be – and maybe we’re not the best people to see that or have the best fixes. This isn’t a defence of execs. Someone told me recently they had “never met a stupid TV exec”. Oh really? Allow me to arrange some introductions. Of course there are bad execs, just as there are bad writers. Hopefully you have a smart one, but even a bad one has a perspective that might be useful. Closing down benefits no one. The major perspective shift that needs to be adopted is this: you are working not for the execs, but with them. Assume everyone wants this script to be better. Be pleasant, be open, be happy to talk about anything. The exec may propose some fixes that sound dreadful but try to identify the problem they’re attempting to solve. The fix may not be great but the problem could be genuine. Nine times out of 10, “this needs explaining to the audience” is a shit fix, but it’s a fix to the problem of “I didn’t understand this” – and that’s always a problem worth addressing. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Episodes: BBC2 sitcom draws laughs from the strained relationship between writers and execs
‘Pick your battles. Fight your corner, but don’t presume someone is your enemy just because they have a salary and an office’ Rather than just take the note and offer the standard grumpy nod in response (it amazes me sometimes how many writers are afraid of dialogue), try digging into the problem, encouraging the exec to open up and talking through their thinking. I can almost guarantee that you’ll change the tone of the meeting. Once you’ve acknowledged the problem and demonstrated your willingness to address it, the exec will abandon their solution and trust you to come up with whatever you think is the best fix for the next draft. Suddenly, you’re no longer faced with a bad note but a potential script improvement.
Time to engage The crucial thing here is engagement. As a director, I’ve sat in meetings with writers who were obstinate and unwilling to entertain a single suggestion about their script. Those are bad writers with bad scripts that stay bad. But I’ve also witnessed writers who would change anything you asked them to without question.
They were also bad writers, but their scripts actually got worse, draft after draft, because they were doing everyone’s fixes without ever understanding the underlying problems. (I’m reminded of an exec a long time ago who told the composer that the music needed to be “louder but kind of quiet” . Never take the fix until you understand the problem.) There needs to be cut and thrust; it needs to be a conversation, neither a battle nor an immediate surrender. Will this always work? No. Some execs just aren’t open to a conversation of any kind. They’re either total fuckheads or have an ulterior agenda (delivering notes from a boss they’re scared of, who is an über-fuckhead who won’t talk directly to the writer). No good can come of these situations. Get paid for your work and bail. Don’t think quitting will damage your career – becoming bitter, miserable and, inevitably, defensive will do far more harm. Pick your battles. Fight your corner but don’t presume that someone is your enemy just because they have a salary and an office. And don’t presume, even if they are the enemy, that you can’t learn from them. Give no shit, take no shit. You’re here to tell stories and it’s supposed to be fun. ➤ Julian Simpson is a writer and director whose credits include New Tricks, Doctor Who, Strike Back and Spooks 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 15
The Broadcast Interview Roger Graef films of record
Setting the record straight Films of Record’s founder talks to Robin Parker about taking a back seat after almost 50 years in the business, the secret to making a good doc, and why TV is as good today as ever Fact File Early career Drama director, CBS TV, before moving to the UK as a freelance theatre director, designer, lecturer and TV producer/director 1979 Founded Films of Record 1982 Founding board member, Channel 4 Selected credits 1967 The Life And Times Of John Huston, Esq 1975 Inside The Brussels HQ 1979 The Secret Policeman’s Ball 1982 Police 1988 Closing Ranks 1995 The State We’re In 1999 The Seige Of Scotland Yard 2002 Feltham Sings (co-production with Century Films) 2008 Burning Season (exec producer) 2009 Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go (exec producer) 2010 Requiem For Detroit? (exec producer) 2010 Panorama: Kids In Care 2012 Cern Lives (YouTube series) 2012 Great Ormond Street (exec producer) 2013 Iceland Foods: Life In The Freezer Cabinet (exec producer) Key awards 2003 Bafta for Feltham Sings 2004 Bafta Fellowship Award 2006 OBE Outside TV Independent adviser on race to Metropolitan Police; chair of theatre company Complicite; adviser to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation 16 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
“I
’ve finally surrendered the illusion that I am essential.” Roger Graef grins, reflecting on how the arrival last June of Mentorn Media’s Neil Grant has liberated him from the hands-on running of Films of Record, the indie he set up some 35 years ago. As far back as 2001, his board was telling him that the company wouldn’t grow unless he let other people make some of its programmes; now he’s ready to stop directing and, shortly, executive producing. “It’s a pleasure,” he says, his eyes lighting up at the prospect of more time with his family and indulging in his passions for classical music and theatre. “I was such a workaholic.” I’m not sure I quite share Graef ’s definition of kicking back and relaxing, however. The previous day’s itinerary: an 8am train to meet the sales team of an organisation to float ideas for a potential business programme, then back across the country to see a big company about a possible access doc, before heading to the Tottenham Task Force, of which he is a member, to talk about how to tell their stories on flagship news shows. One day, three leads. It’s closing in on 50 years since Graef started out in TV documentaries. Chatting to him over 100 leisurely minutes, it feels, in the best possible sense, like I’m hearing a potted history of factual telly, each of his frequent diversions into anecdote – some discreet and others less so – building a persuasive new layer to his argument that TV must always be there to surprise.
Great Ormond Street
“You don’t tell people what to think,” he emphasises at several points. “You engage a different part of the brain if you’re decoding what you’re looking at, much like when you walk into a strange place or meet different people. Franz Kafka said it’s the job of a writer to use an ice-pick ‘to break the seas frozen inside our soul’. You remember it because it’s a new experience.”
Influential film-making That’s the impact of his most acclaimed film, Rape, which aired in 1982 as part of his BBC1 series Police. Thirty years on, his stark documentary – no commentary, no music, just a cameraman sitting behind a woman interviewed by police in a small white room – remains a touchstone for the subject. Graef ’s not shy in declaring it “the most influential film ever shown on TV”. “The interrogation is still shown in police training as an example of how
not to do it,” he says. “It’s the simplicity – you can’t see the central character and you know that nobody knows what’s going to happen.” This lack of intrusion became a Films of Record hallmark. “You don’t want people to think: ‘I’m watching a great film-maker’; you want them to think: ‘I’m watching two cops interview a girl.’ You want to enter the situation.” Though it doesn’t fit with his more traditional filming style, Graef admires the language of the fixed rig, where sensation is eschewed and there is space for intimate moments. “It’s not about the institution, it’s about the people. What the rig gives you is a chance for them to be themselves. I watched two old Cockneys in a very long scene in 24 Hours In A&E, talking about what would happen when one of them came out of hospital. It’s the kind of thing that US cable networks would have cut in seconds, but I can still remember it two years later.” Fellow Channel 4 shows Educating Yorkshire and The Murder Trial win his approval too, as examples of “commissioning courage”. He talks warmly of commissioners such as C4’s David Glover and Panorama editor Tom Giles, for whom Films of Record has recently made four 60-minute specials. “Tom’s terrific because he’s responsive. People like him are really excited about the programme we’re making and become part of the team. It’s collaborative and they want to go with it and improve it. The core of good documentaries is commissioners and film-makers embracing
Panorama: Kids In Care www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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Roger Graef on... Gogglebox “It’s riveting. I love it. It’s a piece of original television. I always wanted to turn the TV set into a mirror and it’s done exactly that. It’s proof that you can be imaginative and get an audience. I enjoy the collective experience of theatre and Gogglebox is a riff on the fact that TV doesn’t offer that; you are watching, in your home, other people in their homes. I’m not even sure what it says yet, but it’s an interesting comment on the unique experience of watching TV.”
Iceland Foods: Life In The Freezer Cabinet
uncertainty, and keeping that in the film itself.” He says the fight for producers like Films of Record remains to keep sight of this in an age of documentary coproduction, which is a far cry from his early days as a freelancer (“one phone call, a page and a half of paperwork – that was patronage”). He recalls a conversation with Discovery-owned TLC, which had three conditions for a series on global crime: no more than 20% sync dialogue (for translation purposes in its 167 markets); no scene more than 80 seconds long; and no music in a minor key. “You can imagine what I said,” he recalls wryly. “‘My dears, I have no idea how much dialogue there will be, and it seems like the minor key might work for crime…’” He laughs. “It didn’t happen.”
The uncertainty principle This can be a problem close to home too. Just as, despite some robust discussions over briefs, he loves to write for the Daily Mail – “because you don’t expect to see me there” – so too does he want broadcasters to protect the uncertainty principle that’s so appealing in a mixed schedule. “As soon as you say ‘it’s 9pm, it’s got to get 4 million’ – before you’ve even made the programme – the element of surprise is threatened. Not gone, but at risk. The public service remit is to surprise the audience; to tell them www.broadcastnow.co.uk
‘Quite a lot of filmmakers hark back to the ‘golden days’. I want to say to them: ‘Are you even watching telly?’’
things they don’t know, and don’t know they need to know. Television is a wonderful cultural force because it spreads itself so unpredictably.” What then of the planned axing of BBC3 as a standalone channel? “Makes sense to me,” he says, frankly. “It’s rather unattractive for middleaged people to chase ‘youth’ in a cultural ghetto. Look at Our War: I’ve missed most of that because I’m told it’s not for me. Just as I don’t make arts festival films because I want as many people to watch as possible, why shouldn’t BBC3’s docs be shown on BBC1, BBC2 or even BBC4? Mix it up so people don’t know what they’re going to get.” This segregation is, he says, part of a wider malaise: if you push only a limited range of shows in a certain type of viewer’s direction, they’ll never know how good they’ve got it. He casts his eye around the café where we meet. “Half the people here will say: ‘There’s nothing to watch on TV tonight.’ Even quite a lot of film-makers hark back to the ‘golden days’. I want to say to them: ‘Are you even watching telly?’ “Look at Syria: Across The Lines, the ambition of The NHS In a Day, 7/7: One Day In London or The Fallen. This is fabulous stuff. I’m insulted on everyone else’s behalf because they haven’t seen those programmes.” Which brings us to one of Graef ’s chief bugbears: how do you attract viewers to your labour of love – and get them to stick with it? ➤
Strands “My favourite series to work for was BBC2’s This World. Back then, there were 20 slots; now, there are about eight. The shorter the run, the more cautious commissioners are, simply because they’ve got to win each time. In a longer strand, you can take risks and have failures. The one time I was briefly a commissioner, for a Channel 4 arts strand with a lot of slots to fill, I wanted every film to be as good as it possibly could. But you can’t run a strand like that. I wasn’t very good at it.”
Tony Hall’s arts push “Television should be used to make art and to encourage its making, not just the spectacle. My only worry is that the BBC’s money needs to go into developing new art forms for television. And I’d love to see the return of studio drama.”
What’s missing from factual TV “My one criticism of TV in general is its reluctance to tell foreign stories that aren’t about war or a natural disaster. Northern Ireland and Europe are woefully underserved. Closer to home, local government is more than just scandal, but you wouldn’t know that from TV.”
9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 17
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Roger Graef films of record ‘Any programme that pays attention to the social divide, that engages people with the issue in a respectful way, is doing a good job’ Roger Graef
Graef runs a European Bafta School workshop called The First Two Minutes. If you win the battle to make the film you want, goes his argument, you still have a duty to hook the wandering viewer immediately. He sympathises with the tease-laden formula of many formats’ opening minutes and ad bumpers, but insists there have to be better ways. “You have to do everything to seduce viewers,” he says. “But what’s amazing is how few of the programmemakers have ever thought of it. They assume they’ve got an audience. But how do you think people are going to come to your obscure, ambitious doc if you don’t interest them from the beginning?”
Trailer trash The industry has a problem, he says, with trailers. “All the work we do about context, the sensitivity of explanation – all of that disappears in a trail, and many will see the trail and judge it accordingly.” Controversial campaigns such as those for Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and The Undateables are part and parcel of the “showbusiness” of getting bums on seats, but “the risk is that the trail breaks all our promises to contributors. It really is hard.” He owns up to being “smart-ass” with titles and says he admitted defeat after the BBC rejected 22 names to arrive at Iceland Foods: Life In The Freezer Cabinet. One of TV’s most contentious recent titles is, of course, Benefits Street. Graef is among the show’s band of supporters, blasting the MPs and journalists who either dismissed it without seeing it, or threw in the towel after its opening episode, which he argues was the weakest. “The second episode with the Romanians was terrific: respectful, intimate, engaged.” The blanket dismissal of such docs as ‘poverty porn’ is insulting, he believes. “Any programme that pays attention to the social divide in some form that engages people with the issue in a www.broadcastnow.co.uk
respectful way is doing a good job. Look at the Paralympics, or Richard Klein’s BBC commission Beyond Boundaries: was that ‘disabled porn’ because you were watching people in wheelchairs trying to climb a mountain?” Films of Record’s hard-won reput ation rests on being authentic, impartial and straight with its contributors. Nevertheless, Graef admits that even with his back catalogue, not to mention other producers’ critical hits, from Inside Claridge’s to The Call Centre, it can still be an uphill battle to persuade a sceptical organisation to open its doors. “PR people aren’t the problem and nor are the top executives; it’s their colleagues,” he says. “We’re up against a default suspicion that people near the top have about the media generally. They lack the confidence to understand that the sympathy engendered by our style of film-making protects them. It’s part of a greater wish to control, and the paranoia spreads at the upper levels.” He recounts two occasions when he has taken something out at the request
Clockwise from top: critically acclaimed doc Requiem For Detroit?; mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman is the subject of a recent Panorama film; Bafta-winning 2002 film Feltham Sings, a co-pro with Century Films
of a contributor: a British Steel board member caught picking his nose, and a profile shot that gave the late Tory MP Peter Emery three chins. Such openness made an information leak on a recent Films of Record Panorama about the mayor of Tower Hamlets all the more startling. Graef – who has never met, let alone sanctioned, the freelance researcher involved – says most journalists who called him as the news broke said the same thing: “This isn’t like Films of Record.” He adds: “We don’t have huge, successful formats – we only have our reputation and the films we make. I trust Neil to protect the integrity of our work. “I’ve had experienced film-makers in our office who have been scarred by previous jobs, saying they’d got people drunk, lied to them, all the things they’re asked to do by so-called ‘reality’ show producers, and can’t do it again. “But I have a very simple test: I wouldn’t let somebody do something I wouldn’t do myself.” Sounds like essential advice for the industry. 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 19
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Production Discovery UK
A 25-year voyage of Discovery As Discovery celebrates a quarter of a century on UK screens, Jane Marlow profiles eight of the broadcaster’s most important shows and reveals the stories of how they were made Manhunt TX 2014 Producer Discovery Studios
The concept of Manhunt is that the world’s elite special units put their reputations on the line by entering into a 48-hour challenge to hunt down former US Navy Seal Joel Lambert. It would take some chutzpah to pitch that to the South Korean National Police SWAT unit or the Polish elite border guard, the Straz Graniczna. But that’s exactly the challenge Discovery Studios’ executive producer Eddie Barbini and commissioner and executive producer Sarah Davies set themselves. “It was nail-biting trying to get the different units to come on board,” explains Davies. “They were worried about whether they would be portrayed in a good light and needed reassurance that if they didn’t catch Joel, we would still show their skills.” Teams from South Africa, Poland, Panama, the US, the Philippines and South Korea came on board, offering very different landscapes in which to film and an array of challenging situations for Lambert. Davies says the key elements for Discovery are the high stakes involved, the epic, adrenalised feel of the task and the terrain, together with the talent at the centre that pulls all these features together. “Everyone really wants to win,” says Davies. “It’s not about money or prizes. It matters to Joel that the Seals are the best.” Lambert was caught three times over the six episodes and it took a huge production team with crews embedded with the special units, plus a two-man team with Lambert, to capture all the drama. The action was so fast and physically challenging that the camera team had to be combat-trained – and the producer travelling with Lambert was an ex-SAS officer. “The chase lasts 48 hours and he can go anywhere he likes. It’s hard to film because you don’t know what he’s going to do,” says Davies. “It was the hardest show I’ve ever made.” She says Lambert got so immersed in the challenge that he sometimes had to be reminded that it was a TV show, not an actual mission. “Joel is going to be someone we work with a lot in the future,” she adds. “He fits the brand perfectly.”
Manhunt
20 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
HMS Ark Royal
HMS ARK ROYAL TX 2011 Producer ITV Studios
Having grown up with series like Chris Terrill’s HMS Brilliant on the BBC, Discovery Networks Western Europe senior vice-president and head of programming Dan Korn was keen to do a series on board a ship. So when Sarah Caplin, then ITV Studios’ head of features, offered him access to one of the most iconic aircraft carriers in the British fleet, it seemed a perfect fit. “People remember HMS Ark Royal from the Falklands conflict and have an emotional connection with it,” says Korn. “I was looking for an observational documentary series that captured life in a particular environment with strong characters, and you don’t get much more iconic than one of the two main British aircraft carriers.” The challenge of filming in a confined space with noisy machinery was exacer bated by the need to retrieve rushes and work with camera equipment in damp and turbulent ocean conditions. But the up side of filming on a vessel equipped with a squadron of Harrier Jump jets and plenty of helicopters, says executive producer Caplin, was that aerial shots were easy to arrange.
As events unfolded, Discovery got more than it bargained for as the film captured what turned out to be the ship’s final deployment. The mission, the largest peacetime naval deployment for a decade, included rescuing Britons left stranded after a volcanic eruption in Iceland caused havoc to international air traffic – before the Ark’s hull started leaking, forcing it back to dry dock in Portsmouth. The film documents the visits of Queen in Portsmouth and PM David Cameron during its trip to America, as well as Captain John Clink’s farewell. “Filming was complete and postproduction in the final stages when in October 2010 the shock announcement to scrap The Ark as part of the government’s spending review was made,” remembers Caplin. She requested access to The Ark’s final journey, a short decommissioning tour that included the Tyneside dockyard where it was built. “Access was granted and Dan immediately commissioned Ark Royal: The Final Voyage as episode nine of the series,” recalls Caplin. Korn adds: “If you have something that all of a sudden becomes even more newsworthy and relevant, from an editorial point of view, it’s an important moment.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk
In association with Discovery
nAKED & MAROOnED WItH ED StAFFORD TX 2013 Producer Tigress Productions
Who wants to go to an island in Fiji? Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Who wants to go to that island on their own for 60 days with no tools, clothes or means of survival, and no other inhabitants? Just Ed Stafford, then. The idea behind the series of three films was simple. Stafford was dropped onto the island like a castaway and started filming his experiences as he set about trying to survive. Discovery’s Dan Korn describes it as “an extraordinary survival journey and experience”. Tigress managing director and executive producer Dick Colthurst adds: “It was one of those situations where you think: ‘Well, we don’t know what’s going to happen, but that’s the point.’ You then just have to hold your nerve. “Over the course of two months, we can’t predict beat-by-beat what’s going to happen, but we know it’s really tough and he’s going to have both triumphs and disasters.” The risk paid off. “We knew very early on that it was working,” says Colthurst. “In the first two weeks, once we saw the material coming through, we realised he was doing an incredible job.” Colthurst says the total authenticity of Stafford’s footage sets the series apart. “When you’re watching it, you know he’s on his own, that there isn’t a crew giving him water off-
Naked & Marooned With Ed Stafford
camera or helping him light a fire. It’s absolutely what happened and I think the audience reacted to that.” There were safety mechanisms in place and Stafford was kitted out with a satellite tracker and an emergency button, but the reaction time fell short of the normal bluelight services. “We had a guy permanently stationed on an island an hour and a half away by boat so we could go and get Ed,” says Colthurst. “The biggest fear was that he would fall over and hit his head and not be able to let us know that he had a big problem.”
StEPHEn HAWKInG’S unIVERSE TX 2010 Producer Darlow Smithson Productions
“Stephen Hawking’s Universe is a phenomenally important, major blue-chip science series,” says Dan Korn. “Discovery has always been associated with big science and natural history series, and doing something like this is very much our heartland.” The idea emerged during discussions between John Smithson, then chief executive of Darlow Smithson Productions, and Jane Root, then head of Discovery Network US. Smithson, now creative director of Arrow Media, says: “We talked about doing something big and ambitious. Then we thought we should do something about the cosmos and it seemed obvious that the best talent we could link to that would be Stephen Hawking. He’s an iconic, brilliant, inspiring figure. Jane instantly liked it.” Discovery UK quickly came on board and then it was down to Smithson to persuade the eminent professor to agree. “I had one or two meetings on my own with Stephen and pitched the concept to him,” he recalls. “The idea was to get inside his mind. There would be no other www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Stephen Hawking’s Universe
experts in it; it would just be Stephen’s perspective on these great issues of the cosmos.” Korn says the timing was right as the series of three films came 25 years after the publication of Hawking’s book A Brief History Of Time, and allowed Hawking to author a series that confronted the big questions, such as: could there be life on other planets? Or, is time travel possible?
There was a moment when, suffering from severe stomach cramps, Stafford hit the emergency button and a nurse treated him with antibiotics, but other than that, he was on his own. Batteries and discs of footage were delivered and collected through a dead-letterbox system on the far side of the island. The crew and Stafford never crossed paths. Korn says Stafford brings a different flavour to the survival programming established by Bear Grylls. “It was quite unsettling to see what Ed was going through. He was really going through the mill. It was a different way of telling that particular story.”
“It moved the scientific debate on,” says Korn. “It was a big, iconic series and addressed a lot of the questions Stephen has sought to answer and address in his lifetime. It was a fantastic partnership.” Smithson agrees: “We wanted it to be enjoyable and an amazing romp, and Stephen was really up for that. “He embraced the spirit of it and liked that we were trying to do it in a popular way, but with all the integrity that he brought to it. When Stephen said that aliens may come and they may not come in peace, that became a huge international news story.” Ben Bowie, then managing director at Darlow Smithson, was brought on board as series director and the three films were brought to life using innovative CGI techniques. To remain true to their aim of making the series rigorous yet fun and accessible, Smithson, who doesn’t have a science background, made himself the eyes and ears of the audience. “It’s mind-blowing once you know more about black holes and how the universe was formed,” he says. “In a sense, when we were watching the shows, I thought ‘if I can understand it, then viewers will too’.” ➤ 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 21
Production
In association with Discovery
Discovery UK
BEAR GRYLLS: BORn SuRVIVOR TX 2006 Producer Diverse Productions
Former SAS survival expert Bear Grylls came to the attention of Discovery UK when he became one of the youngest ever climbers to reach Everest’s summit as part of a British expedition. Grylls remembers: “Discovery read about this and approached me to host a series on how to survive in the wild. I was nervous as I hadn’t ever done TV, but I had been trained in the British Special Forces in combat survival, skydiving and climbing, so I thought: ‘let’s give it a go’.” That was back in November 2006. In keeping with Discovery’s mission to ‘satisfy curiosity’, Grylls’ high-stakes survival exploits quickly became synonymous with the network. “Bear represented a reinvention of the survival genre,” says Discovery’s Dan Korn. “Survival programming had hitherto been quite distanced from the viewer. Bear gave it a real immediacy and accessibility because he talked directly to the camera.” Grylls quickly became famous for doing things most people would not: drinking his own urine to keep hydrated in the Moab desert, wrestling a pig in Alabama, or gutting a camel in the Sahara to use for shelter.
Bear Grylls: Born Survivor
“The main challenge was the reality of filming with such a small team in such hostile terrains,” he says. “Like all worthwhile things, there is always some pain along the way, including snakes, sharks, crocs, close shaves in rapids, crevasses and jungles – but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” When doing some of the extreme challenges for the first time, Grylls admits that he’s the first to feel the fear. “I have learned to handle the nerves and use that pit-of-thestomach feeling to make all my senses fire and keep my edge. The golden rule is never
VIRtuAL HIStORY: tHE SECREt PLOt tO KILL HItLER TX 2004 Producer Tiger Aspect
Creating archive footage of real historical events by superimposing the faces of the protagonists onto lookalikes sounds like an audacious idea, both academically and technologically. When it’s the ‘July Plot’ to assassinate Hitler, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, the stakes become even higher. Director David McNab says painstaking research formed the spine of the narrative. He recalls: “Because we were creating archive that never existed, we had to be very careful we weren’t editorialising or creating something that didn’t happen and pretending it did. “All conversations had to have a source for having taken place. For example, in the conversation between Roosevelt and his son just before the president collapsed, we didn’t stray from the known reported dialogue between them.” Ultimately, the film is entertainment and not a historical document, so it was a question of identifying the key moments that would drive the narrative and then creating the footage that 22 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Virtual History: The Secret Plot To Kill Hitler
would dramatise them. These moments included Hitler in his bunker, Stalin in his country house, Churchill in his bed and Roosevelt’s collapse. Having set up a graphics unit at the BBC, McNab brought significant expertise in CG techniques. The face-replacement process required the actors to wear see-through wire masks over their heads with tracking beads attached.
to get complacent in the wild or it will bite you in the backside, hard,” he says. Korn describes Grylls as a great communicator whose shows have cross-generational appeal. But as entertaining and exciting as his adventures are, even Grylls has boundaries. “For me, the dangers and tough times tend to merge, but I keep focused on the most important thing, which is coming home alive to my family. “As a team we say: come back alive, come back as friends and come back successful – always in that order.”
“We had to be very strategic about which scenes we used and what we were showing in close-up. It was massively expensive because it was so cutting edge,” he recalls. Casting alone was a three-tier process. The first challenge was to find actors whose faces matched the exact dimensions of the protagonists. “We ended up going through casting books and sending photos of people to Moving Picture Company, which was doing the CG, because we had to be sure the actor’s face shape – the distance between their eyes, nose, chin and head – matched Hitler, Roosevelt, Stalin or Churchill. If the mask didn’t fit neatly onto their face, it would cause all kinds of problems for the graphics people.” Another actor was then cast for body movements and a third for each protagonist’s voice. The team researched the various film stocks used in the UK, Germany, US and Russia at the time so the Moving Picture Company could make the footage look as authentic as possible. Discovery’s Dan Korn says the technology was core to the commission and the film was an innovative moment in terms of what documentary could achieve: “The technology made a real difference to the storytelling and to the scale of ➤ the production. It was a breakthrough.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Production
In association with Discovery
DISCOVERY UK
WHEELER DEALERS TX 2003 Producer Attaboy TV
With 11 series under its belt, it’s safe to say that Wheeler Dealers does the business for Discovery UK. The format features secondhand-car dealer Mike Brewer working with mechanic Edd China to buy a classic car, do it up and sell it on for a profit. “In the first two or three series, we were finding our feet,” says Brewer, who had already fronted C4’s Deals On Wheels and Driven. “Edd was developing his skills televisually and I was working out with the crew how to get the best out of the testdrive sequences. “Series 12 is coming up and we’re still developing the show. We’re using new technology, adding new and inventive ways to repair cars and putting in helicopter shots. It keeps growing and growing.” Over the show’s life, it has grown from 30 minutes to an hour, the budget Brewer has to buy the car has increased, and the range of cars has been widened to include the aspirational as well as the everyday. “The idea at first was to rescue classic cars and keep them on the road but we very quickly realised that our audience was more intelligent than that,” says Brewer. “They didn’t want to see air filters and light bulbs, they wanted to see a change in the car.”
Wheeler Dealers
Brewer knew this because of his close connection with the show’s audience. From the start, he encouraged viewers to contact him with questions and thoughts about the show via his website, and latterly through social media. “The audience tells me what they expect,” he says. “I take that along to production meetings. The show has developed alongside the audience. I think that’s unique in TV.” Brewer insists that the car is the star of the show, but it’s the relationship between him and Edd that really brings it to life.
AGE OF TERROR TX 2002 Producer 3BM Television
Discovery’s Dan Korn was on the other side of the camera for the making of Age Of Terror, as director of the third in the series of four films: In The Name Of God. Korn says the commission came off the back of 9/11 and aimed to give a broader context to those events. Film-maker Jon Blair was brought in to shape this sprawling subject into four episodes that were, Blair says, “accessible, televisual, meaningful, intellectually coherent and didn’t cheat the audience”. He recalls: “In my preliminary research, I was struck by something I read, which talked about the advent of modern terrorism. An academic said that it was distinguished from all the earlier examples by several factors. “Among other things, it was about publicity and drawing attention to a cause beyond the boundary of the cause. This was the Eureka moment: instead of starting with the year dot, it allowed us to start in 1948 with the war against the British by Jewish terrorists.” The other key moment was identifying the four different drivers for terrorist activity: 24 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Age Of Terror
national liberation, revolution, religion and the state. Blair’s idea was that the films should be a progression through history, with first-hand accounts from the protagonists. “I wanted it to feel much more immediate and to be from the perspective of people really involved – wherever possible, the so-called ‘bad guys’,” he says. Securing these interviews with what Blair describes as “in excess of 30 assorted bombers,
Discovery’s Dan Korn sees something of Morecambe and Wise in their double act, which accounts for the show’s broad appeal across genders and age groups. “There’s a lot of take-out from the show,” says Korn. “As Edd’s working on the engine, you get a lot of information about what he does to a car and Mike teaches you the tricks of the trade in terms of sales techniques.” So what is Brewer’s dream restoration? If you happen to own a Jaguar E-type Series 1 Roadster, he’ll happily take it off your hands.
kidnappers and assassins” meant establishing trust and using local fixers. He explains: “Sometimes you strike it lucky very quickly, sometimes you deal with enormous suspicion, which requires very delicate negotiations, and sometimes you encounter a media whore who is more than willing to talk. They are generally the least interesting – you’re looking for something that’s unique and feels fresh.” Blair continues: “Our job in the series was to bring these people to life and leave the viewer to decide whether they were mad, had a justified cause, or were misguided in some way. “For me, balance is leaving the viewer to make up their own mind and presenting people as fairly as you can in the light of what you know about history. By giving the viewer facts and information as well as feelings, you respect them.” With his Discovery UK hat on, Korn describes it as an ambitious series that put the channel at the centre of an important debate. “When people look for explanation, they look to Discovery,” he says. “Terrorism is a difficult and delicate thing to tackle. The series didn’t take sides and wasn’t over-political, but put these tragic events into context.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk
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Ratings Mon 28 Apr – Sun 4 May
Mornings brighter for ITV Revamped breakfast offering fares better than predecessor, but BBC rival continues to rule the roost BY Stephen Price
In 1982, the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Wor kers merged with the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union to form the GMBATU. This was shortened to GMB, which is just as well, for they wouldn’t have had a shot at breakfast TV otherwise. This week, Good Morning Britain (GMB) launched sedately (with nary a blacksmith nor shipwright in sight), learning the notso-distant and still vivid lesson of Daybreak’s fanfare arrival and subsequent ignominious downfall: nobody likes a show-off. It’s still early days and the jury remains out, but after its first week, things are at least perkier than its predecessor this year. Elsewhere, ITV’s cop was most definitely prey, while BBC1’s valley was only happy in an ironic way – but both channels will be pleased with the results. On Monday at 6am, ITV’s Good Morning Britain launched to 800,000/20%, its best of a week in which it averaged 691,000/18%. Overall, however, the week was 12% ahead of Daybreak’s 2014 live average. The commercially important ‘housewives with children’ audience averaged 24% share, 8% better than Daybreak this year. Meanwhile, BBC1’s Breakfast remained unimpressed: its winning 1.4 million/37% live rating between 6am and 8.30am was largely the same as its pre-GMB 2014 average. ITV’s task of returning to a competitive breakfast position is daunting. 28 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Broadcast/Barb Top 100 network programmes Title
Day
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
Share %
Broadcaster/ Producer*
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Britain’s Got Talent Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street EastEnders Coronation Street Emmerdale Happy Valley Emmerdale Emmerdale Prey Emmerdale Emmerdale Vera Emmerdale Countryfile BBC News At Ten BBC London News
Sat Mon Mon Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Fri Fri Mon Tue Thu Wed Mon Thu Fri Sun Tue Sun Tue Mon
19.15 19.30 20.00 20.30 19.30 19.30 19.30 19.30 20.00 20.30 19.00 21.00 19.00 19.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 20.00 19.00 19.00 22.00 18.30
9.56 8.01 7.78 7.55 7.36 7.29 7.22 7.15 6.57 6.54 6.38 6.26 6.24 6.15 5.98 5.88 5.77 5.53 5.50 5.28 5.26 5.18
45.87 39.34 35.22 33.03 37.21 36.68 35.93 37.54 32.12 30.29 33.98 27.35 33.19 33.75 26.21 26.78 32.64 24.35 30.90 28.22 28.67 29.74
ITV/Syco TV/Thames ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV/Red Production Company ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1
23
BBC London News
Thu
18.30
5.13
29.16
BBC1
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
BBC London News BBC News At Six BBC London News BBC News At Six Holby City Casualty MasterChef BBC News At Ten Antiques Roadshow BBC News At Six BBC News At Ten BBC News At Ten BBC News At Six MasterChef BBC News At Six Have I Got News For You The Crimson Field Uefa Champions L’gue: Munich V Real BBC News BBC News BBC News At Ten MasterChef Parking Mad BBC News The One Show The One Show Law & Order: UK
Wed Thu Tue Mon Tue Sat Wed Mon Sun Fri Wed Thu Wed Thu Tue Fri Sun Tue Sun Sun Fri Fri Thu Sat Thu Tue Wed
18.30 18.00 18.30 18.00 20.00 20.30 20.00 22.00 20.00 18.00 22.00 22.00 18.00 20.00 18.00 21.00 21.00 19.30 18.35 22.00 22.00 20.30 21.00 22.00 19.00 19.00 21.00
4.97 4.92 4.81 4.75 4.69 4.68 4.60 4.59 4.57 4.56 4.52 4.51 4.47 4.44 4.43 4.42 4.42 4.39 4.35 4.33 4.16 4.05 3.95 3.93 3.88 3.87 3.78
29.02 30.75 28.89 30.41 22.03 23.59 21.35 24.94 20.67 29.76 24.80 24.16 28.33 20.37 29.38 20.67 18.98 20.29 26.41 22.60 22.94 18.76 18.41 22.20 20.61 21.77 17.23
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV BBC1 BBC1/Hat Trick Productions BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Shine TV BBC1/Century Films BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV/Kudos Film & TV
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Happy Valley
Prey www.broadcastnow.co.uk
All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional
Source: BARB
51 52 52 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 61 63 64 64 66 67 68 69 69 71 72 73 74 74 76 77 78 78 80 81 82 83 83 83 83 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 96 98 99 100
Title
Day
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
Share %
Broadcaster/ Producer*
Pointless Celebrities The One Show Pointless Match Of The Day Big Star’s Little Star Pointless Catchphrase Off Their Rockers The One Show ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather Pointless Crimewatch The Guess List BBC News The Graham Norton Show Pointless The One Show ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather ITV News & Weather New You’ve Been Framed! Pointless Lewis The National Lottery: In It To Win It Weekend Escapes With Warwick Davis Party Election Broadcast: Green Party Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs Gogglebox Party Election Broadcast: Conservatives Panorama: Behind Closed Doors Amazing Greys Outnumbered Pointless Celebrities Gino’s Italian Escape Party Election Broadcast: UKIP Bang Goes The Theory Crimewatch Update Party Election Broadcast: BNP Tonight: What Next For The NHS? A Question Of Sport BBC News At One Question Time Over To Bill BBC News At One ITV News & Weather ITV News At Ten & Weather Wanted: A Family Of My Own A Question Of Sport World Championship Snooker
Sat Mon Thu Sat Wed Mon Sun Sun Fri Mon Thu Fri Mon Sat Sat Fri Wed Wed Fri Tue Wed Sat Tue Fri Sat Fri Mon Thu Fri Wed Wed Sat Fri Sun Mon Thu Mon Mon Tue Thu Fri Thu Thu Tue Mon Sun Mon Thu Wed Sun
18.50 19.00 17.15 22.20 20.00 17.15 18.45 19.30 19.00 18.30 18.30 17.15 21.00 21.20 18.30 22.35 17.15 19.00 18.30 18.30 18.30 18.45 17.15 21.00 19.40 20.00 18.25 20.30 21.00 18.25 21.00 20.30 21.30 17.45 20.00 18.25 19.30 22.40 18.25 19.30 19.30 13.00 22.35 22.35 13.00 18.30 22.00 21.00 22.35 19.00
3.69 3.60 3.60 3.58 3.56 3.53 3.49 3.47 3.39 3.33 3.32 3.32 3.30 3.29 3.29 3.26 3.24 3.21 3.15 3.15 3.13 3.11 3.07 3.02 3.02 3.01 2.97 2.94 2.94 2.93 2.89 2.86 2.79 2.79 2.79 2.79 2.78 2.72 2.67 2.66 2.59 2.58 2.56 2.52 2.50 2.39 2.39 2.38 2.35 2.34
19.96 19.19 27.75 27.48 16.53 27.93 19.83 17.76 19.17 19.09 18.87 26.18 14.48 17.87 22.41 23.48 25.65 16.86 19.17 18.91 18.29 18.89 25.63 14.34 14.28 14.72 18.15 13.57 13.95 17.85 13.19 14.60 13.47 19.33 12.62 16.81 13.65 19.43 17.06 13.25 13.59 38.28 22.06 18.75 37.50 14.80 13.22 11.09 17.73 11.80
BBC1/Remarkable TV BBC1 BBC1/Remarkable TV BBC1 ITV/12 Yard Productions BBC1/Remarkable TV ITV ITV/CPL Productions BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1/Remarkable TV BBC1 BBC1/12 Yard Productions BBC1 BBC1/So Television BBC1/Remarkable TV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV ITV BBC1/Remarkable TV ITV BBC1 ITV ITV ITV C4/Studio Lambert ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1/Hat Trick Productions BBC1/Remarkable TV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1/Mentorn BBC1/Big Talk/Three Feet Productions BBC1 ITV ITV ITV BBC1 BBC2
*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.
Panorama: Behind Closed Doors www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Over To Bill
At 9pm on Monday, ITV launched three-part thriller Prey to a very nice 5.7 million/25% (237,000 +1). Opposite, BBC1’s Crimewatch’s monthly appearance delivered 3.3 million/14%. On Tuesday, after Holby City’s 4.7 million/22% at 8pm, BBC1’s new six-part drama Happy Valley launched to a strong 6.3 million/ 27% at 9pm. From 7.30pm, ITV’s live coverage of Real Madrid’s dismantling of Bayern Munich in the Champions League averaged 4.3 million/20% (54,000 +1). The first in BBC1’s Comedy Playhouse revival, Over To Bill, netted 2.5 million/19% at 10.35pm.
‘ITV’s task of returning to a competitive breakfast position is daunting’ On Wednesday, MasterChef’s best of the week (4.6 million/21%) easily defeated ITV’s Big Star’s Little Star on 3.4 million/16% (121,000 +1). At 9pm, ITV’s Law And Order: UK achieved 3.5 million/16% (223,000 +1). Panorama’s Behind Closed Doors: Elderly Care Exposed lost the slot with 2.9 million/13%, but won rather more with its investigation into abuse in two British care homes. At 9pm on Thursday, BBC1’s Parking Mad won with 4 million/ 18%, ahead of ITV’s Wanted: A Family Of My Own on 2.2 million/10% (134,000 +1). On Friday, BBC1’s Have I Got News For You was the 9pm winner with 4.4 million/21%, ahead of ITV’s Lewis repeat (2.9 million/14%; 158,000 +1) and Channel 4’s Gogglebox (2.5 million/12%; 480,000 +1). On Saturday, ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent dominated with 8.8 million/42% (731,000 +1) at 7pm. Amazing Greys could only cling on to 2.7 million/14% (240,000 +1) at 8.30pm, up against BBC1’s Casualty on 4.7 million/24%. At 9.30pm, BBC1’s The Guess List gained 3.3 million/18%. On a sunny Sunday, the second of ITV’s four episodes of Vera slipped to 5.2 million/23% (390,000 +1) at 8pm, 750,000 shy of last week. BBC1’s Crimson Field at 9pm achieved 4.4 million/19%, the lowest of its run.
See over for digital focus, plus channel and genre overviews 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 29
Ratings Mon 28 Apr – Sun 4 May Channel Overview
Mr Drew’s on par withEssex BY stephen price
It probably wasn’t the plan. “So BBC2 and BBC4, if you could commission stuff together, that would be great.” “Yep, of course boss,” each would have chimed. Leaving the room, BBC2 might have joshed BBC4 with a steely chortle – “just so long as you don’t win, you old roister doister”. Oops. BBC4’s Georgians welched, leaving BBC2, not to mention C4 and C5, lagging. C4’s Mr Drew’s School For Boys launched on Tuesday at 9pm to 1.4 million/6% (330,000 +1); spot on the live series average for Educating Essex, Mr Drew’s alma mater. It reduced BBC2’s Watermen: A Dirty Business to 1.1 million/5% and C5’s GPs: Behind Closed Doors to 800,000/4% (92,000 +1). BBC2’s The Birth Of Empire: The East India Company launched with 1.9 million/9% on Wednesday at 9pm, defeating C4’s How To Get A Council House (1.4 million/6%; 370,000+1) and C5’s NCIS (1.1 million/5%; 170,000 +1). On Thursday at 9pm, the BBC’s Eighteenth Century Britain season knocked it out of the park with BBC4’s The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain (1.2 million/5.6%), defeating BBC2’s Protecting Our Parents (1 million/4.5%), C4’s new Heston’s Great British Food (1 million/4.7%; 160,000 +1) and C5’s The Jersey Slayer (1 million/4.8%; 130,000 +1).
Source: BARB
WEEK 18 Average hours per viewer Daytime Share (%) Peaktime Share (%) w/c 28.04.14 Peaktime Share (%) w/c 29.04.13 Year to date Average hours per viewer Audience share (%) Audience share (%) 2013
BBC1 4.97 19.09 21.90 22.49 BBC1 5.86 21.86 21.36
BBC2 1.69 8.58 7.28 7.10 BBC2 1.78 6.65 5.62
ITV1 3.62 12.15 20.63 21.90 ITV1 4.15 15.49 16.37
C4 1.28 4.99 5.96 6.51 C4 1.54 5.76 6.01
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
30 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Total 23.69 100.00 100.00 100.00 Total 26.81 100.00 100.00
Top 30 bbc2, channel 4 and channel 5 Title
Day
Share %
Broadcaster
1
Gogglebox
Fri
21.00
2.94
13.95
C4
2
World Championship Snooker
Sun
19.00
2.34
11.80
BBC2
3
One Born Every Minute
Mon
21.00
1.99
8.73
C4
4
The Birth Of Empire: The East India Company
Wed
21.00
1.94
8.86
BBC2
5
World Championship Snooker
Sat
19.00
1.88
9.69
BBC2
6
Nature’s Misfits: Natural World
Fri
21.00
1.83
8.70
BBC2
7
Alan Carr: Chatty Man
Fri
22.00
1.75
10.56
C4
8
How To Get A Council House
Wed
21.00
1.74
7.94
C4
9
World Championship Snooker
Sun
14.00
1.71
16.95
9
Mr Drew’s School For Boys
Tue
21.00
1.71
7.45
11
Posh Pawn
Thu
20.00
1.68
7.72
C4
12
The Big Allotment Challenge
Tue
20.00
1.67
7.83
BBC2
BBC2 C4
13
World Championship Snooker
Fri
19.00
1.65
8.36
BBC2
14
Britain’s Most Extreme Weather
Mon
20.00
1.59
7.07
C4
15
Under Offer: Estate Agents On The Job
Wed
20.00
1.56
7.22
BBC2
16
World Championship Snooker
Thu
19.00
1.47
7.14
BBC2
17
The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door
Tue
20.00
1.43
6.72
C5
18
Fargo
Sun
21.00
1.40
6.00
C4
19
Great British Menu
Thu
18.30
1.39
7.88
BBC2
19
Great British Menu
Wed
18.30
1.39
8.09
BBC2
21
Embarrassing Bodies: Live From The Clinic
Tue
20.00
1.33
6.24
C4
22
Great British Menu
Mon
18.30
1.31
7.54
BBC2
23
Great British Menu
Tue
18.30
1.27
7.60
BBC2
24
Derek
Wed
22.00
1.25
6.96
C4
25
NCIS
Wed
21.00
1.23
5.59
C5
26
Heston’s Great British Food
Thu
21.00
1.18
5.50
C4
26
QI
Thu
22.00
1.18
6.39
BBC2
28
Eggheads
Wed
18.00
1.17
7.40
BBC2
29
Family Massacre: The Jersey Slayer
Thu
21.00
1.16
5.42
C5
29
The Simpsons
Tue
18.00
1.16
7.71
C4
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Multichannel 40.82
Channel 5’s Bloody Tales Of The Tower launched above the Friday 7pm average of 487k
Others 11.24 51.26 40.82 38.33 Others 12.41 46.28 46.64
Daytime is 09.30-18.00. Peaktime is 18.00-22.30. Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
daytime share (%) w/c 28.04.14
peaktime share (%) w/c 28.04.14
616k
C5 0.89 3.93 3.42 3.68 C5 1.06 3.95 4.00
BBC1 21.90
ITV 20.63
C5 3.42 C4 5.96
BBC2 7.28
Multichannel 51.26
518k
Cardinal Burns’ C4 debut fell 430k short of slot average but more than doubled its 235k E4 debut in 2012
BBC1 19.09
ITV 12.15
C5 3.93
BBC2 8.58
C4 4.99
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
Newsround Andy’s Wild Adventures Celebrity Driving Academy Splatalot What’s The Big Idea? Sarah & Duck Grandpa In My Pocket Grandpa In My Pocket Octonauts Octonauts
Top 10 Factual programmes
Day
Start
Viewers (Age 4-15)
Share (%)
Channel
Thu Wed Thu Thu Wed Mon Mon Thu Wed Fri
16.20 16.30 07.45 16.30 16.25 17.25 17.30 17.30 17.00 07.50
213,800 210,500 201,300 198,100 192,300 191,400 190,000 189,100 188,200 185,600
18.96 18.00 16.94 16.28 18.33 14.48 14.15 13.01 15.89 14.99
CBBC CBeebies CBBC CBBC CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies CBeebies
Andy’s Wild Adventures
Title
Title
Prey Vera Holby City Casualty The Crimson Field Law & Order: UK Lewis Fargo NCIS Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
UP Monday’s One Show gains 200,000
Uefa Champions L’gue: Munich V Real Match Of The Day World Championship Snooker World Championship Snooker Live Uefa Champions League World Championship Snooker World Championship Snooker World Championship Snooker Final Score Live Ford Saturday Night Football
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Mon Sun Tue Sat Sun Wed Fri Sun Wed Fri
21.00 20.00 20.00 20.30 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00
5.98 5.53 4.69 4.68 4.42 3.78 3.02 1.40 1.23 1.14
26.21 24.35 22.03 23.59 18.98 17.23 14.34 6.00 5.59 5.44
ITV ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV ITV C4 C5 C4
Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Britain’s Got Talent Have I Got News For You Pointless Celebrities Pointless Big Star’s Little Star Pointless Catchphrase Pointless The Guess List The Graham Norton Show
DOWN BGT loses 520,000
UP Saturday’s Pointless Celebrities adds 310,000
Share (%)
Channel
Sun Wed Sun Thu Fri Thu Thu Tue Mon Fri
19.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.30 21.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.00
5.28 4.60 4.57 4.44 4.05 3.95 3.88 3.87 3.60 3.39
28.22 21.35 20.67 20.37 18.76 18.41 20.61 21.77 19.19 19.17
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 BBC1
UP Lewis repeat adds 400,000
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Sat Fri Sat Thu Wed Mon Sun Fri Sat Fri
19.15 21.00 18.50 17.15 20.00 17.15 18.45 17.15 21.20 22.35
9.56 4.42 3.69 3.60 3.56 3.53 3.49 3.32 3.29 3.26
45.87 20.67 19.96 27.75 16.53 27.93 19.83 26.18 17.87 23.48
ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1
DOWN Vera drops 690,000
UP Prey up 700,000 on slot average
Top 10 Current affairs programmes Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Tue Sat Sun Sat Wed Sun Fri Thu Sat Sat
19.30 22.20 19.00 19.00 19.00 14.00 19.00 19.00 16.00 17.00
4.39 3.58 2.34 1.88 1.72 1.71 1.65 1.47 1.43 1.31
next week Comedy and Music & Arts www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Viewers (millions)
Top 10 Entertainment programmes
Day
DOWN Countryfile loses 1.4m
Title
Start
The Guess List
Top 10 Sport programmes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Countryfile MasterChef Antiques Roadshow MasterChef MasterChef Parking Mad The One Show The One Show The One Show The One Show
Fargo
Top 10 Drama programmes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Day
Share (%)
20.29 27.48 11.80 9.69 8.32 16.95 8.36 7.14 15.85 8.74
Channel
ITV BBC1 BBC2 BBC2 Sky Sp’ts 1 BBC2 BBC2 BBC2 BBC1 Sky Sp’ts 1
Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Crimewatch Behind Closed Doors: Elderly… Crimewatch Update Tonight: What Next For The NHS? Question Time Bernie Ecclestone: Lies, Bribes… The Andrew Marr Show On Assignment This Week Newsnight
Day
Start
Viewers (millions)
Share (%)
Channel
Mon Wed Mon Thu Thu Mon Sun Wed Thu Wed
21.00 21.00 22.40 19.30 22.35 20.30 09.00 22.35 23.35 22.30
3.30 2.89 2.72 2.66 2.56 2.33 1.34 0.99 0.89 0.82
14.48 13.19 19.43 13.25 22.06 10.19 19.79 7.65 14.12 6.53
BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC2
See over for demographic and digital focus 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 31
Ratings Mon 28 Apr – Sun 4 May Demographic Focus Channels
Individuals Share (%)
Source: BARB
Adults ABC1 Share (%)1
Adults ABC1 Profile (%)2
Adults 16-34 Share (%)1
Adults 16-34 Profile (%)2
Male Share (%)1
Male Profile (%)2
Female Share (%)1
Female Profile (%)2
BBC1
21.28
25.31
48.50
12.09
9.89
20.56
44.36
21.90
55.64
ITV
15.49
14.35
37.78
12.36
13.90
12.28
36.40
18.21
63.61
BBC2
7.24
8.11
45.63
4.53
10.89
9.11
57.74
5.66
42.26
C4
5.23
5.49
42.81
7.18
23.90
4.75
41.74
5.63
58.26
C5
4.04
3.44
34.77
3.79
16.36
3.59
40.81
4.42
59.18
ITV2
2.50
2.16
35.21
4.43
30.90
2.16
39.66
2.79
60.35 64.02
ITV3
2.24
1.99
36.18
0.62
4.79
1.76
35.97
2.66
E4
1.93
1.88
39.74
5.53
49.95
1.80
42.91
2.04
57.06
Sky Sports 1
1.83
2.34
52.11
2.48
23.53
2.76
69.11
1.05
30.87
BBC3
1.39
1.34
39.34
3.43
42.96
1.60
53.00
1.21
47.07
ITV4
1.38
1.47
43.20
1.18
14.89
2.09
69.20
0.79
30.79
Film 4
1.35
1.17
35.22
1.10
14.20
1.67
56.98
1.07
43.03
Dave
1.29
1.27
40.27
2.25
30.36
1.72
61.18
0.93
38.84
More 4
1.09
1.16
43.16
1.00
15.96
0.90
37.96
1.26
62.06
BBC4
1.02
1.45
58.01
0.31
5.31
1.07
48.28
0.98
51.76
5 USA
0.85
0.61
29.33
0.52
10.72
0.69
37.55
0.98
62.36
Drama
0.82
0.82
40.76
0.30
6.41
0.68
38.04
0.94
61.99
Sky 1
0.77
0.77
40.79
1.57
35.53
0.82
48.83
0.73
51.17
Yesterday
0.71
0.68
39.28
0.26
6.40
0.88
57.22
0.56
42.76
5.0%
On its first day, ITV’s Good Morning Britain attracted a younger audience than the previous Monday’s Daybreak. The 16-24 demographic made up 5% of viewers, up from 0.7%, while the over-65s made up 19%, down from 24%. It also skewed slightly more towards C1s, who made up 23% of viewers, up from 16%.
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
Georgians boost BBC4 BY stephen price
Who would have thought those bewigged Georgians would have such an impact? As BBC4’s First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain (1.2 million/ 6%) showed, they surely have. BBC3, meanwhile, returned to a tale of brothers divided. Following the 2011 doc My Brother The Islamist, BBC3’s My Brother The Terrorist achieved 338,000/1.5% on Monday at 9pm. The post-midnight repeat pulled in 287,000/ 10%. With three repeats over two days, it totalled 771,000. On Tuesday, the third and final episode of BBC4’s At Home With The Georgians achieved 527,000/ 2.5%. This second outing for the series at 8pm averaged 490,000/ 2.3%, nearly double its first run in 2011, which averaged 255,000/ 1.2% on Wednesdays at 7.30pm. ITV2’s Britain’s Got More Talent scored its best of this series with 1.6 million/8% at 8.30pm on Saturday. At 10pm on Sunday, the second episode of ITV2’s Viral Tap dropped to 281,000/1.6%. 32 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
Source: BARB
digital homes
Top 30 multichannel programmes Title
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 22 24 25 25 25 28 29 30
Live Uefa Champs League Britain’s Got More Talent The Big Bang Theory Live Ford Sat Night Football Live Ford Super Sunday First Georgians Celebrity Juice POTC: Curse Of Black Pearl Game Of Thrones Hollyoaks Hollyoaks Hollyoaks Foyle’s War How I Met Your Mother Midsomer Murders Hollyoaks Live Ford Super Sunday Hollyoaks Only Connect Made In Chelsea Uefa Europa League Live The Big Bang Theory Live Ford Mon Night Football Doc Martin The Big Bang Theory Hinterland The Call Centre Brooklyn Nine-Nine You’ve Been Framed! The Big Bang Theory
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Day
Wed Sat Thu Sat Sun Thu Thu Sun Mon Mon Tue Wed Thu Thu Tue Fri Sun Thu Mon Mon Thu Thu Mon Sat Mon Mon Tue Thu Sat Fri
Start
19.00 20.30 20.00 17.00 15.30 21.00 22.00 19.50 21.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 20.00 20.30 20.00 19.00 12.30 19.00 20.30 22.00 19.30 18.30 19.00 20.35 18.30 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.35 18.30
Viewers (millions)
1.72 1.57 1.54 1.31 1.23 1.21 1.08 1.07 1.05 1.02 0.97 0.96 0.94 0.89 0.88 0.86 0.85 0.84 0.83 0.81 0.77 0.76 0.76 0.73 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.69 0.68 0.67
Share (%)
8.32 8.03 7.00 8.74 10.29 5.58 6.27 4.76 4.69 5.38 5.48 5.26 4.34 4.09 3.96 4.88 9.97 4.46 3.62 5.09 3.69 4.33 3.71 3.72 4.05 3.33 3.04 3.17 3.73 4.10
Channel
Sky Sports 1 ITV2 E4 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 BBC4 ITV2 BBC3 Sky Atlantic E4 E4 E4 ITV3 E4 ITV3 E4 Sky Sports 1 E4 BBC4 E4 ITV4 E4 Sky Sports 1 ITV3 E4 BBC4 BBC 3 E4 ITV2 E4
Channels
Share (%)
BBC1 ITV BBC2 C4 C5 Total multichannel ITV2 ITV3 E4 Sky Sports 1 BBC 3 ITV4 Film 4 CBeebies Dave BBC News BBC4 More 4
21.23 15.43 7.23 5.23 4.03 46.85 2.50 2.25 1.94 1.83 1.39 1.38 1.35 1.31 1.29 1.18 1.10 1.10
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
364k BBC3’s In The Flesh returned to 311,000 fewer overnight viewers than series one’s debut
www.broadcastnow.co.uk
All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional
Non-PSB top 50 1 2 3
Title
Day
Start
Viewers (000s) Share (all homes) %
Broadcaster/ Producer*
Live Uefa Champions League Live Ford Saturday Night Football Live Ford Super Sunday
Wed Sat Sun
19.00 17.00 15.30
1,721,300 1,311,300 1,232,900
8.32 8.74 10.29
Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1
4
Game Of Thrones
Mon
21.00
904,400
4.09
Sky Atlantic
5 6 7 8 9 10
Live Ford Super Sunday Live Ford Monday Night Football The Simpsons Storage Hunters Storage Hunters Lizard Lick Towing
Sun Mon Sun Tue Tue Wed
12.30 19.00 20.00 20.00 20.30 20.00
852,300 722,700 560,000 531,900 507,000 463,400
9.97 3.57 2.59 2.57 2.32 2.21
Sky Sports 1 Sky Sports 1 Sky 1 Dave/T Group Dave/T Group Dave
11
Lizard Lick Towing
Wed
20.30
458,700
2.07
Dave
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
Bones Modern Family Gillette Soccer Saturday Arrow The Simpsons Mock The Week NCIS New Tricks Criminal Minds Storage Hunters The Simpsons Hawaii Five-0 Pretty Woman Grimm Mock The Week Salvage Hunters Elementary Open All Hours The Simpsons Top Gear Africa Special Storage Hunters Futurama The Simpsons The Simpsons Live West Ham V Tottenham Sheriff Callie’s Wild West QI XL Gillette Soccer Saturday NCIS: LA Open All Hours Storage Hunters Sofia The First QI XL Storage Hunters Open All Hours The Simpsons Murdoch Mysteries The Simpsons The Simpsons
Wed Mon Sat Thu Thu Tue Fri Thu Mon Fri Mon Sun Sun Wed Tue Wed Tue Fri Thu Sat Mon Sun Fri Wed Sat Thu Tue Sat Sun Fri Fri Thu Sun Mon Fri Mon Mon Mon Wed
21.00 20.30 12.00 20.00 19.30 22.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 21.00 22.10 21.00 22.40 21.00 21.00 21.40 19.00 17.30 20.30 20.30 19.30 19.30 12.00 17.35 21.00 15.00 22.00 21.00 20.30 17.50 22.00 20.00 22.20 19.30 21.00 20.00 19.00
414,900 409,600 403,900 377,400 376,600 370,100 365,100 345,500 343,000 337,800 334,000 332,000 328,300 323,500 321,900 320,200 318,600 315,100 313,000 312,700 310,200 306,500 304,900 303,800 301,400 295,200 293,400 290,700 287,300 285,400 284,700 281,500 280,400 279,800 278,600 274,800 271,600 270,700 269,100
1.89 1.79 4.98 1.73 1.87 2.10 1.73 1.66 1.50 1.65 1.78 1.43 2.79 1.47 2.63 1.46 1.39 1.62 1.66 1.94 1.36 1.35 1.60 1.53 4.33 2.22 1.28 3.52 1.70 1.34 1.32 1.88 1.66 1.27 1.74 1.35 1.19 1.23 1.48
Sky Living Sky 1 Sky Sports News Sky 1 Sky 1 Dave Fox Drama/Wall To Wall Sky Living Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Watch Watch Dave Quest Sky Living Yesterday Sky 1 Dave Dave/T Group Sky 1 Sky 1 Sky 1 BT Sport 1 Disney Junior Dave/Talkback Sky Sports 1 Sky 1 Yesterday Dave/T Group Disney Junior Dave/Talkback Dave/T Group Yesterday Sky 1 Alibi Sky 1 Sky 1
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
Salvage Hunters www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Bones
150k Sky Living’s Trying Again held on to most of episode one’s 156,000 overnight viewers
Hunters close in on rivals BY stephen price
With the exception of discovering one’s ex marching up the beach (which, under normal circumstances, you’d probably run away from), everything else this week has been about the pursuit: of power and thrones; of quirky treasures; and of sporting glory. The fourth episode of Sky Atlantic’s Game Of Thrones achieved 940,000/4% on Monday, after last week’s 1 million/4%, making it the second best 9pm outing so far this series. The best of Dave’s US import Storage Hunters was on Tuesday at 8pm with 532,000/3%. Meanwhile, Quest’s UK programme Salvage Hunters went to Somerset at 9pm on Wednesday and wasn’t that far behind with 320,000/2%, its second best of the year in live ratings so far, behind 23 April’s 394,000/2%. Opposite, Sky Living’s Bones achieved 415,000/2% on Wednesday at 9pm. The best of this year’s live ratings at 9pm remains 2 April’s 513,000/2%. The top football match was Sky Sport 1’s Champions’ League tie between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, which averaged 1.7 million/ 8% on Wednesday from 7pm, peaking at 3 million/13% at 9pm. The second episode of MTV’s Ex On the Beach fell to 257,000/ 2% from last week’s launch of 360,000/2%. 9 May 2014 | Broadcast | 33
Ratings Mon 21 Apr – Sun 27 Apr
All BARB ratings supplied by: Attentional
Consolidated Ratings
ITV schedulers miss a trick BY Stephen Price
The pitch, way back when, would have been interesting: rambling stories punctuated by displays of vaguely incompetent magic tricks. But maybe after meetings spent enduring a funny story about a plank and an invisible ball being caught in a paper bag, the commissioner’s will was broken. Just as well, for it wasn’t half funny. This week, ITV delved beyond the gags into the world of Tommy Cooper as BBC1 went to Cornwall with Daphne du Maurier. Channel 4 saw more of Derek, while those thrones kept getting bigger.
Source: BARB
9pm to a live rating of 6.1 million/25%. It was recorded by 1.1 million to finish on 7.3 million/25%, the highest of the trio. Tuesday’s episode slipped to 4.5 million/19% and Wednesday’s to 4.1 million/19% in live ratings, growing to 5.4 million/21% and 5.2 million/20% respectively after recording. Jamaica Inn’s ABC1 profile was strong, averaging 3.5 million/26%, the best being Monday’s 4.3 million/30%.
ITV: Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This Opposite on Monday for two hours, ITV’s biopic Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This achieved 3.6 million/17% in live ratings; if only it had aired against part two of Jamaica Inn instead. After 800,000 caught up, it finished on 4.4 million/18%, with 1.9 million/ 16% share of ABC1 adults.
BBC1: Jamaica Inn
C4: Derek
BBC1’s epic, if on occasion audibly blurry, three-part serial Jamaica Inn launched on Easter Monday at
Ricky Gervais’ Channel 4 comedy Derek returned for a second series at 10pm on 23 April to a live audi-
ence of 1.7 million/9%. After more than 860,000 recorded and watched, it ended on 2.6 million/12% – spookily matching, for the first time, series one’s opening episode. The highest remains the 2012 pilot’s rating of 2.9 million/12%. This time around, 16-34 adults made up 900,000/ 22% of the audience, the best since episode one of series one (1 million/25%).
Sky Atlantic: Game Of Thrones The new series of Sky Atlantic’s Game Of Thrones was simulcast with the US at 2am on Sunday 6 April, ending on a rating of 787,000/30%. In its regular 9pm premiere slot on Monday 7 April, that episode finished on 1.3 million/5%, giving it a combined launch audience of 2.1 million. Episode three on 21 April at 9pm achieved the highest rating yet for a single transmission of the programme: 1.8 million/6%, building on a live audience of 1.1 million/4.5%.
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 24 26 27 28 28 28
7.6m
ITV crime drama Vera launched 1m ahead of Endeavour’s finale, helped by a 1.2m boost from PVR
UP Friday’s MasterChef up 610,000 DOWN Law & Order: UK down 440,000
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Title
Day
Start
Viewers (m) (all homes)
Share %
Gain (m)
Gain %
The Crimson Field Vera Jamaica Inn MasterChef Jamaica Inn Law & Order: UK Jamaica Inn Coronation Street Casualty Derek Gogglebox Britain’s Got Talent The Mentalist Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This EastEnders Coronation Street MasterChef Fargo Coronation Street EastEnders One Born Every Minute Have I Got News For You MasterChef Game Of Thrones EastEnders Coronation Street The Following Person Of Interest Criminal Minds Made In Chelsea
Sun Sun Mon Fri Wed Wed Tue Fri Sat Wed Fri Sat Tue Mon Mon Fri Thu Mon Wed Tue Mon Fri Wed Mon Thu Mon Tue Thu Mon Mon
21.00 20.00 21.00 20.30 21.00 21.00 21.00 20.30 20.40 22.00 21.00 19.00 21.00 21.00 20.00 19.30 20.00 12.15 19.30 19.30 21.00 21.00 20.00 21.00 19.30 20.30 22.00 22.00 21.00 22.00
6.25 7.63 7.25 5.16 5.17 4.90 5.44 8.46 5.58 2.55 4.09 11.32 2.07 4.40 9.09 9.04 5.53 0.89 8.98 9.06 2.77 5.20 5.74 1.76 8.18 9.08 0.85 1.44 1.05 1.39
22.76 28.61 25.16 19.52 19.84 18.69 20.68 31.26 25.02 12.47 16.60 48.58 7.71 18.18 35.45 40.57 22.83 18.02 40.68 38.74 9.54 20.70 24.55 6.23 38.67 34.01 4.53 7.63 3.66 7.04
1.37 1.16 1.13 1.10 1.05 1.02 0.95 0.94 0.87 0.87 0.86 0.85 0.83 0.82 0.81 0.80 0.76 0.74 0.73 0.71 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.68 0.68 0.67 0.65 0.63 0.63 0.63
28.20 17.90 18.50 27.20 25.60 26.10 21.20 12.50 18.50 51.50 26.50 8.10 66.60 22.80 9.80 9.70 16.00 509.30 8.90 8.50 34.00 15.30 13.60 63.10 9.00 7.90 317.20 77.90 146.80 81.60
Broadcaster BBC1 ITV BBC1 BBC1 BBC1 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 C4 C4 ITV C5 ITV BBC1 ITV BBC1 C4 ITV BBC1 C4 BBC1 BBC1 Sky Atlantic BBC1 ITV Sky Atlantic C5 Sky Living E4
Figures include HD and +1 where applicable
34 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
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ALL A TWITTER
Adam Davidson Sound mixer/ ADR, Encore
Mr @JeremyClarkson stand your ground! If you don’t, a generation of white men will be terminally socially awkward. Defer but never bow. @reginalddhunter (Reginald D Hunter) Comedian Kiefer Sutherland: 24: Live Another Day star speaks at the London premiere
Jeremy Clarkson is not a racist. He is a monumental bellend and many other things, but not a racist. I wouldn’t work with one. #ThatIsAll
Fry denies 24 team Jack-pot
Cutting 24 down to size
24: Live Another Day director Jon Cassar teased some dramatic encounters between Knots Landing star William Devane’s president and Stephen Fry’s prime minister in the revived series at its London premiere this week. Landing Fry was quite a coup, Cassar said, but he was less successful in his ultimate mission: getting the polymath to join the 24 staff pub quiz team.
Star Kiefer Sutherland revealed the inspiration behind the reduced series length of 24: Live Another Day, which picks 12 key hours of Jack Bauer’s day. Recalling a series two plotline that necessitated Jack going on a two-hour flight, he said: “There he was on a plane, eating peanuts. The most boring two hours of 24. They had to make me crash the plane just so something interesting would happen.”
@MrJamesMay (James May) Presenter, Top Gear
It’s ridiculous that David Frost had 4 programmes to chat to a has-been like Nixon and James Corden has only one to interrogate [Gary] Barlow. @mickmcavoy (Mick McAvoy) Producer
#TheTrip in Italy – still funny – but the food porn is even more enticing – want to be there NOW @adlmac (Adam MacDonald) Controller, Sky 1
36 | Broadcast | 9 May 2014
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More than 20 indies including Lion TV, Objective, Outline and Zig Zag attended a Pact-organised China TV summit on Double Happiness Island outside Xiamen last week. The undoubted highlight was a live version of Blind Date, in which they sang, danced and flirted with the assembled ranks of Chinese broadcasters. Somebody buy the format.
What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told? I told my mum I was helping a friend’s granddad for community service at school – we were actually playing Mario Kart. Which TV or radio programme would you resuscitate? ’Allo ’Allo! (below). There’s not enough low-brow, mildly xenophobic comedy these days. How do you get your own way? Charm, politeness and emotional blackmail. What law would you most like to break? The Swiss law stating that men aren’t allowed to wee standing up after 10pm. What words or phrases do you most overuse? All swear words. Where would you put a webcam? There’s no way of answering that question and not sounding weird. What TV shows would be in your fantasy schedule? Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld Seinfeld, Breaking Bad Bad, some football, and then Band Of Brothers. Where’s the best place to do some ‘meeja’ networking? No one should ever do this.
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