Television April 2014 by RTStelevision

APRIL 2014

Doreen Lawrence

Why TV needs to try harder

TI CK LA ET ST S F AV EW AI LA BL E

‘

Prediction is very difficult... particularly about the future

’

Niels Bohr Physicist and philosopher

13 May | 6:15pm for 7:00pm RTS and Institution of Engineering and Technology joint public lecture by

Dr Mike Lynch OBE FREng Technology entrepreneur and founder, Invoke Capital

Chair: Tim Davie, CEO, BBC Worldwide and Director, Global, BBC Venue: Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG Reception: Arrival drinks and post-lecture reception sponsored by BT Booking: Jo Mitchell | 020 7822 2823 | jo@rts.org.uk

www.rts.org.uk

Journal of The Royal Television Society April 2014 l Volume 51/4

From the CEO The clocks have sprung forward, the trees are blossoming and I’m proud and pleased to report that attendance at some of our recent events has reached record levels. Early in March, ‘Sherlock: Anatomy of a hit’, was the best-attended early-evening event ever, bar none. A massive thank you to such a great line-up of speakers, and to all those devotees of the great detective’s most successful screen incarnation who were given fresh insight into why Sherlock is so resonant. Our Programme Awards were also packed. Around 900 of the industry’s

finest came to celebrate the very best that British television offers. On the subject of young people the RTS is thrilled to be a partner in Sky’s new initiative to offer five Sky Academy TV Scholarships on their existing partner courses run by the National Film and Television School. The Scholarships are to be offered to young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds with the aim of supporting and encouraging individuals who might not otherwise have considered a career in the media. Congratulations to Sky for a wonderful contribution to the pipeline of young talent from different backgrounds. Our inaugural joint public lecture,

Contents 5

Boyd Hilton’s TV Diary

In the eye of a media storm

Boyd Hilton’s boss unshackles him from his desk so that he can hang with John Morton and Andrew Scott – whose company is a lot more rewarding than Arsenal’s

Doreen Lawrence explains how her two-decade struggle for justice has left her hardly recognising herself in the mirror, reports Matthew Bell

10 13 16

Sherlock: Anatomy of a hit

Our Friend in the West

Matthew Bell hears how the creative team set about updating the great sleuth for the BBC

How Leach made her big splash

Melanie Leach might be modest but her company, Twofour, is hitting new heights, reports Neil Midgley

The shrinking world of BBC Three

BBC Three’s move to online-only has infuriated the channel’s supporters. Network Controller Zai Bennett tells Steve Clarke he is determined to make it work

Is S4C blazing an online trail for cash-strapped broadcasters that need to extend their audience reach, asks Tim Hartley?

Editor Steve Clarke smclarke_333@hotmail.com

Production, design and advertising Gordon Jamieson gordon.jamieson.01@gmail.com

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Royal Television Society 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN T: 020 7822 2810 E: info@rts.org.uk W: wwwrts.org.uk

‘Prediction is very difficult, particularly about the future’, is being staged with the Institution of Engineering and Technology on 13 May. We are thrilled that the speaker is Dr Mike Lynch, the celebrated technology entrepreneur and the founder of Invoke Capital. Tim Davie from BBC Worldwide will be chairing. Finally, my personal congratulations to the RTS Wales Centre, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this month.

Theresa Wise

20 22

What women want to watch

24 26 28 30

Top talent feels the VoD vibe

Broadcasters are following different strategies to target female viewers, discovers Tara Conlan

Broker marriages: made in the City

As whispers of tie-ups between phone and TV companies sweep the media sector, Torin Douglas looks at what is driving the rumour mill

TV’s creative cream is rising thanks to online platforms’ demand for exclusive content, says David Housham

What is 2 4 at 50?

Maggie Brown takes soundings on how BBC Two should evolve for life after 50

Crisis? Which crisis?

Stewart Purvis salutes the deep thinking on display in a volume that confronts the BBC’s myriad problems

RTS Programme Awards

The awards ceremony on 18 March at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London was hosted by Tim Vine Cover illustration: Philip Bannister

Subscription rates UK £110 Overseas (surface £140) Overseas (airmail £165) Enquiries: publication@rts.org.uk

Printing ISSN 0308-454X Printer: FE Burman, 20 Crimscott St, London, SE1 STP

Legal notice © Royal Television Society 2014. The views expressed in Television are not necessarily those of the RTS Registered Charity 313 728)

RTS NEWS National events RTS FUTURES Tuesday 29 April

Making it in TV Design An evening dedicated to people who want to get into or get ahead in Art, Costume and Makeup for television, with a panel of industry specialists sharing their stories and advice, followed by an opportunity to network with them in a friendly and informal setting. 6:30pm for 6:45pm Venue: Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam St, London W1W 6JJ ■ Callum Stott 020 7822 2822 ■ callum@rts.org.uk RTS/IET LECTURE Tuesday 13 May

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future Speaker: Autonomy founder Dr Michael Lynch. Joint event with the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Chair: Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide and Director, Global. Arrival drinks and reception following the lecture sponsored by BT. 6:15pm for 7:00pm Venue: Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG ■ Jo Mitchell 020 7822 2823 ■ jo@rts.org.uk RTS AWARDS Friday 16 May

RTS Student Television Awards 1pm-2pm buffet lunch; 2pm-3pm Awards ceremony; 3pm-4pm drinks reception Venue: BFI Southbank, London SE1 8XT ■ Callum Stott 020 7822 2822 ■ callum@rts.org.uk RTS LONDON CONFERENCE Tuesday 9 September

Power, politics and the media Principal sponsor: STV Group Venue: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG

Local events BRISTOL ■ Andy Batten Foster ■ andrewbattenfoster@hotmail. co.uk DEVON & CORNWALL ■ Contact TBC EAST ANGLIA ■ Contact TBC LONDON ■ Daniel Cherowbrier ■ daniel@cherowbrier.co.uk MIDLANDS Wednesday 30 April

Ultra High Definition and 4K TV Richard Salmon, Lead Research Engineer, BBC R&D. Places are limited so prior booking (via jayne@ijmmedia.co.uk) is essential. 6:30pm for 7:00pm Venue: Austin Court, 80 Cambridge St, Birmingham B1 2NP ■ Jayne Greene 07792 776585 ■ jayne@ijmmedia.co.uk NORTH EAST & THE BORDER Tuesday 20 May

Young People’s Media Festival Junior Media Festival For entrants five-13 years old Venue: TBC Wednesday 21 May

Young People’s Media Festival Senior Media Festival and Senior Professionally Supported Festival. For entrants 14-19 years old. Further information from Tony Edwards tonyalto9@ googlemail.com Venue: TBC ■ Jill Graham ■ jill.graham@blueyonder.co.uk NORTH WEST Wednesday 23 April

Screening: Prey

Red Production Company Joint event with Indie Club Venue: Hilton Deansgate, Manchester M3 4LQ

Your guide to upcoming national and regional events

Thursday 1 May

Liverpool locations tour: part 2 Pick-up point TBC ■ Rachel Pinkney 07966 230639 ■ rachelpinkney@yahoo.co.uk NORTHERN IRELAND ■ John Mitchell ■ mitch.mvbroadcast@ btinternet.com REPUBLIC OF IRELAND ■ Charles Byrne (00353) 87251 3092 ■ byrnecd@iol.ie SCOTLAND Wednesday 11 June

RTS Scotland Awards. Venue: Oran Mor, Byres Road, Glasgow G12 8QX ■ James Wilson: 07899 761167 ■ james.wilson@ cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk SOUTHERN Wednesday 30 April

AGM

Venue: BBC South, Havelock Road, Southampton SO14 7PU ■ Gordon Cooper ■ gordonjcooper@gmail.com THAMES VALLEY Wednesday 14 May

NAB Review

Thames Valley Centre’s annual trip to Las Vegas. Our panel of experts always provides a lively, topical debate. 6:30pm for 7:00pm Venue: Pincents Manor, Pincents Lane, Calcot, Reading RG31 4UH Wednesday 2 July

Enigma

Presentation by Alan Watson on the Enigma machine and its historical importance in cryptography. A summer evening BBQ lecture. Please book via info@rtstvc.org.uk. 6:30pm for 7:00pm Venue: Pincents Manor, Pincents Lane, Calcot, Reading RG31 4UH ■ Penny Westlake ■ info@rtstvc.org.uk

WALES Thursday 17 April

Crowdfunding – Producing Still the Enemy Within Sinead Kirwan (Producer) and Owen Gower (Director) talk to Tim Hartley about Still the Enemy Within and the way the film has been funded. There will be clips and a question and answer session. 7:00pm Venue: Parc and Dare Theatre, Treorchy April – date TBC

Science on television

A profile of S4C science series Dibendraw, produced by Telesgop. This event is held in partnership with Swansea Metropolitan University. Venue: TBC Thursday 15 May

AGM

Members only. 6:30pm. Followed by:

Meet the CEOs

Speakers: Ian Jones CEO, S4C; Rhodri Talfan Davies Director, BBC Cymru Wales; Phil Henfrey Head of News and Programmes UTV Cymru Wales. Chair: Tim Hartley 7:00pm Venue: Park Plaza, Greyfriars Road, Cardiff CF10 3AL ■ Hywel Wiliam 0798 000 7841 ■ hwyel@aim.uk.com YORKSHIRE Friday 27 June

Programme Awards A number of new awards have been introduced – including one to be voted on by guests on the night – for this, the 10th annual awards Venue: Royal Armouries Museum, Armouries Drive, Leeds LS10 1LT ■ Lisa Holdsworth 07790 145280 ■ lisa@allonewordpoductions. co.uk

April 2014 www.rts.org.uk Television

TV diary Boyd Hilton’s boss unshackles him from his desk so that he can hang with John Morton and Andrew Scott – whose company is a lot more rewarding than Arsenal’s at the Emirates

t’s Monday, and I’ve got a day out of the office to host two events. I’m lucky enough to be invited fairly frequently to chair different types of Q&A sessions with TV and film actors, writers, directors and such. When they’re people I like and admire, it’s always a treat. Last year, for example, I interviewed Emma Thompson for 90 minutes on stage at Bafta, and it was one of the greatest days of my life. ■ Thompson can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, and she was completely adorable. Anyway, today I’m going to Salford for the BBC Comedy Festival where I’m interviewing the writer and producer of W1A, the sequel to the hilarious Olympics- based comedy, Twenty Twelve. I’m a huge fan of its creator, John Morton, whose faux documentary series, People Like Us, is one of the funniest TV comedies ever. He’s a rather shy, thoughtful man who seemed genuinely delighted that the audience (made up largely of industry types who know exactly how accurate W1A’s depiction of life at the BBC is) found his show so funny. ■ As soon as that event finishes, I’m on the train back to London to host a Q&A at the Apple Store in Regent Street with actor Andrew Scott. He helped make the character of Moriarty in Sherlock an iconic figure

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

after only a handful of episodes. Now, he’s promoting a new low-budget, Irish film called The Stag, which looks like it’s going to be a cheap version of The Hangover movies, but is in fact a rather good anti-Hangover film. I’ve met Andrew a few times before and he’s one of the least affected, most engaging actors I’ve met. Plus, he’s totally aware of what the audience wants. After a decent amount of discussion about his movie, he is only too happy to be gently probed about things Sherlock-related. I jokily ask him when shooting begins on the new series and get a suitably sly, non-committal answer. He does, however, reveal that he knows what was going on at the end of the last series when Moriarty suddenly popped up – despite being dead. Andrew has the best enigmatic, wry smile. ■ Next day it’s the RTS Programme Awards at Grosvenor House. I had the honour of chairing the Soap and Continuing Drama Jury, and sat at a table with some of my fellow jurors. It’s fair to say that none of us were shocked when Coronation Street won. The show was by far the runaway choice this year after its superb handling of the Hayley Cropper storyline. The event itself is always a nice opportunity to see TV big cheeses

and “talent” having a good time, away from TV cameras. ■ The highlight of the night is Dec from Ant & Dec telling me he heard me that afternoon on my weekly TV review slot on Richard Bacon’s show on Radio 5 Live, describing Noel Edmonds, who’s just announced that he wants to buy the BBC, as a preposterous figure. I try to gauge whether Dec agrees with my Edmonds comment, but he’s inscrutable. ■ A week later, it’s the night of Sky Atlantic’s huge, glitzy launch of the new Game of Thrones series. But I can’t make it because I have to watch Arsenal play Swansea. I’m a lifelong Arsenal fan and have my own Arsenal-related podcast (Footballistically Arsenal, available free on iTunes, since you asked), and I pay a vast amount of money for my season ticket. I have to attend every match, even when it clashes with the chance to mingle with the stars of one of the best things on TV. Arsenal manage to throw away a 2-1 lead in the last minute. A disaster for our dwindling title hopes. I wish I’d gone to GoT. It wouldn’t have let me down like this. Boyd Hilton is TV & Reviews Editor of Heat magazine, and reviews TV on Radio 5 Live every Tuesday on Richard Bacon’s show.

In the eye of a media storm

here are no winners in the case of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager attacked and murdered by racists at a South East London bus stop more than two decades ago. Stephen’s mother, Doreen, has campaigned endlessly for justice for her son – so much so that now, sitting in the House of Lords on the Labour benches as Baroness Lawrence, she is sometimes is regarded as a celebrity – albeit a reluctant one. At an event jointly organised by the RTS and the BBC, she discussed, among other things, the role of the media in bringing the killers of her son to justice. Her comments were not exactly a whole-hearted endorsement of how journalists have covered the case over the years. When, at the end of this moving session, she was asked if she thought the BBC had treated her fairly, she replied: “I’ve no criticism to make [of the way the BBC has treated me]... but it is not the same for everybody. “I would like other victims to have a voice, too.” Initially reluctant to become involved, and, indeed, complicit in accepting the police’s original version of events, television and the press eventually held the Metropolitan Police to account for its bungled handling of the investigation and backed the Lawrence family campaign. Stephen’s murder changed Doreen’s life, to the point where she admitted that: “I sometimes don’t even recognise myself”. “I’m a very quiet person,” she continued. “I don’t like to stand out from the crowd – I like to be in the background. But I felt that, because of what happened, I had to have a voice.” Lawrence found her voice. Her campaign for justice led to the landmark inquiry by retired High

Diversity

Doreen Lawrence explains how her two-decade struggle for justice has left her hardly recognising herself in the mirror, reports Matthew Bell Court judge Sir William Macpherson, which concluded that the Metropolitan Police was “institutionally racist”. Eventually, 19 years after the murder of her son, two men – Gary Dobson and David Norris – were sentenced to life imprisonment, although three others suspected of involvement remain free. BBC investigative reporter Mark Daly interviewed Lawrence at the event, “In conversation with Baroness Doreen Lawrence – in the eye of the media storm”. He described her as “the most consistent thorn in the side of the police service”. Daly, a former RTS Young Journalist of the Year, is an expert on the murder,

I DON’T LIKE TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD – I LIKE TO BE IN THE BACKGROUND. BUT I FELT THAT, BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED, I HAD TO HAVE A VOICE

and his own efforts in tracking her cause show the power of investigative journalism at its best. As well as lifting the lid on racism within the police in the RTS awardwinning The Undercover Policeman, he has worked on The Boys Who Killed Stephen Lawrence and the Panorama Special, Stephen Lawrence: Time for Justice. Stephen’s death was initially underplayed by the media. “The media wasn’t that interested in our case – it seemed to build up gradually. I would always say, ‘Stephen was black and nobody was interested in his murder,’” said Lawrence. The lack of media interest was matched by an even more damning lack of interest from the police. In the aftermath of Stephen’s murder, his mother recalled that the Lawrence family “weren’t listened to”. She continued: “We were treated as if we were irritants, as if we had no right to ask questions. “They had no intention of catching Stephen’s killers. They knew those individuals – [Dobson, Norris, Neil and Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight] were well known in the area. And so where would you look first? “Now, if that had been a white young man who was killed, where do you think they were going to go? They’d have rounded up every young black kid from the street. “All I wanted was to be treated the same as everybody else. I wasn’t asking for anything special.” Indeed, a video clip made it clear that the limited initial TV coverage of the murder took the police’s own account of their apparently thorough investigation at face value, when, as we now know, the opposite was the case. It was the intervention of Nelson Mandela two weeks after the murder that put the case on the national news agenda. “It had a massive effect,” recalled Lawrence. “Once we met Mr Mandela,

Baroness Lawrence

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Paul Hampartsoumian

WE WERE TREATED AS IF WE WERE IRRITANTS, AS IF WE HAD NO RIGHT TO ASK QUESTIONS they arrested the first three [suspects] and then the other two later – if he hadn’t spoken out, nothing would have happened.” Four years later the case exploded when support came from a newspaper not always noted for campaigning on issues involving racism. The Daily Mail’s decision in 1997 to name the five suspects and splash their photos on its front page, under the headline “Murderers”, challenging them to sue if they denied the allegations, “blew the case wide open. It put huge pressure on the police and the Government,” said Daly. Stephen’s father, Neville, had been working at Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre’s house. “I welcomed it. I felt it proved what we were saying and how we felt the justice system was treating us,” said Lawrence. “When the newspaper printed that, I think that for the first time the public were able to see what these young men looked like and [read] about how I felt. [Before] that, it was always our faces in the media,” said Lawrence. “Now they couldn’t walk about as freely as they had done.” Political pressure on the police intensified with the election of the Labour Government and the announcement of the Macpherson inquiry in July 1997. “Before, we had a Conservative Government, which had no interest whatsoever in Stephen’s case. We met Jack Straw before the election and he indicated that if [Labour] came to power, [an inquiry] was something they were looking to do,” remembered Lawrence. As well as finding that the Metropolitan Police was institutionally racist, Macpherson also concluded that the original investigation had been incompetent. And, as was revealed days after the RTS event, there is seemingly no end �

Paul Hampartsoumian

QUESTION & ANSWER Q

Stephen Wright, Daily Mail reporter: What are your hopes for the media in keeping Stephen’s case alive? Obviously, there are three men out there who have not been brought to justice.

Baroness Lawrence: Continue what you’ve been doing… There are times when the media has been instrumental in making changes and we need to see a lot more, not just, say, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, who we do have a relationship with, but with other media. TV can do [more].

Mark Daly, BBC: You think that progamme [Martin Bashir’s interview with the five suspects on ITV’s Tonight in 1999] should never have taken place… [But] it was the first time anyone got to question those boys about the murder. It exposed their lies.

Baroness Lawrence: Not at the time, it didn’t… giving them airtime to protest their innocence was wrong. Roger Graef, film-maker and criminologist: During the first week of the botched investigation – and how seriously botched it was I don’t think people realise… if they had come to you and apologised, would that have made a difference to you?

Baroness Lawrence: Perhaps it would have done… When

the prosecution fell apart [it was dropped in 1993, with the Crown Prosecution Service citing a lack of evidence] – and that was because of the [police] again – perhaps if they’d said something then… But they were always so adamant that they had the power, we had nothing and this was how they were going to do things. All that did was push my back up, even more.

Pat Younge, consultant, former BBC Chief Creative Officer: Do you think the world is a safer place now for your grandchildren?

Baroness Lawrence: That is why I do what I do, trying to highlight what’s going on. Many people don’t have that voice and I feel that over the years I have used my voice to criticise when I see injustice happening to our young people out on the street. I like to think the world is a safer place for my grandchildren, but I still question that… [Black] kids are still being… stopped and searched, the kids are still not doing as well as they should do in schools.

Mark Daly: Two men have gone to prison with life sentences for the murder of your son. Is it time to take your foot off the gas or are you just as determined to see it through and see the other men suspected of being involved [convicted]?

Baroness Lawrence: I’m very tired, but if there’s a chance of securing more convictions, I definitely want to see that… There are those in the Met who think enough is enough, but… as long as I still have breath, I’ll still be fighting.

� to police malpractice in the Lawrence case. An inquiry conducted by Mark Ellison QC, which reported in early March, found that the police had planted “a spy in the family camp” during the Macpherson inquiry. When Dobson and Norris were eventually convicted in January 2012, Lawrence said that her initial feeling was one of “shock. I didn’t think it would happen. I never thought the jury would reach a guilty verdict. “I was relieved that, at long last, and it had taken nearly 20 years, we had got two men convicted of Stephen’s murder.” Baroness Lawrence admitted that during the long campaign for justice life had been difficult. “People see my face and they think, ‘She’s doing really well’, but nobody knows what happens behind closed doors, and it has been quite traumatic.” During her fight for justice, Lawrence’s marriage to Neville broke down and the couple were divorced. “[People] say that when there’s a death that sometimes it brings you closer together and sometimes it pulls you apart; that’s what happened to us. We just went our separate ways,” she recalled. “I’m not being disrespectful to Neville, but people said they found it easier to talk to him, because I think he’s not challenging enough. “They would tell him things and I would say, ‘Why are you listening to that? That’s not how it is’. People find it easier to talk to him than me because I’m always asking questions. “I was forced into this position because, if the police had done what they needed to do on the night, I wouldn’t have had to take up the mantel. “The fact that I have been exposed in the way that I have been over the years is [something] I wish hadn’t [happened]. People say, ‘But you’ve got this and that’. No, I would rather not

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Mark Daly and Baroness Lawrence

Paul Hampartsoumian

have any of that and just be me.” Daly suggested that, in the two decades since the murder of her son, the Lawrence campaign had wrought wide-reaching changes in public life; for example, the proportion of black and minority ethnic officers in the Met had doubled to 10%. Was this one of Lawrence’s major achievements? “When I set out, my intention was to get justice for Stephen. The fact that a lot of positives have come out of Stephen’s murder and the campaign that we ran around it is great, but [10%] is still not enough,” she said. On the same day as the interview with Lawrence, the BBC launched its partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Trust, which it had originally announced last September. The scheme aims to train up to 25 19- to 23-year-olds from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in broadcasting and production skills. The baroness welcomed the scheme as a “fantastic idea”, but said “it should have happened a long time ago”. She thought that far too little has been done to introduce a diverse workforce to the TV sector. “If you truly want to reflect society, you have to put things in place to make it happen,” Lawrence said. “They majority of people do have qualifications, they do have everything they need and yet there is still a barrier. “If you look at the top level, who is at the top? That needs to change. Once you see all these changes, you will begin to see people want to come here. “If you see nobody reflecting you, you feel there is no point in trying, they won’t accept me.” Lawrence pointed out that all the camera operators at the event were white, which she said was reflected across UK television. “You think about the TV, how many people watch TV. You need to see that

IF YOU TRULY WANT [TV] TO REFLECT SOCIETY, YOU HAVE TO PUT THINGS IN PLACE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN… IF YOU SEE NOBODY REFLECTING YOU, YOU FEEL THERE IS NO POINT IN TRYING, THEY WON’T ACCEPT ME reflected and you don’t. Across the media, whether it be journalists or within television, you just don’t have that, and that really needs to change. “I know there are a couple of actors here, and sometimes actors have to go abroad to get those big [roles].” In 2013 Lawrence was made a life peer and sits as a working peer for Labour in the House of Lords. “You spent 20 years shouting from the outside, now you’re on the inside – was this the only thing they could do to try to shut you up?” asked Daly. “I have no intention of not speaking

out,” she replied. “I will be using my voice in the way I was using it before, which is to speak up when I think there is something to speak out for and to be a voice for people who don’t have that voice.” The RTS/BBC event, “In conversation with Baroness Doreen Lawrence – In the eye of the media storm”, was part of a series of events exploring diversity across the corporation called “Reflect and Represent”. It was held at the BBC Radio Theatre in London on 28 February and produced by Marcus Ryder and Donald-Iain Brown.

Sherlock: Anatomy of a hit

he BBC’s most-watched drama in more than a decade was the subject of the RTS’s most popular early-evening event ever when Sherlock came to town last month. At “Sherlock: Anatomy of a hit”, series creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, producer Sue Vertue, star Amanda Abbington and BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning Ben Stephenson took to the stage to explain how the show has swept all before it. For the most recent series, up to 12 million viewers were hooked on the show. Since Sherlock debuted on BBC One in 2010 the prizes have kept on coming. There have been more than 20 RTS awards, Baftas and Emmys. Television critics have fallen over themselves to pile on the praise. The Independent’s former TV reviewer, Tom Sutcliffe, who chaired the sold-out RTS event, described it as “a triumph”. Gatiss and Moffat were writing for Doctor Who when they first discussed updating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories and relocating Holmes from Victorian to contemporary, digital London. Both were devotes of Conan Doyle’s books and many of the subsequent TV and movie adaptations. They had a special affection for the Sherlock Holmes films of the 1930s and 1940s starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as the great sleuth and his game sidekick, Dr Watson. “The films have got an amazing amount of brio and the feel of the original stories, which a lot of the more stately versions miss,” said Gatiss. He, of course, plays Holmes’s brother, Mycroft, in Sherlock as well as

Content creation

Matthew Bell hears how the creative team set about updating the great sleuth for the BBC penning the series alongside Moffat and Steve Thompson. The timing was right for another TV version, reckoned Moffat. “At the very beginning of the stories,” he explained, “Dr Watson has just been invalided out of a war in Afghanistan. “How rare it is that they have the kindness to restate a national tragedy just to make an updated television series work. But there it was: the same war back again.” “As huge fans, you must have known you were taking on a sacred flame,” probed Sutcliffe. He wanted to know where the writers drew the line between modernising the stories and remaining true to Conan Doyle’s originals. “Anyone who watches our version of

ALTHOUGH WE COMMITTED A HERESY BY UPDATING IT, WE REALLY KNOW OUR STUFF

Sherlock Holmes knows that, although we’ve committed a heresy by updating it, we really know our stuff,” replied Moffat. “We’re a couple of tragic fan boys who’ve not seen daylight.” Producer (and Moffat’s wife) Sue Vertue took the show to the BBC, which she said “seemed like a natural home”. Moffat and Gatiss prepared a detailed pitch, but BBC Wales head of drama Julie Gardner snapped it up before the duo could draw breath with the words: “Modern Sherlock Holmes? Yes.” Moffat and Gatiss saw Benedict Cumberbatch play a small, though important, role in Joe Wright’s 2007 film of the Ian McEwan novel, Atonement, while they were discussing who to cast in Sherlock’s two lead roles. He was the perfect match. Holmes, said Moffat, “has to be tall and thin, with great cheek bones and sort of handsome. “All that comes from the illustrations, rather than any descriptions in the stories. We were quite strict about it. Benedict happens to be one of the relatively few who perfectly fits that. “He also happens to be one of the best actors around. He was already regarded as a phenomenal actor; he just wasn’t a star.” “Benedict came in to read and we didn’t see anybody else,” added Gatiss. Cumberbatch is certainly a star now, having appeared recently in the Oscar- winning 12 Years a Slave and as WikiLeaker Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate. Martin Freeman, who made his name in BBC comedy The Office and subsequently found worldwide fame in The Hobbit, was one of a number of actors who read for the role of Dr Watson. “Benedict said his whole game had

Paul Hampartsoumian/BBC

Below: Sherlock, the cast; bottom: Sherlock, the panel (from left): Tom Sutcliffe, Amanda Abbington , Steven Moffat, Ben Stephenson, Mark Gatiss and Sue Vertue

risen as soon as Martin started reading,” he added. Vertue was delighted that both actors read for the roles: “As a producer, I get more and more annoyed by agents saying their actors won’t read. “If they want the part, actors should want to come in and show you what they can do.” A 60-minute pilot was made, but remained on the shelf; instead, the BBC commissioned a three-part series of 90-minute films. “Going from a 60- to a 90-minute show allowed it to be something different and, arguably, more its own. “I remember Steven and Mark saying there had been a shift from it being a crime to an adventure show,” recalled Stephenson.

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Sherlock first appeared on our TV screens in the month of July, which Sutcliffe suggested was “not a great time to launch a show” as ratings dip during the summer months. “According to journalists, it’s not,” replied Stephenson. “New Tricks, Line of Duty and Luther all launched in the summer. “It’s only middle-class people who go away for the whole of the summer who [are bothered]; normal audiences don’t come home in the summer and think, ‘I don’t want to watch anything.’” Sutcliffe suggested that the first series, which drew 7.5 million viewers for episode one, wasn’t promoted heavily. Stephenson disagreed strongly – “It had the same amount of marketing as any new series” – before widening his

response to address what he saw as a common misunderstanding about the corporation. “It is a fallacy,” he insisted, “that programmes get made despite the BBC and that somehow we’re sitting there thinking, ‘Let’s put it out somewhere really shit shall we? And also, let’s not tell anyone it’s on the telly.’ “Funnily enough, when we make things, we like people to watch them.” A second series followed in January 2012; the season’s opener garnered 8.8 million viewers. Series three, which premiered on 1 January this year, was a genuine breakthrough hit: the first episode was watched by almost 10 million, while the season as a whole, including catch-up viewing, averaged nearly �

AS A PRODUCER, I GET MORE AND MORE ANNOYED BY AGENTS SAYING THEIR ACTORS WON’T READ

On plotting and writing episodes… Steven Moffat: “[We] have very long conversations at the start about what we want each film to be. At some point during that [process], we’ll work out which ones we really feel like writing.”

QUESTION & ANSWER

On disagreements… Steven Moffat: “We haven’t disagreed ever over Sherlock.” Mark Gatiss: “We love the original [books] for the same reason. If we’d had a violently different attitude towards Conan Doyle, then [the series] wouldn’t have happened.” On updating books and their characters… Mark Gatiss: “There are certain things that have an immediate equivalence and certain things that make you laugh – Benedict’s 35 years old, so obviously he’s not going to smoke a pipe. We thought of [using] a nicotine patch, [and so

a fictional character,” said Abbington, who confessed that she found the role daunting. “It’s a huge show and Mary’s like Marmite – you either like her or you hate her.” Gatiss and Moffat are developing ideas for series four – and who knows how many more in the future. “There are 60 stories, but there are also fragments of bits, which have never been done,” said Gatiss. “There are also millions of other adaptations, which, as far as we are concerned, are canonical and able to be embraced. There’s an incredible amount to do.” And could the duo see themselves writing Sherlock in 20 years? “The idea of growing older with them would be fantastic, and the idea of Benedict and Martin being the same age as Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce is rather lovely,” said Gatiss. “Why not? We’ve only made nine and the response has been astonishing. “But it is hard to get everyone back together because they’ve become extremely famous. Except us. We’re the ones who were free to come tonight.”

BBC

� 12 million. This made it the BBC’s most-watched drama series since 2001. Sherlock gets massive traction on social media. The apparent death of the detective at the end of series two and the multiple explanations for his survival in the first episode of series three created a Twitter storm. The opening episode, The Empty Hearse, attracted 370,000 tweets; overall, the three-film season racked up almost 1 million. “In a way I liked seeing the quantity of [tweets] and [knowing] that people were watching the show. But part of me, no, a lot of me – no, damn it, all of me – was saying: ‘Will you stop bloody tweeting and start paying attention,’” said Moffat, who tired of Twitter and deleted his own account in 2012. “If everybody stopped tweeting [Twitter] might close down. And all those people, and we know who we’re talking about, can go back to being lonely – as they should be.” Amanda Abbington joined the series for the third season as Dr Watson’s wife, Mary Morstan (she is also Freeman’s real-life partner), and faced a stream of abuse on social media. “I had no idea that there would be that much hatred and vitriol towards

a tricky case] can become a threepatch problem. “Essentially, Sherlock Holmes invented forensics in the Victorian era; now, of course, it’s passé. Can he still exist in our world? Yes, he can because when [Rupert Graves’s DI] Lestrade goes around taking DNA swabs, Sherlock is still the man who can say: ‘It doesn’t matter about that: the man over there who you think has got red hair has actually got black hair and up until yesterday evening he was a woman.’ “He’s the one with this startling vision who connects it all together – that’s what makes him special. “[Dr Watson’s wife, played by Amanda Abbington] Mary Morstan is in one novel and then she appears at breakfast in several

“Sherlock: Anatomy of a hit” was an RTS early-evening event held in central London on 4 March. The producers were Barney Hooper and Sally Doganis.

stories, but it’s just fantastic to try and give these characters a much deeper life. “What works very well in the show is that [audiences] have taken some of the smaller characters to their hearts, not because they’ve got tons of screen time but because they’ve got an impact on the story.” Steven Moffat: “Charles Augustus Milverton [Lars Mikkelsen] – [I enjoyed] finding an equivalent to a society blackmailer and making him a newspaper proprietor.” On sending Sherlock abroad… Mark Gatiss: “With international filming you’ve got to be careful because you look like you’re going on a jolly… We went to Dartmoor, which you have to do for The Hounds of Baskerville, otherwise it might feel a bit odd – but Sherlock wearing a Hawaiian shirt in Miami… I think it’s more important to write them in Barbados, make them in Cardiff.”

April 2014 www.rts.org.uk Television

hen Melanie Leach first joined Twofour Broadcast, the thick end of 20 years ago, she was hired as PA to its founder, Charles Wace. At that time, the company employed six people in Plymouth. Now Leach is the Managing Director, and Twofour is one of the UK’s leading indies, with additional offices in London, Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles. It was voted Best Independent Production Company at the Broadcast Awards in both 2010 and 2014 and its hit ob-doc series, Educating Yorkshire, won the Documentary Series gong at the RTS Programme Awards last month. “The RTS is a significant award – it’s one of the ones you get nervous about, you want to win the RTS,” says Leach. “So we were delighted when we won. Educating Yorkshire is one of the jewels in our crown, and we’re massively proud of it.”

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

The Midgley Interview

Melanie Leach might be modest but her company, Twofour, is hitting new heights, reports Neil Midgley Leach has every reason to be satisfied with Educating Yorkshire, and its predecessor, Educating Essex. The two series have been critical and ratings hits – a rare and precious thing at Channel 4 these days. The format has been recommissioned for a third series, which will be set in a school in Walthamstow, north- east London. It is, says Leach, a testament to the team that she works with at Twofour – particularly Group Creative Director Andrew Mackenzie and Director of Factual David Clews. “So many people have made that

iStockPhoto.com

How Leach made her big splash show what it is,” says Leach. “It was created hand in hand with the channel – it was originally commissioned by Mark Raphael, when he was still at Channel 4. “He and Andy [Mackenzie] and David [Clews] came up with it together; they very much created it between the channel and us. And a brilliant team of people came in to do it – including David Brindley, who’s now at Channel 4.” Indeed, it’s hard to get Leach to take credit for anything – even though Twofour’s rise over the past few years has been entirely under her direction. “Do you know what? I genuinely think that some of the very best people in telly are at Twofour,” she says. “That is why I love my job, because I get to come to work every day and sit next to them.” When we meet, over breakfast, it is the morning after Leach has taken her staff out for a motivational drink (or two) – something she does every month. Yet Leach’s modesty, and her desire �

� to put her team’s achievements in the spotlight rather than her own, cannot hide her (clearly formidable) drive to succeed. “The thing you have to realise about Mel is that she never, ever stops,” says one senior producer who knows her well. After our breakfast, Leach is heading straight to Channel 4 to meet Chief Executive David Abraham. Her diary for the rest of the day contains no fewer than seven pitches. And, when her working week in London is done, Leach has to shuttle back to her family in her native Devon. Even when she was a teenager, Leach admits that she was “a bit of a handful”. She joined Twofour almost from school – a comprehensive in Devon’s South Hams – and rose up through “a traditional route, I’m quite boring” as a researcher, then assistant producer, producer and series producer. Her CV includes time away from Twofour, including a stint at Stephen Leahy’s Action Time and, early on, at an indie called New Era, which went bust soon after she left. (“It was nothing to do with me – I was only the runner!”) Then, around the turn of the millennium, Leach reached a “tipping point”, she explains. “I wanted to be in Devon, Twofour was growing, and I came back.” Twofour had landed its first big commission, a daytime show called Collectors’ Lot, for Channel 4. “I came back to produce that show, and I didn’t leave the company again after that,” says Leach. “I think we made 116 episodes a year, for several years, and that gave the company a base from which it could invest, develop the team and build the slate. “Once I got involved in developing new shows, and helping to run the business, I’d found the bit for me that really worked.” By 2005, Leach – still just 30 – had persuaded founder Wace to promote her to Managing Director of Twofour Broadcast. In 2006 she made her first splashy hire, bringing in former BBC Three Controller (and now Sky Director of Entertainment Channels) Stuart Murphy as creative director. Twofour, which was until that point known principally for daytime formats, then received a commission from Sky 1 for the primetime game show Are You Smarter Than a Ten Year Old? Murphy’s ambitions for a move into scripted comedy and drama didn’t pay off but, by late last year, Twofour had

nonetheless become an irresistible takeover target. In October 2013 the company was duly taken over by Lorraine Heggessey’s Boom Pictures, backed by private equity firm LDC. Leach stayed on as MD of Twofour Broadcast, and took on a new role as an Executive Director of Boom Pictures. She and other senior Twofour execs received equity in Boom, as part of a deal that The Guardian speculated was worth £30m. “I don’t think we reported the figure,” says Leach. No, but it was speculated in the press to be about £30m. “You do love to speculate!” she laughs. And what about the earn-out, keeping Leach at her post and generating value for Boom? “I’m not going to talk about how much the deal was,” she says firmly – but with another laugh. Leach’s laugh – her loud, frequent, infectious laugh – is her trademark, the first thing people mention when they talk about her. She seems genuinely devoid of cynicism, and to be the kind of female force of nature that thrives at the top of the TV industry. Indeed, the kind of female force of

THE THING YOU HAVE TO REALISE ABOUT MEL IS THAT SHE NEVER, EVER STOPS nature that Heggessey – a former Controller of BBC One – also has a reputation for being. Isn’t there a danger that the two of them will clash, as they work together at Boom/Twofour? “No, it’s working great,” says Leach. “I’ve admired Lorraine through all of my career – and so to have the opportunity of being in business with her is great.” Boom’s other headline investment has been in Mainstreet Pictures, the production company set up by former ITV drama commissioners Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes. This must, surely, nix any vestigial ambitions at Twofour to move into scripted content. “I love the fact that we’re in a group that’s going to deliver great drama,” says Leach. “Hand on my heart, I cannot think of two people that I would be happier to

Boom Pictures

Boom Pictures directors (from left): Charles Wace, now Non Executive Chairman of Twofour; Melanie Leach, Managing Director, Twofour Broadcast; Lorraine Heggessey, Executive Chairman of Boom Pictures; and Huw Eurig Davies, Deputy Chairman

sit alongside than Laura and Sally. They are the gold standard. We [at Twofour] don’t want to be in drama, but we want to be in a group that has great drama.” Leach says Twofour’s future growth is likely to be “quite organic”. As well as a “really, really strong factual team”, and Twofour’s heartland of talent- driven features formats (such as Alex Polizzi’s The Hotel Inspector for Channel 5), she points to the firm’s nascent entertainment slate. Splash!, the celebrity diving show featuring Tom Daley, came back for a second series on ITV this year (but suffered badly in the ratings against The Voice, which BBC One moved from spring to winter). On Channel 4, a celebrity winter- sports format, The Jump, started reasonably well but saw its ratings tail off. “All first series are an evolution, aren’t they? We can take a step back now from that, and think, here are all the things that we could change and improve on – but I’m incredibly proud of it,” says Leach, adding that no firm decisions have been taken yet about the return of either format. If there is a second series of The

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Jump, Leach will be taking a “snow blanket” to the location. During the whole time the first series was on the air, she explains, it didn’t snow at all – meaning that the ski jumping itself, the climax of the show, was in jeopardy. A snow blanket would – like the covers at Wimbledon in reverse – protect the existing snow underneath it. Forcing snow not to melt is clearly the kind of challenge that Leach relishes in the name of entrepreneurship. She once, for example, had an “exciting adventure” importing Chinese furniture. “I brought one container-load in, flipped it in a week, and made 10 grand,” she enthuses. “I was like, wow, this is fun.” And while Leach blanches at the suggestion that she also has a “property empire”, she will admit to owning “a few” houses that she rents out. It should come as no surprise, then, that Leach’s husband, Richard, runs his own tree surgery business – and is also a hot-air balloon pilot. The couple live with their two children – Velvet, 9, and Rocky, 7 – on a farm in Devon. “Richard runs his business from home, so he’s very much there for the kids. “To be honest, if he worked away, I think it would be close to impossible,” says Leach. “It’s not an ideal scenario, because I only see the children at the weekends. “But we make a show every year for ITV called A Night of Heroes, to recognise all of our brilliant soldiers and their efforts. Every year, I’m so struck by the sacrifices that people make in this country that, to be honest, living away from home – in order to have a job and a career that I love and that will provide well for my family – isn’t, on the grand scale of sacrifices, so bad.” This year, Leach’s spare time is being pinched even further. She is the Advisory Chair for this year’s Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival – a role that involves guiding the production of all the festival’s sessions, as well as finding keynote speakers. Alongside the brace of awards for Educating Yorkshire, this role is, perhaps, a quieter but just as forceful indication from the industry that Twofour has arrived. Recent advisory chairs include Deborah Turness, now President of NBC News in the US, and BBC alumni Karl Warner and Kenton Allen.

Both Warner and Allen highlighted creativity in their approach to the Edinburgh programme, but Leach says she will be more business-focused. “I’m really interested in the future of our industry – and how we, the channels and the producers in this country, make sure we stay at the absolute forefront of television. “Because it’s getting a lot harder, and I’m not sure that we are as wellequipped as we need to be,” she says. For Leach, that means a strong BBC – she opposes both abolition of the licence fee and decriminalisation of non-payment – and a strong Channel 4. “The creative industries are so valuable to Great Britain plc that we need to protect them,” she says, “and that’s part of the reason that I wanted to do Edinburgh – to dig into what we need to do.” To create her Edinburgh TV Festival, of course, Leach has the help of a 20-strong committee – and, in her quest to future-proof British television, she fights alongside multibillion-pound businesses. But after an hour in the company of Melanie Leach, it’s easy to believe that if she had to do it all single-handedly, she probably would.

A life in production Melanie Leach, Managing Director, Twofour Broadcast Married To Richard Prowse since 1997; two children, Velvet, 9, and Rocky, 7 Education Ivybridge Community College, Devon. Left with A-levels 1992-95 Researcher/PA at various independents 1995-2002 Series Producer, Twofour, on titles such as Collectors’ Lot and The Hotel Inspector 2002-05 Director of Development, Twofour 2005 Managing Director, Twofour 2013 Executive Director, Boom Pictures; remains MD, Twofour Broadcast; Exec Producer on key titles, including Splash!, The Jump and Harry’s South Pole Heroes 2014 Advisory Chair, GEITF.

The shrinking world of BBC Three

wo months away from his 40th birthday, Zai Bennett’s extraordinary career in television became more extraordinary still. In March he was told the channel that he runs, BBC Three, was facing the axe. Bennett took over from Danny Cohen as BBC Three Controller three years ago, following more than 12 years at ITV. From the autumn of 2015 BBC Three, once the commentariat’s favourite whipping boy, will be relegated to being online only – unless the BBC Trust overturns what represents Tony Hall’s opening gambit in the excruciating process known as Charter Renewal. That seems highly unlikely and so, for the first time the BBC is preparing to close down one of its TV channels. Director of Television Danny Cohen described the move as “the biggest strategic decision in a decade”. That, if anything, underplays the magnitude of BBC Three’s fate. Critics have accused Hall and his advisers of being out of touch with

Profile

BBC Three’s move to online-only has infuriated the channel’s supporters. But network Controller Zai Bennett tells Steve Clarke he is determined to make the initiative work young people and uncomfortably elitist. Here’s how high-profile comedy producer Ash Atalla (his credits include acclaimed BBC Three comedy Cuckoo) described the initiative: “It feels like a 60-year-old man in a golf jumper has walked into a really good nightclub and turned the music off so he can hear more Mozart next door. “BBC Three is the main plank with

Life and Death Row which the BBC connects on television with young audiences and they have cut their link to the future.” In other words, sceptics wonder how the under-24s will get the BBC TV habit minus BBC Three’s linear presence. However, support for the move has come from unlikely places. Earlier this month James Corden said: “There is still a commitment to it as a channel and there’s investment in young writers and your performers and young directors, and its programmes are aimed a new and fresh audience.” To even a casual viewer, BBC Three is notably eclectic. Few beyond its core audience who’ve made the effort to tune in can deny that the channel consistently champions a less conventional style of drama, comedy and documentary than the mainstream networks. Documentaries such as the award-winning Our War (a final twoparter later this year will chart British troops exiting Afghanistan) and Life and Death Row set the benchmark high, as did Reggie Yates’s recent series, Extreme South Africa. In comedy Three’s lack of breakout

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

EVEN NOW, WHEN THE CHANNELS ARE GOING THROUGH CHANGES, I STILL HAVE 100% BELIEF IN THE BBC future and make sure we form it in the best possible way.” Cohen admitted that switching BBC Three to online only was the toughest decision of his career. He acknowledged that judged by today’s viewing habits among the channel’s target audience of 16- to 24-year-olds the initiative is “about four or five years” too early. Speaking to the RTS in October the Director of Television stressed that 90% of BBC Three viewing was still via TV sets. Bennett says, by his reckoning, it’s even higher: “Ninety-six per cent of the consumption of BBC Three is via the linear channel; 4% is via the iPlayer... “This change is at speed… No one at the BBC is trying to varnish it and say it’s the most amazing, new, strategic opportunity.” It is also, arguably, contrary to the BBC idea of scheduling so-called minority-interest shows alongside popular ones in the hope that audiences come across something of interest they didn’t switch on for. Bennett, who was

brought up on BBC and ITV sitcoms such as Blackadder, The Young Ones and The New Statesman, is only too aware of this point. He suggests that marketing might be one way of bringing Reithian values to BBC Three online. “Part of the beauty of BBC Three is that, as a multi-genre linear channel, we can hammock… The front page becomes increasingly important as your shop window. “We will have to promote and market in lots of different ways. “We are at the very beginning of this journey and will have to work out over the next 18 months what are the best ways to do it.” Content creation and content release, rather than traditional scheduling, will be centre stage, “so you would probably put a whole comedy series up at once to binge on,” Bennett �

BBC

hits since Gavin and Stacy is evident, but Pramface and Bluestone 42 enjoy a freshness and originality that have inspired loyal followers. Meanwhile, The Revolution Will Be Televised takes the kind of risks not always associated with the BBC in the 21st Century. In other words, if you’re looking for plurality in public service broadcasting, BBC Three makes a pretty good fist of extending the range of what our PSBs offer. “BBC Three is a great place for new talent and for programme-makers to experiment,” observes a Channel 4 commissioning editor. “I’d love a series like Life and Death Row.” Meeting Bennett on a Monday afternoon in a glass-walled meeting room at New Broadcasting House, it is hard not to feel we are in a scene from W1A (yes, a fold-up bike is not far away). Yet even John Morton’s fertile imagination would have been hard pressed to write the script that has seen BBC Three’s coffers shrink and shrink again during Bennett’s time in charge. For much of our interview Bennett, who mixes quiet self-confidence with self-effacement, sounds like he is sticking reluctantly to the corporate script as he explains why BBC Three is destined for an online-only existence. It is only when, more than half-way through our conversation, Bennett talks about the BBC per se that he begins to sound genuinely passionate – not that he doesn’t take obvious pride in his considerable achievements at BBC Three. “I joined the BBC because it is the best broadcaster in the world,” he says. “When I was at ITV I could have worked at lots of other places, but I took a bit of a pay cut to come here because I had always wanted to work here. “The BBC is the best at what it does. Even now, when the channels are going through changes, I still have 100% belief in the BBC… the people here are the best commissioning television executives I’ve worked with.” He adds: “From my teen years onward I’ve consumed thousands and thousands of hours of BBC content.” Did he think about resigning when the bombshell struck? “That flashes through your head, but I’m the Controller of BBC Three. It’s important for me and the team that we reiterate how good the service is and that we look to the

Zai Bennett

Pramface

IT FEELS LIKE A 60-YEAR-OLD MAN IN A GOLF JUMPER HAS WALKED INTO A REALLY GOOD NIGHTCLUB AND TURNED THE MUSIC OFF SO HE CAN HEAR MORE MOZART NEXT DOOR all, The Only Way Is Essex, were all commissioned on his watch. By the time TOWIE emerged, Bennett was responsible for ITV2, 3 and 4, CITV and ITV’s acquisitions. “CITV ran itself but we did quite a good job of defining the individual (digital) channels,” he says with typical understatement. As ITV’s movie and series buyer he got used to dealing in big bucks. “I was buying the Harry Potters and James Bonds, really big, £50m-£80m deals. I led the negotiation on those, but the main part of that job was running ITV2.” Bennett had a ringside seat at ITV when advertising revenue suddenly went south following the 2008 crash. “At that stage, ITV was fighting for its life,” he recalls. “It went from being in an environment where someone would go, ‘How do you spend an extra £5m?’ to: ‘You need to take £10m out tomorrow, we’re losing all

BBC

� suggests. “Between now and when BBC Three does go online we’re doing lots of experiments and trying to edge our way and work out what’s best for which pieces of content… “So some different comedies, a returning comedy such as Bad Education, can probably be released at one episode a week… Whereas a brand new comedy without a star might need to go up in its entirety and have a slow burn over a number of months in order to achieve critical mass. “The key thing is that the new service will have a linear outlet via BBC One or Two. Danny and Tony have guaranteed that.” It is just as well that Bennett is used to working at the cutting edge. The formative years of his television career coincided with the rise of multi-channel. This culminated at ITV, where eventually he was given responsibility for the broadcaster’s entire digital portfolio. Having left Goffs School, a Hertfordshire comprehensive, to study history and politics at the University of London, he struggled to get a job in TV. While doing an MA in modern history under the supervision of Peter Hennessy, Bennett did a lot of work as a temp to make ends meet. One assignment was working in the post room at Carlton Television. There he famously delivered mail destined for the then-head of communications, David Cameron. One thing led to another and Bennett landed a job at Carlton as a presentation scheduler. Not long after, he did the same job at Channel 5 when the station launched. “At Channel 5 I was allowed to get involved in lots of different things. I would sit in edit suites and help make promos. You were actively encouraged to find out more. “At the time, I was interested in sports production, so I would go and sit in the OB truck for [football] games and watch the director working.” His first job at ITV was planning manager for ITV2’s debut. When he was promoted to Channel Controller at ITV2 in 2006, Bennett was still in his early 30s. In this role, it became clear that he had a knack for finding winning shows, helped by decent budgets and strong advertising revenues, aimed at young adults. Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Celebrity Juice, Xtra Factor and, most famous of

of these people in three weeks’ time.’” Such austerity has become commonplace at the BBC, as Bennett knows only too well. Before he arrived, the BBC Three budget was cut by 20%, with another 15% lopped off when he walked through the door. Today, Bennett gets £62.5m – more than double BBC Four, whose budget is believed to be £28m. BBC Three online will have £30m, a lot for a web-only entity perhaps, but as Bennett (and Cohen) realise, the corporation is entering uncharted waters. Of course, if anyone can make this work, it is the BBC. Think of all the cross-promotion opportunities and the creative challenges of taking web content in new directions. Against this is the question of whether producers would take their best ideas to BBC Three when they know without any doubt that a successful commission at Channel 4 or ITV2 would lead to higher audiences, at least in the short term. What, then, of Bennett himself? Will he stick around or be given an eventual sweetener in the shape of a new job within the BBC – or jump ship to a rival? Channel 4 seems an obvious destination. BBC Three claims its share of 16- to 34-year-olds is the biggest in the UK after 10pm, outstripping BBC One and ITV. It would be the final irony if Bennett’s legacy of moving BBC Three’s centre of gravity upmarket is lost in the leap to online-only. Looking back on what he’s brought to the channel, he notes: “Five years ago it could have been fake breasts and a bit of Botox, but now we’ve got shows about mental health institutes and death row. “I love the way we make shows for young adults that don’t condescend or treat them as imbeciles. “They don’t just want to watch shows about hapless grooms who can’t organise a wedding – which, by the way, are equally valid and great fun – but they actually want to engage with thought-provoking and serious programming as well.” In true W1A-style, there does appear to be one piece of encouraging news on the BBC Three front – the move to Salford has been binned. “That would have been the cherry on the cake,” Bennett says drily.

April 2014 www.rts.org.uk Television

OUR FRIEND IN THE

WEST

he imaginary village of Cwmderi in west Wales is not the first place you’d go to look for evidence of the latest trend in television viewing. But changes to S4C’s long-running soap might offer an insight into where traditional TV is heading. The Welsh-language channel has decided to axe the Sunday afternoon omnibus edition. Now this is quite a big deal for S4C. Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) is something of a sacred cow in Welsh- language television and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The cost savings are not insignificant. The omnibus edition is paid for over and above the 10 hours a week that the BBC has provided to S4C since 1982 from the licence fee. The Sunday compendium and six weeks of “additional” programmes during the summer cost S4C around £3.1m. Until last year S4C was funded mainly by a government grant but that income has decreased considerably. What amounted to £100m in 2010 is now about £83m, obtained from a mix of licence-fee funding and a residual grant from DCMS. Any saving is therefore most welcome. But amidst the usual corporate clichés and talk of reinvestment in “exciting new projects” that accompanies such announcements, was perhaps an indication of a more important trend. Buried in the press release, S4C said: “The decision reflects changing viewing patterns experienced by all broadcasters, and the fact that recent episodes are now available online via Clic and the iPlayer.” Earlier this year S4C began premiering new series online, before

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Is S4C blazing an online trail for cash-strapped broadcasters that need to extend their audience reach, asks Tim Hartley?

their linear TV broadcast, starting with the children’s show, Ysbyty (Hospital). Pobol y Cwm is available on the BBC iPlayer as well as on S4C’s own catch- up service, Clic, and its iPhone app. In line with other channels, S4C’s online usage has increased significantly over recent years. In 2009, S4C had 1.1 million online requests. By 2012 this had grown to 2.8 million. When the next set of data is published, it’s very likely this trend will continue. Both Mediatique’s recent report for the BBC Trust and Ofcom’s “Communications Market Report” show that traditional TV is far from dead. They say that the iPlayer accounts

for just over 2% of BBC TV viewing and that on-demand consumption of TV programmes will more than double by 2017. Time-shifted viewing accounts for around 10% of the total. While online viewing across the UK remains a small percentage of the total, Nielsen has shown that in the US that figure – especially among the younger audience – is growing. S4C’s audience will always be small, but 2% of that audience is, in the case of a channel that has recently been crucified for its poor ratings – well, quite a lot. More than 500,000 viewers tune in to S4C every week across the UK; 130,000 viewers tune in to Pobol y Cwm every week. There are only half a million Welsh speakers in Wales. Every little helps, as they say. It seems that the Welsh channel has decided that it can risk offending a proportion of its core audience because so many of them are getting their dose of Valley gossip online or by watching it time-shifted on their PVRs or Sky+ boxes. Is this the start of a trend for the smaller channels? After all, BBC Three is being closed down and “reinvented as a new and innovative online service”, according to the corporation. The director of YouTube Latin America recently predicted that the online video audience will surpass linear TV watching by 2020. That might be a bit optimistic, but could little S4C be showing a more sophisticated understanding of its own audience and, by embracing the gradual migration to online viewing, be taking a bold step in that direction? Either that or it just has to save £3m. I hope it is the former. Tim Hartley is Chairman of RTS Wales.

Niche channels

ITV

Broadcasters are following different strategies to target female viewers, discovers Tara Conlan

What women want to watch

he music industry has spent years trying to work out what women want – from La donna è mobile (Women Are Fickle) in Guiseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto through to the Spice Girls’ girl-power chant, Wannabe. Now it is the television industry’s turn. Last year TLC launched in the UK, as did A&E Networks’ Lifetime, Sky Living was revamped and in February ITV announced it will launch female-skewed ITVBe later this year. With around 70% of women in the UK working either full or part-time and many juggling families, too, their leisure time is precious – so why the focus now on channels targeting them? Sky Living Director Antonia Hurford-Jones explains: “A greater percentage of TV viewers are women, so the more choice and variety you offer them, the more they will watch and enjoy.” Last year she made the decision to

“de-pink” Living, with a more modern silver and blue logo and changes in content away from stereotypical, girly shows. She says: “When I joined Sky Living 18 months ago, I knew I was coming to a channel with a huge amount of heritage… but the channel had started to feel a bit niche, with rather an old-fashioned view of what women wanted to watch. “Women have really broad interests, which they want to see reflected on TV, so the first thing I did was to broaden the focus of the channel and move away from the idea that women just want to watch shows about dieting, shopping and weddings.” Previously associated with shows such as Cougar Town (now dropped) and reality TV stars like Jade Goody, Sky Living now features popular US dramas such as The Blacklist, starring James Spader, and witty comedy Doll & Em, starring Emily Mortimer and Dolly Wells.

Hurford-Jones describes Living as a “broad, mainstream channel that offers grown-up entertainment for women and their partners – it’s the place to go when the day’s work is done, to relax and escape.” Analyst Alice Enders says the growth in female-focused channels presents “a lot of opportunity around non-core spending” for advertisers. “Obviously, advertisers would not look at Sky Living as a mass-market opportunity. It’s an opportunity for a targeted, identifiable type of advertising around the sort of things people might purchase. “The ageing of the UK population presents some challenges. As family- focused ads for such things as detergents lose importance, [there are] opportunities for less mass-market and more targeted ads on the demographics that control the household budgets for many key nice-to-haves such as travel, health… and interiors.” According to Enders’ figures, “50-plus

households’ expenditure has risen by £100bn in 10 years” and there are around 1.6 million women in their late 50s or early 60s who spend a great deal of time watching television. They belong to what Enders calls “Generation Wealth”, which has considerable purchasing power but is less brand loyal than other age groups. A different way of selling to them is through “brand partnerships”, which is what TLC has done previously with Superdrug and now with cosmetics company BareMinerals – making vignettes on make-up advice as another way of engaging women. Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Discovery Networks UK and Ireland Susanna Dinnage says she is “delighted” with the partnerships and how the channel is faring: “To come in with a brand new brand, really proved to us there was an opportunity there.” Dinnage says Discovery identified “two gaps in the market... more opportunity to serve women in pay-TV [and] non-scripted” shows. So TLC has made its mark with programmes such as Tina Malone: Pregnant at 50, which followed the Shameless actress’s decision to have a baby later in life. Not many other pay-TV broadcasters would make a 50-year-old woman the star of a documentary or tackle such a divisive issue. Along with reality shows such as Cake Boss, real-life entertainment programmes are a mainstay of TLC. For example, The Charlotte Crosby Experience (which starts at the end of April) uses the Geordie Shore star and Celebrity Big Brother winner to explore other cultures such as that of Japanese geishas. “You’ve got to be brave”, says Dinnage, and “challenge preconceptions” of

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

what women want from television – and bear in mind that the audience “is incredibly busy” and does not want to commit to very long runs. Dinnage explains: “It’s the Desperate Housewives generation we’re targeting.” Her research shows that women no longer see their television viewing as a “guilty pleasure” but something they have earnt. So where next for TLC? “Launching a channel is one thing,” says Dinnage, who helped launch both MTV and Channel 5. “Sustaining it is something else.” She predicts it will use the company’s own production and development unit in London to make more “local content” – in other words, UK versions of its US shows such as Extreme Cheapskates. Whether the fabulously named Extreme Couponing (currently airing) will transfer is another matter. Dinnage says of the launch of ITVBe: “I do think there’s room for all of us. Our point of difference is that our

Doll & Em (above); TOWIE (opposite)

content is not constructed: we are in the real-life, observational market – we’re not in the The Only Way Is Essex space. “We’re in things like Breaking Amish – real-life people with real reactions.” ITVBe is still in development and is being overseen by Angela Jain, ITV’s Director of Digital Channels and Acquisitions, who says it will give the network a “complete set of channels”. She describes ITVBe as “a brand new channel dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment programming featuring real people, real lives”. It will be the exclusive home of TOWIE as well as a range of US-acquired shows, such as the Real Housewives franchise. Jain says TOWIE’s departure from ITV2 will give that channel the chance to focus more on “scripted comedy and drama, comedy entertainment shows, hidden-camera and panel shows, and provide a purer and more consistent offering. “I think you can’t commission and programme channels without having an idea of who your audience is. “On ITVBe the content will skew towards shows that we already know are more popular with women. “We know TOWIE is hugely popular and channel-defining, and it will be a cornerstone of ITVBe. “If we get the mix of genres right, the tone of the channels spot on, and make the programmes unmissable, we believe there is really exciting potential for both ITVBe and a refreshed ITV2.” Then there is Lifetime, which launched last November in the UK with a mix of US dramas such as Damages and British content. The latter includes The Proposers, which began in February and follows a marriage proposal business. Excluding figures for the +1 channel, Lifetime has a weekly reach at the moment of around 353,000 viewers and a 0.2% audience share. This compares with TLC’s 637,000 and a 0.3% share. But Sky Living tops the market with 1.5 million and a 0.6% share. So putting Girls on Top appears to be paying off, but long term it remains to be seen if television is giving them what they really, really want – especially when magazines such as Grazia are moving even more into online video content.

BSkyB

IT’S THE DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES GENERATION WE’RE TARGETING

Broker marriages: made in the City

emember when ITV’s share price stood at less than 24p – valuing it at under £1bn – and most City analysts were swallowing the internet propaganda that television was dead? That was five years ago. Things look rather different now. ITV was recently valued at £8bn, with shares trading at around 197p. Channel 5 is on the market for around £700m. Analysts have been talking up a possible tie-up between Vodafone and BSkyB. And high-quality TV shows have become the most sought-after content on the web – both for viewers and media/technology companies – as the boom in video-streaming and the explosion in tablet sales creates more demand for premium content delivered online. Dawn Airey, who held senior roles at Channel 5, ITV and BSkyB, has swapped the TV world for the internet giant Yahoo!, where she is Senior Vice President EMEA. She recognises the value that television content can bring to internet and broadband companies. At The Guardian’s Changing Media Summit, she said that Yahoo! would soon be bringing major TV shows to its online audience, hoping to emulate the high profile that Netflix has achieved by streaming House of Cards. “What Netflix did with House of Cards was very, very, very clever,” she said. “In the US we will be producing and

Media mergers

As whispers of tie-ups between phone and TV companies sweep the media sector, Torin Douglas looks at what is driving the rumour mill commissioning some shows of significance quite quickly. We have to do a few emblematic big things that really stand out.” But while all players see the need for TV content, they don’t all believe they have to own it or commission it. The cable company Virgin Media sold its 50% stake in the broadcaster UKTV three years ago and is now part of John Malone’s Liberty Global. Virgin’s Chief Executive, Tom Mock-

ridge, last month told the Broadcasting Press Guild: “We invest enormous amounts in content by making available the TV networks that Virgin carries. “We would rather have a comprehensive range of channels than differentiate ourselves by spending on our own original programming. We want to concentrate on providing the best broadband service.” In the City, all this TV and technology activity has raised hopes of lucrative takeovers and tie-ups. This year started with a bang: on 1 January, the Financial Times reported that Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond was exploring a possible sale. It said that Barclays was advising on options and the sale would seek to raise about £700m, many times the £103.5m paid by Desmond’s Northern & Shell group when it bought the company from RTL Group in 2010. More recently, The Daily Telegraph reported bids would more likely be pitched at around £200m to £300m as prospective buyers were given greater access to Channel 5’s accounts. The paper also explained why prospects for the free-to-air broadcasters had improved, after their slump during

the financial and advertising downturn: “The advertising market has bounced back strongly, while television stations are confident they will be able to scrap the ‘retransmission fees’ they pay to BSkyB and Virgin Media to appear on their satellite and cable platforms. ITV’s stockmarket value has quadrupled in the last three and a half years.” Two weeks later the City’s focus switched to BSkyB, after an analyst at UBS suggested it could be a takeover target. That prompted The Guardian to ask: “Could Rupert Murdoch take another tilt at satellite broadcaster BSkyB, where his 21st Century Fox business still owns a 39% stake. Or could BSkyB be a merger partner for Vodafone or O2? Those are the intriguing suggestions in a buy note on the broadcaster from UBS.’” The paper reminded readers that in 2011 Murdoch’s News Corporation – before its split into two businesses – famously abandoned an £8bn bid for BSkyB as the phone-hacking scandal went toxic. The following week, speculation turned to Vodafone. Last September the mobile giant sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, the US mobile operator, for £78bn, the same month it hired ex-Virgin Media and Disney executive Cindy Rose to lead its consumer division. The Sunday Times reported: “Vodafone and BSkyB have held high-level talks aimed at curbing BT’s growing power in the broadband market. The mobile phone giant and the satellite broadcaster have explored ways to strengthen their defences against a resurgent BT... which is spending more than £3bn on a high-speed, fibre-optic network and a further £2bn on sports broadcast rights.” The paper said it understood that Sky and Vodafone had discussed striking

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VODAFONE HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH SKY AFTER SIGNING A DEAL TO ALLOW SOME OF ITS CUSTOMERS TO VIEW SKY SPORTS MOBILE TV, AND THERE HAVE BEEN RUMOURS OF ONGOING TALKS FOR SOME MONTHS deals on Sky’s sports and movie channels and collaborating on a high-speed broadband service – though neither party was prepared to confirm this. The Daily Mail’s City commentator, Alex Brummer, spelled out the thinking: “Vodafone, after the sale of its Verizon Wireless stake, is flush with cash, and BSkyB, as the market leader in pay-TV, no doubt finds the BT Sports challenge in the Premiership and Champions League a little worrying. “BSkyB has a huge variety of content, ranging from news to arts and from sport to drama, that it could share with Vodafone if it wants more supply. The mobile-phone giant could offer Sky distribution well beyond its current reach.” But Brummer stressed: “The more interesting proposition for the City and investors would be a full-scale merger or equity deal between these two giants.” He pointed out that investment bankers had a habit of coming up with all kinds of ideas “as the fee and bonus

signs flash before their eyes”. Speculation took another turn in February with reports that BSkyB was talking to acquisition-hungry Discovery Communications about a joint bid for Channel 5. Again, neither side would comment but, as the first round of bids went in, another potential bidder ruled itself out. ITV’s Chief Executive, Adam Crozier, said he was “not looking at Channel 5” as he announced a 30% rise in profits. Then, in March, Vodafone found a home for some of that £78bn burning a hole in its pocket – but not in the UK. The mobile giant paid £6bn for the Spanish cable operator, Ono, creating Spain’s second-biggest telecoms firm. To the disappointment of investment bankers, Vodafone’s Chief Executive, Vittorio Colao, ruled out any immediate acquisitions in the UK: the company was not interested in either ITV or Channel 5, despite its huge war chest. But, at the time of writing, Channel 5 remains in play, and talk persists of a link-up between Vodafone and BSkyB. Peter Boyland, analyst at IHS Technology, says: “Vodafone already has a relationship with Sky after signing a deal to allow some of its customers to view Sky Sports Mobile TV, and there have been rumours of ongoing talks for some months. “BSkyB is still experiencing strong growth and, as such, is unlikely to be for sale. But it has lost a number of its key sports rights to BT in recent bidding wars – and if it were to lose more, this could change the game.” Toby Syfret, TV analyst at Enders Analysis, thinks a content deal is much more likely than a takeover. “I don’t think 21st Century Fox would allow a takeover of BSkyB,” he opines. “Vodafone might want to offer TV content more easily to its customers, but why do they need to own it?” But don’t underestimate the City marriage-brokers. They can’t wait to organise a TV wedding.

Top talent feels the VoD vibe

round 18 months ago BBC One’s Sundaynight period crime drama, Ripper Street, was experiencing a heart-stopping, 50% ratings collapse of 3 million viewers between its first and second highly praised series. It was a familiar TV story: quality drama gets crushed under the merciless wheels of a celebrity reality juggernaut. ITV1’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here’s 9 million viewers of smallbrained jungle vertebrates and Joey Essex were three times more numerous than the BBC’s audience for Matthew Macfadyen’s pursuit of grisly murderers around Victorian Whitechapel. Cut to the present and, while Joey’s bid to become TV’s biggest on-screen

Video-on-demand

TV’s creative cream is rising thanks to online platforms’ demand for exclusive content, says David Housham buffoon is flourishing, UK “quality” drama producers equally are experiencing an unexpected boost to their fortunes – thanks to the significant intervention of online distributors such as Netflix and Amazon. Series three of Ripper Street will begin filming in May – as the first UK drama

commission by Amazon – five months after the BBC axed the Endemol/Tiger Aspect show. The corporation explained: “The second series didn’t bring the audience we hoped and, in order to make room for creative renewal and new ideas, it won’t be returning.” Amazon, Netflix and other big online players such as Yahoo! are reportedly looking to UK producers to add to the hundreds of hours of original, highquality drama series they are using to drive – not ratings – but subscription revenue. Ripper Street 3 will premiere (before returning to BBC One) on Amazon’s new VoD subscription service, Prime Instant Video, which the online retail giant has created by re-branding LoveFilm and merging its library of 15,000

movies and TV shows with 500,000 eBooks – all for an annual subscription fee of £79. In the US Netflix has transformed what was a very similar business by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in more than 100 hours of high-end, original drama, including Lilyhammer, Orange Is the New Black and the Emmywinning House of Cards. This is in addition to rebooting the sitcom, Arrested Development, six years after Fox cancelled it. Amazon has more than 20 million Prime subscribers, mostly in the US. Netflix has 44 million subscribers in 41 countries. In the last quarter of 2013 Netflix rapidly grew its UK subscriber base by 1.6 million customers. They pay £5.99 a month to access a smaller library than Amazon’s – but, crucially, also the chance to see the final series of the highly acclaimed Breaking Bad. Ripper Street was a cult viewing success in the US on BBC America, but a petition on a UK website last year attracted more than 40,000 signatures asking the BBC to save it. Forty thousand x £5.99 x 12 amounts to nearly three million reasons why Amazon might have decided that investing in UK drama is a good idea. Simon Vaughan, Chief Executive of Lookout Point, the production and distribution company that co-produces Ripper Street with Tiger Aspect, says of the Amazon deal: “It changes nothing, but it changes everything. “[Amazon and Neflix] are part of a new global patchwork of potential platforms and sources of financing. Now there’s no limit to the type of programme that can get commissioned. “If there’s a shortage of anything, it’s not money but good projects. There’s a huge global customer base voraciously seeking the next big thing. “Now, we’re contacting writers and asking them which are the projects you were told [by broadcasters] you couldn’t do, the projects in your drawer that were pooh-poohed by people who said they were too difficult.” Jane Featherstone, Chief Executive of Kudos, confirms that the result of this development is “a battle for talent”. TV producers are having to compete to attract not just elite writers but also A-list actors and directors who are moving from film to co-produced “global” TV drama series that have “massive ambition and an epic nature, really beautifully made, at length and at scale”.

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IF THERE’S A SHORTAGE OF ANYTHING, IT’S NOT MONEY BUT GOOD PROJECTS Featherstone adds: “We’re all talking to them [Amazon and Netflix]. We’ve got a big new project we can’t announce yet. It’s exciting, but we have to be careful and keep serving our UK audience.” She believes that more high-quality, “global” co-productions will happen in the UK thanks to relatively lower production costs and the availability of movie-calibre talent. And it’s good news at a time when UK-commissioned drama hours are falling, while costs are shooting up (by 25% in the past six months, she says). The rise is due to domestic tax changes and the influx of mostly US production into the UK following last year’s tax break for foreign investment in highend film and TV drama. Like Vaughan, Featherstone characterises the “Netflix effect” as being part of a sea change in the global co- production sector. More buyers are in the market, including American producers and cable nets, while European partners such as France’s Canal+ (co-producer of Sky’s much-lauded The Tunnel). They are happy to commission English-language projects and be less prescriptive about casting. They all want to deliver the quality of product and “halo effect” that Netflix achieved with House of Cards. Again, Featherstone and Vaughan are quick to point out that UK broadcasters have recently been keeping pace in the “quality race” with highly praised, sophisticated, writer-driven series

[COMMISSIONERS] WANT TO DELIVER THE QUALITY OF PRODUCT AND ‘HALO EFFECT’ THAT NETFLIX ACHIEVED WITH HOUSE OF CARDS

such as ITV’s Broadchurch and the BBC’s Line of Duty. But as competition for the best creative talent pushes costs up, it’s possible that UK broadcasters – including Channel 4, but perhaps not Sky (with its HBO partnership) – will lose some ground to the VoD subscription services, whose success isn’t dependent on mass-market appeal. Andy Harries, Chief Executive of Left Bank Pictures, has been meeting Amazon (“They have very, very deep pockets”) in the US and UK recently. He says: “The VoDs are more aggressive and prepared to pay more. And I suspect the UK’s major broadcasters might find now that key projects they would have expected to get will go to the VoDs. “What’s very interesting for producers is that VoDs are promising essentially note-free deals. They’ll commission and pay you – and you deliver – without any creative commissioning teams offering 20 pages of notes on scripts. That has a lot of appeal for high-end talent.” Vaughan confirms that, so far, working editorially with Amazon as a commissioner is no different to working with the BBC. He says: “We’ve seen the first few scripts of the new series [of Ripper Street] – and we’re continuing to make the same show. “There’s no difference whatsoever. We’ll keep Amazon in the loop – it’s a huge contributor financially, and so is the BBC. “We’re still dealing with the same editorial people, including Amazon.” Amazon Studios has just launched its first US-produced, original drama series, Alpha House, and picked up four new ones: Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent and The After from X Files creator Chris Carter. For the world’s most outstanding writer-creators of high-quality drama, the hottest place to be right now might well be the offices of Netflix and Amazon. “Virtually all our energy is now focused on getting the best writers, directors and producers to work with us and coming up with the ideas they’ve always wanted to do,” says Vaughan. “This is what a fragmented market allows for. You don’t have to neutralise an idea and check that it ticks every box. “Making TV is more exciting, more creatively rewarding than movies now.”

What 2 is 4 at 50 Broadcasting

Maggie Brown takes soundings on how BBC Two should evolve for life after 50

he BBC has a tendency to overdose on anniversaries. But as BBC Two marks its 50th birthday this April with celebratory programmes, this time there is good reason to look back at the channel’s achievements. The past is about to inspire the future. With the departure in February of Controller Janice Hadlow – whose powerful vision for BBC Two as a place for “intelligent pleasure” brought history, accessible science, cookery and authored drama to the fore in the past five years – significant change is in the air. While a new head has yet to be chosen, the channel has been crowned as top dog in a closer, complementary relationship with BBC Four. No longer tense rivals “they will work together, plan together,” said Tony Hall, the BBC’s Director-General. Most people who have witnessed past friction and declining resources think this is sensible. Further, Hall says that “BBC Two will be the main focus” as the place for arts and culture programmes in his big BBC arts push.

The new arts initiative is such a key part of his vision for the corporation that he was prepared to semi-sacrifice BBC Three to underwrite it. On 25 March he fleshed out the BBC’s “greatest commitment to arts for a generation” in a speech at Broadcasting House, capped by a new version of Civilisation, the seminal BBC Two series by Kenneth Clark instigated by then-Controller David Attenborough (1965-69). Civilisation, along with The Ascent of Man, established BBC Two’s reputation in the 1960s and early 1970s. A new strand, BBC Arts at…, will feature cultural events from around the country, often followed by an accompanying documentary on BBC Two. This starts in May with a filmed performance on BBC Four of The Duchess of Malfi, which opened the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, matched with a programme on Jacobean drama on BBC Two; there was a proposal to screen nightly Proms on BBC Two but this was rejected. “The arts have been central to the BBC’s past and are central to its future,” Hall declared. And so is fresh thinking to BBC Two.

Will Wyatt, the former Managing Director of BBC Television, observes: “I always felt running BBC Two was the best job in the BBC. You are not under the cosh in the same way as BBC One is. “That freedom was why I never thought somebody should do it for more than three years, because you can put your personal stamp on it. A publicly funded channel has to do a lot of jobs”. Alan Yentob, BBC Creative Director and former Controller of BBC Two (1988-93) says: “There is always a need to refresh BBC Two. There is no question that it needs refreshing, anybody taking over the channel has to. It is not resting on its laurels. It is an opportunity to encourage new ideas. And find new formats”. He points out that promoting The Great British Bake Off, whose final attracted 9.4 million viewers last year, is part of a tradition, In the past, Have I Got News for You, Who Do You Think You Are?, MasterChef and Miranda all made the leap from BBC Two to the mainstream arena of BBC One. Nowadays, it’s a fact that the channel’s most popular remaining formats

BBC

HADLOW’S LEGACY INCLUDES THE RISE OF SCIENCE PROGRAMMING… LAMBING LIVE… AND MORE OLDER, FEMALE PRESENTERS

tend to be oldies such as Top Gear, University Challenge and Mastermind. BBC Three’s arrival 11 years ago took the pressure off BBC Two to try to chase the youth audience and Channel 4. The average age of a BBC Two viewer is 57, and the audience is almost equally split between women and men (51% to 49%). It has skilfully used repeats from the massive BBC archive, such as ’Allo ’Allo and Bergerac to fill the gap when its originated daytime schedule was axed in January 2013. BBC Two runs Dad’s Army on a loop in Saturday evenings, which has become its best-rated show of the night at around 1.8 million viewers. Informative natural history programmes are set to be a continuing presence. New presenting talent, such as Gordon Buchanan, will specialise in getting very close to animals. As Rev returned and W1A launched, Yentob said that BBC Two would be required to resume its role as the key place for nurturing new comedy. Alongside Bake Off, Hadlow’s legacy includes the rise of science programming with presenter Brian Cox, events such as Stargazing Live and Lambing

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Live, and the deployment of more older, female presenters, including Mary Beard, Amanda Vickery, Alice Roberts, and Mary Berry. BBC critic and academic John Mair poses two potentially contradictory questions about the outgoing controller’s legacy. “Where are the landmark documentaries?” and “Is there enough fun on the channel?” he asks. BBC insiders point to blind spots. They highlight the absence of contemporary foreign documentary strands, and a Money Programme-type business magazine, another Attenborough innovation. On a positive note, Hadlow decisively won the battle to restore channel-defining original drama to BBC Two that attracted high-profile stars and writers. This was thanks to a budget that grew to £30m a year (the total BBC Two budget is £454m). It is set to continue. Results started to flow consistently from March 2011: remember The Crimson Petal and the White, The Shadow Line, The Hour, Page Eight, Line of Duty 1, The Hollow Crown, Parade’s End, The Fall and Top of the Lake? All rounded off with the critical success of Line of Duty 2. BBC Two from birth was defined by not being BBC One, and still is. Yentob is seen by many veterans as the best Controller of BBC Two since Attenborough, because he made BBC Two chic at the point when Channel 4 was in the ascendancy. He woke up the chattering classes with The Late Show and raw access programmes such as Video Diaries.

Birth pangs In June 1962 the Pilkington Committee gave the go-ahead for a second BBC channel, the third in the UK The BBC brought forward the launch to 20 April 1964 and characterised it as a baby kangaroo in the mother kangaroo’s protective pouch (they were called Hullabaloo and Custard). Programme-makers at the Lime

Yentob says that when he took over “BBC Two seemed risk averse, and it lacked distinctiveness” as the home of how-to-do-it programmes. His successor, Michael Jackson (1993-96), binned The Late Show; the move raised suspicions that the arts were being gradually downgraded by the BBC. Jackson says: “I tried to respond to Channel 4 and then develop the traditional heartland of BBC Two with shows such as Changing Rooms, Mrs Merton and Fantasy Football.” He bet half his budget on the acclaimed saga of post-war Britain, Our Friends in the North, and won. Jane Root (1999-2004), the first woman controller of a UK network, believes she ran BBC Two “at a very ratings-conscious time”, as multi- channel fragmentation kicked in. She concedes that it is also a “difficult middle child”, playing second fiddle to BBC One, but “with a mission to innovate, surprise, try new things and bring new flavours to the mainstream”. Jackson says that, in the current digital age, “for BBC Two now it is harder, because all the niche channels have gone for history, science, but what is interesting about BBC Two is how vibrant it is; it has kept its audience and is very central to the BBC.” Root adds: “It’s really special, a unique part of the British landscape. It has a devoted audience trained to accept innovation, up for new things. There are not many places you find that. It’s a much loved channel.”

Grove studios hired a baby kangaroo from a circus, but it died. So an adult kangaroo, George, was substituted. Launch night was hit by a power cut at Battersea Power Station, plunging Lime Grove into darkness. George was stuck in the lift at the fourth floor. The early BBC Two schedule under first Controller Michael Peacock was called “Seven Faces”, with themed nights: Sunday serious; Monday, family entertainment; Tuesday education; and so on.

Book review

Crisis? Which crisis? Stewart Purvis salutes the deep thinking on display in a volume that confronts the BBC’s myriad problems

ccording to Sir Peter Bazalgette, President of the RTS and a contributor to Is the BBC in Crisis?, “BBC charter renewal is a sort of World Cup for the commentariat.” Adapting the football metaphor, if a normal World Cup sees England go out half-way, usually on penalties, then a normal charter renewal sees some early goalmouth scares before the BBC, which likes to dictate the game, finally collects the trophy of 10 more years of broadcasting. Last time around, the BBC lost its DG just as charter renewal season was about to start; this time it happened again. Last time, the incoming DG, Mark Thompson, got to work quickly and published the BBC’s manifesto for the renewal of its charter. It was called “Building Public Value” and echoed the work of a Harvard management theorist, Mark Moore. This time the new DG Lord (Tony) Hall has produced a quick vision and

Is the BBC in Crisis? edited by John Mair, Richard Tait and Richard Lance Keeble, is published by Abramis, priced £19.95. ISBN: 978-1845496210 some quick decisions, but we can assume that a fuller “My BBC” manifesto is being worked on at New Broadcasting House by the real-life equivalents of WIA’s Head of Values and Director of Strategic Governance. On past form, we should soon expect a collection of pro-BBC essays from members of what Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail calls “the subsidariat”, Britain’s subsidised liberal media. In the meantime, the commentariat is being well served not so much by a Harvard theorist but a book of essays edited by two men proud to call themselves “hackademics”. In 2008 John Mair and Richard Lance Keeble, both journalists-turned- university teachers, created what they call “the sub-genre of hackademic volumes”.

There are now a dozen books, mostly about issues in journalism, comprising chapters by Mair and Keeble themselves and others they invite to contribute. I’m probably not the only person who was a little surprised when, having responded to John’s “chivvying” and agreed to talk to students at Coventry University one morning, I found that my words, captured on his tape-recorder, formed a draft chapter by me in one of his forthcoming books. But, given the chance to improve on what I’d prepared on the train to Coventry and further enhanced by Richard’s editing, I was flattered to be part of an authoritative volume on phone- hacking alongside the likes of Sir Harold Evans. Mair and Keeble have now taken the sub-genre to a new level in Is the BBC in Crisis? Very smartly, they have recruited Richard Tait, former editor-in-chief of ITN turned journalism professor at Cardiff University, as the third editor. His contacts as a former BBC Gover-

The issues are examined forensically, with powerful chapters by former BBC staffers. Vin Ray, ex-BBC News, explains where the journalism went wrong , public-relations expert Richard Peel un-spins the PR tactics, and my colleague from City University, Suzanne Franks, tells why BBC staff were so outraged by the size of the pay-offs at the top. But the book impresses most when it goes beyond the recent headline issues. Again, it is former BBC executives who have the inside track. Fiona Chesterton asks, “Who cares about BBC education?” and Atholl Duncan queries “Is the BBC still relevant to Scotland?”. Less convincing is the book’s introduction, where former BBC Chairman Lord (Michael) Grade, having declared his interest in a major studios business, argues for the outsourcing of “all production processes and facilities” while supporting the “BBC’s journey out of London” (which just happens to be built on the BBC’s regional production processes). He also calls for “further exploitation of programmes and formats” by BBC Worldwide (which the terms of trade may make impossible for those created by indies). The current BBC Director of Television, Danny Cohen, comes at the rights issue from a different perspective in an interview with media writer Tara Conlan. It is here that he floated the idea of financial incentives for inhouse staff who come up with good ideas. The final section of essays focuses on the issue that arguably matters most – the relationship between the BBC and the public who fund it. Here a number of contributors point out that the public seem to support the BBC more and forgive it more than politicians. However, BBC historian Jean Seaton argues out that the Savile crisis was different because it was not between the BBC and government, but the BBC and its audiences. She and former BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas highlight the importance of Dame Janet Smith’s

review, which is yet to be published. In terms of who represents the licence-fee payers, a long-serving BBC Trustee, David Liddiment, speaks up for the Trust, but says he is not necessarily wedded to the status quo. Howard Davies is more prescriptive about the need for change and even nominates a candidate for chairman. On alternatives to the licence fee, David Elstein again advances the cause of subscription, but concedes the likelihood that the licence fee will survive this charter-renewal process. Which leaves us with a rather more basic and increasingly pressing issue – getting the public to pay the licence fee in the first place. The published figures are striking: more than 150,000 prosecutions in 2012, resulting in 48 people going to prison. Elstein says these cases “constitute 30% of the non-indictable offences that crowd our magistrates courts”, and that’s before the BBC begins prosecuting anyone who watches through a device other than a television set. No wonder the Justice Secretary is considering making non-payment a civil, rather than a criminal, offence and Tory MPs are lining up in support. And no wonder the BBC worries about the message this would send to non-payers, and the threat to its income. Sports-rights negotiator David Kogan is quoted in one chapter as having experienced “the Trust unit, the BBC strategy unit, the BBC policy unit, the BBC God-knows-what-else-theyall-do unit… were so busy second-guessing each other in meetings of 20 people that none of them had a view of how to get anything done.” Lord Hall, for whom the contributors to this book only have good words and goodwill, has a core problem and he needs one of his teams to come up with a solution.

BBC

THERE IS NO CRISIS AT THE BBC. LET ME PUT THAT ANOTHER WAY. THERE IS A PERMANENT CRISIS AT THE BBC

nor and Trustee will have been invaluable in broadening the contributors to a wider range of experts. The fact that half of them used to work at the BBC at some point helps provide valuable insights on everything from salami-slicing to top-slicing, from accountability to independence, from diversity to impartiality and plurality. All this is done without too much score-settling with past and present regimes. The 30 contributors don’t obsess themselves too much answering the essay question in the book’s title. Steven Barnett summarises it neatly in the opening to his chapter: “There is no crisis at the BBC. Let me put that another way. There is a permanent crisis at the BBC.” He then focuses on the danger presented by a licence fee that continues to decline in real terms as “the real crisis for the future of the BBC”. Inevitably, this is a book about the future of the BBC that cannot escape the recent past: Savile, McAlpine, Entwistle, executive pay-offs.

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Stewart Purvis is Professor of Television Journalism at City University, London and a Non-Executive Director of Channel 4. He was one of the BBC’s first news trainees in 1969 and is a former Editor-inChief and Chief Executive of ITN.

Awards

The awards ceremony on 18 March at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London was hosted by Tim Vine

RTS Programme Awards 2013

Actor – Male

Actor – Female

Olivia Colman – Broadchurch/Run Kudos for ITV/Acme Films for Channel 4  “A typically believable, warm and utterly empathic performance from an actor at the very top of her game.” Nominees Jodie Whittaker – Broadchurch, Kudos for ITV  Sharon Rooney – My Mad Fat Diary, A Tiger Aspect Production for Channel 4

Actor – Male

Idris Elba – Luther BBC Drama Production London for BBC One  “An extraordinary screen presence; charismatic and powerful. A complete joy to watch.” Nominees Stephen Dillane – The Tunnel, Kudos and Shine France Films in association with Filmlance for Sky Atlantic and Canal+  Lennie James – Run, Acme Films for Channel 4

Arts

Imagine… Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny’s Pictures? BBC Arts for BBC One  “A wonderfully crafted film that told a difficult and little-known story to great effect.” Nominees Inside the Mind of Leonardo, IWC Media and Handel Productions for Sky 3D and Sky Arts  Rebuilding the World Trade Center, A Marcus Robinson, Lion Television/ All3Media Production for Channel 4

Actor – Female

Children’s Fiction

Dumping Ground CBBC  “Its powerful storyline, exceptional writing and stunning ensemble acting from the children made this exceptional.” Nominees The Ugly Duckling, CBeebies  Wolfblood, CBBC Productions, coproducers ZDF/ZDFE for CBBC

Children’s Programme

Hard Times – A Newsround Special CBBC  “Moving and informative for both adults and children, the winning programme did a spectacular job of looking at the bigger picture of the recession and its aftermath.” Nominee Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom, CBBC Swashbuckle CBeebies Arts

Comedy Performance

Daytime

Brendan O’Carroll – Mrs Brown’s Boys BBC Scotland/BBC Comedy Production co-production with BocPix in association with RTÉ for BBC One  “His character, like his show, dresses up a truly original talent in a hugely popular, traditional guise.” Nominees Rebecca Front – Psychobitches, Tiger Aspect Productions for Sky Arts Ryan Sampson – PLEBS, Rise Films for ITV2

Daytime Drama Serial

Host: Tim Vine

Four Rooms Boundless for Channel 4  “An original, fascinating twist to the heavily populated buying-and-selling genre, with well-cast experts and compelling individual stories.” Nominees The Chase, Potato for ITV  Pointless, Remarkable Television, Endemol for BBC One

Documentary Series Popular Factual and Features

Educating Yorkshire Twofour Broadcast for Channel 4  “Enormously watchable, with excellent production values and inspiring human stories, this memorable series was revelatory.” Nominees Her Majesty’s Prison: Aylesbury, Wild Pictures for ITV  The Call Centre, BBC Documentaries, Cymru Wales for BBC Three

Entertainment Performance

Drama Serial

Documentary Series

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Comedy Performance

Broadchurch Kudos for ITV  “A powerful drama with brilliant plotting, stand-out performances and an extraordinary depth of characterisation, all of which combined to create one of the stand-out TV events of the year.” Nominees Top of the Lake, See-Saw Films for BBC Two  In the Flesh, BBC Drama Production Salford, BBC America for BBC Three �

Drama Series

Peaky Blinders Caryn Mandabach Productions, Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Two  “A bold and ambitious series with outstanding production values, this was a thrilling and atmospheric tale, brilliantly realised.” Nominees Utopia, Kudos for Channel 4  My Mad Fat Diary, A Tiger Aspect Production for E4

Single Drama

The Challenger BBC Science, Erste Weltweit Medien, Moonlighting Films, The Open University, Pictureshow Productions (US Unit) and Science Channel for BBC Two  “Absorbing, compelling and informative, this was a confident drama that felt like a Hollywood movie.” Nominees Burton and Taylor, BBC Drama Production London/BBC America for BBC Four  Our Girl, BBC Drama Production London for BBC One

Soap and Continuing Drama

Coronation Street ITV Studios for ITV  “Beautifully written, blending the funny and the tragic, and with terrific performances… Drama at its very best.” Nominees Emmerdale, ITV Studios for ITV  Casualty, BBC Drama Production Wales for BBC One

Live Event

The Ashes – 2013 Sky Sports  “Effortless, confident and fresh, with great use of pundits… the winning programme has moved cricket coverage on.” Nominees Bollywood Carmen Live, BBC Music Television for BBC Three  Wimbledon Men’s Final, BBC Sport for BBC One

Presenter

Stephen Fry – Stephen Fry: Out There Maverick Television and Sprout Pictures for BBC Two  “A memorable piece of work – heartfelt, passionate, personal and eloquent.” Nominees David Attenborough – Galapagos 3D with David Attenborough, Colossus Productions for Sky 3D and Sky 1  Davina McCall – Long Lost Family, Wall To Wall for ITV

Entertainment

The Last Leg An Open Mike Production for Channel 4  “This show is confident, clever and witty – and has heart. It has successfully moved beyond its niche into a more mainstream entertainment show, while still pushing the boundaries.” Nominees A League of Their Own, CPL Productions for Sky 1  Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, ITV Sudios and Mitre Television for ITV

Entertainment Performance

Alan Carr – Alan Carr: Chatty Man An Open Mike Production for Channel 4  “Hugely likeable, with a sharp eye for pretensions that need popping, he’s fearless in the face of fame.” Nominees Leigh Francis – Celebrity Juice/ Through the Keyhole, Talkback (part of FremantleMedia UK) for ITV  Ant & Dec – Britain’s Got Talent/Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Thames (part of FremantleMedia UK) and Syco Entertainment/ITV Studios and Mitre Television for ITV

Lifetime Achievement: David Suchet CBE

Popular Factual and Features

Gogglebox Studio Lambert for Channel 4  “Endlessly watchable, authentic, brilliantly cast, and by turns hilarious and profoundly moving. It tackled difficult subjects in a fresh and illuminating way, placing the viewer at the centre of the action.” Nominees Long Lost Family, Wall To Wall for ITV  Gadget Man, North One Television for Channel 4

Single Drama

History

Richard III: King in the Car Park Darlow Smithson for Channel 4  “The winning programme created headlines around the world, and vividly portrayed the application of forensic science to a major historical mystery. It was presented with huge gusto, authority and sense of event.” Nominees Secrets From the Workhouse, Wall To Wall for ITV  The Story of the Jews, An Oxford Film & Television Production for BBC and THIRTEEN in association with WNET for BBC Two �

History

Lifetime Achievement David Suchet CBE

‘The recipient has had an extraordinary career in theatre as well as television, appearing in All My Sons, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Way We Live Now, Great Expectations, Maxwell and Blott on the Landscape, among many others. ‘He is currently in rehearsal for a world tour of The Last Confession. There is, however, one role with which he is synonymous... ‘In November last year a legendary TV series came to an end. After an extraordinary 25 years the final episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot was broadcast on ITV, and there can be few actors who have made a role so their own as the man who played Hercule Poirot for that quarter century. ‘The Christie family were delighted to see our recipient suggested for the part and it’s now hard to imagine a better choice for playing the little Belgian with his “little grey cells”. ‘This is a testimony to David’s performance: it was immaculate but unshowy; so true that he simply was Poirot; so real and part of television’s DNA that we couldn’t conceive of him not being there. To borrow part of a famous quote from Prince Charles, Poirot was “an elegant and much-loved friend”. ‘But perhaps the funniest moment in the reaction to Poirot’s death was during Channel 4’s Googlebox. While we watched a family watching Curtain, a teenage boy (and certainly not the most obvious Poirot fan), was absolutely flabbergasted when David peeled off his moustache. “You mean to say the moustache was false!,” he stammered. ‘It was perhaps the most famous moustache on TV and David’s fame will live on as he goes down in television history as the exemplar of an actor delivering a definitive performance. To do that for a quarter of a century is truly extraordinary.’

Drama Series

Entertainment

Soap and Continuing Drama

Live Event

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Presenter

Judges’ Award Janice Hadlow ‘The winner of [the] Judges’ Award has just stepped down from one of the key roles in British television. She started her career with the BBC as a production trainee in 1986, becoming a producer on Woman’s Hour and Start the Week. ‘She moved into television as Producer and then Editor of The Late Show before being appointed Deputy Head of the BBC’s Music and Arts Department. ‘After a brief spell at Channel 4, she returned to take the helm of BBC Four in 2004 and was appointed Controller of BBC Two four years later. ‘During our winner’s tenure, BBC Two has seen a remarkable resurgence in specialist factual, comedy and drama and more than made its mark with live events. ‘Among the many hits that brought about this success are the immensely popular Great British Bake Off – which ended its most recent run with just under 10 milllion viewers – and The Great British Sewing Bee. ‘Historical and contemporary drama successes have ranged from The Hollow Crown to The Fall, which rated as the channel’s biggest drama launch in eight years. A broad range of comedy triumphs include Miranda, Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe, The Wrong Mans and the award-winning Twenty Twelve. ‘Stargazing Live and Lambing Live have established the channel as the home of special event television. Complementing its comedy, drama and entertainment slate, the channel has the widest range and the most knowledgebuilding programming of any BBC channels, with significant programmes such as The Story of the Jews and the Wonders of the Universe. ‘Our recipient is particularly well known for championing female talent across all the genres – both on and off screen, including Amanda Vickery, Alice Roberts, Sarah Millican and Mary Beard.’

Judges’ Award: Janice Hadlow

Writer – Comedy

Single Documentary

Science and Natural History

Children’s Fiction

International

Sports Programme

Science and Natural History

Africa BBC NHU, Discovery Channel, CCTV9, France Television for BBC One  “The winning programme was vast, epic and breathtaking, with beautiful storytelling.” Nominees How To Win the Grand National, An OSF Wales Production for Channel 4  Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony, BBC Science/Science Channel for BBC Four

Single Documentary

Writer – Drama (Run)

The Murder Trial Windfall Films West for Channel 4  “From a very strong shortlist, the winner is an exquisitely well-made and gripping real-life drama, which brought something genuinely new to the viewer.” Nominees Dogging Tales, Minnow Films for Channel 4  The Unspeakable Crime: Rape, Gold Star Productions for BBC One

Scripted Comedy

PLEBS Rise Films for ITV2  “Fresh, funny and confident, with fantastic scale, the winning comedy seamlessly melded contemporary attitudes with an ambitious historical setting.” Nominees Toast of London, Objective Productions for Channel 4  A Touch of Cloth II: Undercover Cloth, Zeppotron for Sky 1

Gary Neville – Sky Sports Sky Sports  “In a short time the winner has mastered his ‘new’ craft – intelligent views delivered with honesty and integrity.” Nominees Clare Balding – C4 Racing, IMG Productions for Channel 4 Gabby Logan – World Athletics, BBC Sport for BBC One/BBC Two

Sports Programme

World Athletics – Mo Farah’s Double Gold Win BBC Sport for BBC One  “With brilliant pundits and presenters who always avoided cliché, the winning programme felt modern and creative.” Nominees FA Cup Final, ITV Sport for ITV  Andy Murray: The Man Behind the Racquet, BBC Sport for BBC One

Writer – Drama

Marlon Smith and Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan – Run Acme Films for Channel 4  “Stories from our lives, carefully constructed yet superbly authentic and believable.” Nominees Dennis Kelly – Utopia, Kudos for Channel 4  Chris Chibnall – Broadchurch, Kudos for ITV

Writer – Comedy

Game of Thrones HBO Entertainment in association with: Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television; and Generator Productions broadcast on Sky Atlantic  “Bravely structured on a shockingly brilliant scale, this was sophisticated, engaging and consistently amazing.” Nominees The Returned, Haut et Court for Channel 4  Storyville – Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, Roast Beef Productions for BBC Four

James Corden and Mathew Baynton, with Tom Basden – The Wrong Mans BBC Comedy Production London/Hulu co-production for BBC Two  “Original, funny and strong writing with smart, well-drawn characters. Ambitious and completely gripping, it drew the two styles of comedy and drama together beautifully with a net effect of laugh-out-loud comedy.” Nominees Writing Team – Psychobitches, Tiger Aspect Productions for Sky Arts  Sam Leifer and Tom Basden – PLEBS, Rise Films for ITV2

Judges’ Award

Lifetime Achievement

International

Scripted Comedy

Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit

Janice Hadlow

David Suchet CBE

Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

RTS NEWS The RTS Wales Centre was founded on 10 April 1959, when it was called RTS Cardiff and South Wales

Kay Burley

Hywel Wiliam

Burley’s back story

From left: Raybould; Rosie; George; and Thomas

The facts of TV life

tudents, tutors and new entrants were given a taste of working in documentary and factual media production at a Wales Centre event in Cardiff in March. Three expert panellists – Phil George (Green Bay), Paul Islwyn Thomas (Bulb Films) and Samantha Rosie (BBC Cymru Wales) – discussed how they built careers in television. “Breaking into factual TV and film” was chaired by Hannah Raybould of the Wales Media Academy. Rosie started in corporate video, once working with Eamonn Holmes on a film promoting spark plugs, before joining the BBC’s Garden Festival Wales team as an assistant producer. But she was learning her craft as she went along: “I was prepared to start at the bottom, but I was like a sponge, taking it all in.” Thomas was set to become

a musician but he “got the bug” for factual programmes at university. Working as a runner for London outside broadcast company Trillion, he said he “became brilliant at flower arranging and making Polish ham sandwiches”. Offering to park the MD’s Porsche every day got him noticed, and he was offered an assistant editor’s post, but it was a film he made at college about the miners’ strike that became his calling card. George worked in education, entering TV in his mid30s. “There are fewer opportunities to make shortform pieces on television today,” he said. “Slots and programmes are precisely analysed through market research and focus groups by commissioners who know their audience.” The panel also gave advice on CVs, pitching ideas and taster videos. Hywel Wiliam

There are two Kay Burleys working for Sky. One of them is based at a call centre in Scotland while the other has been an indomitable presence on its 24-hour news channel for 25 years. They have probably never crossed paths – but they quickly became aware of each other when the Sky payroll computer switched salary cheques. It was a thrilling, but short-lived, moment for the call-centre worker when she opened the pay packet of one of the channel’s highest-paid stars. Her namesake did not go into detail about her own response, however, when she talked about the incident at an RTS event at Sunderland University produced in associa-

tion with the Radio Academy. The 200-strong audience was left in no doubt that the straight-talking Burley is a force to be reckoned with. In a candid and revealing interview with media executive John Myers, she talked of sexism in newsrooms, famous and infamous interviews and having a facelift. She spoke of her early years in Wigan, where she learned how to flatten her vowels by recording Ceefax scripts and listening back. ‘I was worried about my Lancashire accent – these days it doesn’t matter,’ Burley said. Her big break came when she ran into TV-am boss Bruce Gyngell. ‘I’d done my research. He liked me. I’ve always believed: fail to prepare, pre-

Unsung but crucial programme role ■ One of Ireland’s most experienced production managers gave RTS Futures members in Belfast an eyeopening workshop in production-management techniques at the end of February. Green Inc Head of Produc-

tion Helen Murray’s credits include TV work for London-based production companies and feature films such as Puckoon and Freeze Frame. The role of production manager is pivotal in both television and film production. Demand is high in

Graeme Aldous

Happy 55th RTS Wales

Northern Ireland, yet there is little formal training available at universities and colleges. At the workshop, Murray explained: the commissioning process; office set-up and insurance; health, safety and legal issues; finance and budgeting; as well as the importance of good communications and the post- production paperwork. Belfast-based Green Inc’s productions include Monumental and Keeping the Castle. Orla Sharpe

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

North East sets record year for production

Wolfblood stars Kedar WilliamsStirling (left), Louisa ConnollyBurnham and Bobby Lockwood

hree of the North East’s most popular television stars were honoured by the RTS at a ceremony on Tyneside in early March. Gina McKee, star of BBC Two’s Hebburn, won Performance of the Year and accepted her award via a live link from a studio in Brighton where she was filming. Robson Green’s series, Tales from Northumberland, was named Best Factual Programme, and Pam Royle, host of ITV Tyne Tees and Border News, picked up Presenter of the Year. Jacqui Hodgson, editor of the BBC’s long-running regional current affairs strand, Inside Out, was presented with the prestigious Centre Award by RTS CEO Theresa Wise. In her acceptance speech Hodgson made a passionate defence of programme production in the English regions. The audience of more than 400 industry guests at the Newcastle Gateshead Hilton

heard how Hodgson had helped to persuade the BBC Trust to drop its plans to cut 40% of the regions’ budget. Chair of North East and the Border Centre Graeme Thompson said: “It’s been an extraordinary 12 months for production and innovation in this corner of the UK. We’ve seen a record eight drama productions based here in addition to documentaries, short films and features. The re-commissioning by the BBC of children’s dramas Wolfblood and The Dumping Ground confirms the region as a centre of excellence for children’s production.” BBC Breakfast business presenter Steph McGovern hosted the ceremony, which showcased the best of television and digital media production in the North East and Cumbria. Among the attendees at the event were Stephen Tompkinson (DCI Banks), Laura Norton (Emmerdale), Terry Deary (Horrible Histories), Ann Cleeves (the creator of Vera, the ITV cop

Olwyn Hocking

pare to fail. And I’ve never been one to take no for an answer,’ said Burley. The move to Sky in 1988 was a big risk: ‘At that time more people had seen the Loch Ness Monster than Sky News, but I’ve never regretted it. Winners don’t quit and quitters don’t win. It’s the best flippin’ job in the world. All you need is a thick skin, a strong liver and good mates.’ She said that while she was aware of sexism and ageism in broadcasting and newsrooms, ‘I have never encountered sexism in the Sky newsroom. ‘I have a very strong work ethic. I get to do the big stories. Being a woman or being an older woman has never been an issue.’ Asked about her facelift, she said: ‘It’s not about work. I like to look good for myself.’ Discussing her on-screen style, she said: ‘Some interviewers ask really long questions to show how clever they are. That’s not me. I am the conduit to the story for the viewer. I’m a journalist – I am not the story.’ She was questioned, however, about occasions when she had become the story, such as leaving her son’s birthday party to fly to Spain to get an exclusive interview with Rebecca Loos about her relationship with David Beckham. Graeme Thompson

series set in Northumberland starring Brenda Blethyn, which was named Best Drama), and BBC North director Peter Salmon. Other winners on the night included: Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (Outstanding Contribution to Comedy and Drama); Richard Murton of post production house IG Media, who won the Rising Star Award; Alison Freeman, BBC Look North (Journalist of the Year); the BBC’s Keith Blackburn (Best Camera Operator); John Scott Patterson (Best Graphics, Titling and Animation); and Dan Farthing (Scoop of the Year). The North East and the Border Centre’s Student Television Awards were won by: the University of Cumbria for Arribada: the Arrival in the Factual category; University of Sunderland for International News Network (Entertainment) and UMBRAS (Animation); and Northumbria University for Blyth (Fiction). Matthew Bell

Making it in TV design 29 April l 6:30pm l Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam Street, London W1W 6JJ 38

Booking: jamie@rts.org.uk l www.rts-futures.org.uk September 2013 www.rts.org.uk Television

RTS NEWS

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

New ways of watching

we’re not seeing a revolution; we’re seeing an evolution. As the fluidity of multiple platforms increases, [platforms] are going to become more accessible,” said Stevenson. “TV is still the dominating [platform]. “Viewers will also try and get the best screen: when they’re on the sofa, it’s the TV; when they’re in the bedroom it might be a phone or tablet.” Katarzyna Mastela, a journalist and MA student in media management at the University of Westminster undertook a small research project on the viewing habits of 20 students for the RTS event. Typically, she said, “Students are multi-tasking. They’re cooking, studying, using social media and watching at the same time.” Mastela classified students into four groups: “vintage intellectuals”, who tended to be older and from higher social classes, and watch little TV; “quality TV lovers”; “web-generation multi-taskers”, who tend to be heavy users of social media and consume TV on all types of screens; and “leisure entertainment viewers”, who mostly watch live, linear TV. She concluded: “When

students have a choice, they choose the bigger screen.” Ali Shah, Head of Technology Direction at the BBC, said: “This year at CES you could not avoid wearable technology. Although I really like this sort of stuff, it never quite lives up to its promise.” “Traditional telly wasn’t the hottest topic. Discussions around ultra-high definition and 4K [TV] were consistently ranking third or fourth as the

most-talked-about topics at the show. “Does that mean TV is dead? Of course it doesn’t.” Manufacturers, of course, are always pushing new products at shows. “Last year 4K was in your face, all over the place,” added Shah. “This year it was prevalent, but around the edges, as wear able technology moved to the centre.” Matthew Bell

Factual award nominees and winners Dublin Institute of Technology scooped two of the three top prizes at the Republic of Ireland Centre’s Student Television Awards in February. The Factual award went to Kim Comiskey and Niamh O’Shaughnessy from the School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology for Sur La Pointe. In the Fiction category Kevin Henry

Charles Byrne

evices that track a child’s movements, curved TV screens, driverless cars, fitness watches… January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas lived up to its reputation as the world’s biggest gadget fest. In the wake of the show, RTS London Centre examined how consumer technology is changing the way we watch television. A panel of experts on mobile advances, consumer research and TV technology, chaired by consultant Terry Marsh, discussed the latest advances. Introducing the event, Marsh asked: “What is television? Is it the set? Is it the channel? Is it the live experience of watching telly? Is it the transmitter?” For WebMobility Ventures Chairman Ken Blakeslee, “TV is content, but there are a lot of ways to get it into people’s eyeballs”. Describing the gadgets that caught his eye – wearable technology, trackers, watches and smart glasses – Blakeslee called CES a “fashion show”. “There was clothing with screens on it – this was more fashion than function. Next year we will be seeing a lot more function, I hope.” Phil Stevenson is a Senior Researcher at Actual Customer Behaviour, which, in a nutshell, watches people in their homes. “We see almost everything because we have cameras throughout the house,” he explained. Over the past two years ACB has studied people’s viewing of two big sporting events, the Olympics and the Super Bowl: “We were looking at what people were doing while they were watching. Because of their engagement with [the Olympics] people were seeking content across all platforms in order to stay up to date.” “Platform choice has been going up incrementally –

and Ciarán Gallagher from the institute took the award for The Last Confession. The Animation award was won by Don Carey from the Irish School of Animation at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, for Innisfree. The awards were sponsored by RTÉ and Egg Post Production and presented by RTÉ 1 Channel Controller George Dixon.

RTS Young Technologist of the Year Closing date for applications

16 June The Award advances education in the science, practice, technology and art of television and its allied fields. The prize is an all-expensespaid trip and free Gold Pass to the International Broadcasting Conference and Exhibition held annually in Amsterdam. There is an additional prize this year of free entry to the RTS London Conference 2014: ‘Power, Politics and the Media’ Application form and more details at:

www.rts.org.uk/awards

BBC wins in the West

he television community of the West of England turned out in force in early March to celebrate their work over the past 12 months. More than 400 guests attended a ceremony hosted by Carol Vorderman and featuring guest presenters Bill Bailey, chef James Martin, Professor Alice Roberts and Mark Millar from DIY SOS. The BBC had a successful evening, with its Natural History Unit scooping 11 awards for shows such as Africa, Wild Arabia and the Natural World strand across a number of categories. BBC Features triumphed with three awards for James Martin’s Food Map of Britain, DIY SOS: The Million Pound Build for Children in Need and Countryfile’s Ellie Harrison, who won the Female

On-Screen Talent award. Bill Bailey won the Male On-Screen Talent award, and his BBC Two show, Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero, took home the prize for Specialist Factual, as well as for Special Effects and Graphics. The TV comic also presented an award to writer Chris Chibnall for his work on ITV’s hit drama, Broadchurch. The Sir Ambrose Fleming Memorial Award for making an outstanding contribution to television in the RTS Bristol area went to BBC Four documentary strand Timeshift. The sponsors of the awards included title sponsor Evolutions Bristol, BBC NHU and BBC Features, Doghouse Post Production, BDH, Tigress Productions, Films at 59, UWE and Big Bang Post Production. Suzy Lambert

RTS offers Sky Scholars networking opportunities The RTS is partnering with Sky to offer six Sky Academy TV Scholarships on certain courses run by the National Film and Television School and the Irish Institute of Design and Technology. The Scholarships are offered to young people (aged 18-30) from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with the aim of supporting and encouraging individuals who might not otherwise have considered a career in the media. The scholarships will be supported by

networking opportunities through one year’s free membership of the RTS and The Hospital Club and invitations to industry events. In addition to the mentoring provided by Sky as part of the courses, the scholars will receive group mentoring with Sky’s MD of Entertainment, Sophie Turner Laing. The Irish IDT scholar will have the opportunity for a paid work placement within the industry. The Sky Academy TV Scholarships will fully fund five places across two Sky sup-

ported NFTS one-year Diplomas (Broadcast Production and Digital Content and Formats) and one place on the Broadcast Production MA at the Irish Institute of Design and Technology. The closing date for Irish IDT applications is 9 May via www.iadt.ie. The closing date for NFTS applications is 5 June via www.nfts.co.uk.

RTS NEWS

Howard Lucas www.howardlucas.com

Southern celebration

wo hundred people attended the RTS Southern Centre Awards at Winchester Guildhall, which featured the work of 10 production companies, three regional broadcasters and student work from four universities. Standards were high, with routine material frequently transformed into something compelling and memorable. That was certainly the case with Steve Holloway of BBC South East, who won the Camera award. Best Newcomer was Sarah Cooper from ITV Meridian, who the judges described as “confident, in control and dealing well with unscripted reports”. Best Regional Journalist – Alex Forsyth from BBC South – “showed tenacity and flare in a portfolio of investigative and exclusive reports”. Fiona Irving from BBC South East took the award for Best Video Journalist. Lambent Productions won the Online Award for Olympic Spark – Fire Up Your Future and Fixers took the Non-Broadcast Award for its creative and well-shot films. Indie successes in the broadcast categories included Ricochet for Factual, Sweet TV for Post Production and Topical TV for Best Feature in a Strand.

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

Best Technical Achievement was ITV Meridian’s local opt-out system, which offers sub-regional advertising and sponsorship, resulting in commercially viable local news services. The hotly contested award for Best Regional News Prog ramme went to BBC South East Today for a show that the judges said “was absolutely made for its audience” and “a really good mix of important local news stories, relevant outside broadcasts and softer features”. There was a dazzling array of student work on offer and the judges struggled to decide the winners.

The Arts University Bournemouth won the Fiction category with Untitled Blues and Animation with Tiger is Gun. Southampton Solent University took the Factual prize with Birdman and the Entertainment award was won by Bournemouth University for an imaginative children’s programme, Mini-Munchies. The ceremony on 21 February received very welcome support in kind from BBC South and ITV Meridian, and sponsorship from Arqiva, Bournemouth University and Southampton Solent University. Gordon Cooper

Tracing the Quiet Man Film-maker Sé Merry Doyle talked to the Republic of Ireland Centre in March about his documentary, John Ford: Dreaming the Quiet Man, which features contributions from Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich and Maureen O’Hara. Ford’s 1952 romantic comedy-drama, The Quiet Man, which won two Oscars,

is one of the most famous movies made in Ireland. Doyle, who has also worked as a stage director and editor, started his project with video interviews of people who had been in the film, much of which was shot in and around the village of Cong in County Mayo. Charles Byrne

SDI gets an early requiem ■ In early March, Thames Valley Centre hosted a lively debate on the future of the serial digital interface, posing the question: “The death of SDI… is it finally here?” A panel of experts – Jan Eveleens of Axon, Lewis Kirkcaldie of Cinegy and Bruce Devlin of Amberfin – were ably refereed by John Ive from the broadcast and media technology association, IABM, who is also a Thames Valley Centre Committee member. SDI has been the mainstay of uncompressed digital video and audio signal transfer in television for many years. SDI enables highbandwidth video and audio connectivity in all areas from live production to editing and playout, in real-time. Although technical challenges remain, IP is now a potential replacement. Technical acronyms rained like confetti as the panel discussed the changes occurring in different parts of the globe. Standards bodies were invoked (IEEE, EBU, and SMPTE), and timing issues, latency, design of IT networks and routers were all debated. Cultural challenges were also discussed, with both panel and audience identifying a need for more cross- disciplinary engineering. The discussion was thrown open to the floor and many points were raised, mainly around television’s need for real-time capability across entire systems. The outcome? Reports of the death of SDI are greatly exaggerated – but it will come. Penny Westlake

OFF MESSAGE

ongratulations to Evgeny Lebedev’s London Live for getting on air so smoothly. Unusually for upstart TV launches, the opening night appeared to be devoid of any obvious hitches. Three cheers, too, for adding to the UK’s on-screen diversity. Outside children’s TV, it’s hard to recall seeing so many non-white and youthful faces in a TV line-up. As Mark Lawson put it succinctly in The Guardian: “Lebedev’s entry into telly won’t frighten existing broadcasters artistically, but it might make them aware of how relatively old, male and white they look.” ■ Less impressive were the initial viewing figures. On day one, the irreverently entitled Not the One Show managed 22,000. Later that evening a repeat of Misfits was watched by a mere 2,000 people. True, this is only the beginning, but it is not as if Lebedev’s papers are ignoring the station. Far from it. ■ Talking of cross-promotion, unless rumours of a joint bid by Discovery and BSkyB for Channel 5 turn out to be correct, whoever buys the network will no longer be able to plug the station in the press. Meanwhile, BT has indicated that it does not want to buy Channel 5. Speaking at the Advertising Week Europe conference, John Petter, CEO of BT Consumer, questioned C5

owner Richard Desmond’s £700m price tag and opined: “We would look at Channel 5 and we would say, from a customer point of view, there’s just not much to hang your hat on to really buy.” He explained that C5 lacks enough “strong programme formats”. Endemol might beg to differ. ■ Digital types were much in evidence at this year’s MIP TV – none more so that Vice Media CEO Shane Smith. The dress-down Smith, appearing on stage at a market conference session in shorts, explained why he sold 5% of Vice to 21st Century Fox. He said: “If you look at: ESPN, taken over by Disney; CNN, taken over by Time Warner; and MTV, now owned by Viacom – it is almost impossible to become an international media brand on your own.” A candid admission if ever there was one. ■ It’s all change at Sky Arts, with James Hunt unexpectedly exiting last month without a new job to go to. His replacement is Sky’s Head of Entertainment, Phil Edgar-Jones, who was once Executive Producer on 10 seasons of Big Brother. With Tony Hall promising “the biggest arts push in a generation” at the BBC, Sky’s new arts supremo perhaps needs to pay a bit more attention to the corporation’s activities on the cultural front. On the other hand, since Hall’s initiative looks completely preoccupied by high-end arts (an area

in which the BBC already super serves audiences), maybe Sky has even more headroom in which to experiment. ■ The Broadcasting Press Guild’s Annual Awards are always a high point of the television calendar. Last month’s – the Guild’s 40th – were no exception. Those who attended the shindig were especially pleased to see Sir Paul Fox present at the lunch-time event. The great BBC man was there to congratulate Bruce Forsyth (Strictly won in the Best Entertainment category) and Andrew Davies, among others. The prolific Davies was deservedly presented with the Harvey Lee Award in recognition of his lifetime achievement in drama. The screenwriter’s acceptance speech was commendably short. He made one telling point. This was to criticise the high quotient of “genre” and “crime drama” in contemporary schedules. The problem for commissioners and channel heads is that audiences like them. ■ And finally, staying with the BPG… For the record, here’s what its recent lunch guest, Virgin CEO Tom Mockridge, had to say regarding a possible bid for ITV – remember that in 2006 it was Virgin’s attempted play for the commercial PSB that led to James Murdoch at BSkyB swooping on ITV. “It’s unlikely,” opined Mockridge, “But never say never.”

March 2014 www.rts.org.uk Television

RTS PATRONS RTS Principal Patrons

BBC

RTS International Patrons

Discovery Corporate Services Ltd Liberty Global RTL Group Turner Broadcasting System Inc

Viacom International Media Networks Walt Disney Company

RTS Major Patrons

Accenture Channel 5 Deloitte Enders Analysis

FremantleMedia IMG Studios ITN

Jonathan Shalit/ ROAR Global KPMG McKinsey and Co

S4C STV Group UKTV YouView

RTS Patrons

Autocue Channel Television Digital Television Group Ikegami Electronics UK ITV Anglia

ITV Granada ITV London ITV Meridian ITV Tyne Tees ITV West

ITV Yorkshire ITV Wales Lumina Search PricewaterhouseCoopers Quantel

Raidio Teilifis Eireann University College, Falmouth UTV Television Vinten Broadcast

Patron HRH The Prince of Wales

Chair of RTS Trustees John Hardie

CENTRES COUNCIL

AWARDS COMMITTEE CHAIRS

President Sir Peter Bazalgette

Honorary Secretary David Lowen

Vice-Presidents Dawn Airey Sir David Attenborough OM

Honorary Treasurer Mike Green

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who at the RTS

CH CVO CBE FRS

Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE Dame Colette Bowe OBE John Cresswell Mike Darcey Greg Dyke Lorraine Heggessey Ashley Highfield Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP David Lynn Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Ken MacQuarrie Trevor Phillips OBE Stewart Purvis CBE John Smith Sir Howard Stringer Mark Thompson

BSkyB

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Tim Davie Mike Green John Hardie Huw Jones Jane Lighting Graham McWilliam David Lowen Simon Pitts Graeme Thompson

EXECUTIVES

Chief Executive Theresa Wise Deputy Chief Executive Claire Price

Channel 4

Andy Batten-Foster Mike Best Charles Byrne Isabel Clarke Alex Connock Gordon Cooper Tim Hartley Kristin Mason Graeme Thompson Penny Westlake (acting chair) James Wilson Michael Wilson

SPECIALIST GROUP CHAIRS

Diversity Marcus Ryder

ITV

Awards & Fellowship Policy David Lowen

Craft & Design Awards Nigel Pickard Television Journalism Awards Richard Sambrook Programme Awards David Liddiment Student Television Awards Patrick Younge

Early Evening Events Dan Brooke IBC Conference Liaison Terry Marsh History & Archives Don McLean RTS Futures Camilla Lewis RTS Legends Paul Jackson

Television www.rts.org.uk April 2014

RTS LONDON 2014

CON FERENCE

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

ADV IS ORY COM M IT T EE Rob Woodward

Chief Executive, STV (Chair of Advisory Committee)

Peter Bazalgette President, RTS

Darren Childs

Steve Hewlett David Lynn

Chief Executive, UKTV

Exec VP and MD, Viacom International Media Networks

Alan Clements

Graham McWilliam

Executive Producer, STV

Stuart Cosgrove

Director of Creative Diversity, Channel 4 Glasgow

Simon Pitts

Director of Strategy & Transformation ITV; MD SDN, ITV

Director of Corporate Affairs, BSkyB

Gavin Mann

Partner, Accenture

Sonja Murdoch

Global Media & Entertainment Practice Manager, McKinsey & Co

Susanna Dinnage

Philipp Nattermann

Cecile Frot-Coutaz

Stewart Purvis Sue Robertson Jim Ryan

General Manager, Discovery Corporate Services Ltd Chief Executive, FremantleMedia Group Ltd

Alex Graham Bobby Hain

Director of Channels, STV

Tony Hall

Director-General, BBC

John Hardie

Chief Exective, ITN

Director of UK Media Practice, McKinsey & Co

Chief Strategy Officer, Liberty Global

Ed Shedd

Partner, Deloitte

Martin Stott

Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Channel 5

9 SEPTEMBER KINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PLACE, LONDON N1