November 2015

Humans: Anatomy of a hit Totally connected, delivering quality experiences in the digital age

Fujitsu helps media leaders engage global audiences. Deploying ICT solutions with exceptional security and performance. Together, we can make it happen. uk.fujitsu.com/media Journal of The Royal Television Society November 2015 l Volume 52/10

From the CEO Nowadays, it’s hard to Goodman-Hill, executives from the thrilled to attend the first RTS North- open a newspaper Channel 4 commissioning team, two ern Ireland Programme Awards. without coming executive producers at Kudos, which They were held at the brilliant Met- across an article on made the series, and writers Jonathan ropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast. John how robots will own Brackley and Sam Vincent. Sergeant was a wonderful MC and it the future. Artificial I am grateful to all of them and to was so great to have Christine Bleak- intelligence has been everyone else who made this event, ley present as a special guest. at the top of the RTS’s agenda during the latest in our “Anatomy of a hit” Meanwhile, don’t forget that the RTS recent weeks. First up was a discussion strand, such a fabulous evening. Craft & Design Awards 2014-2015 will with the team behind Channel 4’s hit To say that Demis’ talk was massively be presented on Monday 30 Novem- drama Humans, followed by the RTS/ stimulating is an understatement. ber at the London Hilton, Park Lane. IET Joint Public Lecture, given by the Thanks, too, to BBC Worldwide’s Tim peerless co-founder of DeepMind, Davie for being such an exemplary Demis Hassabis. chair and to all of you who attended At the Humans event – this month’s this sold-out event. cover story – we heard from cast Outside of London, the RTS has members Gemma Chan and Tom been making its presence felt. I was Theresa Wise Contents Lorraine Heggessey’s TV Diary The serious business of comedy Lorraine Heggessey enjoys an unusual sing out An expert panel examines the challenges facing TV 5 from choirmaster Gareth Malone and meets some 22 comedy in the digital era. Stuart Kemp reports inspirational women Our Friend in the West The human factor The role of PSB is changing in the digital era, but the The stars, writers and producers of Humans explain 25 BBC is wrong to claim that market failure is not part 6 how the hit drama was nurtured for the small screen. of its remit, argues Ron Jones Steve Clarke takes notes How TV defines the digital era Is Channel 4 for sale? Michael Wolff likes to pick a fight. So how come he The Government rules nothing out as the network’s 26 is praising traditional TV networks in his latest book? 10 future exercises minds in Whitehall and Hollywood. If only it were that simple, discovers Simon Shaps Maggie Brown goes behind the scenes Hard graft and long hours The content guru You need to be dedicated to get ahead in TV – but the Tim Hincks oversees so many shows that he cannot 28 job satisfaction can be huge. Matthew Bell reports 13 name them all. But in 2000, aged 32, he thought his TV career was already over, discovers Andrew Billen The drive for data Broadcasters and distributors need to put data at the Will smart machines out-create us? 30 heart of their businesses or risk being left behind, argue Demis Hassabis reflects on the obstacles to building Jean-Benoit Berty, Rahul Gautam and Chris Gianutsos 16 intelligent machines that could make TV shows. Matthew Bell is relieved RTS news Reports from RTS centres around the nations and regions The truth of storytelling 33 Dramatist Jack Thorne talks to Steve Clarke about 19 his new series, The Last Panthers, and explains why artifice is the enemy of good drama Cover picture: Channel 4

Editor Production, design, advertising Royal Television Society Subscription rates Printing Legal notice Steve Clarke Gordon Jamieson 3 Dorset Rise, UK £115 ISSN 0308-454X © Royal Television Society 2015. [email protected] [email protected] London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman, The views expressed in Television Writer Sub-editor T: 020 7822 2810 Overseas (airmail) £172.22 20 Crimscott St, are not necessarily those of the RTS. Matthew Bell Sarah Bancroft E: [email protected] Enquiries: [email protected] London, SE1 5TP Registered Charity 313 728 [email protected] [email protected] W: www.rts.org.uk

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 3 Your guide to upcoming national and RTS NEWS regional events

RTS AWARDS Venue: Cavendish Conference SCOTLAND National events Wednesday 17 February 2016 Centre, 22 Duchess Mews, ■ James Wilson 07899 761167 RTS Television Journalism ­London W1G 9DT ■ james.wilson@cityofglasgow- RTS EARLY EVENING EVENT Awards 2014-2015 ■ Daniel Cherowbrier college.ac.uk Tuesday 24 November The London Hilton, Park Lane, ■ [email protected] The secret of soaps: the story London W1K 1BE SOUTHERN behind the stories MIDLANDS Friday 4 March 2016 Panellists: Stuart Blackburn, Pro- RTS AWARDS Wednesday 9 December Annual Awards/Student Awards ducer, Coronation Street; Debbie Thursday 3 March 2016 New directions in immersive Venue: TBC Oates, writer; Tina O’Brien, actress RTS Programme Awards 2015 entertainment ■ Gordon Cooper (Sarah-Louise Platt in Coronation nominations breakfast Presentation by Dr Nicholas ■ [email protected] Street); John Whiston, Managing Venue: The Hospital Club, 24 Endell Lodge. 6:30pm for 7:00pm Director, Continuing Drama, ITV. Street, London WC2H 9HQ Venue: IET, Kingston Theatre, THAMES VALLEY Chair: Paul Jackson. 6:30pm for Birmingham B1 2NP Friday 27 November 6:45pm JOINT PUBLIC LECTURE ■ Jayne Greene 07792 776585 25th Anniversary Dinner Dance Venue: One Great George Street, Wednesday 11 May 2016 ■ [email protected] Venue: Beaumont House Hotel, London SW1P 3AA RTS/IET Joint Public Lecture Burfield Rd, Old Windsor SL4 2JJ ■ Book online at www.rts.org.uk with Sir Paul Nurse NORTH EAST & THE BORDER Wednesday 9 December Director of the Francis Crick Wednesday 25 November Gopro and small camera CONFERENCE Institute. 6:30pm for 7:00pm Networking evenings systems­ Monday 30 November Venue: British Museum, London The last Wednesday of the month, 6:30pm for 7:00pm Who benefits? How can pov- WC1B 3DG for anyone working in TV, film, Venue: Pincents Manor, Calcot, erty be better portrayed on TV? computer games or digital Reading RG31 4UQ Organised jointly by the RTS, BBC, ­production. 6:00pm onwards. ■ Penny Westlake NCVO and Joseph Rowntree Local events Venue: Tyneside Bar Café, Tyne- ■ [email protected] Foundation. 10:00am-4:00pm side Cinema, 10 Pilgrim St, New- Venue: Manchester Town Hall, BRISTOL castle upon Tyne NE1 6QG WALES Albert Sq, Manchester M60 2LA Thursday 3 December Friday 11 December Friday 20 November ■ Book online at www.rts.org.uk Christmas quiz Review of the Year ITV Wales through the decades Hosted by Ellie Barker and 7:00pm A look through the archives with RTS AWARDS Bob Crampton, ITV News West Venue: Live Theatre, Broad David Lloyd Monday 30 November Country. 7:45pm Chare, Quayside, Newcastle Venue: Aberystwyth Screen and RTS Craft & Design Awards Venue: Bristol Folk House, Upon Tyne NE1 3DQ Sound Archive, Aberystwyth, 2014-2015 40A Park Street, Bristol BS1 5JG Saturday 27 February 2016 Ceredigion SY23 3BU Hosted by Susan Calman Friday 4 March 2016 Annual Awards/Student Awards Friday 27 November Venue: The London Hilton, Park Annual Awards Venue: Newcastle Gateshead Christmas quiz Lane, London W1K 1BE Venue: Old Vic, King St, Bristol Hilton NE8 2AR Presenter: Daniel Glyn ■ Callum Stott 020 7822 2822 BS1 4ED ■ Jill Graham Venue: Jongleurs Club, Greyfriars ■ [email protected] ■ Belinda Biggam ■ [email protected] Rd, Cardiff CF10 3DP ■ [email protected] ■ Hywel Wiliam 07980 007841 RTS FUTURES NORTH WEST ■ [email protected] Tuesday 8 December DEVON & CORNWALL Thursday 11 February 2016 Christmas party ■ Kingsley Marshall Student Awards conference YORKSHIRE Celebration of Broadcast BAME ■ Kingsley.Marshall@falmouth. and presentation Sunday 22 November Hotshots 2015. 6:30pm for 6:45pm co.uk Venue: Salford University/Com- Student Television Awards Venue: The Hospital Club, 24 Endell pass Rooms, Lowry Theatre, Venue: York Racecourse Street, London WC2H 9HQ EAST ANGLIA Pier 8, Salford Quays M50 3AZ Thursday 10 December ■ Book online at www.rts.org.uk ■ Contact TBC ■ Rachel Pinkney 07966 230639 Christmas quiz ■ [email protected] 7:30pm RTS EARLY EVENING EVENT LONDON Venue: Trinity Arts Centre, Boar Thursday 4 February 2016 Wednesday 2 December NORTHERN IRELAND Lane, Leeds LS1 6HW In conversation with… Gary The consumer tech conundrum ■ John Mitchell Monday 25 January 2016 Davey Venue: iBurbia Studios, 3 Heath- ■ mitch.mvbroadcast@btinter- AGM Steve Hewlett interviews Gary field Terrace, London W4 4JE net.com Venue: Leeds Trinity University, Davey, Managing Director, Con- Wednesday 9 December Leeds LS18 5HD tent, Sky UK. 6:30pm for 6:45pm Christmas Lecture: REPUBLIC OF IRELAND ■ Lisa Holdsworth 07790 145280 Venue: The Hospital Club, 24 Endell Lorraine Heggessey ■ Charles Byrne (353) 87251 3092 ■ lisa@allonewordproductions. Street, London WC2H 9HQ 6:30pm for 7:00pm ■ [email protected] co.uk

4 November 2015 www.rts.org.uk Television TV diary

Lorraine Heggessey enjoys an unusual sing out from choirmaster Gareth Malone and meets some inspirational women

ff to The Club at team backed by the Fund, who are have the “not invented here” syn- The Ivy for Sue celebrating their first broadcast com- drome. She also has the courage to Perkins’s book missions. dismiss the idea of the 100-day plan, launch of Spec- as it wouldn’t have given her enough tacles. It turns out ■ Bake Off winner is Nadiya! Hooray! time to get to know such a geo- that Sue had a She’s hailed as a great role model graphically diverse company. penchant for for Muslim women, but I love the kilts as a child. Who knew? The room fact that she says on Woman’s Hour ■ The night of the Griersons – the isO full of talented, inspirational women. that she represents “stay-at-home 43rd British Documentary Awards I’m thrilled to meet the legend that mums” and what they can achieve. – has arrived. Much to my relief, is Mary Berry, though she, Mel and Sue the audience does sing – eventually. remain professionally tight-lipped ■ At a gala screening of Suffragette, it’s Gareth has picked the perfect anthem about who is going to win Bake Off. heartening to see a line of women for the documentary community: I’m rooting for Nadiya. on stage for the Q&A. Meryl Streep John Farnham’s You’re the Voice. says she modelled her performance It’s a huge relief to see more women ■ Next day it’s back to The Ivy for of Emmeline Pankhurst on a few on shortlists and winning awards this a meeting with choirmaster Gareth seconds of silent film. She then pro- year – and to see them take the Malone and Jane Callaghan, the ceeds to wow the audience with an microphone, unlike last year, when wonderful MD of The Grierson impromptu imitation of the footage. even the indomitable Norma Percy Trust. Gareth has kindly agreed to Hats off to producers Alison Owen didn’t make an acceptance speech. host the Grierson Awards for us and Faye Ward, along with director In a great moment, director Bruce this year and I suggest that he gets Sarah Gavron and writer Abi Morgan Goodison defers to his producer everyone singing at the start of the for their persistence. It took 11 years Susan Horth, who speaks passion- ceremony. He’s up for this, although to get the film off the ground. Surely, ately about Our World War: The First I wonder later whether our audience nothing to do with the fact that it’s Day. Trailblazer Kim Longinotto, of documentary-makers and televi- about women? who has spent her career giving sion executives will be as keen. exploited women a voice in some ■ It’s good to see the way that on- stunning films, is given the presti- ■ It’s a good month for the Head of and off-screen creative talent work gious Trustees’ Award. the Channel 4 Growth Fund, Laura across TV and film in the UK. A few Altogether now: Franses, who has secured a deal to days later, I’m gripped by new BBC You’re the voice, try and understand it back Sacha Baron Cohen and Andrew One drama River, written by none Make a noise and make it clear Newman’s new company. The duo other than Abi Morgan. It’s as close to Oh-wo-wo-wo, oh-wo-wo-wo will be working with new talent as Scandi-noir as I’ve seen on British TV. We’re not gonna sit in silence they develop comedy shows. We’re not gonna live with fear Whether you’re well established ■ Endemol Shine CEO Sophie or fresh out of college, starting a new ­Turner Laing is guest speaker at Neil Lorraine Heggessey is Chair of The Grier­ company is challenging. I meet up Smith’s “Presidents’ Lunch”. She says son Trust and Independent Advisor to with Renowned Films, the youngest it’s only Brits and Americans that Channel 4’s Growth Fund.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 5 The human factor Channel 4

t seems that every successful Hawkins [played by Tom Goodman-Hill] television show needs a degree Content takes daughter Sophie to the store that of serendipity. As we discovered sells synths, where he is first introduced during the latest RTS “Anatomy to android Anita and her robotic charms. of a hit” session, Channel 4’s The stars, writers and “It was important to get the balance surprise summer hit, Humans, producers of Humans between the eerie, unsettling side of it was no exception. and the banality, the everydayness, of IThe British producer, Kudos, famous explain how the hit it,” explained Vincent. for Spooks, Life on Mars and Broadchurch, “That is why the salesman’s dialogue got lucky when it got into bed with drama was nurtured is very colloquial. We were thinking AMC, the US cable channel equally for the small screen. about the Apple Store. It is a very sleek, famous for Mad Men and Breaking Bad. modern place but what goes on there Kudos got luckier still when it cast Steve Clarke takes notes is actually very everyday. Gemma Chan as the implausibly pretty “You don’t want to overplay the synth, Anita/Mia, purchased to restore worked on Spooks] created different spookiness. You want it to feel real.… equilibrium to the Hawkins household, story strands and a different psycho- It was important for us to get that right but whose arrival only adds to the logical dimension within those charac- and to feel that it was just a family domestic dysfunction. ters and the story. I think that’s what purchasing a piece of very hi-tech Based on the award-winning Swedish made it an original show.” consumer technology.” drama, Real Humans, executives at He added: “It probably took eight This determination to anchor Humans Kudos explained to the RTS audience to nine months between seeing the in today’s world and reflect contempo- how the show, Channel 4’s most popu- original tape and Channel 4 commis- rary concerns was one reason for its lar drama for 20 years, reached the sioning Humans.… extraordinary success, the panellists screen. “We wanted to take the original suggested. A three-minute teaser was enough show to a different level. I am not say- “That’s probably the key to the show’s to start pulses racing at Kudos, recalled ing our show is better than theirs, it is popularity. It charmed the viewers. It is Humans Executive Producer, Derek Wax. just a different show because we felt a very domestic way in to what could “It was so original that we decided we there was more to explore in the family be seen as a science-fiction show,” said wanted to option it,” he said. “We dynamic.” Brackley. swooped and did a deal with Matador For Brackley and Vincent, used to “It is a science-fiction show, but the [the Swedish producer]. writing taut, exciting scripts for Spooks, balance between the domestic aspect “We went to Sweden and talked to it was important to ground the show and seeing how the family deal with them about how they had made the in humdrum reality, regardless of the their new technology brought in a show. We took their original idea and fantasy element. broader and wider audience.” then Jon and Sam [writers Jonathan The audience was played a clip from Channel 4’s Deputy Head of Drama, Brackley and Sam Vincent, who’d Humans’s opening episode, in which Joe Beth Willis, agreed. She highlighted the

6 From left: Beth Willis, Simon Maxwell, Chris Fry, Derek Wax, Tom Goodman-Hill, Gemma Chan, Sam Vincent, Jonathan Brackley and Stephen Armstrong Paul Hampartsoumian Paul character of working mother Laura relationship with AMC. I don’t think Hawkins, a lawyer juggling the demands YOU DON’T WANT we disagreed on anything. There was of bringing up three children, domestic real editorial synergy.” chores and life at the office. TO OVERPLAY Regarding the key question of cast- Willis said: “The key thing for us was THE SPOOKINESS. ing this ambitious drama, Kudos exec- that, at the heart of it, it was about life, utives said that they had a tailwind about motherhood and being a family. YOU WANT IT TO behind them. “It came together like a “Laura tries to look after her family FEEL REAL dream, is the short answer,” noted Fry. and keep it together.... It speaks to what “It was all based on the script. every working mother feels, which is “Every cast member who came in her perpetual guilt and terror that they in Gerrards Cross but where, exactly, to audition said that these are the best are not doing anything good enough. is Gerrards Cross?’ They wanted to and most interesting scripts we’ve “Despite the fact that it was very include American slang, such as ‘ass- ever read. Most actors probably say sci-fi, it felt very human to me.… If I had hole’. There was no way that we could that [laughter from the audience], but to guess why it worked, it would be the make a hybrid show in which British I thought it was genuine… central guilt and worry that we all feel characters spoke American slang.” “Gemma [Chan] was probably one about family and work and home.” Chris Fry, another executive producer of the first people in on the day we Finding the right co-producer for a on Humans, praised AMC’s contribution started casting.… She just sort of was high-profile TV drama is rarely straight- to the series: “It was supportive and Anita. (See box on page 8, for what it’s forward. Originally, Xbox was to partner productive on notes and on the edit.” like to play a synth.) on Humans, but when, in the summer of “AMC embraced the fact that it’s a “I remember, after she’d done her 2014, the company announced that it British show,” Wax stressed. “It wanted first reading, we all sat there and none was closing its fledgling entertainment us to cast an American actor, but we of us could think of a note. Tom, again, studio, Kudos was left with a problem. wanted to cast an American actor, too. came in and nailed it straight away.” Wax took up the story: “We suddenly It made perfect sense that George Hurt, an artificial intelligence nut from had to find a new partner. We talked [played by William Hurt] was American.” boyhood, came to the show via AMC. As to quite a number of potential co-­ Channel 4’s Head of International for the casting of the other main charac- producers. AMC was the one most Drama, Simon Maxwell, said it had ters, Kudos’s US collaborator was attuned to the show that we wanted to helped that, by the time new US pro- happy to keep the star quotient low. make. In co-production, it is all about duction partners were being sought, Wax pointed out that both Jon Hamm being on the same page. Kudos and the broadcaster “had a really in Mad Men and Bryan Cranston in “We did speak to people, who I won’t solid idea of what the show was. We had Breaking Bad were not Hollywood name, who wanted to make it more two great scripts – the first two episodes A-listers before landing these parts. He American.… – and a bible of the rest of the show. added: “It’s all about the quality of the “They said: ‘Could they call the mum, “AMC knew exactly what it was acting. AMC wanted truthful actors and Mom?’ And they said, ‘It’s fine setting it buying into.… It was a very close people who were right for the role.” �

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 7 The challenge of playing a robot…

Gemma Chan as Anita ON SCREEN ON SCREEN ON SCREEN Paul Hampartsoumian Paul

Gemma Chan: ‘I want to thank how to stand up and sit down to how choreog­rapher Dan O’Neill.… He was to pick up a glass. The simplest things with us before we started filming to became very.… On the first day of help us with the movement work. filming, I got home and I felt my head ‘The production team were clear was going to explode. Having to try and that they didn’t want anything overtly remember all the technical stuff and robotic. Regarding the synth move- how many steps it was to the door, as ment, they didn’t want any head cock- well as trying to act in the scenes, was ing, but they did want something that really, really hard. was other than human. ‘I felt really jealous of the humans.... ‘Dan took it back to basics and said: On the plus side, what you do discover “There has to be efficiency and econ- as an actor is the power that you have Humans omy to every movement because every in stillness and in not giving everything movement uses up battery power.” away. You have to find a different way ‘Everything had to be relearnt, from to express emotions.’ � “From the co-production point of view, casting is one of the key areas where you can have disagreements,” said Maxwell. “It was an example of … and playing opposite a robot how smooth the entire process was… there wasn’t one major casting disagreement.” “We had an amazing cast,” Fry emphasised. “Not just the synths, but the incredibly emotional performances from Tom and Gemma. Throughout the series, I wanted it to feel real and truthful and not too big and height- ened for the whole thing to work.” Willis drew attention to the perfor- mance of Katherine Parkinson as Laura Hawkins, known to Channel 4 Tom Goodman-Hill and Gemma Chan ON SCREEN ON SCREEN ON SCREEN Paul Hampartsoumian Paul audiences for her part in The IT Crowd. “For the channel, it’s important that Tom Goodman-Hill: ‘It was incredibly ‘Every now and again, she lets out the cast felt real and not too showy,” weird, especially in the early episodes, something that is slightly quizzical or she said. “Katherine felt so natural and when Gemma was ostensibly playing slightly human. That was then very so real. I am so glad we had her.” Anita.… unsettling… Throughout the RTS discussion, the ‘It’s really unsettling, particularly ‘As a family, the first big scene we did panellists highlighted how Humans’ in episodes three and four: Joe is with Anita was the scene around the subject matter engaged with contem- reflected back on himself and trying to breakfast table. porary issues – the litmus test, per- find out what Laura finds so fascinating ‘We were completely freaked out haps, of all decent science fiction, be it about her and trying to find out what because Gemma was furiously con- Kurt Vonnegut or 2001: A Space Odyssey. he finds so unsettling about her. centrating on making sure she was Centre stage was the role “intelligent” ‘What Gemma’s really doing, which is staying in Anita mode. It was weird machines have in most of our lives and extremely unnerving, is reflecting you because Gemma was slightly detached how they might eventually control us. back at yourself for a lot of the time. from us… it was really strange.’ “At what point do our own creations start making us obsolete,” asked

8 Channel 4

Maxwell. “We all invite technological robot. “The robot’s sense of gender gadgets into our lives, but at what cost? IF I HAD TO GUESS comes from the way it experiences the “That is one of the reasons why the world and how other people react to it. show proved so successful. There is WHY IT WORKED, That gets reinforced [in the Hawkins fear in our relationship with technol- IT WOULD BE THE home],” she said. ogy. Because we fear it might make us Work has already begun on a second obsolete, but we can’t be made obso- CENTRAL GUILT season, due to air next year. The writ- lete because of our humanity and our AND WORRY THAT ers said that the aim was to notch the capacity for love.” storylines up a gear. “You can expect For a series that captured millions of WE ALL FEEL most of the cast to return,” promised people’s imaginations, the drama was Vincent. “In terms of tone, we want at its best when it was “complex and ABOUT FAMILY AND to go deeper into the relationships­ ambiguous and not too binary”, reck- WORK AND HOME between humans and synths – sexual, oned Wax. “It raised lots of ethical romantic love, platonic love. dilemmas and grey areas. We saw “It is such a rich area. We want to synths being abused in brothels… and in society who we treat as less than find new ways to get new relation- welcomed into homes to make our human. If you feel you can get away ships, be it with new characters or lives easier and give us quality time. with it or you’re in a position where new combinations of characters. We saw the huge anger some people they can’t even talk back… should you “We’re going to move the world on felt about them.” behave that way? That was what was a little bit, the canvas is a little broader. The synths’ servility raised questions interesting.” Some time has passed, allowing the about social hierarchies. “All the way Anita’s place in the Hawkins home ordinary synths to integrate that bit through, there are analogies to slavery. sets off an identity crisis in Joe. “He’s further and become more sophisticated It never articulates that, but it’s the trying to be a new male and failing. and more involved in the fabric of our subtext of the whole series,” said Wax. He thinks a synth is going to solve the lives.” “When we have a pliant person who problems and allow him to reconnect we own, we could do anything to them with his wife,” said Tom Goodman-Hill. ‘Humans: anatomy of a hit’ was an RTS and, if we do, does that degrade our “The opposite is the case and, event held at King’s Place, London, on own humanity?… The whole notion of because of this, Joe falls apart. That is 27 October. It was produced by Elena Kemp, understanding the humanity of people at the heart of the kind of gender con- PR Manager, Drama and Acquisitions, who are in a service profession, versations that are happening now.” Channel 4, Jamie O’Neill, RTS Events Co- Humans resonates with that.” Chan raised the question of whether ordinator, and Alex Wells, Senior Commu- Chan added: “There are people it is possible to program gender into a nications Manager, Endemol Shine Group.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 9 hen Ofcom holds its final board meeting of 2015 in Is Channel 4 December, it will have a list ofW the candidates competing to be the next Chair of Channel 4. At the top of the list will be Mark Price, outgoing for sale? Chief Executive of Waitrose and Deputy Chair of John Lewis. The advert for the post – a hugely The Government rules nothing out as the network’s sensitive one, as the Government explores the possibility of selling off future exercises minds in Whitehall and Hollywood. Channel 4 – was hurried out on 10 October by favoured headhunter Maggie Brown goes behind the scenes Dom Loehnis of Egon Zehnder, with a closing date of 16 November. A key requirement for the job was: “having regard to the debate around the future of the channel and of public service broadcasting’s contribution to the creative industries”. One worldly observer says: “The exam question to pass is, ‘Do you sup- port a for-profit Channel 4 model?’” This is seen as the key to the broad- caster being realistically valued. The appointment will be of acute interest to US media companies circling UK media assets. Claire Enders, Chief Executive of Enders Analysis, confirms: “We have been approached by banks seeking to understand what changes can be made to have a more attractive remit for Channel 4.” On 4 November, at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron admitted that “all the options” were being con- sidered for Channel 4, fuelling concerns that a sale is being discussed at Cabi- net level. This came after the SNP’s culture spokesman, John Nicolson, a former BBC and ITV news journalist, now the MP for East Dunbartonshire, asked: “Can the Prime Minister confirm… that no discussions are under way to priva- tise and imperil this much-loved and important public institution?” Cameron replied: “I want to make sure that Channel 4 has a strong and secure future and I think it is right to look at all the options, including to see whether private investment into Channel 4 could help safeguard it for the future. Let’s have a look at all the options, not close our minds like some on the Opposition front bench, who think private is bad and public is good.” The backdrop to selecting a successor to Lord Burns as Channel 4 Chair is the shock that the channel – and the entire UK broadcasting sector – received in

10 late September. An official on his way whole creative economy jumping up into Downing Street was snapped hold- and down. It is a profound embarrass- CHANNEL 4’S ing a document, headed “Assessment of ment to the Government.” It gave the ATTACK ON Channel 4 Corporation reform options”, impression that preparations for a by a vigilant press photographer. potentially radical change to Chan- ITS SUPPLIERS The document was written by a nel 4, created by Margaret Thatcher’s HAS BEEN senior DCMS figure and made clear first Government, were under way. that, behind the scenes, Secretary of And all without parliamentary debate. RELENTLESS. State John Whittingdale and Cabinet This point was taken up by the IT IS REAPING Office minister Matt Hancock had Culture, Media and Sport Committee, started work to explore selling Chan- which grilled Burns and Channel 4 A BIT OF WHAT nel 4 to the private sector. CEO David Abraham last month. IT HAS SOWN The photographed document noted Revealing that a fundamental review the agreement that “work should of Channel 4’s status is high on the ­proceed to examine the options for Government’s broadcasting agenda extracting greater financial value from also blew Whittingdale’s cover. the Channel 4 Corporation, focusing on At the Edinburgh International Tele- privatisation options in particular, while vision Festival in August, he sought to protecting its ability to deliver against reassure delegates that privatisation “is its remit”. not on our agenda”. But he also added It confirmed that the Shareholder that Channel 4’s remit “has nothing to Executive, the body that holds state do with ownership”. assets under the wing of the Treasury, The context is that a Conservative would seek permission to access the House of Commons majority has given accounts of Channel 4 to “enable more Chancellor George Osborne carte meaningful options analysis”. To be fair, blanche to return to his original plans the options include doing nothing. for broadcasting, formulated before On that list is Burns’s proposal that May 2010, when the Tories were forced Channel 4 should be converted from to form a coalition with the Lib Dems. a statutory corporation into a not-for- The Government is aware, however, profit, public-service trust. Under this that Channel 4 has wide, cross-party model, stakeholders, including the support and that any change to its independent sector, would guarantee statutory position might be difficult to its special remit. get through the House of Lords. The not-for-profit company shares Enders sees the Chancellor’s “impe- would be held by a revolving body of rial fist coming to smash through pub- 20-50 members, drawn from staff, lic service broadcasting”. Osborne has viewers and other stakeholders. already created another big hole in the Channel 4’s Board “put through” BBC’s finances; it has to take responsi- the option devised by Burns after bility for covering the cost of free TV May’s general election. A paper was licences for the over-75s, a demand personally handed to Whittingdale blocked in 2010 by the Lib Dems. by Burns in early September. Ofcom has received a second, and One Conservative peer, however, connected, demand from Whittingdale: believes the “not-for-profit” option is to revisit the terms of trade, the code simply not a runner: “It is a political governing the supply deal between ploy to keep the Government away qualifying independent producers and and it is a big mistake. It takes the public service broadcasters (see box on competitive tension away, encourages page 12). If revised, this could make slackness, the public sector pumping Channel 4 more attractive to potential money into something for no return.” bidders, especially if the broadcaster is Enders adds: “I don’t know why they allowed to own valuable rights cur- did it, it had no positive impact. It was rently in the hands of producers. OWNED BY laughable.” But this move has cost Channel 4 the A source close to the situation adds: wholehearted support of the producers’ AN OVERSEAS “The Treasury gets nothing. It is not organisation, Pact, which reckons that BROADCASTER, going to happen.” Nevertheless, it will the broadcaster’s complaints about big be considered as an option, as part of independents being too powerful CHANNEL 4 the DCMS review. stimulated this review. WOULD BE The unintended disclosure of options Enders, moreover, believes that this for altering Channel 4’s status is consid- latest examination of the terms of trade A DUMPING ered a cock-up by all concerned, is part of a long-term attempt to dis- GROUND FOR including the DCMS. Enders says: mantle preferential treatment for inde- “[The Chancellor] doesn’t want the pendents – a preference ascribed to � ITS PRODUCT

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 11 THE PROBLEM IS THAT CHANNEL 4 ISN’T DOING ENOUGH PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Mark Price, Acting Chair of Channel 4, and likely to succeed Lord Burns as Chair Waitrose

� both Osborne and Sajid Javid, the The independent sector heard about Former Channel 4 CEO Michael former media minister, now Secretary the not-for-profit-trust proposal only Jackson says: “What matters, perforce, of State for Business, Innovation and after Burns went public. “The whole is a different remit and purpose. It Skills. Channel 4 approach is incoherent,” wouldn’t be the same [after privatisa- Pact CEO John McVay is withering fumes McVay. tion]. The demands of shareholders about Channel 4: “The attack on its Alex Graham, whose Wall to Wall would bring a certain scepticism to it.” suppliers has been relentless. It is company grew into a leading inde- Another leading TV executive argues: reaping a bit of what it has sown.” pendent and is now owned by “The problem is that Channel 4 isn’t He is infuriated by any suggestion Warner Bros, sees “privatisation as doing enough public service broad- that benefits to larger independents­ a solution to a problem that doesn’t casting to make a difference. There should be curtailed: “Why try and act exist. No one has explained why it isn’t the passion for it.” like a nanny? The degree of Victorian would be a good thing for viewers But Ron Jones, Executive Chair of hubris is gobsmacking.” or broadcasting.” Tinopolis, one of the largest indepen­ dents, takes a more nuanced view: “Don’t we live in uncertain times? So many good things could be damaged. Why the terms of trade I am not, in principle, opposed to a sale as long as it is seen in a broader are under review – again context, safeguarding the public pur- poses of broadcasting across the UK. Culture secretary John Whittingdale He pointed out that an independ- “A modern market economy is a ordered Ofcom in September to ent’s IP was acquired when that balance between an entrepreneurial, undertake a fresh review of the 2003 producer was bought by a foreign piratical approach and what the pub- agreement. He sees the terms of company. Although new deals might lic will tolerate. But, in this case, not trade as a key determinant of the not benefit from the terms of trade, all getting it right affects how society shape of public service broadcasting, of the producer’s back catalogue and works. It is that serious.” together with the BBC Charter and rights were covered in perpetuity. Jones adds: “I’d hate to see a dis- licence-­fee settlement, Channel 4’s Some variation was needed to cussion on ownership [of Channel 4] future, and the effects of rapid consol- support smaller companies, as was a take us away from its public-service idation and ownership changes. clearer delineation of non-qualifying remit. That is the biggest threat. If they Channel 4 is arguing for adjustments, production companies, he argued. do sell Channel 4, then the public not abolition or wholesale change, to The broadcaster suggests a cut-off­ purpose and reinforcement of that make the terms ‘fit for purpose’. The point should be reached when an PSB element is most important and broadcaster does not want a one- independent’s annual turnover reached is desperately needed.” size-fits-all model. This opens up the £50m or £100m, say. One of his worries is that Channel 4, possibility of different terms for the ‘The last thing we want to do is “owned by an overseas broadcaster, BBC and Channel 4. anything that weakens the [inde­ would be a dumping ground for its ‘Can we have a fairer deal, a reset’ pendent] sector,’ Abraham said. product”. (See page 25 for Jones’s [to help sustain Channel 4 in future], The DCMS has been surprised at views on PSB.) asked CEO David Abraham, when he the vehement reaction of the inde- Meanwhile, Jackson’s advice to the appeared before the Culture, Media pendent sector to its decision to channel is pragmatic: “Copy the BBC. and Sport Committee in October. review the terms of trade. Stress what more you can do as a PSB and make a creative argument.”

12 November 2015 www.rts.org.uk Television Public domain Public The content guru

et us start the Tim Shepherd’s Bush in London. In the Hincks story in the The Billen Profile fifth-floor lobby where I wait, young summer of 2000, and men in 501s tell their professional in a lavatory in Bedford suitors: “Let’s grab lunch”. Square. We are deep in Tim Hincks oversees Hincks is tieless in an expensive-­ the bowels, as it were, of so many shows that looking suit jacket and jeans. Even PeterL Bazalgette’s Bazal Productions in this age of professionalisation and and the overnight ratings for Flatmates he cannot name globalisation, even here in Britain’s have just come through. It is a reality second-biggest super-indie (after game show, inspired by the flatmate them all. But in 2000, All3Media), television production is, interview scene in Shallow Grave, and aged 32, he thought his he says, still a cottage industry run on it has been invented by Hincks, who ideas, long hours and heartbreak. is still a tender 32. TV career was already Hincks’s enthusiasm for his trade is “It’s a tragic story,” says Hincks, over, discovers leavened by a witty cynicism, show- sitting in his office at Endemol Shine cased this June in his Bafta Television where, now aged 48, he is President. Andrew Billen Lecture, an address that, for laughs, “I was incredibly excited. And I ran Armando Iannucci’s MacTaggart remember­ being at the team drinks actually went and locked myself in close. as we screened it, or we watched the the lavatory. I just sat there for an Initially, as we talk, I find it hard to first episode go out live on Channel 4. hour. It felt like the end. What was mesh this agreeable storyteller with “Everyone was in an incredibly good I going to do?” the tough-minded negotiator of mood but I remember watching it What he did was bounce back with industry repute. When, in 2006, ITV and thinking, ‘Fuck! It’s been cut too Bar Wars (2001) and Shattered (2004). tried to steal two of Endemol’s biggest fast. I’m not sure I’m taking this in.’” He followed Bazalgette to Endemol hits (Big Brother and Deal or No Deal) The next morning, the overnights and became Chief Creative Officer from Channel 4, Hincks managed, it revealed that a healthy 2.1 million had and then Chief Executive Officer. As is said, to prise another £30m from watched. The next week, that figure President, now, he has ultimate over- Channel 4. He says these sums are nudged up a little. Hincks’s fears were sight over so many shows across confidential, but seems pleased to be obviously misplaced. But the week Endemol divisions across the world reminded of the coup. after, the figure was 1.7 million. that he cannot name them all. “I feel we should be partners with “The following week, it was down His company takes up several broadcasters. We make all sorts of to 1.3 million and it had gone – I floors of an office block south of shows with Channel 4 and it is an �

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 13 � incredibly important client for us and as a platform. But I think, when you have a hit show, it’s rude not to get a fair price for it. It would be remiss.” In 2010, Channel 4 dropped Big Brother. Undeterred, Hincks negotiated its sale to Channel 5. Its new owner, Richard Desmond, was the show’s “biggest fan” but also determined not to pay a penny more than he needed to. Rumour has it that, at one point, Desmond smashed a glass at Hincks’s feet. “I don’t think that I’ve ever said whether it’s true or not. So, why break the habit of a lifetime?” Oh, go on, break it, I say. “My view on Richard,” he continues, “was that he really cared about what he did and that I cared about what I did. As long as I kept reminding myself of that, it was going to be fine. He’s also funny. He’s very serious about what he does, but doesn’t want people to take themselves too seriously.” So what kind of glass did he smash? “It’s hard to remember. Richard would have to tell you. I believe it was a water glass. It was only lunchtime, after all.” And there is no conflict between looking tough in that kind of negotiation boasts a relatively small market of creative input from the non-graduate, and his sensitive, creative inner self? buyers, although with Sky, Netflix and non-public-school-educated majority: “Oh, I see what you mean. I don’t Amazon, it is an expanding one. the viewing classes. know that I would ever describe myself Drama format sales abroad have a At his Bafta lecture, he announced as a hard man in negotiations. Although poor track record (look at Broadchurch), that, for every work-experience I enjoy them, I think it’s a big mistake although foreign sales of the shows opportunity granted to an executive’s – and some companies make it – to themselves help to recoup investment. friend’s offspring, Endemol Shine separate creative from commercial. I “But we don’t think about how would give another to an unconnected think that can cause problems. There is things are going to be paid for at the applicant who would be paid the Lon- nothing else but content in companies beginning. The creative process begins don living wage. like this. Why separate the two?” by asking: ‘What’s the passion project “Our tendency is to make television The other part of his job is to be one we’re interested in?’ And then: ‘How about and by people who come from a of television’s most powerful impresa- can I help people get it made?’ certain section of society, right? And rios. It divides across two territories. “That is really, really, important that’s very powerful for those people The first is scripted, the industry’s because, if you don’t do that, you start involved and it’s self-perpetuating. But current “favourite child”, where to think you’re in the business of not you want more people to watch. With Endemol Shine’s portfolio of recent just looking for a hit but looking for a The Inbetweeners and Grange Hill, I felt hits is impressive: Broadchurch, Peaky hit that pays for itself. You might as these programmes spoke to me.” Blinders, The Fall, Humans, Grantchester. well play the lottery.” Because he went to a comprehensive? Many of these are Endemol’s only by On non-scripted, Hincks believes “Yes. Because they were comprehen­ inheritance, following its merger with that, with Big Brother, Endemol owns sive schools, I recognised them and the Shine last year (Shine had owned the “Platonic ideal” of a reality show. It characters, as did millions.” Broadchurch-maker Kudos since 2007). is likely to be “a feature of British TV as He liked Benefits Street. “But if the “The scripted story for us at Endemol,” long as it’s meaningful to talk about it”. charge is that the show was made by concedes Hincks, “really kicked off with That is the good news. And the bad? rich people about poor people, it’s true; two things, Tiger Aspect, which joined “In unscripted, it’s hard to launch it’s unequivocally true.” us in 2010, and Charlie Brooker, who shows these days. Everyone is saying There are those who have found had worked with us for some time and it’s cyclical and I believe, in a year or Hincks’s self-appointment as “tribune then came up with Black Mirror.” so, that there will be a breakthrough. of the people” a little hard to take, given He has, he says, learnt to read scripts, The model is still incredibly resilient.” both his actual background in, as he taking them home and attending read- In both halves of television enter- told Bafta, “the badlands of West Sus- throughs. A drama, however, is high tainment, real and made-up, there sex” and the fact, which he also cost and, therefore, high risk. The UK lurks, Hincks believes, a deficit of acknow­ledged, that he sends his

14 promise that I had ever been made.” It did go well. From there, he worked at Tim of his life Wall to Wall and at Newsnight, but con- tinued to come back to Bazalgette and thence to Endemol when it absorbed Bazal. Along the way – around about the time we met the young Tim in his loo – he married the photographer Pippa Healy. She was then working at Wall to Wall, although he did not meet her there but at a party he had resolved not to go to until he realised he was outside the house where it was being thrown. She came up to him to get away from someone else. “There’s an amazing Pulp song that describes our meeting, called Something Changed. I can’t exactly remember the

line but, basically, it goes: ‘Why did I Hampartsoumian Paul come to this place at this time? If I hadn’t, would I now be with someone Tim Hincks, President, Endemol else?’” Shine Group It has been a happy marriage. “Three kids. We have a lovely time.” Married To Pippa Healy, photogra- After 15, apparently equally happy, pher; two sons, one daughter years at Endemol, perhaps it is time for Lives Richmond, Surrey a change? Although he is President (“a Born Windsor, 18 August 1967 trick of the light”) and she is merely Father David Hincks, civil servant Big Brother

Channel 5 CEO, he reports to Sophie Turner Mother Geraldine Hincks, teacher Laing, late of Sky. The relationship is, Brought up Billingshurst, West children to public school. His parents he claims, “very easy”: “It is a big com- Sussex were lower-middle, not working, class. pany. There’s plenty for us both to do. Education Weald Comprehensive; His mother was a school teacher and “It has been 15 years, but I really Bristol University (economics and his father a civil servant – by rumour, a believe no year has been the same as politics) spy (“I never worked it out: what were the other. We’ve grown. We’ve gone First job Hair-gel factory, Billingshurst those trips to Moscow all about?”). from making Changing Rooms and Neither went to university, however, Ready Steady Cook to Big Brother, into 1990 Researcher, National Consumer and his mother’s mother had worked as this whole reality boom and then into Council a “skivvy” in a big house in Norfolk. scripted, making Ripper Street, and Char- 1990 Researcher, BBC and Bazal, Even if they had been rich, they lie Brooker’s Screenwipe. My feeling has working on Food and Drink and would have had an ideological objec- been: if you’re top of the premiership, Newsnight and for BBC Westminster tion to paying for Tim’s education. why would you go to another team?” 2005 Chief Creative Officer, At Bristol University, he thought of It sounds enviable. Does he never lie Endemol UK himself as left-wing and, although it awake at night worrying? 2008 Chief Executive Officer, was the height of Thatcherism, never “I’d love to say I don’t, but in a busi- Endemol UK contemplated a career in, say, banking. ness where no one knows anything, 2012 President, Endemol Group Is he still left-wing? there are moments when I get anxious, 2014 President, Endemol Shine “I think that would be quite a trick to moments when I feel that something Group pull off as my kids go to private school might be slipping away or something Other work Executive Chair, and I work for a big media company. I isn’t going as well as you want it to, and ­Edinburgh International Television am not sure what that means any more. that’s kind of personal. That can hurt.” Festival (2007-10) I vote Labour.” I wonder if he ever compares his After Bristol, he became a researcher younger employees, the ambitious Hobbies Arsenal FC; guitarist in No at the National Consumer Council, but lunch-grabbers, with his own younger Expectations with Peter Fincham wrote to television producers whose self, crushed with self-doubt in Bazal- (on keyboard) and (once) Richard names appeared at the bottom of list- gette’s loo? Desmond ings in Radio Times. He messed up an “I do, definitely, and I don’t know On The X Factor ‘Getting people interview for That’s Life! but was hired whether that makes me a good boss or to fall back in love with you can be by Bazalgette to research a book for not. What would I say to that person? It really hard’ him, The Food Revolution. is a hackneyed question but I’m going On hits ‘Future hits will be more “He said: ‘If this goes well, you can to answer it anyway. I think I would about the loyalty of the audience come on [Bazal’s] the Food and Drink say: ‘It’s going to be all right, but you’re and a bit less about the size’ programme.’ That was the most exotic right to feel the pain.’”

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 15 Will smart machines out-create us? Paul Hampartsoumian Paul

elevision creatives let out directors of the quality of, say, Ridley a collective sigh of relief Artificial intelligence Scott, if ever – that’s one of the last as artificial-intelligence­ things that a computer will be able to expert Demis Hassabis do,” Hassabis continued. Humans, he ruled out the possibility Demis Hassabis reflects argued, have “aesthetic judgement”. of computers taking their on the obstacles to Hassabis was giving the second RTS/ jobs from them any time soon. Institution of Engineering and Tech- T“We are a long way from machines nology Joint Public Lecture, which was building intelligent being truly creative,” said the held this year at the British Museum in co-founder of machine-learning machines that could early November. The inaugural lecture, start-up DeepMind Technologies. But, make TV shows. last year, was given by technology Hassabis warned: “I don’t think it’s entrepreneur Mike Lynch at London’s impossible. Matthew Bell is relieved Royal Society. “Most people’s jobs in the audience BBC Worldwide chief Tim Davie are safe for a long time. I don’t think chaired the talk. “We are lucky enough there are going to be any [computer] to be enjoying another golden age of

16 advancement that demands public Demis Hassabis: We try to be engagement and debate,” he said. A as open as possible about what “Artificial intelligence in recent years QUESTION we’re doing, so we generally pub- has become one of the hottest topics, lish almost everything.… dominating the media and the imagi- & ANSWER It may not always be the case for nation of the public.” the stuff we do, and we will have to The subject of Hassabis’s lecture was consider that on a case-by-case artificial intelligence, which he defined What role could artificial basis. But, in general, where we can, as “the science of making machines Qintelligence play in health we like to engage and support the smart”, and its likely impact on the diagnosis and treatment? academic community. future. He accepted the invitation, Demis Hassabis: Health care We think it is important that partly, he said, because “I love the idea A is one of the main application knowledge is shared – that’s the of bringing together the RTS and the areas we’re focusing on… I think we way that humanity can advance creative arts with the engineering could revolutionise the quality and as quickly as possible. [focus] of the IET”. efficiency of care. Hassabis, 39, set up DeepMind in There is concern from, 2010, describing the company, which How can artificial intelligence Qamong others, Stephen has at its disposal almost 150 of the Qhelp the creative process and Hawking, about artificial intelli- world’s top research scientists, as an the creation of media? gence: in effect, once you let the “Apollo programme for artificial intel- Demis Hassabis: I think that’s genie out of the bottle, we’re all ligence – a moon-shot project that A a lot tougher. Recommendation fucked. What do you think? focuses on ambitious, long-term goals”. is the obvious [use] but we are look- Demis Hassabis: I’ve had a “We are trying to combine the best ing at things such as music, which is A long chat with Stephen Hawk- from Silicon Valley start-ups with the more [suitable] for computers than ing about this and… I think he was best of academic institutes such as visuals, which are incredibly hard. quite reassured after we talked MIT, UCL and Cambridge, to see if we There is some very interesting work about how, specifically, we were can fuse that and find a new, hybrid being done in music composition approaching it.… way of doing science that is more and analysis. There are big issues here [but] the productive and efficient, while still problems are much more prosaic at allowing for extreme creativity,” said Why did you decide to pub- the moment and it’s easy to get Hassabis. Qlish the codes you design and carried away with science-fiction DeepMind’s aims, which are nothing were you ever concerned that they scenarios that are many decades if not ambitious, are twofold: “We want might fall into the wrong hands? away. to solve intelligence. What we’re inter- ested in is understanding natural intel- ligence, that is, the human mind, and then recreating it artificially, and then using that technology to help us solve Deep Blue: good at chess, but everything else,” he explained. Hassabis admitted that the latter hopeless at noughts and crosses may seem “a little bit far-fetched, pos- sibly a bit fanciful to some of you, but ‘We’re interested in artificial general engineering feet, but Deep Blue was we really believe that step two natu- intelligence, the idea of a general learn- programmed by a major team of pro- rally follows from step one”. ing system,’ explained Demis Hassabis. grammers along with a bunch of chess The question on the lips of the many This is different from ‘narrow artificial grandmasters trying to distil chess TV people in the audience was whether intelligence’, which has been built in knowledge into an algorithmic construct. artificial intelligence could help to solve a bespoke way for one specific task, ‘Deep Blue was very good at chess any of the industry’s pressing problems. such as self-driving cars or the intelli- but no use at anything else, including Channel 4 Chief Executive David Abra- gent personal assistant, Siri, on Apple simpler things such as playing noughts ham asked whether Hassabis was smartphones. and crosses. Nothing that Deep Blue working on recommendation engines The most famous example of artificial knew or that was that could be used by broadcasters to intelligence remains the man-versus-­ in its code would match viewers with shows they would machine chess contests in 1996, when have helped it with want to watch. man triumphed, and 1997, when the something simple “We are looking at recommendation machine took its revenge. like that, let alone systems in all sorts of forms – it’s a ‘This was a watershed moment in other things such very interesting area and something artificial intelligence, when IBM’s Deep as speaking lan- our technology is applicable to,” he Blue beat [world champion] Garry guages or driving replied. Kasparov in a six-game chess match,’ a car, which Gary The aim, Hassabis continued, was Hassabis explained. Kasparov could do to “model user journeys in a way that ‘I came away more impressed effortlessly.’ delivers much more compelling content by Kasparov’s mind than the Deep or recommendations. The current sys- Blue machine. It was an impressive

tems we have are not good enough.” � Corbis

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 17 � He predicted that new and better recommendation systems would be available in “four or five years”. Hassabis identified “information overload” as one of the biggest prob- lems facing society – and TV, too. “In the world of television, there are so many channels and modes of watch- ing things – how can [viewers] find what they are interested in? “Personalisation is one kind of technology that might help but it doesn’t really work because it is based, at the moment, on quite prim- itive technology, which doesn’t give unique recommendations to what I would call [a person’s] long tail of interests.” DeepMind was bought by Google for a reported £400m in January 2014. Hassabis is now Vice President of Engineering at Google DeepMind and

Corbis in charge of the company’s artificial intelligence projects. He defended the decision to sell the company – From gaming to neuroscience a member of the audience said that he had “taken the Yankee dollar”. The origins of Demis Hassabis’s inter- player played the game, so every sin- “We decided to join forces with est in artificial intelligence lie in games gle person who played had a unique them, partly because the people high – initially chess, which he played experience,’ he said. up at Google thought that [our] ethics from the age of four. His interest in Hassabis worked in commercial committee was a good idea. We had gaming continued into adulthood and gaming and founded the games already ruled out obvious things such Hassabis is a five-times world games company Elixir Studios, producing as military or intelligence applications,” champion. award-winning games for Microsoft replied Hassabis. Hassabis bought his first computer and Universal, before returning to Almost two years after the sale, – a Sinclair ZX Spectrum – at the age academia. He already possessed a Hassabis pointed out that DeepMind of eight with winnings from a chess double first in computer science from had kept its London headquarters. tournament and taught himself to Cambridge University; now, he signed “We’ve invested in our research team programme. ‘I realised on an intuitive up for a PhD in cognitive neuroscience in King’s Cross – the whole of Deep- level that a computer is a special type at UCL. Mind is still UK-side. We work as a of machine,’ he said. ‘They extend the ‘This was another piece of the puz- semi-autonomous unit,” he said. capabilities of the brain.’ zle that I needed before launching a Some scientists, including Stephen At the age of 17, Hassabis pro- [project] such as DeepMind. I wanted Hawking, have expressed concerns grammed the popular game Theme to understand more about how the about artificial intelligence becoming Park, which came onto the market brain solves tough problems such as too powerful. He told the BBC late last in 1994. ‘My love of computers and imagination and memory,’ he said. year that it “could spell the end of the games came together in an obvious The scientists at DeepMind use human race”. He feared that it could way, in the designing of video games,’ video games as a test bed for the “take off on its own and redesign he recalled. capabilities of artificial intelligence. itself at an ever-increasing rate”. ‘In the early and mid-1990s, com- ‘It’s very easy to measure progress, Hassabis accepted that artificial puter games were pushing the cutting because most games have scores, intelligence posed ethical questions: edge of engineering,’ he continued. so you can see if your algorithmic “As with all powerful, new technologies ‘Furthermore, the games I used to tweaks are gaining you an advantage – and artificial intelligence is no dif- design and programme all involved and taking you in the right direction,’ ferent – we have to be cognisant about artificial intelligence as a core explained Hassabis. using them ethically and responsibly. game-playing mechanic.’ DeepMind has recently developed “Although human-level, general Theme Park was a business simu- artificial intelligence that can play artificial intelligence is many decades lation game that challenged players Atari games from the 1970s and away, I think we should start the to design a profitable Disneyland-­ 1980s, including Breakout, better than debate now.” type park, which ‘spawned a whole humans. Overnight, it taught itself to genre of management simulation play the much-loved game, moving The 2015 RTS/IET Joint Public Lecture was games’, said Hassabis. ‘The artificial quickly from novice to world beater. given by Demis Hassabis at the British intelligence adapted to the way the �� Technology vs people, page 35 Museum in central London on 4 Novem- ber. The producer was Helen Scott.

18 November 2015 www.rts.org.uk Television Screenwriting

Dramatist Jack Thorne talks to Steve Clarke about his new series, The Last Panthers, and explains why artifice is the enemy of good drama

Picture redacted Martin Goodwin/The Guardian Goodwin/The Martin The truth of storytelling

s a child, Jack Thorne potato turned out to be an invest- exploration of Central Europe’s dark, was a devoted TV ment. Thorne, now 36, is one of TV’s criminal underbelly and its links to big viewer who’d some-­ most in-demand screenwriters and business. It stars John Hurt, Samantha times risk compro- in the fortunate position of being able Morton, French actor Tahar Rahim and mising his personal to choose the shows he writes. Croatian Goran Bogdan. hygiene – all for the Three years ago, he won two Baftas: It is not a traditional action thriller. sakeA of his favourite programmes. He the Mini Series Award for Channel 4’s The Last Panthers is a troubling, dark was reluctant to leave the box’s magi- This Is England ’88, and the Drama delight, the result of extensive cal embrace and delayed taking a Series Award for BBC Three’s super- research that Thorne undertook in shower until the commercial break natural drama The Fades, axed after places such as Serbia, alongside rolled round. one series due to cost cutting. French investigative journalist Jérôme “That’s fine when you’re eight, but This month sees the debut of what Pierrat. The Frenchman had originally less good when you’re 14,” says Thorne. is perhaps Thorne’s most ambitious conceived the idea for The Last Panthers He has a wide, open face, which lights TV project yet: Sky Atlantic’s flagship as a feature film. up like a Belisha beacon when he autumn drama, The Last Panthers. “We met policemen, criminals and recalls his childhood and adolescent The stylish, six-part film takes a all sorts of people who were useful in TV addiction. robbery by a gang of Serbian jewel building this portrait,” says Thorne. Spending a lot of time as a couch thieves as the starting point for a tense He is a shy, nervous, talkative man �

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 19 WOULD ‘CATHY COME HOME’ WORK AS WELL NOW OR WOULD IT BE ON BBC FOUR AND SEEN BY 20 PEOPLE?

� who obviously loves his work. His Labour Party for 20 years. And, yes, always says her big thing is not to create career as a dramatist began in the after a lot of soul-searching, he voted a show that lots of people like, but to theatre not that long after graduating for Jeremy Corbyn in the recent leader­ create a show that some people love.” from Cambridge. Thorne read social ship election. Thorne is no stranger to shows that and political sciences. Unusually for a Thorne collaboration, have cult followings. His big break in Not that there is anything remotely The Last Panthers is an Anglo-French television came on Skins, E4’s raunchy Oxbridge about him, despite his intel- co-production; the producers are Haut take on teenage life in the early lectual face. He lacks that kind of et Court (famous for The Returned, 21st century. He credits its creator, smooth or seemingly Bryan Elsley, with innate self-confidence­ helping him to – a by-product, understand and ­perhaps, of having master the grammar attended a comprehen- of TV screenwriting. sive school in Newbury. “On Skins, Bryan At Cambridge, he was was incredible with laid low by Cholinergic all of us writers. urticaria, a disease of There’s an awful lot the immune system of people who’ve got that makes sufferers Bryan to thank for allergic to their own their careers in TV,” body heat. Thorne says. His symptoms are Working more or controlled by medica- less full-time for tion. “It’s related to Elsley for two years, anxiety. When it first the fledgling screen- occurred, I spent six writer was months bed-bound impressed by how and still struggle with it much freedom Els- This is England ’88

now… I don’t have Channel 4 ley gave Thorne and serious attacks any the other scribes on more. The last time I got properly ill shown by Channel 4 in the UK) and the Skins team. was on my honeymoon. Since then, it’s Warp Films, maker of This Is England. “I would get more exasperated with been sort of OK. Did the production process involve him than he would with me. He really “The Last Panthers is fiction inspired a high degree of compromise because did teach me about camera path – by real people,” Thorne explains. “We of the need to appeal to audiences in learning the story that you want to tell don’t shy away from the genre elements different countries? and how to use the camera when of it.… It is not a po-faced drama that “I probably had fewer channel notes you’re telling your story.” develops out of something quite excit- on this than anything I’ve ever done, Thorne is reputed to be a workaholic, ing. The show is a character piece held from Sky and Canal+. They trusted labouring non-stop from 10:00am to within a genre.” everyone involved.… There were quite 8:00pm on his laptop, mainly at a In writing the series, Thorne was a few producers and we worked library near his north London home. influenced by Paul Abbott’s gripping incredibly hard on the scripts. Away from his computer, he likes to BBC political thriller, State of Play, “The producers were not all English. read screenplays. unhappily reworked for the big screen. Instead of meeting for half a day, you’d Currently, he is devouring Troy Ken- “I wanted to try and recreate that meet for three-day stretches and do an nedy Martin’s era-defining Edge of tension,” says Thorne, casually dressed incredible amount in those three days.… Darkness. “The script is absolutely in expensive trainers, jeans and a CND It made it very intense for those days… beautiful, the way he uses directions…” hoodie. He’s been a member of the “Anne Mensah [Sky’s Head of Drama] For Thorne, the mark of an

20 THE TIMES WHEN I THINK I’VE FAILED HAVE BEEN BECAUSE I HAVEN’T BEEN TRUTHFUL ENOUGH

What are the main differences between writing for the stage and writ- ing for TV? “The theatre allows you complexity. But it is a different form of complexity. Theatre probably is more comfortable with subtext. Often [on TV], fast cutting means you are increasingly in a world of text, rather than subtext. “But you try and resist that where possible. In theatre, you are not able to cut around, so, therefore, you are in a story. You can’t have a lot of plates spinning. The Last Panthers wouldn’t work on stage because you are all over the place, including flashbacks.… There are three stories being told. “The story possibilities on TV are probably greater and the ability to move through a story fast is probably greater. The danger in TV is that you end up in a world of text, particularly as your work gets cut for the edit.” Screenwriters with form, such as Thorne, are apparently in a seller’s mar- ket. Is he making a lot of money? “I am doing all right. [But] the thing is: never take a job simply because it pays well.”

Sky Does he agree that we are experi- encing a golden age of TV drama? “There was a lot of good drama made outstanding drama is that it must be to them. That sense of responsibility is previously so, if we are living a golden truthful to its subject: “The times when massive on this show,” Thorne says. “It age.… As I have said, I read Edge of Dark- I think I’ve failed have been because I is a story that needs to be told. It is ness and I think, ‘This is just supreme.’ haven’t been truthful enough. Above something that drama can do. The I read a lot of Dennis Potter. The ability all else, I think it’s got to be truthful. If news can only tell one story and can’t he had to tell those stories. In the it’s truthful, then people will feel it.… take you inside someone’s head.” 1970s, to have a mainstream show such “As soon as you descend into artifice, Alongside National Treasure (commis- as Z Cars.… you not only lose viewers, you also sioned by Channel 4 and due for “I’ve got a lot of those scripts and that betray a lot of people who need to broadcast in 2016), he is working on was a show getting millions of viewers have their story told properly.” JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter stage for dark and interesting subject matter. Having their stories told accurately play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. “Would Cathy Come Home work as is something very much in Thorne’s Due to the tight security involved well now or would it be on BBC Four mind at the moment, as he works on in the Potter project, he is unable to and seen by 20 people? We live in a the script for National Treasure. It is the talk about the script in any detail. He really exciting age when lots of things story of a celebrity alleged sex offender, does, however, say that working with are possible. inspired by Operation Yewtree. Rowling is a good antidote to writing “I am really grateful to live in this age “I have spoken to a lot of people who something as potentially disturbing as but.… I watch a lot of TV. I am inspired have had a lot of horrible things happen National Treasure. by it, but I also enjoy watching crap.”

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 21 Content An expert panel examines the challenges facing TV comedy in the digital era. Stuart Kemp reports

The serious business of comedy

he classic sitcom no 12th series, as a vote of confidence in high. “If you get the show right, there is longer rules the TV the traditional sitcom. Peter Kay’s Car a huge audience for comedy. It doesn’t schedules in the way Share, which debuted on the BBC have to be baking, dancing or singing that shows such as iPlayer before being shown in prime- to get big audiences,” said Lupton. Fawlty Towers, Open All time on BBC One, was also highlighted Original sitcoms for UKTV channel Hours and Porridge did as a shining example of the genre. Gold include the three-part Bull, star- inT the 1970s. Or does it? Nerys Evans, Channel 4’s Deputy ring Maureen Lipman and Robert A panel of TV practitioners attempted Head of Comedy, noted that the 1970s Lindsay, written by newcomers Gareth to tease out the answer last month at an were regarded as the golden age of Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts. RTS early-evening­ event, “No laughing television across all programme cate- It also has upcoming an comedy matter: how does comedy fight back?” gories, not just sitcoms. drama, Do Not Disturb, starring Catherine This stimulating debate made one think “You had three channels that 20 mil- Tate and Miles Jupp. that we could be living through another lion people watched quite regularly,” But had the quality fallen off, with golden age of TV comedy without nec- Evans told the audience. “You’re not the fresh crop of TV comedy falling essarily knowing it. really comparing like with like if you short of the so-called golden age, “When you look back at those titles think of how many places there are probed event chair Boyd Hilton. of the 1970s, the appetite for shows such these days to watch comedy.” BBC comedy commissioner Gregor as Only Fools and Horses [on UKTV Gold] But while the number of channels Sharp cautioned against rose-tinted remains insatiable,” said UKTV Senior and platforms had proliferated in the glasses when comparing the classics Commissioning Editor Simon Lupton. intervening decades, panellists felt the with today’s shows. “Quality is always “If we could make more sitcoms and standard of TV comedy had remained variable and there was no period when make the channels feel more confident all comedy on TV was universally about putting them in primetime, right strong,” he insisted. in the heart of the schedule, and take THERE WAS NO Comedy creator, actress and writer the risk that they will deliver a big audi- Jessica Knappett said that there was a ence, that would be good.” PERIOD WHEN tendency to romanticise the past. Her Lupton joined UKTV in 2014, tasked ALL COMEDY third series of Drifters is rolling out on with commissioning high-quality E4, Channel 4’s youth-skewed channel. scripted content. He oversees comedy ON TV WAS “I’m sure there was a lot of terrible on UKTV channels Gold and Dave. He UNIVERSALLY comedy in the 1970s, as well. If we all cited next year’s return, on ITV, of Birds sat down and watched the telly from of a Feather to ITV, for what will be its STRONG 1973 tonight we’d have a terrible time,”

22 Are US writers’ rooms the way ahead?

The speakers discussed how British can schedule it properly, get behind it writers’ rooms work, why long-running and promote it.’ British comedy series are conspicu- Evans noted that, while drama pro- ous by their absence, and the thinking ductions can get people to come in behind commissioning in volume. and write episodes, for comedy this ‘We don’t really do much team writing approach is a [here] on shows because there just much rarer thing. isn’t the money that the Americans ‘It’s not an have,’ said Channel 4’s Nerys Evans. easy thing Writer Jessica Knappett said she for creators couldn’t imagine the pain of having and original to write all the episodes necessary writers to to match the US output of a Big Bang hand out. It’s a Theory, Friends or Brooklyn Nine-Nine. closely guard- But it was a pain she’d like to have. ed skill,’ she ‘I’m very envious, in a sense, of empha- their budgets… and I love the idea of sised. team writing and showrunners and From left: Nerys Evans, everything. I think it’s a great way to Simon Lupton, Gregor write,’ said Knappett. ‘I’m also envious Sharp, Jessica Knappett of how long an opportunity they are and Boyd Hilton

Paul Hampartsoumian Paul given to grow an audience. You need the time to break it in and, as a writer, need that time to understand your own voice.’ Long-running shows rest on the The serious business of comedy imagination of individuals. ‘We can’t put pressure on individual writers to write in that she said. “I’m here to stick up for the volume, there’s a bit more cau- present.” tion about how shows will fare Hilton turned to the current crop of over the long term,’ said the TV comedy. He name-checked the BBC’s Gregor Sharp. BBC’s Cradle to Grave, Boy Meets Girl and Sky’s commitment to the The Kennedys, plus Channel 4’s Chewing supermarket sitcom Trollied Gum and Drifters as proof that comedy – it returned in November for in 2015 was in rude health. a fifth season, with a run of “I don’t think we should lose faith in eight episodes – was herald- the form just because it’s not delivering ed as an example of volume quite the numbers it has in the past,” commissioning. said Lupton. “There have been some ‘The work ethic of the attempts in recent years that haven’t American system is in- been good enough.… credibly intense. That’s not “Over time, you do it and, if it doesn’t to deride anyone working work, it damages the form,” Lupton said. in the UK, but the culture “I think [the sitcom] is alive and kick- there is ferocious,’ Sharp ing and we’re deliberately going into said. He mused that having a that space.” writers’ room didn’t necessarily The challenges to traditional broad- make the scripts ­funnier, it just casters and programme-makers are meant longer series. coming from sources that didn’t exist Lupton said that he commis- in the 1970s. Deep-pocketed, online sioned three pilot episodes for Bull giants such as Netflix and Amazon for business and creative reasons: Prime are emerging as bidders for ‘Scheduling a single half-hour is a comedy talent used to working in TV. nightmare, you just can’t justify the They promise creative freedom and marketing spend to promote it. And it big money to write original shows. gets lost in the schedule, particularly Netflix is debuting Master of None, cre- when you don’t have a huge amount of ated, written and directed by Parks and original content anyway.

Recreation star Aziz Ansari this month. ‘By putting on three episodes, you Brooklyn Nine-Nine Channel 4 Meanwhile, Amazon Prime is enjoying �

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 23 � success with the darkly comic comedy, so it’s a question of how Transparent, created by Jill Soloway. strong channel identities are, because The arrival of video-on-demand that guides the audience,” Sharp services, pumping cash into comedy suggested. – and their schedule-free model This was why the decision to move – adds to the pressure on broadcast- BBC Three online next year was ers to maintain talent relationships regarded as a blow by many comedy and find audiences for comedy. writers and performers. They have Lupton said that VoD services were argued that the move will rob a new changing the way viewers consumed generation of a platform on which to comedy. “Netflix has thrown down build a following. the gauntlet,” he said. “There’s going Knappett thought that the move felt to be a whole generation of viewers like “a door closing – it’s an opportu- for whom the thought of coming back nity that’s been taken away from me. to something once a week over six It isn’t going to help attract an audi- weeks to decide whether they like a ence for comedy.” show is going to be completely alien. She was concerned that fewer “Viewers will wonder why they can’t broadcast slots were “a sure-fire way just watch it all in one go, or at least for the BBC to become more racist, the first three episodes, and decide if classist and sexist overnight”. they like it.… We, as linear channels, Unsurprisingly, Sharp did not share have to find a way of combating that.” her anxiety. “If we had the choice, we Nerys Evans

Knappett, herself a product of E4’s would probably prefer to have the Hampartsoumian Paul ambitions to back fresh talent, believed channel exist as it does now, but it’s that the prospect of creative freedom really about the quality of work. Great-­ WE DON’T had huge allure. “People do want to be quality work will always find an audi- left alone, to an extent,” she observed. ence,” he insisted. REALLY DO But Evans, who helped steer shows Sharp also pointed to the BBC’s MUCH TEAM such as Drifters and Catastrophe to pledge to push more BBC Three pro- screen, cautioned against the desire grammes onto BBC One and Two’s WRITING [HERE] for outright creative freedom. schedules: “In strict overall numbers, ON SHOWS “If you’re just given a blank cheque although there has been a cut in the and told to go off and do ‘whatever’, budget for the service, comedy has BECAUSE THERE you’re not really going to have the been very well protected within that.” JUST ISN’T THE safeguards that you have when work- So could the broadcast closure of ing closely with a channel that really BBC Three mean opportunities for MONEY THAT knows you and has worked with you the other comedy commissioners, THE AMERICANS and can advise you,” she said. “I’m not asked Hilton. talking about micromanaging. We’ve It was not that simple, said Chan- HAVE got years of experience of producing nel 4’s Evans. “I’m sure we’ll have more comedy and can help and advise on things pitched than we had before, but how – hopefully – to make things it has got to be right for us,” she said. better.” UKTV’s Lupton said that he was in Sharp played down any suggestion the enviable position of having a CEO that talent was not given creative – Darren Childs – who was passion- freedom at the BBC. He singled out ate about creating original comedy. Mrs Brown’s Boys, created, written by “Scripted is very much a huge part and starring Brendan O’Carroll: “He of it,” Lupton said. “As long as we pick [O’Carroll] goes off and writes the shows that work, we’ll continue to scripts and turns up very late in the commission in that format.” day and makes the show. Mackenzie He warned against simply aping Crook is the same with Detectorists.” what was being done “brilliantly Sharp described launching a new elsewhere”. project as “incredibly difficult”, com- Lupton conjured a laugh from the pared with working on a second or audience with his quip that UKTV third series of a show that had found also watched what worked and what its feet, with an established cast. didn’t at the BBC because “we’ll be “You want to be as supportive as getting it in a few years’ time”. you can. It’s genuinely tricky,” he Everyone agreed on one thing. ‘No laughing matter: how does comedy explained, emphasising that people Comedy remains a serious business fight back?’ was an RTS early-evening were choosing what shows to watch for the UK television industry. Get it event held at The Hospital Club, London, in different ways nowadays. right and laughs will attract audiences on 13 October. It was chaired by Heat TV “On iPlayer or 4oD, people tend to and loyalty like no other. Get it wrong Editor Boyd Hilton. The producers were search by genre. People go looking for and it’s sad times ahead. Kerry Parker and Vicky Fairclough.

24 November 2015 www.rts.org.uk Television OUR FRIEND IN THE WEST

The role of PSB ne of the best countries build their new democra- contributions to is changing in the cies within the UK. The BBC has not the issue of the risen to the challenge. public purposes digital era, but the In the case of my patch, Wales, the of the BBC was BBC is wrong to BBC has cut its spending and its com- written almost mitment to providing what people 20 years ago by a claim that market want and what society needs. then-future Chair of the BBC Board of failure is not part The BBC produces a wide range of Governors,O Gavyn Davies. statistics that record its performance He wrote: “Some form of market of its remit, argues in Wales in terms of spending, hours failure must lie at the heart of any and genres. All indicate significant, concept of public service broadcasting. Ron Jones and mostly disproportionate, cuts. Beyond simply using the catchphrase The analysis of market failure is right that public service broadcasting must and the remedy is wrong. ‘inform, educate and entertain’, we In other cases, the BBC’s role has must add ‘inform, educate and enter- been to provide services before the tain in a way that the private sector, left market could. Whatever the later unregulated, would not do’. Otherwise, complaints by industry, the BBC’s why not leave matters entirely to the early commitment to the iPlayer, private sector?” online news services and education My own sector, television produc- helped to create markets that others tion, has prospered on the back of have benefited from. necessary government intervention Economists argue that subscription in 2004 to restrict monopoly abuse by services help to create a more efficient broadcasters. These are clearly con- market. Indeed, they do and that is cepts that the country and successive what the BBC is. It is a subscription governments are comfortable with. service made compulsory by the need Today, the argument goes that, in of society to ensure that it provides the the digital age, the market for content public goods that we all need but is more efficient. In this new world, might, individually, not particularly lower entry cost, the absence of spec- want. The unique BBC remit blends

trum scarcity and new monetisation Tinopolis what individuals want with what arrangements – such as subscription society needs. and pay-per-view – give people the inception, the BBC has provided con- By sticking to its slogan of “inform, programmes they want to watch. tent that the market could not provide. educate and entertain” and no more, These factors do change what we This role continues in some areas of BBC managers and trustees are mean by PSB now. The market has news and current affairs, in its signifi- underselling our most important made a difference. The issue is: what cance in the nations and regions, and broadcaster. do we make of these changes in deter- in UK-centric programming across The Government is calling for a mining the public purposes of the BBC many genres. review of the public purposes of the today? The BBC’s contribution to filling the BBC. An honest appraisal on these It’s such a shame that this is a dis- market gap has sometimes been lines would deliver a BBC that is cussion the BBC seems reluctant to half-hearted. The size and wealth of stronger and that maintains its central engage in. By maintaining that mar- Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales role in British life. Gavyn Davies, all ket failure is no part of its remit, it mean that they suffer permanent those years ago, had it about right. is, at the same time, delusional and market failure in television production dismissive of a key element in its and broadcasting. Ron Jones is Executive Chair of Tinopolis ­ importance to British public life. The public-good argument has been Group, based in Llanelli, south-west I say delusional because, since its strengthened by devolution, as these Wales.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 25 How TV defines the digital era

ome years ago, when The Television Is the New Today, CBS is worth more than the Guardian hosted a supper Television: The Unex- combination of businesses now sitting at the Edinburgh Interna- pected Triumph of Old under the Viacom umbrella: MTV, VH1, tional Television Festival, Media in the Digital Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, there was an unfamiliar Age, by Michael Wolff, to name but four. face sitting among the is published by Port- This hasn’t been achieved by a executiveS classes. folio, priced £17.60. dramatic increase in audiences or It should be said that, over the years, advertising revenue for his channels, this event has been notable for a num- but largely through a set of bloody ber of spectacular rows. And, in the Book review negotiations for higher retransmission interests of transparency, I have to fees from cable operators. admit that I was responsible for one of More broadly, what Wolff argues is the worst, when I asked Luke Johnson, Michael Wolff likes to that traditional US television businesses then Chair of Channel 4, what a “pizza that were thought to be threatened by maker” like him knew about television. pick a fight. So how digital disruptors have proved to be This bear pit should have been a come he is praising astonishingly resilient. At the same perfect place for Michael Wolff to opine time, many of the digital disruptors, about television. Wolff is a bruiser. The traditional TV networks not least those invested in by tradi- New York Times, in its review of Television tional media companies to head off Is the New Television, writes: “Mr Wolff’s in his latest book? If this supposed threat, are built on sand. studied unpleasantness has emerged as only it were that simple, It is not merely the windfall of higher a brand of sorts.” James Murdoch once retransmission fees that explains the called him “an obnoxious dickhead”. discovers Simon Shaps resilience of the traditional broadcast- Wolff’s targets over many years, ers. Wolff quotes an analyst at the in many different publications, have In this latest assault, Wolff’s target is investment bank RBC Capital Markets, ranged from the flaky digital businesses not television, but, in something of a who points out that an entire week of that launched in the years before the rerun of his earlier book Burn Rate, the YouTube is worth about as much to dotcom crash at the turn of the century, latest generation of what he sees as major advertisers as a single, first-run to Rupert Murdoch, Tina Brown and, flaky digital businesses – BuzzFeed episode of The Big Bang Theory. more recently, The Guardian, his host and Vice included. His charge against The scarcity value of large audiences, that night and a paper he contributed these businesses is that their ability to even if those audiences are not quite as to for more than a decade. attract traffic is in inverse proportion large as they used to be, trumps the Writing for GQ magazine in 2014, he to their ability to attract revenue. aggregate value of hundreds of pieces poured cold water on the paper’s US Wolff argues that they are locked of content, each one only delivering ambitions in his trademark style. He into a deathly spiral of low-grade con- a relatively small number of viewers. said that The Guardian had a “kind of tent and poor ad rates. His heroes today But television has protected its bot- spunky or wildly speculative confi- are not from Silicon Valley, but Holly- tom line in other ways. In the US, tele- dence that it could become an Ameri- wood, with CBS CEO Les Moonves his vision revenues from traditional can voice”, but there was no way for it prize exhibit. Wolff argues that broadcasters have diversified. Wolff to make any money by doing so, Moonves has “reinvented broadcast writes: “From virtually 100% ad sup- Pulitzer Prize notwithstanding. television”, turning a “lagging business” ported, television now gets half of its So his relative silence that night in into a “growth industry”. revenues from non-ad businesses Edinburgh was a surprise and some- Although viewers may have missed – subscription, licensing, foreign sales.” thing of a missed opportunity. His this reinvention, Wall Street hasn’t. In What is more, the linear channels at sceptical intelligence, his understanding 2005, when Viacom split into two the heart of these businesses retain “a of the complex ecosystem of US media companies, CBS – comprising the set of special, high-profile, one-time, and, above all, his capacity to pick a broadcast network, alongside Show- real-time, can’t-avoid-the-ads events… fight, arguing some outrageously con- time and joint-venture The CW – was in which advertising’s value, against trarian position, make him the perfect deemed to be the less exciting set of the trends, continues to increase.” dinner guest at media gatherings. assets and poorly positioned for growth. To sum up, after lots of foolhardy

26 than that. If television executives have suddenly doubled down on television, then so, too, have many of the digital disruptors. “Digital convergence,” he writes, “turns out not so much to be about bringing computing to your television, but about bringing more television to your television.” Suddenly, a number of well-funded digital companies, who TV executives thought were up to something com- pletely different from them – some- thing they craved, but didn’t entirely under- stand, even if their kids did – turn out to be fishing in the same pool for talent, original programming and premium sports rights. Ama- zon, Google, Apple and Netflix, AN ENTIRE now that they have woken up to the power of television in its sim- plest form – engrossing narrative WEEK offering great production values – are fearsome competitors for the best OF content, and for eyeballs, however that content is delivered. YOUTUBE In the UK, just when the broadcast landscape looked like it was settling IS down, competition has suddenly got significantly tougher. Wolff’s arguments do not stretch to figuring out which of the incumbent WORTH television businesses here is best equipped to deal with these new competitive­ pressures. ABOUT AS MUCH TO MAJOR Perhaps one answer is that, to ADVERTISERS AS… survive, companies need to have diversified revenue streams across pay, advertising and production. This leaves the publisher-broadcasters particularly vulnerable. A SINGLE Another answer might be that the question doesn’t really make sense any longer, as the UK’s television industry EPISODE becomes more and more intertwined, across production and broadcasting, OF with the major US media companies. And then there is the BBC. It still THE BIG BANG THEORY performs remarkably well but, as the twin pressures of increased competi- tion and downward pressure on the licence fee begin to bite, the BBC may

Channel 4 begin a dramatic decline, as its over- whelming dependency on a single investments in other stuff – radio, social page 115 to be precise – executives revenue stream proves unsustainable. media, shopping channels, data mining, in traditional broadcast organisations Television Is the New Television points to sports franchises and all things “digital” would be advised to put the book an irony that has become apparent only – it turns out that the answer all along down, send a quick congratulatory in the past couple of years. The digerati was television. “It was a curiously email to Wolff (The Guardian can proba- and traditional television executives winding road for the television business bly still supply contact details) and spent many years eyeing each other to actually understand it was in the start counting their share options. up, coveting what the other had. television business,” Wolff writes. In fact, life, as Wolff implicitly As Wolff might have put it, the answer At this point in the argument – acknowledges, is more complicated all along was: it’s television, stupid!

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 27 Three minutes to make an Hard impression graft and long hours

V is no place for the idle or RTS Futures faint of heart, according to Camera skills the gurus at the latest RTS are essential Futures speed-dating event. You need to be Building a career in the dedicated to get ahead industry takes hard graft Barnaby Coughlin, director: ‘The and passion – plus, course, an ability to business has changed. When I in TV – but the job Tdo the job. was younger, you learned your “Unless your work ethic is really trade. I came out of college and I’d satisfaction can be huge. strong, [a career in TV] is not going to never picked up a camera. I went Matthew Bell reports suit you. If it is, it is exciting and a real in as a runner and then became a privilege,” said Emily Lawson, Series researcher and then an assistant Producer of Channel 4’s The Supervet. producer – there were very clear Barnaby Coughlin, Series Director of ways of getting to be a director. BBC Two’s Phone Shop Idol, started as a ‘Now, everyone is au fait with runner on ITV breakfast service GMTV. cameras before they even start.… “I was doing night shifts and working If you can shoot, you will get jobs.… all the hours, but when you’re young In my day, you didn’t have to shoot, you’ve got the energy and ambition to there were cameramen. That world do that. It is an all-consuming industry of self-shooting didn’t exist. – when you’re working on a project it ‘In the past five or six years, takes over your life,” he said. that’s become the predominant Lawson and Coughlin were talking [way of working] in the industry.’ to Television magazine at “Speed date the content creators” in early October,

28 What’s it take which matched producers and directors in 2002. “As a TV producer, I now have with young TV hopefuls over a series of to be aware of digital – we need to be to succeed? three-minute dates. available on so many more platforms The factual and entertainment gurus than we did 13 years ago, when I started.” reckoned that there were opportunities The TV industry can be a battlefield, for newcomers to make their mark in with researchers, producers and direc- their genres. tors fighting for work. Yet, once filming “It feels like an exciting time. There starts, differences have to be forgotten are many more and a close-knit documentary series team formed. now, compared BEING RUDE “Every person, with when I IS THE WORST whether they’re started,” said pro- doing work experi- ducer/director THING YOU CAN ence or are Nicola Brown, DO IN TELLY employed as the whose credits executive pro- Your three minutes include Channel 4 ducer, has their are up

shows The Secret Life of Four Year Olds own job to do and they need to do that Hampartsoumian Paul and Educating Cardiff. Fixed-rig shows, job well,” said Nightingale. “If one per- in particular, she added, were looking son isn’t supported by the people Jessica Jones, producer: ‘The ability to hire. around them and can’t do their job, you to solve problems… being respectful Lawson said that there was “an don’t have a team.” to contributors, working hard.’ appetite for returning series that grab “TV’s an incredibly competitive the public’s attention, so we’re looking industry and everyone wants to work Nicola Brown, director: ‘Enthusiasm for people all the time”. on the big shows,” said Nightingale’s and hard work. It’s an incredibly “We take people on, certainly in the fellow Saturday Night Takeaway Series demanding industry and [not for] more junior roles. A good place to start Producer Diego Rincon. “The energy of anyone who wants to clock off at is as a runner,” said Claire Walls, Series the show comes from the energy of the six.… Being a grafter, making cups Producer of BBC One’s The Apprentice. team, so you’re not going to get anyone of tea, carrying people’s kit and Landing a job on a long-running to watch [the show] if the team isn’t learning the job as you go.’ series could be the start of something behind it.” big. “From year to year, they can move “It’s also important to get many Mike Matthews, director: ‘The up [the ladder]. Runners last year strings to your bow – in the more people who stick around are fun, become researchers on the next series,” junior positions, you have the opportu- hard-working, resourceful and explained Walls’s colleague Stephen Day, nity to try different things and that’s innovative.… Being rude is the

Paul Hampartsoumian Paul Series Editor on the Alan Sugar-fronted brilliant,” argued Matthews. “If you worst thing you can do in telly.’ show, a TV fixture for the past decade. [specialise] too early, you can get Television can be a tough industry pigeon-holed.” Claire Walls, producer: ‘A degree for beginners: work is irregular and “Get on the shows that allow you to is not essential… as long as they often badly paid. Conditions, though, try different things,” recommended show initiative, have intelligence are improving, reckoned producer Nightingale. “I’ve worked on Takeaway and are quick learners.… These are Jessica Jones, whose credits include for eight series, starting as a researcher, the attributes we’re looking for, BBC Two’s Great British Menu. and I’ve done most things on that regardless of qualifications.… Be “When I started, we were unpaid, show – I’ve set up shoots, worked with a great team player and don’t get sleeping on friends’ sofas, grafting until celebrities, done location shoots, live above yourself.… three in the morning. Now, there seems shows every Saturday, casting – that ‘Listen to everything that’s going to be a lot more respect for the younger show has given me everything.” on around you and embrace the and more junior members of staff, The gurus at the speed-dating event, experience. Always ask questions.… which is only a good thing,” she said. however, cautioned against being in You have to like people, because Newcomers should look beyond too much of a hurry. “People expect to television is all about people, traditional television, argued Mike be promoted too quickly now,” said whether it’s the team you work Matthews, who directed Channel 4’s Walls. “Just because they’ve had a with or the people you’re filming.’ Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals. “There are so couple of jobs as a researcher, they many [online] channels out there. think they’re owed the next job up, but Gemma Nightingale, producer: They’re not conventional telly, but they [often] they’re not good enough. ‘People want to help and are inter- need talented people to make [content] “You learn an awful lot by doing ested in people who want to learn. for them,” he said. different types of series.” There’s no such thing as a stupid “The skill set that you need to make question.… If you have the energy, great television has become broader,” The RTS Futures event, ‘Speed date the passion, enthusiasm and the bravery said Gemma Nightingale, Series Pro- content creators’, was held on 5 October at to be creative, that’s what’s going ducer of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Take­ the Amber Bar in central London. It was to make you stand out.’ away, the shiny floor show that first aired produced by Emily Gale and Carrie Britton.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 29 he TV industry is facing the greatest paradox in its long history. The quality of its craft and the demand for its product have never been higher. At the same The time, its future commercial viability is veryT uncertain. Digital has fundamentally and irrev- ocably altered television’s business model. Not only are viewers watching drive more content than ever on digital devices, they’re doing so across a wider range of platforms and in many differ- ent ways. They’re consuming what they want, for when they want and how they want, and expect the industry to be able to keep up and adapt to their habits as quickly as these change. The onus is clearly on the TV industry to deliver data on consumer expectations. Consider that a study conducted by the Commercial Broadcasters Associa- Data analytics tion, the UK industry body for digital, cable and satellite broadcasters, con- cluded that investment in UK content Broadcasters and production aimed at their audiences distributors need to increased nearly 50% between 2009 and 2014. put data at the heart of The major global over-the-top (OTT) players are expected to spend more their businesses or risk than $7bn on content in 2016, up more being left behind, argue than 50% in just a single year. Many think that this tide of money Jean-Benoit Berty, flooding into TV production from these and new players has driven a new golden Rahul Gautam age of television, particularly for high-­ Chris Gianutsos quality, scripted shows. Unfortunately for broadcasters, the pace of innovation in business models is not keeping up with the pace of investment in content. Jeff Zucker famously worried that media companies were “trading ana- logue dollars for digital pennies”. These have now become dimes and quarters, but they still pale in comparison with the revenues generated by the legacy broadcast business. This is true even as consumption moves away from the legacy model, particularly among younger viewers. In spite of the challenges, however, we believe there is a path to a profitable digital future, which includes building a more intimate relationship with customers, content and markets. We see data analytics as a rare opportunity to create a true, sustaina- ble, competitive advantage in an increasingly complex industry. Few industries have as tenuous a relationship with data analytics as

30 television does in the UK, however. In all but the most progressive TV com- panies with a linear heritage, data analytics is confined to “special pro- THERE APPEARS TO BE jects” or research, rather than being A CONCERN THAT DATA embraced as an integral component of decision-making across the business. ANALYTICS REPRESENTS A There appears to be a concern that data analytics represents a threat to the THREAT TO THE CREATIVE creative culture that develops compel- CULTURE THAT DEVELOPS ling content. One challenge is that legacy revenues COMPELLING CONTENT are built on a system of measurement that struggles to fully understand mod- ern consumption on the TV screen. This begins to fall apart when trying to include viewing on mobiles, tablets and other platforms. Solving this problem calls for a new set of skills and capabilities, which requires significant investment, and not all this will pay off. This dynamic robs data analytics of the attention and investment needed to build a sustainable capability that is available to support decision-makers. Promoting data analytics from the fringes of a company’s activities to an integral part of the business starts with creating a common and clear under- standing of the decisions that data analytics can enhance. We believe there are five fundamental business decisions that highlight the power of data analytics in TV. n How can multi-platform content distribution create a more direct and intimate relationship with viewers? The undeniable, immediate benefit of investing in digital platforms is the opportunity to build one-to-one rela- tionships with viewers. While the promise of substantially higher advertising revenue may not yet have been fulfilled, there is a significant benefit to precisely targeting content and offers. Over time, the accumulation of this data will introduce the concept of customer-relationship management to EARLY MARKETING ON a sector that has never had the oppor- SOCIAL MEDIA DRIVES tunity to establish and build genuine one-to-one customer relationships. REACH AND BUILDS AN AUDIENCE, WHILE n How do we deliver a consistent customer experience when viewers SUSTAINED SOCIAL may choose to consume the same content through multiple channels? MARKETING APPEARS TO Building a common understanding of BE EFFECTIVE MAINLY IN who is watching which pieces of con- tent online and on TV is not easy. It BUILDING ENGAGEMENT requires tagging content in a detailed and consistent way and tracking �

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 31 � online viewer behaviour. The most having a view on the myriad com- sophisticated companies are using mercial models available to monetise THE ROLE OF social media and data patterns to content can lead to a portfolio of con- create viewer profiles that bridge tent that aligns with strategic, financial DATA ANALYTICS linear and digital viewership. and brand objectives. IN TV IS NOT TO This insight can inform the design Transforming data analytics into of a more relevant, cross-platform an integral business capability is hard, REPLACE THE customer experience that increases but attainable, work. The core com- VERY HUMAN ART engagement and loyalty. ponents are straightforward: n Align your management team OF STORYTELLING n How can social media be leveraged around a vision for data analytics that to drive reach and engagement when is acceptable to the culture but still OR TO SUBVERT launching a new show? looks ahead; THE STRATEGIC A recent study by EY of the launch of n Set aside the funding needed to a new programme analysed the rela- up-skill teams and develop new ROLE OF tionship between social-media activ- technologies that will become your COMMISSIONING ity and Barb ratings. desktop tools of the future; and The study demonstrated that social-­ n Define and execute a plan to media campaigns prior to launch can organise and manage your data. clearly contribute to expanding the Evaluating which category of data audience for the programme. How- (content, audience and/or market) ever, social-media activity weeks into can generate the greatest short-term a series does not consistently increase benefits is an effective way of aligning ratings. investments in data analytics with Early marketing on social media strategic priorities. drives reach and builds an audience, Content owners looking to sell their while sustained social marketing shows in new markets may get the appears to be effective mainly in greatest benefit from focusing on building engagement. market data to understand where they Marketers should, therefore, inte- can get the most return for their prod- grate social-­media data with perfor- uct. Traditional, linear broadcasters, mance data and tailor social-media meanwhile, may be more interested campaigns to focus either on reach in building a deeper understanding of or engagement as shows progress their audience. through a series. The role of data analytics in TV is not to replace the very human art of n How can we monetise content in storytelling or to subvert the strategic new markets? role of commissioning; rather, it should Developing a deeper, more reliable serve to complement them and help understanding of who is watching drive creative risk-taking. what content on which platforms can Effectively focused, data analytics fundamentally alter decisions about should build more intimate relation- how and where to distribute content. ships with customers, content and Some forward-thinking interna- markets that can make the path to a tional distributors are building market sustainable business model shorter ­models to perform what-if scenario and more certain. analyses. These reveal which markets The greatest challenge broadcasters are best suited for particular genres in the UK face is embracing the role of and programmes and the most lucra- data analytics and rallying the support tive distribution options. and commitment to build what can be a sustainable competitive advantage. n How do we know which content to invest in? Jean-Benoit Berty is based in London and The opportunity – and the competi- leads EY’s Technology, Media and Tele- tion – to acquire compelling content communications practice in the UK. Rahul have never been greater. Gautam is based in London and leads EY’s New, niche, OTT platforms are pro- Media & Entertainment Advisory practice viding an outlet for international con- in the UK. Chris Gianutsos is based in EY’s tent that would never have been seen New York office and focuses on digital outside local markets five years ago. strategy in the media and entertainment industries. The views reflected in this Developing a deeper understanding article are those of the authors and do not of viewer preferences, engaging with necessarily reflect the views of the global audiences more strategically and EY organisation or its member firms.

32 November 2015 www.rts.org.uk Television RTS NEWS Sci-fi writer Beowulf at the door shares tips talent and a cluster bomb of talent attracts commissions,” for success said the former Channel 4 executive. “That’s why we n Birming- are open for all sorts of part- ham-born nerships with all sorts of writer Phil local indies and local talent. Ford – the “For ITV, regionality is co-creator, increasingly seen as a key with Russell Phil Ford competitive advantage. In T Davies, of the past, it would have been CBBC series just another thing to tick off Wizards vs Aliens – discussed on the ITV licence ‘to do’ list.” his career in front of an audi- Bellamy said that ITV Stu- ence of RTS Midlands and dios made around two-thirds Writers’ Guild members in of its drama outside London October. and the South East. Add in its Ford was quizzed by BBC From left: Annie Hodgkiss, Julian Bellamy and Paul Pirie soaps, Emmerdale and Corona- One Midlands Today presenter tion Street, and the figure Joanne Malin at the BBC TV expects its new as Game of Thrones,” he said. increased to 92% Academy in Birmingham. multi-million-pound “But it will be more accessi- He argued that this level of The conversation ranged fantasy drama Beowulf to ble and not so extreme. activity proved that ITV was across his TV work and pro- appeal to audiences too “Game of Thrones is esti- a more “accurate bellwether” vided valuable insights into Isqueamish to watch HBO’s mated to have brought of the health of regional the craft of writing. gory Game of Thrones. And it’s almost £90m directly and production than the BBC. A former journalist, Ford’s hoped that the franchise will indirectly to the local North- “The BBC had to do what it credits run from soaps, build on the North East’s ern Irish economy. Doctor did [moving to Salford] and including Coronation Street, to growing reputation as a Who kick-started a film and spend big in the regions to the long-running series Bad drama production base. media industry in Wales, justify a licence fee raised Girls, Waterloo Road and Foot- ITV Studios MD Julian which has seen a 52% from the whole of the UK. ballers’ Wives. Bellamy predicted that the increase in employment ITV doesn’t. ITV is now On writing for established new 13-part action series, in the creative industries. largely able to do what suits series, he argued that the filmed in Weardale and on Beowulf could do the same ITV commercially. “voices” of characters were Tyneside, will also have the for the North East.” “The past few years have paramount, explaining that broader appeal of more ITV Studios is currently taught us that our bread viewers should know who is mainstream shows, such making two major dramas in doesn’t get buttered in Lon- speaking by what they say. as BBC One’s Merlin. the region: Beowulf and the don. The wellspring of what Ford has written many top Bellamy was giving the Brenda Blethyn detective we do, the reason we con- children’s and family dramas. annual North East & the series, Vera, which is now nect with audiences, comes He was the lead writer and Border lecture at Gateshead screened in 131 countries. from ITV’s deep roots out- co-producer of CBBC’s The Old Town Hall, in association The company’s factual side London. Obligation has Sarah Jane Adventures, and has with the Cinema and Televi- arm, Shiver, produces Tales morphed into opportunity.” also penned episodes of the sion Benevolent Fund, in from Northumberland with Taking questions from the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who mid-October. The fund Robson Green. audience, Bellamy admitted and Torchwood. was represented by Annie ITV Studios is Europe’s that broadcasters could do According to Ford, the Hodgkiss and Paul Pirie. biggest production company more to make it easier for secret of writing supernatural At the event, he showed and Bellamy is keen to widen producers facing the practi- drama for young people is exclusive footage of Beowulf, its talent pool and strike deals cal difficulties of being based that you are allowed to scare, which stars North-East actor with scripted and non- far from London. But he said but not terrify, them. Kieran Bew, William Hurt scripted producers in regions that the industry had woken Ford, who is currently and a fearsome band of CGI such as the North East. up to the notion that, when it working on a new, six-part trolls. The series is due to air “We are expanding the came to ideas and talent, the series about Dracula, advised in the new year. pool of talent in the region, answer lay in “acting local would-be TV writers to “I expect it to compare which has got to be good for and going global”. “write, write, write”. favourably with shows such everyone. Talent attracts Graeme Thompson Dorothy Hobson

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 33 RTS NEWS Celtic shop props up TV industry group of RTS Wales members visited Celtic Prop Hire in early October, and sawA items used in top TV shows, including BBC One’s Doctor Who, for which Celtic supplied a bust of Beethoven in the current series. Established in 1999, the Cardiff-based company sup- plies productions across the UK. Recent credits include Sky 1’s Agatha Raisin and Stella, and BBC One’s Under Milk Wood. The company also supplies a lot of props to the Natalie Rolley BBC’s Drama Village in Car- diff Bay, including for the long-running medical series leads them to think of addi- so we get a lot of requests for TV sets kept by the company, Casualty. tional items,” she said. muskets and tankards,” said from the earliest post-war Company Director Natalie There is a marked seasonal Rolley. models to the latest flat Rolley took members on a demand for some props, One of the more unusual screens. guided tour of the extraordi- with intense competition items kept by the company At the end of the visit, nary range of items held by between production compa- is a gigantic WC, although members were treated to an Celtic Prop Hire, which are nies and theatre groups at “there’s not much demand imaginary banquet, featuring grouped together in scenes. Halloween and Christmas. “A for that”, she conceded. goblets, false grapes and a “This helps clients because lot of schools are producing RTS Wales members also centrepiece wild boar’s head. the need for realism usually Les Misérables at the moment, examined the vast range of Hywel Wiliam

just yards away from where writer David Nobbs, who Comedy legend Cryer started his extraordi- died earlier this year. They nary career, at the City Varie- worked together on The Frost ties Music Hall. Report and Sez Les with the returns to Leeds Interviewed by author and inimitable Les Dawson. broadcaster Louis Barfe, the He also spoke with fond- comic spoke warmly about ness about his time working his early days in variety, at Yorkshire Television in the including his time at London’s 1970s and 1980s, a period famous Windmill Theatre. when the great and good As Cryer moved on to his of TV comedy could be illustrious career in TV and found at the Kirkstall Road radio, the stories and famous studios. However, Cryer also names came thick and fast. expressed great admiration Over the years, he seems for Britain’s current crop to have worked with all the of comedians, particularly great names of TV comedy, Ross Noble. Barry Cryer (right) talking to Louis Barfe including Morecambe and The evening was a treat

Gavin Moffitt Gavin Wise, Kenny Everett, Danny for lovers of classic British La Rue, Mike Yarwood, Spike comedy and entertainment, n Yorkshire RTS invited showed a sell-out crowd that Milligan and the Two Ronnies. and a reminder of the Barry Cryer back to his Leeds he has lost none of his wit All of whom he spoke about importance of the men and birthplace for an evening of and sparkle. with great warmth and women who undertake the showbiz anecdotes. The The event took place in affection. deadly serious business of comedian and writer, who mid-October at the atmos- Cryer paid tribute to The writing comedy. turned 80 earlier this year, pheric Holy Trinity Church, Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Lisa Holdsworth

34 enowned futurist the select audience of tech- David Wood has nology and TV experts. Nigel warned against a Walley, Managing Director of world in which media consultancy Decipher, “technologyR runs out of con- argued that change in televi- trol”, and viewers and consu­ sion rarely happened as mers are “manipulated” by quickly as technologists machines. assumed it would. Wood was speaking on the He recalled that Anthony “accelerating digital revolu- Rose, while heading the tion” at a special, members-­ BBC’s iPlayer project, had only London Centre event, predicted the rapid demise hosted at IBC’s UK head- of linear broadcasting and quarters in October. its replacement by video- The futurist, he explained, on-demand.­ “anticipates a set of possible “Part of Anthony’s problem futures, including things that was that he was expecting could go very badly [wrong], things to happen too but, equally, is looking for quickly,” said Walley. “As a opportunities”. Before embar­ technologist, he did not fully king on his career as a tech- understand the social and nological seer, Wood was a human role that TV has.” pioneer of the smartphone Technology, though, could industry. make inroads into more “As a society, we’re not surprising areas. “I can see a very good at anticipating big, world in which scheduling disruptive change,” Wood decisions can be informed David Wood argued, pointing to the US domain Public by data,” said Walley. newspaper industry and “I’m surprised that there high-street music shop HMV isn’t an algorithm out there as two businesses that did that has gone back through not see online competition How to keep the last 10 to 15 years of Barb coming and, as a result, were data and figured such things brought to their knees. out,” added UKTV’s Simon “In the short term, we Jackson. overestimate what technol- humans in the Chris Waiting, from Asso- ogy will do,” said Wood, with ciated Press, pointed out that the result that, initially, it computer algorithms already doesn’t live up to expecta- wrote news stories. “The tions. However, he added: driving seat algorithm can take a news “In the long term, we under- story, find video clips and estimate it.” shown only when they’re “would be undesirable. I want photos from an archive and Wood outlined a possible most likely to interest view- to get to the things I genuinely assemble a one-minute future in which people were ers. That’s just a foretaste of want to buy more quickly.” package with a computer manipulated by machines. what’s going to come. As The solution, he argued, voiceover. Would you run it Powerful computers would software observes us more was to build “a human future on News at Ten? No. Is it good be able to “make more and and more – and sees which with technology, rather than enough to have on an app? more accurate inferences” channels we click on – it will one in which the technology Absolutely,” he said. from the data people “leak” target adverts even better.” ran out of control – or one in “News is pretty formulaic,” online. “Software will know He predicted: “Over the which the politicians and added Waiting, “but can you how we can be exploited by next five or 10 years, people other techno-conservatives imagine a computer com- carefully targeted approaches,” are going to be alarmed about took the innovation out of missioning or producing a he said. the ways in which they are technology”. drama?” Such a situation is not so manipulated by advertising.” Wood said he wanted a “There are only seven plots far-fetched. Even now, said Politicians, said Wood, future with “humans in con- [in drama],” reckoned Kiely. Wood, “more advertising is could “respond to public trol, with technology that She asked: “At what point do going to Google and other disquiet” by, for example, works not just for the vendor we give a [computer] a plot, a internet search engines legislating against cookies on but also on the side of the number of characters and because they already know websites. But this “techno-­ consumer”. ask it to do all the things you a lot about us. That’s why conservative approach”, The chair of the London have to do to write a good Google has attracted so much which sought to put a brake event, consultant Katz Kiely, screenplay?” ad revenue – the adverts are on technological progress, asked for contributions from Matthew Bell

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 35 RTS NEWS Welsh broadcast media at risk? TS Wales joined the television services from Institute of Welsh transmitters in England. Affairs to host a However, a straw poll of lively debate on the the audience showed that futureR of Welsh broadcasting only two people were receiv- at Glyndŵr University in ing their TV services from Wrexham at the end of the North West and the point October. was made that, in this age of In a pre-recorded video broadband connectivity, message, the Welsh Govern- access to services was a ment’s Deputy Minister for matter of choice. Culture, Sport and Tourism, “Is there a future for Ken Skates, expressed con- broadcasting in Wales?” was cern about the weakening also attended by media stu- position of broadcast media dents from Coleg Cambria. in Wales. Several of them had devel- The RTS Centre’s adminis- oped their own online video trator, Hywel Wiliam, gave a projects for social media Ken Skates: sent video warning to RTS debate brief overview of the key platforms. features of the current com- The event was chaired by munications market. vice licences. There was a most claimed to be using Glyndŵr University’s Graeme The BBC Trust’s Karl Davies lively debate about how the on-demand services such as Park and recorded by stu- argued the case for the crea- licence-fee regulations could Netflix. dents from the Department tion of a discrete service be adapted to cover viewers Wrexham is close to the of Broadcasting and Journal- licence for all of BBC Wales’s watching BBC services online. border with England and ism. An edited video of the output. Currently, its televi- Only two audience members research by Ofcom and the discussion is being posted on sion services are part of the said they were still watching BBC has shown that many the university’s website. BBC One and BBC Two ser- live television regularly – people in the town get their Tim Hartley ONLINE at the RTS

n The awards season is fast We took advantage of the short-video-sharing service film-maker Sean McAllister approaching, and we’ve sell-out RTS/IET Joint Public Snapchat, we take a look at at a London screening of his enjoyed sharing photos of Lecture to grab an exclusive what the social-media plat- documentary A Syrian Love the shortlisted RTS Craft & interview with Google Deep- form offers news providers. Story. He opens up about his Design Awards nominees via Mind co-founder Dr Demis Is it just another digital fad “fly-in-the-soup” – rather social media. You can join Hassabis. or a useful way to reach a than fly-on-the-wall – the conversation, too, by The all-round brainbox new, younger audience with method of filming. He searching for #rtscraft online. was fresh from his spellbind- quality news? Sandy Tabalo recounts how he followed one It’s time for the usually ing lecture to the RTS on the spoke to On-demand Output family’s heart-­breaking jour- dressed-down RTS digital future of artificial intelligence. Editor at Sky News Alan ney from stability in Syria to team to dust off our cummer- He explains how his research Strange to find out (www.rts. marital strife – and attempted bunds and ball gowns ahead will change the way we watch org.uk/snapchat). suicide – in France. of the ceremony, which we TV in “the next five years” by Following the success of McAllister has filmed in will be reporting live from offering a smart recommen- our “Humans: anatomy of war zones around the world, Park Lane on 30 November. dation service. He also a hit” evening with Gemma but says he’s most frightened The RTS website and our reveals why he’s such a fan Chan, Tom Goodman-Hill of filming a documentary in social media accounts are the of True Detective Season 1. and others, we asked the his home town of Hull (www. only places to get the results And, in case you missed his show’s writers to tell us what rts.org.uk/mcallister). as they’re announced. We will lecture, you can catch up on they’re watching on the box also have interviews with the the whole thing now on our right now. To give you a clue, If you have any thoughts about winners and other nominees. website (www.rts.org.uk/demis). it’s not Downton Abbey (www. what we should be covering Fire up Twitter and follow With news that Al Jazeera rts.org.uk/humans). online, please contact Digital @RTS_media now to ensure English is the latest news Last month, Pippa Shawley Editor Tim Dickens (TDickens@ you don’t miss a word. outlet to take the plunge with got the chance to interview rts.org.uk)

36 debate”, which had been Younge accepted that the about the “relationship Government had the right to between channels, studios ask the BBC questions, but and production companies. said “the tone was unhelp- “TV people have a handle ful”. He noted that “from a on the strange new world of Tory secretary of state’s point interactive digital media – to of view, having a fight with me, that was hugely positive.” the BBC is not bad politics”. Turning to John Whitting- Five years of living in the dale’s Convention address, US with its commercial TV Toby Syfret from Enders model had taught Younge Analysis recalled that the that “we put the BBC at risk culture secretary had said at our cultural peril”. there were no plans to priva- Younge also backed the tise Channel 4. A few weeks BBC’s new production divi- later, Syfret added, “it seems sion: “BBC Studios is abso- Pat Younge speaking at Cambridge to be rather high on his lutely critical if the BBC is to Paul Hampartsoumian Paul agenda. Never believe politi- remain a world-class producer cians, particularly when they broadcaster. The current sound reasonable.” model, where in-house pro- Questions were taken from ducers can only pitch their the audience. Peter Blackman ideas to BBC commissioners, London audits from the Save Our BBC cam- is out of date.” paign asked the panel for its RTS online journalist Pippa thoughts on the green paper Shawley discussed the Soci- on the future of the BBC, ety’s digital coverage of the Cambridge event which was published in July. Convention. This included an Syfret said he found “the app that allowed voting dur- ondon Centre’s review was left with the impression tone of the green paper mis- ing sessions. The RTS Twitter of the RTS Cambridge that television had become a leading and unduly negative account proved popular, Convention offered a “sunset industry. People still – it’s about the need for reaching more than 39,000 lively discussion, with haven’t really engaged with reform rather than sustaining people on the Thursday of Lpanellists clashing over the what digital means. We or improving”. He was anx- the Convention. digital threat to traditional TV danced around it again [at ious about threats to the “We got beyond the bubble and the BBC green paper. Cambridge] but, at some broadcast spectrum and the of Cambridge. During [BBC Pat Younge, the former point, we are going to principle of universality. chief] Tony Hall’s session, he BBC Chief Creative Officer address it head on, probably Walley said that Black- was a trending topic on who founded the indie Sugar when we crash into it.” man’s organisation was Twitter,” said Shawley. Films earlier this year, pre- Nigel Walley, MD of media “absurd”. He added that the Matthew Bell dicted “a really turbulent consultancy Decipher, took questions raised in the green Sue Robertson, Executive ­ period ahead. This Govern- an opposing view: “In a way, paper, which also covered ­Producer of the Cambridge ment is more radical than it was the first post-internet BBC funding, services and ­Convention, chaired the London people understood.” Cambridge.” Platforms and production, were “good Centre event, which was held at Looking back to Septem- devices, he noted, were questions to be asking in the New Broadcasting House in ber’s Convention, Younge “almost invisible from the 21st century”. London on 7 October.

Mowat warned the audi- ence not to exaggerate their Bristol gurus share expertise experience: “Don’t describe yourself as a director of pho- n How to get that crucial Marshall; Rob Hifle, Creative “but concentrate on what tography just because you foothold in the industry was Director of BDH; editor Glenn you like and what you are are proficient in using a the preoccupation of the Rainton; RTS-nominated good at. Don’t try to be good camera.” audience for October’s Bris- cameraman and MD of Hur- at everything.” But all the panel agreed tol RTS Futures event held at ricane Media Jon Mowat; and Marshall added: “Be per- that storytelling was the key Bath Spa University. Under- George Panayiotou, Business sistent. If you send me a CV thing for aspiring media pro- graduate film-makers and Development Manager of and ask for feedback, expect fessionals to master. They pupils from the city’s Studio Bristol post house Films at some feedback. And do advised: be persistent, do School quizzed a panel of 59 – were candid about the watch or listen to the output. research and make as much seasoned TV professionals. challenges facing the students. Don’t go for an interview content as possible to shape The panellists – BBC radio “It’s difficult to stand out without knowing what we and hone your skills. chief in the west, Stephanie from the crowd,” said Hifle, produce. Watch the content.” Lynn Barlow

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 37 OFF M E SSAGE

hristmas has come Hassabis? Or maybe gaining private role of public service television in the early at BBC World- insights into all things AI? digital era. Goldsmiths, University of wide. Or it did for Perhaps Anita/Mia, played by London, is behind the initiative. Its those hacks fortu- Gemma Chan, will reveal an aptitude backers include the usual suspects, nate enough to for the intensely cerebral Chinese such as The Guardian – and, intrigu- attend the press game of Go – unsurprisingly, a pas- ingly, Vice, whose news coverage launch of BBC Store, time enjoyed by Hassabis. continues to give the established the corporation’s long-anticipated, The DeepMind founder revealed players a lot to think about. Cdownload-to-own service. that he is a fan of Humans. This would The views of Vice’s founder, Shane The journos were each given a have pleased Channel 4 CEO David Smith, on the BBC and Channel 4 generous £25 voucher towards their Abraham, who attended the sold-out would be very interesting to hear. first purchases at BBC Store. lecture. Such is the array of goodies avail- ■ Talking of news, it is far too early able from more than 7,000 hours of ■ It was, of course, a good night for to assess the significance of ITV’s BBC shows, spanning more than five Channel 4 at this year’s Grierson rebooted News at Ten, anchored by decades, that Off Message is spoilt for Awards, held earlier this month at the hugely engaging Tom Bradby. choice. London’s Mermaid Theatre. For a start, news junkies must wait Series one of the brilliant New Grayson Perry – looking more to see what impact Robert Peston Labour satire, The Thick of It, is a steal outrageously flamboyant than ever – makes as ITV News’s new Political at £3.99, cheaper than a bottle of craft was voted Documentary Presenter of Editor when he finally arrives. beer. the Year for his stunning Who Are You?, But the so-called “Battle of the This is just the start. New content is an RTS winner back in March. Bongs” has led already to a less than apparently being added daily. World- BBC Three, soon to be online only, gracious Huw Edwards taking to social wide predicts that, within a year, pocketed two awards. Its imaginative media to claim that the BBC’s ratings some 10,000 hours will be on sale. drama-documentary, Our World War: remain comfortably ahead of ITV’s. With luck, these additions will The First Day, deservedly clinched the Surely, Bradby is right to encourage provide more archive fun for sports Best Historical Documentary prize. audiences to take a look at the and current-affairs fans – neither of At least the channel is going out relaunched News at Ten, which is whom are particularly well served at with a bang, not a whimper. Let’s trying to do something that is clearly the moment. hope that, in its new incarnation, BBC new and different. As he wrote in The Three keeps innovating and isn’t Sunday Times, “I would urge you to ■ Super brain meets super creatives… reduced to a digital also-ran. give us a try. I hope you will find us Backstage at the RTS/IET Joint Public more thoughtful and a lot more Lecture, given by the breathtak- ■ Some of you might think the last engaging than our rivals.” ingly brilliant Demis Hassabis, were thing the world needs is yet another This latest skirmish in the news Humans co-writers Jonathan Brackley inquiry examining public service wars between the BBC and ITV has a and Sam Vincent plus the show’s broadcasting. very long way to go before either side Executive Producer, Derek Wax. Not Lord Puttnam, who announced can claim victory. Were they discussing storylines for last month that he is chairing a panel Off Message hopes that John Whit- the second season of Humans with looking at the nature, purpose and tingdale is paying full attention.

38 November 2015 www.rts.org.uk Television RTS PATRONS

RTS Principal BBC BSkyB Channel 4 ITV Patrons

RTS Discovery Networks Turner Broadcasting System Inc International Liberty Global Viacom International Media Patrons NBCUniversal International Networks The Walt Disney Company YouTube

RTS Accenture FremantleMedia KPMG Virgin Media Major Channel 5 Fujitsu McKinsey and Co YouView Patrons Deloitte IBM S4C Enders Analysis IMG Studios STV Group EY ITN UKTV

RTS Autocue ITV London ITV Yorkshire Quantel Patrons Digital Television Group ITV Meridian ITV Wales Raidió Teilifís Éireann ITV Anglia ITV Tyne Tees Lumina Search UTV Television ITV Granada ITV West PricewaterhouseCoopers Vinten Broadcast

Who’s who Patron President CENTRES COUNCIL History at the RTS HRH The Prince of Wales Sir Peter Bazalgette Lynn Barlow Don McLean Mike Best Vice-Presidents Chair of RTS Trustees Charles Byrne IBC Conference Liaison David Abraham John Hardie Isabel Clarke Terry Marsh Dawn Airey Alex Connock Sir David Attenborough OM Honorary Secretary Gordon Cooper RTS Legends CH CVO CBE FRS David Lowen Tim Hartley TBC Baroness Floella Kingsley Marshall Benjamin OBE Honorary Treasurer Kristin Mason RTS Technology Bursaries Dame Colette Bowe OBE Mike Green Graeme Thompson Simon Pitts Lord Bragg of Wigton Penny Westlake John Cresswell BOARD OF TRUSTEES James Wilson AWARDS COMMITTEE Adam Crozier Tim Davie Michael Wilson CHAIRS Mike Darcey Mike Green Awards & Fellowship Greg Dyke John Hardie SPECIALIST GROUP Policy Lord Hall of Birkenhead Huw Jones CHAIRS David Lowen Lorraine Heggessey Jane Lighting Archives Ashley Highfield Graham McWilliam Steve Bryant Craft & Design Awards Armando Iannucci David Lowen Cheryl Taylor Ian Jones Simon Pitts Diversity Baroness Lawrence of Graeme Thompson Marcus Ryder Television Journalism Clarendon OBE Jane Turton Awards Rt Hon Dame Tessa Early Evening Events Stewart Purvis CBE Jowell MP EXECUTIVE Dan Brooke David Lynn Chief Executive Programme Awards Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Theresa Wise Education Alex Mahon Ken MacQuarrie Graeme Thompson Gavin Patterson Student Television Trevor Phillips OBE RTS Futures Awards Stewart Purvis CBE Camilla Lewis Stuart Murphy Sir Howard Stringer

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2015 39 Creative Services Group 020 7951 3000 Print Design (ext. 13000) Document 31752RTS A4 Advert November- 2015 edition_1 name

Client(s) Georgia Steed

Stakeholder(s) N/A

Designer Emma White

Audience UK only

Output Print only © 2015 Ernst All & Young Rights LLP. Reserved. ED0116. Is the next Finished size A4 Date started 21/10/2015 evolution Version 1 Date 21/10/2015

of big data, Modified by Emma White

Flat size A4 (210 x 297mm) big judgment? Artwork 100% scale

Special Find out how EY is helping companies N/A (Coated stock) colours For printFor only transform the way decisions are made. Special N/A ey.com/analytics #BetterQuestions finishing

31752 RTS A4 Advert - November 2015 edition_1.indd 1 21/10/2015 16:26:50