June 2021

THE TV SWEAT SHOP ARE YOUNG WORKERS BEING EXPLOITED?

Television www.rts.org.uk September 2013 1 LOVE TV? SO DO WE!

R o y a l T e l e v i s i o n S o c i e t y b u r s a r i e s o f f e r f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t a n d m e n t o r i n g t o p e o p l e s t u d y i n g :

TTEELLEEVVIISSIIOONN PPRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN JJOOUURRNNAALLIISSMM EENNGGIINNEEEERRIINNGG CCOOMMPPUUTTEERR SSCCIIEENNCCEE PPHHYYSSIICCSS MMAATTHHSS

F i r s t y e a r a n d s o o n - t o - b e s t u d e n t s s t u d y i n g r e l e v a n t u n d e r g r a d u a t e a n d H N D c o u r s e s a t L e v e l 5 o r 6 a r e e n c o u r a g e d t o a p p l y .

F i n d o u t m o r e a t r t s . o r g . u k / b u r s a r i e s

# R T S B u r s a r i e s Journal of The Royal Television Society June 2021 l Volume 58/6

From the CEO There have been way of working needs to emerge. British TV may be the best in the many disturbing The Government’s “levelling-up” world, but South Korea is the home of headlines of late about agenda continues to concentrate global entertainment formats – Stuart sexual harassment minds. Our Friend in the North East, Kemp provides a rundown. and bullying on TV Graeme Thompson, uses this month’s Maggie Brown’s new book on Chan- LOVE TV? and film sets. Our column to sound a note of optimism nel 4 – avidly reviewed by Narinder cover story highlights about the BBC’s plans for the region Minhas – reminds us that the broad- another, more widespread malpractice after listening to the corporation’s caster has never stood still. Indeed, it – the gruelling working conditions director of nations, Rhodri Talfan keeps on innovating, as Shilpa Gana- endured by young people at the start Davies, address the RTS. We carry tra’s exploration of its fantastic new of their TV careers. a full report of Rhodri’s interview. comedy We Are Lady Parts demonstrates. SO DO WE! Caroline Frost speaks to a wide After that long, cold and often wet cross section of production workers spring, summer is finally here. I, for one, and discovers that new recruits rou- am looking forward to the great sum- tinely work punishingly long hours mer of TV sport, so badly missed last and are frequently forced to do jobs year. Matthew Bell’s article on the Euros R o y a l T e l e v i s i o n S o c i e t y b u r s a r i e s o f f e r f i n a n c i a l they weren’t contracted for. A better will get you in the mood for kick-off. Theresa Wise s u p p o r t a n d m e n t o r i n g t o p e o p l e s t u d y i n g : TTEELLEEVVIISSIIOONN PPRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN Contents Charlene Chika Osuagwu’s TV Diary Aid for unscripted JJOOUURRNNAALLIISSMM On the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death, A new training fund is aimed at workers in genres such 5 Charlene Chika Osuagwu reflects on what has changed 21 as specialist factual building careers outside of London EENNGGIINNEEEERRIINNGG Comfort Classic: Drop the Dead Donkey Channel 4 revives its punk spirit Steve Clarke alternately giggles and squirms at a biting Shilpa Ganatra salutes We Are Lady Parts for subverting CCOOMMPPUUTTEERR SSCCIIEENNCCEE 6 satire on media mendacity 22 stereotypes of young Muslim women Working Lives: Fight director Beauty of the Beast PPHHYYSSIICCSS From Corrie to Romeo & Juliet, Kate Waters has choreo­ BritBox lifts the lid on its first original drama, The Beast MATHS 8 graphed a lot of fights. She shows Matthew Bell the ropes 24 Must Die, an ambitious thriller with an all-star cast MATHS TV’s dirty secret The sober art of sharing joy Young TV workers are routinely bullied and forced to Writer Russell T Davies, producer Nicola Shindler and 10 work punishingly long hours. Caroline Frost investigates 26 commissioner Lee Mason on how to create hit scripts F i r s t y e a r a n d s o o n - t o - b e s t u d e n t s s t u d y i n g Our Friend in the North East Ads bounce back As the BBC boosts its local activities, Graeme Thompson TV advertising is rebounding but reforms are necessary r e l e v a n t u n d e r g r a d u a t e a n d H N D c o u r s e s a t 13 is optimistic about the region’s future as a production hub 28 for the sector’s long-term future, says Gideon Spanier L e v e l 5 o r 6 a r e e n c o u r a g e d t o a p p l y . The beautiful game gets complicated TV’s middle-aged wild child Matthew Bell explains how broadcasters are covering Narinder Minhas reviews the second volume of Maggie 14 the Euros, which kick off this month 30 Brown’s history of an unfailingly turbulent broadcaster Korea’s technicolour dream shows Stories hiding in plain sight F i n d o u t m o r e a t Weird, wacky and all-conquering – Stuart Kemp peeks Key people in the creation of BBC One’s Small Axe share 16 into the formats factory that gave us The Masked Singer 32 the backstory of Steve McQueen’s film anthology r t s . o r g . u k / b u r s a r i e s Strengthening trust in the BBC A serious bid to reach past the M25 Does the BBC need a new regulatory system following BBC director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies tells the RTS 18 Lord Dyson’s report? Caroline Thomson judges the case 34 how the Beeb’s ‘Across the UK’ strategy will deliver # R T S B u r s a r i e s 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 2021. [email protected] [email protected] London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman The views expressed in Television News editor and writer Sub-editor T: 020 7822 2810 Overseas (airmail) £172.22 20 Crimscott Street 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 June 2021 3 SWEEPING & DRAMATIC AUDIONETWORK.COM/DISCOVER

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fter eight months necessary conversation around the working across impact of domestic abuse on children. two productions Following the broadcast, Hampton for Zinc Media, it is Trust received several calls from officially my last perpetrators seeking help. day here. During Accounts like this act as a reminder my time at the of just how powerful and transforma- company, I have produced Brook tive our medium and industry can be. Lapping’sA Ian Wright: Home Truths, a single documentary exploring the ■ New week, new lockdown rules. devastating impact of physical and The country is one step closer to psychological abuse in childhood, and “freedom” – albeit with the per-

two glitzy, feature-length episodes for Charlene Chika Osuagwu sistent cloud of new coronavirus Blakeway’s series about Hollywood in strains overhead. But, on the bright 1939. Cue the old adage: “no two days Charlene Chika Osuagwu side, at least we get to (sensibly and in TV are ever…” cautiously) sit inside a bar this week. reflects on the first British weather is unforgiving. ■ As most freelancers in our indus- try can attest, the reality of finishing anniversary of George ■ Today marks the anniversary of one job, juggling work offers and Floyd’s death – and the killing of George Floyd – a mur- moving (hopefully, quickly) on to der that was seen around the world, the next always comes with mixed experiences what it’s and one that turned the name of an feelings of dread and anticipation. like to make a film that ordinary man into the chant of an Although I am super nervous about uprising seen, felt, and heard across what is next and when exactly that changes people’s lives the globe. next may be, I leave the wonderful Since his death, I often reflect on Brook Lapping greatly energised and this notion of martyrdom as it relates optimistic about what is to come. to the black experience and the ■ It is the morning after Ian Wright: exhausting need to reaffirm that ■ An article I wrote addressing both Home Truths aired. The response has black lives – our hopes, dreams and the issue and importance of diversity in been truly heartening. representation, as much as our strug- our industry is published ahead of the Several individuals – colleagues, gles against injustices – do matter. transmission of Ian Wright: Home Truths. close friends and strangers – have I sometimes wonder whether It’s funny, when it was first sug- been in touch to express how moved George Floyd would be gladdened by gested I write the piece, I was reluc- and affected they were, hearing Ian’s the renewed observance and sense of tant. Other than not really wanting to personal story and those of the con- commitment to racial equality that we rehash the (easily answerable) “why is tributors. For some, the film was a have seen permeate everyday conver- diversity in TV important” question, I vindication of their own experiences sations, news cycles and workplaces honestly did not know where to start. growing up in abusive homes, and, since his death. But I somberly con- I spent days staring at a blank for others, an uncomfortable reminder clude he would prefer to be alive. screen, fighting over how to begin, of events and incidents that they had A year on, his death continues to sentence structure, paragraph length, endured in life. drive overdue conversations about tone, font size (erm, why?) – and, Many of the charities and organisa- systemic and systematic racism in ultimately, what it was that I actually tions involved in helping with the every aspect of our society. This time wanted to say. In the end, I was hon- documentary have told us that the next year, I hope the same is true and est and wrote as freely and candidly programme has already positively that the need to commit to and as the word count would allow. affected their sector. In one note, ensure racial equality remains fixed Writing the piece was incredibly Chantal Hughes, Chief Executive of in our collective consciousness. cathartic and, based on the warm Hampton Trust, expressed how Ian’s feedback I received from peers, edi- journey had amplified the importance Charlene Chika Osuagwu is a TV fying and empowering for others. of perpetrator work and the very ­documentary producer.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 5 COMFORT CLASSIC

Steve Clarke alternately giggles and squirms at a biting satire on media mendacity Channel 4 Drop the Dead Donkey

itcoms as perfectly realised Hamilton and Jenkin, who met at that needed to push the envelope. and executed as Chan- Cambridge, were writing partners for Whether the gags would have been nel 4’s Drop the Dead Don- around a decade, predominantly at so edgy on the BBC is a moot point. key are exceedingly rare. BBC radio and television, before Ham- Few targets seemed to be off limits as That this newsroom ilton had the idea for what became leading politicians, royals and other caper, set mostly in the Drop the Dead Donkey. people in public life were routinely offices of Globelink News, was a topi- Having written for Not the Nine O’Clock skewered by Globelink’s disreputable calS satire, filmed partly the day before News and Spitting Image, their satirical and wholly dysfunctional staff. transmission to keep the material as chops were well honed before they That both Neil Kinnock and Ken up to date as possible, speaks volumes decided to transplant their humour from Livingstone agreed to appear in the of the skills of creators Andy Hamilton sketch shows to a workplace sitcom. show suggests the high regard with and Guy Jenkin, the brilliant ensemble Unsurprisingly, they assumed the which it was held – even by those who cast and its director, the energetic Liddy natural home for such an endeavour could be the butt of its jokes. Oldroyd. Unusually, Oldroyd directed was the BBC, but, when the Beeb sat The character at the heart of Drop the all six series, some 65 episodes. Tragi- on the show, they decided to try Chan- Dead Donkey is editor George Dent (Jeff cally, she died in 2002, aged 47, four nel 4 instead. Drop the Dead Donkey was Rawle), a hypochondriac who dreams years after Drop the Dead Donkey ended. soon a defining show for a network of better things. He is eternally harassed

6 and put upon by his wife, his boss – the jargon-loving Gus – and the mostly amoral hacks he is unable to control. With exquisite irony, he falls in love with new recruit Helen, who turns out to be gay. Ear candy The macho elements in the mix are provided by the utterly unscrupulous reporter Damien (a young Stephen Tompkinson), who would sell his granny for a scoop, lecherous newsroom assis- tant Dave (the then largely unknown Neil Pearson) and grizzled news anchor Henry (David Swift), hopelessly vain, hard-drinking and overly fond of a flutter and young, female company. If Henry reminds viewers of a cer- tain age of the late, great ITN news- caster Reggie Bosanquet, so much the better. But Henry’s liking for red braces and crumpled white suits might hint at other veteran British newsmen. His foil and co-anchor is the irredeemably posh and intellectually challenged Sally (Victoria Wicks). When she is told to read an item about a crisis in Kashmir, Sally initially assumes the news is referring to, you guessed it, cashmere. Drop the Dead Donkey was first broad- cast in 1990, a time when it seemed as if most of the UK’s media would soon be owned by either Rupert Murdoch or Robert Maxwell. Globelink forms part of the empire of the Dickensian-­ sounding Sir Roysten Merchant. Note

his initials. He is determined to take BBC the station downmarket. The only time we ever see Sir Roysten is when he sacks Gus in the final episode – and, of course, he has no idea who Gus is. Inside Inside No 9 When Maxwell disappeared over- board in 1991, Hamilton and Jenkin he comedy anthology what the role of an executive producer took his unexpected exit in their stride Inside No 9 is notori- involves; and guest star Kevin Bishop and used the death as an opportunity ously always one step has shared some of the downsides of for some especially mordant news- ahead of its audience. acting wearing masks in Wuthering Heist. room jokes. So, if ever the fans of Shearsmith and Pemberton provide As time has gone by, there have been a TV series might entertaining detail on the inspiration several other great British workplace have pleaded for a for each story – often a melange of sitcoms, notably The Office and W1A. podcast that deconstructs each epi- real-life experiences and awkward Hilarious they undoubtedly are, but Tsode, Inside Inside No 9 answers that call. anecdotes – and how it was produced. what sets Drop the Dead Donkey apart is Becoming even more granular than Such teardowns include the its humanity, the tragic vulnerabilities the series itself, the two creators and ­uncomfortable experience of an of its characters – and the sheer scope stars, Reece Shearsmith and Steve up-and-coming­ actor using a family’s and incisiveness of Hamilton and Jen- Pemberton, dissect each episode after house as a green room, depicted in kin’s writing. And let’s not forget the it has aired. Hurry Up and Wait. show’s visual elan, forged partly by Every week, the masters of mis­ The comedy duo give texture to the clever use of handheld cameras. direction are joined by a different throwaway comments and small In our wildly unpredictable times, member of the Inside No 9 team to talk details you might have missed on TV, viewers look in vain for a 21st-century about the making of the programmes. such as where the mysterious hare was satirical equivalent of Drop the Dead Series composer Christian Henson hidden in each episode. This, of course, Donkey. has revealed how he achieves the refers to the small Easter egg containing show’s huge variety of musical tone a statute of a hare featured in every Drop the Dead Donkey is available on while obeying strict rules on musical episode. n BritBox and All4. genre; Jon Plowman has explained Kate Holman

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 7 WORKING LIVES

Kate Waters (right) rehearsing The Sweet Science of Bruising

Fight director Casarotto Ramsay Casarotto

Kate Waters has worked on together and there’s a discussion among of truth – if you take a hit in the face, ­Coronation Street for the past decade, the director, the actors and me. you don’t want another one. choreographing­ the conflicts that are such a staple of the ITV soap. Recently, How do you deal with the huge varia- So are the actors at risk? she directed the fight scenes in the tion in actors’ physical abilities? I use soft implements for actors to hit National Theatre’s triumphant film A lot of my job is about adaptability each other with. A chair, for example, Romeo & Juliet for Sky Arts. and compromise – you’re always could be made from balsa wood so it looking to get the best out of an actor, breaks easily. Actors are hit on the top What does the job involve? but you have to work to their strengths of the back and wear protection, never I choreograph the physical action in and within their capabilities. on the back of the head. Everything is the story, whether it’s with swords, a You don’t expect actors to have great choreographed to minimise the risk. punch up or just a slap, ensuring that skills in fight scenes – they might have the motivation for the action lies in the done a bit of swordplay at drama school How did you become a fight director? story and the characters. It’s not about but they’ve probably never picked up a I always wanted to be an actor – I acted being fancy or funky: it’s about making sword since. at school and took dance classes but, the action the vehicle for the story, not The secret is to make them feel good following my dad and brother, I took up the other way around. about what they’re doing – 90% is judo and competed at a reasonable psychology, getting the actors in a good level. I went to Middlesex University to So you must work closely with the place and winning trust; the rest is study acting; stage combat was on the director? choreography. timetable and I felt I had found myself. It’s a collaborative process: the director I qualified as a stage combat teacher has a vision for the programme, as do I Is realism the key to a fight scene? and, when I left drama school, I went for the action sequences. We’re on set Violence needs to come from a place to teach at the Royal Welsh College of

8 Music & Drama, and then to work with come any closer than two metres from actors. The worst part? You can feel on the fight director and teacher Jonathan the actors on Corrie. It’s unnatural the outside of a production as a fight Howell, at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre demonstrating techniques from a dis- director, although, on a show that School. He was my mentor and gave his tance, but we’re making it work. you’ve worked on for a long time, time selflessly, helping me get all the such as Corrie, it’s not a problem. qualifications I needed to get on the What makes a good fight director? Equity register of fight directors. You need to leave your ego at the door Are there any tricks of the trade you and serve the story. You also need can share with us? Was that difficult? physical and mental stamina. One day Distract the audience – take their eyes When I did it, you needed a brown or black belt in a martial art, fencing quali- fications and an advanced certificate in stage combat, and then you went on an assessment course where fight directors set tests. You don’t have to be on the Equity register to work in the theatre and TV, but I believe in regulation.

Are there many women fight directors? Twenty years ago, the Equity register was a bit of an old gentleman’s club, and even now there are still only three women on the register. It needs to evolve and be less patriarchal.

Is physical strength an issue? No, I’ve never needed my judo black belt – choreography and storytelling are the most important skills. My other sport is boxing – I’ve retired from competitive boxing but I’m still train- ing and coaching – but you don’t need to be an Olympic boxer to choreograph a fight with actors who almost certainly Coronation Street won’t have that skill. live episode 2015 ITV What was your first professional job? Coriolanus at the Tobacco Factory in I could be at the National Theatre, the somewhere else and then you can take Bristol, and I’ve continued to work on next on the Coronation Street or Emmer­ them by surprise with a piece of action. stage for, among others, the RSC, Globe dale set. In TV, you’re usually on set for and National Theatre. just a day – you have a read-through What advice would you give to some- with the actors, a rehearsal, a camera one wanting to become a fight director? What was your first TV programme? rehearsal and then a take. It has to be a vocation, not a sideline to Coronation Street – choreographing a an acting career. Shadow people and punch in the Rovers Return. It was What’s the most exciting fight learn from watching them work. Then difficult to break into TV. I got work on sequence you’ve pulled off? it is up to you – it takes practice and Corrie because a theatre director was I directed Kylie Platt’s death on Corona­ passion to choreograph a perfect fight. directing a block of episodes on the tion Street, and I was also her stunt show and gave me a break. I’ve since double because the actor [Paula Lane] What TV series would you love to worked for other soaps, such as was heavily pregnant – one moment I work on? Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. was choreographing the scene and I have just finished a few days shooting then I had to go to costume and dress on a film for Amazon and I’m about to Do you have a favourite memory? for the part. shoot Death of England: Delroy, the next I worked on the Coronation Street live National Theatre film. episode in 2015. The first 15 minutes What do you bring to work with you? Although Killing Eve is perhaps more were crazy and nerve-wracking Snacks – I’m always hungry – the stylised it still comes from a place of because one of the characters, drug script, my knee pads and a big bag of truth. I would also have loved to work dealer Callum Logan [Sean Ward], was padding for the actors. on Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, or killed – it was really quite violent, but something like Russell T Davies’s It’s a brilliant to work on. What are the best and worst parts Sin. I just love good storytelling. n of the job? Has it been hard working under I’ll never fall out of love with creating Kate Waters was interviewed by Matthew Covid-19 restrictions? action sequences – telling the story, Bell. The fight director is represented by We have to wear masks and can’t and collaborating with directors and Casarotto Ramsay.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 9 Young people in production are routinely bullied and harassed, made to work punishingly long hours and do jobs they were not hired for. Caroline Frost investigates Ricardo DiazRicardo TV’s dirty secret

elevision documentaries tempered or even destroyed by the post-production roles, both office and changed me and inspired reality of the day-to-day pressures and location-based. And all who spoke to me when I was growing up expectations across different areas of me – anonymously – were emphatic and, as an adult, I wanted production. that this way of working is everywhere. to be part of that,” one While incidents of bullying and One told me: “You can’t throw a stone young researcher tells me. harassment are being talked about in this industry without hitting some- “I’m from a working-class back- more openly in the wake of allegations body with a horror story to tell. It’s an ‘ground,T and working in factual TV, against Noel Clarke and others, I dis- industry-wide epidemic.” bringing people’s stories to screen, that covered something less headline-­ “If you’re in the production office is no small thing. It’s incredibly impor- grabbing but more widespread for and you’re contracted 9:00am to tant to a lot of people,” says another. those starting out and hoping to make 6:00pm, you can expect to add an hour British television has long enjoyed their way up the ladder: the incredibly either side of that,” explains Sarah, who a reputation for being the best in the long, undocumented and thankless has worked in factual TV for a decade. world, and a role in this industry is the hours everyone is expected to work. “There’s an etiquette of being seen to stuff of many young creative people’s I interviewed a mix of male and stay as late as possible. Occasionally, dreams. Unfortunately, for many, such female professionals, spread across an email will go out at the beginning of ambitions are increasingly being different TV genres, in production and a project, ‘Don’t expect to make plans

10 at the weekend’. But, more often, it’s before – trying desperately to source not explicitly said, it’s just an expecta- and design the right branding for a tion that everyone’s aware of.” police vehicle, ahead of a day’s shoot Location set-ups are no better, costing £100,000. “They won’t cancel it, according to Miles, who’s worked con- so it’s all resting on me, and it’s not sistently as a runner, then researcher, even my actual job,” he explains. on TV documentaries since graduating This is no rare event, it seems. “I’ve in 2017. He explains: “You receive your been on productions where the show- call sheet – often around 9:00pm – for runner has changed his mind at 7:00pm the following day, and you laugh when about what’s required on set,” he says. you read the words ‘Wrap 7:00pm’. You “That means us staying until 10:00pm already know you’ll never hit that time. and being back on set at 5:00am. No To even attempt to finish by 9:00pm ‘WE DON’T one says no to the showrunner.” means going without a lunch break.” What happens if someone does For him, the problem is in the small EVEN WANT THE actually say no to the bosses? “It’s a print of almost every freelance con- OVERTIME. WE freelance world, very competitive, and, tract, a copy of which he shows me. It if you stand up to them, it looks like has the line: “You will be expected to JUST WANT TO you’re not committed or you can’t work such additional hours as may be BE ABLE TO handle it,” says Sarah. “You get the tag reasonably necessary for the proper of ‘difficult person’, and it means that performance of your duties”, as well as GO TO BED’ you’re less likely to get a follow-up gig a stipulation that the freelancer opts with the same producers.” TFC out of the 1998 Working Time Regula- “You’re made to feel very guilty for tions. Apparently, “reasonably neces- ‘YOU CAN’T even saying anything,” says Miles. “And sary” is interpreted to mean: whatever you’re constantly reminded, ‘This is a the producer wants, they get. THROW A STONE… great opportunity for you’.” On the relatively low daily rates for WITHOUT HITTING “It’s not about the money,” John adds: runners and entry-level production “For most of us, we don’t even want staff, all those extra worked hours SOMEBODY WITH the overtime. We just want to be able mean the hourly rate gets lower and A HORROR STORY to go to bed.” lower, to the point where it dips below All this pressure can lead to outcomes the minimum wage. Are staff offered TO TELL’ worse than not getting the next gig. compensation at that point? “Try having Everyone I speak to reports fatigue, that conversation,” scoffs Miles. stress, sickness and worse – one ended With specialist skills come equal up missing his grandfather’s funeral due amounts of pressure. When I speak to to work, something he deeply regrets. John, well established as a graphic Everyone I speak to has either expe- designer, mostly in big-budget drama, rienced or witnessed both bullying and he has worked until 11:00pm the night harassment. One time, Sarah was �

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 11 � invited to a meeting where it was that’s one less salary they have to pay. Sarah. “Most people are recruited made clear she wasn’t expected and “They rely on the fact that we’re all through connections, without any HR someone told her to leave, saying, passionate about our work, so they’ll procedure. If that could be formalised, “Let the adults have a conversation”. always get the hours out of us,” says it would make speaking up much She still smarts at the memory. Sarah. She calls it “the tightening of easier. You’d have a point of contact “When I spoke up about it upsetting the screw”, particularly in an industry from the beginning.” me, I was told I’d blown it all out of where the most elastic piece of “Acknowledge all those extra hours,” proportion. They effectively gaslit me. resource is never the camera opera- says Miles. “Remove that clause that It didn’t feel particularly personal, just tor, the electrician or construction signs away our rights and instead pay dismissive.” worker, all rightly protected by union everyone overtime. Money talks.” When a producer shouted at Miles rules, but those younger and newer, “Build schedules over a longer time on location, it was the latter who most keen to get on. with shorter hours,” says John. ‘There ended up being the one to say sorry. By contrast, the latter aren’t as will be happier people, fewer mistakes “When a colleague asked me if I tightly unionised, their rates aren’t and the end result will be better.” wanted to complain, I refused,” he remembers. “I didn’t want to be some- one seen to be making a fuss. I knew I’d be the one to lose my job. We were a team living on location for weeks, and I didn’t want the relation­ships affected. I ended up apologising just to get through the next month.” Every interviewee agrees that jun- ior female staff across the industry receive the brunt of misogynistic treatment – “literally thousands of incidents, it’s just a given, you don’t even bother reporting it” – and har- assment – “there are loads of sex pests, we just try to warn everyone in advance who to avoid”. John adds that young men and women alike are potentially on the end of more subtle bullying – what he calls “emotional

manipulation”. He describes one man- domain Public ager telling him: “I thought you were the guy for this job but clearly not.” ‘YOUNG PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO For all these exhausted young pro- fessionals, there is no single individual KEEP THEIR HEADS DOWN, WORK villain responsible for their distress. Instead, they describe a system where HARD AND HOPE FOR THE BEST’ TV has become a victim of its own “golden age” success. Companies, advertised, and some I spoke to are In the meantime, though, young particularly those making drama, are hesitant to spend their hard-earned people are forced to keep their heads now expected to produce up to eight cash joining a union without being down, work hard and hope for the hours of high-quality content in six sure that their rights will be protected. best. This kind of back-breaking months compared with, say, compa- For those feeling brave or desperate experience used to be seen as a rite nies creating two hours of film in the enough to make a complaint, who can of passage for those wanting to crawl same period. they go to? to the top of the industry, with such John describes something he calls “You’re on your own,’ says Sarah, trench experiences all good fodder “miracle drift”: where shooting sched- particularly referring to smaller inde- for the pub afterwards and part of the ules with tight deadlines and small pendents, where the owners are run- glamour of TV. budgets were honoured through the ning the show, or their friends are. However, it seems the production sheer willpower of staff – “they pulled Another young freelancer explains: hiatus created by lockdown has given off a miracle”. “There are rarely HR departments or people time to reflect. “Regularly, This superhuman endeavour then people you feel comfortable talking to people now get to Thursday evening becomes the norm, with producers confidentially without it impacting and they announce, ‘I’m off’.” reveals increasingly factoring in unpaid work your future jobs.” John. “They’d rather give up than by the least experienced of their staff. With all these unwritten promises, carry on like this. Bad days used to be For example, if they can persuade threats and codes in place, what sin- the exception, now they’re the norm. that day’s location assistant to turn gle practice would make the biggest “Recently, I saw a tweet by a col- data wrangler by evening, working in improvement to the working day of league. It just said, ‘I’m broken’.” n his hotel room until late and embrac- young people in TV? ing such an “industry opportunity”, “Transparency around hiring,” offers All names in this article have been changed.

12 OUR FRIEND IN THE NORTH EAST

As the BBC boosts

he spectacular North its local activities, Only then will we start seeing a East coast is a popu- Graeme Thompson ­sustainable sector in which the next lar location for TV generation of writers, directors, per- and film. Right now, feels optimistic formers and crew can develop ambi- its castles, cliffs and tions and livelihoods. endless sandy about the region’s The BBC has promised that a new beaches are playing future as a TV continuing drama will be made in the host to ITV’s Vera and at least two North of England. We’re lobbying HollywoodT movies. production hub hard for it to come to the land of the But location work – though good three rivers – the Tyne, the Tees and for the tourist trade – isn’t enough the Wear. to sustain the region’s screen sector, Manchester has Coronation Street, which has never really recovered Liverpool has Hollyoaks, Leeds has from two decades of successive Emmerdale. We can easily channel the rounds of BBC and ITV cuts. humour of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, the The exodus of talent and the lack of compelling humanity of Our Friends in opportunities for the next generation the North and the hair-raising antics of of crew and creatives has been high- Geordie Shore into gripping BBC One lighted in a series of conversations primetime. hosted by my university in association Alongside the BBC conversation, with the screen agency Northern Film the University of Sunderland is talking + Media and Pinewood Studios. to the makers of The Late Late Show and The six two-hour sessions for stu- Sunderland ’Til I Die about opening a

dents and early-career professionals of Sunderland University northern production base on campus. were led by the film producer Lord Fulwell 73 – named after the Puttnam. Each one centred on the nations director Rhodri Talfan Davies famous football stand at Roker Park Catch 22 plight of new starters suggested the corporation’s £700m and Sunderland’s celebrated FA Cup who struggle to find enough work “levelling-up” strategy would benefit win of 48 years ago – wants its move experience or training to get them a this corner of the UK. to the North East to uncover new foothold in a sector with an acknow­ “We’re missing out on the distinctive talent and tell new stories. But the ledged­ skills shortage. identity of the North East,” he admit- group’s managing partner, Leo Pearl- Some of the region’s most distin- ted. “It’s about changing what we see man, is also passionate about working guished alumni, including screen- on air. We need bigger, higher-profile with the university and ­others to writer Lee Hall, producer David projects in these areas.” support the skills agenda. Parfitt and director Sir Ridley Scott, BBC Group Managing Director Bob The arrival of a successful and spoke of their own journeys away Shennan has meanwhile been talking experienced production company from home. to me and other North East partners alongside a BBC commitment to The regretful conclusion was that, about what increased activity might more content will be a transformative without increased production and look like. We need commissions, of moment. Imagine a time when major commissioning activity to create course – one of the reasons those productions can be conceived, devel- sufficient critical mass, places such as communities between the Scottish oped, written, staffed, shot and edited North East England will continue to border and North Yorkshire have such here. And we can even make use of struggle to compete with the lure of a low appreciation score for the BBC is our own brilliant locations. n production hot spots such as London, that viewers don’t relate to what they Salford and Glasgow. perceive to be its metropolitan focus. Graeme Thompson is pro vice-­ But there are signs that things are But we also need more people with chancellor for external relations at the about to change. In his RTS lunchtime a successful track record of winning University of Sunderland and Chair of interview earlier this month, BBC commissions and delivering content. the RTS Education Committee.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 13 Welsh captain Gareth Bale Getty Images The beautiful game gets complicated

he Euros is a football to the pan-European structure of the tournament like no Matthew Bell explains tournament, which multiplies “the other before it. Delayed how broadcasters are logistical and technical” difficulties. a year by the pandemic Last-minute changes to some ven- and rerouted to multiple covering the Euros, ues – with Seville stepping in for Bil- venues around Europe, which kick off bao and Dublin’s matches moved to itT will be – at best – problematic, and, Wembley and St Petersburg – and in some cases, impossible for fans to this month working under differing Covid-19 follow their teams. protocols across venues, have added The UK broadcasters covering the City’s boisterous supporters shout their extra layers of complexity. tournament – with games split between team to FA Cup victory last month. The good news, though, is that the the BBC and ITV – face the same Back in 2012, Uefa decided to spread BBC is sending commentators and difficulties. the tournament around Europe to alle- production staff to all the venues host- The tournament takes place at viate the crippling financial demands ing the home nations: Wembley (for 11 venues– Amsterdam, Baku, Bucha- on single host nations – long before England), Hampden Park (Scotland) rest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Glasgow coronavirus messed everything up. and, ambitiously, Baku (Wales). (Hampden Park), London (Wembley), BBC TV football executive producer Wales’s opening two games in the Munich, Rome, Seville and St Peters- Phil Bigwood is in charge of the corpo- Azerbaijan capital are being broadcast burg. Football governing body Uefa has ration’s Euros coverage, as he has been by the BBC, with the corporation also stipulated that all must admit spectators, at every major international football sending a team to preview and report which will bring some much-needed tournament since the 2002 World Cup. on the principality’s clash with Italy in crowd atmosphere to the TV coverage. “I’ve never known one like this, with Rome, which is being shown by ITV. Anyone still harbouring any doubts all these complications and challenges Commentator Steve Wilson and about the importance of fans to live – it is massively different to anything co-commentator Robbie Savage are football clearly didn’t see Leicester I’ve done before,” he said, pointing flying to Baku with a small “OB-light”

14 production team consisting of some Even if the quality of the football – assuming any of the home nations eight people. “Steve will also be doing fails to shine, the Euros still have nov- survive – guarantee huge audiences. some reporting and interviewing,” says elty value. Thanks to the pandemic, it England’s defeat by Croatia in the 2018 Bigwood. “We’ve got to keep people is the first major tournament to air on World Cup semi-final drew a peak travelling to a minimum because the British TV since 2019’s Rugby World audience of 26.5 million to ITV. levels of paperwork required are off Cup – and it will offer much-needed Now all the broadcasters need is one the scale.” revenue to the commercial broad- of the home nations, preferably Gareth With few direct flights to Baku – and caster. The price of a 30-second ad slot Southgate’s team, given England’s large many of the normal transit stops in on ITV could rise to £200,000 for population, to reach the final. “Cry countries on the UK Government’s red matches involving England, Scotland ‘God for Harry Kane, England, and Covid list – even getting the team to and Wales. Saint George!”’ as Shakespeare Azerbaijan has proved problematic. A Big games later in the tournament almost said. n stopover in Kiev or Moscow was the current plan as Television went to press. Match coverage itself comes from production teams dispatched by Uefa It’s a game of two broadcasters to each venue, with the BBC supple- menting the home nations’ games with pitch-side reports and interviews. The The Euros are a marathon, not a managing a team of former interna- live feed from matches is being sent to sprint, for the armchair spectator, with tionals Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand, Alex the International Broadcast Centre in 51 games broadcast live over a month, Scott and Micah Richards (England); Haarlem, outside Amsterdam – where beginning with the Italy vs Turkey clash Ashley Williams and Mark Hughes the BBC will also have a small team in Rome on 11 June. (Wales); and James McFadden, Shel- – and then to Salford. Away from the action on the pitch, ley Kerr and Charlie Adam (Scotland). Thanks to Covid-19, the home both BBC and ITV are offering plenty Bringing some fancy continental foot- nations matches aside, production will of punditry and support programming. work to the MediaCity UK studio are be remote from MediaCity, where the ITV’s pundits promise plenty of bite, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Jurgen BBC has built two off-television areas with gnarled hard men Klinsmann. to allow commentary from a big Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, Guy Mowbray heads screen. Such coverage has become Nigel de Jong and, on the commentary team normal during the pandemic, but it loan signings from Sky with co-comms from does restrict the ability of the com- Sports, Graeme Souness the familiar likes of Dion mentary team – who are denied a live, and Gary Neville, giving Dublin, Karen Carney, Jer- 360° view of the pitch – to tell the full the team a terrifying maine Jenas and Robbie story of a match as it unfolds. backbone. Savage. Eni Aluko

The BBC faces a challenging first The effervescent Ian ITV The matches have weekend. “We have to hit the ground Wright vacates his BBC been divvied up between running because we’ve got the opening One Match of the Day the two broadcasters, game on the Friday [Italy vs Turkey], seat for the tournament, with both showing the Wales on the Saturday, England on the and is joined by ex-pro final from Wembley on Sunday and Scotland on Monday. Eni Aluko and Chelsea 11 July. To fill the gaps We’ve got to get over that initial mad women manager Emma between the live action, period and hope it will then start to Hayes. ITV is offering The Euros calm down a little bit,” says Bigwood. Mark Pougatch and Daily Show and Three Gary Lineker

“But we’ll get there – it’s going to be a Seema Jaswal, veterans BBC Lions Raw, which prom- brilliant tournament.” of ITV’s Russia World ises “no-filter access ITV, which will exclusively show Cup in 2018, are the main presenters. Its highlights” of England games. 27 live games, has bagged the much-­ commentary team, led by Sam Matter- For the corporation, Crouchy’s Year- anticipated England vs Scotland clash face – who replaces the long-serving Late Euros features the lanky, former at Wembley, as well as the showdown Clive Tyldesley – will be assisted by England striker alongside Maya Jama between world champions France and Lee Dixon, Ally McCoist and John Hart- and Alex (Taskmaster) Horne on BBC Germany. It was still unsure whether it son. Former ref Peter Walton, on loan One, while BBC Three follows UK could send commentary teams to from BT Sport, will explain contentious hip-hop duo Krept and Konan as they games in mainland Europe when this decisions. create a new England football anthem article was written. We should be grateful for the return for the Euros with the help of England “Euro 2020 is a tournament unlike of McCoist, the best co-commentator player and manager Gareth Southgate. any other,” says Niall Sloane, ITV direc- at the 2018 World Cup, where his Scotland’s last appearance at a tor of sport. “ITV has brought together enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, all major tournament, France 1998, is a uniquely talented team from across things foreign was in marked contrast celebrated by BBC One Scotland in football that will offer viewers and fans to the parochialism of many ex-pros Mr Brown’s Boys, while comedian Elis compelling insight and entertainment employed by TV. James presents Football Nation on BBC that, we hope, will enrich their enjoy- For the BBC, main presenters Gary One Wales, a series covering the highs ment of what promises to be a very Lineker and Gabby Logan will be and lows of Welsh football. special few weeks.”

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 15 razy and cool with a K” is a good moniker for the jaw-dropping South Korea’s Korean entertainment formats delivering jaw-dropping audience figures around the world. In the UK, ‘TheC Masked Singer, I Can See Your Voice technicolour and, most recently, The Masked Dancer have featured celebrities disguised as everything from a bee and an octopus to a sausage, good and bad singers from the great British public hiding in plain sight and dance routines from a llama, dream shows chicken and knickerbocker glory. “We were ready to embrace some- thing new, to do something big and bold Weird, wacky and all-conquering – and a bit nuts,” says Joe Mace, ITV com- Stuart Kemp missioning editor for entertainment. hides his identity to enter the formats factory The UK’s biggest commercial broad- caster is home to both The Masked Singer that gave us The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer, two of the ­highest-profile fresh entertainment formats to appear in the past 10 years. The Masked Singer melds elements of a guessing game, singing competition, a comedy panel show, celebrities and an audience vote. All wrapped up with outrageous costumes, disguised voices and a big reveal every show. Since debuting in January 2020, the show has sat in ITV’s Saturday night early-evening slot, one occupied by The X Factor. It is produced by Bandicoot,­ the Scottish indie commissioned to produce a UK version of what was already a high-budget, shiny-floor hit show in both its native South Korea and then the US. Bandicoot optioned the UK format rights to The Masked Singer in 2018 from MBC, which broadcasts the show in South Korea. Founded by Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton, Bandicoot is a joint venture with Argonon Group and was formed to advance the pair’s passion for wild and twisted entertainment formats. Nettleton became obsessed with securing the UK rights after he started watching hours and hours of the Korean and Thai versions on YouTube in 2015. “We were only a little, two- year-old indie at the time. Getting the option was expensive for us – half of our development budget for a year,” he explains. “It was a bet that we felt we should and could take.” The bet paid out handsomely when the US version of The Masked Singer – made by reality TV guru Craig Plestis – debuted on Fox Network in January 2019. It launched to a multi-platform I Can See Your Voice

BBC consolidated audience of 17.6 million,

16 making it Fox’s most-watched panellists. The winning mystery singer platforms,” Harris observes. “It’s a unscripted debut in 11 years, and the is revealed as good or bad by means of visual truth that, if you are scrolling most-watched unscripted debut on a duet with one of the guest artists. If through social media and see a giant any network for seven years. they get it right, the contestants win a sausage costume and someone shout- Last year, Plestis launched another cash prize and the final singer can ing, “Take it off, take it off”, that is South Korean format on Fox, I Can See then belt out a tune. going to pique your interest.” Your Voice, which became the season’s Phillips has just commissioned a CJ ENM, the Korean corporation number-one new entertainment show. second series, and the format has been behind Parasite and the multi-territory-­ Meanwhile, The Masked Singer picked sold to 18 countries so far. selling Grandpas over Flowers format, up an Emmy for outstanding costumes The boom in interest for Korean intends to raise its investment in enter- for a variety, non-fiction or reality formats began in 2016, when travel tainment content to an eye-watering programme. And, with Plestis at the reality show format Grandpas over Flow- $4.4bn over the next five years. Netflix helm, Masked Singer sister show The ers sold to NBCUniversal in the US. It has said it will spend around $450m in Masked Dancer debuted in the US in aired there as Better Late than Never, and South Korea in 2021. December 2020. secured deals for further countries, CJ ENM’s head of format sales, Diane “Korea seems to be unafraid to including Italy, Turkey and France. Min, says the company is developing break out of the box fresh formats with and the formats global audiences are not deriv- in mind: “Last ative,” says year, we had Plestis. “The a show Masked Singer called was bonkers, I-Land. It weird and was an idol-­ frightening for incubating any network to format that take on. Fox was targeted both bold enough to do local audiences that.” and the global The Masked Singer and market.” I Can See Your Voice both She notes that inter- blend different strands of national buyers are strik- format television. They are ‘THE ing co-production deals in “a singing thing, and a ‘guess addition to snapping up format who? competition”, says Plestis MASKED shows ad hoc. CJ ENM collabo- of both. SINGER WAS rated with California-based Bunim/ BBC entertainment director Kate Murray Productions to develop Cash Phillips shares his love of genre-­ BONKERS, WEIRD Back, a format aimed at both the bending formats. She commissioned Korean and global marketplaces. I Can See Your Voice in 2019 from Fre- AND FRIGHTENING Other formats coming soon from mantle’s UK entertainment label FOR ANY NETWORK South Korea include the dating and Thames. It had been on her radar singing format Love at First Song and before Thames pitched to her. TO TAKE ON’ 300: War of United Voices, which sees a “Korea follows the ‘kiss’ rule: ‘Keep superstar work towards a performance it simple, stupid.’ That’s a really good with 300 superfans. The latter launched rule when you’re developing formats,” Channel 4 head of entertainment in Germany last year on ProSieben- says Phillips. “South Korean shows Phil Harris suggests that South Korea Sat.1. Then there is Falling in Dance, always have a very clear USP at their is a hotbed of cultural creativity right a reality dating and dance show and heart. You can sell it in a sentence. now. Think boy-band phenomenon music competition jeopardy series They try out hundreds of ideas every BTS and the Oscar-winning film Para- Double Casting. year and they’re very smart and very site. Harris is mulling pitches and con- The Korea Creative Content Agency savvy.” sidering various South Korean formats (Kocca), a government agency that I Can See Your Voice features a guest but no decisions have been finalised. It oversees and co-ordinates the promo- artist and a team of two contestants is an open secret that Channel 4 was in tion of the local content industry, says presented with a group of six “mystery the running to land The Masked Singer an average of 300 new shows launch singers” — some of them good singers, before ITV swooped. each year. some bad. He points out that The Masked Singer Phillips points out: “It’s such a gam- The contestants must attempt to and other Korean formats can appeal to ble, the entertainment game. What you eliminate bad singers from the group young audiences on digital platforms. really need is to have a lot of chips at by guessing who they are without “Both The Masked Singer and I Can See the table so you can place a lot of bets hearing them sing. Over the course of Your Voice have a guessing game at the and see what lands. four rounds, they receive clues and heart of the format, which can be suc- “That is exactly what they do in help from the show’s celebrity cessfully truncated for social media South Korea.” n

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 17 Strengthening trust in the BBC BBC

t feels like remote history, but strongest reasons why so many nations it’s true: 27.1 million people Does the BBC need a choose to have at least one well-funded watched Boris Johnson new regulatory system broadcaster that serves a public purpose. announce the first lockdown It is also why broadcasting should not for the UK on 23 March last following Lord Dyson’s be regarded or regulated as an industry year. The sequel in May, report into Martin Bashir’s like any other, and why it should be – announcingI the path out of lockdown, as it is today – given special status for attracted an even larger audience of 1995 Diana interview? its cultural, social and cohesive value. 27.5 million, while the PM’s announce- In each of these cases I cite, more ment of a repeat of lockdown in Janu- Caroline Thomson than half, and up to three-quarters, of ary this year drew a slightly smaller considers the arguments those audiences watched on the BBC. audience – as repeats tend to – of The proportion that watched Diana’s “only” 25.2 million. funeral on the BBC was 60%. All three of those programmes used by the BBC and ITV. The opening It’s hardly surprising that politicians ­represented mass gatherings around and closing ceremonies of the London should be suspicious of any organisa- our TV sets. Only one event since the Olympics brought together 24.4 mil- tion that wields that much potential advent of multichannel television has lion and 24.6 million people, respec- power and influence with the people surpassed them all: the funeral of Diana, tively, in front of their television sets. on whose votes they rely for their own Princess of Wales, in September 1997, I dwell on this mass of figures to ability to govern. was watched by 32.1 million. demonstrate the power of two things: The BBC has always had to be aware It’s easy to think that it is only disas- trust and news. There is nothing that of that suspicion and the pressure on ter that impels us to huddle around the drives us to share an instant experi- the corporation’s independence that screen, but the largest TV audience of ence more than the coverage of live accompanies it. all time in this country was in fact for a events – and nothing that drives our However, I am not sure the BBC has triumph (if you happen to be English). choice of how to watch it more than always responded in the best way, The 1966 World Cup final drew an our trust in public service broadcasters. either to allay political suspicion or, by estimated 32.3 million viewers, accord- That ability to gather people together contrast, to resist threats to its special ing to the somewhat primitive con- is an immense power to rest in the status as an organisation outside the temporary methods of measurement hands of corporations and one of the currents of politics.

18 It is exceptionally good at making better and to encourage honest self-­ television shows, radio programmes, reflection and accountability is the key. news content; it is a model for other In Tim Davie, the BBC has a very nations around the world in the way strong Director-General more than that it helps to stimulate the broader capable of doing this. I think the pro- cultural health of the UK; it is much cess could be helped by the appoint- less good at being open and accounta- ment of one – carefully chosen and ble about its decision-making and its reliably free-thinking – non-executive processes. director. They would be a guarantor of The trust bestowed upon the BBC independence, of editorial standards by the British public is hard won and and of accountability and could have easily lost. It can never be taken for the added advantage of being the des- granted. To be relied upon in the ignated, obviously independent, recip- future, there has to be greater transpar- ient of whistleblowers’ complaints. ency and accountability. The question This is, as we all know, a critical is how to achieve this without either moment for public service broadcast- exposing the BBC to the perils of polit- ing as it faces unprecedented competi- ical manipulation – something that is tion and unusual political pressure. happening to an alarming extent in ‘THE BBC’S… The BBC, through its governance, has a other European countries, from the duty to maintain the trust of the British Netherlands to the Czech Republic PROBLEMS people. And, whatever our governments – or damaging its ability to compete ARE, AT HEART, might think about the advantages of in a hardening, consolidating market. being able to communicate directly This latter financial point has already CULTURAL with voters, the existence of a trusted emerged as the focus of the Govern- RATHER THAN medium connecting mass audiences ment in its approach to PSB generally, with their leaders is crucial to the and seems to miss the point of public REGULATORY’ strength of democracy. service, but that is a subject for another It has always suffered from external day. To some extent, it is inevitable in attacks and thus, I think, adopted a an organisation as large and multi-­ defensive posture more often and more faceted as the BBC that transparency strongly than perhaps it might have and accountability can suffer when done. This in turn promotes secrecy, there is a sense of siege outside and rather than openness, in any organisa- uncertainty within. But that is precisely tion – another reason for putting the moment when it is imperative that ­cultural change ahead of regulation, the processes of openness are working. something that independent broadcast- For the BBC, crises mean that its ing has had quite enough of already. critics always reach for the governance Appear on the Today programme, button. I am not convinced. ‘LEADERSHIP TO answer questions on Feedback, use your There has been a suggestion of CHANGE THE own airwaves to explain and make appointing an editorial committee to your case; but also listen and, yes, supervise BBC News production. My CULTURE [AND when necessary, apologise. experience tells me that adding layers ENCOURAGE] When David Cameron first achieved of bureaucracy is rarely the way to power by agreeing a coalition with Nick improve either function or accounta- ACCOUNTABILITY Clegg in 2010, the BBC cut into normal bility within Broadcasting House. Who IS THE KEY’ scheduling to show that democratic would appoint this committee? What process in action. The audience – I am would prevent it becoming a tool of back to big numbers again – was 9 mil- politicians and outsiders heavily influ- lion people, 2 million more than would enced by the BBC’s commercial ene- have watched the episode of EastEnders mies in the publishing industry? that “WestminsterEnders” replaced. Or, in the future, by other external That power inherent in the BBC is forces that we cannot predict today? the friend of government and people. At its most basic, how do you prevent it Responsibly and accountably used, it is becoming yet another tick-box exercise? a pillar of our communal relationship. An editorial committee with any But it is a power that belongs to the taint of political appointment, just like people, not to parties. It is worth more, a politically-appointed main board, and it should be protected more would destroy independence and rot thoughtfully, than the BBC’s would-be the trust of licence-fee payers. reformers would have us believe. n The BBC’s governance and opera- tional problems are, at heart cultural, Caroline Thomson is the Chair of Digital rather than regulatory. Leadership by UK. She was the BBC’s chief operating example to change that culture for the officer 2006-2012.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 19 RTS STUDENT TELEVISION AWARDS 2021 THE RTS CONGRATULATES ALL THE NOMINEES

STREAMED LIVE FROM 2PM ON 25 JUNE AT www.rts.org.uk

HOSTED BY VICK HOPE

Sponsored by

#RTSawards Aid for unscripted A new training fund is aimed at workers in genres such as specialist factual who want to build careers outside London

Director-General Tim Davie has promised that the BBC will “shift its creative and journalistic centre away from London”. Rocks said that being based in costly London had long been one of TV’s biggest barriers to entry. All three panellists said the fund would offer help not just to young people entering the business, but also to unscripted production workers wanting to move up the career ladder and mature workers wanting to retrain. Clements said that the availability of regular work in the nations and regions was tied to training: “That is the thing that’s really going to change the dial.” Currently, there were “shortages of everything” from pro- duction accountants to editors. Lawrence noted that, in London,

University of Bradford University “we’re all fighting over everybody at every level” and rates were being efore the pandemic, Two Rivers Media Managing Direc- pushed up. A particular gap was in the UK production tor Alan Clements, who is on one of production management, and “you sector was stretched the fund’s working parties, said it can’t hire a production co-ordinator for talent, thanks to its provided “really long-term planning, for love nor money”. extended boom. Now, which is what we need”, and would Rocks said that CVs received from as the sector revs back help people “build careers outside of people in the regions had demon- upB to full speed, the skills issue is London”. The genres covered by the strated how impressive those workers becoming even more pressing. new fund include specialist factual, were, but it had also shown how With the help of people across the sport, entertainment, current affairs, broadcasters were becoming less industry, ScreenSkills has unveiled a arts and classical music. attractive to the younger generation. new Unscripted TV Skills Fund. It will Crucially, says ScreenSkills, “a mini- They were finding alternative, more draw on around £3m of investment to mum of 50% of beneficiaries will meet lucrative and flexible options in social provide training for talent. The money at least one industry-recognised diver- media, advertising and technology will come from participating produc- sity and inclusion target”. At least half companies. ers and broadcasters, which will make of the money will go to train people in In an era of short-term freelance contributions each time an unscripted the nations and regions; moreover, at contracts, “we need to make televi- show is commissioned. So far, the least half of the training expenditure sion more attractive again”, argued BBC, Channel 4, Sky, A+E Networks will back out-of-London trainers. Lawrence, and to “show that TV is a… UK and Discovery UK have signed up. Monkey Kingdom MD Sam Law- long-term career with a little bit more At an RTS event to launch the rence argued that it would “aid all of security around it”. scheme on 1 June, some of the indus- our diversity and inclusion [initia- As Clements said, “You should be try’s leading lights gave their thoughts tives]” and would “help level the able to do what you want and to live on how it could strengthen the sector. playing field” for freelancers. Clem- where you want – and [enabling] that The fund had been a long time in the ents said he had lived through three would be a measure of [the fund’s] making, as it required input from all waves of the industry pledging to do success.” n areas of the industry, explained Chan- more in the nations and regions, but nel 4’s Managing Director for nations “this time it is real and, more impor- Report by Tara Conlan. ScreenSkills and and regions, Sinéad Rocks. She said tantly, it is irreversible”. RTS jointly presented and produced ‘The it had “the potential to be the game Channel 4 has opened a national future of unscripted – people, places and changer” and the “long-term inter-­ ­ HQ in Leeds plus hubs in Bristol and amazing programmes’ on 1 June. It was vention” required in unscripted. Glasgow, and, over the next six years, chaired by Lynn Barlow.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 21 We Are Lady Parts Channel 4 Channel 4 revives its punk spirit

icture the last few That she did. Prompted by the punk female Muslim charac- Shilpa Ganatra salutes band she started with her sisters (who ters you saw on televi- We Are Lady Parts for contributed to the songs played in the sion and you’re bound show), the series has been praised for to include one of the subverting stereotypes its distinctly fresh and realistic cast of following stereotypes: and allowing young characters, led by a punk band called aP conservative mother, an oppressed Lady Parts. adult or a woman in a burqa with no Muslim women to be Fronted by the ballsy Saira (Sarah dialogue or personality. Impey) and including black British There have been exceptions, such as themselves Muslim/earth mother Bisma (Faith the character of Iqra Ahmed in East- Omole), the intimidating drummer Enders, who came out as gay. But few a Muslim female punk band, joyfully Ayesha (Juliette Motamed) and their characters have made it past the Riz subverts these stereotypes. wild manager Momtaz (Lucie test – based on actor Riz Ahmed’s “Early on, I was often asked to write Shorthouse), the group bring in reluc- speech to the Houses of Commons in a narrative of the oppressed Muslim tant guitarist Amina (Anjana Vasan), 2017 – which highlights how almost all woman or about forced marriages and who joins in the hope of attracting the Muslim characters are presented as honour killings, as though these were object of her affection, Ahsan (Zaqi either irrationally angry, culturally the norm,” says the show’s creator, Ismail). The very premise sets the backward, a threat to western culture, writer and director Nida Manzoor. non-conformist nature of the show. misogynist (for men) or oppressed (for “That frustration ignited the idea for For Manzoor, there were plenty of women), or are linked to terrorists. me to write the show. If I’m going to tropes ready to topple, “one of them Thankfully, We Are Lady Parts, Chan- write a character that represents my being the idea of the overbearing Asian nel 4’s recently launched sitcom about identity, I’d want to do it fully my way.” parent, which wasn’t my experience,

22 although that does exist. And I wanted on the eventual series) of Working Title balanced the comedy and the drama to show different ways of expressing who was already familiar with Man- beautifully. I’ve laughed and I’ve also one’s faith, and the hybrid identities I zoor. “I previously worked as a com- cried and I’ve fallen a bit in love with was seeing. You’re told that parts of you missioner in Channel 4, and we ran a them all. There have been massive are in conflict, but, actually, you can be Channel 4 screenwriting scheme,” she movements in the past year, and I think a punk and you can be Muslim. You can recalls. “Out of all the participants the world is a bit more ready for these be a creative and also have faith.” from that year, Nida was the one who stories to be told on mainstream TV.” The series joins other strong comedy was giving me pitch ideas. When I Finding the on-screen talent was a dramas of recent times that offer dif- joined Working Title, she was one of tricky process, made easier by casting ferent perspectives from marginalised the first people that came to see me. director Aisha Bywaters. Though It’s a Sin communities, from Ramy, Insecure and Lady Parts was a five-page pitch, and it championed the casting of marginalised Shrill in the US to Man Like Mobeen, Star- was there on every level, fully formed. actors, most of the actors in We Are Lady struck and I May Destroy You in the UK. I was sold, sold, sold.” Parts aren’t Muslim, but “the show is In an example of meaningful Nida’s voice. She is Muslim, solidarity, Michaela Coel was and she is running through on hand to offer industry every element of this project,” advice to Manzoor. explains Fletcher-Jones. “Michaela Coel has been “Wouldn’t it just be delight- someone I’ve looked up to, and ful if we get to a point where who has been very kind and the talent pool is big enough supportive of We Are Lady Parts,” to be able to address that says Manzoor. “We met at issue. But also, the characters a studio we were thinking of are not just defined by their using as a location while she religion, they’re defined by was making I May Destroy You all their other personality with BBC and HBO. She was idiosyncrasies.” just like, ‘Hey, let me know if The show’s success so far, you ever have any questions based on strong reviews and about how this all goes’. I had promising audience figures loads of questions, often about (for 16- to 34-year-olds, it process, being a showrunner, outperformed the slot average and how she found working by 53%) is another recent with the American broadcast- example of how fresh voices ers. She was very available to can excite viewers and pro- answer questions.” gress societal understanding. Critically, remove the Muslim-­ But Fletcher-­Jones is mind- female-punk premise of We Are ful that an impatient rush for Lady Parts as one might remove diverse voices may have a the backdrop of 1990s Northern negative effect: “Diversity is We Are Lady Parts

Ireland in Derry Girls, and it’s still Channel 4 the buzzword of the moment a mile-a-minute show with and everyone wants it now, likeable characters and a high concen- Manzoor’s film and TV career began don’t they? The point with Lady Parts tration of jokes. They’re just funnier with writing credits on CBBC shows is that it took time to get it right, and when they play on mainstream Jamillah and Aladdin and Dixi. Later she to give Nida the chance to come into perceptions. was employed as a director’s assistant her own. That’s found in the lyrics for Lady for Stephen Poliakoff [Perfect Strangers, “I just worry, with some of these Parts’ song Ain’t No One Gonna Honour The Lost Prince]. She then directed the flash-in-the-pan diversity initiatives, Kill My Sister But Me, in which the justi- full series of BBC Three’s Enterprice, that things will be rushed to the screen fying gripes are: “She stole my eye- which helped her land the job of before they’re quite ready, or before liner / What a bitch / And she’s been directing two episodes of Doctor Who. the creative talent have found their stretching my shoes out with her fuck- But We Are Lady Parts was always her voice and are sure of what they want ing big feet.” passion project, and “once I found the to do and say. I would love to do more “Above all, it’s about love, friendship right people, it was quite a nice journey”. work in this vein, but I think we have and finding your people,” says Laura Indeed, such a show was ripe for to play the long game.” Riseam, commissioning executive for Channel 4. Adds Riseam: “When We Are As it stands, a second series may comedy at Channel 4. Lady Parts came to us, I looked over to well be in the works; Fletcher-Jones is The show – whose “healthy budget” Fi [Fiona McDermott, head of comedy] working on a film with Manzoor. In benefited from a co-production deal and I was just like, ‘I love it and I’ve got any case, expect Nida Manzoor’s career with US streamer Peacock – initially no notes and this never happens’. I to make more noise than Lady Parts. began in 2018 as a Channel 4 Comedy thought I was having a bit of a break- And that’s saying something. n Blap, the broadcaster’s showcase for new down. It was really exciting. comedy made in bite-sized chunks. “It was a perfect fit for Channel 4 We Are Lady Parts is available on All 4 The Blap was produced by Surian and it’s right that we should be the and will be broadcast on Channel 4 until Fletcher-Jones (an executive producer ones launching Nida’s career. She’s 24 June.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 23 Beauty of the Beast BritBox

ringing a cherished screenplay for the terrific British com- ­project to television BritBox lifts the lid on edy-drama Their Finest, put the kibosh can take several years’ its first original drama, on Parker’s initial plan to play Frank hard graft; for it to take Cairns. “Gaby had this brilliant idea of decades is much more The Beast Must Die, an changing Frank into Frances Cairns unusual. But, thanks to – that was me out of the window,” said BritBox, an adaptation of The Beast Must ambitious thriller with Parker. Cairns, played by Cush Jumbo, DieB – written by Poet Laureate Cecil seeks revenge when her six-year-old an all-star cast Day-Lewis under his crime-writer pen son is killed by a hit and run driver, name, Nicholas Blake – has finally own company to make the series, Pull and suspects the killer is businessman reached the TV screen. Yourself Together Productions, and George Rattery (Jared Harris). More than 20 years ago, actor Nath- found a fellow fan in Ed Rubin (now the BritBox’s first original drama boasts aniel Parker narrated an audio version head of New Regency Television Inter- a heavyweight cast. Few actors, follow­ of the book. “It has always been for me national), who loved Claude Chabrol’s ing his star performances in Chernobyl the most ingenious of plots – clever, 1969 film adaptation, Que la bête meure. and The Crown, are currently as hot subtle, taking you by surprise at the “I didn’t like the film – we came to as Harris. Jumbo excelled in US legal end.… It’s a brilliant little book,” he it from two different ways,” admitted drama The Good Fight, while Howle won recalled at an RTS event in late May. Parker, “but we hawked it around and, plaudits for his recent performance in A few years later, he turned out a luckily, BritBox was the one that bit.” The Serpent. script, sending it to Jill Balcon, Day-­ Parker appears in the five-part Having seen Chabrol’s film, Chiappe Lewis’s widow and mother of Oscar-­ revenge thriller, which debuted at the started to think that the role of the winning actor Daniel. “She went, ‘Nah, end of May, but in the smaller role of bereaved parent could work equally that’s not a good enough script.’ Fair Blount, therapist to Billy Howle’s trou- well as a woman; probably better, enough, I hadn’t written a script before bled detective, Nigel Strangeways. given that she was planning to update so I understood completely,” he said. “Generally, when you see an actor who the book from its original 1938 setting Following Balcon’s death in 2009, is [also] an exec producer, they are the to the modern day. her estate offered Parker the rights to star,” said Parker. The book is “quite edgy and felt very adapt the book. The actor set up his Writer Gaby Chiappe, who wrote the of the moment, but it’s very hard to set

24 something in 1938 and not make it feel Wight had more than just locations in the autumn. Chiappe was quick safe and a heritage [piece],” she said. going for it. When shooting was finally to praise the UK streamer: “It was “Some of the things that [Cairns] does under way in autumn 2020, following non-interventionist in a way that is in the book, with modern sensibilities, months of Covid-19 delays, the island incredibly refreshing – they had would make me feel quite queasy was, for a time, one of the few regions thoughts and ideas but there was no – the grooming of a young woman to in England placed under the loosest micromanagement.” get close to the person who he thinks tier 1 restrictions. BritBox’s arm’s-length stance was killed his son.… The transposition of Karukoski said that working under particularly welcome to Parker: “I was the gender of the lead character just Covid protocols made shooting “more in Far from the Madding Crowd, playing came naturally with it being [set] now.” tense and tiring”, but he also identified Gabriel Oak, and we literally had to Another significant change sees the a couple of benefits: “When we moved stop shooting in the middle of a field setting moved from Gloucestershire to the shoot, it gave us additional time to in the Yorkshire Dales because the the Isle of Wight. “Sailing is really work on the script with Gaby. head of ITV, or whatever, wanted me important in the book and I was look- “I [also] love obstacles…. We put our to wear a hat – oh, for God’s sake. ing for somewhere where sailing isn’t heads together and thought, ‘If we There was none of that with BritBox.” just the preserve of the very rich,” couldn’t shoot something due to [the For the actor, The Beast Must Die marks explained Chiappe. Covid] regulations, what else could [we the achievement of a long-held ambi-

‘BRITBOX WAS… INCREDIBLY REFRESHING… THERE WAS NO MICROMANAGEMENT’ The Beast Must Die stars Cush Jumbo, Jared Harris and Billy Howle BritBox

A police advisor working on the do with] the scene?’ Our wonderful crew tion that dates from his first TV appear- series suggested the Isle of Wight, made a lot of great creative choices.” ance in a 1988 Battle of Britain drama, where people “run little shitty cars just TV is awash with crime series but Piece of Cake: “From the very first day of so they can keep a boat on the water”. The Beast Must Die is more ambitious filming on Piece of Cake, I’ve wanted to Finnish director Dome Karukoski, than most, partly thanks to its source be on the other side of the lens as well, who made the well-reviewed Tolkien, material. Day-Lewis explored “some- with a really good script and crew, cre- starring Nicholas Hoult as the young thing quite elemental about [loss] ating a really good product and every- writer, was also drawn to the island’s within the framework of a detective one having a really good time. split character: “You have this touristy novel”, said Chiappe. “You have to hit “That’s what happened on my first image… and a darker side; there’s a lot the genre marks, otherwise it doesn’t ever proper exec producership – I’m of poverty, kids who can’t afford to go work as genre, but that’s not the only thrilled to bits.” n to the mainland because the ferries thing that is happening.” cost too much. BritBox’s cold war series A Spy Among Report by Matthew Bell. ‘The Beast Must “I tried to use [this] visually and Friends, starring Damian Lewis and Die: Preview Q&A’ was an RTS event held aesthetically – the sunny versus the Dominic West, is expected to air later on 26 May. It was chaired by journalist darkness in locations and lighting.” this year. Contemporary thriller Mar- Caroline Frost and produced by the RTS As events turned out, the Isle of low, starring Claire Foy, is due to shoot and Organic Publicity.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 25 or a show that took six years and multiple knock-backs before it hit our screens, It’s a Sin is a The sober art formidable reminder of the power of TV drama. FThe series follows a group of gay friends during the Aids crisis of the 1980s, and earlier this year became of sharing joy All 4’s biggest ever show when it was watched by 18.9 million viewers. Viewers were drawn in by Russell T Davies’s compelling story and his finely crafted characters, whom we couldn’t help but feel invested in. Crucially, its cultural impact added depth to its importance: in the first week that the series was available, which coincided with National HIV Testing Week, more than double the number of HIV tests were ordered compared with the previous National HIV Testing Week. Davies was also responsible for the equally groundbreaking Channel 4 series Queer as Folk, rebooting Doctor Who, spinning off Torchwood, and the gay-related trio of Cucumber, Banana and Tofu. The genesis of It’s a Sin came when he was writing Cucumber, Davies explained at the RTS masterclass. “I do think every piece of work has led to another piece of work. Cucumber is about a middle-aged man who lived through the 1980s. “Eight hours of drama heads towards the last line of the last scene where someone basically says, ‘What’s wrong with you?’, and he says, ‘Being gay’.… That’s what said to me, ‘Right, next, you have to write that show, the one [that] this middle-aged gay man who lived through [the 1980s] should write’.” The premise was a difficult sell, stressed Nicola Shindler, who devel- oped and executive produced It’s a Sin for Red Production. She is a long-time producer of Davies’s work and recently set up Quay Street Productions. She said: “If you say, ‘I’m going to do an HIV/Aids drama’, it feels like it’s going to be about death, about victims, about very thin men in beds dying, It’s a Sin’s Russell T Davies, long-time which is all we’ve ever seen before. People couldn’t see beyond that and collaborator Nicola Shindler and Channel 4 couldn’t see the joy that Russell had commissioner Lee Mason spell out how written into it.” However, Channel 4 commissioner to create hit scripts Lee Mason was drawn to the script,

particularly as its family dynamics had Channel 4

26 universal appeal. “It’s this idea that you might start to lose interest, or some- Also, the strength of the writer-­ will have people that you love, loved thing else might come on my desk and producer relationship helps the broad- ones you will lose, secrets that you that is the 10:00pm show that I want to caster have confidence in a show. keep from each other,” he said. “All pitch to [Channel 4’s chief content Finally, formatting matters. Checking those things we have in family dramas, officer] Ian Katz.” for typos is important (“It’s amazing it’s all in that Pink Palace [the charac- The distinctively British story of It’s a how bad it feels to read typos,” said ters’ London residence].” Sin proved successful in countries such Davies). As a commissioner, Mason The clip played during the master- as the US (with co-producer HBO Max), reads scripts on the move, often on his class was the fast-paced sequence in Korea and Australia. But that does not phone, so “just give me text”, he said. which Ritchie [played by Olly Alexan- mean that writers should be keeping “When I get scripts with all the bells, der, also frontman of the band Years & one eye on the international markets whistles and pictures, I always wonder Years, not to be confused with Davies’s they hope their shows will be sold to. why they needed to do that. I usually series of the same name] discusses the “It’s not the writer’s job,” says Shin- assume that the script is not as good.” rumours surrounding this new virus dler. “If the writer is thinking, ‘How am Returning to the keynote scene of It’s over a multitude of buzzing scenes I going to sell internationally’, they’re a Sin described earlier, Davies explained – the equivalent of Trainspotting’s thinking about the wrong thing. The that a script is most effective when the ‘choose life’ sequence. writer should be thinking: what’s the look of it on the page matches how it Here’s a snippet of the lightning-­ best script I can write? Who’s the best feels. “If a sequence is fast, it should speed monologue: “They say it arrived character I can put on screen? How is look fast on the page. You cut adverbs from outer space on a comet, and they the story told in the best way? Not, out of a script, you barely have full say that God created it to strike us ‘Will someone in Idaho be able to stops, instead you use dashes. dead. They say that it was created in understand it?’.” “If a scene is very slow and very the laboratory to kill us. They say it’s Mason offered his take on this: ponderous, then you have big blocks of the Russians. They say we got it from “Because we’re living in this global stage directions and big speeches and the jungle...” Davies explained: “It’s not just a sequence. It’s not just us having fun. It’s the entire reason I wanted to write the show. That’s me in 2015 or 2010 wanting to dramatise a period of time when it was all rumours. “But how do I dramatise it so that it’s not two people sitting in the pub? That whole sequence would have died if it had been pub dialogue, or an argument between three friends.” There was plenty more for aspiring writers to learn from It’s a Sin and those who brought it to life. For Davies, a key aspect for any writer is to have a pro- fessional approach. “I find myself giving this advice more

and more often to young writers. If RTS you’re one of those writers who always delivers late, sort yourself out. Because streaming world, audiences are more it looks dense. As Nicola always says, a there are people who have careers like sophisticated. People get it. The amaz- script is the document that everyone that, and they don’t last. Also, if you ing show that Nicola produced, Happy on the production needs to know. It’s drink too much – they might be the Valley [set in Yorkshire], did great on not the stage directions. Everything’s a talk of the town for 10 years but not all Netflix. There’s no denying that, cul- scene.” writers have to be a bit mad. turally, it’s got all the flavours of a cer- If anyone should know which scripts “You’ll never get rid of all your mad- tain region of this country. That didn’t work best, it’s these industry heavy- nesses, but if there are things in your bother audiences outside of the UK, weights. n psyche that stop you delivering scripts, because it’s an amazing story with it’s not going to work. And that’s a fact, amazing characters going on big emo- Report by Shilpa Ganatra. The It’s a Sin because it’s very hard work.” tional journeys.” masterclass was held on 18 May. It was Mason agreed: “I have loads of Aspiring writers also need to under- chaired by comedian and presenter Kemah scripts coming in all the time. So I stand that the title of a series may Bob and featured writer Russell T Davies could commission you to write that change; It’s a Sin was originally called OBE, executive producer Nicola Shindler script, and I could be really excited Boys. If the story is strong enough to be and Channel 4 commissioner Lee Mason about it. But the longer it takes for that greenlit, that conversation can happen (who is moving to Disney+). It was produced script to come back to me, [the more] I afterwards. by Tom Popay and Rajveer Sihota.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 27 Ads bounce back TV advertising is rebounding but reforms are necessary to ensure the sector’s long-term future, says Gideon Spanier

ITV’s Love Island ITV

he obituary of TV adver- President of Amplifi, the media invest- the prospect of tighter ad restrictions tising has been written ment arm of Dentsu International, one on food and drink high in fat, salt and many times since the of the UK’s biggest agency groups, sugar (HFSS) advertising. 2008 financial crisis whose clients include Vodafone, Enders Analysis published a major and, each time, it has Microsoft and the Co-operative Group. report in April, arguing that the UK TV confounded the During the course of the pandemic, ad market needed reform. It cited two doomsayers.T The television ad market TV has benefited from the various long-term trading issues: “lack of effec- suffered its steepest downturn on lockdowns because people had to tive audience measurement” across record between April and June 2020. spend more time at home and viewing linear-TV and VoD due to a lack of There were declines of close to 50% increased, even though there was also common standards; and “somewhat during the worst of the pandemic, yet increased competition from streaming opaque” relationships between adver- it has bounced back. services and other online media. tisers (and their media agencies) and the ITV has told investors it expects its According to Christian Juhl, the big TV ad sales houses, ITV Commercial, ad revenues to be up as much as 90% global Chief Executive of GroupM 4Sales and Sky Media. “Both issues in June – thanks in part to the Euros, – the media-buying arm of WPP, need resolving to underpin a healthier rescheduled from 2020, and the return whose clients include BT, Lloyds ecosystem overall,” said Enders. of Love Island. Banking Group and Unilever – TV is Nevertheless, the short-term outlook Rivals including Comcast, owner of “still the best place to reach people at for the next six to 18 months is good. Sky, and ViacomCBS, parent company scale and there’s nothing like it” thanks Amplifi’s Ballinger estimates that the of Channel 5, have also reported recov- to the high levels of trust and brand TV ad market will be up 12% to 15% in ering ad revenues. safety that it enjoys. 2021 and perhaps 2% to 3% in 2022, as The UK’s £5bn-a-year TV ad market Yet many questions hang over the the economy recovers. fell about 12% in 2020 but is on course future of TV advertising in the UK. The Rising revenues allow broadcasters to recover all of last year’s decline and threats include: the rise of ad-free to increase investment in programmes, return to 2019 levels or better in 2021, streamers such as Netflix and Disney+; although they also found new efficien- according to Steven Ballinger. He is VoD services that carry fewer ads; and cies and saved money on cancelled

28 productions during the pandemic that have used digital performance to advertiser that might subsequently – ITV, for example, plans to achieve build their businesses have also woken go on to advertise on traditional TV. £30m of “permanent overhead sav- up to the power of TV – particularly VoD and other digital revenue still ings” this year. after prices fell last year. Car insurance remain a small part of the overall Since the start of Covid-19, one key brand By Miles, pregnancy app Peanut, advertising revenue mix for UK broad- factor that has underpinned TV adver- business-to-business comparison site casters. But Channel 4 recently set a tising has been an influx of new adver- Bionic and Butternut Box, a dog-food target for 30% of its ad revenues to tisers and those that have returned delivery service, were just some of the come from digital by 2025. following a long absence. Some of these advertisers were attracted by cheap prices – the conse- quence of deflation when the world went into lockdown and demand col- lapsed. But many companies have invested in TV advertising for strategic, rather than tactical, reasons because of the medium’s ability to tell emotion- ally engaging stories and build brands. TV offers mass, simultaneous reach and can generate fame in a way that internet search and social media strug- gle to deliver, despite UK brands spending around £15bn a year on online advertising. That is three times as much as on TV, according to figures ITV’s Euros promotion from WARC (World Advertising fronted by Ian Wright

Research Center) and the Advertising ITV Association. Premier Foods, owner of brands such new advertisers on ITV last year. The rise of VoD is important because as Ambrosia, Sharwood’s and Mr Kipling, The broadcasters have learnt from it allows greater flexibility. That is a big is a good example. The FTSE-250 com- the tech giants such as Google and issue for advertisers because a lot of pany has adopted a strategy that CEO Facebook, and have recruited ad sales linear TV is still traded on the basis of Alex Whitehouse describes as a staff who deal directly with advertisers, historic deals and lengthy advanced “branded growth model”, using TV not just the agencies that buy on behalf booking deadlines – a legacy of CRR ITV’s Love Island advertising to drive sales growth. of clients. Both 4Sales and Sky Media (Contract Rights Renewal, the regula- It is not just established brands have recruited new ad sales chiefs from tion that was introduced in 2003 at the embracing TV. Ballinger points to Air- the agency sector in the past six months, time of the ITV merger). bnb, the online holiday property rent- as they look to get closer to advertisers. Enders’ warning about the need for als company, which has made a The TV companies are also attracting reform of the TV ad market was timely permanent shift away from data- new advertisers by making it easier for because consumer habits have been driven digital marketing, such as paid them to plan and buy VoD campaigns changing rapidly, particularly with the search, in favour of broader, brand-­ via platforms such as ITV’s Planet V rise of streaming services and consoli- building messaging such as TV ads. and Sky’s AdSmart. dation such as the planned Warner­ Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO “We’re attracting hundreds of VoD- Media-Discovery merger. of Airbnb, explains how the company only advertisers, which wasn’t happen- “The challenge for the traditional cut what it calls digital performance ing before,” noted Carolyn McCall, CEO broadcasters – ITV, Channel 4 and Sky marketing to zero during the pan- of ITV, when she announced its annual – is how do they counteract people’s demic. Even though travel ground to a results in March. diversification of viewing?” Ballinger halt, it still generated 95% of the online She listed brands such as Net-a-Por- says, adding that TV advertising could traffic it had a year earlier. ter, Levi’s, Monzo, Porsche, New Look, face an inflation problem if audiences As a result, Airbnb switched its mar- Virgin Active, Westfield, Tiffany & Co, decline as life returns to normal and keting and launched its biggest brand Heinz and “loads” of higher education prices go up. campaign in five years: “Made possible institutions. After the great advertising bounce- by hosts” saw TV ads appear in five “They are doing very personalised, back of summer 2021, Britain’s leading markets, including the UK, at the start bespoke targeted advertising through commercial TV players will need to of 2021. Planet V”, which has self-serve tech- modernise and work more closely “Brands have realised that they can’t nology, allowing ads to be booked together on measurement to continue work only in that performance world,” online, McCall explained. “That has to attract advertisers in the face of says Ballinger. “They need a more definitely been a shift.” global competition. n broadcast, brand-building platform to It is an important development talk to consumers.” because, as Ballinger points out, VoD Gideon Spanier is UK editor-in-chief of Some other new, disruptor brands can be the entry-point for a new-to-TV Campaign.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 29 Gogglebox Channel 4 TV’s middle-aged wild child Narinder Minhas reviews Maggie Brown’s second instalment of her history of an unfailingly turbulent broadcaster

ou think that police- Channel 4: A History: (The Story from Big Brother to The Great men/teachers/doctors from Big Brother to British Bake Off) is a fascinating account look incredibly young. The Great British Bake of one of the world’s most colourful You become grumpy Offby Maggie Brown and distinctive broadcasters: “a com- when your colleagues is published by the mercially funded channel with a public don’t know what a British Film Institute, service remit”. VHSY tape is. You join a gym after see- priced £19.99. ISBN: Bookended by the recession of the ing yourself in the mirror as you climb 978-1911239840 late noughties and the current crippling out of the bath. And, God forbid, you pandemic, this volume – a follow-up buy truckloads of Lycra for your new- to her book on the first 25 years of the found hobby of cycling. clear is that it is a moment of reflection channel – covers a hugely turbulent Recognise any of this? Sure, you and transformation. period, from the dysfunction of the do, as you fall asleep after one glass of As Channel 4 approaches its board under Luke Johnson, via the wine, tired from a full day at the garden 40th birthday, what better time to look whirlwind years of Jay Hunt, charting centre, which now counts as “splashing at its history, not just to explore the incredible programme innovations, out”. And if you prefer radio to TV, you past, but also to understand the pres- right up to the modern regime of Alex are on the slippery slope. Welcome to ent. I can think of no one better to go Mahon and Ian Katz, bravely fighting its middle age. on this journey with than one of Brit- way to a new digital future. According to some dictionaries, ain’s top media writers, Maggie Brown. It could have been a bit dry, like one middle age hits you between 40 and Fizzing with insight, revelations and of those shiny business books on dis- 60. But no one quite knows. What is drama, her new book on Channel 4 play at the airport that you feel you

30 ought to read, but never quite enjoy. the book highlights the “toxic triangle of Channel 4 staff and ultra-confident. But Worse still, it could have been a puff Luke Johnson (Chair), Andy Duncan Lygo had underestimated his rival. piece. The risks are always there when (Chief Executive) and Kevin Lygo On the day of the interview, Abraham an institution gives access to a journalist (director of programmes) at the top of was well-prepared: “He had read every or programme-maker. Channel 4” during 2008, culminating in speech made by the previous five chief Even though the book covers recent the departure of Duncan. executives [and] he presented each of history, there is so much I had forgotten According to Brown, the dysfunction the panel with a glossy brochure about – another sign of middle age. was so bad at the time that it split the himself. He was commercial, with just Brown doesn’t shy away from board: “Johnson wanted to remove enough television commissioning reminding us about the channel’s Duncan but his deputy, David Puttnam, experience and channel branding suc- tricky periods. For example, do you wanted to stop him… at least for the cess to tick the board’s boxes.” remember the board trying to buy time being. One certainty was that Abraham also had a secret weapon: Channel 5, but losing out to Richard his unofficial campaign manager, Dan Desmond, a successful businessman Brooke, “the son of a former cabinet and former porn baron, who put in a minister”, who was well-versed in the “knock-out cash bid”? Or the ill-fated ‘WE ALL NEED world of politics and lobbying. By the attempt to move into radio? Or the A DAN BROOKE, time of the interview, and on Brooke’s “begging bowl” strategy, where the ESPECIALLY ONE advice, Abraham had met all the key channel campaigned to top-slice the opinion-formers for some cosy “fire- BBC licence fee? THAT CAN OPEN side chats”. We all need a Dan Brooke, Brown is at her very best when she SOME HEAVY especially one that can open some goes granular. She has the eyes and heavy doors. ears of a documentary-maker, captur- DOORS’ Though Lygo would have been a ing the sights and sounds of a scene. I brilliant boss, in Brown’s view, it was love the chapter on “The rise of fixed what happened to him in the inter- rigs”: “The most significant programme Duncan, whose weakness was that he view that proved to be decisive: “The development… began with an idea always saw the best in people, was in killer, according to three members of sparked over a plate of chilli mackerel at deep trouble.” the panel, was his response to a ques- a Vietnamese restaurant in Shoreditch.” What follows is the story of this exit tion about how he would deal with At the meal with two independent and the power struggle at board level. under-performers. [Lygo] said: ‘I would producers was Simon Dickson, a com- Brown is in her element, painting an withdraw my love’. A chill descended missioner at Channel 4, described by absorbing picture of all the key players. on that small room.” It was probably a Brown as a “burly, determined Scot”, It has the feel of an episode of Succes- joke, but it backfired. who was complaining, between mouth- sion, the HBO hit that follows the for- The book doesn’t just shed light on fuls of mackerel, about the dominance tunes of a media family, loosely based some of these key appointments, which of Big Brother at programme review on the Murdochs. changed the course of Channel 4’s meetings. Dickson fumed that he By the end of this topsy-turvy saga, I history, it is also a celebration of an “couldn’t understand why so many was exhausted with all the machina- extraordinary brand that has survived middle-aged people were talking in tions and feeling sorry for the hapless against all the odds, produced brilliant glowing tones about a programme for and “rumpled polo shirt”-clad Duncan. content, working with some of the young people”. Even the announcement of his depar- most talented and creative staff around The discussion over lunch produced ture didn’t go to plan: “The agreement – too many to mention here. We are one of those eureka moments that was that [it] would be announced in a very lucky in Britain to have Channel 4. development teams dream about. dignified manner… well after the Edin- I have not even mentioned the huge Dickson was on a roll: “The futility of burgh International Television Festival. array of hits generated during this spending all that money on a space, But the sacking was leaked at Edin- period: Gogglebox, The End of the F***ing then filling it with vainglorious ne’er- burgh, where Duncan looked a broken World, Peter Kosminsky’s compelling do-wells. Why don’t we take the Big man. After bitter negotiations, he drama The State, First Dates, Leaving Nev- Brother technology and put it some- signed a compromise agreement, erland, the brilliant Channel 4 News, or where more interesting?” including a donation from Channel 4 the whole process of creative renewal This was the moment the rig show to two of his chosen charities.” in the past 10 years, or even the recent was born. What followed was a long It is clear from the book that every- monster hit Russell T Davies’s It’s a Sin. trail of hugely successful factual shows, one in British television spoke to As Brown says, “It is impossible to “television gold”, as they say, starting Brown. The access is incredible and capture the entirety of a broadcaster’s with Going Cold Turkey and The Family, nowhere more so than over the battle activity in a book”. Likewise, it is and ending with all those incredible to appoint the new chief executive. impossible to capture all the richness blockbusters: Educating Yorkshire, One In the red corner was David Abraham, of this book in one review. And that is Born Every Minute and 24 Hours in Police the outsider and former advertising not me being middle-aged. n Custody. There was even time for “a exec, who even had his own strapline: rigged series featuring seven dwarfs, a “I am a unique hybrid, so uniquely Narinder Minhas is Co-Managing Direc- troupe of pantomime actors gearing up qualified”. tor of Cardiff Productions. He worked as a for Christmas”. In the blue corner was Kevin Lygo, the commissioning editor at Channel 4 in the One of the more revealing chapters in insider, posh art collector, popular with early 2000s.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 31 Small Axe: Lovers Rock

Stories hiding in plain sight

Key people in the creation of BBC One’s Small Axe share the backstory of Steve McQueen’s film anthology BBC

he benefits of assem- that the crews who made Small Axe “But, throughout the process, Leroy bling genuinely diverse were genuinely diverse despite high was amazing and completely generous. production teams are demand for production personnel. He didn’t ask to see the script and was often talked about but In Red, White and Blue it is not only completely hands-off. He trusted us.” seldom fully realised. A the central character, rookie police The writer, who also collaborated notable recent exception officer Leroy Logan (played by John with McQueen on Lovers Rock, stressed wasT Steve McQueen’s ground breaking Boyega), who is subjected to the Met’s the importance of portraying a wide Small Axe, the anthology of five feature systemic racism – a more experienced range of Londoners in these films; he films first shown on BBC One late last British Asian policeman is also racially himself attended a school where year, and the recent winner of five abused. Logan went on to form the 127 languages were spoken. Bafta craft awards. Black Police Association, an attempt to Newland said: “With Lovers Rock, I Four of the five films depicted the reform the force from within. leant quite heavily on my Jamaican troubling experiences of first-generation Red, White and Blue was co-written by heritage. Our dialogue coach, Hazel, West Indians living in west London McQueen and Courttia Newland, the came in and said, ‘I’m going to mix this during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, novelist and co-editor of the recent up a bit, put some Trinidadian here and while the fifth, Lovers Rock, was a cele- anthology IC3: The Penguin Book of New some St Lucian there’. bration of a night out at a house party Black Writing in Britain. He told the RTS “That was really great, too. It was like, in Ladbroke Grove in 1980. about the challenge of depicting a non-­ ‘Let’s play, let’s have some fun and An RTS production focus event last fictional character in a TV drama: “I enjoy ourselves’. I think you can feel month heard how the makers of Small knew it was a brilliant story, but I was that in the film.” Axe were determined to accurately slightly intimidated by telling it. I’d He added: “I’d been waiting for this represent British people of Caribbean never written about a real person before, my whole life – to tell the story of heritage and those from other ethnic let alone someone who was across the black Britain on such a massive canvas, groups. They also wanted to ensure table from me telling me his story. and working with someone as brilliant

32 as Steve. I was bowled over at the inspiration for what became Small Axe inciting a riot when police targeted the opportunity.” was that McQueen had wanted to make Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill. Small Axe executive producer Tracey something for his mother. He felt that Mangrove culminates in a searing Scoffield, who worked for a decade at she belonged to a generation of people courtroom drama, one of the most BBC Films before co-founding Turbine who had come to the UK from the West emotionally charged pieces of TV Studios, told the RTS that she had suf- Indies but “there was never anything on drama shown last year. fered “nightmares about having an TV that reflected their experience. This “The Mangrove story stood out,” entirely white crew standing behind was a generation that didn’t write noted Scoffield. “It was an important the camera facing a black cast”. things down and, between the genera- piece of social and cultural history, She continued: “I thought, that is not tions, didn’t speak to each other. which had been swept under the carpet. going to happen, but it was a very busy “One of the most gratifying things As Steve said, ‘These stories are hiding time in the industry when we shot this. about this project was that it started the in plain sight’. He said the same thing about Hunger and Twelve Years a Slave. Mangrove laid out the stall for the whole series. This is what this series is going to be about: collective action and commu- nities of people coming together.” From the beginning, the idea was to bring cinematic values to the small screen. Scoffield’s background in both TV and film – as well as working for BBC Films, she executive produced the Emmy-winning The Gathering Storm – made her well qualified for the job. “A lot of TV drama is made on very tight schedules,” she said. “Steve is a film-maker obsessed with attention to detail and doesn’t believe in making any compromises unless he has to – and then they’d be very creative ones.” Unusually for a TV drama, Mangrove was shot on 33mm film stock. “Lovers Rock was the one we had to do cheaply and shoot digitally,” said the executive producer. “Each film is very different to the others, so each time it was like starting from scratch again.” As for the key job of casting, Small Small Axe: Red, White and Blue

BBC Axe employed casting director Gary Davy, a long-time McQueen collabora- The original West Indian people we’d generations speaking to one another.” tor. He had worked on Hunger and won wanted to be heads of departments Why did Scoffield want to get invol­ an Emmy for HBO’s Band of Brothers, were all busy, so we had to rethink it.” ved? “I come at these stories from a co-created by Steven Spielberg and To identify and develop new people, different cultural perspective, but I am Tom Hanks. the BBC and co-producer Amazon were a Londoner, born and bred. I was born “At first, I didn’t quite realise how big persuaded to contribute to a trainee and brought up in west London, where it was,” recalled Davy, who started scheme. This enabled Scoffield to have a lot of these stories are set. For me, looking for actors for Small Axe in 2016. a trainee working in every production anything that is about the history of “Authenticity is important. As casting department. Around a third of the London is fascinating.” directors, we always want to get some- workforce that made Small Axe had Pivotal to the project was former one who looks like the real person. That Caribbean backgrounds. The head of Newsnight journalist Helen Bart, an asso- is always in the back of our mind… hair and make-up, JoJo Williams, ciate producer on Small Axe, who spent “Steve always says he wants the whose CV includes working with Idris hours conducting interviews with peo- right person for the part. He wants and Elba, was originally due to take part in ple from London’s West Indian com- loves good actors. We are never going the RTS production focus but had to munity. Only after she had completed to run out of good actors in this coun- pull out to work in South Africa. her research was it decided that what try. We could have cast this show twice The films had a long gestation period. became Small Axe should tell true, rather over with the amount of talent that McQueen’s agent originally contacted than fictional, stories. we’ve got here.” n Scoffield in 2010 to see if she would be Unusually for a TV series, the five interested in working with the director, films each have different lengths, rang- Report by Steve Clarke. The RTS London recently acclaimed for his first feature ing from 63 to 123 minutes. Arguably, event ‘Production focus: Small Axe’ was film,Hunger , the story of IRA hunger the project’s bedrock was Mangrove, the held on 19 May. It was chaired by Aradhna striker Bobby Sands. story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of Tayal, producer and consultant at Clock- She revealed that part of the black British activists charged with house Media. The producer was Lettija Lee.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 33 BBC director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies tells the RTS how the broadcaster’s ‘Across the UK’ strategy will work in practice

t is regarded as the BBC’s biggest transformation in decades, as the corporation prepares to further shift its centre of gravity away from London in favour of the likes ofI Birmingham and Newcastle. In March, Director-General Tim Davie pledged to better reflect the UK’s nations and regions by moving expenditure amounting to £700m by March 2028 and hundreds of jobs out- side the capital as part of a new “Across the UK” strategy. Earlier this month, the RTS inter- viewed the executive at the sharp end of this policy, director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies, who took up the role in January. Davies is also director of BBC Cymru Wales and sits on the BBC’s Executive Committee. He told his interviewer, Sky News’s Rhodri Talfan Davies

Gillian Joseph, that, while the BBC had BBC in recent years boosted its production presence in places such as Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and Salford, the scale of this latest move aimed at providing better services for all licence-fee pay- ers was of a different order. A serious bid When he joined the BBC in 1993, around 90% of network TV was made in London, and the nations and regions felt marginalised. “Since then, things have changed dramatically,” Davies to reach past insisted. The new plan involved “get- ting much closer to communities across all four nations”, “feeling utterly rooted in those communities” and “telling their stories”. The latter was the M25 something that global media giants such as Netflix did not do. As part of the move towards further aim was to make a combined total of for authentic depictions of parts of the decentralisation, for example, news 20 dramas and comedies within the UK that were neither English or metro- teams specialising in climate and sci- same time frame. politan. He added: “We want to do ence would move from London to “These are big, measurable changes more of this and to be able to look at Cardiff, while those specialising in that will change the tone and flavour the BBC in three years and feel this is a technology would relocate to Glasgow. of the BBC,” promised Davies. “It is BBC that is embracing talent across In TV, the objective was to shift 60% about changing what we see on air. scripted and unscripted, and commu- of all network budgets outside London, There was no sense in having all our nities in every part of the UK.” with more than 200 scripted shows to TV news specialists based in London.” Davies gave Breakfast News, based in be produced out of the metropolis He said the success of BBC One’s Salford, as an example of a show that within the next three years. In Scot- six-part drama The Pact, shot mostly in added a different flavour to BBC News. land, Wales and Northern Ireland, the south Wales, demonstrated the appetite As more programmes were based

34 outside London, Davies said there would collaborations with local indies and reality. Every part of the BBC had to be a mix of recruiting locally and mov- institutions such as Sunderland Uni- make cost reductions,” replied Davies. ing staff from London. He conceded versity in the North East. One way to drill down locally was to that the latter involved “very personal “We need a holistic plan [in the boost the BBC’s online journalism, choices” and that, initially, some North East],” said Davies. “There’s particularly in those English towns employees might commute from their enormous creative talent in the North overlooked by mainstream media. “At present homes to the new locations. East and we’re missing out on that if the moment, this is UK-first, then go The Director-General, under pres- we don’t work with partners to see and find your local,” he noted. sure from the Government, whose that region reflected on screen.” Turning to the all-important issue of ministers have criticised the BBC for Regarding plans for a more bespoke public trust in BBC reporting, Joseph “its narrow, urban outlook”, has prom- BBC One to reflect the North, the first wondered whether the BBC’s journal- ised to do more for those licence pay- step was to get the channel up and istic reputation had been damaged by ers outside London who feel they running in HD locally. The next was to Lord Dyson’s report into how Martin

Forth Bridge receive less value for their money than introduce more regional continuity Bashir obtained his 1995 Panorama those who live in the capital. announcers and more of a Northern interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. “In areas such as the North East, editorial focus in production. “It was a grim read… but I don’t for a audiences can feel more distant from He denied, however, that the move moment feel that that particular series the BBC,” Davies acknowledged. To towards decentralising – with power of mistakes reflects or represents the help correct this, plans are being made as well as people shifting from London journalistic integrity that I see every to launch new TV soaps based in – was a response to the Government’s day from my BBC colleagues,” said northern England and in one of the “levelling up” agenda. Davies. “Audiences don’t conflate that three devolved nations. Commissioning teams outside Lon- one incident with their general regard In terms of money being redeployed don would benefit from having a much for BBC journalism.” outside London, the nations director bigger say in network projects in order Would the episode be used by the said that the bulk of this would be to reflect the nations and regions. He Government as a stick to beat the BBC spent in England, especially in the cited the success of The Pact again, and in the future? “Clearly, there are con- West Midlands and the North. that of Keeping Faith, also produced in versations around licence-fee funding “For the first time, we’ve put clear Wales, and the 2019 drama Guilt, com- and governance that routinely take measures on the number of projects missioned by the BBC Scotland channel. place between the corporation and we want to deliver,” he emphasised. “When you get authentic regional government. So how would the BBC ensure these portrayal right, it tends to work across “If we look at this objectively, this is were felt right across the length and the UK. Audiences love series that the BBC commissioning a report that breadth of the UK? “There is no secret have a real sense of place,” Davies said. gets to the truth.… You’ve got to sauce here. Having spent 10 years Conversely, there have been many remember that, every second of every running BBC Wales, north Wales felt critics of the BBC’s decision last year to day, on average about 5 million people very distant from Cardiff. Whatever axe the long-running regional current tune in to the BBC and they come to us level you go to, there is always some- affairs programme Inside Out. Wasn’t because they trust us.” n one who feels the level of distribution this counter to getting closer to audi- is not far enough.” ences outside London? “That was a Report by Steve Clarke. Rhodri Talfan Expect more local radio program- really tough decision… I am not here to Davies was in conversation with Sky News ming in Bradford, Sunderland and pretend that was the ideal solution.… presenter Gillian Joseph for the RTS on Wolverhampton and other places, and The whole BBC faced a financial 3 June. The producer was Chris Jackson.

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 35 RTS NEWS Minneapolis last May, an event that, with the world- wide Black Lives Matter demonstrations that fol- lowed, greatly informed and added force to the narrative of Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power. One of the film’s key sequences sees Pinnock on the street discussing racism with protesters. The production team also had to cope with the con- straints of Covid-19 filming protocols, but, revealed pro- ducer Kandise Abiola, this did have an upside: “We had so much time with Leigh- Anne. [Normally,] she’s such a busy woman with her music career…. We really embedded ourselves in Leigh-Anne’s life.” This presented a clear con- flict of interest for the direc- tor. “It’s difficult to navigate a [working] relationship with someone… who’s your mate,” said Gaunt. “On one of our Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power

BBC first filming days, when it was just Leigh-Anne and I together, I said, ‘I’ve got two hats on – my friend hat and Leigh-Anne lifts the lid a director’s hat. When I carry this camera, sometimes I have to ask you difficult Matthew Bell discovers how Dragonfly made an questions, but everything­­ I do is to make us the best film RTS Futures illuminating film about racism in the music industry we possibly can.’” In contrast to many pro- TS Futures offered a being treated differently to documentary series, first as duction teams in TV, the one fascinating master- my bandmates because of a researcher on Hospital and assembled for the documen- class on the making the colour of my skin.” then as part of the team of tary was diverse. of the powerful and Film-maker Tash Gaunt producer/directors working “Many times, I’ve been the Rcritically well-received went to the same secondary on Ambulance. only person of colour in a documentary Leigh-Anne: school as Pinnock and the “It felt like the perfect time production company, as well Race, Pop & Power. pair have remained firm for Tash to step up and author as on a production team. The one-hour BBC Three friends. her first film,” said executive [You need] to have the confi- commission, which aired on “The idea for the docu- producer Tom Currie. “With dence in yourself to speak up BBC One last month, follows mentary sprang from a series her access to Leigh-Anne, and to be heard,” said Abiola. Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pin- of conversations Leigh-Anne Tash herself was an intrinsic “Know your craft – that nock as she explores racism and I had a few years ago. part of the commission.” enables you to speak up.” n in the music industry and She had been starting to Dragonfly developed the confronts her own experi- think more about her iden- idea and took it to BBC Three, The RTS Futures masterclass ences as the group’s sole tity as a black woman,” which snapped it up. ‘Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & black member. Gaunt recalled. The film was commis- Power’ was held on 21 May. It At the beginning of the She took the idea to Drag- sioned and already in pre- was chaired by Basma Khalifa, documentary, Pinnock says: onfly, the indie that had production when George and produced by Rajveer Sihota “Sometimes, I felt I was employed her on two BBC Floyd was murdered in and Tom Popay.

36 The pandemic has seen a boom in pro- grammes on “beautiful

Devon and Devon Cornwall Britain”, with many focusing their cameras on the landscapes of the South West. Two of the most successful have been made by regional indies: Plymouth-based Two- four’s Cornwall and Devon Walks with Julia Bradbury for ITV and BBC Two’s Cornwall with Simon Reeve, produced by Newquay indie Beagle Media. “There is a trend for beau- tiful Britain at the moment, and Devon and Cornwall is Cornwall with Simon Reeve

at the top of the list,” said BBC Rachel Innes-Lumsden, Twofour director of prog­ rammes for the west, who revealed that she is currently Filming beautiful Britain making three series on the region for Channel 5. Innes-Lumsden was talk- the south-west, recalled has even got beavers now on “allow us to get into the more ing at “Devon and Cornwall: A Innes-Lumsden. Bodmin Moor.” gritty, current-affairs stories”. TV success story” in late May. Harry Anscombe, CEO of The recently reintroduced Event chair Simon Willis, Twofour had already made Beagle Media, said commis- beavers featured in Cornwall from the Devon and Cornwall a series for ITV in which sioners seemed to have “an with Simon Reeve. “I was [at Centre, asked whether the Bradbury uncovered the endless appetite” for series the project] last weekend and boom in regional shows hidden delights of the Greek showcasing the south-west, they’ve had Michael Portillo, would last. “I’m sure the bub- islands and was planning a “if the idea, access and talent Rick Stein and Simon Reeve ble will eventually burst for follow-up in Spain. At the are right”. all there filming feature ele- programming that is Devon same time, the indie was also The region’s attraction, he ments for a series.” and Cornwall per se – it’s a set to do a “secret walks said, was that “it is beautiful Cornwall with Simon Reeve trend at the moment and it series” in the UK for ITV. and it is nostalgic to many celebrates the beauty and will go,” said Innes-Lumsden. On the back of Channel 4’s people who came here on wildlife of the county, but it “But in terms of there being huge success with True holidays when they were also shows its endemic pock- programming made here and North documentary series kids or who now come here ets of poverty. “We needed giving a platform to Devon Devon and Cornwall, ITV sug- with their own kids. It’s hard the beautiful beaches and and Cornwall, that’s got a gested that Twofour make a to put your finger on it: it is drone shots of dawn at Pol­ long future.” series with Bradbury in just diverse, it has got wildlife, it zeath,” said Anscombe, to Matthew Bell

RTS North East and the Border Student Television Sunderland bags a hat-trick Awards winners Animation•Otherwhere•Jordan-Lee University of Sunder- The Craft Skills awards also AB by AB, while Teesside Uni- Tyreman, Robert Leonard, Marmik Rana, Shaw Connor Williams and land students took went to Sunderland students: versity students secured the team, Teesside University home three prizes at Lavie Omar for The Lines award in the Animation cat- Non-scripted•AB by AB•Alexander Boyd, Newcastle University North East & North East & the Border the RTS North East and (Camera), a drama about a egory for Otherwhere. Scripted•Impresença •Rodrigo the Border Student Televi- young county lines victim The judges, with BBC Figueiredo, Lewis Harley, Max sion Awards in May. whose brother is a police North East journalist Emma Woodhall and Diana Cunha Teixeira, University of Sunderland The students triumphed in officer, and Caitlan Ward for Wass chairing the panel, also Craft Skills: Camera•The Lines• the Scripted category with Girl Power Crossfit (Editing). commended two other Tees- Lavie Omar, University of Sunderland Impresença, a film based on a Newcastle University’s side University films: Mr Craft Skills: Editing•Girl Power Crossfit•Caitlan Ward, University true story about loss and Alexander Boyd won the Swaledale and They’ve Arrived. of Sunderland how to overcome it. Non-scripted award with Matthew Bell

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 37 RTS NEWS

elevision advertising has come a long way since ITV aired its first commercial in TSeptember 1955. At a stimulating RTS Thames Valley event in mid- May, “Television advertising – then and now”, it was emphasised how, in today’s fragmented TV market, building brand recognition across a variety of platforms, including social media, is a complicated business that increasingly requires high- tech solutions. We tend to take for granted the way in which TV ads seamlessly appear in com- mercial breaks but David Joel, head of commercial at Nick Kamen in the Levi’s 501 ad

Clearcast, reminded the RTS BBH of the hard work involved in ensuring that TV ads comply with industry codes. He highlighted the late Ads spin their message Nick Kamen’s iconic 1985 Levi’s 501 ad, in which Kamen walks into a launder- Steve Clarke finds out how television advertising ette and takes off his clothes. Joel revealed that the original Thames Valley is becoming ever more targeted and intelligent script would have been banned because he stripped Live sport had pioneered investment,” said Panchal. dominance of the Big Six down to his Y-fronts. By what he called “dynamic ad Philip McLauchlan, chief global agencies. The days changing his underwear to insertion”, allowing tradi- scientist at ad agency when ads could reach more boxer shorts, the commercial tional broadcasters to add Mirriad, outlined how “non-­ than 21 million viewers dur- passed the regulatory test. digital advertising to their interruptive” advertising ing a single break in Corona- Justin Gupta, head of coverage of, say, live football. – ads that are embedded in, tion Street were long gone. “It broadcast and entertainment, Gupta said that, in the say, a poster at a bus stop was easier to do then,” said strategic partnerships at not-too-distant future, – was gaining traction. “We Kemp. The most recent Google (UK & Ireland), out- advertisers would be able to can reach viewers in a way Christmas Day episode of lined how, globally, the pan- use a mosaic of hi-tech mes- we couldn’t before, by plac- Corrie attracted 5 million view- demic had accelerated saging, including interactiv- ing the ads into the content,” ers, a big audience in today’s viewing trends away from ity, to sell their brands. he explained. “We have evi- hyper-fragmented landscape. linear and towards online by Nikita Panchal, marketing dence that this is a format that Traditional broadcasters, “three to five years”. director at Bubble Agency, consumers like.” however, had created new This had big implications said that social media enabled Unlike traditional ads, ways to generate viewers for advertisers and broad- advertisers to “micro target” advertising of this type is across the digital space, casters’ strategies, as viewers audiences, especially younger impossible to skip and does including ITV Hub and All 4. expected more personalised ones. not disrupt content, arguably But the good news for ITV content. “It has been shown On platforms such as Face­ making it easier for advertis- was that advertisers still that three times as much book, individuals can be ers to achieve their targets. invest most of their budgets attention is paid to adverts targeted via such demo- The final speaker, media in linear channels. that are relevant to me ver- graphic indicators as strategist Peter Kemp, gave Sky’s AdSmart remains the sus the average,” said Gupta. ­postcodes, age, interests, the RTS a potted history of key product in addressable He highlighted the growth purchasing behaviour, reli- the brand, beginning in 1903 advertising, which covers of addressable advertising gion and even relationship with Typhoo packed tea, and Channels 4 and 5, as well as and its ability to show differ- status. “That allows advertis- the evolution of the ad agency. Sky’s own channels. “There ent ads to different viewers ers to tailor their ads to their As brands grew, they wanted is a real opportunity for cli- – and even different versions target audience and achieve more for less, he noted. ents who want to use it cor- of the same ad. a much better return on their This, in turn, had led to the rectly,” said Kemp. n

38 Scottish students flourish

Glasgow Clyde College, City of Glasgow College and the Royal Conser-

Scotland Centre vatoire of Scotland shared the spoils at the RTS Scotland­ Student Television Awards, hosted by STV reporter Laura Boyd in May. Animation winner The Moon (Glasgow Clyde) was praised for its “experimental story- telling” by the judges. Shared Lives (City of Glasgow), the Non-scripted winner, was “gentle, warm and lovely, telling a powerfully emotional story well”, and the judges Animation winner: The Moon

“loved the off-kilter vibe” College Clyde Glasgow of Captain Powerman (Royal Conservatoire, Scripted). the year our students have RTS Scotland Student and Emma Gilchrist, City of Glasgow The awards were sponsored had, although I’ve come to Television Awards winners College by STV, which is showing the expect nothing less from the Scripted•Captain Powerman and the Animation•The Moon• Intergalactic Quest into the Twenty-­ winning and nominated films fiercely talented bunch who Natalia Martiszewicz, Dagmara Pisala, first Century•Alexander Halford, on its STV Player. “The film- enter these awards each year,” Anna Koufogianni, Jamie O’Hara and Ciara Crolly, Luke Keogh, Anna Burns, team, Glasgow Clyde College making prowess was hugely said Simon Pitts, CEO of STV. Jack McLean and team, Royal Conser­ Non-scripted•Shared Lives•David Love vatoire of Scotland impressive, especially after Matthew Bell

attended the RTS Cambridge Balvinder Sidhu, winner of highlights have returned to Convention in recent years Journalist of the Year at the BBC One. Here’s hoping that The will have witnessed Zaslav at 2018 RTS Midlands Awards, England, Scotland and Wales close quarters, pulling off the taking on a new role as the progress beyond the group UPSIDE smart-casual, hoodie-under- station’s West Midlands stages. And, with Geraint the-jacket look with aplomb. reporter. Then, of course, Thomas recently showing The UpSide wishes him there is attack dog in chief, signs of his very best form, Merger mania is well as he navigates a course Andrew Neil, arguably the could we have another British through treacherous media interviewer that politicians yellow jersey in France? back in fashion waters. most fear to face. Having pulled off the media The Upside will be watch- deal of the decade, the hyper- ing GB News with interest. Just the sort of fan energetic David Zaslav is now Will GB News offer every show wants master of all he surveys in us roast minister? Hollywood and beyond. Deckchair, sunblock, Finally, to return to David His $43bn coup for Discov- Coincidentally, Discovery is TV – holiday sorted Zaslav. Good to see him ery – to effectively acquire a backer of GB News, which recently namechecking WarnerMedia and then has assembled an impressive Unlike 2020, this year’s small Mare of Easttown as one of his ensure that he ends up run- line-up of presenters to take screens are – thankfully favourite shows. By common ning the newly formed War- on the old guard of TV news – awash with a great sum- consent, the sombre Mare, ner Bros Discovery – was an channels. mer of TV sport. The Euros, which stars Kate Winslet as utterly stunning corporate It will be good to see the Wimbledon and the Tour de troubled detective Mare manoeuvre. uber-experienced Alastair France are all scheduled for Sheehan, is one of this year’s Of course, anyone who’s Stewart back on screen, and this month, and the cricket best TV dramas. n

Television www.rts.org.uk June 2021 39 RTS PATRONS RTS Principal BBC Channel 4 ITV Sky Patrons

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Who’s who Patron Chair of RTS Trustees CENTRES COUNCIL Education at the RTS HRH The Prince of Wales Jane Turton Lynn Barlow Graeme Thompson Phil Barnes Vice-Presidents Honorary Secretary Fiona Campbell RTS Futures David Abraham David Lowen Tony Campbell Alex Wootten Dawn Airey Agnes Cogan Sir David Attenborough OM Honorary Treasurer Stephanie Farmer RTS Technology Bursaries CH CVO CBE FRS Mike Green Rick Horne Simon Pitts Baroness Floella Kully Khaila Benjamin OBE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Tim Marshall AWARDS COMMITTEE Mike Darcey Lynn Barlow Will Nicholson CHAIRS Gary Davey Julian Bellamy Stephen O’Donnell Awards & Fellowship Greg Dyke Mike Green Jon Quayle Policy Lord Hall of Birkenhead Yasmina Hadded Edward Russell David Lowen Lorraine Heggessey David Lowen Fiona Thompson Armando Iannucci OBE Jane Millichip Craft & Design Awards Ian Jones Simon Pitts SPECIALIST GROUP Anne Mensah Baroness Lawrence of Sinéad Rocks CHAIRS Clarendon OBE Sarah Rose Archives Programme Awards David Lynn Jane Turton Dale Grayson Kenton Allen Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Rob Woodward Ken MacQuarrie Diversity Student Television Gavin Patterson EXECUTIVE Angela Ferreira Awards Trevor Phillips OBE Chief Executive Siobhan Greene Stewart Purvis CBE Theresa Wise Early Evening Events Sir Howard Stringer Heather Jones Television Journalism Bursaries Manager Awards Anne Dawson Simon Bucks

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