May 2020 Tanya Moodie on life in lockdown BRINGING WORLDS TO LIFE Find the sound of your story at audionetwork.com/discover/sound-and-story FIND OUT MORE : Naomi Koh | [email protected] | +44 (0)207 566 1441 Journal of The Royal Television Society May 2020 l Volume 57/5 From the CEO I am thrilled that the Two sitcom Motherland and Break- the bursary scheme, has written a Society’s online events through Award-winner at the RTS moving account of how young lives have started in earnest, Programme Awards in March. have been put on hold. including a Q&A with Talking of comedy, in these testing We also speak to the indefatigable Russell T Davies from times the ability to kindle laughter is Ben Frow, head of programmes at RTS North West and a precious gift. In the first of a new Channel 5, voted Channel of the Year “News in the new series, Comfort Classic, Matthew Bell at the RTS Programme Awards. norm” from RTS Thames Valley. Both examines the enduring appeal of that Finally, this month’s expanded TV attracted large and engaged audiences. great sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Diary is a candid account of how We now also have weekly events The BBC has stepped up to the plate screenwriter and doctor Dan Sefton for our RTS Futures community and with its Bitesize educational initiative. has returned to the front line of medi- some exciting “In conversation with…” Maggie Brown describes how it is help- cine during the pandemic. He is one evenings, webinars and virtual screen- ing the nation’s schoolchildren to carry of the heroes keeping our country ings and discussions to come. on learning in the virtual classroom. going during this crisis. We have a bumper issue of Televi- We will be doing everything we can sion for you this month to enjoy in to ensure that our own RTS bursary lockdown. Our cover story is Caroline students are protected as much as Frost’s interview with the amazing possible from educational and career Tanya Moodie, a new star of the BBC disruptions. Anne Dawson, who runs Theresa Wise Contents Cover: Tanya Moodie/Adrian Lourie Dan Sefton’s TV Diary Five thrives under Frow Screenwriter Dan Sefton deals with bereavement and Channel 5’s Ben Frow tells Steve Clarke why lockdown 4 attempted suicide when he puts his pen to one side and 16 is tailor-made for the broadcaster returns to A&E Full marks to Auntie Comfort Classic: Only Fools and Horses Maggie Brown assesses the BBC’s ‘biggest educational Matthew Bell on why Del Boy and Rodney are a 18 push in its history’ 6 comedic match made in heaven A dose of reality Ear Candy: No Such Thing as a Fish Dr Charlie Easmon, a specialist in public health, assesses Kate Holman is hooked by the QI Elves podcast for 20 how the stars of fictionalised pandemics stack up 7 lovers of arcane facts against real-world heroes Working Lives: Foley artist Life at the sharp end Foley artist Ruth Sullivan is interviewed by Matthew Bell ITV News chief Rachel Corp takes Shilpa Ganatra 8 22 through her working day Counting her blessings Tanya Moodie, the winner of the RTS Breakthrough Mob rule 10 Award for her role in Motherland, is taking lockdown in An all-star cast leads Sky Atlantic’s new action thriller, her stride, discovers Caroline Frost 24 Gangs of London. Steve Clarke dodges the blows Young lives on hold TV sport: All to play for Anne Dawson learns how RTS bursary students have Broadcasters are thinking laterally to fill the void left by BRINGING 12 been coping during the crisis 26 Covid-19 in the sporting calendar, reports Matthew Bell No ordinary Joe Susan Calman: Calm amid the crisis Joe Lycett is filling peak-time slots on BBC One and Matthew Bell discovers how making quick-turnaround 14 Channel 4. Roz Laws checks out the upward trajectory 30 shows is helping Glasgow indie Red Sky to keep its WORLDS TO LIFE of the comedian who takes on the corporates head above water Find the sound of your story at 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 2020. [email protected] [email protected] London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman The views expressed in Television audionetwork.com/discover/sound-and-story 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 FIND OUT MORE : Naomi Koh | [email protected] | +44 (0)207 566 1441 Television www.rts.org.uk May 2020 3 TV diary Screenwriter Dan Sefton deals with bereavement and attempted suicide when he puts his pen to one side and returns to A&E aturday morning, 7:00am. nice to be reminded of how people necessity of it. The buck stops with Heading into the week- really consume television. They’re you. Tough calls have to be made. end shift on my motor- smart and they want to be entertained. Watching the politicians on the bike. A small bonus of But it’s not life and death. news that evening, I sense they aren’t returning to the NHS is used to this feeling. having permission to ■ I see a man in his seventies with ride to and from work. a swollen leg. He has had a probable ■ People often ask me why so many I scoot past a small herd of red deer deep-vein thrombosis for over a week ex-professionals become successful Sgrazing by the side of the road, tempted but hasn’t attended until now. Going TV writers? I’m more and more down from the hill by the empty roads untreated that long risks complications. convinced it’s due to the ability to and the promise of sweet verge grass. I start him on the correct medication work hard and persist with something An almost perfect post-apocalyptic and chat to him. that is difficult. visual. The nice thing about a slow day is So many people dream of being a As a rural motorcyclist, I fear deer that you can give each patient the time screenwriter, but the reality is surpris- more than anything else, convinced they deserve. Usually, the department ingly hard – brutal, even. Some days, it my ultimate fate is to be speared by a exists on the verge of panic. Bedside feels like it basically consists of people stray antler as I whizz around a blind manner is a luxury. who are unable to do your job telling corner at full lean. Thinking of the He informs me that his wife of you exactly where you’ve gone wrong, NHS, I slow down a bit. 50 years died two weeks ago. He almost independent of any success you might breaks down when telling me about it, have had. ■ Over at the Emergency Depart- but then catches himself just in time Sometimes being a doctor feels like ment, the phoney war is in full swing. and reverts to pleasantries. A very Eng- a holiday. It’s quiet, too quiet. However, no one lish reaction. For me, it’s almost worse ever says the Q word out loud, so that way. ■ Having said that, I’m struggling alternatives are used. Apart from a a bit with the episode of The Good steady stream of Covid-19 patients, ■ When I get home, my neighbour is Karma Hospital I’m working on. most people are avoiding the hospital. waiting for me – complete with iso- Experience tells me I’ll get there, but The talk is of people dying at home, lating facemask and apologies. She’s it doesn’t really ever get any easier. My too scared to attend for the common got a nasty splinter under her finger- ex-agent, Nick, once told me that, one or garden things we can actually treat. nail and can’t get it out. Agony. day, I’d be able to “knock these things One of our healthcare assistants, Luckily, I have the tools to remove out”, but that writing nirvana has Paula, has volunteered for the Night- it, including the essential local anaes- never materialised. ingale unit in Bristol but hasn’t been thetic. As I extract the offending jag, Part of me suspects that’s why I’m called up yet. She’s fuming at this I’m aware of the strange coldness that still working. Nick died a few years injustice. comes over me when having to inflict ago. He had a long-term condition that Paula always has an opinion on TV discomfort for the greater good. As we talked about a lot. Knowing the and is a good and fearless critic. It’s a doctor, you become used to the prognosis meant that I suspected he 4 would die young a long time before the same mental health ward she left he did. That knowledge can weigh 10 years ago. Chalk another one up ‘AFTER 20 YEARS quite heavily. to the lockdown. It happened to me again recently AS A DOCTOR, – another friend who died of cancer. ■ A long time ago, I was asked by I FEEL LIKE I After 20 years as a doctor, I feel like a channel controller why the hell I KNOW DEATH I know Death quite well.