May 2017

TV’s invisible people The new Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro is the world’s fi rst digital fi lm camera with the features and controls of a high performance broadcast camera!

The new URSA Mini Pro is a true digital fi lm camera with a 4.6K image sensor, Interchangeable Lens Mounts 15 stops of dynamic range and a wide color gamut that delivers amazingly rich With URSA Mini Pro, you get a single camera that works with virtually all skin tones, natural color response and incredible detail. You also get built in professional lenses! You can work with high quality EF photographic lenses, ND fi lters, dual C-Fast and SD card recorders, an interchangeable lens mount large PL cinema lenses, and even B4 HD broadcast lenses, all with the same and more! URSA Mini Pro works in both fi lm and video modes, so it’s perfect camera! URSA Mini Pro comes with an EF mount and you can purchase optional for digital fi lm or broadcast use all while delivering better image quality! PL and B4 lens mounts separately.

Built in ND Filters Record to C-Fast or SD Cards Built in ND fi lters with IR compensation reduce the amount of light entering the You get both dual C-Fast 2.0 and dual SD/UHS-II SD card recorders so you can camera. The fi lters are designed to match the colorimetry of the camera, choose the media that works best for you. C-Fast cards are for full providing additional latitude so you can use diff erent aperture and shutter RAW recording, while common, inexpensive SD cards are perfect angle settings for shallower depth of fi eld, and specifi c levels of motion blur for ProRes or RAW HD. With non-stop recording, when card is full recording even in bright conditions. automatically continues onto the next!

Powerful Features and Controls Blackmagic Like the world’s best broadcast cameras, URSA Mini Pro features tactile control URSA Mini Pro buttons, switches, knobs and dials on the side of the camera, giving you direct * access to important settings. They’re laid out logically, making them easy to £4,919 remember so you can change settings without having to look at the buttons Includes DaVinci Resolve 12 Studio or take the camera off of your shoulder! Plus, every control is redundant! for editing and color correction.

Learn more at www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk *SRP is Exclusive of VAT. Viewfi nder, lens and accessories shown, can be purchased separately. Journal of The Royal Society May 2017 l Volume 54/5

From the CEO The past month has discussion. You will find reports of These include the Steve Hewlett been action-packed at both events in this month’s issue. Scholarship to a young talent studying the RTS. am hugely Planning for Cambridge is gearing journalism. grateful to . We have announced one of our Finally, I’d like to draw your for providing the keynote speakers, James Murdoch, CEO ­attention to some must-reads in this venue and facilities of 21st Century Fox. I am so excited month’s Television. In what, I think, is a for what was, for us, a that James has agreed to join us. first for the magazine, we have a per- ground-breaking event, “Where have Also confirmed at the convention spective from China, where Marcus all the disabled people gone?”. are: , CEO of Left Bank Ryder recently starting working for Ade Adepitan was a brilliant and Pictures; executive CCTV. Marcus offers some important good-humoured host at this packed producer ; Michelle advice for anyone considering a evening. The four panellists were Guthrie, Managing Director of the career in international television. highly engaging as we heard how, in Australian Corporation; Back in the UK, Tim Dams provides this area of diversity, British television and Sharon White, CEO of . a comprehensive account of how Brit- has yet to fulfil the promise of Chan- I hope to be announcing more ain’s studio sector is booming. And, if nel 4’s coverage of the Paralympics. details soon of our line-up for Cam- you are looking for some light relief, Staying with diversity, our other big bridge, which runs 13-15 September. don’t miss Vinay Patel’s witty diary. event of the past four weeks Our next early-evening event was “Breaking barriers: how can the examines the increasingly relevant TV industry encourage more women subject of targeted advertising and into technology jobs?”. takes place at in Thanks to all of you who attended London on 24 May. and to those who took part in what For younger readers, there is still was a fascinating and timely time to apply for our student bursaries. Theresa Wise Contents Vinay Patel’s TV Diary All change on the studio floor Vinay Patel detests meetings and is happier attending Demand for high-end, English-language drama is 5 rehearsals, but nothing compares to the thrill of seeing 16 transforming the UK’s studio business. Tim Dams his work performed live investigates Inhospitable to the invisible The transgender gap An RTS panel explored why a fifth of the population still Graeme Thompson hears why TV needs more transgender 6 get a rough deal from TV. Steve Clarke took notes 18 role models from two presenters who have changed their sex The power of Three From to Thirteen, BBC Three’s online-only Reframing the documentary 10 service is defying the sceptics, says Sanya Burgess Torin Douglas discovers how and are 20 changing factual television Can Sands deliver Today? Roger Mosey, a former editor of Today, outlines the Our Friend in Beijing 12 challenges facing Sarah Sands as she takes on the Marcus Ryder offers advice to those starting out on their hottest news seat in the BBC 23 TV careers as he battles with Chinese censorship Showdown looms for the giants Tech-savvy women wanted US tech giants need to admit they are media companies Why are real opportunities for women in TV technology 14 – and accept the inherent responsibilities, argues 24 roles going begging? Matthew Bell hears some solutions Stewart Purvis Cover: Gordon Jamieson

Editor Production, design, advertising Subscription rates Printing Legal notice Steve Clarke Gordon Jamieson 3 Dorset Rise UK £115 ISSN 0308-454X © Royal Television Society 2017. [email protected] [email protected] London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman The views expressed in Television Writer Sub-editor T: 020 7822 2810 Overseas (airmail) £172.22 20 Crimscott 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 May 2017 3 Your guide to upcoming national and RTS NEWS regional events

Broadcasting Corporation; Tony EAST McGovern and cast and crew National events Hall, Director-General, BBC; Andy Thursday 25 May after the screening. 6:30pm Harries, CEO, Left Bank Pictures; RTS East Awards 2017 Venue: Compass Room, The RTS FUTURES James Murdoch, CEO, 21st Cen- Drinks reception 7:30pm, dinner Lowry, Quays, Salford Tuesday 23 May tury Fox; Sharon White, CEO, 8:00pm, awards presentation M50 3AZ VFX and animation: Meet the Ofcom; and Andy Wilman, Execu- 9:00pm. Tickets £40 each. ■ Rachel Pinkney 07966 230639 experts tive Producer, The Grand Tour. Venue: Norwich University of the ■ [email protected] Panellists include: Alex Donne- Early-bird rate of £1,200 plus Arts, 3-7 Redwell Street, Norwich Johnson, creative director, Dazzle VAT for the first 75 bookings. NR2 4SN Ship; and Pete Allinson, head of The principal sponsor is Sky and ■ Nikki O’Donnell ■ John Mitchell design, UKTV. More expert pan- the convention is co-chaired ■ nikki.odonnell@.co.uk ■ mitch.mvbroadcast@btinter - ellists TBC. 6:45pm for 7:00pm by Andrew Griffith, Group Chief net.com Venue: Curzon Soho, 99 Shaftes­ Operating Officer, Sky, and Gary LONDON bury Avenue, London W1D 5DY Davey, Managing Director, Con- Wednesday 24 May tent at Sky. RTS London AGM followed by ■ Charles Byrne (353) 87251 3092 RTS EARLY EVENING EVENT Venue: West Road Concert Hall, Big summer quiz ■ [email protected] Wednesday 24 May Cambridge CB3 9DP and King’s AGM 6:00pm; quiz 6:30pm for Is targeted advertising the College, Cambridge CB2 1ST 7:00pm, hosted by Greg Scott future of TV? ■ Book online at www.rts.org.uk Venue: ITV London Studios, Wednesday 17 May Panellists: Simon Cook, product Upper Ground, London SE1 9LT RTS Scotland 2017 Awards and business development RTS MASTERCLASSES ■ Daniel Cherowbrier 6:00pm for 6:30pm director, YouView; Jonathan Tuesday 14 November ■ [email protected] Venue: Òran Mór, Byres Rd, Lewis, head of digital and part- RTS Student Programme G12 8QX nership innovation, Channel 4; Masterclasses­ ■ Jane Muirhead 07718 087 108 Jakob Nielsen, international head Venue: IET Savoy Place, 2 Savoy ■ Jayne Greene 07792 776585 ■ [email protected] of addressable TV, GroupM; Place, London WC2R 0BL ■ [email protected] Jamie West, group head of Wednesday 15 November SOUTHERN advanced advertising, Sky; and RTS Student Craft Skills NORTH EAST & THE BORDER ■ Stephanie Farmer additional speaker TBC. Chair: Masterclasses­ Wednesday 17 May ■ SFarmer@.ac.uk Anna Dobbie, reporter, M&M Venue: IET Savoy Place, 2 Savoy Young People’s Media Global. 6:30pm for 6:45pm start Place, London WC2R 0BL Festival 2017 THAMES VALLEY Venue: The Hospital Club, 24 Endell Further information at: Wednesday 17 May Street, London WC2H 9HQ www.sunderland.ac.uk/rtsypmf. NAB review 2017 ■ Book online at www.rts.org.uk Local events 6:00pm 7:00pm-9:00pm Venue: Media Campus, University Venue: Pincents Manor Hotel, RTS AGM of Sunderland SR6 0DD Calcot, Reading RG31 4UQ Tuesday 30 May ■ Belinda Biggam ■ Jill Graham Wednesday 14 June 6:00pm-7:30pm. Note that the ■ [email protected] ■ [email protected] Summer barbecue and mobile AGM will be held at . broadcasting Venue: Virgin Media,Griffin DEVON & CORNWALL NORTH WEST 6:30pm for 7:00pm House, 161 Hammersmith Road, ■ Jane Hudson Wednesday 17 May Venue: Pincents Manor Hotel, London W6 8BS ■ RTSDevonandCornwall@rts. Broken – screening Calcot, Reading RG31 4UQ org.uk Q&A with writer Jimmy ■ Tony Orme RTS AWARDS ■ [email protected] Friday 16 June RTS Student Television Awards 2017 ■ Hywel Wiliam 07980 007841 Venue: BFI Southbank, London ■ [email protected] SE1 8XT ■ Book online at www.rts.org.uk RTS AGM Friday 7 July RTS CONFERENCE Tuesday 30 May Programme Awards 2017 13-15 September 6:00pm-7:30pm 7:00pm for 7:30pm RTS Cambridge Convention The AGM will be held at Virgin Media, Venue: New Dock Hall, Royal 2017: ‘A world of opportunity’ Griffin House, 161 Hammersmith Road, Armouries, LS10 1LT Confirmed speakers include: London W6 8BS ■ Lisa Holdsworth 07790 145280 Sir David Clementi, Chair, BBC; ■ lisa@allonewordproductions. Michelle Guthrie, MD, Australian co.uk

4 TV diary

Vinay Patel detests meetings and is happier attending rehearsals, but nothing compares to the thrill of seeing his work performed live

t’s the meetings that kill all about getting it wrong until it’s can’t toss away entire weekends and you. No one warns you about right. That doesn’t stop me squirming, evenings to it any more, you have to the bloody meetings. Not though. Need to learn to squirm less. learn to be better, quicker and to because they’re bad – more force yourself to make time for the often than not they aren’t, ■ Twitching and squirming aside, people who care about you. but they trick your brain into my one nod to physical activity is The emotional demands of a script thinking you’re doing work to turn up to Wednesday-night football can be intense and, if you don’t keep when you’re not, not really. for the team I helped found but hardly yourself balanced, you’ll burn out IAnd it can be fun. Sometimes, it ever play for any more. Without me, again and again. Figuring out how takes all I can muster to prevent they’ve won the league. Twice. Thus, to do that is my task for the year. myself leaning across the table, grab- my “activity” is constrained to giving bing my meetee by the hands and the sidelines a good seeing to with my ■ Performance of the play’s first whispering, “Thank you for saving elaborate warm-up routine. scene as part of the reopening of the me from a life of isolation and giving Our shirt names were all chosen by Bush Theatre. It’s also my birthday me an excuse to put on my trousers.” committee. I’ve got “Plath” on the and, after the hamster-wheel of a Instead, , I treat them to a cof- back of mine, a nod to Sylvia, though week I’ve had with writing, there’s fee-fuelled treatise about Why Televi- people often assume I’ve misspelled no better way to spend today than sion Drama Matters, which sounds “Platt” (as in David, the early-1990s with an audience, watching noble but is basically an attempt to captain). Not sure which is product of all those all-nighters and justify my existence to people who the more hipster choice. reminding myself why I love what I already want to give me a job. There’s do and that I’m lucky to do it. plenty of twitching on both sides. It is ■ Revisions for a film I’m writing On Saturday, I’ll celebrate my birth- all a bit much for a Monday morning. and my head is struggling with day properly, which means I’ll sit in switching between three different the pub from open till close, watch ■ Rehearsals for the first perfor- media in three consecutive days. I England lose to Ireland in the Six mance of a play I’ve written. It’s can’t remember who said it, but the Nations, spill beer on myself during been a while since I’ve had a play phrase “learning to write is learning said game and attempt to style it out. on, and I have to remind myself that to work” has never left me. But the biggest lesson of the week is those initial theatre rehearsals are Though the past year or so has been that there’s no styling out a half pint of the opposite of TV meetings, in that brilliant, in pace and the thick stout on a crisp, white shirt. the most useful thing you can do is sheer number of words to be written to shut up. has been a steep learning curve. Vinay Patel is the writer of Murdered You’ve got to let the director estab- Ironically, part of becoming a full- by My Father, winner in the Single lish authority and the actors figure out time writer is training yourself to be Drama category at the RTS Programme solutions themselves – rehearsals are less indulgent with your work. You Awards 2017.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 5 Inhospitable to the invisible Shutterstock

hannel 4’s coverage representation of disabled people on Disability of the 2012 London TV – or are those with disabilities still Paralympics was a big being marginalised and stereotyped? moment in British TV. The title of this RTS event, “Where An RTS panel explored For the first time, have all the disabled people gone?” audiences saw disabled suggested that we all know the answer why a fifth of the athletes as glamorous role models and it is not one that disability cam- participatingC in a high-profile show- paigners are happy with. population still get a case. At a stroke, Channel 4 put the This is despite Channel 4 investing rough deal from TV. Paralympics on the map, after more a lot of resources in last year’s Rio than half a century of obscurity. Paralympics and screening several Steve Clarke took notes But, in the past four and a half years, high-profile programmes that put have our broadcasters begun to fulfil disabled people to the fore. The net- the promise of the Paralympics in the work’s satirical panel show The Last

6 Leg, spun off from the 2012 Paralym- rampant stereotyping of those who do pics, and dating show The Undateables, pass their auditions. also launched in 2012, both come The importance of having televisual to mind. role models was stressed. Adepitan and As the RTS audience heard, progress the panellists agreed that seeing “some­ is being made, but a great deal more one like me” on TV could have “a pro- needs to be done. There are still few found effect” on a person’s self-esteem. opportunities for non-able-bodied , a researcher and come- people seeking employment in TV. dian who has cerebral palsy, made the And producers and commissioners point with humour. She recalled that are still struggling to think beyond the the first disabled character she saw on familiar stereotypes when disabled TV was a schoolgirl in BBC TV’s pio- people are cast in shows. neering drama , launched in In July 2014, the BBC announced 1978. Rachel, played by Francesca Mar- a target to quadruple the number of tinez, also had cerebral palsy. Ade Adepitan disabled people on screen by the end While Jones was thrilled to see some­ Hampartsoumian Paul of this year. The aim is to hire more one similar to her appearing in a TV disabled performers and presenters, show, she hated the fact that one of the as well as back-room staff. storylines involved Rachel being bullied. Quotas: for The recent appointment of Parlia- “I had a great time at school and I mentarian Tanni Grey-Thompson to bullied other people,” she said, to rip- and against the new BBC Board is clearly a step in ples of laughter from the audience. the right direction. Her elevation won’t Jones added: “I have never felt disa- The case for have gone unnoticed by Ade Adepitan, bled. So it was interesting to see some- Adam Hills: ‘If we didn’t have a the wheelchair basketball star who one on TV [but] it made me quite angry. quota, how many disabled people steered this discussion with wry good Why was she the only person I had to would have worked behind the humour and a quiet passion. be compared to? It just made me feel scenes at the Games in Rio? He was a medal winner at the 2004 like I wanted more people [like me] out ‘Quotas are a pain in the arse Paralympics and has hosted shows there. Why wasn’t there an ultra-cool, but, if your disability is going to for CBBC and appeared in EastEnders. ultra-funny person exactly like me?” hold you back when you go into Channel 4 picked him as one of its “Why are disabled people on TV an interview, we may need them.’ main presenters of the 2012 London always portrayed as being nice all the and 2016 Rio Paralympics. time?” asked Adam Hills, presenter of The case against Laughter was much in evidence . Deborah Williams: ‘I am against throughout the evening as the audi- “Why aren’t there any [disabled] quotas because implementing ence heard from a panel of people bastards on TV?” interjected Jones. them is difficult. Each of the five who, against the odds, are working As the laughter from the audience broadcasters in the UK has a dif­ successfully in TV. subsided, Hills said that one of his ferent approach.… Some people There was anger and frustration, too, early role models was athlete Oscar do have quotas. For them, it works. that, in an allegedly liberal sector such Pistorius. It should be stressed that, ‘But most quotas are set at entry as TV, the disabled are too often feared when he first saw Pistorius, the runner level. What do you do when you and regarded as being akin to outcasts. was not a convicted murderer. get to senior management? What Adepitan said that around 20% of Another early role model was Para­ do you do when you get to execu­ the UK population is estimated to be lympian Jonnie Peacock. Like Hills, he tive producers? What do you do in disabled or to suffer from a long-term had a single-leg, below-the-knee production companies? health condition. amputation. Until then, the only peo- ‘I prefer the long-term goal of Disabled people find it hard to get ple Hills had seen with the condition changing the way that the industry a job per se, let alone work in TV. Two were “old blokes”. “I was proud to see works, including a change in work­ million of the disabled in Britain are a positive representation of it… to see ing practices.’ unemployed. someone sprinting as fast as Jonnie,” “Potentially, that’s a lot of untapped recalled Hills. The experience talent,” said Adepitan, who also noted By contrast, fellow panellist Deborah Rosie Jones: ‘I’m very pro schemes. that UK soaps , East- Williams, CEO of the Creative Diversity I started in TV in 2011 because of Enders, and had all Network, said that she had no TV role a scheme and that meant that I recently featured disabled actors. models to inspire her. “I’ve never seen could leapfrog over being a runner, One of the themes to emerge from a black, disabled woman, slightly over- which was great because I’m crap the evening was not only the lack of weight, with no left hand, on televi- at running. But you do not want me disabled people working in TV, espe- sion,” she told the RTS. “It makes me to make you a cup of tea.’ cially in drama and comedy, but feel sick to the pit of my stomach.” �

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 7 � In the mid-1980s, the only people she could begin to identify with on TV were French and Saunders. They looked completely different to anyone else on the box at that time. “Because I don’t see myself on TV, I am not comfortable with myself, I am not happy with myself. Had I been able to see people like me on TV, it would have boosted my confidence,” said Williams, who performs as a comedian. She stressed that one purpose of TV was to “remind us that we exist in many shapes”. “A lot of people perceive disability as a sickness and an illness they can catch.… They don’t think of disabled people as fully rounded indi- viduals who have everything to offer.” Financial considerations are often cited for failing to employ disabled people in TV. “With 30 years of doing this, people still say, ‘It will cost me money.’ I’m like, ‘Please, you spend more on your bar tab in a week than it costs to build a ramp or provide an interpreter,’” said Williams. Shannon Murray, actress, writer and broadcaster, emphasised that disabled people need to be regarded as part of everyday society by their able-bodied non-scripted areas, she said that British peers. “We can like clothes and fashion WHY AREN’T TV was doing more to embrace disa- and take pride in our appearance,” she bled representation. said. “I wanted to snog boys [as a teen- THERE ANY But she was concerned about some ager] and go to clubs. [But] If you were [DISABLED] of the freak shows featuring disabled in a wheelchair or were physically people that populate schedules. Sensa- disabled [people thought] you shouldn’t BASTARDS tionally titled factual entertainment be bothering with that: ‘No one’s going ON TV? shows seemed popular with able-­ to be looking at you. You should be at bodied people “who sit in amazement home, knitting and wearing comfy and go, ‘Wow, look at that person with shoes.’” two heads,’” argued Murray. “It is a Paralysed from the waist down since been judged on how she talked; one cheap way in and a way of a ticking the age of 14 following an accident, of the symptoms of cerebral palsy is a box.… The contributors are not being Murray has forged a career as a model, slurred speech. paid. They are only getting travel an actor and a lawyer. This has been in “My first job when meeting anyone expenses. spite of obstacles such as no disabled is breaking that barrier of ‘Don’t worry, “These shows are a cheap way for access to some casting-audition venues. I’ve got a dodgy voice but I’m all right networks to say, ‘We got viewers and She recalled how casting directors at my job,’” she explained. “That’s diffi- we have done our bit.’” typecast her: “I would love to play an cult and it has been crap at times. I All the panellists agreed that real and evil old bitch. Every character [I have have applied for jobs where they will lasting change would come only when played] was nice and needy, and every ring me up, hear my voice and hang some of TV’s decision-makers were character had to cry except for one. up because they can’t be bothered. hired from the ranks of the disabled. “I have never played a character “It’s hard to break that stereotype. Adepitan thought it would take with a job. Because I’m a disabled But I hope that five or 10 minutes in another five years before this hap- woman, therefore I must be dependent my company will break down that pened. By then, people like Jones, on either a husband or the state.” stereotype.” working in mid-ranking jobs, would Picking up the point about how TV Murray sounded pessimistic about be promoted to executive roles. tends to stereotype non-able-bodied the opportunities for disabled actors Ultimately, broadcasters and film people, Jones said that she had always in TV drama and comedy. In other studios were losing out financially by

8 Panellists (from left): Deborah Williams, Adam Hills, Rosie Jones, Shannon Murray and chair Ade Adepitan On its own, one leg isn’t funny

Adam Hills, presenter of Channel 4’s The Last Leg, recalled how, working as a newbie stand-up comedian in his native Australia, he was told by a veteran performer to his disability. ‘I had just started doing paid gigs and I remember doing a joke about my foot,’ he said. ‘One of the older comics took me aside and said, “You’re not good enough to talk about your foot yet. If you talk about your foot , you are going to be the guy with one leg, that’s all people are going to want you to talk about.”’ Hills then spent 13 years on the comedy circuit avoiding jokes relating to his foot. It was not until 2001 that he felt his comedy chops were good enough to mine materi­

Paul Hampartsoumian Paul al from the disability. Two things happened: Hills was continuing to marginalise the disabled, nominated for the Perrier Awards in argued Hills. Once they woke up to the DON’T WORRY, and an incident at airport that improved depictions of the security, in the wake of 9/11, per­ disabled could have on the company’s I’VE GOT A suaded him that having a prosthetic bottom line, a tipping point would be DODGY VOICE lower leg was good for his act. reached. Hills said: ‘I was going through “TV and the media forget that there’s BUT I’M ALL Heathrow three days after 11 Sep­ a disabled audience that is willing to RIGHT AT MY JOB tember and people were freaked spend money. They want to watch out about my foot, because it these shows,” agreed Adepitan. “If you would set off metal detectors. advertise and you market towards ‘A security guard came over and them, you’re going to get their money. panels, I have been in the audience, I explained it was a prosthetic leg. I just don’t understand why they on the stage, and I can’t believe we are He shat himself and said: “It’s all neglect that audience.” still doing it. right, mate, go straight through.” Williams said that it was financial “It is the same questions and it goes ‘It was the look on his face: “I considerations that made Sky sit up back to the same answer: fear. It is like: don’t care if a plane comes down, and take notice of its black subscribers: just do it, just book disabled people, I don’t want to offend a spastic.” “They went, ‘Look, 21% of our audi- just use us, whether it is behind the ‘That punchline is the reason that ence is not white, and they pay for screen or on the screen. I started talking about my prosthetic telly. We are not feeding them. Let’s go “We are all mature enough and have on stage. out and buy some content and feed our shit together enough to do a job. ‘The only hurdle I found was that them.’ It drove up the numbers.” We wouldn’t ask to work in an indus- there were some audience mem­ Asked about the various schemes try that we couldn’t cope in.” bers who’d been following me for and initiatives apparently championed years and they were angry that I by broadcasters over the years, Murray ‘Where have all the disabled people gone?’ had never talked about it before… was scathing: “I think they are as use- was an RTS early-evening event held at ‘In a way, for me, it’s become my ful as a condom in a convent.” Channel 4 in central London on 10 April. little secret weapon I can whip out She added: “I have been doing this The producers were Dan Brooke and when I need to.’ for 20 years, I have seen you at many Jonathan Simon.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 9 Content From Fleabag to Thirteen, BBC Three’s online-only service is defying the sceptics, says Sanya Burgess

ot everyone was happy with the Royal Televi- sion Society crowning BBC Three Channel of the Year. As one young viewer tweeted: “@bbcthree how can you win channel ofN the year, if you don’t actually exist on a channel?” The success of online-only, schedule- BBC Three shows that our idea of what constitutes a channel is evolving. Forced off the air in early 2016 as a The power cost-cutting measure, sceptics thought that BBC Three faced an early and regrettable death. Yet, the service has gone on to confound the pundits. It picked up six awards at the recent RTS Programme Awards, from Single Drama of Three to Channel of the Year, and it has also been nominated for eight Baftas. So, how did BBC Three become the Cinderella of television? In March 2014, BBC Director-General remain loyal to the channel online. 220,000 shares. Since the start of 2017, Tony Hall announced that the youth Fast forward 15 months. The station the station’s total worldwide channel would stop broadcasting and is still hitting some duff notes. Some reach has averaged 53 million people a move online, with its budget slashed videos on its YouTube channel have week – with a peak of 88 million one from £85m to £30m. Speaking at the extremely low viewing figures – some week in February. time, BBC Trustee Suzanna Taverne struggling to reach 230 views. It’s not all just about social. The said: “The decision to close a TV chan- However, other videos have secured channel’s strongest content is promi- nel is a difficult one, and one we have in excess of 1 million views on the nent on iPlayer. For example, in 2016, not taken lightly.” A petition against the YouTube channel, which has more the first episode of drama Thirteen closure gathered more than 300,000 than 243,000 subscribers – double that attracted more than 3.2 million iPlayer signatures. Stars, including Daniel of E4’s rival YouTube channel. views and was only knocked off the Radcliffe and , voiced Over the past year, BBC Three’s You- top of the iPlayer ratings that year by their resistance to the move. Tube service has accumulated more Planet Earth II. After its last show was broadcast on than 40 million views; the monthly BBC Three controller Damian Kavan- 16 February 2016, BBC Three lost no average is 4 million views. agh says that the vision for BBC Three time in posting a video online called BBC Three has also found solid sup- online has been, from the very begin- Welcome to BBC Three on YouTube. Ear- port on Facebook. Episodes of its ning, to push boundaries: “We wanted nest comments, such as “RIP BBC3 weekly, short-form series Amazing to commission programmes that felt 2003-16”, were posted underneath. To Humans have notched up a total in very distinctive and we also wanted to this day, the video has been viewed excess of 90 million views. work with a wide range of talent – only 45,000 times. Another of BBC Three’s short-form both established and brand new.” At the time of its closure, BBC Three videos, Things People with Down’s Syn- He believes that BBC Three has lived had an average daily audience of drome Are Tired of Hearing, has been up to this and, while continuing to be 925,000 under the age of 25. Experts viewed more than 14 million times and a badge of quality, it has become a hub predicted that only 20% of them would received over 130,000 likes and for innovation and demonstrated its

10 Cuckoo had 1.5 million requests. One of BBC Three’s biggest hits last year was Fleabag, a dark comedy following one woman’s struggle to cope with a per- sonal tragedy and the demands of life in the . The show keeps winning prizes for its star and creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Lydia Hampson, who produced Flea- bag, says: “Phoebe was super new talent and BBC Three was a great home because its whole remit is to take chances on new talent and that’s abso- lutely what Phoebe was. It was far more open to taking risks with the show.” Hampson believes that BBC Three gave Waller-Bridge the creative free- dom she needed to make the show in a way that remained true to her origi- nal play. Recall, for instance, that the very first episode contained the C-word. And even if one episode ran to 22 minutes and another ran to 31 min- utes, it was no big deal as there was no schedule to squeeze it into. Despite the strong content emerging from BBC Three, some critics are frus- trated that it is being compared like- for-like with terrestrial TV channels. Indeed, some senior industry figures insist that a core part of being defined as a channel is having to fill a traditional schedule with variety and skill. One such practitioner remarked – on condition of anonymity – that, while he was impressed with the qual- ity of programming considering its Fleabag

BBC limited budget, he doubted whether BBC Three could deliver the same qual- willingness to take a punt on first-time documentaries are available to watch ity consistently over a 24/7 schedule. talent. within a week of being commissioned. Kavanagh bats away these criticisms: Kavanagh argues that, freed from the Kavanagh does not believe that “I think that that’s a really strange burden of a schedule, his team can also scheduled television is dying – perhaps delineation. I don’t know what they focus on the best way to tell each story because his channel’s long-form con- mean by a ‘real channel’. What is a TV without having to worry about cutting tent has continued to be broadcast on channel? It’s a collection of content. content down to fit into its slot. BBC One and Two. But he is convinced “If you go down that line, you could He gives the example of last year’s that the way young people consume argue that some of the channels that documentary Unsolved, an investigation video is changing and that BBC Three are repeats-heavy and don’t have a into the historical disappearance of a is tapping into that change. certain quantity of origination on them teenage boy on the Isle of Wight: “I As a result, he also does not believe aren’t real channels. commissioned it and said just go and that BBC Three is stealing viewers “It sounds to me a bit like sour grapes shoot. We sent two journalists there from rival channels, such as Channel 4 because we won Channel of the Year.” and told them to get to the bottom of and E4, because nowadays so much is He adds: “We were judged on exactly the story. They came back and then watched on catch-up. the same as everyone else.... I believe discovered what format it would take. E4 has remained the most popular the content we’ve made over the past It ended up as eight 10-minute films.” digital channel for viewers aged 16-34. year has been outstanding and it’s Additional content was published Its two top-rating shows last year were outstanding because of the brilliant alongside the films, which audiences The Big Bang Theory and Tattoo Fixers, people who wanted to work with us.” were encouraged to explore at their pulling in average audiences of 2.6 mil- Reflecting on the anger around own pace. lion and 1.2 million, respectively. the initial move to online-only, Kavan- The nature of online also means that By comparison, BBC Three drama agh quips: “People don’t like change, content can be turned around with the Murdered by My Father had 1.8 million do they?” speed of news programming. Incredi- iPlayer requests last year, while the It is a sentiment that will likely dog bly, some of the Stacey Dooley Investigates first episode of the third season of BBC Three for some time to come. n

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 11 Can Sands deliver Today?

o outsiders, the Today There is the exhilaration of setting the programme is the flagship BBC News national agenda and being in charge of of BBC News. It is the place journalism that can shake ministerial where decision-makers­ are careers or provide the day’s humorous held to account, and it Roger Mosey, a former talking point. provides ’s gathering editor of Today, outlines Yet, it was also all-consuming and point for the chattering classes, their destructive of normal life: the phone essentialT briefing for the day ahead. calls at any hour, the need to follow the challenges facing To insiders, it’s a rather different every twist and turn of a story – and experience: dreadful working hours, Sarah Sands as she the kickings you received if politicians fuelled by grim takes on the hottest didn’t like the treatment they received. coffee – and, perhaps most surpris- Like most of my predecessors and ingly, a struggle for the resources com- news seat in the BBC successors, I had been blooded by a mensurate with the programme’s number of years on Radio 4 news reputation. Welcome to both of these programmes before I was promoted to worlds, Sarah Sands. editing Today. But, these days, the BBC I did the same job myself more than routinely recruits newspaper executives 20 years ago, and it was that old cliché such as Sands. about the best and the worst of times. The director of BBC News, James

12 Harding, came from ; Ian Katz challenges, though. The modern BBC building in the early hours is in contrast of took over in has executives whose views we know: to the teeming offices during the day. 2013; Amol Rajan from James Purnell, the director of radio, is Sands can certainly expect some is the corporation’s media editor. a former Labour cabinet minister who “assistance” from above in a decision Probably only the ’s Paul voted for the Iraq war and against an that will come sooner or later: how to Dacre can be ruled out as a future inquiry into it. refresh the line-up of presenters on corporation staffer. Sands edited a newspaper that cam- the programme. This isn’t an urgent BBC folk tell me that there is grum- paigned for Zac Goldsmith to be mayor task, because the veteran John Hum- bling about the failure to promote of London. We know what she thinks phrys is still on excellent form and the insiders who know how to make tele- about Brexit because she’s told us in newer presenters – such as the ambi- vision and radio programmes. her Standard column: she’s a Remain tious Nick Robinson and Mishal For someone with no background in voter who’s now giving Brexit a chance. Husain – sit well alongside him. broadcasting, and who is branching out This is surmountable, and at least There is, however, a bit of a random in a new direction at 55, Sands has the she’s not another BBC soft leftie, but feel about the presentation rota. Don- toughest possible challenge. She has to key’s years ago, Today was defined by be the hands-on editor of the BBC’s the double act of and most important daily programme. , who had a chemistry The job involves taking decisions in SO FAR, SHE and shared on-air wit that added con- the lonely hours of the night. In the HAS SHOWN A siderably to the programme’s appeal. most extreme case, a wrong move can Nowadays, five main presenters are bring the corporate structure tumbling ROBUSTNESS featured on the programme’s website, down on top of her. Remember what and you never know who it’ll be each happened in 2003-04 to the Director-­ THAT SOME IN morning – which is perfectly viable, as General Greg Dyke and Chair Gavyn BROADCASTING Today’s audience figures prove, but it Davies after Andrew Gilligan’s contri- may not survive the departure of bution to Today regarding weapons of HOUSE WILL Humphrys. mass destruction in Iraq. FIND ALARMING If there is to be a new top dog, he or But this is not a programme that she may want to establish more own- benefits from corporate caution: at its ership of the airtime. best, Today has a swagger and sense of And, finally, there is the biggest edi- its own mission that defies attempts to the risk is that her views become a torial test for Sands: how she keeps ­ control it by BBC apparatchiks. story in the inevitable battles that the Today programme relevant to the People who’ve talked to Sands say Today will have with political parties. whole of the UK and in touch with the that she enters the job in high spirits. There is, of course, a degree of man- wider world. Her role as editor of the London Evening agement protection for the editor of At a time when metropolitan elites Standard is, she has claimed, about get- Today. Sands will report to a controller are being challenged, she is unasham- ting the news out first in print and of daily news programmes, who, in edly from the metropolitan elite and shaping the agenda as the day’s events turn, sits within Harding’s manage- her terms of reference will be familiar unfold. She believes that those skills ment structure. to the top BBC leadership: London arts will transfer to Radio 4. Her contacts are I suspect that she will find this some- events, and who said what at the impeccable, as evidenced by a deluge of what restrictive after the freedom of ambassador’s dinner party. letters from the great and good congrat- being a newspaper editor but, so far, she Sands herself is sure she can tran-

FT/Charlie Bibby FT/Charlie ulating her on getting the job, and her has shown a robustness that some in scend this. She has ideas about taking friendship with . Broadcasting House will find alarming. the programme on the road more She is a dedicated listener to Today Her post-appointment interview on around the UK, and about speaking – “she seems to remember each pro- Radio 4’s The Media Show gave every to Brexit Britain – including its rural gramme in some detail,” says a current sign of not having been prepped by heartlands. employee, approvingly. And she rightly the BBC press office in the usual way. Today is at its best when it establishes considers the programme to be in There cannot have been corporate a connection between the decision-­ decent shape, though her instincts are approval for her musing about human- makers and the public, turning tedious to cheer it up a little. ists being invited on to the Thought for Westminster preoccupations into Her background as deputy editor on the Day strand. issues that matter to the people of and consultant edi- This is good. Having a Today editor these islands. tor on the Daily Mail means that she who behaves like a proper editor is Sands has been able to do this in will have a shared background with better than producing ranks of compli- market-driven newspapers, so there’s one of the great Today editors, Julian ant bureaucrats. a decent chance that she can translate Holland. He had previously been a Sharp elbows will be needed to it to the radio. In these troubled times, feature and leader writer for the Mail. ensure that Today has the staffing it we need a strong Today programme A BBC insider notes that she under- needs and enough money to spend on – and the audience will certainly be stands “what interests the ageing its journalism, at a time when the BBC rooting for her to deliver it. n ­middle class”, which is a necessary as a whole is cutting back. Today’s night skill on Radio 4. shifts are more thinly staffed than when Roger Mosey is now of Selwyn Her CV points to another of Sands’s I was in charge. The emptiness of the College, Cambridge.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 13 Showdown looms for the net giants

Regulation US tech giants need to admit they are media companies – and accept the inherent responsibilities, argues Stewart Purvis

magine that a broadcaster The chances are that the broadcaster were transmitted. That’s the equivalent reaching over 1 billion people would be told that its so-called “new of ’s position over its video a day is making billions of educational tool against misinforma- platform, YouTube. pounds of profits every year, tion” was hardly a satisfactory remedy. Brands as varied as L’Oréal and the partly by distributing news All of the above accurately describes UK Government stopped advertising coverage that includes Facebook’s current status and policies on Google after realising that their ads numerousI mistakes. – apart, of course, from the fact that it had appeared next to extremist content. Imagine, too, that, when the broad- isn’t a broadcaster by any traditional This row prompted Sir Martin Sorrell, caster is called to account, its first pro- definition, even though it is a platform whose WPP advertising agencies spent posed solution to the problem is to send for multiple video streams. about $5bn on Google advertisements out a message to viewers entitled “tips Imagine, too, a broadcaster having to last year, to announce: “We have always for spotting false news”. The first of the admit to advertisers that it didn’t know said Google, Facebook and others are 10 tips is: “Be sceptical of headlines”. during which programmes their ads media companies and have the same

14 responsibilities as any other media I would suggest that the more credible company. They cannot masquerade WE DON’T SEE position now is: “We at Facebook origi- as technology companies, particularly OURSELVES AS nally didn’t see ourselves as editors but when they place advertisements.” that’s where we are ending up.” Ever since the 15th-century printing EDITORS Or would admitting that leave Face- press of Johannes Gutenberg, media book open to the same exposure for companies have been shaped by the libel that mainstream editors and pub- technologies of their times. So how did back against a proposal on child pro- lishers have always faced? the 21st-century Gutenbergs manage tection from CEOP, the police-led, Perhaps such an admission would to distance themselves from the child-protection body later absorbed also worry the regulatory institutions, responsibilities that traditionally come into the National Crime Agency. which prefer to keep a safe distance with terms such as “publishers”, “edi- But as the lobby for child protection from the “Wild West”. Witness Ofcom’s tors” or “broadcasters”? became bigger in the UK, things started resistance to regulating something as I got an early insight into this at the to change. Even more effective was the comparatively wholesome as the BBC turn of the millennium, when I visited lobby against digital piracy by creative website. The regulator convinced the AOL’s headquarters outside Washing- rights-holders, especially the Holly- Government that it would set an awk- ton. AOL was the big, new kid on the wood studios, which brought about the ward precedent because it might be digital block and had, in effect, taken 2010 Digital Economy Act. There has asked to regulate other websites. over the “old-media” company Time also been action over “hate crimes” in As a result, Ofcom will have the final Warner. social media. say on whether, for example, the BBC I was directed to the AOL “newsroom” In the courts, is now regarded is impartial in its TV and radio cover- and arrived to find nobody there, just as mainstream media. See Mr Justice age of the forthcoming Brexit negotia- computers. We’d heard about paperless Warby’s recent judgment in the Jack tions, but not on whether the BBC’s newsrooms but here was a human-less Monroe vs libel action, coverage online has been. That will be newsroom and, perish the thought, where he dismissed the attempt by a matter for the BBC Board. potentially a world without editors. Hopkins’s counsel to portray Twitter as Looking across the wider spectrum AOL and their counterparts empha- “the ‘Wild West’ of social media, and of issues, the regulatory institutions sised that they were, in the jargon of not as authoritative as (for instance) and the tech companies share a com- the time, “mere conduits for others’ or the Daily Mail”. mon fear that this beast has simply got communications”. In other words, no So now, with these precedents set, too big to control. Sorting it out would more than a modern version of the comes a natural corollary. As Damian require resources that the regulators stagecoach, where the mail was carried Collins MP, outgoing Chair of the Cul- aren’t able to deploy. Meanwhile, despite under the driver’s seat and the driver ture, Media and Sport Committee, says: their enormous wealth, the companies never opened the letters and read them. “Facebook and Google already accept themselves often aren’t willing to. Thus, the early “tech” companies that they have a social obligation to When the heat gets really bad, they avoided being seen as editors or pub- address pirated content online and have shown that they can solve some lishers. Much of what they carried had illicit material. I think they also have a problems. Last year, Google said it was already been edited or published by social obligation, as well, to act against “thinking deeply” about the way that people like us broadcasters, so what the sources of fake news. users searching the word “holocaust” was the problem? “Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook, who were often taken first to Holocaust-­ But the second wave of tech compa- initially dismissed the impact of fake denial sites. nies provided carriage to very different news on the US presidential election, That seems to have been solved. kinds of content – “social media”, “user-­ has had to announce forthcoming pro- But so many other problems remain. generated content”, “citizen journalism”. jects on the detection of fake news of In an headlined “Why does The new business model created an which the ‘10 tips’ is among the first.” Facebook still seem so helpless against engagement currency of clicks, likes At an RTS event earlier this year, ‘fake news’?”, Jacob Brogan of the and shares that fed off emotional Patrick Walker of Facebook in online site Slate said: “Facebook still responses that put a premium on said: “We don’t see ourselves as editors.” gives the impression of a hiker flapping strong views and strong reactions. his arms before a bear, struggling to Getting noticed was a way of getting scare off a monster many times its size.” paid, for the content creator and the He argued that Facebook’s latest carrier. And that’s when the “mere GOOGLE, strategies, including attempts to disrupt conduit” argument started to become FACEBOOK the monetisation of fake news, were unconvincing. little more than a stopgap. For years, the companies avoided AND OTHERS Furthermore, its top 10 tips page many of the debates about content ARE MEDIA “isn’t so much a tool as it is a cry for oversight and regulation. help, a desperate attempt to leverage As the Ofcom member of the first COMPANIES… the source of its power in pursuit of UK Council for Child Internet Safety, THEY CANNOT a war that it’s currently losing”. n I saw how the US-based businesses initially frustrated action at a UK MASQUERADE Stewart Purvis is a former Chief Execu- national level by saying that they only AS TECHNOLOGY tive of ITN and Ofcom regulator. He is a worked with Brussels on EU-wide non-executive director of Channel 4 and initiatives. Specifically, they pushed COMPANIES writes here in a personal capacity.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 15 All change on the studio floor

hange is sweeping opened five new sound stages last July through the UK studios Production and applied for planning permission business. The transfor- this April to build a further three. mation of this formerly Elstree, the base for mega-hits Strictly predictable but com- Demand for high-end, Come Dancing and , plans to petitive sector – domi- English-language drama build two more stages. nated, traditionally, by a handful of Leavesden intends to extend facili- C 2 studios such as Elstree and Pinewood is transforming the ties at its 80,000m site by a quarter. – could have far-reaching effects. UK’s studio business. The Space Project in , One of the key drivers is the boom which hosted Cold Feet, is adding a in television production, fuelled by tax Tim Dams investigates huge, 2,800m2 studio to its three 930m2 credits for high-end drama and growing stages. And ’s Titanic Quarter, demand from broadcasters and stream- Dagenham, backed by the Mayor of home to , has invested ing services for long-running series. London and Film London. And, later £14m in developing two more studios. Huge new studios are being planned this year in Belfast, the £20m Belfast As if all this was not enough, several around the country. Scotland is set to Harbour Studios will be completed. old factories are being developed into get its first purpose-built studio com- They will offer over 11,100m2 of studios, studios. In Wales, an 18,600m2 studio plex, after proposals for six sound workshops and offices. complex is being developed on the site stages on the outskirts of Edinburgh Existing studios are also enjoying of a former television factory in were approved in April. significant expansion. Pinewood, Bay. The initiative is a partnership A major new studio is being readied which hosted Amazon’s The Collection, between the Welsh Government and in east London, on a 69,000m2 site in is in the process of doubling in size: it drama indie Bad Wolf, which intends

16 “Across our three studios in the UK, need, as opposed to inflicting your we are seeing sustained growth in film facility on them.” and high-end TV and, indeed, demand In addition, Elstree has 43 on-site for light entertainment and shiny-floor tenants – ranging from set builders shows as well,” says Andrew Smith, and editing facilities to production director of strategy and communica- accountants – which contribute to a tions at . “Demand for local production ecosystem. new content continues to grow.” The high demand for fully equipped His company runs Pinewood, Shep- studios is particularly strong in the perton and , London area, which has seen capacity but Smith is concerned that the squeezed in the recent past. demand is stretching UK crews and BBC Television Centre’s studios have talent. He fears that producers might been closed for refurbishment for sev- look to shoot in other countries: “Our eral years, and will reopen in Septem- biggest threat is the skills shortage. We ber with three studios. Others have need to make sure that we are plan- closed altogether, notably Teddington ning to fill those gaps rapidly. and (home to The X “But not with some sort of grandiose Factor). Both were sold to property strategy. This needs to be addressed developers. ITV will close its London immediately. If we haven’t got them in Studios to indie shows in spring 2018, the UK, we need to train them up. If and then redevelop its site. we haven’t got them in Europe, we However, Morris insists that Elstree need to bring them in from outside.” experienced high levels of demand Smith cites jobs such as set decora- long before these studios started clos- tors, while Creative Skillset has identi- ing. “We’ve been busy for the past five fied shortages of production accoun­ years,” he says. tants, line producers and location Manchester is another spot, says managers. Adrian Bleasdale, CEO of Space Stu- He plays down any suggestion dios Manchester, which has provided that the studio sector is experiencing facilities for Cold Feet, The A Word and a bubble that may one day burst – Dragons’ Den. Space Studios is investing ­particularly if the drama boom abates. £14m in a new 2,800m2 stage plus Production levels in 2017 and into the 3,700m2 of units for “supply-chain future look encouraging, he says. “There businesses”, such as lighting and cam- are high levels of demand for facilities, era hire companies. particularly bespoke sound stages – as All the units, he says, have already opposed to what I call pop-up studios, been booked, off plan: “We are creating such as converted warehouses.” our own kind of ecosystem for film The Buckingham Palace sets for His view is echoed by Roger Morris, and television.” Numerous commercials ITV’s Victoria were constructed at Managing Director of , have been shot at Space Studios Man- Church Fenton Studios in Yorkshire

ITV who also sees growing demand for chester, and it has hosted virtual-real- English-language content. ity and motion-capture shoots, too. to shoot its adaptation of Philip Pull- Like many studio chiefs, Morris is Salford’s Dock10 is near by, but that is man’s there. cautious about investing large sums in a very different studio operation, geared Screen Yorkshire recently converted big construction projects: “It is a very more towards shiny-floor entertainment a former RAF base into the Church expensive thing to go and build stages shows. Bleasdale says that Space Stu- Fenton studio facility, where the interi- from scratch.” One of the keys to run- dios’ primary competition comes from ors of Buckingham Palace were recre- ning a successful studio business, he warehouses on industrial estates. His ated for ITV’s Victoria. says, is “not putting all your eggs in sound stages, however, “are air-condi- Even Hartlepool is getting in on the one basket”. He adds: “We try not to tioned, and acoustically treated for act, with the local council hoping to have a business model that is too reverberation and noise ingress. They convert an industrial depot in the city dependent on any one genre.” are part of a purpose-built facility that into TV and film studios. As a full-service studio complex, with has dressing rooms, make-up and cos- Much of this development is driven technical facilities provided in partner- tume areas and production office space.” by the boom in television drama pro- ship with BBC Studioworks, Elstree As with many studio bosses, further duction. Thirty-six high-end drama can host shiny-floor shows alongside expansion is clearly on Bleasdale’s series (defined as costing more than dramas and film. It is also home to the mind. The 2,800m2 sound stage cur- £1m per episode) saw their producers Big Brother house at one end of the lot, rently under construction is the sec- spend a total of £478m in the UK in which is left in situ all year round. ond phase of building at the studio, 2016, according to the BFI. “I like having long-term clients,” which opened in 2014. This roster included the second says Morris. As well as providing long- In a comment that underlines the series of The Crown, the seventh series term revenues, such relationships growth mindset of the UK studio sector, of Game of Thrones, Fortitude, The White mean that “you can gear up your he says: “We’ve already got thoughts Princess and the third series of Outlander. facility to everything such clients about phases three, four and five.” n

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 17 The transgender gap

wo of the UK’s best within me. But the strain of it became known and most Diversity too much. I left my job in TV and successful transgender moved to Newcastle to work as India, figures say that criticism the press officer, during the week. of their status by Jenni Graeme Thompson Then, at weekends, I would resurrect Murray and Germaine hears why TV needs Jonathan and go back to my son and GreerT proves that the media is not as family in Carlisle.” tolerant as it thinks. And they say the more transgender The double life was exhausting, so sector remains a very challenging Willoughby broke the news to her option for transgender professionals. role models from two teenage son that she planned to live as Speaking at an RTS event in the North presenters who have a woman. He supported her decision East, broadcasters India Willoughby and and, two years ago, Willoughby under- Stephanie Hirst agreed that building changed their sex went surgery. “Honestly, by then it was their TV and radio careers had not such a relief – it was like having my been easy. tonsils out!” she said. “There’s a perception Soon after, she was that transgender is offered on-screen accepted, but you’d presenting work back struggle to name four at ITV Border. “I had transgender role mod- thought my career in els,” said Willoughby, journalism was over,” the first transgender said Willoughby. “But host of ITV’s Loose here I am. I do tend to Women. “Why aren’t the get the softer stuff to broadcasters looking at it seri- do – not the serious ously? We need more of us on stories now. I don’t really know screen, in front of microphones and why.” behind the scenes. Her first appearance as a pre- “Not just in the media, but in senter on Loose Women has been business and politics, too. The fact nominated for Top Media Moment that we’re both on radio and televi- in May’s 2017 British LGBT Awards. sion is great, but it’s a crack in the Her encounter with Jenni Murray wall – the wall is not yet down.” on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour put Hirst, who presents for BBC Radio her in the headlines again. “She was Manchester, ITV’s Lorraine and Chan- questioning my authenticity as a nel 4, revealed that, when she was woman so I told her on air that I looking to transition, there was no one thought she was being a little trans- she felt she could identify with. phobic. She said that I couldn’t be real “It was for this reason that I wanted because I’d grown up with male to come out about my transition very privilege. publicly – through BBC Five Live. I “That assumes that I enjoyed the wanted to use it as a springboard,” said experience of growing up male. You Hirst. “Someone told me that I could don’t benefit from being trapped in the save a life by doing this – and make a wrong body - it becomes an acting job. difference. I feel we are still taking “I’d be happy to debate this with baby steps. It’s about being more visi- Jenni again. Somebody should send us ble without it defining you.” underwent gender transition – which both on a spa holiday and film it.” A turning point for Hirst in her deci- involves hormone treatment and sur- Hirst agreed: “I’m not a drum banger sion to transition came when she gery. Hirst hosted national chart and – but I’d love to share a panel with heard the lyrics of Supertramp’s Take breakfast shows on Capital for 11 years, Jenni or Germaine. The more visible the Long Way Home, which say: “When while Willoughby started her career as we are, the more likely that people will you look through the years and see reporter Jonathan Willoughby on ITV understand. what you could have been, what might Border and spent five years living a “You’ve got to look at it as pure biol- have been if you’d had more time.” She “bizarre double life”. ogy. By transitioning, you’re correcting said that the song “hit me like a bolt”. “I knew from the age of five that I a birth defect.” Both presenters had high-profile was a girl,” she said. “But you have to Germaine Greer’s BBC interview – media jobs as men before they conform, so I buried the secret deep in which she refused to acknowledge

18 THERE’S A PERCEPTION THAT that post-operative transgender men TRANSGENDER of its students openly identify as trans- were now women – brought more IS ACCEPTED, gender. This population is not being criticism from Willoughby. reflected in the media,” she said. “I “It’s plain wrong that Germaine gets BUT YOU’D think there should be more discussion invited to speak on this subject as STRUGGLE TO in schools to open up the dialogue.” some kind of expert,” she said. “You Hirst insisted that the BBC gave her a see lots of TV panels discussing gender NAME FOUR job solely because of her talent: “I know realignment with four people around TRANSGENDER that it wasn’t the result of box ticking. I the table and not one of them is don’t mention on my show that I’m transgender.” ROLE MODELS trans. I’m accepted as ‘that lady on the Willoughby and Hirst were joined radio’. The BBC and Channel 4 have at the Digital Cities North East day been wonderful. session by the writer of BBC Two’s Willoughby disapproved of ITV’s “I made some noises about a possi- first transgender sitcom, Boy Meets Girl. decision to cast a woman in the role of ble return to commercial radio, where ­Elliott Kerrigan said that the casting Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street. I spent 11 years, but – nothing. They of trans actor Rebecca Root had been But Hirst felt that it was still a ground-­ won’t touch me.” a breakthrough moment in the devel- breaking moment for the soap – after And there was advice for people opment of the show, which ran for all, Hayley was its first trans character. working alongside transgender col- two seasons. The transgender Kyle Slater in leagues. “Language is a bit of a trip “She brought a lot of herself into the ­EastEnders and the introduction of wire and some people get rather sensi- role,” he said. “Leo [her boyfriend in non-binary­ characters in US shows tive,” observed Willoughby. “The eti-

BBC Two transgender sitcom Boy Meets Girl BBC the series] asks her at one point what Billions and Couple-ish were welcomed quette is that you don’t ‘dead name’. it is like being born in the wrong body. as positive moves. You refer to the individual in the “In the close-up, she had tears in Hirst singled out Channel 4’s Queer now – not as was.” n her eyes. This was from the – it as Folk as a breakthrough for people wasn’t scripted. I’m convinced that it struggling with their sexuality. ‘Transgender and the media’ was an RTS was that scene, and that performance But, according to Willoughby, there North East and the Border event and part from show, that won us the remained an element of “box-ticking” of the Digital Cities North East day at Bal- series commission.” from broadcasters, who failed to reflect tic, Gateshead, on 4 April. It was chaired There were mixed reactions from the lives of the one in 100 people who by Ruth Pitt and produced by Chris Jack- the panel to other TV attempts to por- are transgender. “I did a talk at Tees- son. The panellists were Stephanie Hirst, tray transgender characters. side University and discovered that 20 Elliott Kerrigan and India Willoughby.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 19 Online TV Torin Douglas discovers how Amazon and Netflix are changing factual television

n February of this year, Netflix won its first Oscar and its first Bafta. Surprisingly, the awards were not for any of its high- ­ profile drama series, but for two documentaries. The AcademyI Award went to The White Helmets, a film about a group of Syria Civil Defence volunteer rescue workers. The Bafta winner was 13th, Ava DuVernay’s film about race in the US criminal justice system. The two prizes have highlighted the growing part that documentaries are playing in the Netflix portfolio and the impact that is having on the world of factual television. “UK producers are queuing up to have a conversation with them,” says Greg Sanderson, Managing Director of Brook Lapping. Listing “the 28 best documentaries on Netflix”, Time Out wrote recently: “Netflix has revitalised the documen- Reframing the documentary tary industry. Making a Murderer became a global talking point over- night, followed by exclusives such as Steve Anderson, former head of in combat zones – including John Ford 13th, Amanda Knox and The Ivory Game, news and current affairs at ITV, knows and William Wyler. while the streaming site’s archive of the US market well. He set up the Battsek is a double Oscar winner, great documentaries has proven enor- international division of NBC’s Pea- who has worked with HBO, the BBC, mously popular.” cock Productions. He says cautiously: NBCUniversal and A+E Networks. He Meanwhile, used last “There’s been some investment in is full of praise for Netflix. autumn’s launch of The Grand Tour, with factual so far, but not a lot – certainly, “Its documentary team is superb and , in comparison with drama. I don’t has the ability to access good-sized and , as a huge marketing think they have fully worked out their budgets to enable us to make big, cine- campaign to woo new subscribers. It is strategy. But the signs are that it will matic, broad-reaching films,” he says. following up with a new portfolio of get stronger, and that is good news for “It also has the muscle to promote unscripted series, including two that UK producers.” them powerfully and enable them to venture behind the scenes in motor John Battsek of Passion Pictures reach really big audiences.” sports. produced the latest Netflix documen- Five Came Back exemplifies Netflix’s So how significant is the streaming tary series, Five Came Back, which ambitious approach. Narrated by Meryl behemoths’ growing focus on factual examines Hollywood and the Second Streep, the five-part series features television, and what does it mean for World War through the eyes of five interviews with Steven Spielberg, UK producers and broadcasters? legendary directors who went to film Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Greengrass

20 THIRTY THOUSAND POUNDS FOR CLAIRE FOY’S DRESS? I KNOW PEOPLE MAKING DOCUMENTARIES FOR LESS THAN THAT ON BBC FOUR

Originals, acknowledges. “We have a saying at Amazon, it is ‘Day One’ – our main building in Seattle is even called Day One,” he told an audience at the recent MIP Formats market. “We’re just starting – but we believe that we have an opportunity to bring great factual content to our customers.” Riggs says the show that he is most proud of is All or Nothing, a series about American football, and Amazon’s first sports Emmy nomination. The cam- eras followed the Arizona Cardinals throughout the 2015 NFL season. Ava DuVernay won an ShortList, the UK men’s magazine, Oscar for her Netflix wrote: “An absolute game-changer of a documentary 13th

Netflix series. It’s reality TV for sports fans and is a fascinating insight into the major personalities and their experiences.” Riggs has just announced the show’s second season, focusing on another NFL team, All or Nothing: A Season with Reframing the documentary the Los Angeles Rams. On similar lines, he has green-lit a series following McLaren Racing as and other directors, talking about how finance the big docs we make, and the it competes in the 2017 Formula One earlier film-makers helped show know-how to exploit and release them, World Championship, and another America the realities of war. the better.” about the Le Mans endurance race – Netflix has also added 13 film docu- Established documentary broadcast- Le Mans: Racing is Everything, produced mentaries discussed in the series to its ers are feeling the heat, believes by the UK company New Black Films. archive catalogue, including Ford’s The Sanderson, who worked with many “These are all opportunities to get Battle of Midway and Wyler’s The Mem- partners worldwide as executive editor inside worlds that people don’t know phis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. of the BBC’s Storyville strand. He says: “I the details about,” says Riggs. “Viewers This is Battsek’s second production was in the US the other week and saw get really deep, intimate access and for Netflix, following Winter on Fire: HBO and PBS and a few others and exciting storytelling, and an honest Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom. they are suddenly feeling that they’re look at extraordinary people doing Passion Pictures is also about to not the biggest boys in town. They used extraordinary things.” make its first two documentaries for to be able to go to Sundance and other Amazon has also commissioned Lore, Amazon. “It’s really exciting to have festivals and buy the docs they wanted a series about supernatural and real- two such big, aggressive players as part and that’s not now the case – they can life horror stories, based on a popular of the documentary community,” he be blown out of the water.” . says. “From a producer’s perspective, But it is still early days, as Conrad Riggs says that he will take ideas the more people with the muscle to Riggs, head of unscripted for Amazon from anywhere, and any part of the �

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 21 All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals

AN ABSOLUTE GAME- CHANGER OF A SERIES. IT’S REALITY TV FOR SPORTS FANS Amazon Prime

� world: “I like to be open to any- they want to give them a wide range Files – the producer suddenly started thing. You never know where the of programmes to enjoy.” getting emails from people in the US next great idea is going to come from. Sanderson agrees: “When you talk about it.” We’re trying to make a statement and to Netflix, it is not prescriptive about But it is the big original series that do things differently and take risks.” length or slots or any of the tradi- define Netflix and Amazon, and they An obvious attraction for tional boundaries that we’ve had. don’t come bigger than Our Planet. The programme-­makers is that Amazon “Making a Murderer was in 10 parts. I eight-part Netflix series is being and Netflix pay big money. But Ander- don’t think that it would have worked filmed over four years using 4K son points out that they also demand if you’d tried to condense it into three Ultra-HD technology by the team to see that on the screen, as with The or four, because it’s the detail that behind Planet Earth, Alastair Fother- Grand Tour and The Crown. For the latter, drags people in. gill’s Silverback Films. “Netflix paid a well-publicised £100m “It is amazingly liberating, but, for It is scheduled for screening in for 20 shows but you see that £100m people who’ve grown up in the 2019. In the past, such blockbuster on the screen. Thirty thousand pounds industry here, it takes a bit of getting series would have been international for Claire Foy’s dress? I know people your head around.” co-­productions – usually involving making documentaries for less than The huge success of Making a Mur- the BBC – but this one, like The Crown, that on BBC Four.” derer also led Netflix to say it needed has been funded by Netflix alone. The streaming and subscription more crime, says Anderson. “After I Sanderson says the streaming model has another benefit, he says: left Peacock, they got a call from giants are rewriting the co-production “You escape the tyranny of the slot Netflix asking if they had any good rules. “They want global rights, they and the fixed time-length. They don’t crime series for it – and it just so don’t want any partners. They don’t have the mainstream broadcasters’ happened that they did. want any geo-blocking. In the long problems of trying to attract audi- “The other day, I found out that it term, I don’t think that’s great for ences to attract advertising money. has bought a series I made six years broadcasters such as the BBC or “Having got their subscribers in, ago, for Mentorn, called The Murder Channel 4.” n

22 May 2017 www.rts.org.uk Television OUR FRIEND IN BEIJING

f you are serious about tele- Marcus Ryder largest broadcaster. It wanted me to vision as a business you need help relaunch its foreign news chan- to think internationally.” offers advice to nel, starting with a name change, a Those were the words of an change in editorial direction and a executive producer speaking those starting out move away from focusing on tele­ to me when I started work at on their TV careers vision to a “mobile/digital-first” the BBC in 1992. ­strategy. On 1 January this year we It was five years before BBC Online as he battles with launched CGTN (China Global Tele­ ‘officiallyI launched and changed the vision Network). meaning of “national broadcaster” for Chinese censorship China may be “the future” but that good. It was seven years before Ende- doesn’t mean that working here is mol produced the first edition of Big easy. A large part of my job is “capac- Brother in the Netherlands, and we ity building” – training young (and realised how real money could be not so young) journalists from around made selling formats internationally. the world to cover stories in an objec- And it was almost 25 years before tive and balanced manner. And “Netflix and chill” became a phrase instilling news values into journalists heard around the world, challenging from countries where some of these the very meaning of a “broadcaster” elements have been, at best, dormant as streaming services crossed conti- and, at worst, suppressed. nents and time zones without a sec- I attempt to do that while, at the ond thought. same time, trying to avoid imposing But, back in 1992, when I was a so-called Western values. We use inter- trainee researcher, I ignored my nationally recognised newswires as our executive producer. I continued to primary sources, including the likes of see TV in terms of a single country. , AFP and AP. We also rely on a

I think of that conversation quite Hampartsoumian Paul network of journalists throughout often now. As a media executive China and the rest of the world. myself, if I was talking to someone tiations with the UK in 2015, China I have good days, where I ensure starting out, my advice would be: “If agreed that it would set up regional that we report on LGBT issues, you are serious about television as a headquarters for CCTV News in Lon- democracy protesters in Hong Kong business, learn Chinese.” don. I am told that this could happen and Chinese authorities faking pollu- China’s impact on the media land- as early as this year. tion data. These are all issues that scape is significant, as Hollywood Chinese provider CCTV News would normally have knows. The country has the second- StarTimes is seeing exceptional shied away from before the relaunch. largest box office in the world. It is growth throughout Africa and is But I also have bad days, when I expected to overtake the US in the next beaming original Chinese content into fight and lose editorial battles over year. China can turn flops into hits. As people’s homes. According to Digital TV whether we should cover an Amnesty I write, The Fate of the Furious (aka Fast Research, the broadcaster had 4.2 mil- International report on China’s use of and Furious 8), which pretty much lion subscribers at the end of 2016, and the death penalty. bombed in the US, had just passed this could grow to 10.6 million by 2022. Living in Beijing, it is increasingly $300m at the Chinese box office. And third, China wants to improve evident to me that China will have a Second, China wants to increase its journalism to become a global significant impact on the future of its media presence overseas. When voice in the world of news. our media industry. it negotiates trade deals, TV is part What’s the evidence for this? I took Whether you work in the UK or the of the mix. In a recent deal with up the position of chief international US, the only questions in your mind Morocco, China made sure that a editor of CCTV News Digital in Sep- should be: how big will that impact Chinese series dubbed in Arabic tember 2016. CCTV News was the be, and how will you respond? n would be broadcast on the leading English-language version of China’s Moroccan TV channel, 2M. state broadcaster, China Central Tele- Marcus Ryder is chief international edi- Closer to home, during trade nego- vision, which is, arguably, the world’s tor of CCTV News Digital, part of CGTN.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 23 Tech-savvy women wanted

here is no shortage of passionate advocate for science. She technology roles in TV but Diversity co-founded TeenTech in 2008 to pro- they remain, largely, jobs mote the career opportunities that exist for the boys. At an RTS in the STEM sector to young people. early-evening event in late Why are the real Anna Patching, a sound engineer at April, chaired by media opportunities broadcast services outfit OBS TV, science specialist Maggie Philbin, an argued that women were put off pur- expertT panel offered some solutions to for women in TV suing a career in science by its aca- a serious problem – a lack of tech-­ technology roles demic reputation. savvy women – that affects not just TV “In your head, you say, ‘To be a sci- but the UK economy as a whole. going begging? entist or engineer you have to have Women are grossly under-­ straight A*s.’ You don’t,” she said. represented in the science, technology, Matthew Bell hears Patching, who received the RTS engineering and mathematics (STEM) some solutions Coffey Award for Excellence in Tech- sector [see top box, opposite]. nology in 2015, added: “To get on “Women are not coming into the science, engineering or tech no matter apprenticeships and traineeships you system in the first place,” said UKTV what – I was one of them,” said Dr don’t have to be top of the class or go chief technology and operations officer Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a space scientist to a Russell Group university – you Sinead Greenaway. “We have to work and a panellist on Sky 1’s popular sci- can do it if you love it.” really hard to catch children early ence show Duck Quacks Don’t Echo. “But Aderin-Pocock pointed out that girls before they opt out of [science].” there are other people who are not outperform boys at physics GCSE and She added: “Broadcasters have a lot exposed to science. We have a respon- A level, yet apply to study the subject to do in terms of demystifying [tech- sibility to get out there and tell people at university in far lower numbers. nology] and also by inviting young about the amazing things we’re doing.” “That’s because they think that, to be people in to have a look at the range of Philbin, who has presented BBC One a physicist, you need a brain the size of opportunities they offer.” science series, including Tomorrow’s a planet. The boys apply, no problem, “There are people who will go into World and , is a but girls think they’re not clever

24 offer training schemes and career paths to women working in technol- The scale of ogy roles. However, much of the TV workforce is now freelance. the imbalance “It’s very hard in the freelance world,” said Sara Putt, Deputy Chair of n Women make up only 12.8% of Women in Film and Television UK. the total science, technology, engi- She revealed that the country’s lead- neering and mathematics work- ing film schools were enrolling lots of force in the UK women on their cinematography, n In higher education, women sound and design courses. “But when comprise 15% of enrolments you look 10 years down the line, at the in engineering and technology point that women consider starting a courses family, and the imbalance really kicks n Just 8% of engineers in the UK in – there are all sorts of challenges.” are female – and this figure drops Putt suggested that progress was to 4% for jobs involving coding being made: “At the moment, every one is focused on diversity of all kinds. And, because of tax credits, the film and television industry is incredibly How I got my busy, so, for once, demand is out- weighing supply, which also concen- first break in TV trates people’s minds. “Flexible working across the indus- Sara Putt: ‘I applied for the BBC try is at least starting to be a matter for production trainee scheme and debate. We need to keep forcing the failed to get on to it.… I wrote to production companies to have these the woman who sent the letter conversations.” turning me down and… I asked if Patching was uncertain about what I could have a chat with her.… the future holds for her. “I’m quite She told me that there was a job, ambitious,” she said, but worried that the lowest of the low, in the appoint- “there isn’t a formal structure in out- ments department in BBC Radio.… side broadcasts. It’s very hard to move, Once you’ve got that first job… you say, from being an assistant editor to can see so many more opportuni- an editor, or from a camera operator to ties when you’re on the inside.’

Alamy a cinematographer, because there isn’t that sort of employment mechanism Sinead Greenaway: ‘I dropped out enough. We need to show [women] where there’s a duty of care and a of university but thought I’d return that they have the potential to do human resources department that within a year. In the intervening amazing things.” looks to help an employee to develop period, I applied for jobs.… This For a younger audience, CBeebies is their career.” lovely job came up at Kiss FM for spreading the message that girls and “I’m desperately lucky – UKTV’s a ‘traffic assistant’ – I had abso- science can mix. 60% female at every level,” said lutely no idea what it [entailed].… One of the channel’s executive pro- Greenaway, sounding a positive note. It turned out to be trafficking the ducers, Vanessa Amberleigh, who was “TV is an industry where you can have adverts.… They gave me a chance in the audience at the RTS event, dis- such a happy time as a woman. There – I literally had no experience to cussed the channel’s upcoming ani- are so many things that happen in offer, but they hired on potential. mated series, Bitz & Bob, in which an other industries that are utterly I never returned to the degree.’ eight-year-old girl’s inventions come horrendous.” to life. She continued: “If we can fill the Maggie Aderin-Pocock: ‘My very “We’re not shying away from using pool better, it’s such a delight to be first television interview was with engineering terms,” she said. “A lot of here [working] in a creative [world]. Maggie [Philbin].… I was so excited [the show] is based on imaginary play, TV offers so many opportunities. You because, as a child, I watched but every moment of jeopardy is can get to the top and do it in a way Tomorrow’s World. solved by an engineering principle.” where your work is judged, not what I was working for the Ministry The 44-part series, made with Fre- you’re wearing.’ n of Defence on landmine detection mantleMedia Kids & Family, is set to and my boss, who did all the inter- air next year. Amberleigh added: The RTS early-evening event ‘Breaking views, was away.… I’d been working “We’re also making a live-action show barriers: how can the TV industry encour- on [landmines] for a number of where real children of five and six age more women into technology jobs?’ years and the opportunity to tell make [the inventions] in the anima- was held at The Hospital Club in central people about it was so exciting.… tion, so it shows they can be made. London on 26 April. It was produced I did the interview and I’ve never We’re doing our bit.” by Vicky Fairclough, Kerry Goode and looked back.’ Broadcasters and the major indies Terry Marsh.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 25 Payroll

Need to get your crew paid on time? Overwhelmed by payroll start paperwork?

Sargent-Disc is the UK entertainment industry’s award- winning, leading supplier of multi-currency payroll and residual services. The service benefits include:

CrewStartTM payroll integration Secure online reports and payslips HMRC compliant Mobile friendly Integrated auto enrolment

To find out how you can save time and go paperless on your next production, visit the Digital Production Office® website www.digitalproductionoffice.com

Contact our team for more information: T: +44 (0)1753 630300 E: [email protected]

www.digitalproductionoffice.com www.sargent-disc.com @DigiProdOffice @SargentDisc /digitalproductionoffice /SargentDisc RTS NEWS Shiers aids Midlands given Baird Pebble Mill natural history lesson oral history

lanet Earth II execu- n The 2017 Shiers Trust tive producer Mike Award will be used to Gunton gave this expand the Pebble Mill proj- year’s Baird Lecture, ect, an online oral history of Pdrawing a capacity crowd of the programmes made at 300 to the University of Bir- BBC Pebble Mill in Birming- mingham’s Elgar Concert ham from 1971 to 2004. Hall at the end of March. The funding will be used The Baird Lecture tradi- to record interviews with tionally focuses on how former programme-makers, technology influences TV which will be shared on the production and BBC One’s website, pebblemill.org. Planet Earth II is the perfect Media students and recent example of recent innovation. graduates from Gunton, who is creative Planet Earth II City University will work on

director of factual at the BBC the recordings, which will BBC’s Natural History Unit, also be used as teaching explained how the latest impossible to film without Gunton used to relate the materials on the university’s technology has shaped the hidden, modern cameras. important conservation media and communication content of such programmes. These captured the leopards message behind the series. courses. The production team used leaving their mark on trees Planet Earth II is the most At its height, Pebble Mill infrared cameras to shoot to attract mates, explained successful natural history produced around 10% of BBC Planet Earth II’s amorous rhi- Gunton, who has notched up programme of the 21st cen- TV and radio output, includ- and the baby marine three decades’ experience of tury in the UK, reaching peak ing and . iguana who outran the natural history programmes. overnight audiences of It was home to the English snakes hot on its tail. For TV audiences, the arch 10.8 million and consolidated Regions Drama Department The story of the snow storyteller is Sir David Atten- audiences of some 15 million. in the and 1980s and leopards would have been borough, whose commentary Dorothy Hobson responsible for dramas such as Nuts in May and . The building was closed in 2004 and demolished. USW dominates Wales awards The Pebble Mill website currently hosts an oral his- tory collection of more than he University of South “We saw some excellent Playwright Kaite O’Reilly 1,500 media artefacts, and Wales had an out- films,” said jury chair, Zoë told the session that disabled includes blogs and photos standing night at the Rushton. “The standard of people had been demonised plus audio and video clips. RTS Wales Student production was as high as in fiction, from Shakespeare’s Since the first award was TAwards, which were held this ever. Congratulations to all Richard III to Bond villains. made in 2000, the Shiers year as part of the Wales the students and their tutors.” She said more opportunities Trust, which is administered International Documentary The ceremony was hosted must be found to portray by the RTS, has funded a Festival in early April. by star Vicky disability on TV properly. range of projects, including USW won five awards, for McClure and actor and pro- RTS Wales also joined the the digitisation of back issues Animation, Factual, Camera- ducer Jonny Owen, who won festival careers day, which of the . work and Editing, Short Feat-­ a Welsh Bafta for his docu- provided an opportunity to The grant is funded by a ure and Production Design. mentary The Aberfan Disaster. introduce students from Brid- bequest from the late US TV Aberystwyth and Trinity St The Wales Centre took part gend and Merthyr colleges to historian and long-standing David’s universities took the in a discussion on disability the work of the Society. member of the RTS, Drama and Comedy awards. as part of the festival. Tim Hartley Shiers and his wife, May.

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 27 RTS NEWS

College’s Laura Brainwood took the News award for Prickles and Paws. Constance Richards from The University of St Mark and St John won the Short Feature award with Madness/Magic. Charlie Mason, Alex Harrison, Sam Healey and Hayden Brown, also from St Mark and St John, were commended in the same category. The Craft Award winners were: Adam Read, University, for Camerawork (Factual); Jedwab for Cam- erawork (Drama); Giacomo Ghigo and Leonie Isaacs for

gaard and Katie and Wyman gaard Production Design; Ingrid Ø Holstad, James Crump, Lewis Meaden and Edel Fowell for Sound, all from Falmouth I Am Dyslexic

Mads JohanMads University; and Richards from the University of St Mark and St John for Editing. “The judges – drawn from Falmouth wins in West the thriving television indus- try operating in the region – were delighted with this almouth University Adam Gunton and Michael and energy are needed to fill year’s entries, which com- won three of the top Brown won the Comedy and hundreds of hours of content bined strong craft and story- prizes at the Devon Entertainment award for The on the TV and online. Tele­ telling skills,” said Kingsley and Cornwall Student Reunion; and the Drama prize vision needs new blood, it Marshall, Chair of the Devon FAwards, which were held in went to Max Jedwab for needs new ideas and it needs and Cornwall Centre. Plymouth at the end of March. Ockham’s Razor. new talent – all of the time.” “The standard of the entries The university’s Mads Dan Adamson, TwoFour’s Sean Valentine from Plym- this year was superb, and the Johan Øgaard and Katie director of programmes, who outh University was awarded nominees should be very Wyman scooped the Anima- hosted the awards, told the the Factual prize for Wild proud of their work.” tion award with I Am Dyslexic; students: “Your talent, skill Swimmers and Cornwall Matthew Bell Scotland showcases local journalism

cotland’s latest event, Cadbury’s “proudly British” scope for everyone in Scot- – Andrew Browne, the editor at the end of April, image, which contained the land to take journalism and of BBC news programme brought together four discovery that the chocolate use it in their own area; it’s , BBC Scot- generations of jour- was, in fact, made in Poland. what people are looking to land education and local Snalists – students, young Rachel Coburn’s emotional see these days.” government correspondent writers beginning their video was about an older Coburn, a BBC researcher, Jamie McIvor and ITN CEO careers, established profes- woman, Mary, who had said: “I think there’s still a John Hardie – offered advice sionals and elder statesmen exchanged letters with her need for good-quality jour- and comment throughout – to celebrate the work of best friend every day since nalism on social media – you the night. the nominees for the Young the friend left family behind have to fight for people’s “Next generation of TV Journalist of the Year cate­ to elope during the Second attention. journalism” was hosted by gory at this year’s RTS Scot- World War. “I had to use a more tradi- the City of Glasgow College. land Awards. During an after-show tional method to get in touch The RTS Scotland 2017 The first of the two nomi- Q&A, Anderson, who is an with Mary, but I liked that. Awards will be held at Òran nees, Kevin Anderson, assistant producer at Fire­ She’s a great character.” Mór in Glasgow on 17 May. showed his piece about crest Films, said: “There’s A panel of journalists Rhiannon Ramsay

28 he people behind BBC Two’s Hospital, which tracked the pressures faced by Tthe Imperial College group of five hospitals in London, discussed the making of the series at an RTS London event in early April. “We thought that it was the right time to do something big about the NHS – it was encountering lots of prob- lems and it was being treated as a political football. “We wanted to get over what was happening right now in the NHS and aimed for broadcast in January, when the NHS often faces a winter crisis,” explained BBC Two commissioning editor Danny Horan at the event, which was held at ITV Lon- don Studios. The executive producers, Simon Dickson and Lorraine Charker-Phillips (and co- founders of the indie Label1) Hospital

developed the idea for Hospi- BBC tal using their experience in previous jobs as commis- sioning editors at Channel 4 (Dickson) and Sky (Charker- ­ London Centre admits Phillips). Between them, they’d made One Born Every Minute, 24 Hours in A&E, The Family BBC Two’s Hospital and Seven Days. The fast turn- around of the latter, particu- larly, informed the way that filming every day. In total, It’s an unbelievable waste of Imperial College Trust they approached Hospital. there were eight shooting time, money and resources wanted us to show,” said Dickson emphasised the producer/directors employed – but it was a gift for a TV Dickson. “The NHS is fed up importance of tight collabo- on the series. series,” said Horan. with being bashed when the ration between Label1 and Several crews would shoot “We came away quite public doesn’t understand the corporation. different aspects of the same humbled by the scale of the difficulties it faces. Since Horan commissioned a story to explain exactly what what they faced and the the series went out, the Trust taster tape from Label1 and was happening, in a way that pressures they’re under,” has seen a significant drop in worked closely with the a single-camera documentary added Greenslade. complaints from the public indie to get it right – and to could not have achieved. “Most hospital series fol- and an equally significant get buy-in from the BBC for This ensured the series hit low patient stories, but what increase in people applying such an ambitious project. home with the audience who excited me about Hospital to work in its hospitals.” A large crew was recruited saw some of the best sur- was that the staff there really “A lot of these institutions to shoot the six-part series, geons in the UK pounding wanted to tell the behind- are ready to open up and talk, which was made in just six the corridors of a hospital the-scenes story about how as they’re feeling the same weeks. The team featured desperate to find a bed to decisions were being made, pressures,” added Horan. “The two series producers, Tom enable them to operate on a and the impact they had on police, schools, social services Currie and Gilly Greenslade, seriously ill patient, alongside other patients – I couldn’t – they’re being vilified by a series editor, Graeme the stories of their patients. believe the access they the press, and feel no one is McAulay, another executive “We never dreamed we’d offered would be that good,” making the case for them in producer, Helen Littleboy, have sequences of surgeons said McAulay. a fair way.” and an average of five crews tracking down beds like that. “That was exactly what the Nick Radlo

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 29 RTS NEWS

Blue features the family standing on the pitch at Goodison Park, the home Pope brings ground of Rhys’s beloved team, Everton. The scene was filmed during the half- his crime time break of a match. “I don’t know if that will happen again in my career, message but we had 39,000 extras that day,” said Pope, who wrote the four-part ITV drama. “It to Salford was the city [speaking], so many thousands of people, saying, ‘This is and we’re not having this.’” At the “True crime stories” RTS event, Pope also spoke about the sensitivity of using highly personal information Mark Lawson (left) and Jeff Pope

Claire Harrison in true-life dramas and, in particular, on Little Boy Blue. eff Pope offered a mas- as a writer and producer, has Pope’s latest project is the “It’s not a copyright issue; terclass in true-crime TV seen him win Baftas for See heart-rending Little Boy Blue, it’s not a libel issue. It’s a at a North West event No Evil: The Moors Murderers which tells the story of the moral issue, an ethical one,” held in Salford in late and the film Philomena. murder of 11-year-old Rhys he said. “It’s too private, if J April. Interviewed by His credits also include Jones, an innocent victim of [the family] don’t want it to |journalist Mark Lawson, Pope Appropriate Adult, about serial gang conflict in Liverpool. be used.” discussed his career, which, killers Fred and Rose West. A key scene from Little Boy Thomas Taylor

ndustry experts offered The panel advised that a advice on how to com- covering letter should be pose a CV to kick-start a short and include the appli- career in TV at an RTS Nail your CV cant’s skills. It should also IFutures event in late April. show an interest in the com- Audrey Cairo, a senior pany and be tailored for each consultant at Searchlight application; however, it Recruitment, hosted the should not repeat much of session in central London the CV itself or be too casual. and explained that “people A CV should be two pages. can look at your CV for just a Cairo said that the first page few seconds”. is “crucial in showing an Clearhead Digital founder employer what you’ve been Alex Lawrence highlighted the doing”, and that key inform- three things he looks for on a ation should be up front. CV: “What you’ve done, what The discussion ended with you’re doing and what you’re general dos and don’ts for going to do.” structuring a CV: do make CVs should be “factual, your CV clear, tailor it for accurate and personal”, each job, play to your added Sasha Breslau, head of strengths and use bullet acquired series at ITV. points; don’t make silly mis- Lawrence warned that a takes, be too informal or add person’s social-media pres- selfies – unprofessional ence could be a factor. “First emails could cost a person thing I do is Google you and an interview. put your name into Facebook The RTS Futures event was – if you don’t seem profes- produced by Sasha Breslau sional, why waste the time and Tara Magan. Sasha Breslau

getting you in?” he said. Hampartsoumian Paul Kate Holman

30 Tom Savage 1940-2017

om Savage, a recent said RTÉ Director-General Chair of RTÉ, died Dee Forbes. “He had a pas- at the age of 76 on sion for broadcasting – radio 30 March after a short in particular – and, beyond Tillness. He was a former news and politics, he was Catholic priest, who went on also a huge sports fan.” to have a successful career in Tom was a lifelong mem- TV and radio, and as a com- ber of Cooley Kickhams GAA munications expert. club in Co Louth, played Tom served in a number of senior football for the county roles at RTÉ over many and won a junior All-Ireland years. He was the founder medal for Louth in 1961. Tom Savage producer of RTÉ’s flagship As a young man, he stud- radio programme, Morning ied for the priesthood at Ireland, and a familiar voice Maynooth seminary before laicised in 1975 before mar- in the early years of the on the show’s It Says in the going to Queen’s University rying Terry. peace process”. Papers slot. He also presented Belfast. He was sent, as a He joined public-relations Tom’s funeral in Co Louth religious shows on RTÉ tele- young priest, to greet British firm Carr Communications attracted figures from the vision and UTV. troops when they were and built a reputation as a worlds of politics, television During his term as Chair of deployed on the streets of crisis-management expert. He and religion. Cardinal Sean the RTÉ Board, from 2009 to Belfast and initially wel- later set up The Communica- Brady told mourners of 2014, Tom was dragged into comed as peacemakers by tions Clinic with his wife and meeting the former priest a controversy over Mission to the nationalist community. their son, the radio broad- during their studies at May- Prey, a programme that In 1972, he was appointed caster Anton Savage. nooth: “We studied the libelled a priest, leading to an to the Independent Broad- Fianna Fáil leader Micheál ancient classics together, estimated bill of €1m for RTÉ. casting Commission by the Martin paid tribute to Tom, played on the pitch and “Tom’s life and career Archbishop of Armagh. who served as a communi- prayed in the same pews. intertwined with RTÉ over While working for the cations adviser to Taoiseach We became for life.” many years, as a reporter, Catholic Communications Albert Reynolds in the early Tom is survived by Terry producer, editor, presenter Centre, he met his future 1990s: “[He] played a behind- and Anton. and, ultimately, as Chair,” wife, Terry Prone. Tom was the-scenes, yet crucial, role Matthew Bell ONLINE at the RTS

n ’s mantel­ n returned last title sequences, particularly on US piece must be groaning under month, with new sidekick Bill shows, are becoming artworks in the weight of awards. Last Potts joining in the their own right (www.rts.org.uk/ month, she added a Bafta Craft Tardis. This series is Peter Cap­ TVtitles). Award to her collection, hav­ aldi’s last, so we hit the streets ing already scooped the RTS to find out who Londoners n BBC journalist and RTS Young Drama Writer and Judges’ Award would like to play the Doctor Talent of the Year nominee at this year’s RTS Programme next. See what they had to say James Longman began his career Awards. We dropped in to her at www.rts.org.uk/NextDrWho. reporting in Syria at the start of Oxfordshire home, where she the civil war. In our new Meet… is busy penning new drama n With TV experiencing a video series, he explains why SS-GB title sequence

Shibden Hall, to discuss her golden age, Aliyah Allen has been BBC learning languages opens doors approach to writing hits such looking at how title sequences and how Facebook Live is helping as Happy Valley and Last Tango have evolved thanks to bigger points out, ‘Titles are the only the BBC reach new audiences in Halifax (www.rts.org.uk/ budgets and binge-watching. part of a drama that’s watched (www.rts.org.uk/JamesLongman). SallyWainwright). As title designer Peter Anderson multiple times.’ Consequently, Pippa Shawley

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 31 RTS NEWS RTÉ’s grand 1927-2017 events: the Brendan Slamin rendan Slamin, who depth of knowledge, but he inside story died on 3 February at was a calming influence in the age of 90, was an defusing difficult situations. RTS Fellow and a I always found him to be n The Republic of Ireland’s BSociety stalwart. extremely courteous; he was April event heard how, in He joined the RTS in 1955 a real gentleman,” said Green. 2016, RTÉ covered two of its and was awarded a Fellow- After leaving the BBC, biggest ever live events: the ship for his “major contribu- Brendan co-ordinated the February general election in tion to the development of work of the UK Widescreen Ireland and the state com- television engineering in Forum, which helped ensure memoration of the centenary Wales and Scotland” in 1977. the successful introduction of

of the Easter Rising. He chaired both the South BBC widescreen TV to the UK in The Centre welcomed John Wales and Scottish centres, the late 1990s, and of the DTG O’Regan and Margaret Ben- and was a member of the in the 1980s. They were part (Digital TV Group’s) HDTV nett, RTÉ’s executive produc- RTS Council and an RTS of the European research television forum. In 2004, ers for current affairs, special company director. organisation Eureka’s high- he edited the DTG book High events, who were closely Brendan had joined the definition TV initiative from Definition TV: The Essential Guide involved with both occasions. BBC in 1945 in Cardiff, work- 1986, with Brendan serving for TV Professionals. Election 2016, a marathon, ing in the operational and as the BBC’s representative. “Long after he should have 17-hour broadcast, marked communications fields of At the 1988 International properly retired, Brendan a first for Irish television, as both TV and radio for the Broadcasting Convention in was active and inspirational,” RTÉ broadcast live pictures next two and a half decades. Brighton, a huge pavilion was recalled RTS Honorary Sec- from every single count in He moved to Scotland in built on the beach to demon- retary David Lowen. “He the country. It was also RTÉ’s 1969 and was technical strate the new high-definition based himself at the RTS first HDTV general election ­co-ordinator of the coverage system. The BBC’s contribu- HQ on some days during the results broadcast. of the 1970 Commonwealth tion, which Brendan master- week and I would often More than 400 RTÉ and Games in Edinburgh. minded, was an HDTV check with him on the latest contract staff were deployed In 1978, Brendan became outside-broadcast truck. developments in technology. across the counts and in three head of engineering for TV Brendan and Norman won “He was unfailingly helpful TV studios at its Donnybrook outside broadcasts and, a the Judges’ Award at the RTS and extremely knowledge- base. RTÉ engineers built two year later, chief engineer, Technology Awards for their able. Brendan may have been separate broadcast hubs, regions. contribution as members of of the analogue age but he allowing a team of senior Norman Green, a former the Eureka team. “This was a understood more about digi- producers to broadcast result ITV head of engineering and great accolade for everyone tal issues and opportunities declarations and live contri- founder of the RTS London involved in the project. Bren- than most people half his age.” butions from 40 multi-­ Centre, worked with Brendan dan not only had a great Matthew Bell member constituencies. One month later, RTÉ broadcast live coverage of the ceremony and parade in Dub- lin marking the centenary of Boon lays video myths to rest the 1916 Rising. It deployed 30 cameras throughout Dub- lin, delivering feeds from TV n Thames Valley’s packed systems architecture, broad- HDR is a means of broadening units at key locations in the event in late March, “Dolby cast, for Dolby Europe, said picture contrast and the range city such as Dublin Castle, as PQ demystified”, heard that modern video monitors of colours to present more well as studio coverage from industry expert Prinyar Boon now outclass standard realistic and vivid images. Donnybrook­ and aerial shots share his encyclopaedic dynamic range (SDR) systems, Boon said that not all the of the parade. knowledge of HDR-PQ (high so SDR needs to be redefined. dynamic range had to be used The RTÉ live feed was dynamic range perceptual Indeed, many of the estab- all the time: the look and feel available to TV news outlets, quantisation) imagery. lished ways that image data is of an image should remain while an online feed was He laid several historical manipulated to improve the firmly in the control of cre- provided free to Irish news- technical myths to rest as he viewer’s experience have atives for both live and post- papers. Pictures were also dissected the assumptions been revisited by Dolby. Of produced content – and in a fed to large TV screens across that engineers have been these, the one now domin­ way that was compatible with Dublin city centre. making for the past 50 years. ating the industry’s attention existing working practices. Charles Byrne Boon, who is director of is HDR (high dynamic range). Tony Orme

32 ong-serving RTS Honorary Treasurer and Fellow Bill McMahon died on L16 April after a short illness. Bill took charge of the RTS finances in 1976 and served 27 years in the role. In 1981, he received an RTS Fellow- ship for making an “out- standing contribution to the development of the Society, not only through successfully managing its finances, but also through the general support and counselling that he has given to Society busi- ness generally”. In 1987, at the Society’s Diamond Jubilee Ball, Bill – together with former RTS

Chair Tony Pilgrim – was Hampartsoumian Paul presented with a gold medal for “outstanding services to television” by HRH the Duke of Kent at the Grosvenor Bill McMahon 1931-2017 House Hotel. “Bill became Honorary Treasurer of the Society at a the transition to a director, These included the Southern background; he brought a time when it was experienc- which he could see would Television Studios in South- touch of the real world to our ing financial difficulties and have great long-term benefit,” ampton, trustee deliberations and was his first task was to get the said Clement. “He was able Studios on the Euston Road, not impressed by rubbing Society back on an even keel, to stand back from the fray London, and transmitter shoulders with the famous,” which he achieved very and continually insist that buildings for the BBC and the recalled RTS Honorary Sec- successfully,” said former the changes should be man- Independent Broadcasting retary David Lowen. “He was RTS Deputy Chief Executive aged properly and that risk Authority. always prudent – as an Hon- Claire Price. “During his to the Society be minimised. It was as a result of an orary Treasurer, perhaps, period in office, the Society’s The RTS benefits from this invitation from John Ware (of should be. His tone was activities increased enor- transition to this day.” the Ware Macgregor Partner- carefully measured and his mously and Bill was there to Bill was born in Edinburgh ship), who was Chair of the wit was always dry. It was a make sure that our accounts in 1931 and was educated at RTS at the time, that Bill pleasure to work alongside and reporting systems devel- the city’s George Heriot’s joined the Society in 1967. him.” oped to support this growth.” School. He was indentured The year after he retired as Bill had a new heart valve Keith Clement, RTS Vice- at chartered surveyors HA RTS Honorary Treasurer in fitted in January, but compli- Chair at the time, recalled a Brechin & Co before moving 2003, Bill was awarded an cations arose in March and turbulent period for the to London to work, briefly, MBE – and received his he spent his last four weeks Society when Bill’s strengths for the London County decoration from the Queen in St George’s Hospital, Lon- came to the fore. In 1990-91, Council, and then, for the at Buckingham Palace – for don, comfortable and in no there was a constitutional remainder of his professional “services to the RTS”. pain. While in hospital he crisis as the RTS decided to working life, Stanley Griffith He continued to attend the continued to read Television move from having an honor- and Partners. Society’s annual general with great interest. ary secretary to employing a As a chartered surveyor, meetings and also RTS Vet- The former RTS Honorary full-time director. Bill worked closely with erans events. Bill also served Treasurer is survived by his “Bill showed tremendous architects the Ware Mac- on the Council of Manage- wife, Margaret; his children, loyalty to the existing regime gregor Partnership and was ment of the British Board of Keith and Alison; and four while, at the same time, using involved in a number of Film Classification. grandchildren. gritty diplomacy to achieve important television projects. “Bill was not from a media Matthew Bell

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 33 OFF M E SSAGE

ll eyes are on the Off Message has already pre- Abraham’s job – and was forced to general election ordered the box set containing the move to Manchester. but does Off Mes- new remix masterminded by George Pemsel has emerged as one of the sage detect a sign Martin’s son Giles. favoured candidates to land the big of voter fatigue What better occasion, then, for ITV gig at Channel 4. even among the to reshow Granada’s quietly brilliant Perhaps part of his application for commentariat? two-hour documentary It Was Twenty the broadcasting job is his apparent The broadcasters were as shocked Years Ago Today. The film was made keenness to move out of London. asA everyone else by Theresa May’s with co-operation from Apple (no, Pemsel certainly looks the part – decision to call a snap June election. not the tech behemoth) and contained lean, clean-shaven and heavy spec- How disappointing that the Con- revealing interviews from Paul tacled – and, of course, he did a stint servative leader will not be taking McCartney and George Harrison, at ITV, as marketing director, so he is part in a television leaders’ debate. among others. a broadcasting expert. It makes Off Message nostalgic for Over to you, Kevin Lygo. 2010, when viewers had the opportu- ■ The very talented and highly book- nity to see Gordon Brown and David ■ All of us who obsessively follow ish former BBC two controller, Janice Cameron slugging it out live on TV. the intricacies of the media miss Hadlow, is setting up an indie. No The programmes were a ratings the laser-beam sharpness of Steve surprise, there. bonanza for the TV networks and Hewlett to guide us through the Her partner in what is bound to be galvanised the campaign. maze of spin and counter-spin. a very interesting venture? None other In 2015, there was only one TV Imagine Steve on O’Reilly than her husband, Martin Davidson, debate featuring the Conservative affair or how the BBC is handling erstwhile head of history at the BBC. and Labour leaders – a less dramatic Jeremy Corbyn’s election campaign. So what are the super-cerebral affair than 2010, as a total of seven Still, Steve’s sons are keeping the ­Hadlow and Davidson calling their politicians were present in the studio. Hewlett flame burning by pushing new baby? Is there a case, perhaps, for intro- themselves to the limit, quite literally. Clever Crows, no less. Well, there’s ducing a law that would make tele- Billy and Freddie were successful no point in being modest. vised UK leaders’ debates compulsory runners in the recent London Mara- during general elections? thon, both finishing well despite their ■ Can it be true that around 18 mil- status as marathon virgins. lion people in the UK have “little ■ They used to say that nostalgia And all in a good cause as the pair or no grasp of what on-demand TV isn’t what it used to be, but some of raised money for Macmillan Cancer is or how to get it”? This intriguing us baby boomers need no reminding Support. Congratulations to the two statistic comes from Digital UK, the that a very important pop culture of them. body responsible for Freeview, so is anniversary is looming. perhaps not wholly impartial. , you’ve got it – 1 June marks ■ If the speculation is to be believed But, if it is true that something like the 50th anniversary of a record and the Guardian ends up relocating a quarter of the population is ignoring often cited as “The greatest album to Granada’s old Manchester HQ, it catch-up and streaming services, of all time”, ’ seminal would be truly ironic if the newspa- what does it say about the huge pub- Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. per’s CEO, David Pemsel, got David licity given to Amazon and Netflix?

34 May 2017 www.rts.org.uk Television RTS PATRONS RTS Principal BBC Channel 4 ITV Sky Patrons

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

RTS Accenture EndemolShine ITN STV Group Major Amazon Video Enders Analysis KPMG TalkTalk Patrons Audio Network FremantleMedia McKinsey and Co UKTV Boston Consulting FTI Consulting OC&C Virgin Media Group Fujitsu YouView BT Channel 5 IBM Sargent-Disc Deloitte IMG Studios

RTS Alvarez & Marsal LLP Group PricewaterhouseCoopers UTV Television Patrons Autocue Kantar Media Quantel Vinten Broadcast Blackmagic Design Lumina Search Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Who’s who Patron Chair of RTS Trustees CENTRES COUNCIL RTS Futures at the RTS HRH The Prince of Wales Tom Mockridge Lynn Barlow Alex Wootten Charles Byrne Vice-Presidents Honorary Secretary Steve Carson History David Abraham David Lowen Dan Cherowbrier Don McLean Dawn Airey Isabel Clarke Sir OM Honorary Treasurer Stephanie Farmer IBC Conference Liaison CH CVO CBE FRS Mike Green Cat Lewis Terry Marsh Baroness Floella Kingsley Marshall Benjamin OBE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jane Muirhead RTS Technology Bursaries Dame Colette Bowe OBE Lynn Barlow Nikki O’Donnell Simon Pitts Lord Bragg of Wigton Tony Orme John Cresswell Mike Green Fiona Thompson AWARDS COMMITTEE Adam Crozier David Lowen Graeme Thompson CHAIRS Mike Darcey Graham McWilliam Judith Winnan Awards & Fellowship Greg Dyke Tom Mockridge Policy Lord Hall of Birkenhead Simon Pitts SPECIALIST GROUP David Lowen Jane Turton CHAIRS Rob Woodward Archives Television Journalism OBE Dale Grayson Awards Ian Jones EXECUTIVE Sue Inglish Baroness Lawrence of Chief Executive Craft & Design Awards Clarendon OBE Theresa Wise Lee Connolly Programme Awards Rt Hon Baroness Jowell Alex Mahon of DBE PC Diversity David Lynn Marcus Ryder Student Television Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Awards Ken MacQuarrie Early Evening Events Phil Edgar-Jones Gavin Patterson Dan Brooke Trevor Phillips OBE Stewart Purvis CBE Education Sir Howard Stringer Graeme Thompson

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2017 35 A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY RTS CAMBRIDGE CONVENTION 2017

13-15 SEPTEMBER King’s College, Cambridge

Co-chaired by Andrew Griffith, Group Chief Operating Officer at Sky and Gary Davey, Managing Director, Content at Sky

Confirmed speakers include: Sir David Clementi Chairman, BBC Michelle Guthrie Managing Director, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Tony Hall Director-General, BBC Andy Harries Chief Executive, Left Bank Pictures James Murdoch Chief Executive Officer, 21st Century Fox Sharon White Chief Executive, Ofcom Andy Wilman Executive Producer, The Grand Tour

Early bird rate of £1,200 plus VAT for the first 75 bookings

Registration: www.rts.org.uk