November 2020

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SEND US YOUR BRIEF [email protected] Journal of The Royal Television Society November 2020 l Volume 57/10

From the CEO The nights are drawing even the most inhospitable places We report on two excellent events in and opportunities look tempting and his empathy in the ongoing RTS Digital Convention for socialising are, to towards those he meets shines 2020. The first featured ITV’s CEO, put it mildly, limited. through the screen. Matthew Bell’s Carolyn McCall. The second saw two What better time to Comfort Classic celebrates his epic leading surgeons, Dr Alan Karthikesa­ watch some standout Pole to Pole trek, first shown in 1992. lingam and Professor Lord Darzi, dis­ shows? Few figures in lockdown have been cuss the potential impact of artificial This month’s cover story is Small as inspirational as Captain Tom Moore, intelligence in healthcare. Axe, Steve McQueen’s series of films now Captain Sir Tom Moore. We share Finally, I’m proud to announce looking at the experience of London’s how ITV News Anglia reporter Rebecca 40 new RTS bursary scholars. We aim West Indian community in the second Haworth broke the story of his heroic to widen participation in, and access half of the 20th century. The collabo­ charity walks (see page 35). to, the media industry by supporting ration between the BBC and Amazon At the RTS Student Masterclasses, talented students from lower-income looks like being one of the year’s most we enjoyed two days of inspirational backgrounds who are pursuing careers compelling television dramas. creators discussing careers across a in television. TV travelogues have come into their range of disciplines and programme own during lockdown, arguably none genres, and offering advice on how to more so than those by the matchless succeed in TV. Catch the full master­ Michael Palin. He makes travelling in classes online: bit.ly/RTSmaster. Theresa Wise Contents Cover: Small Axe (BBC) Warwick Davis’s TV Diary Our Friend in Guadeloupe He may be locked down but Warwick Davis Paradise also has germs, foul weather and regulatory 5 is as busy as ever 16 barriers, reports Tim Key. But it has very nice people to make up for that Comfort Classic: Pole to Pole Michael Palin’s most ambitious trek is still a Flying the flag for PSB 6 benchmark for the TV travelogue. Matthew Bell ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall explains why UK public celebrates a master broadcaster 17 service broadcasters need prominence on all platforms Ear Candy: Taskmaster: The Podcast Data-driven diagnostics Kate Holman presses download for the low-down Two distinguished surgeons discuss technology’s 7 on the show’s best-kept secrets 20 role in unlocking the future of healthcare Working Lives: production designer Freeview comes of age Adult Material production designer Grenville Horner As the digital platform marks its 18th birthday, 8 talks to Matthew Bell about the tricks of his trade 22 Caroline Thomson dissects the crucial role it plays in fostering a common culture The real Black British experience Steve McQueen’s five films under the umbrella title of An accidental career 10 Small Axe are a television first. Shilpa Ganatra examines Jed Mercurio, acclaimed for creating Line of Duty, the project’s genesis 24 headlines the RTS Midlands careers fair Enter the disruptors Why we love… reality TV Two news services that aim to challenge traditional UK An RTS panel discovers the secret of the genre’s 12 news providers are waiting in the wings. Simon Bucks 26 continuing success investigates TV skills and thrills A pledge to transform inclusivity Television distils two days of expert advice from leading Ade Rawcliffe has been promoted to drive ITV’s new set 28 television and film practitioners at the RTS Student 14 of diversity initiatives. She speaks to Caroline Frost Masterclasses 2020

Editor Production, design, advertising Royal Television Society Subscription rates Printing Legal notice Steve Clarke Gordon Jamieson 3 Dorset Rise UK £115 ISSN 0308-454X © Royal Television Society 2020. [email protected] [email protected] London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman The views expressed in Television News editor and writer Sub-editor T: 020 7822 2810 Overseas (airmail) £172.22 20 Crimscott Street are not necessarily those of the RTS. Matthew Bell Sarah Bancroft E: [email protected] Enquiries: [email protected] London SE1 5TP Registered Charity 313 728 [email protected] [email protected] W: www.rts.org.uk

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 3 RTS CRAFT & DESIGN AWARDS 2020

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Warwick Davis may be locked down but he’s as busy as ever

ll my days have ■ My involvement with Master Moley Ufgood in the Disney+ sequel to Ron been starting the started back in 2017 with a very short Howard’s 1988 film Willow. I’ve been same way this year animation presented to investors. asked many times over the years if – like much of the I had no idea Moley would become Willow will return, and I’m thrilled country, I have a household name. Well, that’s the to tell people that he will indeed. spent most of hope, anyway. I have prep that I’m doing to get them at home. I Master Moley creator James Reatch- back into character, so I find a quiet usually get up early, as I like the quiet lous, producer Tony Nottage, director spot – which can be challenging in a Atranquillity of the early morning. Leon Joosen and I bounced ideas off house in lockdown with children. After breakfast, the peace dissipates each other and developed the charac- into the usual busyness of the day, ter. I get to see all the scripts and ■ My work with Little People, the when the phone starts ringing and animatics as they are developed. charity I co-founded that provides emails start pinging. A cue for me to support to people with dwarfism head to my home office. ■ Pre-Covid, most of the sessions and their families, is hugely impor- were recorded in a London studio. tant to me, and part of my afternoon ■ One of my current projects is the For the special, we were able to do is dedicated to it. I usually round off animation Master Moley, for which I some recording with fellow cast my working day with preparing any voice the title character and am an members. Gemma Arterton and I scripts for tomorrow. executive producer. recorded a lot of our lines together, I keep my working day to regular Master Moley is introduced to audi- which was a joy. hours. Once 6:00pm comes around, ences through a 30-minute special, Fortunately, I have my own record- I’ll usually cook dinner for the family Master Moley: By Royal Invitation, which ing studio, which enables me to to give us a proper chance to sit toured the world in short-film festi- record remotely from home. Today is down with each other without the vals before going to Boomerang this largely consumed by a voice record- distraction of work, phones and TV. month. ing session, so I connect directly to But afterwards, as we’re all big film The show also has a full series the studio and engineer in London. and TV fans, we take the evening to order, which is incredibly exciting. The audio recording is the same delve into a couple of episodes of Master Moley is a slightly naive but quality as if I were in the studio with our favourite series – Prison Break, big-hearted mole, who lives in the them. The whole set-up is seamless Stranger Things, Only Fools and Horses amazing world of MoleTown – it feels and has worked perfectly every time. and Columbo – before I head to bed a bit like The Simpsons or The Flint- for another early night. stones, but with moles. In the special, ■ I usually record for around three to my character has to save the town four hours. Once my recording ses- Warwick Davis is an actor, writer, from a wicked gardener, who is sion has completed, I turn my atten- ­director and producer. Master Moley: voiced by Richard E Grant – it’s a tion to some of my other projects. I By Royal Invitation is on Boomerang great, comedic adventure. am set to reprise my role of Willow from 28 November at 9:00am.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 5 COMFORT CLASSIC Michael Palin’s most ambitious trek is still a benchmark for the TV travelogue. Matthew Bell celebrates a master broadcaster

een again, almost three decades on, with the world at a virtual standstill due to Covid-19, Pole to Pole can induce mixed reactions. Michael Palin’s most adventurousS trek is a delight. It overflows with the present- Pole er’s love of travel and discov- ery, which, frustratingly, is precisely what we are missing right now.… Our only option is to soak up the sights and to hope that, one day soon, we will be able to follow in Palin’s footsteps. In Pole to Pole, which was first broadcast on BBC One in 1992, Palin undertakes a “hare-brained Pole migration from north to south”. The eight-part series begins when he plants a pole into the Arctic ice, and ends, five and half months later, at the South Pole. TV, though, is an untrustworthy medium: as Palin happily admits, he actually finished his journey back at the North Pole, after the rest of Pole to Pole was in the can. When the series started filming in July 1991, the sum- mer Arctic ice was too thin for a plane to land there safely. Having travelled through the Artic circle and Scandinavia, Palin arrives in what is still the Soviet Union at a for- tuitous time. Communism is on its last legs and the country is suffering from shortages of pretty much everything, except the spirit of its people. Palin – a generous, empathetic presenter, who is always interested in the people he meets – marvels at the resolve of the Russians and Ukrainians. At a distance of almost 30 years, Pole

to Pole shows how much of the world Globetrotter Michael Palin BBC

6 has changed – and how much remains, depressingly, the same. In Egypt, Palin navigates the Nile as part of a virtually empty tourist cruise. Tourism has col- lapsed in the wake of the first Gulf war and the boat, forebodingly, given the Ear candy horrors to come, is called Isis. Palin moves south in his usual quirky Series 10 contestant manner – travelling on the roof of a Mawaan Rizwan snail-slow train, visiting Emperor Haile Selassie’s pet lion and battling a mos- quito net – before he leaves for the Ant- arctic, which proves a huge anti-climax. He had begun his globe-trotting four years earlier, in Around the World in 80 Days, following the route described by Jules Verne in his book. It almost didn’t happen, as Palin revealed a few years ago in his RTS Christmas Lec- ture. TV broadcaster Alan Whicker, journalist Miles Kington, Clive James and even Noel Edmonds had already turned down the job, before Palin accepted without hesitation. After Pole to Pole, he continued his adventures in Full Circle with Michael Palin in 1997, then onwards to the Sahara (2002), the Himalayas (2004), Eastern Europe (2007), Brazil (2012) and North Korea (2018). Travel had been a childhood dream. As a young boy in Sheffield, he told the RTS, “I wanted to travel and see all the parts of the world that were as dramatic as the Peak District, and more so.” But Taskmaster: the furthest Palin went as a child was the Player’s factory in Nottingham on a school trip: “Can you imagine that – an The Podcast 11-year-old boy taken to a place which

produces thousands of fags? At the Television Avalon end, they gave us 50 cigarettes for our parents and we all got ashtrays.” t’s the only series that makes the Taskmaster’s loyal assistant, who Before the BBC offered him the you shout at your screen: reveals behind-the-scenes secrets. chance to travel, Palin wrote for The “That’s not how I would do it.” We learn the mystery of Mawaan Ken Dodd Show and The Frost Report. The Or ,“That will never work!” Rizwan’s impressive cow disappearing matchless Monty Python’s Flying Circus – before debating with your act and the notorious cake sitting from followed, and then a Hollywood film household exactly how you’d series 6. career with roles in Brazil and A Fish catapult a shoe into a bath Enjoy Jo Brand’s signature snarky Called Wanda. He still acts: recently, using a home-made contraption. approach to each task, Nish Kumar’s Palin gave memorable performances ITaskmaster has returned to our surprisingly good Taskonbury song, in Armando Iannucci’s The Death of screens on its new home, Channel 4, and Paul Chowdhry’s unpredictable Stalin and ITV’s Vanity Fair. bringing some much-needed joy to response to the “Spread your clothes” But, arguably, the Python is now Thursday evenings, with a new com- task. best known as TV’s premier traveller. panion, Taskmaster: The Podcast. They also share their thoughts on the Plenty of other famous faces have Hosted by series 9 Taskmaster cham- latest comedians competing for the followed in his wake and some, nota- pion Ed Gamble, the weekly podcast coveted Taskmaster Trophy. As Brand bly his fellow national treasure, the welcomes past and present contestants warns: “You don’t know what level of fabulous Joanna Lumley, have excelled. to unpack the most recent programme humiliation is waiting for you…” But nobody does it quite like Palin. n and relive some iconic Taskmaster Taskmaster: The Podcast offers the moments. perfect blend of some of the show’s Pole to Pole is available on BBC iPlayer. In a safe space beyond the watchful best-kept secrets, laugh-out-loud n Michael Palin and Sir David Attenbor- glare of Taskmaster Greg Davies, Gam- anecdotes and in-depth task discus- ough discuss their working lives at a 2004 ble’s first guest is Little Alex Horne sions to satisfy fans old and new. n RTS event: bit.ly/RTS-Palin. – the series creator, task-maker and Kate Holman

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 7 WORKING LIVES

Clockwise: An Episodes set constructed in Surrey; The League of Gentlemen local shop; and pre-production sketch for the pub in Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky BBC/Grenville Horner BBC/Grenville Production designer

mmy and RTS award-­ table dressing to the choice of landscape but sometimes I’m employed even winning production and everything in between: rooms, before the director. designer Grenville Horner vehicles, special effects and stunts. has been adding style to What’s your first step? television programmes So, everything starts with the script? Initially, I produce a series of images – for the past four decades. I have to be excited by a script – with a they could be paintings, stills or sketches Most recently, he brought his quirky lot of scripts I don’t get past the first five I’ve made. These are not designs for aestheticE to Adult Material, Channel 4’s pages. Sometimes, though, projects the programmes, but they establish its drama set in the porn industry. come up like Channel 4’s drama The End mood. For Adult Material, the hub of the of the F***ing World. I read a synopsis by piece is [porn star] Jolene’s family home, What is the production designer’s job? the director and thought it was fantastic. so I put some images together for the Visualising the script and creating a type of house I thought she might live in world for the story to take place in. I set When are you brought on board? and also for the [porn] studio. the mood and the tone for the look. The I’m pretty much one of the first people production designer is responsible for employed. Normally, it is the director Who do you work with closely? everything you see on screen, from a who chooses the production designer The production designer heads the art

8 department, which, depending on the Which work are you most proud of? Are there any tricks of the trade you scale of the job, can be from three to A few things stand out. Blackpool, star- can share with us? 10 or so people. On a feature film, it ring David Morrissey and David Ten- The BBC’s Hollywood-set sitcom Epi- could be 40 or more. Your right hand is nant – I designed and created an sodes was shot in Surrey. I designed the art director and your left is the set arcade, using the skills I learned on sets with lots of green screen so we decorator, who is responsible for the BBC variety shows. The Patrick Hamil- could drop in shots of Los Angeles set dressing and the props. ton adaptation Twenty Thousand Streets during post-production. I remember

How did you become a production designer? I always drew as a kid and went to art college: one year’s art foundation course; a three-year degree; and then a three-year master’s at the Royal Col- lege of Art in environmental design and architecture. That was seven years of art college – in those days, on a grant, which was fantastic. That time has gone, unfortunately. I got a job with the BBC design department, initially on a six-month contract. At the time, it was a huge operation and a fantastic breeding ground for creativity.

What was your first work? Designing a sedan chair for a period drama. As an assistant, I was working with a group of designers across lots of projects and genres – it was a great apprenticeship. I really loved working The main set of Blackpool on the parodies of films such asGone BBC with the Wind and The Sound of Music for the French and Saunders sketch show. Under the Sky is set in a pub, The Mid- one review that criticised the BBC for night Bell, which we built from scratch. funding a jolly in LA. What do you bring to work with you? And the local shop in Royston Vasey An A4 plain hardback notebook, 4B for The League of Gentlemen [for which What is your advice for someone who pencils, an A2 drawing board, scaled Horner won an RTS Award]. wants to work in production design? rulers, a table tennis set and my guitar. Get as much experience as you can. You What makes a good production have to start at the bottom, learn your Music or art? designer? craft and understand every aspect of My first solo design job was on the kids You need to be able to communicate film-making. Watch and understand show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, with Noel your vision, be open to other people’s other departments – absorb everything. Edmunds. The live programme went out ideas and lead a team. The job is about on a Saturday morning but, during the more than just design: you have to Has the job changed over time? week, in a small studio, they’d record make decisions and control budgets. There’s less time for preparation, which pop bands such as Blondie and The You learn these things on the job, not can be a problem given the increasing Pretenders, and I would design the set. in college. ambition of scripts. We also work more At the time, I was playing in a band, on location and build fewer sets. The Cut-Outs, with a mate from col- What are the best and worst parts lege. One week there was no band of the job? Is there any programme you’d love booked so the show’s producer asked I love the preparation, where you’re to work on? us to play. We weren’t very good, but imagining and shaping the world of I’ve been happy with my choices; I we did two numbers on Swap Shop the programme. It’s like a jigsaw when don’t think I’ve missed out. I’ve loved – and we got a two-single deal with you start, which you have to piece moving from genre to genre, which EMI and even an offer to go on tour together. The worst is when the keeps the job interesting – it’s great to with Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox’s resources aren’t made available to the go from Jane Eyre [for which he won an band, The Tourists. We were too scared art department to realise a programme’s Emmy] to The End of the F***ing World. n to go! For me, it was music or art, but ambition. While scripts are becoming the art really took off. I’ve played in more ambitious, time and budgets are Production designer Grenville Horner was several bands, though, and still do. being cut. interviewed by Matthew Bell.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 9 n 2010, Tracey Scoffield, co-founder of Turbine Studios and executive producer of the Emmy-winning movie The Gath- ering Storm, received an email The real that would change not only the course of her next 10 years, but the boundariesI of television drama. It was from Steve McQueen’s agent. At the time, the London-born director Black British had just made a name for himself with his debut feature film,Hunger , the story of Bobby Sands and the IRA hunger strikes. McQueen and the BBC were inter- ested in creating a drama series depict- experience ing the experiences of first-generation­ West Indians living in London. “Their Steve McQueen’s five films under the umbrella lifetimes were spent during an era of real struggle with authorities like the title of Small Axe are a television first. police, and also the system,” recalls Scoffield. “But this generation was Shilpa Ganatra examines the project’s genesis starting to die without their stories having been told or recorded.” So began Small Axe, a reference to a Bob Marley song based on an African proverb – “So if you are the big tree/ We are the small axe/Ready to cut you down.” The films are about to air on BBC One as five standalone cinematic episodes, varying from just under an hour to just over two hours in length. The five stories are:Mangrove , the story of the so-called Mangrove Nine, whose trial was the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour moti- vated by racism in the Metropolitan police; Lovers Rock, a romantic drama set in unofficial blues clubs, where young- sters would go to dance the night away; Red, White and Blue, focusing on the trail- blazing black policeman Leroy Logan; Alex Wheatle, the coming-of-age story of writer Alex Wheatle, and Education, highlighting racial segregation in our schools. For McQueen, the 10 years between then and now, of course, weren’t solidly spent bringing these films to life: after Hunger, he went on to shake the film industry with movies such as Shame and triple-Oscar­ winner 12 Years a Slave, in the process earning an OBE, CBE and a knighthood. Meanwhile, Helen Bart, a former West Indian BBC News journalist was busy uncovering the stories of everyday people in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. “She conducted some 126 interviews, which we then read, listened to and filtered to the point where, four years ago, we put together a writers room,” says Scoffield,Small Axe’s executive Small Axe episode 4: Alex Wheatle

producer. “It was only at that point that BBC

10 it became clear that we were going to working as they are with the project’s drama, while also learning on the job. tell the true stories rather than creating budget – though it helps that Amazon, The diversity helped to deliver authen- fictional versions. Because, as Steve which has licensed the film in the US, tic perspectives on Small Axe. Cast your said, ‘You couldn’t make it up’.” is a co-producer. mind back to the 2017 Sky series Guer- Working with co-writers Alastair “We didn’t have a budget that was rilla, which similarly covered British Siddons and Courttia Newland, five times a feature film – it was a race relations in the 1970s, but was McQueen steered the scripts into generous, high-end BBC One contri- accused of ignoring the role of black shape. By accident more than design, bution,” says Scoffield. “Fortunately for women in the struggle (the female lead the timing was impeccable. Filming us, Steve is a very, very fast director. was played by Freida Pinto). Yet, on was almost completed by the end of He doesn’t go over time, and he knows Small Axe, black women play a pivotal 2019, which meant that the spring exactly what he wants each shot to do, role. Other demographics – such as lockdown had little impact on so he doesn’t mess around.” white allies and the similarly victimised production. To acknowledge the subject matter, South Asian community – are repre- The result is that McQueen’s first great effort was made to hire BAME sented sensitively. television work comes at the tail end of cast and crew. John Boyega (Star Wars, “These are the first London-based a year in which the Black Lives Matter Detroit) and Letitia Wright (Black Panther, films Steve has ever made and they’re movement has achieved new promi- Avengers) lead the cast, and are two very personal to him,” says Scoffield. “I nence. Mangrove, the series opener, is obvious choices who clearly prioritised think it’s one reason why he was always particularly prescient. With McQueen’s this project. “How we got them was nervous about plunging in. He knew accessible, gripping storytelling tech- very simple: they wanted to work with that he would have to wrestle with nique, it depicts the same power Steve. Every actor wants to work with everything that was personal to him. imbalance between the police and the Steve. It was a combination of that, and “But there is no one I’ve ever worked black community that led to the mur- der of George Floyd in May. “For non-black audiences who want to educate themselves, it provides the stories to understand everything that’s been going on over the past year or so. For black audiences, it’s their story being told and what they’ve always known,” says Scoffield. From the moment the project was conceived, McQueen was insistent that the events depicted in Small Axe would be recreated with painstaking accuracy. It helped that factual dramas are Scoffield’s field of expertise. Her credits include The Special Relationship, detailing the relationship between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, and Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, examining the background to the boxer’s refusal to join the US Army to fight in Vietnam. “I’ve always felt that, if you’re telling a factual story, it should be as authentic Small Axe episode 2: Lovers Rock as possible, because otherwise it has no BBC value as a historical account,” she says. “We stuck closely with the Mangrove the importance of these stories, which with who does the job as thoroughly story, especially as much of it unfolded haven’t had the degree of exposure and professionally. On top of that, he in the courtroom. Lover’s Rock is fiction, that they should have,” says Scoffield. has a creative genius that most direc- but based on authentic information As for the crew, within the London-­ tors don’t have, in my experience.” about blues parties, which were a based production, BAME (mainly West The end result is monumental tele- ­popular feature of that period. And Indian) representation reached 33%, vision, which has built on McQueen’s we worked closely with Leroy Logan which was a good effort, given the lack forte of telling true stories with passion and Alex Wheatle on their episodes.” of available people. and quality, but also stretched the Costume designer Sinéad Kidao, who “It was hard, as there aren’t enough storytelling capabilities of television worked on two of the five episodes, people with those backgrounds work- drama. With those safe hands and those collaborated with Logan to track down ing in the industry,” says Scoffield. “You rich stories, it was clear it was always his original tailor from the 1970s so that just have to go the extra mile to find going to be something special, even he could help with the outfits. people, but we did.” back when the first email dropped into In an age in which audiences expect To alleviate the issue in the future, Scoffield’s inbox a decade ago.n cinema-style production values in TV they appointed a BAME trainee in every series, Small Axe’s high-end visuals are department. This gave them the expe- Small Axe runs on BBC One from as much to do with McQueen’s way of rience of contributing to a high-end TV 15 November.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 11 Andrew Neil Enter the disruptors

question – who wrote: “Foxified” it with a right-wing opinion “There are three struc- Two news services schedule. One of the co-founders, tural things that the that aim to challenge Andrew Cole, a director of Liberty right needs to happen Global, is, according to The Guardian, on in terms of communi- traditional UK news record as wanting the BBC “broken up”. cations... 1) the under- providers are waiting in Outspoken radio pundits Nick Ferrari miningA of the BBC’s credibility; 2) the and Julia Hartley-­Brewer are reported, creation of a Fox News equivalent / the wings. Simon Bucks but not confirmed, to be among the talk radio shows / bloggers, etc, to shift on-screen talent. the centre of gravity; 3) the end of the investigates There are fewer details of the Mur- ban on TV political advertising”? dochs’ News UK venture. It is expected The answer: Dominic Cummings (or “programming built around strong to focus partly on entertainment and at least his think tank, the New Fron- presenters, which becomes an celebrity news, mainly online but also tiers Foundation), in 2004. Let’s start appointment to view.” on TV during part of the day. Recruit- with point two. The talk radio shows Andrew Neil, the Chair and main ers have been busy tapping up big are here, so are the bloggers. And com- anchor, says it will “champion robust, names (reportedly, Piers Morgan and ing soon, not one but two TV channels balanced debate”. However, the ven- Lord Sugar) and young tabloid report- on a disruptive mission to challenge ture’s political orientation is evident ers who can turn in scoops. It is worth the established news broadcasters. from the names involved. Apart from recalling that Rupert Murdoch, never a GB News is heralded as a right-of- Neil, the team includes Sir Robbie Gibb fan of regulation, disparagingly centre news channel, launching early (his BBC producer and, later, Theresa described Sky News as “BBC lite”, even next year. It won’t do rolling news – a May’s spin doctor). The CEO is Angelos when he owned it. model it thinks has been supplanted by Frangopoulos, former boss of Sky News The advent of new channels should social media – and instead promises Australia, which prospered after he be a welcome boost for the industry,

12 ‘THE ADVENT OF NEW CHANNELS SHOULD BE especially in the wake of the Covid-19 wanted facts and television remains advertising slump and Comcast’s deci- A WELCOME the most trusted medium, at least in sion to ditch its planned international BOOST FOR THE Europe,” he says. rolling-news rival to CNN. Two new “But, in the long run, it won’t halt the channels would certainly add to the INDUSTRY’ trend away from linear-TV to digital diversity of entries for the RTS Televi- platforms, especially among younger sion Journalism Awards. people.” But the prospect of American-style underestimate the intellect of the This shift is highlighted in the Reu- opinion TV, like Fox News and MSNBC, audience they serve.” ters Institute’s 2020 Digital News Report, in Britain is sounding alarm bells with A more fundamental question is: which found that 90% of under-35s traditional news broadcasters. Richard should there be a wider re-evaluation use the internet, including social media, Sambrook, the former BBC News of Ofcom’s impartiality code? Dale to get news, against just 57% who use supremo, recently recalled to advise on thinks so. “The whole of broadcasting TV. The figures are echoed by Ofcom’s Twitter use by the corporation’s jour- regulation needs overhauling,” he con- latest research and underlined by the nalists, warns that polarised opinion tends. “There is no reason why you revelation that YouTube is now Brit- TV risks fusing news and views in the shouldn’t have right-wing channels or ain’s third-biggest video channel after minds of audiences. left-wing channels” – though not, he BBC One and ITV. “People have lost sight of the impor- insists, ones advocating extreme ideas Newman thinks GB News may tance of facts. It’s exacerbated by social such as Nazism. struggle because, he says, the numbers media, when sensational clips are pulled David Graham, the former Panorama really interested in politics are limited. out of interviews and posted,” he says. producer who co-founded Diverse He is more optimistic for the Murdoch Sambrook fears that opinion channels Production, believes the impartiality channel, if it can create a lively hybrid represent a slippery slope away from rule discourages genuine journalistic model with a 24/7 presence online and conventional reporting where facts are inquiry. “It hands the agenda to the in social media to amplify the TV pro- presented straight for viewers to make Westminster parties. It’s in the interest grammes. “The key is to keep costs up their own minds. of MPs because it guarantees them an down while maximising eyeballs on Ultimately, says Sambrook, it will appearance.” Moreover, Graham says, a lot of different platforms.” come down to Ofcom. It seems proba- the public service broadcasters would And so, back to Dominic Cummings. ble that GB News and the Murdoch always retain a degree of impartiality Unsurprisingly, Sambrook doesn’t channel will adopt LBC and TalkRadio’s anyway, because unadulterated facts agree that new right-wing channels strategy of interpreting Ofcom’s “due are what viewers want. are needed to even things up against impartiality” rules by achieving balance Nic Newman, senior research asso- liberal-biased established broadcasters. across the schedule, rather than inside ciate at the Reuters Institute for the “I don’t think the British media, as a a single programme or segment. This Study of Journalism, argues the main- whole, is riotously left-wing, even if you arrangement, which the regulator seems stream broadcasters have already been can point to small parts of it. to have tacitly approved, was forged in forced by Brexit and the climate change “GB News won’t threaten the BBC the crucible of Brexit – James O’Brien’s debate to abandon the balance of “false and Sky News rolling channels Remain to Nigel Farage’s Leave – to equivalents” and to focus more on the because it couldn’t afford the compre- exploit both sides’ visceral and mutual evidence. “He said/she said impartiality hensive news services they provide. antipathy. is being replaced by a more nuanced But it will undermine them by further In the opposite corner, Iain Dale, the approach.” confusing facts and opinion.” (Conservative) LBC presenter, believes The crucial question is: will these Which leaves Cummings and Co’s there is undoubtedly room for a right- new insurgent channels win viewers third ambition: the end of the ban on of-centre TV channel to counterbal- and make money? Outside the US, political TV advertising. Could that be ance a perceived liberal, left-leaning with its colossal market, western news the next logical step? And if so, would bias among the mainstream broadcast- channels are not profitable. They rely the entire package represent welcome ers. Dale argues that, during the Brexit on subsidies from corporations, govern- and overdue progress towards more campaign, panel discussions on main- ments, licence fees or wealthy individ- media plurality, equality and freedom? stream TV were routinely dominated uals. Comcast puts an estimated £40m Or a further descent into a dystopian by Remainers. a year into Sky News. nightmare, where eventually you’ll be “People are fed up with being ignored Even though GB News is not plan- hard put to distinguish between British and talked down to,” he says. Dale ning a full-scale news gathering and American television? n rejects the idea that opinion channels machine, Newman is sceptical: “The confuse news and comment in the spike in news viewing at the start of Simon Bucks is Chair of the RTS Television viewers’ minds: “People in the BBC the pandemic was because people Journalism Awards.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 13 n September, when dance troupe Diversity took to the stage for prime-time TV’s most controversial four minutes of A pledge to 2020, one woman was watching especially intently – Ade Raw- cliffe, ITV’s freshly promoted group directorI of diversity and inclusion. “I was told they were going to do the dance. I thought it was incredibly transform moving, a wonderful creative expres- sion,” she says of the group’s routine inspired by some of the year’s seminal events, not least the global Black Lives Matter protests. inclusivity “I was incredibly proud to work for ITV that night. I interpreted it as the story of lockdown, of Covid, George Ade Rawcliffe has been promoted to drive Floyd, lots of things. By the end, they ITV’s new set of diversity initiatives. She were trying to say something optimis- tic about the future.” speaks to Caroline Frost The performance generated nearly 25,000 complaints. However, Ofcom concluded that Diversity’s performance was not inappropriately political but “a call for social cohesion and unity”, something that Rawcliffe supports wholeheartedly. “For me, I don’t think the pandemic and black equality are political. I inter- pret the BLM movement as being about equality, although some other people want to position it slightly dif- ferently,” she says. “As a public service broadcaster, we should be allowing our creative talents to say something about the world and their response to some- thing so big in our lifetime. It’s really important to me that people can have their opinions, though, even if they are counter to mine.” ITV’s public support for Diversity’s performance came just weeks after Rawcliffe’s promotion to its board was announced. Her job is a newly created role where she will co-ordinate all of ITV’s diversity and inclusion activities. She believes the move is evidence of the broadcaster’s commitment to making sweeping changes across the organisation: “We’ve been on a journey already, but, since the tragedy of George Floyd, there’s been a quicken- ing of pace, with people asking, ‘What are we going to do to create more equality, be more accountable?’ “My job on the board came about as a result of that need. And just being in the room changes the nature of the conversation, seeing how many things interconnect with diversity and inclusion. “Everyone’s been receptive and

ITV open. ITV is a nice place to work. We

14 have a good culture, and we just want should have done. We’d all like to see work”. The following month, historian to make it better.” an industry where everyone is getting and presenter David Olusoga used his Rawcliffe, whose first jobs in TV equal opportunities, and I don’t think MacTaggart Lecture to describe feeling included working as a runner on Stars we’re there yet. “patronised and marginalised” during in their Eyes and researching for Ready “But, in 2020, the world has changed his career. He also referred to a “lost Steady Cook, has no delusions about the in a way that has been seismic. My generation” of talent, whose voices and significance of her new role. “I feel the friends who are teachers have pupils stories were obliterated. weight of responsibility because I’m telling them, ‘We’re not coming back to Of Ryder’s indictment, Rawcliffe says, there to represent so many “I know him really well, other people,” she reflects. and I wouldn’t question his “It’s not just about me, but ITV’s comedy experience at all. If that’s who comes up behind me. panel show his perception, I would say If it ends with me, I’ve been Sorry I Didn’t we need to do more so that a dismal failure. Know it isn’t the case.” “It’s a huge opportunity Regarding her own expe- for me personally, but it’s rience in the industry, she a responsibility I take very explains: “It’s only when seriously. I hope I’m up to you connect with others the task.” that you realise the things Rawcliffe’s promotion is you’ve internalised. I sus- one aspect of ITV’s new, pect [that’s true of] experi- five-point plan for diver- ences I’ve had, but there are sity, announced in July in lots of people who have had support of its pledge to a lot worse time than me. increase the number of “Plus, it’s important to opportunities for minori- acknowledge the people

ty-ethnic and under-repre- ITV who came before me, and sented groups across its made it possible for me to business and on-screen. do what I do.” Other moves include ‘WE WILL BE JUDGED BY WHAT Olusoga’s words cut deep more representation in its for her: “I found his speech highest-profile shows, sup- WE DO, NOT WHAT WE SAY’ devastating and upsetting. porting talent from BAME I don’t want to see another backgrounds to help them person having to give that secure lead roles in drama. Addition- school if this curriculum isn’t changed lecture. His point about the lost gener- ally, there is the “Step Up 60” scheme by Monday’. People are right to feel ation, that we have lost talent, when to provide 60 people with their first impatient. talent is the lifeblood of our industry, production jobs, and mandatory race “We talk a lot about this internally, I found heartbreaking.” training for all staff. that we will be judged by what we do, For Rawcliffe, who grew up watching “We wanted something to address not what we say we’ll do. So our plan shows such as Blind Date, Grange Hill the top, the middle and the bottom,” has become a diversity acceleration and Diff’rent Strokes, and whose most explains Rawcliffe. “Often, we’ve con- plan. If this were a race, we would be recent binges during lockdown have centrated too much just on getting nowhere near the finishing line, but included Quiz, Succession and Sanditon, people in, but we were really keen to we’ve set off.” content remains key to finally getting help people develop their careers, giv- She adds: “We need to see a measur- diversity right. ing them opportunities to get to senior able change within a year and be able to “It’s all about who’s making the positions in the industry. It’s hard to report publicly on what we’re doing.” shows, the writers, the directors, pro- bring about cultural change, so you For Rawcliffe, the case for inclusion ducers. The issue that most addresses have to attack it from different places. is as much commercial as it is ethical: that is Step Up 60, and that’s where we “I have strategic oversight, but I don’t “Netflix is doing it brilliantly, not have most to do.” do everything. Other people have a because it’s a charity but because it Finally, what will success look like? role to play. If I was head of sustaina- can see the commercial case. At ITV, Two things, says Rawcliffe. “First, I bility and I was the only person recy- we’ve just done Black History Month. would like to be able to say that the cling, it would make no difference to “You can feel a buzz about the place data tells us we are representing the the organisation. It’s about everybody about us doing something in a differ- population. Second, that we have cre- doing it, and that’s how you bring ent way to before. Of course, we’re ated a genuinely inclusive culture, about change.” proud to be a PSB but there’s a com- where people feel their voices are Of course, for many industry observ- mercial and creative case for it as well. heard, that they feel they belong and ers, a lot of these good intentions will For me, diversity, inclusion, creativity they feel protected.’ seem only too familiar to similar initi- and innovation are all interlinked.” She smiles before concluding: “I atives announced before, a point that Writing in Television in July, diversity always said that I wanted to work Rawcliffe is ready to acknowledge: campaigner Marcus Ryder wrote that, myself out of a job. I wouldn’t mind if “It’s fair to say that, as an industry, we “for black and brown people, the UK there wasn’t a need to have my job on ­haven’t progressed as quickly as we media industry is a toxic place to the board.” n

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 15 OUR FRIEND IN GUADELOUPE

Passion and

his is the fourth resilience help And it was our 10th year – we had version of this piece Tim Key’s team big plans, our creative focus very much that I’ve written. I about rewarding long-term viewers scrapped the previ­ overcome the while also driving the show forward. ous three as “the We were feeling buoyant as we news” made them challenges of approached the start of our shoot. And immediately out of filming in a then we had to stand down and send date. I’m going to plough on with this our team home while we worked out Tone, although I fear that, by the time it pandemic what on earth we were going to do. is published, it will be entirely irrele­ We are now about two-thirds of vant thanks to world events, but hey our way through the 22-week shoot. I ho. Like everyone, I’m resigned to the think we’re going to make it to the end, fact that there’s no way of predicting just before Christmas, but I’m not tak- anything this year… ing anything for granted. I also think Apart from one thing, and that’s the we will get the show on air as usual. passion and resilience of everyone in But our industry is in real trouble the creative industries. I know about at the moment, and my friends (and this first hand, as I’ve had the privi­ family) who work in theatre and live lege of working with a team of people events have it even tougher. The arts this year who have been determined are so vital to the creative, financial to get our particular show on the road and mental health of a country and again, in spite of the huge challenges I’ve no idea what the next 12 months that Covid-19 has thrown at us. will hold.

A disclaimer first of all – atDeath in Planet Pictures Red I am confident that the audience Paradise we are luckier than many. We who love Death in Paradise will be able had good insurance in place, our usual transmission in January. Which to tune in for a slice of intriguing, light- show is as Covid-friendly as one can means a ludicrous post-­production hearted, joyful, Caribbean escapism at be (no sex scenes, no huge crowd schedule, given that filming started the start of 2021 and I am extremely scenes, lots of outdoor filming, no nearly four months late. proud of – and grateful to – the won­ public transport, etc, etc) and we were Getting to the end of the shoot is in derful team who have made that working to the French, rather than no way guaranteed – new lockdowns happen. the British, guidelines, meaning social in the UK and France add further As the TV and film industry starts distancing of one, rather than two, complications to a production that to bounce back, I pray that theatre metres. And the country we film in, has not been short of complications. and live events won’t be far behind. I Guadeloupe, has been very support­ Over the past decade, we’ve become feel privileged to be part of this won­ ive and keen for us to get going. pretty used to navigating “complica­ derful, challenging, frustrating, joyous, But things have been extremely tions”, from hurricanes to the boat ridiculous, rewarding and vital indus­ difficult. We’ve wrestled with the carrying our gear breaking down in try. Now, I’ll just put the news on and practicalities of filming during a pan­ the Atlantic and arriving four weeks see what’s occurring. Oh… n demic – logistical, creative and moral. late. With our friends in Guadeloupe, We were – and still are – determined we thought we could cope with pretty Tim Key is executive producer of Death to deliver the show to the BBC to hit its much anything. in Paradise for Red Planet Pictures.

16 RTS DIGITAL CONVENTION 2020 Flying the flag for PSB RTS/YouTube

arolyn McCall offered DCMS, to be treated fairly. After a robust defence of ITV Chief Executive delays caused by the Covid-19 epi- public service broad- Carolyn McCall demic, both reviews are expected to casting during the be published soon: Ofcom’s report is course of a revealing explains why UK public due before the end of the year, while and wide-ranging service broadcasters the DCMS is expected to publish by interviewC at the RTS Digital Conven- early 2021 at the latest. tion 2020. ITV’s CEO – who was need prominence “If [a PSB doesn’t] have prominence, probed by ITV News London and Loose its content will not be found in this Women presenter Charlene White – on all platforms new digital world with platforms that also discussed the Black Lives Matter can exclude you,” said McCall. “If you movement, BritBox, ITV’s digital service broadcasters [PSBs], so we don’t come to terms with a smart-TV strategy and its response to the keep the creative economy healthy. manufacturer, they can just leave coronavirus­ epidemic. We spend a huge amount of money you off. McCall said that the first Covid-19 out of London. We are required to do “We spend a lot of money making lockdown had “brought home to a lot that as part of our remit. Most other content [and] we need to see fair value of people” the importance of having operators don’t do that; they are very for that. In the linear world, there is a “a trusted [TV] source, [with no] M25-centric.” framework for how that operates: you disinformation”. And McCall warned: “A lot of the have to have prominence and be on But, she argued, there are many stuff that goes on air would not be the EPG. But in a title-based world, other benefits to the UK’s public ser- made if it wasn’t for the fact that you can give prominence to the high- vice broadcasting ecosystem that the there are PSBs.” est bidder and then you won’t find public doesn’t necessarily know She called for public service broad- PSB content.” about. “Eighty per cent of independ- casting, which is being reviewed by “It’s a skewed market; it’s not fair or ent production comes from the public both media regulator Ofcom and the reasonable,” continued McCall. “We �

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 17 RTS DIGITAL CONVENTION 2020

BritBox hits its milestones

BritBox has ‘done brilliantly in the US and Canada – the international model is a very robust one’, said Carolyn McCall. ‘[A launch in] Aus- tralia is imminent and then we’ll start rolling it out from there. The BBC and ITV are totally aligned about that.’ She said BritBox ‘is meeting all its targets but it is a very different product here because we all have our own services, our iPlayers and Hubs, so it’s more tricky, [and there are also] rights issues. It is the go-to place for multi-­series box sets with British originated content.’ Charlene White

The return of Spitting Image, RTS/YouTube released on BritBox last month after an absence of more than two � have to make returns for our share- audiences, and that’s partly because decades, ‘is a big step in making it holders, so what we need is a level we do so many family entertainment a very distinctive service. It has had playing field – we’re not asking for shows and we do them so well.” widespread coverage and a lot of special favours.” But, McCall added: “One of the subscriber interest.’ McCall claimed that the 2003 Com- things we have to do is engage the She added: ‘If we think [a show] munications Act had reached its 16-34s… in a different way, and that is going to do well on BritBox and sell-by date: “The Act… regulates us [means] being agnostic about where in international territories, we can highly [and] is not appropriate any we put our content. co-produce it with the international more because the whole world has “People under 35, particularly, are division and that obviously brings changed – we’re not monopolies or watching things on-demand all the down the cost for BritBox. Spitting the dominant [broadcasters] any more. time… We want to do on-demand in a Image is a good example of that There are other dominant players and, bigger, better way. ITV Hub, personali- because it crosses boundaries very if this continues, I don’t think PSBs will sation, recommendation… and BritBox well. I think you’ll see more of that exist in the shape they are in today.” are very much part of [our] future.” to come.’ McCall went on to outline a future ITV Hub, she said, “has changed BritBox, which was created by for ITV that combined the old and the dramatically – we’ve invested a lot the BBC and ITV, also features pro­ new, but with the latter taking the lead: in Hub, it’s one of our key priorities”. grammes from Channel 4 and Chan- “We have to be a digitally-led media One recent success had been true- nel 5. McCall held up the service as and entertainment business. crime drama Des, starring David Ten- ‘a great example of the public service “We’ve got this amazing channel, nant as serial killer Dennis Nilsen. “It broadcasters coming together’. ITV, which has huge audiences. We has consolidated at around 12 million She welcomed this ‘collaboration’ want to keep those big audiences and as a series average, which is unbelieva- but added that, with the BBC, ‘there’ll we do that through major-event TV, ble… 2 million of that 12 million was on always be competitive tension and and I think that has many years to run. ITV Hub. That is a big number – 80% I think that’s good and healthy – it “I don’t think ITV has to change what of 16-34s are registered on Hub and keeps the creative output [in the it’s doing on its mass, simultaneous-­ 30 million people [in total].” UK] very high’. reach platform, ITV1.… We’re the only Did that mean that ITV would start place where you can get those really big to commission programmes to go

18 straight on the Hub, asked White. produced safely during the epidemic. McCall replied that ITV’s strategy “We learnt a lot of what we would later “has to continue to evolve because implement in terms of our safety pro- everything is changing all the time. tocols from how [to do] it live.” ITV’s Definitely, you will see commissions daytime programming, said McCall, that are geared to the Hub audience.” “was entertaining, informative and One week after McCall appeared at reassuring. You can’t get a better the RTS Digital Conven- description of what tion, ITV announced public service broad- a restructuring of its ‘WE WANT casting should be about”. business to reflect the Production has now nation’s changing view- TO DO returned to near-normal. ing habits. A new Media The CEO denied there and Entertainment Divi- ON-DEMAND had been a slowdown in sion will have two busi- IN A commissioning: “Our ness units, broadcast and programme budget on-demand.­ The latter BIGGER, went down this year Black Lives will include Hub, Hub+ BETTER because we weren’t Matter at ITV (the ad-free version) and putting things on air or BritBox. WAY’ we couldn’t produce The current director of certain shows we had Carolyn McCall talked about ITV’s television, Kevin Lygo, intended to produce much-praised anti-racist adver- will become MD of the Media and – that’s the reason the budget went tisement published in response Entertainment Division and will run down. A lot of that is going to go back to the Black Lives Matter routine the broadcast business unit, with chief in next year. performed by dance troupe Diver- marketing officer Rufus Radcliffe “The only way you can compete is sity on Britain’s Got Talent in early heading the on-demand side. through your content… you have to September. McCall, ITV’s CEO since 2018, invest in content.” Ofcom received some 24,500 recalled the devastating impact of the She continued: “The advertising complaints about the routine, but coronavirus lockdown on the broad- market has been hugely impacted by ITV stood by the show. ‘Within sec- caster in March. that awful three months of lockdown. onds of people seeing the ad, I had “We decided we would test working The good news is that the advertising so many emails and text messages from home before it became a necessity market has come back; everyone’s from people internally, from every and so we actually locked down five talking about Christmas campaigns. part of the company,’ she recalled. days earlier. Our IT systems worked “We have to continue to be careful McCall discussed ITV’s efforts seamlessly,” she said. “Most of us about our cash, because the only way to improve diversity within the thought it would be four to five weeks to deal with this kind of uncertainty company: ‘We realised that all the and we’d all be back in. Most people left economically is to make sure you’ve actions we’d taken – and we’d their stuff at work. I realised [the situa- got a strong balance sheet. done some really good stuff – had tion] was really, really serious when all “[But] the one unassailable fact is not really gone into something our productions stopped – we went that people are going to be watching substantive enough… I think it was from about 280 productions worldwide a lot of content and that’s great for us. partly because we were doing it to virtually zero.” We have to keep producing that [with] incrementally.’ The broadcaster’s focus, said McCall, the quality and engagement that we The broadcaster launched its had been to “conserve our cash and do.… We need to keep our productions Diversity Acceleration Plan in July to look after our people”. Essentially, this going safely – that’s a priority.” promote inclusion on-screen and meant getting production up and run- Covid-19 has not affected ITV’s across ITV. The following month, it ning again. longer-term plans. “Strategically, it promoted Ade Rawcliffe group to “We were still producing 10 hours of doesn’t change the direction of travel. director of diversity and inclusion. live programming, which was a lifeline The fact that we are putting more McCall said the broadcaster for people in Britain. I think the value resources behind what we call on-­ was committed to ‘making change of public service broadcasting, if it was demand, whether that’s ITV Hub, Hub+ at every level in the organisation. not known by the public, became or BritBox… that’s not going to change. That’s why we’ve created jobs in extremely well known over that period Nurturing ITV1? That’s not going to middle management, we’ve doubled of time,” she emphasised. change.” n our apprentice scheme and we’ve At the time, White was on maternity put a director of diversity and inclu- leave. She recalled: “Seeing those day- Report by Matthew Bell. ITV Chief Execu- sion on the Management Board.’ time shows staying on air made me tive Carolyn McCall was in conversation feel, ‘I think we’re going to be all right.’” with Charlene White as part of the RTS n For more on ITV’s Diversity Good Morning Britain and This Morning Digital Convention 2020, sponsored by ­Acceleration Plan see the interview continued to be made in the studio, YouTube, on 13 October. The producer was with Ade Rawcliffe on page 14. demonstrating that television could be Helen Scott.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 19 RTS DIGITAL CONVENTION 2020 BSIP

and knows how important it can be. Two distinguished surgeons discuss technology’s But, as the race to develop a Covid-19 role in unlocking the future of healthcare vaccine intensifies, one key technolog- ical cog in the AI machine is needed more than ever – data. Google has used information collected from individuals and agencies to assist in several ways. Karthikesalingam­ told the RTS how Data-driven Google Maps, for example, “is now showing accurate and live information about some 14,000 Covid test sites in more than 20 different countries”. Darzi complimented Google on this diagnostics work before asking whether it “might play a role in discovering some new therapeutics” as we endure a second o “intervene earlier and suffering from a variety of conditions coronavirus wave. prevent folks from get- suddenly dominated by those ill with Karthikesalingam pointed out that ting sick before they do” Covid-19. pharmaceutical companies were using is the grand hope of Dr This was where Karthikesalingam “machine learning to try and make Alan Karthikesalingam, offered a potentially impactful tool not their selection of promising drug can- a surgeon scientist and only in the fight against the virus, but didates more efficient”. But he admit- researchT lead at Google Health UK. His to aid healthcare as a whole: artificial ted that, “because it’s such a new virus, aspirational vision “may take a long intelligence (AI). Typically, AI is defined the kind of clinical data about which time”, he conceded. as machine intelligence that processes treatments work – and which treat- As part of the RTS Digital Conven- data to help maximise the chance of ments don’t work – is so new that it is tion 2020, he was in conversation with achieving its goals based on what it probably too [soon] for artificial intelli- Professor Lord (Ara) Darzi, President of learns. AI can even predict outcomes gence to help at this end of the scale.” the British Science Association. The by using machine-learning algorithms In light of this, Darzi took a step back two surgeons quickly set the tone as to spot patterns. and widened the discussion to other they discussed the difficulties con- “A few years ago, it was being used to areas of research that Google and its AI fronting them during the pandemic. do things such as play chess. The same subsidiary, DeepMind, have ventured Darzi shared his recent experience of systems are now being used to predict into. Karthikesalingam highlighted working in an intensive care unit and the protein structure of this virus,” work on breast cancer screening and how it was “very, very painful” to see explained Karthikesalingam. He has led how the data gathered by big national a ward usually occupied by patients studies into the use of AI in healthcare breast screening programmes had

20 in his research, he had found that Prof Lord Darzi Dr Alan Karthikesalingam including patients in projects from the beginning, “guarantees that you build the systems in ways that are more acceptable to patients and the public”. But who those patients were was equally important, noted Karthi­ kesalingam, because machine learning could be undermined by biased data. Some AI medical systems had been inconsistent in processing people from ethnic minorities in the US and Europe because they “learnt” from datasets comprised largely of one – white – ethnic group. When bias existed in the way that data was collected, the process of “repeatedly training pattern-recognition systems using this data [could] build in these biases in a way that makes them permanent – or even amplify them – when we turn them into tools and technologies”. Throughout the discussion, data and how it drove technology was the cen-

RTS/YouTube tral theme. Advanced technologies such as AI might be exciting but sim- been used to train the algorithm to too blurry [for you] to see.” pler things, such as video calls, could make maximum use of X-rays. However, there was potentially more sometimes be more effective. “I think an average radiologist will to see in an image than many humans The extent to which virtual medical look at more than 10 million images in could currently detect, Karthikesalin­ consultations had become common- their career, and most of them tend to gam added. Referring to his collabora- place had taken Darzi by surprise. He get better over time. In the same way, tion with London’s Moorfields Eye made the point that “if you’d asked me we can train these machine-learning Hospital on identifying diseases that about a year ago how many patients systems to interpret X-rays,” said can lead to blindness, he described would you be doing a remote consul- Karthikesalingam. He went on to claim research that Google has conducted. By tation with, I would have said zero.… that Google’s system had the “same “looking at these images of the back of We’ve moved from nothing to millions level of accuracy as expert radiologists”. the eye, machine-learning systems can of remote consultations – in other This led Darzi to ask if, “at the end [reveal] predictive information about words, sitting down in front of a televi- of the day, a radiologist would sign the rest of the body’s health. For exam- sion and having a discussion with the reports [jointly with the company pro- ple, about how likely people are to have patient.” viding the AI]”. Karthi­kesalingam looked heart attacks or strokes in the five or He believed that “a lot of that will on AI as a tool that could complement 10 years following [these images].” remain with us, because it’s good, it’s doctors rather than replace them – at He added: “That’s very early-stage efficient”. least for now: “Most people are looking research. But… we might uncover new Karthikesalingam’s hope was that, at machine learning in healthcare as a things in these images that we couldn’t “over the next 10 or 20 years, we will tool that assists experts to be more see before.” start to see much more digitisation of efficient and to be able to do their job.” Ultimately, both surgeons agreed our wellbeing and our health” to pro- At what point might AI become so on one thing that was of the utmost cess and unlock new insights. good that it could theoretically replace importance – patient care. Darzi It is this data-driven dream that may a human, wondered Darzi: if a machine recalled an incident some 20 years help realise his hope that we can, one processed more than the rough average previously, when he “commissioned a day, “intervene earlier and prevent folks of 10 million images that a radiologist robotic system in the operating thea- from getting sick before they do”. n saw in a lifetime, would the machine tre”. Subsequently, a patient was very become “better” than a human? upset “to hear that it was a robot that Report by Omar Mehtab, who is a journal- Karthikesalingam said it was not as was going to operate on them”. ist on the BBC technology show Click. simple as that. For one thing, the qual- Although Darzi assured the patient ‘In conversation with Professor Lord ity of the image was crucial: “Imagine that it was “just a tool”, it was a seminal Darzi and Dr Alan Karthikesalingam’­ on taking a photo of a number of cats moment because it raised the question 20 October was part of the RTS Digital from a distance. If you’re standing of how the public would react to Convention 2020, sponsored by YouTube. very, very far away, then it doesn’t advanced technology playing a part in The producer was Jon Brennan, manager, matter how good you are at counting their healthcare. EMEA broadcast, entertainment and cats, because the photograph might be Karthikesalingam pointed out that, ­media partnerships at Google.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 21 Freeview comes of age Freeview

hen Broadcast- brought us full circle. Digital terrestrial ing House was As the digital platform transmission allowed a huge increase opened in 1932, marks its 18th birthday, in the number of channels. Importantly the front of the for government, it freed up valuable building was Caroline Thomson spectrum to be auctioned at high prices. likened to the dissects the crucial role While Sky’s satellites had already prowW of a ship. With a commanding brought us an attractive pay-TV offer, view that befitted the vessel’s bridge it plays in fostering a Britain now needed to move the whole was the grandest office. It belonged to population, including those who didn’t John Reith, the first Director-General. common culture want to – or couldn’t – pay, on to digital. But the office above his, acknowledged Satellite, on its own, wouldn’t do this. as the second-grandest in the building, extraordinary power of the medium, Engineers once again came to the with equally magnificent wood panel- reaching as it did very quickly into fore. The public service broadcasters ling and an even loftier view down every home in the country. This was (PSBs) could leap from single to multiple Langham Place, was that of the chief just too important to trust to the market. channels, audiences were better served engineer. Broadcasting in the UK would come and spectrum, essential for mobile Without an engineer, the captain to be defined by its public purpose. services, could be freed up and sold. would remain in dock; with an engi- Although we were united with the US The platform that delivered this neer, he could travel the world. Reith by a common language, our approach transformation – a piece of technology did his travelling from his office, while, to television was very different. now so ubiquitous that it is “just telly” on the roof, a few floors above, a flag The advent of ITV, and then Chan- – was Freeview, which celebrated its was emblazoned with the BBC’s coat nel 4 – commercial, but within the 18th birthday on 30 October. Its gene- of arms and its now-familiar motto, public service family – increased pro- sis was Greg Dyke’s ambition to give “Nation shall speak peace unto nation”. gramme choice and diversity. But everyone in the country a “digibox”. In the beginning, the chief engineer technological advance was limited As Freeview reaches adulthood, the was central. The BBC’s output was – most significantly, black and white UK can be proud of a free service car- conceived as a way to sell radios (and became colour and, in radio, FM took rying 85 TV channels and, through the then televisions). But, while the chief over from medium wave. Engineers PSBs alone, reaching 98.5% of British engineer moved the technology for- were no longer on the bridge. households. ward, the DG understood the But the dawn of the 21st century It is our biggest television platform:

22 it is used, day in, day out, by almost Will they be in the future if, in order 18 million households – two-thirds to guarantee access to those shared of the country. A truly unique and cultural moments, you need a sub- powerful collaboration between its scription to whichever service it is partners. played on? And will those moments I say powerful because a public ser- be genuinely British and genuinely vice platform with that degree of reach uniting if the authors, producers and into the lives of a country’s citizens is distributors of them see the UK as just a staggeringly useful (cynics might say another “territory” in which to market “staggeringly dangerous”) tool for their global content? informing and educating Britons as The importance of Freeview, well as entertaining them. approaching adulthood in a scary The importance of Freeview is enor- world, where giant platforms set the mous. That is because this technology rules of the market and intimidate is both extraordinarily simple and those without power and money, is highly sophisticated. On the one hand, that it allows us to answer those ques- you need no more than a good aerial tions confidently with a Yes. to get access to Freeview and the won- So, as Ofcom begins to gather evi- derful panoply of information and dence for its PSB review and the Gov- entertainment that it carries. It does ernment assembles a panel that has what it says on the tin – it’s free. the freedom to discuss whether we On the other, it has within it the even need such a thing as public capacity to drive the next technological service broadcasting (and, if we do, Caroline Thomson revolution – and to drive it with public Freeview what shape it should take), let us service values at its heart. We are com- remember what we have had in the ing full circle, in the best Reithian tra- ‘FREEVIEW past, what we have now and imagine dition. As we move towards an what we will need in the future. increasingly connected world, it is all CANNOT All in all, we enjoy a broadcasting too easy for the “metropolitan elite” to REMOVE THE ecology that is the envy of the world: take it for granted that everyone has high-class original content, great crea- access to broadband that carries tele- CHARGE FOR tivity and impartial news available to vision content free of charge. BROADBAND, all; free at the point of use, live and But not only is broadband not free, it on-demand; enjoyed and valued by is not used by anywhere near as high a BUT IT CAN the vast majority of British viewers proportion of the population as TV is. DEMOCRATISE IT’ week in, week out. This is a tribute to Research presented to Parliament ear- the extraordinary mix of public and lier this year showed that 11.9 million commercial funding underpinned by people in this country have no, or lim- regulatory protections. ited, access to the internet. Covid-19­ has It is a peculiarly British mix of the brought these inequities into stark and market and the state working hand in scandalous relief. hand to the advantage of citizens. The Freeview cannot remove the charge Freeview collaboration has been an for broadband, but it can democratise essential ingredient of that success. it. Freeview Play shows that a smart But, as the UK’s biggest TV platform user experience is not the exclusive comes of age, you could change it all. preserve of streamers or only available You could decide that universality and to users who can afford to pay their free are no longer fundamental princi- subscriptions. Its power comes from ples that underpin the provision of its developers, the PSBs and Arqiva, public service broadcasting in the UK. collaborating to produce high-quality You could risk leaving the market to technology solutions. deliver the depth and breadth of con- However, the argument for Freeview tent British audiences are privileged to is not just about offering free access, have access to. important as that is. It is about the You could diminish the PSB engine country we live in and the sense of and lose the significant role that UK a common culture. The true “water- broadcasting plays on the world stage. cooler” moments of our past – the mur- But the real question is: why would der of Dirty Den, the Olympics opening you want to? n ceremony or Super Saturday in the 2012 athletics, or the Queen’s address to the Caroline Thomson is Chair of Digital UK, nation during the spring lockdown which runs Freeview, and a former chief – were all available to everyone. operating officer of the BBC.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 23 Line of Duty An accidental career

ine of Duty creator Jed don’t want to be on set,” he told the Mercurio decided he Jed Mercurio, acclaimed RTS session, one of the highlights of probably should learn for creating Line of four days of popular online events. “If to write – after he’d you’ve written something, you have a already penned a hit Duty, headlines the RTS vision about how it’s going to be real- BBC drama series. “I did Midlands Careers Fair ised and you can be of help to people itL backwards,” the former medic told the who are taking that vision on. RTS Midlands Careers Fair 2020. Mercu- “Even if it’s just being able to clarify rio had been a junior doctor working in Holder and Amanda Holden) and period what a line means or what an impor- Birmingham hospitals when he replied drama (Lady Chatterley’s Lover) to sci-fi, tant point is in a scene, that’s so valua- to an advert in the British Medical Journal. with Frankenstein and Invasion: Earth. ble to the production. It had been placed by a production “I had no plans to work in TV,” he “I understand how something has to company looking for drama ideas. admitted during his Careers Fair con- be filmed and that informs my approach This led to him writing Cardiac Arrest, versation with William Gallagher, dep- to the writing. The fact is, you can the pioneering 1994 BBC One series. uty chair of the Writers’ Guild. “When imagine whatever you want, but if you Unusually for a TV drama set in the Cardiac Arrest was recommissioned, want someone to perform and film it, it world of medicine, the series depicted which kind of took me by surprise has to be physically possible within a the staff as flawed, accident-prone because I didn’t expect it would have time frame and budget. cynics, rather than the idealised depic- a future, I thought maybe I ought to “As you gain experience, you start tion of angels in white coats that had learn a bit more about writing. thinking more about that. The more characterised hospital drama since the “I read books and I did some week- film-friendly your writing is, the more dawn of television. end workshops on story structure. I your scripts will appeal to people.” Mercurio, of course, went on to think they can be useful to give you Mercurio was speaking on the set of become one of the UK’s most success- ideas, but I believe there is no overall series 6 of Line of Duty, the police corrup­ ful TV writers and showrunners. His perfect model for writing. A lot of those tion drama that has grown from a low- much-acclaimed work includes Bodies, structure gurus claim there is and they key start on BBC Two to win a global another dark medical saga, and Body- are wrong.” fan base and seven RTS awards. It also guard, one of BBC TV’s most popular Mercurio was Cardiac Arrest’s on-set came third in a Radio Times poll of the scripted shows of the past 20 years. medical advisor on series 2. The expe- best British crime dramas of all time. While Mercurio is most at home in rience allowed him to learn how pro- “There was an ambition from the hospitals and police stations, he has grammes are made and to get involved very beginning with Line of Duty, but embraced other genres, ranging from in production and direction. you just don’t know,” Mercurio said. comedy (The Grimleys, starring Noddy “I think it’s odd that some writers “You cross your fingers that it’s going

24 One of the most inspiring sessions was The One Show’s Richie Anderson in conversation with BBC Three control- ler Fiona Campbell. She had a mine of useful tips on how to get into televi- sion and, specifically, to work on her channel. Speaking from her Belfast attic, she said: “Firstly, watch TV! It’s amazing the number of people who don’t watch the content. You have to be able to talk about what we make. “Have ideas and show me a wee bit of something to get me interested. You can film things on your phone and have your own Instagram or YouTube channel. “If an idea can work on BBC One or Two or Channel 4, it’s not for us. We try to have content that is very separate from those channels, for the 25-and-under audience from all over the UK. “If people ask if you can do some- thing, say yes. Don’t go, ‘Well, I can have a go’. “Don’t be snooty about content. If you get offered a job making films about broken washing machines, which I did when I worked for Watch- dog, that’s great, because it really mat- ters to people. “If you can work in social media for Doctors anything, even your local garage, just bloody do it. If you can demonstrate to to be a success, then you can begin live-streamed sessions and workshops me how you can get an audience to to plan. each day. that garage, that interests me. Think “I’ve had ups and downs in my RTS Midlands Chair Caren Davies about volunteering for anyone who career, times where I’ve started to look said: “We’re delighted with the positive you can help to grow their social ahead and then the broadcaster has reaction the Careers Fair received. media audience. decided not to recommission. What Going online meant that we could “Degrees where you learn how to series should have continued? Pretty involve even more top broadcasters shoot and edit are really good. A degree much all of them. from across the country and reach an in a language is always good. But only “None of the series I’ve worked on even wider audience.” do a degree because you’re passionate have come to an end because any of The line-up of on- and off-screen about what you want to study, don’t the creative people didn’t want to talent included director of BBC Sport just do it for the sake of it. continue. It’s always been a decision Barbara Slater, presenter Jacqui Oatley, “Send in your CV and ideas and that has come from the broadcaster BBC Three boss Fiona Campbell, Chris follow up two weeks later. Don’t make and almost always because of a change Stark from That Peter Crouch Podcast, it a blanket one you’ve sent to 10 peo- of personnel. Channel 4 continuity announcer Corie ple. If you’re chasing someone, email “The head of drama or head of the Brown and Martin Dougan from them every six to eight weeks. If they channel has left and someone new has Newsround. send you an abrupt email, you’re get- come in. They’re a new broom and they Sessions included help with CVs, an ting annoying. But eventually some- drop a lot of things from the schedule to animation workshop and panels on thing will stick. make room for their own commissions.” digital effects, working on location, “Emails without ideas don’t get And he teased his fans: “Yes, I do filming with your smartphone, TV answered, so have endless ideas and a know how Line of Duty will end. I have news and post-production. The fair good title for your programme – that’s it planned out as an overview but not also paid a live visit to the Birmingham really important. the detail yet.” set of BBC One’s award-­winning soap “It’s a test of tenacity and persis- Last year, more than 900 people Doctors to see how it was made. Actor tence. Remain positive, keep picking attended the RTS Midlands Careers Dex Lee led a guided tour and ques- yourself up and keep going.” n Fair at Edgbaston Stadium, but this tioned crew members, from the third year’s event was even more ambitious, assistant director to those involved in Report by Roz Laws. The RTS Midlands with up to four and a half hours of post-production. Careers Fair 2020 was held 12-15 October.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 25 Brother have made TV legends of the likes of John de Mol, inventor of Big Brother and The Voice. The challenge of getting a reality show to “stick” is even greater in the age of streaming, when viewers’ deci- sions about what to watch – especially for the younger demographic drawn to reality TV – are measured in seconds, not minutes. “With the saturation of reality TV, what’s the USP, what’s the tone that’s different? People are flicking through shows and taking four seconds to decide what to watch. We need to think about how we are going to make an impression in those four seconds,” said Craig Orr, VP, original content and development, youth and entertainment for international at ViacomCBS. Richard Cowles, director of enter- tainment at ITV Studios, told the RTS that it was vital to have reality shows that made “more noise than all the other ones”. Audiences for reality TV were sophisticated and responded well to shows that moved the genre on with originality and an element of surprise. “That’s why it’s so difficult to create new formats… otherwise, we’d just be I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

ITV churning them out,” said Cowles, who is overseeing the production of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! from its new base in Wales (see box, page 27). He said that, to succeed, a reality series needed “twists and turns, dilem- Why we love… mas and relatable characters who people can get behind and love”. Katy Manley, MD of Initial TV, which produces Big Brother, stressed that real- ity shows have evolved: the genre’s reality TV roots were deep, going back to shows such as Candid Camera, first shown in An RTS panel discovers the secret of the US in 1948 and on air until 2014. “Saying that it is real people doing the genre’s continuing success real things is an over-simplification,” she added. “What is produced to look eality TV is arguably Out of Here! was forced by the pandemic real is also evolving now. The people bigger than ever. The to relocate from Australia’s tropical might be real, but the situations may term was first coined in rainforest to a chilly, windswept castle be becoming a bit less real.” the 1990s, as producers in North Wales. Expectations­ are riding She said the time and effort that turned unscripted “real- high that the series will be one of its went into producing reality TV was life” situations into com­ most successful ever. misunderstood. It involved a lot more pulsive viewing with shows such as An RTS panel attempted to tease out from the production team than point- SurvivorR and Big Brother. More than the ingredients of a successful reality ing a camera at a group of people and 25 years later, the genre is ubiquitous show in “Why we love… reality TV”, filming them. across linear and streamed TV. chaired by a former Celebrity Big Brother “If it were that simple, we’d all be Consider the channel-defining suc- winner, the charismatic Rylan Clark- out of a job,” she said. “Even in the cess of ITV’s Love Island, Netflix’sToo Hot Neal. There was a consensus that cre- purest of formats, we’re generating To Handle or the huge popularity of the ating and sustaining a long-running everything.” latest series of Channel 4’s The Great reality hit is far from straightforward. “The genre appeals to a young British Bake Off. The potential rewards, however, are demographic and to a cross-section of The new run of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me massive: global franchises such as Big society. People enjoy the soap-opera

26 Covid-secure The Bridge Celebrity tips Channel 4 element of reality TV. Like soaps, real- was vital that those who appeared in Moving I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out ity generates loyalty, as viewers come reality shows were given the right of Here! from Australia to Gwrych back again and again,” said Rick Mur- support by broadcasters and produc- Castle in North Wales posed chal- ray, MD of Manchester-based Worker- ers, agreed the programme-makers. lenges for the production team but bee, the maker of Channel 4’s new Diverse casting was crucial and ‘opens up a whole new range of reality show The Bridge, which is based helped to encourage acceptance of opportunities’, said ITV’s Richard on a Spanish format. minority groups and broadened view- Cowles. Manley, too, saw parallels between ers’ horizons. “The more diverse the A new location had to be built reality TV and soap opera: “You want cast, the richer the stories that we can ‘in a fraction of the time it would to see drama, conflict, humour and tell,” said Orr. “Our viewers want to see normally take.… We’ve got a great poignant moments where people open themselves represented. They want to team, who are adapting and up and talk about their lives. learn about other people. It does evolving.’ “You want to see all those beats change people’s minds.” He added: ‘It isn’t easy, but the you’d expect to see in a drama series Manley agreed: “I passionately good thing about reality shows or a film that can evoke the human believe that having diverse contestants is that you can put the cast in a emotions that everyone can relate to.” can have a positive effect on society. It bubble, where they are reasonably The advent of social-media platforms is not a coincidence that so many sealed off from the outside world. such as Twitter had transformed reality diverse housemates on Big Brother have ‘In the US and Germany, Love TV, agreed the panellists. won the hearts of viewers and have Island managed to produce over “Social media has changed the game gone on to win in their series. the summer... The key thing is we for reality TV in terms of getting closer “On Big Brother, we’ve helped to move create the safest possible work- to cast members and fans talking to things on. The more audiences are place for crew, cast and our hosts. one another to keep the conversation exposed to different types of people ‘There’s a real energy among the going. All reality shows need to have a the more accepted they are.” whole team,’ stressed Cowles, as he social-media footprint,” said Orr. So was reality TV here to stay? outlined how technology had helped “Social media shapes the show as “Twenty years ago, everyone thought to get I’m a Celebrity… up and much as you want it to,” noted Manley. reality TV was a flash in the pan, but running in Wales. ‘Everyone wears “You can embrace it and use it during it’s become a fixed item on traditional proximity monitors to safeguard the show to influence events, because TV channels and on-demand services social distancing. The castle was it’s real-time audience reaction. like Netflix,” said Murray. “Reality TV mapped remotely, allowing camera “It also influences things when peo- will be here in 50 years’ time – playing positions to be done off site.’ ple are voted out. It’s a completely on a platform that none of us have yet The set was built remotely in different world in terms of trolling and heard of.” n London and transported to Wales. bullying to when reality TV first started Editing will be done in London to in the 1990s.” Report by Steve Clarke. The RTS event minimise the number of people This, of course, could exert extreme ‘Why we love…reality TV’ was held on travelling to Wales and to keep psychological pressure on those con- 19 October. The producers were Sarah numbers down on set. testants who were abused online. So it Booth and Tessa Matchett.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 27 drama, series 2 of Netflix’s Australian comedy The Letdown. “It suddenly said Television distils two days of expert Netflix on my CV and that meant, even advice from leading TV practitioners at though my showreel hadn’t changed, [that] more doors opened,” said Daley, the RTS Student Masterclasses 2020 who recently shot BBC Two’s Harlots. Despite their differences, the two cinematographers appreciated each other’s craft. Daley said: “It’s incredible – you’re doing five people’s jobs at once.” Kiedrowski responded: “I could TV skills not make it look like you do, Nicola.” Sound supervisor Kate Hopkins, who has scooped RTS, Bafta and Emmy awards, and Hong Kong-based location sound recordist Mark Roberts and thrills specialise in natural history. For the BBC’s Frozen Planet: On Thin Ice, Roberts made a memorable trip to an ice cap to capture the sounds inside a moulin, a vertical shaft within an ice sheet. A clip at the masterclass showed the recordist “dangling [from a rope] out of shot, mixing and sending audio”. From the warmth and safety of the post-production studio, Hopkins mixed Roberts’ sounds: “I added a few things but it was lovely to have the real stuff from [location]. It sounded differ­ ent to normal rivers and waterfalls.” The editing session brought together factual specialist Rahim Mastafa and drama editor Celia Haining. Initially, Haining worked on horror movies: “It was great fun, doing horror films is so creative – it taught me tons.… They say that comedians are all depressives; well, horror-film people are so sweet and lovely.” Mastafa moved from editing corpo­ rate videos to Doctor Who spin-offs to documentary. Recently, he edited The Real ‘Des’: The Dennis Nilsen Story, a com­ panion doc to ITV’s factual drama Des. “It was a career highlight,” said Mas­ tafa. “There’s lots of elements I had to throw in – the archive, the exclusive The Island with Bear Grylls

Channel 4 content [of Nilsen] and the people who have been interviewed. You have to try shooting],” said the self-shooting to make it fit.” RTS Craft Skills producer. Drama editors work to a script, but Living with the cast 24 hours a day Haining “identified with a lot things Masterclasses means that she is “forced to experi­ that [Rahim] said”. She illustrated her ence their discomfort… so I can truly craft with a clip from Netflix drama he craft masterclasses demon­ tell the story.”. The Island, Kiedrowski The Crown. strated television’s huge variety added, was “one of the most difficult So, what does it take to be an editor? of creative roles. The cinematog­ jobs I’ve ever done. After six weeks of Patience, reckoned Mastafa, who added: raphy session offered two barely eating, even picking up a “I’m not precious about the stuff I cut… Texperts from opposite ends of the shoot­ Go-Pro becomes difficult.” I’m there to make the [director’s] vision.” ing spectrum. Georgina Kiedrowski is Cinematographer Nicola Daley works Haining agreed: “You can’t be a control frequently embedded with the cast on at cinematography’s glossier end, shoot­ freak.” reality shows such as Channel 4’s The ing high-end dramas. After leaving film Russell Dodgson discussed the visual Island with Bear Grylls. “I have to concen­ school, she worked in documentaries effects (VFX) that his company, Frame­ trate on the editorial as well as [the and film before landing her first TV store, created for His Dark Materials. The

28 VFX supervisor, who has a craft Bafta for the BBC One drama’s effects, is creative director of tele­vision at the VFX and animation studio. “[VFX] is storytelling,” he said. “There is a huge bank of technology but all technology [does is] make the tools that allow artists to be artists.” Echoing the theme of the other mas­ terclasses, Dodgson said there was a huge variety of roles in VFX: “Tradi­ tionally, you either work in 2D or 3D” – 2D offered roles in rotoscoping and compositing; but, in 3D, VFX specialists “explode out into a million routes… It’s such a vast world.” n

Report by Matthew Bell. The RTS Student Craft Skills Masterclasses were held 4-5 November and chaired by Emma Read (cinematography session), Andrew Sheldon (sound) and Helen Scott (editing and VFX).

George Amponsah Paul Marc Mitchell/Metrodome Distribution Mitchell/Metrodome Marc Paul

RTS Student on BBC Three and whose filmHunting screenwriters to never send a first draft for Prince’s Vault was a worldwide hit, to a producer: “Don’t even begin to Programme told the RTS how he’d learnt a lot think it’s finished until you’ve done a about the foot slog of investigative fourth or fifth draft.” Masterclasses journalism from the great Peter Taylor, The world of daytime TV may look a specialist in reporting on terrorism. very different to factual and drama but f you want to forge a career in TV, “There’s a lot of knocking on doors Emma Gormley, MD, daytime, ITV learn how to be tactful and tena­ and waiting at 2:00am in car parks Studios, echoed the other masterclass cious. That was one of the main when it’s raining,” he said. “You have speakers by highlighting the need for takeaways from four TV RTS Stu­ to be prepared for how unglamorous it tact, tenacity and trust in building Ident Programme Masterclasses, in all is. You do it for the love of it.” relationships with colleagues and prog­ documentary, journalism, drama and In common with Amponsah, he ramme contributors. daytime/entertainment. identified the importance of gaining Daytime TV offered rich pickings as Award-winning documentary-maker access to sources and interviewees in a training ground for those wanting to George Amponsah recalled how he order to make successful factual films. work in TV. There were opportunities often worked in the evenings and at Gaining people’s trust had been vital to to work in current affairs, researching weekends. Once, when he was at film the kind of journalism he had pursued, and booking celebrities, location film­ school, he collected some camera which put the spotlight on drug dealers ing, legal and technical roles. equipment on Christmas Day. and men who work in the sex trade. Gormley told the RTS she had His films includeThe Hard Stop, which The ability to get on with people always wanted to work in daytime TV. examined the lives of two friends of was also stressed by screenwriter Lisa At the beginning of her career, she Mark Duggan, whose shooting by Holds­worth. She began her working life took work experience wherever it was police sparked riots in the UK in 2011. writing an episode of ITV’s Fat Friends, available, including a stint freelancing He stressed that the start of his having been employed by the series’ for Radio Norfolk. career had not been “quick and easy”. creator, Kay Mellor, as her PA. “You On Good Morning Britain, some staff When he finally got a break in TV, he have to be strong and pushy, but don’t work through the night, putting in a won his employers over by bringing be a dick,” she advised. Learning to deal 12-hour-plus shift from 9.00pm-9.30am, enthusiasm to even the most menial of with rejection was essential: “Learn to going live from 6:00am-9:00am. “I’ve tasks. “I worked for a company called take no for an answer and move on.” always loved the unpredictability of it Espresso TV that made the kind of When Holdsworth presented Mellor all,” said Gormley. n films you’d find tucked away in the with one of her first scripts, before she DVD shelves at WH Smith, films about was invited to write for Fat Friends, Report by Steve Clarke. The RTS Student Second World War fighter planes,” said Mellor was critical of Holdsworth’s Programme Masterclasses were held Amponsah. “I wasn’t even a runner. work. It was another year before she 4-5 November and chaired by Alan Hayling Finally, I did my first shoot, when I completed another script that she (documentary session), Ruth Pitt (journal- filmed a Spitfire taking off and landing.” considered worth putting forward. ism), Carolyn Reynolds (drama) and Matt Journalist Mobeen Azhar, a regular She encouraged would-be Pritchard (daytime and entertainment).

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 29 RTS NEWS RTÉ Does Comic Relief

was a huge undertak- Normal People and Fleabag ing, not least because it together for Republic of Ireland was put together rapidly RTÉ Does during the global Covid-19 Comic Relief pandemic. An RTS Republic of Ireland event in late October, “Laughter in a time of lock- down”, looked at how the June fundraiser brought stars, including Normal People’s Marianne and Connell and Fleabag’s Hot Priest to the small screen. RTÉ entertainment pro- ducers Clare Hughes and Michael Hughes (they are not related) were given just six weeks to get the show ready for transmission on 26 June. “What was meant to be a two-and-a-half-hour prog­ ramme ended up being four hours of live TV – an abso-

lute whopper,” said Clare BBC Hughes. “It just kept growing and growing. We ended up with 38 VTs [short films], which was a huge amount of RTÉ hosts Comic Relief work… there was something in there for everyone. We had some of Ireland’s most Ronan, the cast of Derry Girls actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and working, complicated the loved and respected comedi- and Chris O’Dowd appeared, Paul Mescal. production of RTÉ Does Comic ans and performers.” as well as Andrew Scott from For the Normal People/Hot Relief. “Everything was taking Dara Ó Briain, Saoirse Fleabag and Normal People Priest sketch, RTÉ built a twice as long… and [it was] “socially distanced confes- more laboured. With so sion booth”, explained many things going on at the Michael Hughes. Normal same time, it would have People director Lenny Abra- been a lot easier if we’d been Film-makers answer call hamson directed the sketch, in the one building at the one which was shot in London, time,” said Clare Hughes. An RTS short-film North East and the Border remotely, via FaceTime. However, the Covid-19 competition has Committee. ‘The challenge The producers spoke to epidemic did have one posi- attracted an impressive gives a focus, a deadline, and Richard Curtis and Emma tive side effect. “Because

RTS Film Film RTS Contest 26 entries from almost an incredible platform,’ he Freud of Comic Relief, who people were locked down, 100 people. The Futures 48 said. ‘I am hoping to see an offered advice on the pro- they were free,” said Michael Film Challenge was launched outpouring of creativity from gramme’s running order. Hughes. “[That was one of] at an event in early October. those 48 hours in October.’ “They said that, after a the reasons why we had one Film-makers were given the The competition was open comedy sketch, you should and half hours’ more content title of a three-minute film, to aspiring UK film-makers play a song to allow people than we’d bargained for.” Tomorrow, and then had to with no broadcast credits. time to take out their credit “We knew there was a lot create, shoot, edit and submit The winning film will receive cards and donate. We had the of interest from the talent, so their film in just two days. an RTS award at a ceremony running order done at that we felt comfortable that we The idea for the compe- in December. Nominated point, so we had to redo it to would be able to pull some- tition came from actor and films will be showcased on include more music,” recalled thing out, but we didn’t expect director Daymon Britton, who the RTS YouTube Channel. Michael Hughes. it to be as big a success as it is also a member of the RTS Matthew Bell Safe-shooting protocols was,” added Clare Hughes. and, in particular, remote Matthew Bell

30 The latest in RTS York- styled. We don’t have to do shire’s series of inter- anything to make it more of a views with leading set, except to add a few lights

RTS Yorkshire regional figures threw a and block out a few win- spotlight on TLC reality show dows,” said Haddock. Say Yes to the Dress Lancashire. Gok Wan’s name was a Production has begun on great advantage in casting series 3 of the programme in the series. “He has a huge which fashion expert Gok following. Clearly, having a Wan helps brides find their brand that’s already known dream wedding dress. “We’ve [also helped]… so it wasn’t got all sorts of [safety] proto- like starting a new series cols in place,” said Jo Haddock, from scratch, which is always development executive at hard,” said Haddock, who programme-maker True worked with Gok Wan as North. “We’re hoping to make series producer on the first 10 episodes leading up to run of How to Look Good Naked Christmas.” for Channel 4 in 2006. Covid-19 is having an effect “We were looking for on filming, in particular with incredible northern families trying on and redesigning who were open to telling us dresses, which involves close- their stories. Yes, it’s about a Say Yes to the Dress Lancashire

contact work. “We have a Discovery dress… but we aren’t only really strict testing regime, doing one thing when we so we can feel confident that make a show. any contact we need can be “Gok Wan has an amazing done safely,” said Haddock, True North ability to give women space who was talking to RTS York- to tell their stories. He gives shire Chair Fiona Thompson. people a sense of confidence Say Yes to the Dress Lancashire [and] a sense that it’s going to is a spin-off of Discovery show dazzles be a positive experience, that channel TLC’s US series. it’s not going to be about con­ “Everyone was feeling the homegrown from our region,” Lancashire, rather than at its flict, negativity and criticism.” love for anything with York- recalled Haddock. Yorkshire sister shop. The The full interview with shire in the title and [Discov- In the event, True North Colne outlet “is a ready-made Haddock can be viewed at: ery] thought there would be filmed at the Ava Rose Hamil­ location, on three floors, and bit.ly/RTSdress. a way to create something ton bridal boutique in Colne, really big and beautifully Matthew Bell

relationship. I have always believed that S4C has more to Williams backs Welsh indies gain from being in partnership with the BBC than seeing it as a competitor or a threat.” Rhodri Williams gave want to work with large, He pledged “to ensure that Williams was part of the strong support to inde- stable companies that can the bid we will be submitting campaign in the 1970s for a pendent Welsh produc- provide certainty to us with to the Government for that Welsh channel: “The presence

RTS Cymru Cymru RTS Wales ers at an RTS Cymru regards to programming, financial settlement… will be of the Welsh language on TV Wales event in October. The but we also want to work credible and… make sure we back then was key… to ensure Chair of Welsh-language with smaller companies and have the financial resources [it] flourished. My opinion broadcaster S4C, who has even individuals who haven’t to… safeguard our services.” hasn’t changed. been in post for six months, produced for anyone in the Recently, Williams met “Creating S4C in 1982 was was talking to BBC Cymru past.” new BBC Director-General essential to changing peo- Wales’s arts and media cor- Discussing the TV licence Tim Davie. “I was pleasantly ple’s attitudes… to the Welsh respondent, Huw Thomas. settlement for 2022, Williams surprised,” he said. “I could language.” “The sector is full of cre- said: “The Welsh-language see that the BBC values us… The RTS event was broad- ative people… I want to see sector within the creative and has an open mind with cast in Welsh with a simulta- S4C being a home for [bold] industries is completely regards to how we could neous English translation. ideas,” said Williams. “We dependent on public funding.” improve our creative Matthew Bell

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 31 RTS OBITUARY

eter Fiddick, who has died aged 81, was one of an influential group of journalists Pwho wrote seriously about television as a cultural force during the late 20th century, when the medium was undergoing radical change. He was also a frequent broadcaster. Following a distinguished career at The Guardian, where he edited Fleet Street’s first media section, Peter went on to edit The Listener, at the time regarded as the equal of the New Statesman and The Specta- tor, and the RTS’s magazine, Television, which he edited from 1991 to 2001. Dapper and almost invari- ably wearing a bow tie, Peter Peter Fiddick was a familiar face at RTS events and other media gath- erings. His wry humour and expression of bemused mis- chief brightened up many a Peter Fiddick 1938–2020 press conference and indus- try dinner. His contacts were second to none and he was looks back over the life and career able to write authoritatively on Steve Clarke broadcasting policy and poli- of the former editor of Television magazine tics. Peter was proud of coin- ing the phrase “the ecology of met his future wife, Jane. team that covered the Aber- 1971 and knocked out a one- broadcasting” and was a stout The couple had two children, fan disaster in 1966. Subse- page treatment. The editor, defender of the importance of Harriet and Edmund, both of quently working as a feature Peter Preston, put it to the public service broadcasting. whom became lawyers. writer, he was a regular the- board and a few weeks later, He was born in Malta in Peter’s first job was as atre reviewer and began we were the first dedicated 1938, the son of a serving RAF a trainee journalist at the reviewing television, along- media section. And me, for officer. When war broke out, Liverpool Daily Post. He was side The Guardian’s full-time what it’s worth, the first ever he was sent back to England recruited by the paper’s TV critic, the brilliant and media editor. ‘The title may with his mother via the Atlan- owner during a trawl of spiky Nancy Banks-Smith. help in the sectors I’m not yet tic to avoid German torpe- undergraduates at Oxford. In 1973, Peter became Chair known in,’ I said to Preston. does. He spent his early years His contemporaries at the of the Broadcasting Press ‘OK,’ he said, ‘so long as you being looked after by her and Post included Michael Bil- Guild, a group of journalists don’t want the money.’ his aunts in the West Country. lington, who, like him, then exclusively made up of “We had a good line-up When the family was became a high-profile jour- TV reviewers. It held lunches for the first page – Paul Fox, reunited, the Fiddicks settled nalist on The Guardian, in his to which TV executives were Derek Jameson, Nick Higham.” near Epsom, in Surrey. Peter case as a theatre reviewer. invited and held an informal As a broadcaster, Peter attended the local grammar Later, Peter worked for annual awards ceremony in reviewed the papers for the school. When his father was Westminster Press, owner of a Fleet Street wine bar. BBC’s Breakfast Time and made posted to Germany, he a chain of local and regional Eleven years later, Peter educational series about TV boarded at Reading School, newspapers, writing leaders became The Guardian’s first for both Yorkshire Television where he played a lot of sport, from the company’s London media editor. On the 25th and Television South West. especially rugby, and enjoyed office. His columns were anniversary of The Guardian’s Peter’s passions were food performing in school plays. syndicated across the com- media pages, he wrote: “‘The and music, and he spent a Peter did National Service pany’s newspapers, including editor wants a proposal for a certain amount of his retire- in the RAF, based in Germany, The Northern Echo. media page,’ said the then- ment at his second home in in air traffic control. He went His first job at theGuardian features editor, Richard Gott. France. He is survived by on to read English at Magda- was as a general reporter. “I had been writing a Jane, his two children and len College, Oxford, where he Peter was part of the paper’s broadcasting column since five grandchildren.n

32 Unit manager Guy Bishop, whose work includes Sky One

RTS Futures thriller Bulletproof and the movie Maleficent, described locations as the “Cinderella department”, full of people who are “jacks of all trades”. Bishop, together with assistant studio manager Elliot Sansom and production co-ordinator Kerry Matthews came together for an RTS Futures event in October to discuss working in the loca- tions department of a film or TV production. The department is involved from pre-production right through to post-production. Bishop described its role as one of translating a script Bulletproof

into a physical place. “The Sky role requires a lot of commu- nication and working together,” he explained. “You need to be agile and malleable Location, location, location [and] the people who stand out are those who don’t see the problem but come up something is physically advice as a way of getting at the end of the day, every- with the solution.” impossible, you need to [their CV] in front of people”. thing needs to be put back Working in the locations explain why… you have to Bishop said he got a lot of how it was,” said Bishop. department means some- be calm, cool and collected,” work through recommenda- Sansom’s advice for times knowing when to say said Sansom. tions. He loved the job and would-be location specialists no, revealed Elliot Sansom Getting a job in locations described it as “like working was to “network, network, who has worked on block- can be tricky, said Kerry in Neverland. We are all just network, be charismatic, and busters such as Spider-Man: Matthews, who has worked boys and girls who don’t be ready to work and be Far from Home and Wonder on Solo: A Star Wars Story and want to grow up.” flexible”. Woman 1984. Sky Atlantic’s Gangs of London. Finding the right location “Getting started in the TV “I’ve been asked to stop an She encouraged the Futures is only part of the job – “we locations department” was entire 500-person construc- audience to “ask people how also need to look after the held on 21 October and pro- tion site next door, which they got involved in the set, the community and duced by Jude Winstanley. just couldn’t be done. If industry and ask for CV environment around us… Imani Cottrell

The scholarship scheme was launched by the RTS in Forty new RTS bursary scholars 2014. STV became a partner in 2019 and supports students The Society has nine of whom were spon- aims to set up mentoring in Scotland. announced 40 recipi­ sored by STV, with one pro- opportunities with one of its STV Chief Executive ents of its 2020 under- vided by the Steve Hewlett industry members. Simon Pitts said: “As a public

RTS Bursaries graduate scholarships. Memorial Fund. Ten technol- BBC presenter Ashley John- service broadcaster, it’s vital These bursaries support tal- ogy bursaries were also Baptiste, who was appointed that we improve diversity ented students from lower- ­presented, including one RTS bursary ambassador and inclusion within the income backgrounds and are sponsored­ by STV and one earlier this year, said: “With media industry, and this aimed at broadening access by YouView. Bursary scholars students starting their studies scheme is a further step to the media industry. receive £1,000 a year to assist during such difficult and towards ensuring that Scot- TV production and jour- with their expenses and unique circumstances, sup- tish media truly reflect the nalism bursaries have been living costs. In each scholar’s porting them is more crucial audiences they serve.” awarded to 30 undergraduates, final year of study, the RTS than ever.” Matthew Bell

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 33 RTS NEWS

Netflix and Amazon the US in 2014 and is now are hugely successful, available in more than but they are not the 20 countries.

RTS London only templates for a Speaking from Berlin, Jollet successful streamer, as an said: “We believed from day RTS London event discov- one that a well-curated linear ered in late October. channel would be appealing Over the past year, SVoD as TV moved to the internet. services such as Disney+, HBO People are creatures of habit Max, Peacock (NBCUniversal) and don’t want to spend and Apple TV+ have come on 20 minutes looking to find a stream, joining the likes of piece of on-demand content Netflix and Amazon. Alan every time they want to be Wolk, co-founder of media entertained. consultancy TV[R]EV, speak- “We’re offering a new way ing from New Jersey, dubbed of watching linear content,” the streaming boom a “flixco- Jollet added. palypse”. He said two more Daniel Berg, co-founder of – Paramount+ and Discovery+ NextUp Comedy, an SVoD – were due to launch soon. service offering live comedy,

Success is not guaranteed. TV Pluto joined the event from Lon- The short-form streamer don and explained the ratio- Quibi, launched by ex-Disney nale of the niche start-up: executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, “Comedy fans weren’t get- collapsed last month after Streaming rivals ting served, on-demand, the only half a year in business. comedy [they] saw winning But Wolk predicted: “There awards, selling out and gain- is room for most of them to set to disrupt TV ing critical acclaim. survive. They need to figure “Stand-up costs an absolute out what they’re going to be fraction of traditional genres, when they grow up. Right ad-supported and subscrip- Pluto TV, a free, advertising-­ around 3%, we estimate, so it now, they’re trying to be all tion ad-free services. supported linear-TV service, is an incredibly cost-effective things to all people.” Following the Netflix offered a contrast to the genre for us to fill.” Wolk argued that many of model, the streamers would SVoD model, explained Oliv- “How to survive in stream- the large streamers would expand internationally. “This ier Jollet, senior VP, emerging ing” was chaired by journalist operate three-tier platforms: will prove very disruptive to business, for ViacomCBS Nadine Dereza. It can be a free advertiser-supported the entire television industry Networks, which owns the viewed at: bit.ly/RTSstream. service, as well as subscription around the world,” he said. channel. Pluto launched in Matthew Bell

Rafi Nizam explained. It ena- bles them to animate content IBC fast-tracks innovation in real time, in their normal environment. ‘Every artist can have a render farm in their n A joint RTS London/Institution months. Programme leads and accessible’ place for real- own computer,’ said IT project of Engineering and Technology Muki Kulhan and Mark Smith time user-generated content. manager Mladen Djukic. (IET) event looked at one of the chaired the RTS/IET session. ‘5G remote production’, led The ‘TV delivered as objects’ centrepieces of IBC’s Virtual Sandy Macintyre, Associated by BBC R&D’s Ian Wagdin, has project was described by ITV Showcase: the IBC Accelerator Press vice-president for news, been timely. Initial research principal architect Tim Davis as Media Innovation Programme. discussed ‘AI-automated video into networks and AI cameras a way to ‘take what we con- The IBC conference and trade shotlisting’ in live content mod- has developed into a highly sider to be TV services, break show, normally held in Amster- eration, particularly with extreme complex ‘proof of concept’ them down into their constit- dam, moved its events online violence, to ‘predict what might set-up across Amsterdam and uent parts… then re-combine due to the pandemic this year. happen later in [a] video… we’ve London to prove that the eco- them much closer to the user’. Accelerators are fast-track, been able to create a green/ system works. Another international collaborative innovation pro- amber/red traffic-light system’. ‘Animation production: XR project, led by MovieLabs, jects that address complex Kulhan discussed the role of IBC (extended reality) immersive is aiming to create a usable technology challenges. There Accelerator in ‘virtual and inter- and real-time workflows’ can visual-effects archive for 3D were eight IBC projects this active live-music talent shows’, immerse designers in their components. year, running for around five which aims to create a ‘safe own created world, consultant Carol Owens

34 The story of a lockdown star

ITV News Anglia reporter you’re living and breathing it, Rebecca Haworth so it was really nice to have revealed how she broke [a positive story] to report.”

East Centre lockdown’s biggest Haworth’s piece went out good news story – Captain and, “a few days later, it Tom’s charity walk – at an became huge and everyone RTS East event in November. picked up on it”. In April, Haworth was the Hannah Ingram-Moore, Captain Sir Tom Moore

first TV journalist to interview Captain Tom’s daughter, had ITV Captain Tom Moore, the Sec- sent a press release about her ond World War veteran who father’s fundraising walk to overwhelming,” said Ingram- beginning was wonderful. walked around his garden to the local press, which ITV Moore. “There was never an [Tom] is what you see on TV… raise money for the NHS. News Anglia picked up. intent to chase fame or glory. Sometimes, when these sto- “We were right at the “Rebecca clicked with my We realised that, when we ries get so big, people beginning of the lockdown father and we thought, ‘What spoke, people donated… if we change, but in no way has and there was really grim a lovely thing – if nothing else stop talking, they wouldn’t that happened with Tom. He’s news coming out about the happens, this is still amazing.’” donate. just the same lovely bloke I virus,” she recalled. “At Anglia, In fact, Captain Tom went “He became this global met that first day [in April].” we were always trying to on to raise more than £32m beacon of hope.” “Captain Tom: The inside find good news stories to lift for NHS charities and was Looking back, Haworth story of a lockdown mega- the audience’s spirits – [Cap- knighted by the Queen. said: “It was such a privilege; star” was hosted by ITV News tain Tom] was just perfect. “It wasn’t always easy, it’s not often that a regional Anglia presenter Becky Jago “It’s really draining report- there were times when, news story would get that and held on 3 November. ing on the pandemic because undoubtedly, it felt a little bit big. To be there from the very Matthew Bell

Physical production The Upside is especially looking forward to seeing Gil- Allen to chair The in a virtual studio lian Anderson playing Margaret Congratulations to Anna Mallett, Thatcher – rumoured to be an RTS awards UPSIDE whose upward trajectory con- award-winning performance. tinues: after nearly two years as Between the PM’s rise and fall, CEO of ITN, she is joining Netflix. Princes Charles meets and mar- Big Talk Productions No cause for panic: The former BBC Studios boss ries Diana, played in The Crown CEO Kenton Allen is the takes up the London-based job by rising star Emma Corrin. new RTS Programme

we are in control… of VP of physical production at All in all, something to brighten RTS Awards Awards Chair. The Even if you’ve had your fill of US the streaming behemoth in the up the long November nights. awards include a new Com- politics in recent days, do catch New Year. Mallett will oversee edy Entertainment prize for Oscar-winning documentary-­ Netflix’s production in the UK, panel or talk shows, humour- maker Alex Gibney’s Totally Under plus much local-language output A TV apprentice’s led variety or clip shows. Control: Trump and Covid-19. elsewhere outside of the US. guide to breaking in “The television industry has Co-directed by Ophelia Har- shown incredible innovation, utyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, Finally, Katie Bryson writes to adaptability and resilience in it provides a fascinating insight The Crown relives thank the RTS for helping her what has been a very chal- into the US response to the a dramatic decade to get on to the TV ladder. She lenging year. I look forward to pandemic. After debuting on attended an RTS Careers Fair in celebrating a fantastic array of Hulu, Totally Under Control is In this month of lockdowns 2017, which helped her to secure programming,” said Allen. now on the BBC iPlayer. what could be a better TV treat a BBC apprenticeship. Entries will be accepted for Remarkably, it was made than series 4 of Netflix’s sump- Her blog about her experience shows broadcast from 1 Nov­ entirely in lockdown and pro- tuous The Crown, which begins as a broadcast operator appren- ember 2019 to 31 December vides a heartening example of in 1979, with a newly elected PM, tice working at MediaCity UK in 2020. The awards will take film-making ingenuity. and ends with her exit in 1990. Salford is at: bit.ly/Bryson-BBC. place on 16 March 2021.

Television www.rts.org.uk November 2020 35 RTS PATRONS RTS Principal BBC Channel 4 ITV Sky Patrons

RTS A+E Networks International Netflix International Discovery Networks The Walt Disney Company Patrons Facebook Viacom International Media Networks Liberty Global WarnerMedia NBCUniversal International YouTube

RTS Accenture EndemolShine KPMG The Trade Desk Major All3Media Enders Analysis netgem.tv UKTV Patrons Amazon Video Entertainment One NTT Data Vice Audio Network Finecast OC&C Virgin Media Avid Freeview Pinewood TV YouView Boston Consulting Fremantle Studios Group Gravity Media S4C BT IBM Sargent-Disc Channel 5 IMG Studios Spencer Stuart Deloitte ITN STV Group

RTS Autocue Grass Valley Lumina Search PricewaterhouseCoopers Patrons Digital Television Group Isle of Media Mission Bay Raidió Teilifís Éireann

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

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