DOCSLIB.ORG

Erica Horton April 2015

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Erica Horton April 2015 Erica Horton April 2015 “Luxury Items”: Discourses of Cultural Value in Creating Channel 4 Comedy PhD in Film and Television Studies (Research) University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (Grant number: AH/I003614/1) This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Word Count: 98422 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 5 Abstract 7 Introduction 8 ‘How Channel 4 is that?’: Channel 4 Creative Identity and Case Study 11 The Specificity of Channel 4 and Leading the Industry in Broadcasting Diversity 16 Researching Discourse in the Creative Industries 20 Macro, Meso and Micro Level Discourses of Comedy at Channel 4: Tiers of Laughter 21 Literature Review 24 Cultural Value and Creative Worth 24 Creativities: Industrial, Institutional and Individual 26 The Creative Individual: Exceptionalism and the Genius Myth 30 Measuring Creative Output 34 “The risk to be different”: Making Space for Creativity and Institutional Management 38 British Broadcasting and Labour in the British Creative Industries 43 The Culture Industry: Comedy and Mass Media 47 Television, Comedy and Cultural Status 50 The New Left on Broadcasting: Channel 4 and the Democratic Communications Model 55 “Television Supplement”: Cultural Studies and British Broadcasting Systems 56 The Authoritarian Model 57 The Paternalistic Model 60 The Commercial Model 64 1 The Democratic Model 66 Methodologies 72 Discourse Analysis and Institutions as Case Study 72 Multi-platform Analysis and Three Sites of Inquiry 75 Interview Ethics, Reflexivity and Provenance 79 Section One: The Industry 83 British Broadcasting Policy and the Establishment of Channel 4 83 The Broadcasting Act of 1980 and 1981 and Channel 4’s First Programme Policy 84 Broadcasting Values in Policy: Why a Fourth Channel? 87 The Annan Report and the Design of the Channel Four Corporation 90 Institutions and Audiences: Debating the Fourth Channel’s Purpose 93 The Regulation of Independent Production 95 The Pilkington Report and Understandings of Diversity and Quality 99 What is ‘Minority’ Content? 103 Reith, Paternalism and British Public Service Broadcasting 107 “Programme Standards”: Taste, Morality and Distinctions of Cultural Value 110 “A Force for Plurality”: Independent Production and Publishing 116 Section Two: The Institution 120 Comedy Commissioning: Art, Luxury and Expense 120 Big ‘C’ and Little ‘c’ Distinctions: Culture, Creativity and Comedy 124 “Fighting the Corner”: Seriousness, Legitimacy and Defending Comedy at Channel 4 128 Scripted Comedy and Authorship 130 Developing New Talent: Learning to Write Comedy 132 2 The Cost of Cultural Value: ‘Every time a comedy’s on the air, it’s sort of losing the channel money’ 135 Distinctiveness and Divisiveness: Authorship and Culture Discount 138 “It’s not for me, so it’s shit”: Misconceptualising Creativity and Comedy at Channel 4 142 Audiences, Social Media and Hostility 144 Internal Strife: Channel 4 Personnel and Doubting Comedy 148 Investing in Innovation: Taking Time and Taking Money 149 Leaving Channel 4 Comedy: The ‘New Regime’ 152 Comedy with a Capital ‘C’: Departmental Categorisation and Cultural Distinction 156 Histories of Channel 4 Comedy and Entertainment 158 Calling Content “Comedy”: Problematising Genre Theory Research on Television Comedy 162 Studying Sitcom: Genre Form as Cultural Value 163 Creating Comedy: Post-structural Television Genre Theory 165 Conventions of Studying Television Comedy and Genre 168 Small ‘c’ Comedy: Entertainment Writing as Contributory 170 Channel 4 Entertainment and Tone: Broadness, Warmth and not being “Mean” 172 “An Odd Beast”: Entertainment and Channel 4’s Public Service Remit 174 Section Three: The Individual 177 Creative Practice and ‘Making Funny Stuff’ 177 “It Just Came Out Funny”: Comedy Writers, Authorship and Immaculate Creativity 181 Writing Partnerships: Collaborative Authorship 189 When a Comedy Doesn’t “Land”: What goes wrong when it goes wrong? 193 The Silent Mechanic: The Role of Script Editor in Comedy 197 Channel Notes: “They have good thoughts but they don’t know how to articulate them” 204 3 Distinctions of Quality in Constructing Comedy and Entertainment 209 Mainstream Television Comedy and the Risk of Prime Time: Safety in Numbers? 214 Conclusions 221 Section One: British Broadcasting Public Service and Comedy as Entertainment Television 224 Section Two: Creating Genre through Discourse and the Meaning of Entertainment 227 Section Three: Creative Work and Cultural Value in Generic Labour Forces 230 Further Research 232 Final Thoughts 234 Webography 238 Bibliography 240 Appendix 250 List of Contributors 250 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my parents for their support throughout my studies leading up to and including the completion of my thesis. The unwavering generosity and encouragement you’ve shown me in everything I’ve done has been both amazing and humbling. It has also been the single greatest contributor to the realisation of my dream of becoming a bona-fide and consummate smartarse. Thank you and I love you. I would also like to thank SSC, a group of friends without whom I would have had a far inferior experience of life and for whom I continue to be grateful every day. Thanks for making me feel like I could do things when I didn’t think I could and for making me piss myself laughing for the last 15 odd years. You’re all hilarious and I can say that with authority now that I done a PhD in comedy. To the dear friends who have given me words of encouragement and pints of distraction along the way, thank you and you’re all top end. Many thanks to my supervisor Brett Mills for giving me the opportunity to work on the Make Me Laugh project, who spoke to me like a peer and made me feel like I knew what I was on about. Thank you to Sarah Ralph without whom I wouldn’t know my discourse analysis from my elbow and for also being a great friend and conference companion. And finally I’d like to dedicate this project to my great aunt Peg, who wrote her thesis but for unknown reasons never submitted it. Well done for writing it Dr. Margaret Lyons, everything else is just admin. 5 “Mark Corrigan: Haven't you got work in the morning? Jeremy Usborne: Oh yeah, that's really gonna break his balls if I roll in an hour late. Mark, […] he's a creative, I'm a creative. We don't make steam engines out of pig iron in this country anymore, yeah? We hang out, we fuck around on the Playstation, we have some Ben & Jerry's. That's how everyone makes their money now, yeah?” (Mark and Jez discuss labour and the creative economy Peep Show, Season 4, Ep. 4, 2007) 6 Abstract This thesis examines the discourses around creativity and cultural value that underpin the language used to construct television comedy at Channel 4 within three sites: broadcasting policy documents, interviews with Channel 4 heads of department and commissioners, and creative practitioners that have produced comedies for Channel 4 broadcast. In doing so this thesis uses a post-structural discourse analysis perspective with which to approach how comedy is understood as a genre within television industry policy, how departmental categorisation creates meaning around social purpose through discourses of cultural value and how this is both recreated and manifest among the understanding of what it means to create television comedy under the public service remit with which Channel 4 is charged. Through this multi-platform analysis, this study brings new light to comedy’s position within British broadcasting’s traditions of public service, it highlights the distinction of cultural value enacted by positioning some forms of comedy under the Comedy Department and others elsewhere under Entertainment. I argue that this process of inclusion and exclusion is framed through the justification of value in a way that reconstructs binary cultural hierarchies dependent on the notion of art and creativity as oppositional to the commercial and the popular. As such this thesis concludes that such cultural hierarchies are problematic for access and diversity in the creative labour force of British television comedy at Channel 4, particularly within the context of Channel 4’s specific remit to host a diverse range of talent both on and off screen and in doing so to encourage diversity, as a reflection of a pluralised British audience and society, across all British terrestrial channels. 7 Introduction The key aim of this thesis is to critically examine the ways in which cultural value is bestowed on television comedy, both as a generic text and as an industrial practice, through discourses of creativity. It does so in order to interrogate the prevalent assumptions that underpin existing literature around television comedy, where it is argued that it is the low cultural status of television comedy that has led to its neglect as a cultural category in academic investigation. Through its analysis of how television comedy is discursively constructed within the industry itself, at legislative, institutional and production levels, this thesis sheds new light on the more complex interaction of cultural value discourses around British television comedy than the “small time” (Mills, 2009: 9) or “unworthy” (Attalah, 1984) status of television observed outside of the industry, might suggest. Indeed, a key question that this thesis responds to, is where sitcom and sketch programmes are understood to be more culturally valuable categories of television production and programming when put in the context of the television industry more broadly with particular reference to the cultural and social value placed upon British public service broadcasting and its relation to private, commercial funding.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Guardian and Observer Editorial
    Monday 01.01.07 Monday The year that changed our lives Swinging with Tony and Cherie Are you a malingerer? Television and radio 12A Shortcuts G2 01.01.07 The world may be coming to an end, but it’s not all bad news . The question First Person Are you really special he news just before Army has opened prospects of a too sick to work? The events that made Christmas that the settlement of a war that has 2006 unforgettable for . end of the world is caused more than 2 million people nigh was not, on the in the north of the country to fl ee. Or — and try to be honest here 4 Carl Carter, who met a surface, an edify- — have you just got “party fl u”? ing way to conclude the year. • Exploitative forms of labour are According to the Institute of Pay- wonderful woman, just Admittedly, we’ve got 5bn years under attack: former camel jockeys roll Professionals, whose mem- before she flew to the before the sun fi rst explodes in the United Arab Emirates are to bers have to calculate employees’ Are the Gibbs watching? . other side of the world and then implodes, sucking the be compensated to the tune of sick pay, December 27 — the fi rst a new year’s kiss for Cherie earth into oblivion, but new year $9m, and Calcutta has banned day back at work after Christmas 7 Karina Kelly, 5,000,002,007 promises to be rickshaw pullers. That just leaves — and January 2 are the top days 16 and pregnant bleak.
    [Show full text]
  • Father Ted 5 Entertaining Father Stone 6 the Passion of Saint Tibulus 7 Competition Time 8 and God Created Woman 9 Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest 10 SEASON 2
    TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PAGE Introduction 3 SEASON 1 Good Luck, Father Ted 5 Entertaining Father Stone 6 The Passion of Saint Tibulus 7 Competition Time 8 And God Created Woman 9 Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest 10 SEASON 2 Hell 13 Think Fast, Father Ted 14 Tentacles of Doom 15 Old Grey Whistle Theft 16 A Song for Europe 17 The Plague 18 Rock A Hella Ted 19 Alcohol and Rollerblading 20 New Jack City 21 Flight into Terror 22 SEASON 3 Are You Right There, Father Ted 25 Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep 26 Speed 3 27 The Mainland 28 Escape from Victory 29 Kicking Bishop Brennan Up the Arse 30 Night of the Nearly Dead 31 Going to America 32 TABLE OF CONTENTS SPECIAL EPISODES PAGE A Christmassy Ted 35 ULTIMATE EPISODE RANK 36 - 39 ABOUT THE CRITIC 40 3 INTRODUCTION Father Ted is the pinnacle of Irish TV; a much-loved sitcom that has become a cult classic on the Emerald Isle and across the globe. Following the lives of three priests and their housekeeper on the fictional landmass of Craggy Island, the series, which first aired in 1995, became an instant sensation. Although Father Ted only ran for three seasons and had wrapped by 1998, its cult status reigns to this very day. The show is critically renowned for its writing by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, which details the crazy lives of the parochial house inhabitants: Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan), Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O'Hanlon), Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly), and Mrs Doyle (Pauline McLynn).
    [Show full text]
  • Broadcast Bulletin Issue Number 90
    Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin Issue number 90 30 July 2007 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 90 30 July 2007 Contents Introduction 3 Standards cases In Breach 4 Note to Broadcasters 6 Fairness & Privacy cases Not Upheld 12 Other programmes not in breach/outside remit 25 2 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 90 30 July 2007 Introduction Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code (“the Code”) took effect on 25 July 2005 (with the exception of Rule 10.17 which came into effect on 1 July 2005). This Code is used to assess the compliance of all programmes broadcast on or after 25 July 2005. The Broadcasting Code can be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/ The Rules on the Amount and Distribution of Advertising (RADA) apply to advertising issues within Ofcom’s remit from 25 July 2005. The Rules can be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/advertising/#content From time to time adjudications relating to advertising content may appear in the Bulletin in relation to areas of advertising regulation which remain with Ofcom (including the application of statutory sanctions by Ofcom). 3 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 90 30 July 2007 Standards cases In Breach Bang Babes Turn on TV, 6/7 May 2007, 23:47 - 00:51 Turn on TV2, 6/7 May 2007, 00:04 - 01:04 Introduction Turn on TV and Turn on TV2 channels are operated by Bang Media Ltd. Both channels broadcast interactive chat-based programme where viewers are invited to contact on-screen presenters via premium rate services. Both of the programmes complained about featured female presenters (referred to as ‘babes’), dressed in underwear, inviting viewers to call them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Distance Learner
    The Distance Learner EDITION 69 September 2020 Breakdown of words Although all the studio scenes were filmed in England, the outdoor scenes were filmed in County Clare and Popular pop u lar on the Aran Islands. The house is still a very popular tourist attraction with visitors to Co. Clare. Character char act er Celebrated cel e brat ed Remembered re mem ber ed Laughter laugh ter Episodes ep is odes Comedian com e di an At the time, some of the story lines and the language Entertaining en ter tain ing used especially by the colourful Father Jack, offended 25 years of some people. However, some of the funny lines and events from the programme have become part of our Father Ted everyday language, with people often calling funny events that happen, a “Father Ted moment”. It is 25 years since the TV comedy series Father Ted Many of today’s well-known actors and comedians first appeared on our screens and to mark this very started their career with small parts on Father Ted. popular series An Post have brought out a booklet of 4 Graham Norton for example first came to fame as the Father Ted stamps. Printed on each stamp is a famous entertaining Father Furlong. one-liner from each of the show’s main characters In 1998, just weeks after filming the very last episode including Mrs. Doyle’s “Will you have a cup of tea of the series, the main actor, Dermot Morgan who father…” and Dougal’s “That’s mad, Ted…”. played the part of Father Ted, died suddenly from a Head of marketing with An Post Julie Gill said “We are heart attack.
    [Show full text]
  • 2008 Programme Review
    CHANNEL 4 REVIEW OF 2008 Major Themes in 2008 2008 was a year of dramatic creative renewal for Channel 4. In March, the organisation published Next on 4, a policy document laying out its public service vision for the future. Creative renewal in the schedule was evident even before then, with a raft of new programming in January occupying the space occupied in previous years by Celebrity Big Brother, which was rested. Over the course of the year, a range of authored series and campaigning programmes exemplified Channel 4’s renewed commitment to high-impact programming capable of engaging mass-market audiences, stimulating debate and generating interest in important social, political and cultural issues. However, Channel 4’s ability to fulfil its public service ambitions were curtailed by the downturn in the advertising market towards the end of the year, leading to significant reductions in the programming budget for both 2008 and 2009. In an increasingly competitive environment, Channel 4’s portfolio of channels and services maintained its viewing share at 11.9 per cent. The core channel share fell from 8.7 per cent in 2007 to 8.2 per cent in 2008. Next on 4 Dramatic changes are reshaping the UK broadcasting ecology, as it moves towards a fully digital world. Viewers will have access to dozens, if not hundreds of channels, as well as the rapidly growing variety of video services delivered online. In this context, Channel 4 reaffirmed its commitment in Next on 4 to remain a publicly-owned public service broadcaster whose primary purpose is the fulfilment of its legislative remit.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wild Atlantic Way
    The Wild Atlantic Way By IRISH CAR RENTALS Image: Tourism Ireland 1 Contents The Wild Atlantic Way is travelled by thousands of 4 Some of the most popular attractions Irish Car Rentals customers every year. We decided to ask them about their experiences and with that 6 The Search for Skywalker: A Look at Skellig Michael, Co. Kerry information we have compiled a useful guide on the 10 Viewing the Northern Lights: Co. Donegal most frequented and popular places. 12 The Cliffs of Moher: Co. Clare Have you never heard of the Wild Atlantic Way? 16 The Slieve League Coast: Co Donegal Here are a few interesting facts to get you started: 20 Father Ted’s Craggy Island Parochial House: Co. Clare • The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2500km touring 22 Malin Head and Mizen Head: Ireland’s North and South route along the West Coast of Ireland. • It features 157 discovery points, 1000 attractions and more than 2500 activities. • Begins in Kinsale, County Cork and ends at Irelands most northernly point, Malin Head, County Donegal. Image: Fáilte Ireland 2 3 Some of the most popular attractions The Wild Atlantic Way is vast in scope, and choosing what you would most like to see, what order to visit where, or even a place to begin your adventure can seem daunting. That being the case, when we asked our customers which parts they loved in particular, we found several places being mentioned time and again. Cork – Known by its population as and make their journey around the ‘Real Capital of Ireland’, the the Ring a day trip, while others city of Cork is a historic trading port like to sample a little of the time, with a long history.
    [Show full text]
  • Arthur Mathews
    Arthur Mathews Agent Katie Haines ([email protected]) In Development: PREPPERS (BBC Comedy) FLEMP (Roughcut Television) TOOTHTOWN with Simon Godley (Yellow Door Productions) Television: ROAD TO BREXIT (Objective/BBC Two) Starring Matt Berry TOAST OF LONDON (Objective/C4) Series 1, 2 & 3 Co-written with Matt Berry Nominated for BAFTA Best Situation Comedy 2014 Winner of the Rose d'Or for Best Sitcom at the 53rd Rose d'Or Festival 2014 Nominated for an RTS Programme Award 2013 TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW (BBC) 2015/16 Sketches FORKLIFTERS (Channel 4) VAL FALVEY (Grand Pictures / RTE1) Series 2 2010; Series 1 2008-9 6 x 30’ - co-written with Paul Woodfull Co-Director (Series 1) THIS IS IRELAND (CHX / BBC2) 2004 Writer and Script Editor BIG TRAIN (Talkback Productions / BBC2) Series 1 & 2 1998-2001 Co-Creator and Writer HIPPIES (Talkback Productions / BBC) 1999 Co-created and co-written with Graham Linehan FATHER TED (Hat Trick Productions / Channel 4) 3 Series 1995-1998 Co-created & Co-written with Graham Linehan HARRY & PAUL (Tiger Aspect Productions / BBC) SERIES C 2010 Various sketches THE EEJITS (Objective / Channel 4) 2007 Comedy Showcase Pilot MODERN MEN (TalkbackThames/Channel 4) 2007 Guest Writer / Script Editor for Armstrong & Bain IT CROWD (TalkbackThames/Channel 4) Series 2 2006 Writing Consultant STEW (Script Editor and Writer) 2003 -2006 Grand Pictures for RTE THE CATHERINE TATE SHOW (Tiger Aspect/BBC2) Series 1 & 2 2004/2005 Sketch Material BRASS EYE (TalkBack /Channel 4) 1997 Various Sketches THE FAST SHOW (BBC2) 1994-1997
    [Show full text]
  • Broadcast Bulletin Issue Number
    O fcom Broadcast Bulletin Issue number 122 24 November 2008 1 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 122 24 November 2008 Contents Introduction 4 Standards cases In Breach News Bulletins Nepali TV, various dates, August 2008 Closeup1 Nepali TV, 22 September 2008, 10:40 Amount of advertising Nepali TV, 22 September 2008, 11:00-12:00 5 Sponsorship of Super Scoreboard by Verve car dealership News, Clyde 1 (Glasgow), 4 August 2008, 09:00 Super Scoreboard, Clyde 1 (Glasgow), 9 August 2008, 12:45 8 Resolved Faking It Changed My Life UKTV People, 30 August 2008, 10:00 11 Not in Breach Friday Plus Bangla TV, 29 June 2007, 19:30 12 Fairness & Privacy cases Upheld and Partly Upheld Complaint by Ms A made on her behalf by Ms B Scotland Today, STV, 18 January 2008 15 Complaint by Dr Fazal Mahmood, Mr Gulam Robbani Rumi and Mr Shah Hadi Bangladesh Protideen, Bangla Television, 25 June 2007; News, Bangla Television, 25, 28 and 29 June, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 20 and 27 July 2007; Friday Plus, Bangla Television, 29 June, 6, 13 and 20 July, 3 and 17 August and 7 September 2007 19 Complaint by Mr Nazrul Islam Bashon News, Bangla Television, 28 June and 8 July 2007 Friday Plus, Bangla Television, 29 June 2007 32 Complaint by Channel S Global Limited and Mr Mahee Ferdahus made on their behalf by BACI Solicitors News, Bangla Television, 1 July 2007 Friday Plus, Bangla Television, 29 June, 6 and 13 July 2007 40 Complaint by Dr Fazal Mahmood, Mr Gulam Robbani Rumi and Mr Shah Hadi made on their behalf by G Adams & Co Solicitors News, Channel S Plus Limited
    [Show full text]
  • The Point of Banter in the Television Show Pointless Linda Pilliere
    The Point of Banter in the television show Pointless Linda Pilliere To cite this version: Linda Pilliere. The Point of Banter in the television show Pointless. Manuel Jobert; Sandrine Sorilin. The Pramatics of Irony and Banter, Chapter 8, John Benjamins, pp.141-164, 2018, 9789027200532. 10.1075/lal.30.08pil. hal-01995853 HAL Id: hal-01995853 https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01995853 Submitted on 24 Mar 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 Author accepted manuscript1 Chapter published in: The Pragmatics of Irony and Banter, edited by Manuel Jobert and Sandrine Sorlin John Benjamins, (Linguistic Approaches to Literature 30) 2018, pp. 141-164. https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.30.08pil Linda Pillière, Aix Marseille Univ, LERMA, Aix-en-Provence, France The Point of Banter in the Television Show Pointless ABSTRACT This paper explores banter within the television quiz show Pointless. Building on previous theories of banter, I suggest that the composite nature of the phenomenon can usefully be analysed within an interactional pragmatic model, such as that proposed by Lecercle (1999). Using this model to analyse various episodes of Pointless, I seek to demonstrate that banter is created within a dynamic interpersonal process.
    [Show full text]
  • WILL ING Writer
    WILL ING Writer Television 2020- CHANNEL HOPPING WITH JON RICHARDSON 2021 Rumpus Media 2019- THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MOVIES 2021 CPL Productions/ Sky1 2018- A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN 2021 CPL Productions/Sky1 8 OUT OF 10 CATS DOES COUNTDOWN Zeppotron, 2012-19 2019- GOLDIES OLDIES 2020 Viacom 2019 WHAT HAPPENS IF Screen Glue 2017 ZAPPED Co-Creator & Co-Writer (with Paul Powell and Will Ing) of a high-concept series Black Dog Television and Baby Cow Productions for UKTV (2 series) 8 OUT OF 10 CATS Zeppotron/More 4 THE ROYAL VARIETY PERFORMANCE ITV UNSPUN WITH MATT FORDE Avalon (Series 2) BIG STAR’S LITTLE STAR 12 Yard/ITV (Series 4 & 5) A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN CPL Productions/Sky1 FABLE Pilot script in development with Baby Cow/Microsoft LAST IN LINE Co-Creator & Co-Writer (with Paul Powell and Dan Gaster) of pilot script Black Dog Television / Kudos MY FAMILY AND OTHER IDIOTS Co-Creator & Co-Writer (with Paul Powell and Dan Gaster) of pilot script Black Dog Television NICE GUY EDDIE Co-Creator & Co-Writer (with Paul Powell and Dan Gaster) of pilot script Black Dog Television 2015 8 OUT OF 10 CATS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Zeppotron/Channel 4 BIG STAR’S LITTLE STAR 12 Yard/ITV WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON? BBC Earth 2014 YOU SAW THEM HERE FIRST Three Series, ITV RELATIVELY CLEVER Scriptwriter, John Stanley Productions/Sky LIVE AT THE APOLLO Additional material, Open Mike/BBC COMEDY PLAYHOUSE Writing for Victoria Wood WILD THINGS Additional material, IWC Media/Sky 1 OPERATION OUCH Two Series for CBBC/Maverick LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU STV/ITV HOLLYWOOD SQUARES Non-TX Pilot for Group M MARCEL LE CONT SHOW Non-TX Pilot for BBC, 2014 2013 10 O’CLOCK LIVE Two Series, Zeppotron, 2012-2013 SHOW ME THE TELLY ITV HOW TO WIN EUROVISION BBC WHEN MIRANDA MET BRUCE BBC SECRET EATERS Endemol/Channel 4 FAKE REACTION Two Series for STV Productions/ITV, 2011-2013 AND YOU ARE? Co-Creator & Co-Writer, hosted by Miranda Hart.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Gary Joins Stellar Line-Up to Boost Business in Yorkshire
    Friday 2nd June 2017 Sir Gary joins stellar line-up to boost business in Yorkshire Sir Gary Verity will speak alongside UK business icon Baroness Karren Brady CBE and BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson CBE at a new networking event in Yorkshire. The Business Day at Bridlington Spa on Friday, June 9 - hosted by presenter, comedian and actor Alexander Armstrong - aims to boost business across the region and inspire new ideas. It is the first time Bridlington Spa has held such a high-profile business networking day and it is set to become an annual event, giving Yorkshire delegates an invaluable opportunity to gain insight into the local and national economy. The whole venue will be dedicated to The Business Day with room for more than 650 delegates. Keynote speeches by Sir Gary, Baroness Brady and John Simpson will be delivered from the impressive Spa Theatre stage, while exhibitors and sponsors will be in the Royal Hall. Breakout sessions throughout the day will give delegates a chance to get to know each other. Sir Gary will talk about the part he plays in showcasing the county’s thriving tourist economy on a global scale. Since joining Welcome to Yorkshire in 2008, he has increased the county’s profile on a regional, national and international level. He has built on the success of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ with the annual Tour de Yorkshire international stage race, broadcast in 180 countries worldwide and attracting millions of roadside spectators. In April this year, he was awarded a top honour by the French Government, a chevalier medal in the Ordre National du Mérite.
    [Show full text]
  • Steve Bugeja Embarks on Biggest Tour to Date Including Week Long Run at Soho Theatre Following Sell out Edinburgh Fringe
    STEVE BUGEJA EMBARKS ON BIGGEST TOUR TO DATE INCLUDING WEEK LONG RUN AT SOHO THEATRE FOLLOWING SELL OUT EDINBURGH FRINGE Bugeja has an eye for original comic detail that’s all his own James Kettle, The Guardian drum-tight, as if polished by a sitcom writers’ room to cram as many jokes in as humanly possible ★★★★ Steve Bennett, Chortle blends the intelligence of a well crafted hour with some touching emotional honesty ★★★★ Jay Richardson, The Scotsman Steve Bugeja is set to tour across the UK with his 4th solo show Almost building on the success of a critically- acclaimed, sell-out, run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He will perform his latest and most confessional stand up hour yet from 8th September to 23rd February, including 6 nights at London’s Soho Theatre from 1st to 6th October. Tickets can be bought at stevebugeja.com. Trapped on a 13-hour flight, Steve receives a text that flips his world upside down, leading him to question his entire life and how little he’s achieved in it (aside from having a top score on the computer game Train Simulator, but you can’t tell your grandkids that). Determined not to go through life with nothing to show for it, he attempts to become a more interesting, erudite, all round exceptional person. No longer content with wasting his life away on computer games, the BBC New Comedy Award winner tackles heartbreak head on, in a show that will see Steve stick it to the man and become the person he never thought he could be.
    [Show full text]