Title: British TV Drama News
Fangy and grrr - September 27, 2007 03:19 PM (GMT)
New team for Messiah.
From Digital Spy:
From Digital Spy:
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| Fifth outing for BBC One's 'Messiah' Thursday, September 27 2007, 12:33 BST By Joanne Oatts, Media Correspondent Hustle actor Marc Warren is to play DCI Joseph Walker in the fifth story of BBC One's Messiah. Lost actress Marsha Thomason will play DS Mel Palmer and The Street's Daniel Ryan will star as DI Terry Hedges in the two-part murder mystery series. Patrick Spence, BBC Northern Ireland's head of drama, said: "We are ecstatic Marc is heading up our wonderful new cast. He will help us lift Messiah to ever new heights. Once again, with a thumping good script from writer Oliver Brown, Great Meadow have given us something special, a drama to be really proud of." Produced by Great Meadow Productions, the drama has been written by Oliver Brown and will be directed by Harry Bradbeer. Currently filming in Northern Ireland until mid-October, Messiah V will transmit on BBC One in Winter 2008. The show first aired in May 2001 and was last seen, starring Ken Stott, in August 2005. |
Fangy and grrr - September 27, 2007 03:26 PM (GMT)
From The Media Guardian:
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| ITV1 to air death squad drama Ben Dowell Wednesday September 26, 2007 MediaGuardian.co.uk ITV1 has given the green light to The Fixer, a new six-part drama from Kudos Film and Television about a group of people hired to kill Britain's "untouchable" criminals. Starring veteran actor Peter Mullan as Kenny Jameson, a retired police officer who pulls together the dubious official operation, the drama also stars Tamzin Outhwaite as Rose, a "sharp-tongued seducer", and Party Animals actor Andrew Buchan as John Mercer, a former special forces operative. Jody Lee Latham, best known for playing Phillip "Lip" Gallagher in Channel 4's hit drama series Shameless, and The Street actor Liz White also star in the drama, which has just started filming and is expected to air on ITV1 in either spring or autumn next year. The drama will also benefit from the experience of Kudos, the producer of hit BBC1 dramas Spooks, Hustle and Life On Mars, and the commission reflects ITV1's eagerness, first reported in MediaGuardian.co.uk last April to redirect its drama output to more upmarket productions. Commissioned by ITV's director of drama, Laura Mackie, the series has been created and written by Ben Richards, whose credits include Spooks, Channel 4 nursing series No Angels and BBC2 political drama series Party Animals, and by Spooks writer Neil Cross. "With Mercer and his team operating at the very edges of the law, this is a thriller that will ask our audiences tough questions about justice and what happens when the long arm of the law isn't quite long enough," Ms Mackie said |
Sounds quite interesting especially for an ITV drama. :ponder:
little pixie - October 9, 2007 06:53 PM (GMT)
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| BBC drama for ex-West Wing actor Bradley Whitford, star of US drama The West Wing, is to appear in a new BBC thriller centred around climate change. Burn Up, which will be screened next year on BBC Two, will also feature Spooks actor Rupert Penry-Jones and Hollywood star Neve Campbell. Filming begins this month in Calgary, before moving to London next year. Whitford has been seen most recently playing a producer on a fictional entertainment show in Aaron Sorkin's series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also won an Emmy in 2001 for his performance in The West Wing, playing Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff at a fictional White House. 'Potent cocktail' Burn Up is promoted as charting the clashes between a politician, a green activist and an oil industrialist as they battle for economic success and environmental responsibility. Rupert Penry-Jones currently plays Adam Carter in Spooks The trio collide as they prepare to attend a summit on climate change. Lucy Richer, a commissioning editor for drama at the BBC, said the series would be "wholly of this unique moment in time" and called it an "epic proposition". Stephen Garrett of producers Kudos Film and Television hailed Burn Up as "a potent cocktail of fiction and fact that we hope will enlighten as much as it will entertain". Kudos is responsible for making Spooks and also produced the hit serial Life on Mars. |
little pixie - October 12, 2007 07:05 PM (GMT)
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| Suchet returns to play 'Poirot' on ITV Thursday, October 11 2007, 13:27 BST By Joanne Oatts, Media Correspondent David Suchet is to reprise his role as Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth in a series of four new Poirot films for ITV1. An adaptation of Mrs McGinty’s Dead begins filming this autumn. The drama is being directed by Afterlife's Ashley Pearce and has been adapted by Nick Dear (Eroica, Byron). Corinne Hollingsworth, ITV’s head of continuing drama said: "Poirot is one of ITV's most popular titles, and we're absolutely thrilled to be able to commission four more exciting films, featuring, once again, the incomparable David Suchet as Hercule Poirot." Zoë Wanamaker will return in the role of Ariadne Oliver, a character which first appeared on screen in Cards On The Table in 2006. Some believe Christie based the eccentric crime novelist, who appeared in six novels with Poirot, on herself. Phil Clymer from Chorion, which owns Agatha Christie Ltd, said: "We are thrilled that ITV are continuing to show support and enthusiasm for the world's most famous detective. We share an ambition with David Suchet that the entire Poirot library will be filmed in the next few years, and that ITV will continue to be our partners in crime." Suchet last appeared as Poirot in four films for ITV in 2006, the first of which, The Mystery of The Blue Train, attracted a ratings peak of 8 million viewers. The Poirot stories are co-produced by ITV Productions, Chorion's Agatha Christie Ltd, and Boston public television station WGBH. |
Fangy and grrr - October 16, 2007 12:56 AM (GMT)
A new version of the Anne Frank story;
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| New Anne Frank drama to air on BBC Leigh Holmwood Monday October 15, 2007 MediaGuardian.co.uk The BBC is to dramatise the diary of Anne Frank, the German Jewish girl forced to hide from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic, in a series that will be shown across a week. BBC1 will schedule the five 30-minute episodes of The Diary of Anne Frank - which will be made by Darlow Smithson Productions, the company behind Oscar-winning documentary Touching the Void - in pre-watershed slot early next year. The drama will follow the scheduling model of Bleak House, which was broadcast in the same way after EastEnders in December 2005 and proved a success, pulling in 6 million viewers. Deborah Moggach, whose credits include the recent film version of Pride and Prejudice, wrote the new Anne Frank drama. It will tell Frank's story from before the days she was forced into hiding with her family and friends in a secret annex above a warehouse and through the two years they spent in the cramped and increasingly harsh conditions. Frank will be played by relative newcomer Ellie Kendrick, with her father Otto played by Kingdom of Heaven's Iain Glen. Green Wing's Tamsin Gregg will play Frank's mother Edith, while Cape Wrath's Felicity Jones will star as Frank's sister Margot Frank. Executive producer John Smithson said: "This is one of those wonderful iconic stories that resonates to this day and we are thrilled to have secured the rights. "The Diary of Anne Frank is an intimate portrayal of a family living through the most horrifying times but yet managing to maintain a sense of hope. "We wanted audiences to identify with all the characters in the story - particularly Anne, who as a bright, funny, energetic teenager, today still seems entirely modern." The BBC commissioning editor, Polly Hill, added: "Despite the horrors of the time and the ultimate tragedy of this family, Anne was a teenage girl, recognisable the world over, having to cope with the usual problems of growing up - albeit in extraordinary circumstances. "We hope this drama will bring Anne alive to viewers of all generations." Darlow Smithson acquired the rights to the diary from the Anne Frank Fonds, the body that administers the copyright to Frank's writings. The Diary of Anne Frank is said to be the world's most widely read work of non-fiction after the Bible. |
Fangy and grrr - November 18, 2007 03:48 PM (GMT)
A new historical sleuth coming to our screens.
From The MediaGuardian;
From The MediaGuardian;
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| Branagh to play Tudor sleuth BBC picks actor-director to play hunchback agent of Henry VIII as it focuses on landmark projects Ben Dowell and Vanessa Thorpe Sunday November 18, 2007 The Observer Kenneth Branagh, the Oscar-nominated actor and director, is to star as a 16th-century detective in a major new BBC TV series. He is to follow the path of other celebrated performers, such as Derek Jacobi, who have found popular success solving crimes while dressed in period costume. Branagh, 46, plans to take the role of a hunchback lawyer named Shardlake who works for the key power brokers of the Tudor court, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer. Negotiations to bring Shardlake, the idiosyncratic character at the centre of a series of mystery novels by CJ Sansom, to the small screen are believed to be in their final stages. Sansom's three books have won praise for their evocations of the brutality of life in the Tudor period and for his strength as a storyteller. His disabled hero lives and works in Lincoln's Inn in the 1540s. Branagh's return to television drama - the medium in which he first made his mark playing a young Northern Ireland boy, Billy Martin, in a landmark Play For Today trilogy in the early Eighties - marks a significant change of direction for the actor and film-maker, who has recently released screen versions of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Peter Shaffer's play Sleuth The star and director of admired film adaptations of Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet last appeared in a TV role in the acclaimed 2002 Channel 4 film Shackleton, which told the story of the polar explorer's unsuccessful Antarctic expedition. Branagh, the former partner of actresses Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter, also won plaudits for his 2001 portrayal of Reinhard Heydrich in the award-winning Nazi drama Conspiracy The actor now stands to be one of the first beneficiaries of the BBC's new strategy of commissioning 'fewer but bigger and better' projects, as outlined by the director-general, Mark Thompson. The makers of the Shardlake series will be hoping to repeat the success of the Nineties drama series Cadfael, which starred Jacobi as Ellis Peters's sleuthing 12th-century monk. The series ran over 13 films between 1994 and 1998, during which time Jacobi's habit-wearing Benedictine was called on to solve a succession of brutal murders. A BBC commission of an adaptation of the first Sansom novel, Dissolution, is expected to be followed by more of the Shardlake books. Sansom, a former solicitor who lives in Sussex, is working on a fourth Shardlake story and has been consulted on the TV series. In Dissolution, Shardlake, who supports religious reform, witnesses the viciousness of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries and has to cope with the aftermath of the murder of a commissioner who is overseeing the closure at Scarnsea on the Sussex coast. The next two Shardlake books are Dark Fire, in which he is involved in the defence of a girl accused of child murder, and Sovereign, which sees the lawyer dispatched by Cranmer to York to escort a prisoner back to the Tower of London to undergo brutal questioning. Sansom, who has a history PhD from Birmingham University, is completing a story called Revelation, which the writer has suggested will tell of 'nasty things ... happening among the extreme Protestant sects in the capital'. After that, he hopes to produce a Shardlake novel set entirely in a courtroom. One critic has praised Sansom's 'superb approximation of the crucible of fear, treachery and mistrust that was Tudor England, and a memorably blood-swollen portrait of the ogreish Henry's inhumane kingship'. One of Sansom's biggest fans is Colin Dexter, the creator of Inspector Morse, who said Dissolution was one of the best crime novels he had read in 2003. TV's history squad Christopher Foyle in Foyle's War Reserved and charismatic, this Second World War police detective was played by Michael Kitchen in the ITV series set in Hastings. A huge success, seen by more than 60 million viewers around the world, Foyle was hailed by some as the new Inspector Morse, which is exactly what screenwriter Anthony Horowitz had been asked to create. Marcus Didius Falco A Roman private investigator working during the reign of Vespasian, he was the central character in a series of 18 novels by Lindsey Davis. Falco was dispatched on various successful missions by the emperor and also wrote poetry. The 1993 Falco film Age of Treason, with Bryan Brown playing Falco, was disowned by the author. Brother Cadfael The Shrewsbury Abbey medieval sleuth created by Ellis Peters in 1977. Peters wrote 20 Cadfael novels, translated into numerous languages. When the detective monk was portrayed by Derek Jacobi on television, pictured right, it helped to make Shrewsbury a tourist destination. Research by Luc Torres |
little pixie - January 10, 2008 03:21 PM (GMT)
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| Branagh to play Swedish detective Thursday, January 10 2008, 13:22 GMT By Beth Hilton Kenneth Branagh has landed the role of a Swedish detective in a new BBC drama series. The actor-director will play Kurt Wallander in the £6m production, based on the novels of Swedish writer Henning Mankell. The 47-year-old will film three 90-minute episodes of Wallander, which is set in the town of Ystad in the Scandinavian country. He told Broadcast magazine: "Wallander is a wonderfully complex and compelling character and I am excited to be playing this fascinatingly flawed but deeply human detective." Producer Andy Harries said: "This is more than just a detective series. It's fantastic drama, great stories and an absolutely beautiful setting. Visually these films are going to be very strong. Ken Branagh is perfect for the title role." The books depict Wallander as a detective in his fifties who is beset by problems including a failed marriage, excessive alcohol consumption and diabetes. He was sued for brutality during his early career and has been known to break the rules when he feels the situation demands it. Branagh was last seen on television in Channel 4's 2002 drama Shackleton. |
little pixie - January 25, 2008 02:38 PM (GMT)
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| 'Dorrit' to be BBC1's next Dickens drama Friday, January 25 2008, 09:32 GMT By Dave West BBC Drama Productions is making a 15-part series of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit for BBC One. It comes after serial adaptations of Bleak House and Oliver Twist and has been written by Andrew Davies who scripted the former. The "rags to riches and back again" tale will star Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks) as Arthur Clennam while other casting is still to be announced. There will be one 60 minute show and 14 half-hours in a similar pattern to Bleak House. Filming will begin in April with Anne Pivcevic (Sense And Sensibility) executive producing. Lisa Osborne will produce and Dearbhla Walsh (The Tudors) and Adam Smith (Skins) will direct. Kate Harwood, head of series and serials, said: "Following on from the success of Bleak House and Oliver Twist, BBC Drama Production is thrilled to be bringing Little Dorrit, Dickens' great tale of imprisonment and yearning to the screen." BBC fiction controller Jane Tranter, who commissioned the series, added: "Making classic adaptations both accessible and relevant to a broad modern audience is one of the great privileges of working with BBC Drama Productions, and we anticipate that Little Dorrit will bring 19th century Victorian London to life with all the verve and impact of our very best drama." Little Dorrit will air in the Autumn. |
:thumbsup:
little pixie - January 25, 2008 02:47 PM (GMT)
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| ITV announces three new dramas, including new Sharpe Big news from ITV a few minutes ago - it's announced the commissioning of three brand-new dramas for 2008. I think ITV is really trying hard these days. I'm still not that keen on half the stuff it does, but there are lights at the end of the tunnel and I really hope it can pull something off. It'll just mean more good stuff to watch and a competitive televisual marketplace. So here we go then, the three dramas. First up is Whitechapel, a serial killer drama starring Spooks' Ruper Penry Jones and the always terrific Phil Davis (last seen in TV Scoop fave Bike Squad). These two make up an unlikely investigating team when a series of bloody and impossible murders hit the east end of London, baring striking resemblences to the Jack The Ripper murders. A bloke who's a expert in all things myths, legends and Ripperology joins the team and they're off, trying to get to the bottom of the crimes. Next up is The Children, starring Kevin Whately, Lesley Sharp, Geraldine Somerville and Ian Puleston-Davies. It's a 'dark thriller', and it starts when police arrive at the scene of a crime, where eight-year-old Emily has been murdered in her own home. Happy start then. Then we have the Sharpe thing. He returned to ITV a few years ago after a massive eight-year gap, and now the man who likes to swash a buckle or two is back again. Sharpe's Peril sees Sharpe and Harper on their way to Madras in India, when they come up against an East India baggage train. It's attacked by baddies and Sharpe has to lead the whole bally lot of them through 300 miles of enemy territory. Sean Bean returns in the title role, if you were wondering. |
BouncyCastle - January 25, 2008 03:35 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Fangy and grrr @ Sep 27 2007, 04:26 PM) | ||
From The Media Guardian:
Sounds quite interesting especially for an ITV drama. :ponder: |
Tamzin Othwaite is pregnant. I wonder if this will affect her appearance in the show?
little pixie - January 25, 2008 04:44 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (BouncyCastle @ Jan 25 2008, 03:35 PM) | ||||
Tamzin Othwaite is pregnant. I wonder if this will affect her appearance in the show? |
Maybe she`ll be hidden behind really chunky criminals ? :ponder:
Or they change her character from `seducer` to ` already seduced `. :ph43r:
little pixie - February 8, 2008 11:54 AM (GMT)
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| BBC developing 'Palliser' series Thursday, February 7 2008, 16:53 GMT By Dave West, Media Correspondent The BBC is developing a series based on adaptations of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels. Andrew Davies, who adapted Bleak House, Sense and Sensibility, A Room with a View and Fanny Hill for television, is working on scripts. The series is likely to be of half-hour episodes like Bleak House, though it is not yet known how many there will be or which channel they are for. It will be produced by BBC Drama Productions and is expected to air next year. The books are about rich aristocrat and politician Plantagenet Palliser. Davies is also working on Charles Dickens adaptation Little Dorrit and Speak for England for the BBC and an ITV1 drama based on novel Sleep with Me. |
little pixie - February 20, 2008 04:18 PM (GMT)
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| David Suchet to quit as 'Poirot' Wednesday, February 20 2008, 13:28 GMT By Beth Hilton, Entertainment Reporter digitalspy.co.uk David Suchet has revealed that his new film will be his last outing as Hercule Poirot. The 61-year-old will play Agatha Christie's Belgian detective for the final time in forthcoming episode Appointment With Death. The actor has starred in more than 60 feature-length shows in the Poirot franchise since 1989. He is quoted as saying: "After filming Appointment With Death in Jordan, I'm going to end it there. "I'm told it's quite warm in Jordan, so I'll be very hot in all my padding. But I've decided that I will hang up my spats when I finish that story." |
:o :tear:
little pixie - February 23, 2008 05:22 PM (GMT)
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| Suchet denies he is quitting 'Poirot' Digitalspy clicky Thursday, February 21 2008, 15:47 GMT By Beth Hilton, Entertainment Reporter David Suchet has denied reports that his next outing as Hercule Poirot will be his last. It had been claimed that the 61-year-old will play Agatha Christie's Belgian detective for the final time in forthcoming episode Appointment With Death. However, he told the Daily Telegraph that there was no truth in the rumours, saying: "Fans needn't worry. I want to finish the remaining eight stories before I hang up my spats as Poirot." Suchet has starred in more than 60 feature-length shows in the ITV franchise since 1989. |
Phew ! :lol:
Laura - February 25, 2008 06:36 PM (GMT)
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| ITV1 has axed Rebus but ordered another ten episodes of Taggart. Rebus has run since 2000 starring John Hannah, then more recently Ken Stott, as the title character. Stott has now dropped out and ITV confirmed no more episodes were planned. However, SMG Productions, which made the show, today said it had been given a new order for Taggart which will take it to more than 100 episodes. SMG managing director Elizabeth Partyka said the deal was "testament to the hugely talented production team working on the series in Scotland" and noted it is coming up to 25 years since the show began. "We are thrilled to be producing Taggart's 100th episode in its Silver Jubilee year," she said. "It's a big year for a very big drama!" ITV drama director Laura Mackie added: "Taggart is one of the most enduring brands on British television and we are delighted that viewers will be able to enjoy these new episodes on ITV1." |
little pixie - February 25, 2008 09:00 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Laura @ Feb 25 2008, 06:36 PM) |
| I really liked Rebus :( , but :thumbsup: to more Taggart. |
Do they have any original characters left ? :blink: ;)
Laura - February 25, 2008 09:14 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (little pixie @ Feb 25 2008, 09:00 PM) | ||
Do they have any original characters left ? :blink: ;) |
Nope :lol:. I quite like the new(ish) team they've got now though, I've missed most of the last season since it was on the same night as my pub quiz and they don't bother putting it on the catch up thing on the website (I'm guessing because it's only shown up here? :ermm: )
little pixie - February 26, 2008 01:26 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Laura @ Feb 25 2008, 09:14 PM) | ||||
Nope :lol:. I quite like the new(ish) team they've got now though, I've missed most of the last season since it was on the same night as my pub quiz and they don't bother putting it on the catch up thing on the website (I'm guessing because it's only shown up here? :ermm: ) |
It`s on in the Central region. :unsure:
Laura - February 26, 2008 01:58 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (little pixie @ Feb 26 2008, 01:26 PM) | ||||||
It`s on in the Central region. :unsure: |
Hmm, wonder why they didn't put it up online :ponder:
little pixie - March 12, 2008 04:14 PM (GMT)
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| BBC1 making thriller from 'Hustle' director Wednesday, March 12 2008, 16:04 GMT By Dave West, Media Correspondent BBC One is developing a new psychological thriller series from the director of Hustle. From Otto Bathurst, who also made Five Days, Criminal Justice sees main character Ben Coulter framed for a murder in a complex conspiracy. It will star Ben Whishaw (Perfume), Con O’Neill (Waking the Dead) and Pete Postlethwaite. The BBC is working on five hour-long episodes of the show, which is being billed as a "psychological thriller with sex, murder and action at its core". It is not yet known when it will go to air. Anke Stoll, head of acquisitions for the show's international distributor, Portman Film & Television, said it "brings a cast and crew with a fantastic pedigree". |
little pixie - April 24, 2008 02:40 PM (GMT)
A quick plug for a couple of shows on this Sunday...
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| Midsomer Murders :thumbsup: Sunday 27 April 8:00pm - 10:00pm ITV1 Carlton Central They Seek Him Here A film crew has arrived in Midsomer to make a version of Baroness Orczy's French Revolution novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel. But the astoundingly inventive serial killers who lurk behind every bush in this deceptively quiet, bucolic yet bonkers part of England know an offbeat murder weapon when they see one. Thus the guillotine is pressed into gruesome use on the film's odious director, who makes himself unpopular with everyone in the first ten minutes, thereby marking himself out, with Midsomer Murders' customary delightful hamfistedness, as First Prospective Victim. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby (John Nettles) lumbers onto the scene with his devoted sidekick to confront embittered extras and an outrageously stereotypical queeny actor. He even gives casting advice. What a man! RT reviewer - Alison Graham |
And...
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| Miss Austen Regrets Sunday 27 April 8:00pm - 9:30pm BBC1 S There are pitfalls in spinning out tales of historical letters, but this lovely, wistful drama avoids them all. Based on the letters of Jane Austen, it charts the later years of a writer who captured romance better than anyone, but never herself married - "Like someone who can't cook writing a recipe book," as she puts it here. In the lead role, Olivia Williams gives a glowing, beautifully detailed performance. Her 40-something Jane is no prim maiden aunt: sharpwitted and mischievous, she guides her niece Fanny (Imogen Poots) through the thickets of infatuation, even as she wonders about a last chance for herself. Hugh Bonneville pines quietly as a rejected early admirer; Pip Torrens and Adrian Edmondson are excellent as her brothers, while Greta Scacchi slow-burns as elder sister Cassandra. It's a sunlit, gorgeously filmed story, but the cold draughts of loneliness and poverty blow through it, too. If, as someone glibly observed, Jane Austen's works are Mills & Boon raised to the level of genius, this is Sunday night telly raised about as high as it goes. RT reviewer - David Butcher VIDEO Plus+: 82843 Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described Episode written by Gwyneth Hughes Cast Jane Austen - Olivia Williams Fanny Knight - Imogen Poots Cassandra Austen - Greta Scacchi Rev Brook Bridges - Hugh Bonneville Edward Austen-Knight - Pip Torrens Henry Austen - Adrian Edmondson Mrs Austen - Phyllida Law Dr Charles Haden - Jack Huston Mme Bigeon - Sylvie Herbert Mr John Plumptree - Tom Hiddleston Mr Lushington MP - Tom Goodman-Hill Rev Charles Papillon - Harry Gostelow Anna Lefroy - Sally Tatum Rev Clarke - Jason Watkins |
:)
little pixie - May 3, 2008 06:59 PM (GMT)
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| ITV3 plans crime drama awards, season Saturday, May 3 2008, 14:52 BST By Dave West, Media Correspondent ITV3 is planning a crime drama-themed season culminating in its first Crime Drama Awards ceremony. In the run-up to the autumn event the channel will air six programmes profiling authors including Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Lynda La Plante, Val McDermid and P.D. James. The shows will be followed by television dramas based on their books, such as Inspector Morse, Wire in the Blood and Rebus. Viewers will vote for their favourite author while other awards will cover film, television and novels. "The ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards, and the preceding crime thriller season, are the perfect way for ITV3 to cement its reputation as the home of great storytelling and, in particular, great crime thrillers," said ITV and CITV controller Emma Tennant. "I look forward to hearing which characters, series and novels are the nation's favourites, culminating with the ITV3 viewer's choice award for the top crime author." |
little pixie - June 1, 2008 12:51 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| 'Jonathan Creek' revived for Xmas special Sunday, June 1 2008, 07:34 BST By Dave West, Media Correspondent BBC One is planning a Jonathan Creek Christmas special nearly five years after the series ended. Alan Davies will return to star in a 90-minute episode of the popular comedy drama and filming is expected to start in the summer. David Renwick, who created and wrote the show, told Broadcast: "After a five year break I think we're all looking forward to getting Creek back on the screen, and the BBC appear to be quite excited, so fingers crossed." |
Digitalspy
Ooh, I used to enjoy this. I was thinking just the other day about why they stopped making them. :thumbsup:
What shall I think of next.... :shifty:
Fangy and grrr - June 2, 2008 11:55 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (little pixie @ Jun 1 2008, 12:51 PM) |
| Ooh, I used to enjoy this. I was thinking just the other day about why they stopped making them. :thumbsup: What shall I think of next.... :shifty: |
Veronica Mars Veronica Mars Veronica Mars ;)
little pixie - June 3, 2008 12:58 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Fangy and grrr @ Jun 3 2008, 12:55 AM) | ||
Veronica Mars Veronica Mars Veronica Mars ;) |
:lol:
<< Dons tinfoil hat and starts thinking >>
little pixie - June 19, 2008 04:10 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| Thurman, Ifans to star in BBC Two plays Thursday, June 19 2008, 10:53 BST By Dave West, Media Correspondent BBC Two has signed up star-studded casts for two stage-play adaptations to air later this year. A production of David Hare's My Zinc Bed will feature Uma Thurman as recovering alcoholic Elsa, Paddy Considine as penniless poet Paul Peplow and Jonathan Pryce in the role of Victor Quinn, an internet entrepreneur. The second play - Caryl Churchill's A Number - stars Tom Wilkinson and Rhys Ifans in father and son roles. Bernard, played by Ifans, struggles to understand his identity after discovering he is a clone. "We're delighted that this year plays from David Hare and Caryl Churchill, two of the UK's most prolific and significant playwrights, have found their home on BBC Two and are helping to shine a light on the BBC's overall commitment to the television single," said BBC fiction controller Jane Tranter. |
digitalspy
I`m guessing this is going back to the old Play for Today stuff they used to do. :thumbsup:
little pixie - June 25, 2008 07:32 PM (GMT)
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| Many dramas, one crisis Last Updated: 12:01am BST 24/06/2008 With both the BBC and ITV short of decent new 9pm hits, Neil Midgley asks why Life on Mars launched on BBC1 in January 2006. With its combination of traditional cop show, time travel mystery and the inimitable DCI Gene Hunt, it quickly caught fire as a critical and ratings success. BBC1 made two series, and followed it with a successful spin-off, Ashes to Ashes. But in the intervening two and a half years, BBC1 and ITV1 between them have come up with only one other contemporary weekday drama that can be called a hit – BBC1’s Mistresses. Sean Pertwee and Amanda Redman in ITV's less-than-successful Honest Given that the two broadcasters between them spend in excess of £500million a year on drama, viewers and critics are rightly starting to wonder why the schedules from Monday to Friday are so unenticing – particularly in that important nine o’clock slot. In the early years of this decade, BBC1 grabbed ITV’s mantle as the home of reliably entertaining drama. The era of Cold Feet and Footballers’ Wives ended, giving way to Spooks, Hustle and Life on Mars. TV executives came to revere these three as the holy trinity of divine series. Popular, returnable and neatly saleable abroad, they became a lucrative tentpole of BBC1’s schedule. Known as “high-concept” dramas because of their fabulously glossy conceits and distant removal from everyday life, they spawned a host of imitators. Some, such as BBC1’s reception-desk potboiler Hotel Babylon, have been successful. Others, such as ITV1’s hit man drama The Fixer, less so. The networks’ season launches have been peppered with hopeful new dramas that have come and gone almost without trace. BBC1 tried The Innocence Project in 2006. Last year, ITV1 had a go with The Whistleblowers. Early this year, ITV1 launched a raft of nine o’clock newcomers including The Palace, Honest and Moving Wallpaper. None of them could really be called a hit – though The Fixer and Moving Wallpaper have both been given a second series. Outside weekday evenings, by contrast, both channels have scored successes. Saturday teatime is now awash with popular family drama, as ITV1’s Primeval and BBC1’s Robin Hood – quite brilliant when it hit its stride in its second series – have joined the resurgent Doctor Who. On Sundays, ITV1’s Wild at Heart and Morse spin-off Lewis have become big hits. BBC1 can also point to several original and popular one-off dramas, such as Recovery and Coming Down the Mountain. Its period series, such as Lark Rise to Candleford, remain popular. Cranford was outstanding. Event dramas such as Five Days, which ran over five consecutive nights last year, are working well for the BBC. Next week, it will show the excellent Criminal Justice, another tense and compelling murder mystery – albeit one with a single story arc that cannot return for a second series. And returning warhorses – BBC1’s Waking the Dead and Silent Witness, and ITV1’s Doc Martin and Foyle’s War, continue to attract big audiences. Channel 4, which has a tiny drama budget compared to the two main channels, has been quietly carving out a successful portfolio. After two high-profile series disasters – Goldplated and Cape Wrath – it has been focusing on issue-led one-offs. Boy A, about a child murderer, and Britz, about the radicalisation of British Muslims, both won Baftas this year. Channel 4 can also claim the remarkable achievement of making a drama series that is a genuine hit with teenagers, in the form of Skins. British TV drama clearly does not lack for enthusiasm, creativity or even the common touch. Why, then, are our two main channels finding it so hard to score mainstream hits? On this page tomorrow, the BBC’s drama and comedy supremo, Jane Tranter, and Channel 4’s head of drama, Liza Marshall, will explain their differing philosophies. But all UK broadcasters face some of the same challenges. The first is money. In the face of huge multichannel and online competition, ITV has to fight hard for advertising revenue. The cost of failure in drama is high, which makes it attractive for ITV to commission short, unambitious series – week nine of a flop is hard to sell to advertisers. Though ITV’s drama chief Laura Mackie has been admirably brave in many of her commissions, there is still the temptation to rely on tried and tested formulas. But audiences are growing tired of derivative ideas: Rock Rivals, a drama based on ITV’s hit talent show The X Factor, failed miserably. At the BBC, a lower-than-inflation licence fee settlement and a corporate desire to annex the internet mean that TV’s drama budget is being squeezed. Tranter’s boss, Jana Bennett, last year coined the mantra “fewer, bigger, better” to describe her commissioning policy for the new austerity. In drama, though, this so far seems to translate into “fewer”. Perhaps the most important challenge for both the BBC and ITV, though, is to find the next popular theme for big-budget series. Most of BBC1’s have a core of grit or discomfort, focusing on infidelity, conspiracy or crime. Some of ITV1’s are, well, a bit tawdry. American networks, by contrast, are succeeding with shows based around mesmeric central characters, such as Showtime’s Dexter, about a serial killer with a conscience. Some of the most successful recent US dramas also have a genuine irreverence and lightness of touch, with Desperate Housewives being the most obvious example. British TV viewers are, of course, feeling the pinch of petrol prices and tax increases. Shows that make them feel good – such as ITV’s blockbuster talent franchise Britain’s Got Talent – are the ones succeeding in 2008. Perhaps if TV drama could put a smile on its face, it too might get a warmer welcome. |
little pixie - June 25, 2008 07:33 PM (GMT)
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| How the broadcasters plan to bring us back to drama Last Updated: 12:01am BST 25/06/2008 In our second feature about TV drama, the BBC’s Jane Tranter and C4’s Liza Marshall tell Neil Midgley their ideas for making successful shows Yesterday, I highlighted the difficulties that both the BBC and ITV are having in finding new, contemporary drama hits – particularly at nine o’clock on weekdays. I suggested that financial constraints are clipping the commissioning editors’ ambition and that a lighter approach, moving away from murder and conspiracy, might catch viewers’ imagination. Jane Tranter, the BBC’s controller of fiction, suggests that there’s a more practical explanation for why it’s hard to find an audience for a new show. “When I started commissioning drama eight years ago, as far as returning popular drama series are concerned, there weren’t any,” she says, pointing out that the BBC has subsequently had its share of successes, including Clocking Off, Waking the Dead, Spooks, Hustle and Life on Mars. “It’s like looking for a space in a multi-storey car park,” she says. “When I started commissioning, there were spaces for all sorts of different cars to park. Then if you get successful, you recommission a series and that’s a space in the car park that’s taken up. With fewer spaces, you begin to raise the bar higher and higher for new shows.” It’s certainly true that the BBC and ITV have been getting their best viewing figures with established, popular shows such as Silent Witness and Doc Martin. Tranter – whose massive commissioning portfolio includes all of the BBC’s drama, comedy and films – says that channels need to be ruthless about making room for new ideas. “The minute that the audience don’t enjoy those shows that are slightly older as much as they used to, is the minute you think, fine, we can put a new one in then,” says Tranter. She points out that the BBC’s audience research includes not only the ratings for its programmes, but also something called the “appreciation index” or “AI”, which measures how much the viewers enjoy what they watch. BBC drama averages AI figures of 82; Waking the Dead and Silent Witness still get a huge 87, with Spooks and Doctor Who managing 90. For new shows, Tranter wants to rack up similar figures with what she calls “ambition of idea”. “If it’s a genre [such as a police or medical series], it’s got to feel like it’s breaking new ground in the genre,” says Tranter. “It’s got to feel highly individual and distinctive, and it’s got to be brilliantly authored.” advertisementAmerican broadcasters have scored hits recently with both epic shows such as Lost, and family dramas such as Brothers & Sisters. Tranter says she’s interested in both types, and that not all ambitious ideas are “high-concept”, glossy romps. “An ambitious idea can be Brothers & Sisters, or BBC1’s The Street, where you dig deep into people’s lives, making drama out of the small moments of pain and happiness of ordinary people,” she says. “Or it can be something like Life on Mars or Heroes, where it’s got a life beyond the TV screen. There’s a myth beyond the episode-to-episode transmission.” BBC budget cuts have hit drama hard, taking it down from over £240million in the last financial year to approximately £200million this year. Tranter acknowledges that this means that new series are having to be launched on lower budgets, while existing series continue to be more lavishly resourced. But, she says, that doesn’t mean that new BBC series are of a lower quality. “I don’t think, in the main, that the amount of money you spend on something is in direct proportion to whether or not it’s a hit,” she says. Money is also in short supply at Channel 4, which (excluding its teen soap, Hollyoaks) spends only a fraction of the BBC’s budget on original drama. Liza Marshall, its head of drama, says that means its commissions have to stand out. “What I’m trying to do is commission dramas that you wouldn’t see on any other channel, that tackle challenging subjects and provoke debate,” she says. “People come to me and pitch ideas, and then we decide what form it’s going to take. So I’m not specifically commissioning for slots, I have a real freedom.” Marshall has focused recently on single films, such as Boy A and Britz, which both won Baftas this year. Neither was a ratings hit but that, says Marshall, is not the point. “They’re about defining the channel in a different way. We’re not solely concerned with ratings. The awards are important to us, as is a brilliant critical response,” she says. Of course Tranter likes winning awards, too, but she has an even more demanding audience than a Bafta jury: the British public. If she can win them over with her next round of new dramas, she really will deserve an award. |
little pixie - June 26, 2008 12:53 PM (GMT)
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| ‘Since Lost, the bar for US TV drama has been raised’Last Updated: 12:01am BST 26/06/2008 In the third of our features on TV drama, Simon Horsford suggests what UK channels have to learn from the current spate of inventive US shows That we love American television drama series is in no doubt. The forthcoming second series of Dexter, about a serial killer with a conscience, and the final season of The Wire, about one failing city’s drug economy, are merely the latest in a long line of hits that include The Sopranos, 24, The West Wing, Six Feet Under, Desperate Housewives and Heroes. Most British TV drama pales by comparison. So why can’t we produce TV the way the Americans can? Partly it’s money. ABC, for example, forked out $14million (£7.12million) on the first two episodes of Lost alone. Money also enables US programme makers to produce a high volume of episodes, which in turn makes them easier to sell internationally. Another advantage is talent. American networks can call on an enormous pool of writers and Hollywood actors; they also have a culture of recognising that talent’s importance. US shows have a writing team of 12, even 15 writers. British shows have just one or two. “Serious television in the US is a writers’ medium,” says Angela Bromstad, president of international television production at NBC Universal. Bromstad previously ran NBC’s production studio in Los Angeles, but has been based in London since last September. “In Britain, television is a producers’ medium, which means they are the ones driving the shows. You can always add to the production values, but unless a show is well-written, the quality won’t be as strong.” Many US networks are also prepared to push boundaries with high-concept storylines: Lost and Pushing Daisies are both part of ABC’s eclectic roster, for instance. Generally, most successful US shows are also more demanding of their viewers. They have storylines that are far more imaginative, eccentric even, than your average Britsh drama: Lost, for example, has its unfathomable plot-lines; Nip/Tuck takes a darkly sexual spin on plastic surgery; while Six Feet Under was about a family of undertakers. “In the past few years, ever since Lost and Desperate Housewives, the bar for US drama has really been raised,” says Bromstad, who spotted the potential of both Heroes and House. “The success of inventive, great quality drama opened the door for shows to be serialised and have a deep mythology.” Other shows succeed by having strong central characters such as Dexter Morgan, or Jack Bauer in 24, or in the case of the more family-oriented drama Brothers & Sisters, a couple of big-name stars – Sally Field and Calista Flockhart. advertisementPay-television companies, such as HBO and Showtime, have also helped prompt the drive for powerful US TV series, with edgy scripts and movie-like production values. Partly, this is because they don’t have to pander to audience figures – which could provide a model for some of the BBC’s output, which is also free from advertiser pressure. Gary Levine, executive vice president of original programming at Showtime, says: “Like HBO, commercial viability is not one of the top criteria for us so it allows you to take risks on serial killers (Dexter), lesbians (The L Word) and pot-selling suburban mums (Weeds). Because we are not trying to get millions of people watching something easy and non-objectionable, it frees us up.” David Simon, the creator of the hugely acclaimed The Wire, agrees. “Without premium cable, I would not be writing for television,” he says, adding that cable gives writers more time than the networks to develop a show’s themes. There’s also the question of TV scheduling, a skill the US seems to have honed. “It takes a while for people to know when a show is on [in the UK],” says Bromstad. “The model is different in the US where they spend millions of dollars promoting a show so everyone is aware of it. Scheduling in the UK is somewhat confusing and a show can come and go without anyone knowing.” Recent US successes suggest, then, that good drama is not solely a question of finances. Writers also need to be given their heads, and channels must have the desire to push through novel ideas and run with them. We do have the talent, but too often we go for the easy option. Before we get too depressed, however, bear in mind the thoughts of Brian Lowry, chief TV critic of America’s entertainment bible, Variety. “[TV drama] is cyclical. After Lost and The Sopranos everybody wanted to do dense, serialised dramas. Then most of the knock-offs failed, and [the networks] wanted to do shows that start with cops standing around a chalk outline again. It doesn’t take much to chase programmers back into their safety zone,” he says. “Many Americans have a similar bias, interestingly, towards British drama and I’d put many shows, like Messiah and Life on Mars, along with the best of what is done in the US.” |