Up until now, I thought that only disgraced Tory MPs and England football managers took “time out to reflect”. But I’ve been on garden leave for the past six months and I can’t recommend it highly enough. 

But I haven’t been idle. God, no. For a start, I’ve watched a huge amount of television. Predictably, I’ve loved Stranger Things, Narcos (both on Netflix), Victoria (ITV) and Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away! (Channel 5). All the classics. 

But top of the list is the best new comedy since Peep Show. Fleabag, on BBC Three, is beautifully written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Fresh, shocking and ridiculously funny. 

And perhaps a reminder that – while the BBC is criticised by lazy reviewers and commentators for bringing back classic comedies (taking up about four hours of the 2016 schedule if my maths are correct) – Shane Allen and the comedy team have also unearthed an absolute gem. 

 

I’ve also left my house on the odd occasion. So it’s off to the RTS conference in London, where I’m chairing a panel on the challenges of owning and distributing global IP. 

I’ve tried incredibly hard to make that sentence sound interesting, and that’s the best I’ve got. The panel is excellent but, oddly, it turns out that we don’t end up making national news bulletins. 

But a session later does. The Bake Off-related exchanges between the BBC and Channel 4 become a big story. Whatever your ideological position on cake formats moving channels, the argument underlines an important truth: television matters. 

It matters to those who make it, those who distribute it and those who watch it. And hit IP has never mattered more. 

 

 Much discussion at the RTS about when, or if, the “drama funding bubble” (that’s a truly great name for a band, isn’t it?) might burst. 

No such talk at the Royal Court theatre where I find myself at a lunch celebrating women in theatre. One actress tells me she loves theatre but would be keen to do more television. 

The problem, she says, is that, as a young black actress, “I know what the part is before I look at the script”. Much less of a problem in theatre, she notes. 

One reason may be that many theatres focus intensively on new-writer access schemes - the Royal Court’s is just one, but it’s fantastic and it works. 

If TV worked harder to connect with theatres, jointly championing new writers, the richer – and the more surprising – those scripts and, indeed, TV drama, would become. 

 

 It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re away from the rigours of the working week. But I know it’s autumn because, to paraphrase Keats, X Factor and Strictly are back. 

The longevity of big entertainment formats is an extraordinary phenomenon. Shows that often started small – Big Brother and Deal or No Deal being two examples close to my heart – have gone on to entertain for more than a decade. 

And, of course, a host of non-scripted shows from the past have returned. In the US, ABC has just announced the return of The Gong Show, first shown in the US some 40 years ago. 

But the real fun is trying to come up with the next generation of non-scripted hits. And now feels like a moment, an opportunity, particularly as streaming services are also leaning into non-scripted content. 

It’s a hell of a prize and the prospect is so exciting. It’s almost enough to entice a man out of his garden. Almost. It doesn’t pay to rush these things. 

And anyway, Deal or No Deal is just about to start… 

Tim Hincks is the former President of Endemol Shine Group.