BBC

Winners announced for the RTS Craft & Design Awards 2023

The awards ceremony was hosted this evening by comedian and presenter Eddie Kadi at the London Hilton on Park Lane, commending the exceptional skills and processes that are involved in programme making.

Across the 28 competitive categories, the BBC had a victorious night receiving 14 awards, with The English winning both Costume Design – Scripted and Design Titles, and The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II for both Director – Multicamera and Multicamera Work categories.

BBC reveals release date for Nicolas Winding Refn’s adaption of The Famous Five

Nicolas Winding Refn (byNWR) and Matthew Read (Moonage Pictures) have come together to bring Enid Blyton’s classic children’s novels to the screen. Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ are comprised of George, an only child, whose three cousins, Dick, Julian and Anne come to stay at her home in Kirrin for the summer.

Although initially George is dubious about trusting these new friends, she soon learns that adventuring with them is more fun than without them. The five are completed by George’s loyal dog Timmy.

Big Zuu to pilgrimage to Mecca for BBC documentary

A close-up shot of Big Zuu

With a Lebanese father and a mother from Sierra Leone, Big Zuu grew up with Islam on both sides of the family. Although faith has remained hugely important for Zuu, growing up in London has meant living completely by the book hasn’t always been easy.

In Big Zuu Goes To Mecca, Zuu will go on the Umrah pilgrimage (a religious journey to Masjid al-Haram), visit one of Islam’s holiest cities, and examine what it means to be a “good Muslim.”

Working lives: Director

Timothy Spall, a man in his mid sixties, sits in front of a large fully packed bookcase, in his blue polkadotted pyjamas and a green and navy striped silk dressing gown. He wears rectangular glasses.

What does the job involve?

I guess the simple answer is that the clue is in the title: it’s about having a clear direction in which you want to take a project.

You’re the hand on the tiller, making sure all the departments and actors are going in the same direction.

I started in documentaries, so I’m trying to make things feel real and truthful. I’m not just trying to deliver the script, which is what a lot of people think a director’s job is. You have to breathe life into it so it doesn’t feel written, or even directed.

Cast announced for BBC’s visceral historical drama Dope Girls

Dope Girls is inspired by the buried history of post-World War One London, where female gangs controlled the drugs, clubs and bootleg liqueur.

Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown) leads the cast as Kate Galloway, a single mother who has begun a life in the hedonistic Soho criminal underworld, by establishing a nightclub to provide for her daughter Evie (Call the Midwife). Umi Myers (Bob Marley: One Love) plays a bohemian dancer whose world gets turned upside down when she begins performing at Kate’s nightclub.

BBC announces ‘Puppet Masterchef’ for Children in Need

A two-by-two grid of different puppets posing in the Masterchef kitchen. From top left clockwise, they are Tinky Winky, Hacker and Dodge T Dog, Basil Brush and Zippy and George

Amongst the furry friends making an appearance are Tinky Winky, Hacker T Dog, Dodge, Basil Brush and favourites from 1970s-90s series Rainbow, Zippy and George. Like any flesh-and-blood contestant, the puppets will be expected to wow judges Greg Wallace and John Torode with their culinary flair.

Tinky Winky made a name for themselves on hit CBeebies series Teletubbies, whereas Hacker T Dog first appeared in CBBC’s Scoop. The canine personality was later introduced as a presenter in the CBBC office, with half-brother Dodge joining soon after.

Nominations for the RTS Craft & Design Awards 2023 announced

The awards celebrate excellence in broadcast television, highlighting the extensive range of skills and processes that are involved in programme making, welcoming entries from both broadcasters and individual crafts people. The prestigious awards ceremony will be held on Monday 4th December at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

Celebrity Race Across The World to return for second series

A row of people walk down a street. Behind them, a desert backdrop on the left transitions into an Arctic backdrop on the right

The first series saw four pairs of stars and one of their relatives compete to get from Africa to the Arctic without the use of phones or flights.

The journey took place over road, rail and sea across 24 countries, featuring McFly drummer Harry Judd and his mum, Emma, and weatherman Alex Beresford with his dad, Noel. Alex and Noel won the contest by just four minutes, while Emma succeeded in winning fans’ hearts.

Race Across The World, the show’s original format featuring members of the public, first aired in 2019.

Winner of BBC Three Northern Docs Pitch on new documentary Stranger in My Family

“From the moment I got the results… I had a lot of questions I didn’t know what to do with. I thought… if I put it all into the structure of a film... then I could make sense of it.… Films have always saved me.” This was RTS Futures Award nominee Luke Davies, co-producer and subject of BBC Three’s life-affirming documentary Stranger in My Family.

Those results were from Davies’s DNA test. His journey to redefine his identity, uncovering two key, long-buried secrets that would turn his and his extended family’s worlds upside-down, was documented over the next four years.