The annual BBC Writersroom scheme offers talented screenwriters the opportunity to write the first episode of a BBC original series or serial.
Writers must have at least one professionally produced piece of work of up to 30 minutes in length in television, radio, theatre or film to apply. Applicants must submit an original script alongside a one-sided pitch outlining the drama idea.
The results from the register show that the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all met their value and volume-based regional production quotes in 2017.
To be considered a regional production, Ofcom requires that productions to either be based outside of the M25, spend at least 70% of their budget outside the M25, or ensure that at least 50% of the production talent come from outside of London.
STV’s new drama The Victim, a legal thriller set in Scotland and made for BBC One, is told through the eyes of both plaintiff and accused. All stories have two sides to them. The narrative concerning the changes going on in Scottish broadcasting is no different.
Glasgow-based STV has a new Chief Executive, Simon Pitts, formerly ITV’s director of transformation and strategy. His new strategy has gone down well in the city and with some producers, but less so with certain journalists and politicians.
Halfway through 2018, it already seems clear who some of the leading contenders will be in the actor categories of next year’s Bafta and RTS awards: Benedict Cumberbatch and Anthony Hopkins for their title roles in Patrick Melrose and King Lear, and Ben Whishaw and Hugh Grant as Norman Scott and Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal.
It was late March when BBC Newsgathering offered me a lifetime opportunity – to report from Russia during the World Cup. My response? Heck, yes! It was a no-brainer.
Only hours after the initial buzz faded and I had spoken with mates did concerns arise.
Would I experience racial abuse in Russia? Would I be able to hack the cultural and language barriers while consistently providing quality reports? I knew without a doubt that this would be a step up from the domestic reporting that I was used to.
Though a work of fiction, the lack of clarity and misdirection from its author Joan Lindsey when giving interviews about the book, led to confusion as to its authenticity. As the places in the novel are real, the tale has since been incorporated into the very fabric of Australian folklore. There's even a statue of one of the girls, Miranda, at the Hanging Rock visitors' centre in Victoria, Australia.
Mrs Hester Appleyard - Headmistress
Played by Natalie Dormer
However, research by Professor Lis Howell of City, University of London, shows that average ratios of male to female experts have improved over the past two years to 2.2:1.
Yet in some quarters, the drive to increase the number of expert women on specific television news programmes has stalled – and in some cases, numbers have actually worsened.
The findings are the result of a study conducted by the university, and the full results have been announced today at City’s Women on Air conference.
