BBC

BBC Worldwide & ITV join forces to launch US subscription service

The service, named BritBox, will bring a huge catalogue of British content to the United States in one ad-free subscription service.

The platform, which is set to rival providers like Netflix and Amazon in carrying British content across the Atlantic, will premiere shows including Anthony Horowitz-created BBC drama New Blood, and ITV’s historical epic Tutankhamun.

An RTS Futures Careers Fair success story

Rhys Cartwright

I found out about the RTS Futures Career's Fair on Twitter, and thought that even though travelling from Manchester to London for it specifically might be extreme, you never know who you'll meet at these events. I found everyone at the fair to be very friendly, and had no issues striking up conversations with other visitors; after all, we were all in the same boat.

This week's top TV: 12 - 18 December

Ian McKellen Vicious ITV

Monday: David Blaine: Beyond Magic

Channel 4, 9pm

Following his critically acclaimed ratings for David Blaine: Real or Magic, Blaine returns with his most revealing performance yet. 

Magic meets documentary in the one-hour special, which has been two years in the making, as Blaine blows the minds of David Beckham, Johnny Depp and Patrick Stewart, along with others.

BBC iPlayer set to stream Planet Earth II footage in Ultra HD and HLG

The four minutes of Planet Earth II footage will be available in Ultra HD and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) on compatible connected TVs from today until early next year.

Planet Earth II's footage follows a jaguar emerging from the shadows to stalk prey and the effects of rain dropping on tiny animals and their habitats, including a range of greens and a frog in a shade of red never before seen on a TV.

The experimental footage is an early but important step towards streaming high-quality Ultra HD programmes on BBC iPlayer in the future. 

Top Gear's Rory Reid: from mega-fan to superstar

Top Gear, Chris Evans, Matt le Blanc,

“There’s a stretch of time from mid-November where I’ll be away for weeks at a time” he says.

I am meeting Rory in the upstairs bar of a pub just around the corner from the BBC in central London.

As I arrive Reid is just polishing off his lunch in the otherwise empty bar. He’s friendly, relaxed, and nothing at all like his famously starving predecessor Jeremy Clarkson.

Reid is one of the main presenters of the BBC’s new and improved Top Gear line up, joining Friends star Matt le Blanc and motoring journalist Chris Harris.

Event Report: Women in Comedy

Stage Award winner in the 2016 Funny Women Awards, Harriet Braine, performs her comedy song 'Pablo Picasso' at the event

Lynne Parker was that panellist, and the attitude represented in that quote was one of the things that inspired her to found the Funny Women Awards in 2003. Seventy women entered in the first year; this year there were more than 500 entries.

Musical comedian Harriet Braine won the 2016 Funny Women Stage Award and she entertained the RTS audience with songs about Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Event Report: Breaking into Media

The Breaking into Media panel (Credit: Kenneth J Cox)

Devon and Cornwall welcomed students from across the region to its annual “Breaking into Media” event, which featured a fascinating insight into TV directing from Toby Haynes.

The event, which was held at the Theatre Royal Plymouth’s riverside rehearsal venue, TR2, in mid-November, also offered students advice on working in TV from a heavyweight panel of industry experts.

BBC reveal three-series commission of Call the Midwife

The BBC has commissioned a further three series and three Christmas specials of the multi award-winning drama Call the Midwife.

The deal will take the show through to series nine and follow the nuns and midwives later into the 1960s. Each series will consist of eight hour long episodes.

Call the Midwife has been one of the most popular dramas on British television since it first arrived on screens in 2012, with an average of 10 million viewers per episode.