BBC

RTS Student Masterclass: Comedy

Lucy Lumsden, RTS, student, masterclass, television, Sky, BBC, comedy,

Over almost two decades at the BBC and Sky, Lucy Lumsden has commissioned some of the country’s best-loved comedies, including Outnumbered, Miranda and Moone Boy.

But the commissioner has recently swapped sides – having made her first short film last year, Lumsden is now in the business of creating comedy.

The seeds of her future career were sown at Edinburgh University, explained Lumsden, who was giving the RTS comedy masterclass.

RTS Student Masterclass: Documentary production

Morgan Matthews, Minnow Films, television, documentary, drama, student, masterclass, RTS, Paddington Green, Fourteen Days in May,

Morgan Matthews has taken his camera in to places that most directors shy away from; into lives torn apart by mental illness, bereavement and addiction.

There is, however, another side to the award-winning documentary film-maker; one that delights in the quirky worlds of pigeon fanciers, Elvis impersonators and teenage maths prodigies.

His films, said the chair of the documentary student masterclass, Ruth Pitt, revealed “the extraordinary in the ordinary and the ordinary in the extraordinary.”

RTS Student Masterclass: Camerawork

BBC, Doctor Who, Director of Photography, cameraman, camera, camerawork, RTS, students, masterclass, drama, documentary, Mum Heroin and Me,

Television is at its core a visual medium and the cameraman exists at the very heart of it.

Tim Palmer, a cinematographer working predominantly in TV drama, and BAFTA winning documentary cameraman Steve Robinson turned the viewfinder on themselves to deliver an RTS craft skills camera masterclass.

The session was chaired by former Yorkshire Television high flier Helen Scott.

RTS Student Masterclass: Editing drama and documentaries

Ben Stark, Alex Graham (chair), Una Ni Dhonghaile (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

When it comes to producing great television, a good editor is where it all begins and ends. That was the clear message for students attending the RTS craft skills editing masterclass.

Ben Stark, a feted documentary film editor and Una Ni Dhonghaile, who has won plaudits for her work editing TV drama, delivered the masterclass chaired by media consultant Alex Graham.

Stark and Dhonghaile each discussed three examples of their work.

BBC commissions pre-apocalyptic drama from Luther writer

Idris Elba as John Luther

BBC One has commissioned a new six-part series from Luther writer Neil Cross. 

Hard Sun will be a pre-apocalyptic crime drama set in contemporary London.

The series will follow detectives Elaine Renko and Robert Hinks as they attempt to keep order in the city and protect their loved ones as the apocalypse approaches.

New Creative Skillset Series Producer Programme open for applications

Creative Skillset Series Producer Programme

The new Creative Skillset Series Producer Programme is open for applications, offering the opportunity to make the leap from Producer to Series Producer. 

Backed by the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5, this year-long scheme will find the next generation of SPs to help the industry advance and grow.

Who Benefits? TV and Poverty

This was one of the key findings of new research undertaken by the BBC looking at a style of television often described as “poverty porn” by TV reviewers.

The study was unveiled at a conference in Manchester, Who Benefits? TV and Poverty.

The event was backed by the RTS, the BBC, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Click here to watch the full video of the event. 

BBC Three's move online: what the public thinks

BBC Three, BBC Trust, public, online, television,

"BBC Three is not closing, we are reinventing online," promised Damian Kavanagh, controller of BBC Three, after it was announced the youth-channel would be migrating from televisions to tablets and computers in the new year.

The decision, which has been mooted for several months, was met with a mixed reaction.