UK Keynote: Alex Mahon | RTS Cambridge Convention 2021
The Channel 4 CEO speaks with Gillian Joseph about the challenges for the channel in the face of pending privatisation plans.
The Channel 4 CEO speaks with Gillian Joseph about the challenges for the channel in the face of pending privatisation plans.
In a year of a Labour Wales, Tory England and SNP Scotland, what does Britishness mean now and in the future? And how can, and should, the British media react? The PSBs are rapidly spreading production round the country. What does this mean for the industry? Is it too late to save UK plc? Top pollster and TV pundit Professor Sir John Curtice puts a series of scenarios to a panel of industry leaders to explore their views of Britishness and the fragmenting media landscape.
Chair
Kirsty Wark, Journalist and Writer
Speakers
The celebrities fighting to evade the hunters are Olympic silver medallist Iwan Thomas, who is partnered with two-time Paralympic gold medallist Richard Whitehead, Made in Chelsea stars Ollie and Gareth Locke, actress Chizzy Akudolu, who is partnered with icon of UK garage Lisa Maffia, and Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne, who is partnered with international reality TV star Chloe Veitch.
The celebrities need to remain undiscovered for two weeks, as a top team of hunters try to track them down.
This year, 12 keen bakers will be looking to impress the two returning expert judges, Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood. Enough perhaps for a hallowed handshake.
Meanwhile, Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas will be on hand to offer moral support and baker banter.
Here are the dozen vying for the crown:
Martin Clunes returns as former Metropolitan Police Senior Investigating Officer Colin Sutton in the second series of the ITV drama, subtitled The Night Stalker.
Take a Hike, a new series in which five hikers compete for the title of ultimate guide, could just as easily have been called Come Hike With Me. Each week sees a different hiker take the lead, judged by the others on their route, picnic, views and fun.
The first episode will air on Channel 4 on Tuesday 21 September at 8.00pm.
The announcement follows last week’s teaser video captioned “Loaf is in the air... The Great British Bake Off. Coming Soon.”
Dramatically scored, the short video shows the tent pitched once again in the grounds of Welford Park in Newbury, Berkshire.
Noel Fielding will return to host with Matt Lucas, who joined the team for the last edition.
Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith will also return to judge the bakes, meaning the bakers will be competing for that all important Hollywood handshake.
The country is in the grip of an escalating crime wave, yet the public can’t get enough of it. Viewers used to get their vicarious thrills from fictional detective drama – now we are becoming fixated on real-life serial killers and violent psychopaths.
This autumn, True Crime on Channel 4 is set to join the Channel 4 family – and go up against two existing bespoke true-crime channels, A+E Networks UK’s Crime + Investigation and Sky Crime.
The Majestic in Leeds city centre has quite the history. Its story begins 100 years ago, when it was built as a cinema. The 1920s were a boom time for the movie business and the archives show that the Majestic truly lived up to its name.
The Yorkshire Evening News described “decorations and appointments… of a most sumptuous character”. Over the years, thousands bathed in the light of its silver screen.
Few broadcasting controversies generate as much heat as the vexed topic of selling off Channel 4 – and so it proved at an engaging RTS debate held late last month, “Levelling up: How much could privatisation change Channel 4’s remit?”.
The remit has evolved over time. Since the 2003 Communications Act, the broadcaster’s remit has been largely voluntary. David Elstein, the former Thames, Sky and Channel 5 executive, provocatively claimed that the remit is nowadays “mostly mythical."