Channel 4

Predictably, Fleet Street was outraged. Queer as Folk, foamed the Daily Mail, “proves that we need censorship… we shouldn’t be at liberty to watch naked actors having relentless homosexual sex”.

Some commentators in the gay press were also critical, arguing that the series should have been less celebratory and angrier about the tragedy of Aids. But, if you are being attacked from both sides, perhaps you are doing something right. Most television viewers and critics certainly thought so as they marvelled at Russell T Davies’s breakthrough drama series.

Successful applicants will work within entertainment, factual, factual entertainment and sport, with some candidates getting the chance to work on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

The training scheme will begin with a week-long bootcamp, where trainees will hear from previous scholars as well as Commissioning Editors, to get a taste of what it takes to be in the industry. After this, their TV careers will officially begin, as they enter a 12-month paid scheme as a trainee researcher or trainee production coordinator.

The female-led series follows Toni (Leah Brotherhead), a mother and unsuccessful actress, and her assortment of friends as they struggle through life against the backdrop of Kingston upon Hull.

Maggie (Coughlan) and Eddie (West) will be forced to see if their decade long friendship will survive into their thirties, as the return of Maggie’s bipolar disorder compels Eddie to consider whether the friendship is worth maintaining.

It didn’t seem possible, but Taskmaster is about to get even more juvenile. Channel 4 is adapting the show to a children’s format, driven by the rise in the Taskmaster viewing figures with younger audiences.

The success of School Tasking, the not-for-profit primary school outreach project which replicates Taskmaster games in schools, was also motivation to bring the show to children’s programming.

As usual, the participants will seek to evade capture by former police, army and intelligence personnel. They’ll have to be sharp to do so. Whilst the authorities have an arsenal of real life law enforcing technologies to pinpoint the fugitives, the celebrities will have nothing but the clothes on their backs and each other’s company.

Former contestants have been forced to go completely off-grid in a bid to avoid the ‘Hunters’: avoiding using bank cards, sleeping in tents in rural areas and not trusting anyone along the way for a full 25 days.

The art of relaxation has always eluded me, which is probably why, in my plural life, chairing three boards and sitting on another three makes my diary resemble a detailed train timetable. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I have been looking forward to the CEO meeting of the Women’s Super League and Championship Clubs. It’s a chance to have a constructive, focused dialogue outside the board about our mission to be the most competitive and innovative leagues in the world.

Sixteen British civilians will enter the competition as equals but will soon be split into Rulers and Grafters. In a caricature of real-world power dynamics, the Grafters will complete a series of arduous activities, creating a prize fund that only the Rulers can win.

Whilst the Grafters inhabit a basement, the Rulers occupy a deluxe penthouse. The Rulers will have to encourage the Grafters to work harder for them, whilst also making choices that affect only the Grafters and not themselves.

When, at the beginning of November last year, Channel 4 celebrated its 40th anniversary with a lavish party, complete with a sit-down dinner, at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, many of those attending wondered if they were witnessing the end of an era.