Clink screening and Q&A
Clink is a brand new 10-part drama beginning Monday 15th April at 9pm on Channel 5's dedicated drama channel, 5Star.
Channel 5
TV Diary: An anonymous Channel 5 insider
On the far wall of the programming department at Channel 5, there is a “mood-ometer” – and, on Monday mornings, the mood is not good.
The ratings are always bad at weekends, so Mondays in the office can sometimes seem like the five stages of grief on fast forward. The trick is to try to get Ben [Frow, Channel 5’s programme supremo] to accept the situation before he starts strolling around the office musing on the other things he could have done with his life. Ennui won’t get us out of our ratings slump.
New UK public service broadcaster streaming service Freely launches today
The free service allows its users to stream live channels through smart TVs, without the need for an aerial or dish. Viewers are also able to watch on-demand content from the UK’s biggest broadcasters.
As was previously announced, Hisense will be the first smart TV partner for the service, and begins selling Freely smart TVs today (30th April).
Freely represents the first collaboration between Britain’s four public service broadcasters, in an effort to futureproof live TV in the age of streaming.
What’s On TV This Week: 18th March – 24th March
Coma
Monday
Channel 5, 9.00pm
TV Diary: Dan Walker
Isn’t it odd how quickly time goes sometimes? Apparently, I have been at Channel 5 for over a year – which I can’t get my head around. When I first met the boss, Ben Frow, he told me he wanted me to anchor the news but also make loads of other programmes for them and he has been true to his word.
What's on TV: 30th December
Macaques: Monkeys in the Mountains – a Dynasties Special
BBC One, 7.30pm
This special episode of Dynasties takes us to Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, where a macaque called Mac has just become alpha male.
Channel 5 announces the cast for new thriller The Catch
Based on the novel of the same name by T.M. Logan, the four-part series introduces Ed Collier (Jason Watkins), a proud and happy father, husband and local fisherman who will do anything to keep his family together.
He finds his happiness threatened when the rich, handsome and young Ryan Wilson (Aneurin Barnard) begins a relationship with his daughter Abbie (Poppy Gilbert), threatening to break up the family unit.
Collier finds his life turned upside down as secrets and lies are exposed from all around, including his own past.
Channel 5 announces new drama Maxine
The three-part drama written by Simon Tyrrell, revisits the Soham murders through the eyes of Maxine Carr.
The series will follow the 2002 police investigation into school assistant Maxine Carr (Jemma Carlton) and her caretaker fiancé Ian Huntley (Scott Reid).
Huntley was convicted of the murders of ten-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The drama will look at Carr’s complicated and turbulent relationship with Huntley, uncovering why she gave him a false alibi and her label as public enemy number one.
Channel 5's controller Ben Frow: An audience with the outsider
Ben Frow is nothing if not candid. During a high-energy RTS two-way with Jay Hunt, the architect of Channel 5’s revival gave an insight into how he’s turned around a broadcaster that last year enjoyed its strongest performance since 2009.
“Quite a few of you turned up thinking this would be the channel controllers’ version of Fight Club,” joked Hunt, one of British TV’s most successful content supremos, most notably at Channel 4 – she is now creative director, Europe, worldwide video at Apple.
Great TV, but is it art?
Lockdown left its mark on TV coverage of the arts: Sky Arts went free-to-air, while Channel 4 scored a zeitgeist hit with Grayson’s Art Club and the BBC gave us its Culture in Quarantine initiative.