Damian Kavanagh

Commissioners explain how to get an idea on TV

Anna Cronin (Chair), Damian Kavanagh, Catherine Lynch and Kate Stannard (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

“If you are defensive and precious about your idea, and you won’t let it evolve, whether that’s in your brainstorm or when you’re pitching to the commissioner, it’s just never going to go anywhere,” explained Catherine Lynch, creative director at Initial TV, which makes ITV gameshow Tenable

Initial’s head of development Kate Stannard agreed: “What you end up seeing on telly is often quite different to the thing you first said in the room.”

BBC Three: Adrift on the digital ocean

Anyone who tuned in for BBC Three’s final broadcast in the early hours of 16 February might have noticed the youth channel go out with a whimper, not a bang.

Not for BBC Three, any self-congratulatory run-down of the best commissions in its 13-year history. Instead, a repeat of Gavin & Stacey was followed by a trailer for new, online drama Thirteen and it all ended with a test card announcing that the channel had moved.

Perhaps the lack of fanfare was part of the brand’s emphatic declaration that it wasn’t closing, but moving.

BBC Three online strategy revealed

Cuckoo

A host of new long- and short-form programmes will be released on the BBC Three website, iPlayer and across social media following the switchover on 16 February.

The online service will build on BBC Three’s reputation for original British comedy and though-provoking documentaries. It will also be a home for contemporary British drama, innovative entertainment and current affairs programming.

RTS Futures summer party - Is TV out of touch?

RTS Futures Summer Party 2015

BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh fielded harsh criticism from audience and panel alike at the RTS Futures Summer Party.

"Is TV out of touch?" asked former CBBC presenter Kirsten O’Brien, who chaired the event, "is it relevant for 16 to 34 year olds?"

With the BBC’s youth brand soon set to relinquish its linear channel, Kavanagh was told that young people were bearing the brunt of difficult BBC cuts.