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RTS Futures NI hosts TV and film workshops

Film and TV crafts and skills workshops (Credit: Ronan Karicos)

The first event, “Sketchy business: making it in animation”, brought together a panel hosted by the university’s Dr Helen Haswell and featured three experts from Belfast animation house JAM Media: visual effects supervisor and director Niall Mooney; animator Jessica Patterson; and animation director Simon Kelleghan. They discussed how to get your foot in the door, as well as giving practical advice, including how best to structure a show reel.

Sky's Chernobyl: the disaster story that needed to be told

Chernobyl (Credit: Sky/HBO)

“I wanted to make a drama unlike anything else, because Chernobyl was unlike anything else. I wanted it to be as unique as the event itself.” That was the ambitious goal set by writer and producer Craig Mazin for his epic mini-series about the Soviet power plant that caught fire on 26 April 1986, triggering the most disastrous nuclear accident in history. And Mazin has succeeded.

Ian Katz’s TV Diary

Channel 4 (Credit: Channel 4)

Surprise hit of the week is 100 Vaginas, in which the artist Laura Dods­worth photographs the genitalia of 100 women and then talks to them about the images and how they feel about their bodies. It’s a great film – bold and political and warm – but firmly at the art-house end of the channel’s output. Everyone is delighted when it attracts an audience of more than 1 million.

Watch the trailer for Game of Thrones' final series

Jon Snow (Kit Harrington), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) (Credit: HBO)

Based on the series of novels by George R.R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, the show’s previous series saw Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) seek an alliance with Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) to prepare for the arrival of the Night King.

The new trailer sees a line of characters, including Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) preparing for war in Winterfell, as a smug Cersei remains safe in the Red Keep.

Channel 4 to air a new documentary series on Michael Jackson abuse allegations

Michael Jackson (Credit: Channel 4)

From award-winning director Dan Reed (This World), Leaving Neverland (w/t) documents the accounts from James Safechuck and Wade Robson as they describe the sexual abuse they went through as children by Michael Jackson.

At the time of the allegations, Safechuck was 10 years-old and Robson was seven as they were befriended by Jackson during the height of the music star’s career.

Rethinking Barbie: new documentary takes a fresh look at the icon

Caroline Frost, Andrea Nevins and Kim Culmore (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

Some feminists might choke at the idea that the highly controversial Barbie doll was actually invented by an ardent feminist. This was one of many fascinating insights to emerge from an RTS event devoted to a new feature-length documentary Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie.

The film examines the changing face of Barbie from a feminist – and occasionally anthropological – perspective since the doll’s debut in 1959.

Emma Thompson to star in Russell T Davies drama Years and Years

Emma Thompson DBE (Credit: BBC)

Set in a Britain rocked by political, economic and technological changes, the six-part drama follows the Lyons family as their busy live converge one night in 2019.

Over the next fifteen years, the drama tracks the twists and turns of everyday life to find out if this ordinary family can change the world.

Starring in the family saga is two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Love Actually) as Vivienne Rook, an outspoken and controversial public figure whose rise to power brings an uncertain future.

10 of the best Easter eggs from your favourite TV shows

(Credit: Sky)

Alfred Hitchcock was the first filmmaker to widely use them, making cameo appearances in 39 of his films.

Over the years Easter eggs have become more complex and are almost a trademark for some series such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On the small screen they remain prolific in shows where the writers wish to give something back to their audience.

Whether it’s secret messages, inside jokes or obscure references, we’ve got a rundown of ten of the best Easter eggs from British TV.