TV picks: Boxing Day
Worzel Gummidge
BBC One, 6:20pm
(Credit: BBC)
Hugh Bonneville
BBC faces tough challenges in hard-hitting 'documentary' W1A
It's an exciting time as the BBC’s Head of Values Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), formerly Olympic Head of Deliverance, is throwing open the revolving doors of the organisation in this six-part series.
The cameras will be following Fletcher and his team during and post-Charter as the attempt to decipher the BBC’s new mission statement of doing More Of Less, something Head of Output Anna Rampton (Sarah Parish) described succinctly as “putting what we do best front and centre and about identifying better ways of doing less of it more.”
Tim Minchin and Al Murray to star at BBC Shakespeare Festival
The event is part of the BBC Shakespeare Festival which will take place in April to mark 400 years since the writer’s death.
The live television event will be hosted by David Tennant and directed by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran, and will feature Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Joseph Fiennes, the English National Opera and more.
Behind the Scenes of W1A
Writer/director John Morton explained to a packed London Centre event at the end of January that the show’s forerunner, London Olympics mockumentary Twenty Twelve, was initially poorly received by the BBC.
“Twenty Twelve had a bit of a bumpy start – it wasn’t always liked very much in the BBC,” revealed Morton. “When it went out and did okay the music changed from ‘We don’t think this is very good’ to ‘Can we have more of these wonderful characters?’.”
Ten things you might not know about Downton Abbey
The final episode of Downton Abbey airs this Christmas, so in honour of the event we’re running down our Top 10 facts about everyone’s favourite period drama.
