From the mind of Vera creator Paul Rutman comes Criminal Record, a stern detective drama focusing on the effects of institutional errors, centring around an old ‘solved’ murder case.
The Detectorist’s Toby Jones stars as the Erin Brockovich of the British Post Office Scandal, Mr Bates.
What does the job involve?
Working with the brilliant producers and writers we have in this country, we look for dramas that we think people will watch and love on ITV – and then we facilitate the producers to make them. We’re out there telling people what we think might work for ITV, and the producers also come to us with great ideas.
We want ideas that will surprise and challenge us, so we’re not simply doing the same thing over and over again.
What was your route into TV?
The awards ceremony was hosted this evening by comedian and presenter Eddie Kadi at the London Hilton on Park Lane, commending the exceptional skills and processes that are involved in programme making.
Across the 28 competitive categories, the BBC had a victorious night receiving 14 awards, with The English winning both Costume Design – Scripted and Design Titles, and The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II for both Director – Multicamera and Multicamera Work categories.
Sir Lenny Henry admitted he was unusually nervous before the Midlands premiere of his latest TV drama, because his family was in the audience.
Cary Grant was the ultimate Hollywood star, the suavest man on the silver screen during cinema’s golden age.
Whatever the role – from the unscrupulous newspaper editor of His Girl Friday to ordinary-man-on-the-run in North by Northwest – he was always Grant: charming, urbane, the epitome of cool.
Surely, then, only the vainest of actors would sign up to play him in Archie, ITV’s new four-part drama about Grant, written by Jeff Pope?
The series will show the stars put their lives as food critics, YouTubers, presenters, and actors on pause to live in the Australian Hinterlands, alongside their hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
Following the format the show has kept since its debut in 2002, the celebrities will camp outside in hammocks (if they’re lucky) and on the ground (if they are not), participating in regular ‘Bushtucker challenges’ at Ant and Dec’s behest.
In 2022, comedian Rhod Gilbert was diagnosed with stage four head and neck cancer. Now, in a one-off documentary for Stand Up to Cancer, Gilbert will be revealing his journey from diagnosis to recovery through a series of personal video diaries.
It’s quite a shopping list, but it’s a flavour of what broadcasters are looking for in factual programming, a panel of commissioners told an audience at an RTS East event in Cambridge last month.
Louisa Compton’s investigations unit at Channel 4 needed no more introduction than a brief clip of her recent Dispatches film on Russell Brand, but she stressed that, as well as seeking high-level, impactful investigations, she is looking for subjects to get people talking, such as Rebekah Vardy: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Me.
The past few years have been eventful for most, but the highs and lows of ITV’s fortunes have been particularly pronounced. Its advertising revenues were hit hard by the pandemic, but the broadcaster bounced back to achieve record advertising in 2021-22. At the end of 2022, there was another watershed moment: it launched ITVX, its heavyweight streaming service to replace ITV Hub with a combined 26,000 hours of ITV and Britbox content. But, this year, its advertising revenues have again slumped.
