ITV

TV picks of the week: 29 October - 4 November

Black Earth Rising

Monday: BBC Two, 9.00pm

The thrilling political drama comes to a close with a key villain finally being unmasked. Kate (Michaela Coel) also finds what she’s been looking for. A collective guilt hangs over her and Michael (John Goodman) over the Rwandan genocide and the reprisals that saw Hutu refugees massacred in camps.

The different narratives interwoven throughout the series are knitted together in the finale with several truths being revealed.

 

RTS Midlands launches its first Careers Fair

(Credit: John Bray)

Panel sessions took place throughout the day at the RTS event. “The secrets behind TV sport”, hosted by BBC WM presenter Richard Wilford, featured Sports Personality of the Year deputy editor Michael Jackson, BBC sports news correspondent Natalie Pirks and BBC Sport editor Jo McCusker, who offered advice to budding sports broadcasters.

TV picks of the week: 22 October - 28 October

A Woman Captured: Storyville

Monday: BBC Four, 10.00pm

Film-maker Bernadett Tuza-Ritter tells a harrowing story of modern slavery through one woman’s nightmare. Marish is 52, works 12-hour days in a Hungarian factor and has been a domestic slave for ten years.

Consistently abused and forced to live off scraps Marish eventually gathers the courage to plan an escape.

 

ITV launches Comedy 50:50 initiative for female writers

ITV’s Controller of Comedy Saskia Schuster (Credit: ITV)

The initiative seeks to put measures in place to address the gender imbalance in comedy on television.

ITV’s Controller of Comedy Saskia Schuster hosted the launch event supported by the RTS, The Writers' Guild, Era 50:50, Funny Women and BAFTA on 18th October.

Producers, writers and agents were able to network at the event, with each producer hosting introductory meetings with female writers.

ITV CEO Carolyn McCall talks creativity and brand

Carolyn McCall talking to Tim Hicks (Credit: RTS/Paul Hampartsoumian)

As a programme supplier to ITV, Expectation co-founder Tim Hincks felt he had to deny that he might pull some pun­ches when interviewing ITV CEO Carolyn McCall. He announced to laughter that he would be asking her all the difficult questions, such as “where she went on holiday and what her favourite colour is.… I will absolutely go for it.”

McCall looked relieved at the distraction of Hincks’s humour as she was appearing at her first RTS London conference just two days after reports that the broadcaster might be bidding for Endemol Shine Group (ESG).

Martin Freeman and Imelda Staunton to star in ITV drama A Confession

Imelda Staunton previously starred in Finding Your Feed (Credit: Sky Cinema/Entertainment One)

Based on a true story, the six-part drama focuses on Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher (Martin Freeman), who breached police protocol to catch a killer, costing him his career.

Following the disappearance of 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan in Swindon in 2011, Fulcher launched an investigation to find her, believing that someone may be holding her against her will.

RTS North West: Butterfly screening

The three-part drama, which is full of warmth and humour, tells the story of an ordinary family faced with an extraordinary situation.

Eleven-year-old Max identifies as a girl, and as the ticking clock of puberty begins and Max’s belief that he’s in the wrong body intensifies, the fractured family – mum, played by Anna Friel and dad, Emmett J Scanlan – must unite to help Max find a way forward.

Rob Lowe to star in new ITV drama Wild Bill

(Credit: Sky)

Wild Bill centres around US cop Bill Hixon (Rob Lowe) who transfers to Boston, Lincolnshire, with his 14-year-old daughter Kelsey, in the hopes of escaping a recent tragedy.

Impressively qualified, Hixon is promoted to Chief Constable of the East Lincolnshire Police Force but is taken aback by the unimpressed Boston community who share similar attitudes to his own.

Hixon adapts to his new environment as he reconsiders his relationships with those he holds dear.

ITV factual controller talks pitching and "Netflix quality" productions

(Credit: Justin Yockney)

The ITV factual controller was in discussion with Stephen McQuillan, head of factual at Bristol indie Icon Films, at an RTS West of England event in September.

Her message to producers in the room was clear – it’s the 9pm slot that is important given there are few pre-watershed slots available. Clinton-Davis said: “I’m looking for very direct, simple propositions, which will appeal to a broad audience.”

ITV commissions fourth series of Unforgotten

(Credit: ITV/Mainstreet Pictures)

The commission builds on the success of the critically-acclaimed third season, which peaked with 6.9 million viewers.

ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill, praised creator Chris Lang for his powerful and compelling writing. “We have been delighted with the reception of the first three series of Unforgotten and are thrilled to commission a fourth instalment. Chris Lang’s writing is incredibly powerful and his storytelling utterly compelling, so we have no doubt that the new case will have viewers gripped again.”