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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
Led by Harry Redknapp, a renowned manager who has led the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers to victory, the team consists of a who’s who of 1980s and 1990s footballing heroes. All a little over the hill, the goal is to get back in shape and on the pitch once more.
The team of eleven includes: John Barnes, David Seaman, Robbie Fowler, Mark Wright, Matthew Le Tissier, Chris Waddle, Rob Lee, Ray Parlour, Lee Sharpe,Mark Chamberlain, Paul Merson, and Razor Ruddock. They’ll be trying to prove that it’s never too late to get fit.
