Liverpool

Our Friend in the North West: Sir Phil Redmond

Sir Phil Redmond (Credit: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

Liverpool. The global port that Carl Gustav Jung dubbed the “pool of life”. The UK’s most-filmed location outside the capital. From Lita Roza’s No 1 hit How Much Is That Doggy in the Window? through to the Beatles; football dominance; comedy, both singular and sitcom; the backdrop for socially realistic drama, from Days of Hope and Z Cars through Blackstuff, Brookside and Hollyoaks to the BBC’s Time and Channel 4’s Help, with its Rose D’Or drama award, keeping the flame lit. 

Sheridan Smith and Alison Steadman to star in new Jimmy McGovern drama Care

Sheridan Smith, RTS, Awards, 2015,

Based on Juckes’s real-life experiences, Care follows Jenny (Smith) a single mother of two, raising her children with the help of her widowed mother Mary (Steadman). When Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia, Jenny’s world falls apart, and everything changes for her and her sister Claire (Keenan). Torn between caring for her mother and following her own path, Jenny soon discovers that there could be another option, but it’s one she’ll have to fight for.

Colin McKeown: "If you throw a stick out a window in Liverpool you won't hit a writer, you'll hit two."

For a long, long, long time the problem with being a TV producer in Liverpool was very simply that there was no one to trade with. In other words, there was no TV culture.

I’m happy to say that I was one of the founding fathers of a show that ignited a new TV culture. Brookside began on 2 November 1982 at 8:00pm on the channel that gave birth to independents, which was, of course, Channel 4.

Gordon Ramsay launches production company

Ramsay, famous for programmes The F Word and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, will own the company outright but has already announced a joint venture deal with All3Media to get projects off the ground.

“We really look forward to continuing our relationship with Gordon, working alongside him as he establishes and grows his new production company, Studio Ramsay,” said Jane Turton, CEO of All3Media. “He is a world class talent with a phenomenal record of hit TV series.”