Comedy, the late, great Tony Hancock would often tell his dinner guests, was simply “frustration, misery, boredom, worry – all the things people suffer from”.
This may go some way to explaining the success of a crop of deceptively simple, single-camera comedy-dramas that have all but replaced our more traditional idea of the sitcom in the television schedules.
"It’s a lot smaller than the telly makes it seem,” I think to myself as I stare out at the infamous Hollywood sign. LA is the last place you’d expect to find a wildlife filmmaker who’s more accustomed to being holed up in a shack in the Arctic wilderness. I’m on the 10th floor of a Hollywood hotel pondering the events of the last week.
Is social media the environmentalist movement’s secret weapon? Could it put us all on the path to a pollution-free, sustainable future in which biodiversity thrives and climate change is pegged back?
Shocking scenes of walruses jammed together “out of desperation” on an ice-depleted beach, a consequence of climate change, have emerged as the defining image of Netflix’s high-profile natural history documentary, Our Planet.
Some 20 years in the making, Sally’s Wainwright’s new television drama, Gentleman Jack, was originally rejected by every broadcaster she took it to. The story of an openly gay woman who farmed in 19th-century rural Yorkshire was considered a non-starter by TV networks. Starting this month, the topic is getting eight hours of BBC One Sunday-night primetime.
It’s common for writers to describe their latest work as a “passion project” – often industry-accepted shorthand for what they hope is infectious enthusiasm for their new offering.
Based on the famous London heist which took place in April 2015, Hatton Garden follows Brian Reader (Kenneth Cranham) as he leads a gang of ageing thieves organising the theft of a lifetime.
When he’s not jetting across the world to tackle some of nature’s harshest conditions, the 44-year-old survival expert can be found with his family on a remote island off the coast of Wales, living a life you can only imagine is the real-life equivalent of The Wild Thornberrys (minus the talking animals).
He was able to correspond from a mountain in Switzerland in what could possibly be the most Bear Grylls-esque setting for an interview you could imagine.
Sex on Trial examines high-profile student sexual assault cases in the US and explores the impact they have had on the people making the accusations and the accused.
The range of programmes features a children's series about food around the world, a series shining a light on remarkable people whose deaths were not reported on and a film adaptation of David W. Blight's novel Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
The commissions also include documentaries exploring America's disability rights movement, and the story of a Chinese billionaire who faces problems opening a factory in a post-industrial Ohio.
Exploring stories of immigration, choreographer and dancer Akram Khan takes a trip back in time to the curry houses from his childhood.
