Potato

Channel 5 commissions Freddie Mercury and Karen Carpenter docs

Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender Revealed and Karen Carpenter: Goodbye to Love will both be produced by ITV Studios' indie Potato. 

Each film will be 120 minutes long and will feature archive footage, as well as one-to-one interviews, and scripted dramatisations based on firsthand accounts of the singers' lives.

Freddie Mercury rose to fame as the frontman and lyricist of rock band Queen, and counted Princess Diana as one of his close friends, he passed away in 1991 after battling with AIDS.

Top TV ideas are everywhere

RTS Introduction to Development, RTS dev, ITV, ITV Studios, Danny Cohen, BBC, BBC One, The Met, Channel 4, Gogglebox, Twenty Twenty, Popkorn, Seven8 Media, Shine TV,

Ideas for great TV are everywhere. The concept for Channel 4’s Gogglebox is believed to have come from a runner.

A researcher is said to have thought of the idea that became ITV’s Saturday Night Takeaway.   

At an RTS Futures event, Introduction to TV Development, a panel of top development executives gave tips on how to develop and pitch ideas.

Tips in 60 seconds... How to impress in your first job

Getting that first job in TV is tough. So when you've finally got it, how do you make sure you not only keep it, but progress to the next level? Jessica Wilson is a talent executive at Potato, part of ITV studios. Following a degree she worked her way up from researcher to series producer at the BBC and has a brilliant view on the industry. Here she shares her top tips on impressing in an entry level position.