Royal Television Society

Campbell Swinton Lecture: Claire Enders, Enders Analysis

Campbell Swinton was one of Scotland’s pioneers of television technology whose legacy RTS continues to celebrate with a series of high level lectures. The last two speakers were then SNP leader Alex Salmond and BBC Scotland Director Ken MacQuarrie.

Rising above the political fray in Westminster and Holyrood, Claire Enders will explain the purpose and foundations of the PSB system of producing and commissioning news and current affairs, quality entertainment and documentaries, sustained by the BBC, C4, ITV, STV and C5.

The Crown and Sherlock among RTS Craft & Design Awards nominations

The awards recognise the huge variety of skills involved in programme production from editing to lighting, and costume design to digital effects. 

BBC dramas lead the way in nominations. Taboo, which stars Tom Hardy is up for six awards, whilst Broken and Three Girls received four nominations each. 

Three Girls director Philippa Lowthorpe received a nomination in the Director - Drama category alongside Euros Lyn for Damilola, Our Loved Boy and Julian Jarrold for The Witnesses for the Prosecution, all for BBC One. 

90 years of the RTS: From acorns to great oaks

WGW Mitchell (left), who proposed what became the Television Society, served as its honorary secretary 1929-44, with John Logie Baird, preparing for a demonstration

‘Recalling the early days of television and the Society, and then looking at things today, may be rather like looking at an acorn and then the oak tree and wondering how it all happened.” WC (Bill) Fox’s words from 40 years ago, on the occasion of the Society’s 50th anniversary, illustrate what television felt like to him in 1977. The Press Association journalist was present at the start of the Society – and even at the birth of television itself, as an enthusiastic supporter of John Logie Baird.

The BBC needs to broaden its range, says Sir David Attenborough

(Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

It’s a rare that two thoroughgoing BBC men are seen smiling, let alone laughing, inside the precincts of the House of Commons. When senior BBC people visit Parliament, they are invariably greeted by sceptical MPs, keen to give them a rough time. 

The atmosphere could not have been more different when, last month, the RTS invited Andrew Marr and Sir David Attenborough to hold a conversation at the Commons.  

Tom Mockridge appointed Chair of the Royal Television Society

Tom is the CEO of Virgin Media and a member of the Executive Leadership Team of parent company Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Tom joined Liberty Global in June 2013 following the acquisition of Virgin Media. During the previous two decades he worked for News Corporation in a variety of senior roles across the world. He started his career as a newspaper journalist in his native New Zealand, then in Australia, before becoming an adviser and spokesperson for the Federal Treasurer, the Honourable Paul Keating.

Winner of the Young Technologist Award 2016 announced

Bright spark James Goodhand was chosen to receive the award by a panel of judges chaired by Terry Marsh, Digital Media Consultant.

Goodhand graduated from UCL with a degree in Physics before joining the BBC’s trainee scheme. Since then he has completed placements with BBC Distribution, Newsgathering Location Facilities and International Bureaux Support. Most recently he has been working on a project to develop an in-house Return Vision System for BBC News.

Tips in 60 seconds... How to make it in drama production

Drama is a brilliant genre to work in, but you need to have a real passion for it to succeed, says Patrick Spence, Managing Director of Fifty Fathoms Productions.
 
Patrick started out as a script editor on Cracker, before going on to commission shows including Waking the Dead and Line of Duty. Since founding Fifty Fathoms, he has executive produced Sky Atlantic crime thriller Fortitude and RTS award-winning Marvellous.

RTS Conferences

Events in television don't get much bigger than the RTS Cambridge Convention and the RTS London Conference. Held on alternate years, each event brings together the senior leaders and CEOs from the global TV industry for discussion and debate, setting the agenda for the future media year. 

 

RTS Cambridge Convention

 

Every two years the most recognisable faces, influential names and powerful voices of television converge for three days of stimulating talks, chaired by one of the UK's main broadcasters.