RTS NETB explores how teams got creative to keep dramas and soaps such as Vera and Emmerdale in production during lockdown.
The “Covid – creativity in a Crisis” panel includes Emmerdale director Ian Bevitt, Danny & Mick production co-ordinator Victoria Griffin, Teesside-based independent producer Matt McGough (Ithica Films) and Fahima Chowdhury, Line Producer for Vera.
The University of Sunderland broadcast journalism student took the prize for a report on Greek unemployment. A year earlier, he won the same award for a piece on a demonstration in Newcastle against US President Donald Trump.
and the Border Awards 2019 (Credit: Steve Brock)
“We need to match talent from around the UK with skills shortages,” he told an audience at the National Glass Centre, part of the University of Sunderland, in early July. “And we want to help build sustainable infrastructure in different parts of the country linking universities, colleges and employers.”
The two stars of the ITV cop show joined crime writer Ann Cleeves, whose books inspired the series, on stage to collect the RTS Judges’ Award at the Hilton Newcastle-Gateshead in late February. Filming begins on Vera’s 10th season in Northumberland next month.
The tales of boozy, sexed-up Geordies – “I'm fit, I’m flirty and I’ve got double Fs,” as one of the cast memorably declared – have now filled 18 series on MTV.
Former NETB Chair Graeme Thompson discussed the DNA of the reality show, which is made by Lime Pictures, with the execs who make and commission it.
Geordie Shore, like The Only Way is Essex and Made in Chelsea, is a constructed reality show that blends fact and drama. “It’s a model that’s proved hugely popular,” said the show’s executive producer,Rebecca McLaughlin.
Africa was the inspiration for BBC News’s first virtual reality (VR) documentary, Damming the Nile, and the Corporation’s man on the ground, Leithead, shared the steep learning curve with the audience in the North East where he was brought up.
Leithead discussed Ethiopia’s ambitious project to dam the Nile and the political friction it is causing further downstream in Egypt. With stunning locations, rich cultural influences and the engineering wonder of building a dam, it was an easy pitch for a 30-minute TV programme, but this was to be told in completely different way.
