Television Magazine

I squirmed in my seat when former doctor Adam Kay ­verbally eviscerated a heckler. He was as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel and as mean as a betrayed woman in a blues song. It hurt. Anyone attending his live shows: be warned. 

His new medical drama, BBC One’s This Is Going To Hurt, should come with a health warning. This is not because of the gore (of which there is plenty), but because one aspect of junior ­doctors’ lives has improved since his and my time – though this, sadly, could soon regress with Brexit. 

Interviewing or bumping into Beryl was a privilege, not least because the experience put you in touch with television’s first golden age. 

Her south London accent and non-nonsense style – and, yes, she didn’t suffer fools – stood out in a business where sycophancy and insincerity are so often the order of the day. 

If you want to hear a convincing argument that traditional TV news remains in rude health, despite the onward march of digital services, speak to Michael Jermey, ITV’s director of news and current affairs. He is the executive overseeing the launch of ITV’s extended, hour-long early ­evening news. 

The accuracy of the fire was surprising,” was the laconic observation of Sky News camera operator Richie Mockler. He was explaining what happened when gunmen, thought to be a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance squad, ambushed Sky’s chief corres­pondent Stuart Ramsay and his team. They were driving in a rented Hyundai saloon car on a major road from Bucha to Kyiv, about 20 minutes from the centre of the capital.

Jed Mercurio is bringing his trademark high-octane thrills to ITV with a new drama set in a bomb disposal squad. Sunday-night viewers are currently being subjected to big bangs and nerve-shredding tension as a bombing campaign terrorises London.

Trigger Point stars Vicky McClure as an “expo”, a bomb disposal officer who takes the “long walk” towards a suspect device before attempting to defuse it.

West Berlin, 1963. A young man picks up a familiar-­looking pair of glasses from his bedside table to look at a beautiful woman taking a bath. Soon after, he picks up a newspaper, pausing to draw a moustache on a picture of President de Gaulle. The detail is rich, evocative and clear evidence of ITV’s determination that its engrossing new big-budget six-parter, The Ipcress File will both pay respectful tribute to the acclaimed 1965 film, but also find a fresh audience on its own merits.  

It’s launch week. It’s January. So, no sharing the love and stress of such events with like-minded buddies in the office. Instead, it’s a weird dichotomy of a high-speed roller-coaster ride – but from the comfort of my front room/office.  

Our talented 50-plus We Are England team (as the Ronseal name alludes to) spans the whole of England, from Newcastle to Leeds, Birmingham to Norwich and London to Bristol. Lockdown working practices have been the unanticipated saviours of our schedule and sanity.  

You could almost feel jaws dropping when it was announced last month that the pioneering Deborah ­Turness had been appointed the new head of BBC News. Turness, 54, had only recently got her feet under the table as ITN’s third CEO in as many years. Why would she give up this plum position – ideally suited to her skills at the company where she originally made her name – to take on the multiple challenges of running BBC News?

It’s odd to think now but, before kicking off on Apple TV+, you may not have bet on football comedy drama Ted Lasso as a winner.  

Originally, Jason Sudeikis’s loveable Mr Nice Guy character fronted a US advertising campaign. As an American football coach turned “head coach of Tottenham Spurs” [sic], his cheerful cluelessness about the beautiful game made him ideal to bring soccer to American culture and thus promote NBC’s Premier League coverage back in 2013.  

“I’ve always avoided the idea of networking like the plague, so the fact that I’m on this panel is quite wild,” admitted Jasmine Dotiwala.  

She currently works for Netflix UK’s editorial and publishing team, and has more than 25 years’ experience in TV, including stints at Channel 4 News and MTV. 

Dotiwala advised: “Stop thinking about it as networking… it’s about making it fun and palatable for you.  

“It’s an old cliché – they say your network is your net worth…. I really now get that.