Lenny Henry recently paid tribute to the Windrush Generation in his new heartfelt ITV period drama Three Little Birds, but now it's time for the one-off entertainer himself to be championed by colleagues, friends and family in a one-off documentary.
“I absolutely hate rejection. I cry… I love these projects. I really hate it when producers act like it doesn’t matter and say: ‘We just roll again tomorrow, Helen.’ Of course, you roll again tomorrow, but today I want to sob.”
Screenwriter Helen Black was discussing the biggest downside of her job at an RTS Futures event in September, which examined what it takes to make a living out of screenwriting.
She continued: “You end up working on a lot of projects that are never going to be in production and that’s heartbreaking.”
Top TV writers discuss how to make it in screenwriting.
Host:
Navi Lamba, Head of Development, BBC Comedy
Panel:
Helen Black, Writer, Time S2
Louis Paxton, Writer/Director, Calamity James, Wreck
Ameir Brown, Writer, Champion
Please note that due to restrictions beyond the RTS’ control, we could not include any comments from David Hancock in the recording.
The new series will not be a following on from the first, which starred Sean Bean and Stephen Graham as prisoner and guard, but will follow a new female-led storyline. Only Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley) will be reprising her role as Marie-Louise, the humane and compassionate prison chaplain.
Written by Jimmy McGovern (Broken), the first series of Time stars Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) and Stephen Graham (Boiling Point) and focuses on inmate Mark’s (Bean) life in prison after he accidentally kills an innocent man. Graham took the role of a prison guard trapped in a decision between his morals and his family's safety.
The Liverpool-born author took the Script Writer award for his BBC One prison drama Time while its star, Sean Bean, picked up the Performance in a Drama prize.
McGovern’s drama Anthony, made by LA Productions for BBC One, which tells the story of a racist murder of a teenager and the life he could have lived, secured the Single Drama award.
Channel 4 Aids drama It’s a Sin, written by Russell T Davies and made by Red Production Company, took the Drama Series prize.
As one of the first comedians to tour the world since lockdown began, Russell Howard invites the cameras to follow along for a three-part documentary.
Time explores the two sides of the penal system, the punishers and the punished, and how prison affects all who pass through.
Mark Hebden (Bean), teacher, husband and father, welcomes a four-year jail sentence for killing an innocent man in an accident, having been consumed by the guilt.
Bean said: “Getting to be involved in a Jimmy McGovern drama again is a real privilege and it will be great to be reunited with Stephen.
"Mark Hebden is another of Jimmy’s complex and superbly written characters and I am looking forward to bringing him to life on screen.”
