In the news this week:
Virgin Unveils Rude Season As Sky Circles Overhead
There are rumours that cable platform Virgin may sell its TV channels to competitor BSkyB for £600 million - which is something of a turnaround from last year when it was planning to beef up its channel operation to take on its arch-rival. Presumably, it has realised the vast cost of running a fully-fledged production and acquisition outfit.
In the meantime, however, the company's flagship entertainment channel Virgin1 continues to commission new shows from the UK indie sector. This week, for example, it announced plans for a raft of one-off factual primetime commissions for its upcoming Rude Season.
Premiering this summer is Amaze TV's controversial shock-doc My Free Boobs - a 60-minute special about social networking websites which offer women the opportunity to raise funds for free breast implants by attracting male benefactors willing to pay for them.
Amaze has also been commissioned to make Happy Birthday Viagra - another 60-minute show which talks to people whose lives have been changed as a result of the drug. The final show in the new line-up is The Sex Lives of Twins - a humorous exploration of male fantasies about twins. Made by Endemol-owned Cheetah Television, the show looks at the real stories behind the headlines.
Commenting on the slate, Virgin1 acting director of programmes Daniela Neumann said: “Virgin1’s upcoming season embodies the essence of original content that we’re undertaking this year. Smart, informative and enquiring... these shows will push boundaries and get people talking.”
posted 9th May, 2008
Over the years, the Rose d'Or Festival - like The Eurovision Song Contest - has thrown up some odd results. But none of that matters this year because the Brits have walked away with the lion's share of awards on offer.
All told, the Brits picked up five Golden Roses. Headliners included Company Pictures' teen drama Skins (best drama), TalkbackThames' sitcom The IT Crowd (best sitcom) and Avalon's Kombat Opera Presents… (best programme and best comedy). Other stand-out performances came from Ballet Boyz' Strictly Bolshoi (best arts documentary) and comic Peter Serafinowicz - who was named best entertainer for his part in The Peter Serafinowicz Show (Objective Productions/Hey Hey Hey). To cap a great night, Granada's The Street also received a special mention in drama.
The Rose d'Or festival used to take place in Montreux but is now held in Lucerne. This, the 48th edition, saw 402 shows entered by 181 companies from 34 countries. Commenting on proceedings, festival director Urban Frye said: "The calibre of entries proves the Rose d'Or is back at the heart of European creativity and that it is possible to create programmes with cross-cultural, cross-generational appeal."
posted 9th May, 2008
Out Of The Blue Is Out Of Favour
When the BBC lost Neighbours to Five, it decided to acquire another Australian soap, Out Of The Blue, as a replacement for BBC1's weekday daytime schedule. But poor viewer ratings have forced the corporation to rethink.
Out Of The Blue only launched on April 28. But within two weeks, its ratings had slumped from 1.2 million to 700,000 (Neighbours, by comparison, used to get 2-2.5m directly before it switched channels). As a result, the BBC has decided to shift the show to BBC2 from May 19th.
The show's failure to take root is a problem for the corporation - which acquired 130 episodes from producer/distributor Southern Star in December 2007. However it's possible that it will be better-suited to BBC2 because of its editorial theme. While Neighbours was a light and frothy youth-oriented series, Out Of The Blue is about a group of thirtysomethings who return to their home town for a school reunion - at which point one of them is murdered.
This alone may explain why people switched off - since daytime audiences are rarely in the mood to be intellectually challenged. But it's also worth noting that it is harder than ever to get dramas off the ground these days. Neighbours at its peak had an audience of nearly 20 million across its two daily showings. But Out of the Blue had to launch with modest promotion and the 1.4 million audience handed to it by another soap Doctors (which airs before it).
Perhaps the most significant point in the long-term is that the BBC is now adopting a much more aggressive attitude to the ratings performance of shows on BBC1. Although it is not required to drop shows as quickly as this, its anxiety about the future of the licence fee means it will probably start to behave more and more like its commercial rivals.
posted 9th May, 2008
Royle Return For Caroline Aherne?
Rumours are circulating that Caroline Aherne is planning a Royle Family Christmas Special. The hit show last saw the light of day as a one-off in October 2006. But it is believed that Aherne is in the early stages of writing a new script.
Aherne co-writes The Royle Family with Craig Cash - who is currently in production on his own project Sunshine; a three-part comedy starring Steve Coogan. That show, filmed in Salford and Stockport, tells the story of a man whose relationships are affected by his gambling addiction. The expectation is that Cash will turn his attention to The Royle Family special once this run of Sunshine is finished.
The BBC has cautiously acknowledged that it is discussing a script with Aherne and the actors who make up the show's core cast. However it would obviously be very keen to get the talented Aherne back in the fold. The last special, Queen of Sheba, delivered 7.8 million viewers and won a BAFTA - exactly the combination that the BBC aspires to.
posted 9th May, 2008
Event Drama Flood Does The Business For ITV
ITV mini-series Flood, which starred Robert Carlyle, achieved pretty good ratings last week - attracting 7.2 million viewers on Sunday night and 6.2 million in its concluding episode on Monday night. But how many more epics of this kind are we likely to see on British TV?
The answer to that actually lies overseas. Although the production company Power is British-based and the subject matter in London-based, the U$24 million required to fund such a production is pulled together from many markets. In this case, some of the money came from Canada and South Africa - with the latter also playing host to some of the key sequences (Whitehall and the Scottish coast for example).
Even then, the success of the project depends on how well Power does when it comes to selling the completed production overseas. January saw a number of theatrical and TV deals done across Asia (Japan, Korea, India to name a few). But the big return will come if it manages to sell the mini-series into the US and mainland Europe - where licence fees for high-end dramas are usually higher.
ITV will probably be hoping that Power's approach pays off. Networks generally shy away from fully-funding drama mini-series because a) they are expensive b) one-offs are hard to promote and c) there is a risk that the audience will desert the show half way through its run. But when they work, mini-series provide an important event-feel to the schedule - particularly if they have top quality special effects and a high-profile star like Robert Carlyle.
They also represent a boost to the British production sector. Although some of the work went to South Africa, the director of Flood was Tony Mitchell, who has also headed BBC drama-docs like Supervolcano. Currently, the Brits remain at the forefront of hybrid productions of this kind.
posted 9th May, 2008