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Get ready for ��̳ Arabic Festival 2018

2018-04-13T09:00:00+00:00

The fourth ��̳ Arabic Festival programme brings bold films and filmmakers to the ��̳ Radio Theatre in London from 20 - 26 April 2018.

With fiction and non-fiction films reflecting current political and social situations in the Arab world today. The Festival will also feature screen talks, panel discussions and special events about journalism, broadcast and filmmaking in the region. All events are free and open to everyone to attend.

To whet your appetite check out this short interview with 2017 Young Journalist Award Winner Mohamed Jabaly (Dir. Ambulance), whose new film follows six asylum seekers living in Tromso, Norway.

All events are free and open to the public by registering at www.bbcarabic.com/festival.

Find out more details about the festival on the Media Centre website.

Radio 4: Today at 60

2017-10-28T05:30:00+00:00

L-R: John Humphrys, Justin Webb, Nick Robinson, Sarah Montague, Jim Naughtie, Evan Davis, Garry Richardson, Mishal Husain

The radio programme that editor Rod Liddle described as ‘a light entertaining magazine programme… an oral Blue Peter for 60 year olds’ is 60 itself today.

The Today programme began life on Monday 28th October 1957 when the ��̳ Home Service launched a new morning programme presented by Alan Skempton and edited by Isa Benzie. According to Sue Macgregor, who presented Today from 1984-2002 the original programme was “built around Jack (De Manio)’s personality very much, so there was lots about food and booze in it, which were his great loves”.

Other presenters over the years included Michael Aspel (1970-1974), Barry Norman (1974-76), Des Lynam (1974-75),Gillian Reynolds (1976), Nigel Rees (1976–78), Libby Purves (1978–81) and Jenni Murray (1985–87).

Behind the mic at the Today Programme

What’s more a very young Prince Charles made his broadcasting debut on the Programme, talking to Jack De Manio about performing as a student in a show at Cambridge University.

However, it hasn’t all been smooth runnings over 60 years: De Manio started the programme on 31st March 1970 saying: “I got stuck in the loo, I’m sorry… I’m sorry about the beginning of this programme, I had a slight little bit of trouble”.

Sue Macgregor recalls on another occasion being so tired she fell asleep in the middle of her own question to Lord McGregor, Head of the Press Complaints Commission: “I remember waking up, as if out of a dream, conscious I was babbling nonsense… this isn’t a nightmare, this is really, really happening”.

Margaret Thatcher on the Today Programme

The programme interviewed countless people of note over the years; but influential figures also listened: Margaret Thatcher was a regular. Legend has it she phoned into the programme in 1988 because she had heard the bulletin announcing that Gorbachev would be cancelling his visit to London to return to the Soviet Union after the Armenian Earthquake. She wanted to the let the public know that she knew he wouldn’t be able to visit London and understood why.

Over 60 years the content and format of the Today programme has evolved; but from the outset world leaders, titans of business and industry, academics and activists alike have faced a grilling by the presenters. Its position as a Great British institution is as assured as ever, with over 7 million listeners regularly tuning in to Radio 4.

Jenni Murray, John Humphrys and Brian Redhead

To mark Today’s anniversary there will be a special broadcast from Wigmore Hall in front of a live audience, hosted by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague today (Saturday 28 October) from 7-9am. Highlights from the programme include:

Sue MacGregor doing a Reunion with a panel of former presenters such as Evan Davis and Ed Stourton
Mishal Husain chatting to John Simpson and Bridget Kendall on the great world events of the last 60 years
John Humphrys charting the history of political interview

Further special guests featured are: Alma Deutscher who has composed a 60th song which will be played out; and Monica Ali will be in conversation with James Naughtie.

It promises to be an informative and starry programme to mark 60 years of the Today Programme.

Find out more about the Today Programme
Follow @��̳r4today and #r4today #Todayat60 on Twitter

��̳ One's The A Word screening in Kendal

2017-10-27T14:30:00+00:00

Last night (Thursday 27 October) ��̳ North hosted a preview screening of the first episode of series two of The A Word at Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal. Following the preview Mike Zeller, breakfast presenter from ��̳ Radio Cumbria hosted a Q&A with creator and writer Peter Bowker, Executive producer Marcus Wilson and actress Pooky Quesnel.

The Lake District location for the preview was chosen as the series was filmed across Cumbria. The screening played out to a full house, and excited fans of the show queued from 6pm to ensure their place in the audience.

In the first series of The A Word the Hughes family's youngest son is diagnosed with autism. They realise that if their son is ever going to communicate, they have to learn how to communicate themselves. It stars Christopher Eccleston, Mollie Wright, Morven Christie and Lee Ingleby, with Pooky Quesnel, Greg McHugh and Vinette Robinson.

At the Q and A after last night’s screening there was an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the audience who praised the show for its subject matter and portrayal of autism.

Writer/creator Peter Bowker revealed that this new series is set two years on from series one. He explained that he chose the Lakes as the setting for the drama because he wanted a beautiful landscape but also somewhere with risk. The family live in paradise but their autistic child is vulnerable. Nevertheless, Peter maintained that humour is important to the programme saying: “people are funny when their backs are against the wall”.

In writing series two, Peter said he wanted to avoid an 'autism problem of the week' format, so has expanded the story much more into the wider family.

The outside of the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal last night, lit up with the ��̳ blocks

Executive producer Marcus Wilson said they originally decided not to cast a child with autism because it would be unfair to ask someone on the spectrum to be in a fake world when they're so young. He went on to say “the ��̳ were brave to put a show about disability out at 9pm”.

Actress Pooky Quesnel revealed that she and co-star Christopher Ecclestone were at sixth form college together, but that the production team didn't know this and when they were cast opposite each other, Chris thought it was a set up.

Peter also said he was pleased the show has opened up tough subjects to conversation and that he thought it was a bold decision by the ��̳ to commission it.

Series two of The A Word starts on ��̳ One on Thursday 7 November at 9pm.

Have you met ��̳ Music Introducing?

2017-10-20T09:00:00+00:00

Tonight (Friday 20 October) ��̳ Four is airing highlights from the concert at Brixton Academy which was held as part of ��̳ Music Introducing’s 10th anniversary. Jen Macro takes a brief look at what ��̳ Music Introducing has done, and continues to do, to help unsigned, undiscovered and under-the-radar artists

I remember a friend, who then worked for the ��̳, telling me a number of years ago about a new national initiative to help unsigned bands. Being in an unsigned band myself, I thought, what a marvellous idea to give struggling musicians around the country a helping hand to get noticed and build an audience through local shows and airplay. I have to say however, I was dubious that any success stories would actually come out of the project.

Fast forward to Wednesday 4 October 2017 and said initiative, ��̳ Music Introducing, is not only celebrating its 10 year anniversary, but holding a celebratory gig at Brixton Academy in London with just some of the very success stories they discovered and have helped over the last decade including Jake Bugg, Everything Everything, George Ezra and Nao.

So how does it work? When an artist/band submits a track to ��̳ Music Introducing Uploader it is forwarded to the nearest of the ��̳'s 38 local radio shows where presenters and producers listen. If they like them the tracks could get broadcast on those local stations and even propelled onto the national stage through ��̳ Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio 3, Asian Network and World Service or on television and online.

They may even put the band forward to perform at major festivals and showcases such as Glastonbury, Latitude and The Great Escape in the UK and SXSW in Texas and WinterJazz Festival in New York. This year 58% of the acts that performed at this year's Reading + Leeds Festival initially uploaded their music to the ��̳ Music Introducing Uploader.

��̳ Music Introducing artists have gone on to release: 14 UK No.1 singles, 68 UK Top 10 singles. So who might you know who’s come up through the ranks? Glastonbury headliners Ed Sheeran and Florence And The Machine both uploaded tracks to ��̳ Introducing, as did Mercury Music Prize 2017 nominated Alt-J, The Big Moon, Loyle Carner and Blossoms. Other high-flyers include Slaves, Izzy Bizu, Daughter, Royal Blood and Wretch 32. The list goes on.

No sooner were the plastic glasses cleared away from the floor of the Brixton Academy, than the ��̳ Music Introducing team were back to work, this time hosting a brand new three-day event at ExCel in East London from 6-8 October. Each day, Amplify was filled with talks by music industry professionals, pioneers and musicians, alongside trade stalls, three performance stages, ��̳ presenters including Annie Mac and Huw Stephens, plus a feedback centre where budding artists could get advice about the tracks they had brought in.

I dropped in to the event, and If I am honest, I was slightly apprehensive that, at my accrued years of age, I would stand out as the oldest person there, but in fact, much like ��̳ Introducing itself, the participants were a varied mix of all ages. I felt very welcome from the word go, not only by the folks staffing the event, but fellow attendees. Considering we were all in ‘competition’ with each other to get our music noticed, the camaraderie amongst the people in the queues for the talks and in the sessions themselves was heart-warming, from people giving up their seats, to chatting to the stranger next to them to find out what their music was like.

The industry sessions I attended were clear, well structured, extremely informative and thankfully not void of humour. Often geared to the DIY or ‘bedroom’ artist I was pleased that the speakers were realistic but encouraging, highlighting the fact that there is a lot of good music out there, but that doesn’t mean that yours isn’t just as good or valuable.

I spoke to staff at one of the publishing companies who had run a number of the sessions, they were pleasantly surprised at the huge turnout and eager to be involved in the next one.

So, happy birthday ��̳ Music Introducing, and keep up the good work.

Jen Macro is Digital Producer, About the ��̳

An hour long show about ��̳ Introducing and containing highlights of the Brixton gig will be shown on ��̳ Four on Friday 20 October and will be available on ��̳ iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast.
Watch the full ��̳ Music Introducing Live show
Find out more about Amplify 2017
Find out more at the ��̳ Music Introducing website and follow @bbcintroducing on Twitter.

��̳ Films at the BFI London Film Festival 2017

2017-09-14T08:30:00+00:00

This year's BFI London film festival runs from 4-15 October. Three ��̳ films feature: first up is the Opening Night Gala: Breathe (pictured).

A moving true story of courage under profound difficulties, it stars Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as a couple coping when he is paralysed by polio.

Breathe is by first-time director and acclaimed British actor Andy Serkis.

The second ��̳ film in festival is On Chesil Beach, adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan. Set in England in 1962, it is a touching tale of two young lovers Edward and Florence and how their unexpressed misunderstandings and fears shape the rest of their lives.

Directed by former Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre Dominic Cooke it stars Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle.

The final ��̳ film is Apostsy: written and directed by a former Jehovah’s Witness, Daniel Kokotajlo in his debut film.

This gripping piece depicts a family struggling with a cruel choice: devotion to one another or to their faith. It stars Siobhan Finneran, Sacha Parkinson, Molly Wright, Robert Emms.

The BFI London film festival runs from 4-15 October 2017 find out more and book tickets at the LFF website.

Find out more about ��̳ Films

In praise of ��̳ Fathers

2017-06-18T08:00:00+00:00

On Mother's Day we blogged about memorable ��̳ mothers, so in the interests of fairness, and as it's Father's Day, we've drawn up a list of some of our favourite dads from ��̳ TV programmes.

Ricky Tomlinson as Jim Royale from ��̳ One's Royale Family.

Professor Robert E Kelly, whose ��̳ News interview about Korea went viral after his kids gate crashed.

Adam Woodyatt as EastEnders character Ian Beale - pictured here with his youngest (fictional) son Bobby.

The cast of ��̳ Two's Babyfather: Johnny (Don Gilet), Linvall (Fraser James) , Beres (Wil Johnson) and Gus (David Harewood).

Maurice Colbourne as Tom Howard in ��̳ One's Howard's Way.

Richard Dimbleby, the ��̳’s first war correspondent and leading broadcaster, who is father to broadcasters Jonathan and David Dimbleby.

Hugh Dennis as dad Pete in Outnumbered with Claire Skinner as mum Sue and Ramona Marquez, Daniel Roche and Tyger Drew-Honey as Karen, Ben and Jake.

Actor Larry Lamb (here pictured as Archie in EastEnders) who is father to Radio Presenter George Lamb.

Tony Britton as Dr Toby Latimer and Nigel Havers as his son Tom in ��̳ One comedy Don't Wait Up.

Bill Paterson as the dad in ��̳ Three's award winning series Fleabag written and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

��̳ Journalist Peter Snow, with his son, presenter Dan Snow.

And finally - a bit of a cheat: Grandad from Only Fools and Horses (well in order to be a grandad you'd have to be a dad first, right?) played by Edward Kitchener.

See also Father’s Day baking for kids on ��̳ GoodFood
Also take the What should you cook for Father's Day? Quiz
Read In Praise of ��̳ Mothers

It's like Christmas Day for music...

2017-06-16T08:48:12+00:00

Texas at ��̳ Music Day 2017

Rebecca Sandiford, Producer, ��̳ Music, tells Ariel’s Matt Eatley how the ��̳ celebrated the power of music through ��̳ Music Day on Thursday 15 June.

What do Ozzy Osbourne, Liam Neeson, a ukulele-playing postie, an all-female brass band and 47 Blue Plaques all have in common?

It can only be one thing. ��̳ Music Day 2017.

Now in its third year, ��̳ Music Day is always this irrepressible, idiosyncratic and often heady mix of the surprising, the collaborative and the uplifting. The idea is to have one day in the year when the ��̳ along with external organisations come together to celebrate everything we love about music.

Through live music events around the UK and broadcasts across ��̳ Radio, TV and digital, ��̳ Music Day aims to unite generations and communities through the universal language of music.

It’s like Christmas Day for music.

The ��̳ Music Day team is based in Salford and sits within ��̳ Music, whose aim is to create greater impact for music from the ��̳. We reach out to as many ��̳ production teams as we can across all platforms and sites to create content that celebrates music.

��̳ Local Radio is a highly valued and vibrant partner, providing news-worthy events across the English Regions every year. This year they’ve unveiled 47 musical Blue Plaques – almost all of them on one day.

Network Radio is also at the heart of ��̳ Music Day and this year Radio 1 joined the party, meaning every single network radio station celebrated with us - Radio 2, Radio 3, 5 live, 6 Music and Asian Network.

And we’re delighted to have collaborated with new partners the World Service, daytime drama Doctors and ��̳ Writersroom this year. That’s alongside old friends C��̳, CBeebies, Regional TV, ��̳ Breakfast and Music News Live.

External partners are equally vital to ��̳ Music Day. Last year we worked with over 100. This year we were joined by The National Autistic Society, the Alzheimer’s Society and Nordoff Robbins, the UK’s leading music therapy charity.

This is in addition to city councils, venue owners, music charities and dozens of Music education hubs: not to mention record labels and agents representing some of our biggest music icons. All music is celebrated and everyone is welcome on ��̳ Music Day. It’s something only the ��̳ can do.

It all began three years ago. The creative driving force behind year one was legendary executive producer Katy Jones, who died tragically six weeks before the big day.

We had 20 events back then, including city celebrations and an imaginative musical relay across Hadrian’s Wall. In 2016 we increased that number to 400 with musical collaborations across bridges and an Eden Project concert headlined by Duran Duran.

The third ��̳ Music Day took place yesterday (15 June). We had 800 events, in spite of the significant challenge of moving the date to accommodate the snap general election. This included musical assemblies in schools across the UK, tram announcement takeovers by Ozzy Osbourne and Shaun Ryder, unique musical collaborations featuring Texas, Will Young and OMD and bells ringing out for ��̳ Music Day from Zimbabwe to Australia, Bermuda and beyond.

Our theme this year was the power of music. The past few weeks have illustrated how music can transcend boundaries and unite people, irrespective of faith, age and ethnicity. It has the power to heal. And we need that now more than ever.

We’re already planning for 2018 and we’d love to hear your ideas. The more ambitious, imaginative and collaborative the better.

This interview originally appeared in Ariel

Rebecca Sandiford is Producer, ��̳ Music

Find out more about ��̳ Music Day

��̳ Writersroom TV Drama Writers' Festival 2017

2017-06-09T15:00:00+00:00

Danny Brocklehurst in conversation with Charlotte Moore

The joyous annual event that is the ��̳ Writersroom TV Drama Writers' Festival took place on Thursday 8 June 2017 at Stratford Circus in East London. I had the pleasure of attending again this year, along with many other writers - the only criteria being they have to have a television broadcast credit.

The mood of these festivals is always upbeat which surprised me the first time I went to one: surely these writers are in competition with one another for a small amount of working opportunities? Well there’s no sense of that at all. This year there were lots of smiling faces, and I overheard more than one person say that this was 'my favourite writers' event and that there was ‘nothing else like it’. That high profile established writers generously give up their time to talk to emerging writers in an open and honest way is certainly a lovely thing.

As ever, this blog is a round-up of the sessions I attended – and the fact the good folk at the Writersroom lay on such a vast array of session is a double-edged sword in that I can’t be in two places at once. As ever, Chatham House Rules apply as the event is intended to be a safe space for writers to share thoughts, so particular comments may not be attributed to specific people.

The day kicked off with a welcome to this the 7th annual ��̳ Writersroom TV Writers’ Festival from Anne Edyvean the Head of the ��̳ Writersroom. She also highlighted the recent festivals in Scotland and Wales to mark the establishment of ��̳ Writersroom hubs in those regions. Then she handed over to writer Danny Brocklehurst who was chatting to Charlotte Moore, Director, ��̳ Content who explained she oversees all genres for TV and iPlayer.

The question of what the ��̳ was looking for in new writing terms came up. Moore asserted that: “It’s not about my particular taste… there’s an extraordinary range across the networks, that’s the joy of the ��̳”. She went on to say: “We want a diversity of the broadest voices in the truest sense” and reassured writers that “as long as it’s good it isn’t even about viewing figures.”

For the next session I was torn between ‘Meet the Commissioners’ and ‘Children’s Drama: Writing for drama’s most changeable audience'. I eventually opted for the latter.

Sarah Muller the Head of Children's at Channel 5 chaired a panel that featured Nina Hahn from Nickelodeon, Hannah Rodger from Disney and writers Mark Oswin and Emma Reeves. The panel all agreed that there is no difference between adult and children’s drama – the requirements are the same in both for high quality and values. Then the question was raised: ‘What sort of stories can be told in Children’s drama?’ It was agreed that nothing’s really off limits, but there should be hope at the end of any story.

The subject of research came up again and again with would-be Children’s writers being encouraged to research their audience carefully and also the network they are approaching as each one has its own tone. It was also agreed that a driving storyline is vital, as is a watertight structure and comedic elements.

Panelists agreed that writing for Children’s is "not a good way to get into writing adult telly, it’s a good way to get into writing for Children’s" – it shouldn’t be a means to an end. But both writers said they never felt restricted or limited in this genre and that they could do everything they would in an adult drama (bar sex and violence) and that it was very satisfying work and a kind, nurturing environment for writers. That said, the panel ended with a warning – "children will turn off quicker than any other audience" so you’ll always get an honest response to your work.

Another tough decision followed: the 'Daytime Drama' or 'Comedy Drama' session? I chose Daytime and was delighted to see an all-female panel. The chair was producer Ceri Meyrick who was joined by writers Rachel Flowerday (The Moonstone), Jude Tindall (Father Brown), Sally Abbott (The Coroner) and Collette Kane (Moving On).

A conversation about the under-the-radar nature of Daytime drama ensued, with panelists asserting that you can do more in that ‘while the kids are at school’ slot than you might think. The audience were painted a picture of a simpler commissioning process thanks to a smaller chain of command. Although the budgets are smaller one panelist asserted that "it’s valuable having limitations" and all agreed that with less money you have to rely more on scripts being excellent so it is a very creative environment for writers. Daytime slots also free writers from an hour-long slot, but they said a 45-minute programme time offers its own challenges, demanding rigourous and tight pieces of storytelling.

Three spectacular panels were scheduled next making my decision making even more impossible: The choice was between: ‘How to pitch your show!’, ‘Continuing Drama’ and ‘Changing how our industry looks’. I reasoned that as I’d been to a talk on writing for medical drama a couple of years ago and blogged about it I could justify not going to that one, and the whole topic of last year’s festival was Unheard voices, so I went for ‘How to pitch your show!’

Writer Toby Whithouse chaired the session with writers Jed Mercurio and Danny Brocklehurst and Kudos’ Head of Development Sarah Stack. All agreed the key to a good verbal pitch is knowing what you want to say and saying it in a concise manner. But all warned that saying an idea out loud can expose an its weaknesses, so practice is the key – that way you should get a sense where you are being vague or over-complicating things. They said if you can sum up your show in three sentences then you know it’s a strong pitch.

One panelist thought that a big problem for writers starting out is the fact that they are ‘pitching by proxy’ – so to a producer who would in turn pitch on their behalf to the decision-maker. That way an idea could be compromised. Hence the need for a clear, concise, three sentence pitch that is easy to get a handle on. The question of whether comparisons to other shows should be made in a pitch was raised. The panel agreed this can be useful to give a sense of tone, which is such an intangible thing. But the downfall is that you could be asked how your show is different from any shows you reference. The advice? Reference other art forms like novels and films instead of other telly shows.

After your pitch meeting you should supply a short pitch document with a fuller sense of what you’ve talked about. Panelists urged writers to avoid the tendency to make this too long. And when asked whether pictures could be included they agreed if it was helpful in getting a sense of the show then it would be fine but not to consider this too much – better to concentrate on the words.

A question was asked about how many pitches to have ready in case your main one falls flat. Not too many seemed the consensus – perhaps one but if you have too many it might look like you aren’t sure about which projects you are most interested in.

Toby’s final piece of advice was to go into any meeting prepared – even if you think it’s an informal chat.

My last session choice was ‘Film: So you want to write a feature?’ where ��̳ Writersroom’s Rachelle Constant talked to ��̳ Films’ Beth Pattinson. Beth introduced ��̳ Films as the film-making arm of the ��̳ – all the films go to the cinema first before later making their way to a ��̳ channel. Making 8-10 features a year the very small team develops up to 70 a year. They don’t fully finance any one film but work in collaboration with other companies to get films made. They have a remit to support the British Film industry. Rose Garnett has recently joined as the new head of ��̳ Films after the departure of Christine Langham.

Projects should be submitted by agents or producers, and sent to the Development Coordinator in the first instance. Then submissions are read, discussed internally and people can expect a response in a couple of months. Ideally the form of the approach will be a script, and writers were warned that very few projects are taken on by the small team, so many great projects are rejected. They always have to ask the question ‘will audiences go out to see this film at the cinema?’ As that is the unique challenge of film. Beth said ��̳ Films tries to promote British filmmakers and often the team will have a first time director or writer, but that person will always have a track-record in another medium.

In terms of themes being sought, a British focus seems key, and a lot of this is about the filmmakers and what they want to say. In addition, contemporary material is of interest and occasionally the team produce children’s films.

The final session was the Keynote: ‘The Scandi Invasion’ with Tony Wood from Buccaneer Media talking to writer and creator of The Bridge and Marcella Hans Rosenfeldt.

It was agreed that key elements of Scandi Drama are violence and/ or a dark tone, though Hans said “I don’t even know what Scand Noir is,” claiming most shows from Scandinavia are labelled as such without any set criteria.

Hans started out in continuing drama in Sweden before working on dark crime dramas, perhaps a natural progression because, as Tony pointed out many Soap lines involve crime stories.

Hans talked about the way shows are written in Sweden – he didn’t find too many differences between the Swedish and the British process. For The Bridge he did not have a writers' room in the American sense but all the writers who would be writing on the show were involved in a very collaborative and detailed storylining process at the show’s inception. Writers penned three drafts of an episode and then Hans took over honing all the scripts across the series.

How did this translate when working in England on Marcella? Tony who was Hans’ producer on the project said the water-tight plotting led to extremely compelling scripts. Tony also noticed there were less words on the pages of Hans’ scripts than a traditional English one, and felt this elicited heighted, engaging performances on-screen.

Hans talked again and again about how he aimed to make scripts as readable as possible. For him this means less discursive staging directions on the page and getting straight to the tightly-plotting story. This is surely good advice for any writer and a good note to end the festival on.

As I couldn’t get to everything so please do feel free to share your experiences of particular sessions in the comment section below.

You can find out more about ��̳ Writersroom at the website.

��̳ Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017

2017-05-26T13:00:00+00:00

To mark ��̳ Radio 2’s 50th anniversary the ��̳ Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens were presented at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Garden designers Sarah Raven, James Alexander-Sinclair, Jon Wheatley, Matt Keightley and design duo Kate Savill and Tamara Bridge created five gardens to"uplift the senses and encourage people to lose themselves among a feast of sights, scents, sounds, flavours and textures".

The gardens were named after different ��̳ Radio 2 Presenters. Featured gardens were: The Chris Evans Taste Garden designed by Jon Wheatley; The Jo Whiley Scent Garden designed by Tamara Bridge; The Anneka Rice Colour Cutting Garden designed by Sarah Raven; The Jeremy Vine Texture Garden designed by Matt Keightley; and The Zoe Ball Listening Garden, designed by James Alexander-Sinclair.

Anneka Rice in The Colour Cutting Garden designed by Sarah Raven.

Chris Evans and Mary Berry in The Taste Garden is designed by Jon Wheatley.

A zen Jeremy Vine in The Texture Garden designed by Matt Keightley.

Jo Whiley in The Scent Garden designed by Tamara Bridge.

With one day of this year's festival left to go the Radio 2 gardens have already had a large amount of visitors - including a Royal visit:

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In praise of ��̳ mothers

2017-03-26T09:00:00+00:00

To mark Mother's Day we revisit some well-known mothers from ��̳ programmes over the years in this picture blog.

Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders.

Brendan O'Carroll as Mrs Brown in Mrs Brown's Boys.

Lesley Manville as Cathy in ��̳ Two comedy Mum.

Ronnie Corbett as Timothy Lumsden with Barbara Lott as his mother Phyllis in Sorry!

Catherine Tate as Gran in the Catherine Tate Show.

Sue Johnston as Barbara Royale in The Royale Family.

Mum Ria played by Wendy Craig, with Russell (Andrew Hall), Ben (Geoffrey Palmer) and Adam (Nicholas Lyndhurst), the Parkinson family in Carla Lane's Butterflies.

Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances - likely on the phone to her perpetually absent son Sheridan.

Jean Boht as Nellie Boswell with her brood in Bread.

Sarah Lancashire as Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley

Miranda's on-screen mum Penny - actress Patricia Hodge.

��̳ Films’ A United Kingdom opens the London Film Festival

2016-10-05T11:30:00+00:00

A United Kingdom

��̳ Films’ A United Kingdom opens the 60th BFI London Film Festival tonight (Wednesday 5 October).

Director Amma Asante is the first black British director to open the Festival. Her film, with a screenplay by Guy Hibbert tells the inspiring true story of Seretse Khama, the King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana), and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1948 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments. Seretse and Ruth defied family, Apartheid and empire - their love triumphed over every obstacle flung in their path and in so doing they transformed their nation and inspired the world.

Other ��̳ Films in the festival include: The gala screening of WWII drama Their Finest starring Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy; the documentary about Sergei Polunin, Dancer; Mark Cousins’ Stockholm My Love starring Neneh Cherry; Alex Taylor’s Spaceship; Pete Travis' crime thriller City of Tiny Lights; and Sean Foley’s comedy Mindhorn.

In addition there’s William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth and Hope Dickson Leach’s Somerset drama The Levelling which are both in the First Feature competition.

The BFI London Film Festival 2016 runs from 5-16 October and you can explore the full programme on the BFI website.

Remembering the ��̳’s first official historian Asa Briggs

2016-10-04T15:41:32+00:00

Lord Asa Briggs

A memorial service was held yesterday (Tuesday 4 October) at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London to celebrate the life of Lord Asa Briggs.

For 37 years Briggs was regarded as the ��̳’s first official historian, once referring to his endeavours by saying, 'to write the history of broadcasting in the 20th century is to write the history of everything else.'

Briggs first became involved in broadcasting in 1958 when he was asked by Sir Ian Jacob, then Director-General of the ��̳, to write a history of British broadcasting, focusing in particular the role of the ��̳. The first volume of Briggs’s five-volume history, Birth of Broadcasting was published in 1961; he completed the fifth volume in 1995. The books are seen by some as an extant source.

Historians and academics paid tribute to Briggs at his memorial today. Professor Jean Seaton from the University of Westminster, the ��̳'s current historian, spoke of Briggs' contribution to the organisation.

The memorial also celebrated Asa Briggs’ contribution to The Open University. The institution announced yesterday the creation of a new Professorial Chair in History – the Asa Briggs Chair. Its first incumbent will be Paul Lawrence from the OU's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, who has made a significant scholarly contribution to British social history. Additionally there will be a funded PhD studentship in a related area of research.

"Asa Briggs was the first real historian to take the media seriously," said Tony Hall at the service, "His five-volume history of the ��̳ was a foundation, paving the way to media history as we know it today. He was also an inspirational guide to the Corporation, illuminating not only its past and present, but its future too.”

Briggs’ role as a public historian is to be celebrated in a special Radio 4 Archive Hour, scheduled for broadcast in 2017.

Read Asa Briggs obituary on the Guardian website
Read also Lord Asa Briggs on ��̳ Genome

��̳ Writersroom’s Writing Doctor Who

2016-10-03T12:00:00+00:00

��̳ Writersroom's Writing Doctor Who event

��̳ Writersroom hosted the #WritingDoctorWho event on Friday 30 September. This was an opportunity to discover “the journey from initial story idea to shooting script and beyond”, an event attended by would-be show-writers eager to hear lead-writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, and the show’s script editor, Nick Lambon talk about the writing for the programme.

The first question was about the ownership of a programme like Doctor Who – with so many stakeholders and such scrutiny on it Gavin asked: “To what extent is it yours?” "There is no one overlord,” replied Steven swiftly, adding that the only hierarchy was, “the hierarchy of the best idea.”

Next, Gavin asked about what goes on in a ‘first meeting’ ahead of a new series. Both said it was the script team (not writers) who all got together in a room to talk about the last season, and what had and hadn’t worked. Nick said that this year (2016) was an easier task to plan the season because of the arrival of a new companion for the Doctor. Thinking about her and what stories would work best to illuminate her character was the main focus of discussions.

On the subject of story arcs that stretch over the season versus individual episode plots Steven said, “It’s a weird thing with Doctor Who, but the reality is that the story of the week is king. At the same time you want to create a feeling that it is all building to something”, that something being an end-of-season climax.

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The next all-important question came: “When do you decide which writers you want to bring on board?”

Nick fielded the question about how which writers are brought on board for the series. "We start by discussing which writers we want to bring back or writers Steven wants to work with, or writers we’ve met. They need to be a good fit for the show”.

"The unique thing about Doctor Who is that there’s no typical process," said Steven, commenting on the scripting process. "A good Doctor Who script is a world unto itself.” Nick said often with the first draft of a script from a writer new to the series, “people get very excited and throw every idea at it. As a Script Executive you have to be diplomatic, but you want to make what they’re writing even better.”

Steven offered his philosophy on giving script notes – which I found incredibly refreshing: “You will make more improvements by praising the good than by criticising the bad. Praise is not sugaring the pill. It is more important to grow the good than shrink the bad. There are many ways to miss a target – but only one way to hit it. Find the great about a script and get more of that.”

More insights followed when Steven shared some of his own script-writing process. Moffat revealed how he always writes "strictly in scene order", writes and delivers a script in three parts, ensuring that each ends with a cliff-hanger, adhering to a kind of traditional three-act structure. "With the first draft you hand in, you must have two thoughts: it’s perfect - and I’m prepared to change it all”.

Next, Gavin asked about the mysteries of the 'tone meeting'. “What are they and why does everyone hate them?” Both explained that all the heads of department meet seven weeks before filming, how everyone goes through the script to make sure concepts and ideas are on the same page to achieve tone and technical elements. Necessary as they are, it seems the reason they are not popular is their length - it seems they can go on for rather a long time."

And what of the infamous read-through? Nick said this was a vital stage in the process. “You can read a script 100 times to yourself," said Nick, "but only when you hear actors say the lines can you understand what does and doesn’t work. After the read-through there is invariably another draft of the script in response to what’s been discovered.”

The production of a shooting script follows soon after, in which anything where anything which didn't immediately translate when being performed gets amended - that's the point in time when the so-called 'pink pages' with extra scenes and other material can be added.

What about short-form content? Gavin pointed to the Night of the Doctor (a special mini-episode made as part of the programme’s 50th anniversary celebrations) as a good example. What advice did Steven have for writers attempting short form work? "There’s no guarantee that it’s easier. As Richard Curtis said 'sorry it’s so long I didn’t have time to make it shorter'.Effectively, what he's saying is, whatever the length the job’s the same – to tell a good story.”

Moffat pre-empted three often asked questions when Gavin invited questions from the audience. “No, there are no plans for a Doctor Who/Sherlock cross-over. As there is no new Doctor planned in the near future we don’t know if it would be a woman next time. And, my favourite Doctor is Doctor Who.”

One question came on the subject of pitching. Steven was interesting on the subject. He said that to be skilled at pitching can be a poison chalice. If you pitch something as a writer you’ve made a promise, but to his mind a writer should be able to change their mind. So, he suggests lose, open pitches that don’t give away the whole plot.

Steven was also asked about how they tackle more adult themes in a programme with younger viewers. He had this to say,

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The final question was from Gavin who asked both Moffat and Lambon what would stand out from their experiences on Doctor Who in 10 years time.

"It’s absolutely mad, relentless," replied Nick, "so I hope in 10 years time I’ll have a chance to look back and consider everything we did and say ‘wow’.” And Steven had this to say: “it was the best and most brilliant and surprising job I could ever have done.”

Find out more about ��̳ Writersroom

Don't underestimate toddlers, they like Shakespeare too

2016-09-19T09:17:51+00:00

CBeebies Midsummer Night's Dream

CBeebies Controller Kay Benbow gave an interview to The Telegraph's arts correspondent, Hannah Furness. Talking about the ��̳'s pre-school audience she said: “the very young deserve the very best”. The article goes on:

"There are so many things that people assume young children won't be interested in, and I think that's very much an adult perspective,” she said. “If you give children the opportunity to listen, to look, to participate, they will seize it.

“Of course not everyone's going to love classical music, but it's about putting the opportunity out there and giving them a chance to experience things.”

She said previous broadcasting wisdom had laid down that young children can concentrate for between three and 15 minutes before becoming distracted.

“I've never really subscribed to that,” she said. “If you engage a child, they will sit for a huge amount of time.

“You mustn't prejudge what children will and won't like: give them the opportunity to experience and make their own choices.”

You can read the piece in full on The Telegraph website.

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Michelle Keegan comes home for new ��̳ One drama Our Girl

2016-09-06T12:00:00+00:00

Michelle Keegan in Manchester

The red carpet was rolled out last night (Monday 5 September) at Home cinema in Manchester as Michelle Keegan was in town for a special screening of her new ��̳ One drama Our Girl.

Other members of the Our Girl cast including Sean Ward, Angela Lonsdale and Simon Lennon were joined on the red carpet by a host of North West celebs including ��̳ North West Tonight presenter Beccy Barr and Hannah Midgley who recently starred in the ��̳ One drama In The Club.

The cast of Our Girl

Michelle Keegan said: “I am thrilled to be back in Manchester for the screening. I come from Manchester and obviously we filmed a lot of the series here so it’s really important to me that we can give people in Manchester an exclusive opportunity to see the first episode before the rest of the country. The reaction from fans on the red carpet was over-whelming, I hope everyone enjoys the new series when it starts on Wednesday.”

Also in attendance at the North West premiere were Chris Hawkins from ��̳ Radio 6 Music and CBeebies presenter Ben Cajee; as well as other members of the cast of Our Girl – Michael James, Linzey Cocker and Molly Wright.

An audience of members of the public, specially invited guests and cast and crew were treated to a sneak preview of the first episode of the five-part series. The screening was hosted by Adrian Mills, General Manager at ��̳ North and was attended by nearly 200 people.

Adrian Mills said: “We have a clear commitment to make a wide variety of programmes across the North of England and Our Girl is an excellent example of the ��̳ delivering on that promise. We have seen some very successful dramas made in the north this year including Happy Valley, The A Word and In The Club and it’s fantastic to see such a range of powerful dramas on our screens. I’ve no doubt that Our Girl will prove to be just as popular with audiences in the north and across the country.”

Actress Angela Lonsdale

Our Girl was filmed at various locations in and around Manchester. The new series of Our Girl follows Two Section on a posting to Kenya where they are joined by new female medic Lance Corporal Georgie Lane (Michelle Keegan) a brilliant and committed soldier who loves the adrenaline and adventure of her job.

During this series, Georgie will have to earn the love and trust of her fellow soldiers, and the greater respect of her commanding officer, whilst working alongside aid workers in the biggest refugee camp in the world. Kenya is a complicated and volatile posting - one which Georgie will find full of surprises that will challenge her professionally in unexpected ways, and which will change her personal life forever.

Our Girl is written by Tony Grounds for ��̳ One. Executive producers are Caroline Skinner and Tony Grounds, produced by Eric Coulter and the series was directed by Jan Matthys and Luke Snellin.

The first episode of the five-part series is at 9pm on 7 September, ��̳ One.

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