All the world's a stage - and all the men and women have their channels - September 2021 - Royal Television Society
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September 2021
All the
world’s
a stage
and all the men
and women have
their channels
LOVE TV?
SO DO WE!
Royal Television Society bursaries offer financial
support and mentoring to people studying:
TELEVISION PRODUCTION
JOURNALISM
ENGINEERING
COMPUTER SCIENCE
PHYSICS
MATHS
First year and soon-to-be students studying
relevant undergraduate and HND courses at
Level 5 or 6 are encouraged to apply.
Find out more at
rts.org.uk/bursaries
#RTSBursaries
Journal of The Royal Television Society
September 2021 l Volume 58/8
From the CEO
Our bumper issue of about our age of disruption and seriously looking forward to hearing
Television highlights innovation. what the former US Secretary of State,
two international key- Ofcom CEO Melanie Dawes will be Hillary Clinton, and her daughter,
note speakers at this making her Cambridge debut. Steve Chelsea, have to say to us.
month’s RTS Cam- Clarke profiles a woman who knows We have another very special guest
bridge Convention her way around Whitehall’s corridors of appearing – England manager Gareth
– YouTube’s Robert power and who is a long-time cham- Southgate, who has distinguished
Kyncl and the man who master- pion for genuinely diverse workforces. himself not only by his team’s out-
minded Disney+, Kevin Mayer. Also, don’t miss Ade Adepitan’s TV standing performance, but by his per-
Both men were quick to identify Diary. He is part of Channel 4’s Para- sonal leadership style and integrity.
and act on technology’s potential to lympics presenting team. Ade reminds It will be fantastic to see our indus-
transform our industries. Robert and us how tough life was in lockdown, try back together again in person.
Kevin had the smarts to see how this particularly for those with disabilities.
would forever change the TV and I hope to see many of you at Cam-
wider entertainment business. Their bridge. In addition to industry leaders
extraordinary careers tell us a lot from both sides of the Atlantic, I’m Theresa Wise
Contents
Cover: YouTube star KSI (Capital FM)
5 Ade Adepitan’s TV Diary
Ade Adepitan on preparing for the Paralympics – and
why he saw so little of the action from Tokyo 18 Why true crime pays
Matthew Bell weighs the evidence for why this specialist
documentary genre is more popular than ever in the UK
6
Comfort Classic: The Young Ones
Steve Clarke hails the cult show that radically redefined
the sitcom with an avalanche of surreal, satirical slapstick 20 A man ahead of the curve
Caroline Frost talks to Kevin Mayer, the Disney veteran
who aims to turn DAZN into the Netflix of sport
7 Ear Candy: Still Queer as Folk
Kate Holman enjoys no-holds-barred analysis of each
episode of Russell T Davies’s groundbreaking drama 22 Stay public – or go private?
A high-powered RTS panel draws the battle lines in the
debate over Channel 4’s future
8 Working Lives: Location manager
Demons in Swansea, witches in Caerphilly and sexologists
in Caerleon – Wales has it all, testifies Gareth Skelding 24 My brilliant Korea
The RTS hears why weird and wonderful shows such as
The Masked Singer are transforming TV entertainment
10 Lampooning with latex
The team behind BritBox’s reboot of Spitting Image
explains how to make satire work for millennials 26 Watching the detectives
Shilpa Ganatra investigates a new era for crime drama
at the UKTV-owned pay channel Alibi
12 The Silicon Valley trailblazer
Caroline Frost charts YouTube’s Robert Kyncl’s progress
from cross-country skier to tech pioneer 29 Our Friend in the North
Sinéad Rocks celebrates the beginning of a majestic
new era in the Channel 4 story
14 Breaking all medical records
As Casualty celebrates its 35th anniversary,
Shilpa Ganatra diagnoses the secret of its longevity 30 King of the crescent
Sitcom King Gary set out to subvert masculine stereo
types. An RTS panel reveals its ambitions for series 2
16 Ofcom’s diversity champion
Steve Clarke profiles the regulator’s Chief Executive,
Melanie Dawes, who is also a youth charity trustee 32 How to nurture talent
Anne Dawson discovers how Air TV delivers long-term
contracts and extensive training for its new recruits
Editor Production, design, advertising Royal Television Society Subscription rates Printing Legal notice
Steve Clarke Gordon Jamieson 3 Dorset Rise UK £115 ISSN 0308-454X © Royal Television Society 2021.
smclarke_333@hotmail.com gordon.jamieson.01@gmail.com London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman The views expressed in Television
News editor and writer Sub-editor T: 020 7822 2810 Overseas (airmail) £172.22 20 Crimscott Street are not necessarily those of the RTS.
Matthew Bell Sarah Bancroft E: info@rts.org.uk Enquiries: publication@rts.org.uk London SE1 5TP Registered Charity 313 728
bell127@btinternet.com smbancroft@me.com W: www.rts.org.uk
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 3
TURN IT UP AUDIONETWORK.COM/DISCOVER SEND US YOUR BRIEF MUSICSEARCH@AUDIONETWORK.COM
TV diary
T
his will be my third People are not disabled by their
time presenting the impairment, but by the barriers soci-
Paralympics. I was a ety puts in front of them. If you live
John Noel Management
pundit for the BBC in a town where the gym isn’t acces-
in Beijing. In 2012 sible, your disability is the gym rather
and 2016, I was a than the impairment.
presenter in London If the gym has doors that are wide
and Rio for Channel 4. enough for wheelchairs and the
To prepare, I have been updating equipment is low enough for you to
my knowledge of the athletes. I still use and there are ramps and acces-
play wheelchair basketball at club sible toilets, you no longer have a
level. Quite a few of the players, such
as Gaz Choudhry and Helen Freeman,
Ade Adepitan on disability. We should make every-
thing accessible to everyone.
who are in the national team, I know preparing for the On the subject of Instagram, I’ve
well. I trained some of them as they now gathered about 17,000 followers.
worked to get into the team. Paralympics – and why It’s a nice community and we speak
I get up at 5:30am and do two-hour
sessions with them. I’ve also been
he saw so little of the regularly. I give my followers the
opportunity to ask me questions
speaking to my old tennis coach, action from Tokyo about anything they like.
Stuart Wilkins, on WhatsApp. I’m
lucky that I’ve got direct sources to ■ We have a seven-month-old
the games. baby, so watching a lot of the Olym-
return. It’s only in the past two weeks pics on TV wasn’t possible. It would
■ It’s brilliant that more than 70% of that we’ve been allowed to play con- have been really unfair to my wife
Channel 4’s Paralympics presenting tact basketball. Two negative Covid to watch the telly when I should be
team are disabled. The other day, tests need to be sent in the previous looking after Bolla. He’s a busy lad
Gaz Choudhry said to me, “Why is week. The amount of admin is insane. who hates to sit still.
it that you so often see able-bodied Once you start playing again, you
people presenting Paralympic sport, realise how much you’ve missed it ■ Sport is an international language.
but you never see people with disa- and the buzz you get from playing. I was thrilled that Tokyo was such a
bilities working as presenters at the During the first lockdown, in May big success and helped to lift every-
Olympics?” 2020, I got a new sports wheelchair. body’s mood.
JJ Chalmers was a presenter at the For seven or eight months I wasn’t The Paralympics are even more
Tokyo Olympics, but that was the able to use it. It was frustrating, seeing important because, when times are
first time this has happened. this brand-new wheelchair sitting tough, it’s people with disabilities who
We need to see more former Para- there gathering dust. suffer the most. To see disabled ath-
lympic athletes given the opportu- letes competing at the top level is a
nity to be Olympics presenters. ■ Not being able to play basketball massive boost to everyone’s morale.
during lockdown, I was worried For disabled people in parts of
■ Last year, because of Covid, the about putting on weight. To keep up Africa and India who are living in
wheelchair basketball season was my fitness levels, I did a live stream extreme poverty, the opportunity to
shut down. But now I go to a nearby on Instagram with my brother, Olu, see disabled people doing extraordi-
park at Ravenscourt in west London, who’s a personal trainer and nutri- nary things at the Paralympics is
where there are outdoor basketball tionist, which we called FitnessFriday. inspirational.
courts. It was available to both able-bodied
The team has started doing some athletes and those with impairments. Ade Adepitan is presenting the Tokyo
three-on-three basketball sessions. I hate it when disabled people are Today Paralympic Highlights show at
Our club sessions have also started to put in silos – it feels like segregation. 5:00pm on Channel 4 until 5 September.
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 5
COMFORT CLASSIC
The Young Ones
BBC
F
ew TV shows are held In a neat satirical sequence, there
responsible for blowing Steve Clarke hails the are references to Protect and Survive, a
apart the genre they
belong to but that was the
cult show that radically recently published government pam-
phlet with its bizarre tips on how to cope
legacy of The Young Ones. redefined the sitcom with nuclear Armageddon. This was the
The incendiary BBC Two
sitcom redefined the parameters of
with an avalanche of age of protests against US missile bases
amid fears that the Iron Lady and US
comedy by making an embarrassment surreal, satirical slapstick President Ronald Reagan might trigger
out of elements of the genteel English a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
suburban sitcom, exemplified by The The programme’s insane slapstick
Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles. TV comedy and entertainment. and inspired surrealism were the pro-
From now on, thanks to The Young Indeed, an early episode saw the verbial blast of fresh air, as the atti-
Ones, sitcom could sit squarely at the four housemates who are the show’s tudes and styles that characterised the
heart of youth culture, while those anti-heroes wake up to discover an booming stand-up circuit were
tuxedoed comics who had built their atom bomb in their kitchen. Inevitably, imported into peak-time TV comedy.
routines on jokes about mothers-in-law Vyvyan (Ade Edmondson) – the The comedy was peppered with
found themselves beyond the pale. flame-haired, cricket bat-wielding performances by some of the era’s
If BBC Three had been around in punk addicted to smashing anything most popular bands – perhaps most
1982, when series 1 of The Young Ones and everything – wants to let it off. memorably, British metal band Motör-
landed, its brilliance would have Rick (Rik Mayall), the slightly camp, head belting out their best-known
defined the channel overnight. As arty one and self-declared Cliff Rich- number, Ace of Spades, while our four
it was, its arrival was, to paraphrase ard fan, wants to use the bomb to heroes rush for a train so they can
one critic, not unlike an atomic bomb blackmail the detested Prime Minister, appear on, of all things, University
going off in conventional mainstream Margaret Thatcher. Challenge.
6
Ear candy
Cue more satire as Scumbag College
takes on the toffs of Footlights College,
Oxbridge.
Subtle or sophisticated it wasn’t, but
the show generated a lot of laughs as
the under-35s finally had a sitcom they
could call their own.
There were puppets, too, and star
guests aplenty in this two-series blitz-
krieg. Rising stars Stephen Fry, Hugh
Laurie and, yes, even Robbie Coltrane
and Emma Thompson, all climbed
aboard a sitcom that quickly defined
and encapsulated “alternative comedy”
on TV.
And let us not forget the fearsome
Liverpudlian hardman and famed
compère of Soho’s Comedy Store,
Alexei Sayle. He plays the sadistic land-
lord, Jerzei Balowski, as well as other
members of the Balowski family.
At the heart of all great sitcoms are
well-honed characters. The quartet
was completed by Mike (Christopher
Ryan), who wouldn’t have looked out
of place drinking with Del Boy in Only
Fools and Horses, and the wondrous,
dim-witted hippie, Neil (Nigel Planer).
Here was a character decades ahead of
his time, a put-upon pacifist, vegetar-
ian and environmentalist suffering
from what we’d today call mental
health issues.
Still Queer as Folk
The episode in which he inhales
some especially potent pot and ends
up travelling in space to land on a
Channel 4
distant planet remains hilarious. Quite
what Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos or
Elon Musk would make of it is any-
W
one’s guess.
The Young Ones was written by Mayall, hen Queer as Folk moments, such as Vince coming out
Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, an Ameri- hit our screens at work, and the realistic and passion-
can-born writer who met Mayall when in 1999, the ate sex scenes shown throughout
he was a drama student at Manchester groundbreaking the series.
University. series was Often going off topic to share their
The role of the peerless producer praised for its own stories, the pair’s tales of their
Paul Jackson should not be underesti- realistic and fun depiction of young experiences of going to gay clubs for
mated. He once said: “I was lucky gay life in Manchester. the first time, cruising and finding
enough to be the conduit through Twenty years on, Russell T Davies’s friendships in their twenties adds to
which a lot of alternative comedy storytelling is just as impactful as it the celebration of gay culture that the
came to a broader audience. In the was when it first aired on Channel 4. original series achieved.
1980s, I remember thinking the busi- Originally a podcast for the US ver- The characters, relationships and
ness was changing and there was a sion of the show, which spanned five storylines were pivotal moments on
movement that hadn’t yet been tapped series and 83 episodes in the early the small screen.
into. I wouldn’t say I had an influence, 2000s on Showtime, Still Queer as Folk’s And if you need an excuse to
but I put on shows such as The Young American hosts, Patrick Randall and re-watch this TV classic, which is
Ones and Saturday Live that did.” Matt Dominguez, return to the original available on All 4, the Still Queer as Folk
This self-effacement belies both UK series to give an unfiltered analysis podcast provides it.
his contribution and the impact of of each episode. You can reminisce with Randall and
The Young Ones and its pivotal role in The pair discuss the highs and lows Dominguez and share their excitement
changing British sitcom for good. n of every programme, debating the more and nostalgia for a show that genuinely
questionable storylines that haven’t had a seminal impact on TV’s treatment
The Young Ones is available on Amazon aged well (namely, Nathan’s age), and of gay culture. n
Prime Video. celebrating their favourite “top” Kate Holman
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 7
WORKING
LIVES
Location
manager Da Vinci’s Demons at Margam Castle
Sky
Gareth Skelding has been hunting I’m the first person a location owner I was working as a runner, making
down eye-catching locations for the meets and trust is vital; for them, you the tea and coffee, which gave me a
biggest dramas shot in Wales over the are the face of the production com- foot in the door, and I gradually moved
past two decades, including Doctor pany. Wales is a small place and, if you into locations.
Who, Sherlock, A Discovery of Witches don’t look after people’s property, it
and, most recently, The Pact. soon gets around – you need to leave What was the first TV programme you
locations in the same condition as you worked on?
What does the job involve? found them. And I need to get location I’m a first-language Welsh speaker and
I’m part of a production’s creative agreement contracts signed, carry out I started on S4C drama Iechyd Da (Good
team. After reading the script, I pitch risk assessments and handle fees. Health). I also worked in Cornwall on
my ideas for locations to the writer, the ITV cop series Wycliffe, but I soon
producer and director, bringing my Is it hard getting permission to film? realised Wales was my real strength.
knowledge of what an area can offer. By and large, people want to see their
Ideally, I like to start as early as possi- properties on TV and they get recom- What makes a good location manager?
ble to have the greatest creative influ- pensed for letting us use them. Coun- You have to be a really good commu-
ence – with Little Door’s recent drama cils are welcoming because a nicator and able to talk to all types of
for BBC One The Pact, I was involved production brings a lot of money into people. The job is also about problem
three months before shooting began. an area and exposure. solving and adapting to changing
situations.
Do you work alone? How did you become a location
Typically, I have a core locations team manager? Do location managers normally work
of four or so people and draft more I was a club rugby player and went to in a particular region?
people in as and when I need them. some of the weirdest and most won- Generally, yes. In Wales, I know what
derful places in Wales – my knowledge I’ve got on my patch. I don’t want to go
Is the job more than simply finding of the country expanded from the back to London and step on the toes of
locations? of a rugby bus. other location managers.
8
And, of course, TV production in Wales For The Pact, how did you unearth the sat in the corner of the pub or working
is booming? fantastic forest and brewery locations? men’s clubs. Those guys know where
BBC Wales head of drama Julie Gard- That’s what we do! For the night-time to unearth those jewels.
ner revived Doctor Who and brought it scenes in the wood, we found a forest
to Cardiff in 2005, which started the with a pond so we could get moonlight What are the best and worst parts of
boom. I worked on Doctor Who and bouncing off the water. We gave it the job?
then went on to Torchwood and Sherlock. some va-va-voom, which is not a word The best is getting people home safely
It was a golden era for BBC Wales. we use much in Wales. from a really challenging location. The
Then the Americans started to come Originally, the writer, Pete McTighe, worst is that a film crew can be like
in, and I worked on [Starz Italian wrote the workplace setting as a bis- sheep – when they don’t listen, one
Renaissance fantasy drama] Da Vinci’s cuit factory but, as Covid-19 took hold, goes the wrong way and they all follow.
Demons. These productions put Wales I suggested that it might not be the
on the map – they showed that we best idea to take a large crew into a What advice would you give to an
have the skills base here and we’ve food factory. aspiring location manager?
certainly got the locations. We found a fantastic location called You need a good eye as well as an
A Discovery of Witches in the Brecon Beacons
Sky
So, Wales is rich in locations? the Rhymney Brewery in Blaenavon understanding of what makes a shot
If you’re based in Cardiff, within an – the brewery became a character interesting.
hour’s drive you can be on a world- in itself. I try to take on two or three trainees
renowned beach on the Gower Penin- a year, often from Screen Alliance
sular, down a mine or up a mountain. So you can use locations that are in use? Wales, on a placement. I’m keen to
The range of locations is amazing. And It depends on the budget and the vol- find people who want to be location
you can use CGI to add to shots – I did ume of work. For The Pact, we were managers and who are not using it as a
20-odd episodes of Da Vinci’s Demons, able to film for a couple of weeks foot in the door to the industry, which
all filmed out of Swansea. without disrupting work at the brew- you find a lot.
ery. For the Netflix drama Sex Education,
What’s the best location you found? on a longer shoot, the producers Are there any qualifications?
The exciting thing is pushing the wanted a school that was empty to You need a driving licence – the hours
boundaries and putting people where film in, so they used a disused univer- are unsociable and, a lot of the time,
they wouldn’t believe we could get sity building in Caerleon. the location team are first in, last out.
them, such as at the top of a mountain And there’s no public transport to
in the Brecon Beacons – places you What do you bring to work with you? many of the locations.
would think were completely inacces- My knowledge – the locations are all
sible to a film crew of 100. We shot Sky in my head, although we do have a What TV series would you love to find
One’s A Discovery of Witches in the Bea- database of location images we’ve locations for?
cons and it was so beautiful. collated over the years. A rugby-based series or a local story.
There’s a lovely film in the cinemas,
Is there any location too hard to film in? Are there any tricks of the trade you Dream Horse. It’s a true story and was on
It depends on the scale of the show and can share with us? my patch but I was too busy to do it. n
budget. You can do anything if you I find the best locations in the pub. If
have the money, but that’s not a luxury I’m looking for something weird and Gareth Skelding was interviewed by
a lot of productions have. wonderful, then I chat to the old guy Matthew Bell.
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 9
W
hen it emerged
that BritBox was
rebooting Spitting
Image, the ITV
show that ran for
18 series from
1984 to 1996 and which mercilessly
lampooned the Thatcher-Reagan era,
there was scepticism that the revival
would work.
Could a collection of latex puppets
that had helped redefine TV satire in
the pre-digital age be successfully
reinvented to send up today’s politi-
cians and celebs?
Many believe that our toxic times are
beyond satire, riven as they are by a
global health crisis, environmental
disaster and a warp-speed news cycle.
And that’s without factoring in social
media in which misinformation is
commonplace or “woke” sensitivities
around which comedy writers may
feel the need to tread carefully.
Miraculously, Spitting Image mark II
pulled it off, despite some complaints
that the revival lacked the savage bite
of the original series.
This September, season 2 arrives on
BritBox. Audiences can look forward
BritBox
to the return of some grotesque and
The spitting image of Priti Patel
familiar caricatures from season 1,
including Cabinet ministers Priti Patel
Lampooning
as a blood-sucking dominatrix and
Michael Gove with a face made from
his own genitals.
Caricatures of footballers Harry Kane
and Marcus Rashford, England manager
with latex
Gareth Southgate and soccer commen-
tator Alex Scott will make their Spitting
Image debuts in the new series. Also
expect to see rapper Lin-Manuel
Miranda and BBC Director-General Tim
Davie given the Spitting Image treatment
– a typically cheeky move considering
that the BBC owns half of BritBox. The team behind BritBox’s reboot of Spitting Image
“We’re in the process of making Tim
Davie into Boris’s pet poodle. It was a explains how to make satire work for millennials
lot easier to do that I’d imagined. He’ll
be a small lapdog that comes every time the original drawings on which some His brief was to ensure that the
when he’s called,” the show’s co-creator of the puppets were based, including revived Spitting Image should have
and executive producer Roger Law told depictions of Davie, Idris Elba, Elton greater international appeal than the
an RTS Production Focus in July. John, the Queen and Taylor Swift. “As programme that, in the 1980s, helped
“We’re levelling off the politicians on you can see, the finished puppet is burnish the credentials of the original
the show and bringing in people who almost attractive, which is unusual for producer, ITV station Central Television.
know what they’re doing, like the foot- Spitting Image,” noted Law. Ultimately, he decides who is fea-
ballers,” he added drily. While the show’s look is down to this tured in the show but he stressed the
Law, now 79, is one of the original veteran of the satiric arts, who began collective effort behind the puppets:
team that created the show. He is his career as a political cartoonist for “It’s a great collaborative process
clearly relishing Spitting Image’s second The Observer and Private Eye, the person because, often, the caricaturists come
coming and the opportunity it gives in charge of the BritBox series is show- up with really funny ideas.
him to make mischief at the expense runner Jeff Westbrook, an American “That visual sense is a big part of the
of those who populate our public life. whose credits include a stint on the show. That’s why Roger is so crucial.”
He showed the RTS a selection of endlessly inventive The Simpsons. Writer and voice actor Matt Forde
10‘WE’VE FOUND The spitting image
A GOOD MIDDLE of Greta Thunberg
GROUND THAT’S…
FUNNY AND [NOT]
TOO WOKE’
emphasised the team aesthetic that
informs the series: “You have a lot of
freedom on the show, whether you
want a new puppet or you’ve got an
idea for an existing puppet.
“As writers, we’re involved at every
stage. Some of it is done individually,
where you talk to Jeff. There are other
meetings where it’s done collabora-
tively and ideas are knocked around,
or we take existing scripts and polish
them.”
In Spitting Image’s previous incarna-
tion, Law and his workshop made
more than 1,000 latex heads. “Now, I
feel like a superannuated conductor
– because, you know how it works, in
a workshop, everybody joins in. That is
enormous fun and that’s what I miss
working virtually,” he said.
These days everything is done via
video calls, which inevitably adds to
BritBox
the stress levels. Making the puppets
is time-consuming and takes eight
to nine days. “When it works it’s fun
but, because there’s an element of that takes advantage of the puppets and “There were things Spitting Image
topicality, it is a hard show to get your the great voice actors we have. A twist could get away with in the 1980s and
head around and it’s a lot of work,” beyond the obvious take.” 1990s that we can’t today,” added Nana
explained Law. This is not as easy as it sounds, par- Hughes, ITV’s head of scripted comedy
Each episode allots five minutes to ticularly in a “woke” world. The deci- who commissioned the show. “I didn’t
poke fun at events that happen during sion to satirise Greta Thunberg – she want to come in as the word police,
the week of transmission. The very first was depicted as a weather girl – initially saying, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do
episode of the reboot tested the team’s led to outrage by people on social that.’ There’s been an interesting dance
ability to be as up to date as possible media that such a role model – and an on what they can get away with.
when, on the day before the show was autistic one at that – was being carica- “I think we’ve found a good middle
due on air, it emerged that Donald tured. However, once Thunberg gave ground that works, that’s still funny,
Trump was sick with coronavirus. her approval to her puppet, the criti- and which isn’t too woke.
“We realised we had some images cism stopped. “I think we can push it a bit further
of Trump tweeting, so we repurposed “I thought that working for BritBox this series. Compliance has changed
those so that he was sitting in bed we’d have quite a lot of freedom and, massively. Basically, when Spitting
tweeting,” recalled Westbrook. “I told indeed, we have had,” said Law. “But Image first started, compliance
the writers that we needed some hilar- trying to change – and I’m an old didn’t exist.
ious tweets. Within half an hour, we man… Now you’ve got young people “They just went for it and apologised
managed to slam some in. It was a working who are incredibly woke, afterwards.” n
nerve-racking and horrible experience, most of which I’ve come round to. But
but a great example of teamwork.” it does make things difficult, because Report by Steve Clarke. The RTS London
Clearly, the speed of today’s news you want to make people laugh. Production Focus on Spitting Image was
cycle and the ubiquity of social media “You don’t want to irritate them. You held on 22 July. It was chaired by Benji
present fresh challenges to the reincar- have to be careful. If you say one thing Wilson, journalist and TV critic at Private
nated Spitting Image. Said Westbrook: satirically and you mean another, there Eye. The producer was Damien Ashton-
“Often, the obvious joke has been made are a lot of people out there on the net Wellman.
a lot of times on Twitter, so our job is to who don’t know the difference. But it’s n Season 2 of Spitting Image starts on
find a way to put it into a funny sketch our problem and we’re dealing with it.” 11 September on BritBox.
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 11The Silicon Valley
trailblazer
YouTube’s Robert Kyncl
never stands still,
finds Caroline Frost,
as she charts his life
from professional
cross-country skier
to tech pioneer
YouTube
L
os Angeles theatregoers appearances by YouTube’s ever-grow were few and, as a youngster, he spent
may think they’re dream ing stable of stars, is the latest in Kyn more hours on skis than in shoes, later
ing when they turn up to cl’s crusade to square the circle and describing the sport as less a hobby
a brand-new venue in transform YouTube into a beautifully than a way of life. Indeed, he became
Inglewood, in the heart of curated platform for all our entertain so good that, before he was out of his
the city, and spot a famil ment needs. teens, he had turned professional as a
iar symbol on its façade – the bright red Kyncl oversees the channel’s global cross-country skier.
play sign of its owner, YouTube. content, product partnerships and Things changed around him, though,
Why would the world’s most-viewed platform operations. He is navigating a and the fall of the Iron Curtain made
website, and a celebrated pioneer in course that tries to serve the kaleido Kyncl hunger for life beyond the moun
disruptive digital content, want to scopic throng of creators and users who tains – and a career in American busi
invest in something as old-school as upload a staggering 500 hours of new ness. Having attended university in
a live theatre? footage every minute, together with Prague, he moved to the US in 1992 to
This seemingly counter-intuitive the disparate demands of a global finish his degree in New York. He then
move makes a lot of sense, however, to audience that is estimated to watch a studied for an MBA on the sunny cam
Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business billion hours of video every single day. pus of Pepperdine University in Malibu.
officer, who attended the theatre’s These very Silicon Valley challenges Like so many titans of Hollywood,
opening on 9 August. The 6,000-seat are a world away from the circum Kyncl did his time in a talent agency,
theatre, with its two interactive digital stances into which Kyncl was born in taking his first job as an assistant at
walls and facilities for e-sports, live- Czechoslovakia, where he grew up in a J Michael Bloom and Associates in the
streamed events and personal mountain town. Available distractions mid-1990s. After a stint with a film
12financing company, by 1999, Kyncl was “shuttle diplomacy” between Silicon “streampunks” and how these media able to put his first big company on his Valley and Hollywood, aimed at con rebels are transforming all our lives. CV: Time Warner, where he negotiated vincing old-school studio execs that it His celebration of the “little guy” as global distribution rights for HBO. He is worth their signatures to use YouTube a commercial mechanism finds equal stayed there only a year before suc as another outlet. force in his personal endeavours. A cumbing to the lure of dot-com mania And, once again, he has been suc regular recipient of humanitarian and joining a technology start-up. cessful. In his first eight months at awards, he runs a foundation with his But it was at Netflix, from 2003, that YouTube, Kyncl triumphed where wife, Luz, focused on supporting Kyncl really made his mark. His role as others had failed, and reached deals underserved communities, and he is vice-president for content was instru with Warner, Universal and Sony that a high-profile fundraiser for events in mental in transforming the DVD-by- added 3,000 film titles to the platform’s aid of the financially disadvantaged. post rental service into a world-leading on-demand rental service. For the past decade, Kyncl has been internet-delivery system. Even more a regular and rising entry in US power significantly, and offering a taste of and influence lists released every year what he would pull off more dramati by publications such as Variety. cally later in his career, he demon Meanwhile, YouTube’s increased strated his deal-making prowess by focus on original programming has knocking down the walls of Holly seen Kyncl and his team seeking to wood’s biggest studios and bringing exploit the platform’s unmatched global them to Netflix’s table. reach. Their approach is not to compete Just as Steve Jobs had previously with other providers, rather to comple successfully confounded record labels’ ment traditional TV by reaching out to fears of music piracy and signed them untapped, often niche, markets. An up to Apple’s revolutionary iTunes, example is its Threadbanger channel Kyncl proved an effective matchmaker for stylish DIY on a shoestring. between Netflix and suspicious film Kyncl makes no pretence of know studios. The rewards for his efforts ing it all and there have been aborted came in August 2010, when his com experiments and dramatic changes of pany signed a reported $1bn deal with direction along the way. For example, pay-TV company Epix. a paywall for original programming The deal secured rights to movies was swiftly taken down in favour of from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM increased viewer numbers and adver – bringing an estimated 1,000 new titles tising. Google continues to scratch its to Netflix’s burgeoning menu and secur head when working out how best to ing its enduring position as the frontrun monetise this extraordinary behemoth, ner in the on-demand content market. which remains the world’s second most We already take the streaming of viewed website (after Google itself). film and TV over the internet for But there have also been extraordi granted, but Kyncl was key to making “We’ve gone from the platform that nary, unpredicted triumphs, with Kyncl it happen. And he wasn’t finished. made them no money and they were once again playing a key role in a cul In September 2010, only a month suing, to the platform that is paying out tural revolution – the creation of new after the Epix deal was signed, he was massive amounts of money and lots of stars whose fortunes and fan followings on his way to YouTube to become its usage for them,” is how Kyncl describes would make a Marvel action hero weep. chief business officer. His task was to it. Steve Jobs couldn’t have put it better. Kevin Paffrath was a fairly standard work out how to turn all those billions YouTube’s second prong targets real-estate broker in his twenties until of consumer clicks into hard cash for content creators, who have enjoyed the he started posting a daily commentary Google, which had bought the video benefit of Kyncl’s transparent respect video on YouTube, advising viewers on platform for $1.65bn back in 2006. for disrupters of the entertainment housing stocks and improvement The answer, it seems, has been a ecosystem. Fifty per cent of YouTube’s grants. He now has 1.6 million followers, three-pronged approach to curating the entire offering now consists of hundreds a fortune of over $10m and is running content according to its source: movies of thousands of self-made YouTube for Governor of California. He is doing and TV shows; web original program stars teaching viewers everything from well in the polls. If he wins, like so ming; and user-created content. yoga to creating a flawless soufflé or many other people, he will know he Making movies and TV shows acces guiding us through our iPhone settings. couldn’t have got there without the sible – sometimes for a fee, but not Kyncl has become a champion of work of Robert Kyncl. n always – has seen Kyncl flexing his this “creator economy”, giving regular muscles in much the way as he did shout-outs to his favourites on social Robert Kyncl is an international keynote during his time at Netflix. At YouTube, media, and even finding the time to speaker at the RTS Cambridge Conven- he conducts what some describe as co-author two books on the subject of tion 2021. Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 13
Casualty’s current series, its 36th
BBC
Breaking all
medical records
O
n a mild autumnal before done TV – although they were
Saturday on 6 Sep- As Casualty celebrates fans of US shows such as M*A*S*H and
tember 1986, the first
week after the sum-
its 35th anniversary, Hill Street Blues with their multi-strand
storylines.
mer holidays, the Shilpa Ganatra They were deeply concerned about
nation collectively sat
down in front of the telly. Viewers may
diagnoses the secret what they regarded as the Thatcherite
attacks on the health service. After their
have flicked between the four channels of its longevity own experiences as NHS patients, they
available, but most were curious about wanted to tease out the friction inher-
BBC One’s big new drama, Casualty. BBC Studios, which makes the series. ent in “the frontline in the battle for the
Since the familiar, high-intensity “For me, it’s about seeing humanity soul of the NHS”, as they explained in a
theme tune played out that evening, in all its glory at that moment of crisis, BBC blog published in 2011.
those 1980s-tastic opening credits may whether it’s a mother carrying her ill A decade later, the NHS is more of
have evolved into something more child, or a pile-up on the M1. It’s seeing a political battleground than ever, but
contemporary but, at its core, Casualty ordinary people do extraordinary things, the show’s approach is subtle – there
remains the same. and extraordinary things happening to are pointers to the pressure the health
Now as then, Casualty holds a mirror ordinary people. service faces, but not enough that you
up to British society and its treatment of “You have a collection of heroes akin could accuse the BBC of breaking any
the vulnerable, which helps to explain to Marvel’s Avengers, who have to deal, impartiality guidelines.
its longevity. “The fact that we have an day in, day out, with these crises and For Digital Spy’s soaps editor, Daniel
NHS that embraces everybody makes develop a shorthand, a gallows humour Kilkelly, who began watching Casualty
Casualty different from other hospital and a banter among them that makes as a child in the 1990s, the show’s initial
shows around the world. Any Tom, them irresistible to watch.” appeal lay in its stunts. “You can always
Dick and Harry can walk through Casualty, winner of five RTS awards, rely on that unspoken guarantee that,
those sliding doors and be treated for was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul when you tune into Casualty, you’re
whatever ailment they have,” says Unwin. They had worked together in going to be in for a treat with some
Deborah Sathe, executive producer for the theatre but, remarkably, had never big on-screen spectacles,” he says. “I
14remember Casualty being part of the
Saturday-night routine, alongside Noel’s
House Party and The National Lottery Live.
“Over the years, it has stayed true to
its roots, whereas other shows have
fallen into the trap of making drastic
changes that can sometimes alienate
the audience. And now, unusually for a
continuing drama, it’s a show that you
can dip in and out of. With other soaps
and continuing dramas, you can’t do
that as easily, because the ongoing
storylines are a lot heavier.
“But it is possible to not watch Casualty
for a few months and then, if you hap-
pen to be home on a Saturday, you can
tune in and enjoy the self-contained
stories for what they are.”
Inevitably, other hospital TV dramas
emerged in the years that followed
Casualty’s launch: there was its spin-
Casualty’s first episode in 1986
off, Holby City, of course, plus Stateside
introduced Holby ED’s longest
dramas such as ER, Chicago Hope and
serving staffer, Charlie Fairhead
BBC
Grey’s Anatomy. But Casualty’s MO of
being a relatable medical drama that
leans towards social realism – with all screenwriters Charlie Swinbourne and real-life elements to it, and you see it
the high-stakes pressure, gore and per- Sophie Woolley and had a director, as part of the wider world.”
sonal dynamics that this entails – has (John Maidens), who are deaf, adding to The UK’s TV industry has also bene-
helped it become the longest-running the authenticity. fitted from the talent that has stag-
prime-time medical drama in the world. “Then, they didn’t do what a lot of gered or been wheeled through Holby
“When ER came along, which was an other shows might and ignore the fact City Hospital’s emergency department
amped-up, thrilling and beautiful show, that Jade is deaf,” says Kilkelly. “The doors, not least because it is filmed
where people like George Clooney were challenges that she faces appear in well away from London, in Cardiff (one
doctors, it made Casualty look like an episodes quite regularly.” of the reasons it has held its space in
elderly auntie. Yet ER stopped in 2009 The coronavirus episode, which won the schedules while Holby City, filmed
and Casualty continued,” says Jane the latest of the show’s five Baftas, helps in Elstree, is set to wind down next
Tranter, co-founder of Bad Wolf and a us remember why Casualty is a “national year). “The roll call for Casualty is quite
former BBC head of drama and Casualty treasure”, as Tranter puts it. Telling the nice,” notes Tranter.
script editor. “I think there’s something story of the pandemic through flash- Aside from herself, there is acting
so utterly relatable and British about backs, it emotively centred on the talent such as Academy award-winner
Casualty. When an audience looked at moments that defined the pandemic in Brenda Fricker and Robson Green. It
that world, they could compare it and hospitals: the invisible tidal wave rolling also provided early breaks for the likes
relate it to their world.” in from Italy, the exhaustion, the TikTok of Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom and
There’s another benefit to reflecting dances, the lack of PPE, the painful Daisy Ridley, as well as programme-
modern society: it allows the series to decisions about patients’ lives. making talent that includes Antonia
evolve naturally. “We’ve told the stories Says Kilkelly: “They quite rightly Bird, Tony McHale, Catherine Mors-
of refugees, the story of gender identity, decided that they had to tell the story head, Bill Gallagher, Daisy Coulam
the story of how cultural acceptance of how the emergency department had and casting director Catherine Willis,
has evolved over the years, and covered coped with coronavirus, and it was among many others.
new-fangled diseases. That’s what fantastic for the show to win a Bafta The acclaim continues to roll in and,
keeps the show fresh, because society in its 35th year. with its 35th anniversary special rein-
is changing all the time, ergo, so does “It was such an emotional episode vigorating its fans while once again
Casualty,” says Sathe. because it featured the death of Noel, stretch-testing the formula, Casualty’s
More examples tumble out: a recent who was a fan favourite, and that vitals are good – and it may well have
storyline focused on emotional coercion, shows how bold Casualty can be some- the strength to take on Coronation Street,
with a man, nurse manager Jacob, as times – it was an example of where which recently marked its 60th anni-
the victim. There’s a new, non-binary the show didn’t hold back. versary, for longevity.
character filming in the studio at the “There’s a brilliant line from Connie “Casualty is an emergency room that
time of writing. Last year’s Rose d’Or- where she said, ‘The NHS was on its responds to the extraordinary needs of
nominated episode, which focused on knees already, then we get hit with a the citizens of this country – that’s
Jade Lovall (played by Gabriella Leon), pandemic and they expect us to per- never going to stop changing, or being
was a particularly progressive one. form miracles’. While the political entertaining or heart-warming,” says
Not only did it feature a main deaf element is toned down now, it is a Sathe. “So why not give Corrie a run for
character in Jade, but it was written by good move when they bring in those its money? I’d like to try.” n
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 15A
ll eyes will be on
Melanie Dawes when
she speaks at the RTS
Cambridge Convention
in mid-September. The
CEO of Ofcom for the
past tumultuous 18 months was pre
ceded by the charismatic Sharon White
– a star attraction at the conference
whenever she spoke.
“Melanie Dawes is the most experi-
enced and impressive Chief Executive
that Ofcom has had,” opines an indus-
try insider. And this will be the first
opportunity most of her audience has
had to hear her in person, thanks to
the pandemic.
From a broadcasting perspective,
Dame Melanie’s Cambridge appear-
ance could not be more timely. Her
in-tray is bulging. A media white paper
is due later this autumn and will follow
Ofcom’s 70-page report on public
service broadcasting published in July.
The document called for greater
flexibility and heralded “the biggest
shake-up in PSB for 20 years,” accord-
ing to Dawes, a civil service veteran of
more than three decades. “Our plan of
action sets out how the industry, gov-
ernment and Ofcom can together build
a stronger system of public service
media that can thrive in the digital age,”
she promised.
Some, however, bridled at that
Ofcom
expression “public service media”. They
wondered if the definition could ulti-
mately lead to greater pressure on the
Steve Clarke profiles the regulator’s CEO, existing PSBs – perhaps resulting in
Melanie Dawes, who is also a trustee of more top slicing of the BBC licence fee.
Colin Browne, Chair of the Voice of
youth charity the Patchwork Foundation the Listener & Viewer, says: “Ofcom’s
PSB recommendations were good on
Ofcom’s
prominence, but otherwise were open-
ended and allow the Government a lot
of leeway to do whatever it wants.
“We’re concerned about what the
criteria are for measuring public service
diversity
delivery and that other players can have
PSB benefits as part of the reinvention
of PSB as public service media.”
There is little doubt that Dawes’s
tenure at Ofcom comes at a particu-
champion
larly sensitive juncture both for Ofcom,
as it is still without a chair, and the
sectors it is responsible for regulating.
“It must be a very nervous time for
Dame Melanie – although all her life
she has had to find a way to deal with
mad politicians of all parties, which
16gives you a particular mindset,” says each missed penalties in the shoot-out be representative of them. And there
a senior broadcaster. against Italy in the Euros final. Tellingly, is no doubt that mono-cultures can
He continues: “She is quite adroit she said that companies such as Twitter develop if everyone comes from the
at delivering what her masters or mis- had acted too slowly in removing abuse. same background. That’s not healthy
tresses want and finding her way Dawes, who is married to the for any organisation.”
through the political thicket. There’s ex-Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph politi- Ofcom’s apparent inability to crack
a downside to that – because, some- cal editor Benedict Brogan, is steeped the whip in relation to broadcasters’
times at Ofcom, you have to stand up in navigating Whitehall’s corridors of unwillingness to radically move the
for stuff that matters.” power. She joined the Civil Service as dial on diversity was the subject of an
Some believe that Ofcom’s arm’s an economic assistant in 1989, having article by Marcus Ryder in these pages
length relationship with government is been educated at Malvern Girls’ just over a year ago.
threatened after reports that the Prime College and New College, Oxford, But it looks as if Dame Melanie is
Minister wanted ex-Daily Mail editor determined to see real change across
Paul Dacre as the regulator’s new Chair, the UK broadcasting landscape.
and the Government refused to renew ‘MONO- Appearing before the House of Com-
two Channel 4 board appointments in
the spring, despite Ofcom’s approval. CULTURES [ARE] mons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Committee in December 2020, she
Stewart Purvis, a former Ofcom head NOT HEALTHY said that, to rebuild trust, broadcasters
of content and CEO of ITN, says: “There
is concern that Melanie Dawes, who FOR ANY should bring back into the industry the
ethnic-minority people who had left it
doesn’t have any experience of the sec-
tor Ofcom regulates, still lacks a perma-
ORGANISATION’ – “the generation of people out there
who might have come through but
nent Chair to help steer her through were not able to”. Expect her to be on
what are incredibly complex issues. the BBC’s case when it comes to hav-
“Sharon White had Lord Burns and, before doing postgraduate economics ing a more diverse management team.
before that, Patricia Hodgson. Both at Birkbeck College, London. Questioned about the appointment of
brought a lot of broadcasting expertise Two years ago, on the 30th anniver- “yet another” white, middle-class male
to Ofcom’s decision-making. sary of her becoming a civil servant, to the BBC Director-General role, Dawes
“It is vital that someone suitably she tweeted: “Five departments and criticised the lack of representation in
qualified is appointed chair so Ofcom seven elections later, I can honestly the corporation’s upper ranks: “The
can demonstrate unequivocally that it say it’s never been boring. Above all, BBC structure is not representative on
is independent of the Government, I’ve been lucky to work with amazing most measures and that is a real issue.”
while taking account of its views but people inside and outside the Veteran diversity campaigner Simon
standing up to the Government where #BrilliantCivilService.” Albury, Chair of the Campaign for
it feels it is necessary.” The most prominent female civil Broadcasting Equality, is impressed. He
Interviewed by Times Radio in July, servant in the UK, Dawes’s gilded is not alone in discovering her eager-
Dawes insisted that Ofcom was “scru- Whitehall career included 15 years ness to win over people in the TV sec-
pulously independent”, adding: “I at the Treasury, three and a half at tor. “She is relaxed and charming and
would be really surprised if any new the Cabinet Office and, in 2015, she open to hearing what you have to say,”
Chair arriving in Ofcom didn’t feel that became Permanent Secretary at what he says. “Dame Melanie has the kind
sense of independence.” is now the Ministry of Housing, Com- of confidence that puts you at ease.”
Aside from broadcasting, there is the munities and Local Government. How her people skills – she once said
crucial question of online regulation. Her non-executive roles have that kindness was an underrated lead-
The watchdog is engaged in hiring included the consumer body Which? ership quality – play out in Ofcom’s
between 250 and 300 new staff (it and she is a trustee of the Patchwork relationship with the BBC remains to be
currently employs around 1,000 peo- Foundation, which helps under- seen. However, there are signs that Tim
ple) to undertake the challenging task represented young people get involved Davie’s relationship with the regulator
of regulating social media. in democracy. has got off to a good start. Any initial
“I certainly think we need to grow We know little about what Dame resentment the BBC had over being
new skills, we know that; and particu- Melanie enjoys on TV other than that regulated by Ofcom has, it seems,
larly to get into regulating the social she is a devoted fan of Strictly: in 2019, largely evaporated.
media platforms, we’ve got to recruit she tweeted to congratulate the show “The BBC hated having an outside
more people who have direct experi- on Motsi Mabuse replacing Darcey regulator,” says a rival broadcaster. “It
ence of emerging and online technolo- Bussell – a “fab new judge”, she opined. had been marking its own homework
gies,” acknowledged Dame Melanie in Her commitment to improving for almost 100 years and disliked hav-
her interview. workplace diversity is well known. In ing an outside regulator with opinions
She was fiercely vocal in her criticism 2015, she wrote: “I strongly believe that on things such as regional investment
of the racist social media abuse of Eng- diversity is not just a nice-to-have – if and diversity. But Tim Davie is much
land’s footballers Marcus Rashford, we want to work effectively on behalf more pragmatic and will want to make
Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after of the communities we serve, we must the relationship work.” n
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2021 17Why true
crime pays
Shutterstock
T
he country is in the grip of elderly women. The broadcaster is also
an escalating crime wave, Matthew Bell weighs offering Stephen, a sequel to Paul
yet the public can’t get
enough of it. Viewers used
the evidence for why Greengrass’s 1999 drama The Murder of
Stephen Lawrence, starring Sharlene
to get their vicarious thrills this documentary genre Whyte and Hugh Quarshie as Doreen
from fictional detective
drama – now we are becoming fixated
is more popular than and Neville Lawrence, and Steve Coo-
gan as DCI Clive Driscoll.
on real-life serial killers and violent ever in the UK Jeff Pope, who wrote A Confession and
psychopaths. is an executive producer of BBC One’s
This autumn, True Crime on Chan- ‘only in Hollywood’ tale, and I think upcoming Jimmy Savile factual drama,
nel 4 is set to join the Channel 4 family audiences will love the mix of celebrity explained the pull of true crime on
– and go up against two existing and social media.” him at an RTS event: “If drama is about
bespoke true-crime channels, A+E On its launch in October 2019, Sky conflict, which it is, you’re looking for
Networks UK’s Crime + Investigation Crime promised a roster of US and UK the extremes of conflict. Those areas
and Sky Crime. series that would take the viewer from are love, hate and, I would argue,
The new streaming service promises “savage serial killers, unexplained crime. I am not a depressive person or
fresh home-grown series, programmes disappearances and love stories gone ghoulish but it’s the old journalist in
from the All 4 catalogue and acquisi- sour [to] some of the most harrowing, me – there’s a good story in it.”
tions, including Surviving Jeffrey Epstein chilling and heartbreaking crimes”. But what attracts audiences? Whether
and I, Sniper: The Washington Killers (see For viewers who prefer their true in newspapers, books or detective
box on page 19). crime dramatised, ITV continues to series, crime has long been the Brits’
Channel 4 head of factual Danny make outstanding factual dramas. In staple fiction. George Orwell, in Decline
Horan says that, “year on year, the just two years, it has offered a Hammer of the English Murder, noted the public’s
quality [of programmes] rises, as does House of Horror: Des, featuring David insatiable thirst for voyeuristic murder
the appetite for more stories, particu- Tennant’s chilling portrayal of serial reports in the tabloids. Agatha Christie
larly with younger audiences”. killer Dennis Nilsen; The Pembrokeshire is reckoned to have sold 2 billion cop-
One new commission, Bling Ring, Murders; White House Farm, about con- ies of her works, and many of TV’s
recounts how a wave of burglaries hit victed murderer Jeremy Bamber; and most-watched dramas, from Z Cars to
the homes of LA celebs such as Paris A Confession, starring Martin Freeman Line of Duty, pit cops against robbers.
Hilton and Orlando Bloom. It is as DS Steve Fulcher on the trail of Now we find ourselves in the golden
squarely aimed at younger viewers, Christopher Halliwell. age of the TV crime documentary.
who lap up true-crime TV and podcasts. This autumn, Manhunt returns to ITV, “The appetite for true crime is strato-
Channel 4 commissioning editor with Martin Clunes as real-life cop DCI spheric,” says Dan Korn, VP of
Jonah Weston says: “This is a classic Colin Sutton pursuing a serial rapist of programming at A+E Networks UK,
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