Comedy's feelgood revival - July/August 2021 - Royal Television Society
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July/August 2021 Comedy’s feelgood revival
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Journal of The Royal Television Society
July/August 2021 l Volume 58/7
From the CEO
The emotion of the is full of great reads. Caroline Frost’s the UK is eventually written, don’t be
Euros has affected report on the return of the feelgood surprised if there’s a chapter devoted
many of us. It’s cer- factor in comedy is essential reading. to the phenomenon of lockdown
tainly provided some A big shout-out to the four RTS puppies. Shilpa Ganatra looks at how
real sparkle to the bursary scholars featured in this issue. pet dogs have always been a magnet
British summer. Three They survived lockdown and are for programme-makers.
cheers for our brilliant thriving in their early careers. As the content sector re-emerges,
football teams and the entertainment Young talent was much in evidence Tara Conlan reports on the severe
they’ve given us. at the RTS Student Television Awards, shortages affecting British producers.
I am delighted that the RTS’s bien- held in late June. Congratulations to all The heartening conclusion is that this
nial Cambridge Convention will be the winners and nominees, and thanks demonstrates how much content is
going ahead as a physical event this to our brilliant awards jury Chair, Siob- being made in the UK.
September. Bookings are open, with han Greene. Siobhan, who is standing Do enjoy the summer and stay safe.
an early-bird rate available. I can’t wait down, has been an absolute joy to work
to see everybody there and to welcome with. The RTS really appreciates all the
the industry back safely. hard work she has put into this role.
The July/August edition of Television When the history of coronavirus in Theresa Wise
Contents
Cover: Starstruck (BBC)
5 Charlene White’s TV Diary
The ITV News presenter celebrates her birthday and the
success of her cousin Nadine, who’s landed an important job 20 Bouncing back from lockdown
Four RTS bursary scholars recount how their careers
have taken off after being derailed by the pandemic
6
Comfort Classic: Spooks
Matthew Bell hails the glossy spy thriller Spooks, which
was more Bond on a budget than John le Carré 24 Here we go again
Privatising Channel 4 is once more on the Government’s
agenda. But this time it feels different and the
momentum is quickening, says Torin Douglas
7 Ear Candy: Brain Cigar
Harry Bennett is seduced by the gloriously authoritative
dissection of media bombshells that scarred the mental
landscape of almost no one 26 Pooch perfect
Shilpa Ganatra leads us through TV’s obsession with
man’s best friend
8 Working Lives: Casting director
Matthew Bell asks Kate Rhodes James how she cast
Cold Feet, Sherlock, The Terror and Line of Duty 28 This revolution will be televised
An RTS panel predicts that virtual production will have
a profound impact on how TV shows are made
10 Feelgood is back in fashion
Caroline Frost soaks up the warm glow of comfort
comedy personified by the Friends reunion and BBC
Three’s Starstruck
30 Wanted: more staff, studios and gear
Tara Conlan investigates how the pandemic and the
demand for content have led to acute shortages hitting
UK TV production
13 Merger mania sweeps TV
From Discovery merging with WarnerMedia to All3Media
acquiring more producers, media companies are scaling
up, reports Kate Bulkley
32 Our Friend in the East
A-listers are heading to Norfolk for both films and TV
series. Claire Chapman explains the appeal of Nelson’s
county to producers
16 Making black lives matter
One year after UK broadcasters announced their new
diversity initiatives, Marcus Ryder gives his verdict 33 RTS Student Television Awards 2021
Vick Hope and Siobhan Greene hosted the awards
ceremony streamed on 25 June
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 July/August 2021 3
A BRIGHTER DAY AUDIONETWORK.COM/DISCOVER SEND US YOUR BRIEF MUSICSEARCH@AUDIONETWORK.COM
TV diary
T
he wonderful thing Cotton for Stella Live. I’m a huge
about juggling a admirer of Fearne. I think she’s just
tonne of jobs is that wonderful.
every day really is Just to sit and chat with her about
different. My week mental health struggles, life and
can swing between readjusting to life post-lockdown is
discussing a £3,000 a dream. I’m so so happy to say that
Balenciaga coat that looks like a high- she was as beautiful a soul as I’d
vis jacket on Loose Women to explain- ITV hoped she would be. And, yes, I’m
ing the latest Covid infection rates massively fan-girling here!
on ITV News. Or travelling across the
UK working on my latest long-form
programme.
Charlene White ■ This month also involves taking
part in a brilliant event for Women
Many hats, many pies but – as my celebrates her birthday in Journalism about returning to
school form teacher would probably work after time off for maternity
still agree – me keeping busy is the and the success of her leave. The fantastic panel of jour-
best way to stay out of trouble! cousin Nadine, who’s nalists includes Sun editor Victoria
Newton.
■ June kicks off in style, with lunch got an important job to Navigating work after you’ve had a
and a catch-up with Ade Rawcliffe,
group director of diversity and
do at the Independent kid can be really tricky. I’m a big fan
of being honest about how hard it
inclusion and board member at ITV. can be and sharing tips to try and
We’ve known each other for years ease the pressure. It’s about time all
but a combination of maternity parents were valued in the work-
leave and the pandemic mean that she’s achieved thus far. Her star will place, and for businesses to work
we haven’t met face-to-face since just keep on rising – trust me. with parents rather than against
summer 2019. them. Especially mothers.
Career-wise, so much has changed ■ This month also sees the start of
for both of us in that time. It is good filming for my next long-form pro- ■ This month, I also squeeze in my
to talk it all over and have a chat ject, with probably the most diverse 41st birthday and take the kids to
about where the industry has and team of talented production folk Legoland. And we bury yet another
hasn’t changed since Black Lives I’ve worked with since my days at family member. Thankfully, this
Matter took hold here last year. BBC Radio 1Xtra News. That’s pretty time the cause of death is not Covid,
special. though sadly the funeral is held
■ It has also been an interesting year I’m still new to long-form and have under lockdown restrictions.
for my cousin Nadine White, who is got a lot to learn, but I’m thoroughly I’m so proud of what my family
now the race correspondent at the enjoying the experience, which is has achieved despite these limits. But
Independent (she formerly worked taking me around the UK – and after well over a year of having to say
at HuffPo). June marks the first time hopefully further afield if restrictions goodbye to loved ones from afar, and
the two of us have been interviewed allow. I won’t say much more about having to grieve at a distance, I’m
together for a magazine feature – it, but it’ll be a good ’un… yearning for a good old Caribbean
not only that, we are to be the front- celebration of life.
cover stars. ■ But what I will shout about from
A pretty epic moment for the both the rooftops is what a lovely after- Charlene White is a presenter on Loose
of us. I’m super proud of everything noon I have interviewing Fearne Women and ITV News.
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 5
COMFORT CLASSIC
Spooks
BBC
W
hen it arrived on
our screens in
Matthew Bell hails terrorism to the street, didn’t appear
too fanciful.
2002, Spooks was the glossy spy thriller London was the show’s set, with the
truly revolution- action – gun battles, explosions, car
ary. British telly Spooks, which was chases and all – played out in the capi-
had mastered the
cerebral spy thriller – most notably
more Bond on a budget tal, and filmed with real vim and imagi-
nation by lead director Bharat Nalluri.
with the BBC’s revered adaptation of than John le Carré The show didn’t have the money avail-
John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, able to Bond films but, by the standards
starring Alec Guinness as master spy the toll that living a secret life exacts of TV drama, the budget was fat.
George Smiley – but Spooks was on personal relationships. You may wonder whether Spooks
different. It was a show of its time; scripts qualifies as a “Comfort Classic” but,
Action, not behind-the-scenes skul- were being penned at the time of the having watched all 86 episodes during
duggery, was to the fore, as MI5’s finest 9/11 attacks on the US by al-Qaida. the first lockdown, I can assure you
tackled fanatics and terrorist threats, Looking back almost two decades in that it provided much-needed solace
from left to right, from Libya to North- an interview with Radio Times last year, to this writer.
ern Ireland to Russia and beyond. It the programme’s creator, David Wol- This was despite an escalating body
was high-octane fare, although the stencroft, said that the show was “like count that, series by series, robbed the
traditional tropes of spy story deceit a lens” on real-world events. Spooks’ programme of many of its much-loved
and betrayal were ever-present, as was storylines, taking the fight against characters.
6
Spooks started as it meant to continue.
Ear candy
In only the second episode, Helen
Flynn (Lisa Faulkner, who was better
known than most of the cast) was
brutally tortured and killed – Line of
Duty was not the first drama to kill off
its stars unexpectedly early. Her hor-
rific death, at the hands of a fanatical
racist, who plunged her head into a
deep-fat fryer, drew the most com-
plaints from TV viewers during the year.
Spooks called on some of the coun-
try’s best emerging acting talent. Of the
first series main cast, only Peter Firth as
spy chief Sir Harry Pearce and Jenny
Agutter (Pearce’s treacherous rival) were
well known to TV audiences.
The spies in the field, Matthew Mac-
fadyen, Keeley Hawes and David Oye-
lowo, as well as intelligence boffin
Nicola Walker, were then at the start of
what were to become stellar careers.
And, as Spooks ran to 10 series, Rupert
Penry-Jones, Miranda Raison, Hermi-
Brain cigar
one Norris, Gemma Jones and Richard
Armitage, joined and left the service.
Not everyone was convinced about
Ambulenz
the accuracy of its depiction of life in
Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Former
D
MI5 chief Dame Eliza Manningham-
Buller sniffed that the series showed “a
complete disregard for the law; we are id a “tragic server of being underground... I think it’s for
very careful about the law”, which, of crash” really claim people with very serious emotional
course, was why audiences flocked to it. the first six episodes problems.”
Series 1 attracted an average of of Peter Baynham Or very serious memory problems,
7.5 million viewers per episode. And, and Jeremy Sim- as both go on to reminisce about all
over its 10 series, Spooks scooped mul- monds’ new pod- sorts of events and products that never
tiple RTS and Bafta awards. Audiences cast, Brain Cigar? Just existed. So clearly do they remember
dipped latterly and, although the BBC like the world events and cultural “Bowie Dinners” (David Bowie’s early
was apparently happy to continue moments the writers imagine in the 1990s range of microwaveable meals),
commissioning, the show’s producer, series, it may never have happened. they can even quote the advert: “After
Kudos, took the decision to “kill it off Either way, it doesn’t matter. The a tough day in the studio, I need some-
in its prime” in 2011. An example other podcast picks up where episode 6 thing quick.”
producers of long-running dramas would probably have left off – lost and Joining them are cameos just as
might do well to follow. confused in their realm of glorious hilarious and cognitively challenged,
A spin-off movie, Spooks: The Greater nonsense. such as Julia Davis’s Heather Woodley.
Good, followed four years later, with The duo abandon logic and linearity Heather goes on air to promote her
Peter Firth and Hugh Simon, as MI5 to present a hotchpotch of ludicrous charity Loneliness Action UK only to
analyst Malcolm, the only regular stories with the utmost seriousness. reveal that she allowed her own father
actors from the TV series. Think Baynham and Chris Morris’s to suffer from loneliness to the point of
Famously, the programme’s tag line surrealist satires such as The Day Today suicide, despite living three doors
proclaimed that Spooks was “MI5, not 9 and Brass Eye. down the road from him.
to 5”. And one would hope so – never Just moments into the first episode So why not tune in, turn off your
has a day in the office proved so risky. n and Simmonds extols the virtues of an brain, and have a riotous wander
“upstairs basement flat” he has found around the “upstairs basement” that is
Spooks is available on BritBox and when house hunting: “You get the Brain Cigar. n
BBC iPlayer. benefit of natural light but the security Harry Bennett
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 7
WORKING LIVES
Casting director Line of Duty
BBC
Kate Rhodes James has cast the last three with my colleague Daniel audition and it does work, it could
some of the most-loved British drama Edwards. The show’s creator, Jed Mer- prove to be a stroke of genius.
series of the past 25 years, including curio, is one of the most collaborative
Cold Feet, Sherlock and Line of Duty. and supportive people I’ve worked How do you keep tabs on actors, given
with in the industry. the huge amount of drama on TV?
What does the job involve? I have the same experience with I spent my entire childhood watching
I have to keep on top of the talent and Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue on their television and I still love it – it’s my
be knowledgeable about not just their projects. We’ve always had brilliant passion. So, it’s not exactly a hardship.
abilities but also where they are in conversations about casting. To be When I first started as an assistant
their working lives. truly creative, you need a collaborative 30 years ago, I’d catch up on some-
You need to know when an actor is working environment. If it’s not, you thing every other week. Now, it’s every
trying to change their trajectory and don’t have the opportunity to fully day, and we have to divide up series
doesn’t want to be sent the same scripts. discuss and challenge perceptions. among the people in the office. Even
I present my casting ideas to the crea- then, we can’t watch everything.
tive team, usually the director, producer, Which people do you work with
executive producers and broadcaster. closely when casting a series? How did you become a casting director?
The relationship with the director is I went to drama school in the late
Do you offer an opinion? paramount. Sometimes it doesn’t work 1980s. I soon discovered that I didn’t
Yes, I see my role as one of challenging – because we all have individual tastes want the life of an actor – I was sur-
preconceptions. A cast makes a story or maybe our personalities don’t rounded by so many talented people
come alive; our job as casting directors match – but that’s fine. and knew I didn’t have what it takes.
is to push for original choices that But being at drama school allowed
produce inspired moments in drama. Is it easy to persuade actors to take on me to understand what makes a great
new challenges? actor. I acted for about three years
Is good casting a collaborative process? If they don’t want to do it, actors will before giving it all up.
Yes. I cast all six series of Line of Duty, say no. But if you bring them in for an My first job was assisting Bond
8
casting director Debbie McWilliams on
GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s first outing
as 007 – it was unbelievable fun. I then
started to work for Janey Fothergill as
well, which took me into television.
Is acting the ideal training for becom-
ing a casting director?
One hundred per cent. I know exactly
what to do when I’m auditioning an
actor and how to help them. You never
forget how uncomfortable an audition is
and so I make sure actors feel welcome.
What was the first TV programme
you cast?
I was sent a script for a pilot by a
young producer at ITV and asked to
cast it – I was petrified. It was broad-
cast to little fanfare and then nothing
happened, so I went back to assisting
Debbie. ITV then entered it for the
Montreux Television Festival and it
won the Silver Rose for Humour.
That programme was Cold Feet, which
starred James Nesbitt, Helen Baxendale,
John Thomson, Fay Ripley, Hermione
Norris and Robert Bathurst, all then at
the start of their careers. The next drama
I cast was Jimmy McGovern’s BBC One
drama The Lakes, which starred John
Simm in his first high-profile role.
What makes a good casting director?
The Terror
BBC
You have to be really confident about
your taste and able to stand up for your
choices. Our job is not to say “yes” to charger, pens and pencils, lots of don’t want to watch white, middle-
everything – it’s to push a little bit Post-it notes – and endless snacks to class women like myself all the time.
further to achieve something more get me through the day.
interesting or daring. Can casting be too prescriptive?
What are the best and worst parts of Yes. Actors are being asked to reveal
What shows are you most proud the job? too many aspects of their personal life,
of casting? The best is when you read a script, which I do not agree with. I think the
There are so many shows I’ve loved identify the ideal actor, they’re availa- most important thing an actor can
casting but I’m immensely proud of ble, they do a brilliant reading and then achieve is a level of mystery. They are
Bleak House, which Andrew Davies get the job. It’s even better if the actor actors and need to be supported in
adapted for the BBC in half-hour epi- is new to the director. The worst is what they do and not allow politics to
sodes. People were really negative when you can’t make the deal or get dictate choices.
about it while we were making it, but dates to work and you lose an actor.
the response when it aired was aston- Do you have any unrealised ambitions?
ishing. AMC’s The Terror is another What advice would you give to some- Besides becoming a French starlet, I
fantastic piece – it was criminally one wanting to become a casting guess it would be to work more in
undersold but, when people found it, director? Europe. I’ve worked with European
how they loved it. Jared Harris starred Watch television and makes notes of directors such as Dome Karukosk on
with Ciarán Hinds and Tobias Menzies, the people you like and why. You have BritBox’s first original drama, The Beast
and a selection of some of the finest to be able to articulate why someone is Must Die, and Edward Berger on The
British character actors, such as Ian right for a role and fight for them. Terror, and they come with a com-
Hart and Paul Ready. pletely different perspective. They all
Is casting becoming more diverse? really enjoy the process of casting. n
What do you bring to work with you? Yes – and rightly so. I was just looking
I have a trolley, containing a camera, at the BBC’s drama slate and there’s a Casting director Kate Rhodes James was
tripod, the script, computer and fantastic range of different voices. I interviewed by Matthew Bell.
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 9
Feelgood is
back in fashion
HBO Max
Friends: The Reunion
A
lmost exactly two huge appreciation from viewers, it
years ago, I was Caroline Frost soaks seems the feelgood funnies are experi-
invited by this maga-
zine to muse on what
up the warm glow encing a particularly bountiful renais-
sance. Even the romcom has risen from
was then a wave of of comfort comedy the ashes, with Starstruck following the
“sad-coms” or “dram-
edies”, those shows playing not quite
personified by the same narrative arc as the 1999 film
Notting Hill. What’s behind the change?
for laughs but more for wry, sympa- Friends reunion and “People are looking around for ways
thetic chuckles at the vicissitudes of to cope with our real-life predicament,”
life. The success of Detectorists, Back to BBC Three’s Starstruck offers Andy Wolton, creator and writer
Life, Don’t Forget the Driver, Ricky Ger- of Trying, the first British scripted origi-
vais’s After Life, Mum and This Country nal on the Apple TV+ platform. His
served to prove that small-screen gags comedy stars Esther Smith and Rafe
would, from now on, be accompanied Spall as Nikki and Jason, a young couple
by gulps in the throat. Lockdown comforters going through the process of adopting a
Twenty-four months later, the world child. Nikki and Jason could be anyone’s
has changed beyond all prediction and, Andy Wolton: neighbours, and the frictions between
so it seems, has TV comedy. In place of Time, This Is Us them are real but conquerable.
those titles has come a string of upbeat Tanya Moodie: Wolton is delighted but not surprised
shows such as Motherland and Starstruck Call My Agent! by the success of his show, already
on the BBC, Sky’s Breeders, We Are Lady Cookery shows on YouTube recommissioned. “It’s a relief turning
Parts and Back on Channel 4, plus Trying on the TV, seeing nice, flawed people
and Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ – shows Simon Blackwell: being funny, doing their best to over-
with equally strong characters facing Gardeners’ World come things in their lives.”
everyday problems, but with a bigger Springwatch Veteran comedy writer Simon
laugh-out-loud ratio and challenges Jon Thoday: Blackwell (The Thick of It, Veep) explores
mostly resolved in 22 neat minutes. Schitt’s Creek, similar territory with Breeders, his Sky
While lockdown has meant that all Sunderland ’Til I Die One show that sees another married
types of TV have received 18 months of couple Ally and Paul (Daisy Haggard
10and Martin Freeman) overtaxed by the alone in the weird, awful things you do story, but ultimately things come good.
challenges of bringing up young chil- – whether it’s gnarly relations in your We can invest in these stories without
dren. “There’s a universality to the loveless marriage, looking after your fear of going away unfulfilled. They
experience,” muses Blackwell. “We all elderly parent or having to improvise bring us the happy ending we don’t
know that you would die for your chil- a costume at the gate when you’ve always get in real life.”
dren, but sometimes you want to kill forgotten it’s World Book Day.” For Moodie, who lost her father to
them. We’re all in a community of Do these characters really have a Covid, these comedies have provided a
falling short but doing our best, and bond or are they just forced together particularly sweet alternate universe
hopefully we’ll get there in the end.” through circumstance? “They would over the past year and a half: “In their
Although the first series of Breeders never normally hang out, they’re world, it hasn’t happened. It’s not even
was filmed pre-Covid, the serendipity united by this arbitrary connection, as a pre-Covid world where we were sick
of the show’s themes is not lost on we all are with different things,” says and didn’t realise. So we’re not looking
him. “We weren’t to know to at that world with the pres-
what extent it would echo sure of the clock ticking
people’s real lives,” he says. – instead, we can engage
“We knew about the frustra- with a parallel universe
tion of kids, but suddenly where it hasn’t happened
being with them 24/7… people and it’s not going to.
were relating to the show in “It’s soothing and reassur-
a way we could not have ing to look at a rose-tinted
predicted.” world that hasn’t been sick
Blackwell says he received a and doesn’t have to heal.”
message from one viewer: “He “People have definitely
wrote, ‘When did you hide your had enough of the Zoom
cameras in my house?’” He chats and all the miserable
adds: “I think it’s comforting news,” reflects Jon Thoday,
for viewers to see it on screen, executive producer of Star-
to know that other people are struck, the timeless tale of
experiencing the same thing.” “boy meets girl, boy just
The same could be said for happens to be a famous film
his Channel 4 show Back, star” given a breath of fresh
focusing on a family whose air in the hands of Kiwi
Netflix
smooth running of a pub is Schitt’s Creek comedian Rose Matafeo, who
thrown into chaos by the writes and stars. I hoped the
return of a long-lost foster one upside of lockdown
brother. While the chemistry of its Moodie. “Then something tests us could be that we could bring comedy
co-stars David Mitchell and Robert [series 3 saw Meg facing a cancer diag- to slightly different audiences from
Webb lends an enigmatic edge to the nosis] and you realise, ‘This person’s normal, with people just wanting
comedy, the show nevertheless offers a actually my friend now.’ Sometimes, it a laugh.”
similarly comforting setting and light- takes hard times to find out. And those As the boss of Avalon, Thoday natu-
ness that Blackwell explains he pur- are the turning points…” rally hopes that the huge success of
posely focuses on in his writing. That sense of belonging, of knowing these shows will lead to commissioners
“Some bleak stuff happens, but I try other characters may mock, joke and investing more money in the genre
to make even the bleak stuff warm. I compete but ultimately have each and creating some prime-time, pre-
want people to take away something other’s back, is something that runs watershed hits, as in days of old.
warm from watching.” through all of these hit shows. “Comedy’s always in evolution, it’s
He’s clearly managed it, judging by This is present in lockdown’s biggest become more niche over the years, but
one viewer’s reaction to the motley global hit, Schitt’s Creek, and, of course, the success of Starstruck and other
crew propping up the family’s bar. almost defines the evergreen Friends, shows such as Taskmaster show that
“They got in touch to tell me how still one of Netflix’s biggest global audiences are hungry for it.”
much they’d like to live there, in the shows, nearly two decades after it After lockdown, he has a strong case.
pub,” reports Blackwell. “They were finished, and whose reunion brought There’s no doubt that during this
drawn to that sense of real community Sky a record audience in May. uniquely upsetting and challenging
– a community of flawed people, like It is clearly no coincidence that, at a period, TV comedy has provided com-
all good sitcoms.” time of confusion, forced solitude for fort and temporary respite.
Fans have been equally quick to so many, fear for the future and some- “If you’re being told a good story
identify with the competitive mothers times even despair, such titles have so and it’s making you laugh, then, for
– and father – gathered around the many millions tuning in, often for 22 minutes, life’s just that little bit
school gate in the BBC’s Motherland. repeated viewings. easier,” suggests Simon Blackwell.
“People are constantly contacting me “These kinds of shows are all pro- “And there’s a particular joy in laugh-
to say ‘I’m Liz’ or ‘I’m Amanda’ or ‘I’ve viding a comfortable, cosy world that I ing along with other people and seeing
got a friend who is exactly Kevin’,” says would want to live in,” says Andy Wol- their smiling faces… even if they are
Tanya Moodie, who plays Meg in the ton. “There’s a tiny bit of sadness, the same faces you’ve been staring at
show. “It’s nice, finding out you’re not because you need some adversity for a for months.” n
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 11Succession
Merger mania
sweeps TV
From Discovery merging with WarnerMedia to All3Media acquiring more
producers, media companies are scaling up, reports Kate Bulkley
Sky
T
here is a media consoli- diversified revenue models, you At the recent virtual Banff World
dation bonanza under understand why scale is the most Media Festival, Netflix’s chief content
way, with no let-up in important thing,” says Evan Shapiro, officer, Ted Sarandos, indicated that the
sight. The boom is suck- producer, media commentator and streamer is looking to buy production
ing in big legacy media creator of the Media Universe Map. companies. Indeed, Netflix has report-
companies, including WarnerMedia’s merger with Dis- edly made offers to several. But a big
Hollywood studios such as Warner covery, announced in May, is a clear stumbling block for sellers is that Net
Bros and MGM, as well as broadcast- scale play. It creates the second- flix wants to lock in exclusive access.
ers, production companies and global largest media company after Disney “This ‘exclusive to Netflix’ clause
tech platforms. With its world-class by revenue, with the aim of compet- has made potential deals fail,” says
creative talent, the UK is not immune, ing against Netflix, Disney+ and Ama- one executive familiar with the situa-
and the rush by companies to scale zon Prime in the streaming market. tion. “If Netflix can get an output deal
up and secure access to premium In late May, Amazon slapped down and get access to content supply that
content is happening worldwide. $8.45bn to buy the MGM film and TV way, it will do that first, for sure.”
The stakes could not be higher and, library, stunning many. The move In Europe, France’s two biggest
in some cases, are literally existential. secured access to a treasure trove of commercial broadcasters, TF1 and
“When you look at the entertainment properties, from James Bond to Legally RTL Group-owned M6, are planning
war for attention and you realise that Blonde. “There are so many opportuni- to merge in a move that would create
there are seven trillion-dollar Death ties for remakes and spin-offs, with a player responsible for 70% of the
Stars – Amazon, Google, Facebook, titles across 50-odd years,” says Tom French TV advertising market.
Microsoft, Apple, Tencent and Alibaba Manwaring, partner at Helion, a media The proposal will certainly be the
– all with unlimited resources and mergers and acquisitions specialist. subject of a competition review in �
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 13THE 2021 MEDIA UNIVERSE (SEEN FROM THE US) by Evan Shapiro
Twitter Alibaba Tencent Google
$610bn $856bn
Facebook Oculus $46bn
330m users
$966bn FB Watch
1.7bn users
WhatsApp Chromecast Alphabet
Snap Roblox Epic $1.67tn
2bn users $36bn Activision $28bn
$94bn
$75bn Android
Instagram 375m MAU Take Two
1bn users OnlyFans $21bn
FB Messenger ByteDance
$3bn Nintendo Chrome YouTube
1.3bn users $110bn Cameo 2bn users
Dish $75bn
500m MAU Valve
$25bn Patreon $1bn EA
YouTube TV
Bravo, MSNBC, 9m subs $12bn 3m subs
CNBC, USA, Peacock TikTok $1.2bn Vizio $41bn
Cheddar
SyFy, E!, $4bn Bandai
Telemundo Fandango Altice US
Xumo Charter TLC $16bn
$17bn
NBC $150bn $1.5bn Square Enix
+stations Comcast Cox 3.1m video Discord
16m video 4.2m BB $6.6bn $10bn
$263bn $19bn 27m BB
21.3m video HiSense
3.8m video DirecTV
29m BB 5.2m BB $3.4bn
$16.5bn Fubo Samsung
Sky Universal 15m subs $2.4bn $500bn
(Bought DreamWorks Liberty 600k video
for $39bn) Global 20m smart TVs in US
WWE
ITV Studios Banijay Gray TV 30% of smartphones in US
RTL $3.5bn $14bn
$10bn Philo LinkedIn
$9bn $2.2bn
Yahoo! Endemol $500m 600m users
ITV
CMG Starz 1m video
$7bn BBC Endemol Apollo Tegna
Shine Fremantle AOL $25bn
$5bn $4.1bn EW Scripps ION Xbox
(estimate) Lionsgate
LG 30-40m
Fox MLBam $3bn $2bn Roku
Studios $24bn
All3Media Sinclair
$1.2bn
Nexstar
$6bn
$239bn
$1.2bn 43m active Microsoft
Marvel ABC Mattel $1.78tn
Showtime Viacom/CBS
UK Lucas
Pixar Disney
$324bn
+stations
30m subs $27.6bn Paramount
users
$7bn
Paramount+ MTVnets, Comedy, BET,
Office 365
105m D+ subs SVoD Nick, Awsomeness 38m subs
ESPN Disney Ch 18m subs eOne
PBS 12m subs FreeForm Pluto CBS
83m PTV FX, NatGeo stations
$3bn Playstation
(estimate) Sundance TV WETV 40-50m GitHub
Electronics
Hotstar History A&E VICE BBCA AMC Zoom
25m subs Hulu $15bn (est)
Acorn, IFC $97bn CloudDrive
40m subs Lifetime A&E Shudder AMCN Music
Netflix Sony
$2bn
Fox Sports1 $126bn
$227bn Pictures/TV
Fox stations Fox News Crunchyroll
210m subs Verizon Funimation
TNT, TBS, CNN, tru Fox
Cartoon/ASwim Fox Ent Tubi
Food Warner Bros, $21bn
$240bn T-Mobile Clubhouse
HgTV DC 152m mobile $173bn IHeart Audacity $1bn
Discovery 4.2m video 100m mobile
Group
$3bn $700m
DAZN Nine Warner NPR
$4.1bn $100bn
AT&T
Ringer $3bn
Discovery+ $130bn Gimlet Betty iPhone
15m subs Pandora
Univision 166m mobile Sirius 60% of
Discovery, TLC, HBO Max Spotify
$900m Animal, ID, Travel $25bn Stitcher smartphones
44m subs
$46bn in US
33.7m subs
Crown Media 155m subs
AWS Fire
Epix MGM $1.8bn AppleOne
50m users
Legend
Circle size = market cap
IMDB WaPo l Content platform
l Studio
l Social
l Gaming Beats
Apple
Prime
l MVPD l Tech/hardware $2.23tn
Whole Foods l Telecom l Local TV
l Audio l Holding company
Twitch Amazon Audible Designed by Evan Shapiro @ESHAP
Apple TV+ Apple Music
$1.77tn Wondery Market cap figures as of June 2021
Sources: Macrotrends, Yahoo! Finance, Leichtman ? subs 72m subs
150m Prime members
14� France but, in a media business majority stake to private-equity-backed
increasingly dominated by global Asacha Media in late June. The deal
players such as Facebook and Google, will allow the indie, chaired by show-
traditional competition rules look runner and writer Tony Jordan, to
increasingly irrelevant. access Paris-based Asacha’s network
Weeks after the TF1-M6 announce- of European producers for local adap-
ment, RTL announced a separate deal tations and co-productions. These
that would see it merge its Dutch busi- include companies in the Middle East
nesses with Big Brother producer John and eastern Europe – Jordan created
de Mol’s Talpa Networks. The deal will the drama Besa for Serbian channel
create a broadcasting and production Prva and the soap Al Mirath for MBC.
group boasting a combined annual The race to scale up and to secure
content spend of €400m and joint access to premium content is far from
revenues of €909m. over, and has thrown up some surpris-
“The new cross-media group will ing plays. In January, Apple paid a
Evan Shapiro
have the size, resources and creativity whopping $25m for the worldwide
92%
to compete with global tech platforms rights to CODA, a much-anticipated
in the Netherlands when it comes to remake of the award-winning 2014
investing in premium content, offering French film La Famille Bélier. Specula-
the most advanced addressable adver- tion surrounds the iPhone maker’s
tising opportunities, and expanding acquisition strategy – might it bid for
Videoland, the leading national gaming company Electronic Arts or
streaming service for Dutch viewers,”
says RTL Group CEO Thomas Rabe.
CHANCE OF APPLE sports network DAZN?
While many media businesses envy
In early July, it emerged that Euro- OR NETFLIX Netflix’s high market capitalisation, it
pean production giant Mediawan &
Leonine Studios had taken a majority
BUYING LIONSGATE would be difficult to imagine Comcast’s
CEO, Brian Roberts, AMC boss Josh
stake in UK indie Drama Republic. The Evan Shapiro Sapan or Warner Bros Discovery’s CEO,
French and German outfit, formed last David Zaslav, embracing such a debt-
year as a joint venture by Mediawan heavy, loss-making business model.
and Leonine, has acquired a 51% share advertising, the core of their current Indeed, Disney is the outlier among
in Drama Republic, producer of Doctor business models. the legacy media giants, and has taken
Foster, sold in more than 100 territories, In the UK, Google, Amazon and big risks and incurred the losses needed
and The Honourable Woman. Samsung are facing a regulatory over- to pivot so quickly to a streaming model.
The shift of audiences and advertis- haul that will guarantee the promi- Shapiro has ranked the probability of
ers to streaming services has under- nence of public service broadcasters the next 10 big media mergers/acquisi-
mined commercial broadcasters’ (the BBC, ITV and Channels 4 and 5) on tions. The top ones are those with con-
business models. This makes them smart televisions and devices. tent assets. He rates Twilight and Mad Men
more vulnerable to being bought, This rule change should strengthen producer Lionsgate as a buy for either
which is why European broadcasters the broadcasters’ power in their nego- Apple or Netflix, with a 91.7% probability.
want to partner or merge to scale up tiations with platform operators and Disney buying what it doesn’t already
their businesses. device makers in a key battleground own of producer/broadcaster A&E Net-
In the UK, All3Media has also been for attracting audiences. works is given an 88.9% probability,
in buying mode again. It recently com- Clearly, a crucial driver of value and while Shapiro predicts that Spanish-
pleted the acquisition of Nordic Enter- kudos for production companies these language broadcaster Univision has an
tainment Group’s Nent Studios UK, days is how many successful shows 85.7% chance of being sold to either
producer of the Connie Nielsen and they have on the big streamers. Bristol- Disney, Apple or, perhaps, Google.
Christopher Eccleston drama Close to Me. based natural history producer Silver- “The acquisition of Lionsgate by
Nent Studios UK was formerly back Films was purchased by All3Media Apple makes a lot of sense because it
known as DRG and has 10,000 hours of in late 2020 at an enhanced value. The would get Twilight and Mad Men, and
content, including the licensing rights success of the Netflix series Our Planet, the Starz streaming service has 15 mil-
to Doc Martin and Catchphrase. All3Media narrated by Sir David Attenborough, lion subscribers,” says Shapiro. “Apple
CEO Jane Turton says: “There has never was a crucial factor. has been in the television business for
been more demand for high-quality IP.” Streaming success may be driving as long as Disney but has a fraction of
Similarly, the tech platforms are values but UK indie producers are the subscribers because it has a fraction
continuing to look for opportunities to keen to talk to potential partners or of the content.”
secure the content they need to stand acquirers based in Europe. Even online TV platform and device
out in the increasingly competitive Since Brexit there has been a big company Roku has been touted as an
streaming business. question mark over whether British acquisition target. Speculation rose after
Not only that, but most of the tech productions will continue to be consid- the service posted an unexpected profit
players are seeking to diversify their ered “European works” and thus retain in the first quarter, driven by a 35%
revenue streams. Google and Facebook access to European production funding. year-on-year jump in subscriptions.
face tightening regulations over how A case in point is Death in Paradise Expect the deal-making season to
they control user data and targeted producer Red Planet Pictures. It sold a continue for the foreseeable future. n
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 15One year after
UK broadcasters
announced their new
diversity initiatives,
Marcus Ryder gives his
verdict on their impact
W
hen Television
approached
me to assess
the success, or
otherwise, of
the British TV
industry policy announcements related
to diversity over the past 12 months, I
was going to resort to a standard jour-
nalistic approach: pick a few of the big
announcements, look at what they
promised to deliver and then conven-
iently conclude by saying something
like “...but careers take longer than
12 months to build and systemic racism
cannot be dismantled in a year. So, it is
still a case of ‘wait and see’.”
But as I looked through them, I real-
ised that there were two key points I
wanted to get across: we need clearer
policies and a more grown-up conver-
sation around diversity. Let me explain.
In the past 12 months, after the mur-
der of George Floyd and the Black
Lives Matter protests, British television
Misan Harriman
broadcasters have rightly announced a
number of promises and policies. Here
are four of the most prominent:
n Sky announced a £30m racial injus-
tice fund, and a “redoubling” of efforts
Making black
to increase black, Asian and minority
ethnic (BAME) representation, both
on-screen and behind the camera;
n Channel 4 committed to being an
“anti-racist” organisation, doubling
lives matter
“the number of BAME-led independ-
ent producers that we commission
from by 2023”, and announced “Black
to Front”, a day dedicated to black
representation on both sides of the
camera;
n ITV made various commitments,
including increasing general diversity BBC has set itself a mandatory target However, we all were a little cautious,
at management level, increasing the – 20% of off-screen talent must come because nearly all the announcements
diversity both behind and in front of from under-represented groups” in the had two points in common: a lack of
the camera, and creating a more inclu- next three to five years. detail over programme finances being
sive culture that better understood At the time, I and many others wel- used to address the lack of diversity,
issues around racism; comed these announcements, espe- and a lack of specificity about whom
n The BBC announced it would be cially since they were going beyond they were targeted at.
“investing £100m of its TV budget over the usual “we’re rolling out more So, how has this played out, you ask?
a three-year period to produce ‘diverse unconscious-bias training” or “we’re Let’s take the first commonality – pro-
and inclusive content’”. And that “the introducing a new mentorship scheme”. gramme financing.
16meet the criteria of “diverse and inclu-
sive content”? We have no idea.
Will the £100m be in addition to the
current amount that is already invested
in “diverse and inclusive content” or
will it include existing commissions?
We simply do not know.
The bottom line is: what is the addi-
tionality of this new investment?
The BBC is still not clear, despite the
announcement having been made more
than a year ago.
By way of contrast, here is an exam-
ple of what a clear, grown-up commit-
ment involving programme finance
looks like. Just a year earlier, in Febru-
ary 2019, the BBC launched the BBC
Scotland digital channel to address
specific concerns around regional
diversity.
In the press materials proceeding the
launch, the corporation said the Scot-
tish channel would have a budget of
£32m a year. Approximately £13m
would be taken from the BBC Scotland
division’s existing budgets and £19m
would be additional funding.
Surprisingly, “grown-up” conversa-
Small Axe: Mangrove
BBC
tions are incredibly easy to understand
compared with conversations at the
As someone who has worked in both implying that programme funds had “children’s table”.
addressing regional diversity and ethnic been separated from other commis- And there was a complete lack of
diversity, the difference in approach is sioning funds for exclusive use on any mention of programme finances in
stark. When it comes to money, it feels diverse-content programming. But this ITV’s statements around its Diversity
as if the conversation around finances is not accurate. Acceleration Plan, published on 9 July
and ethnic diversity is relegated to the Why? Well, I had the opportunity to 2020, at the height of the Black Lives
“children’s table”, while discussions publicly ask the BBC’s head of creative Matter protests.
around regional diversity take place diversity, Miranda Wayland, about the If someone asked me how much the
between “grown-ups”. £100m at the Edinburgh International BBC values increasing its Scottish pro-
To illustrate why this matters let’s take Television Festival in August 2020. Her gramming, I could have answered very
the BBC’s announcements, because they response – the BBC’s corporate easily: £19m a year more than it did
really were the ones that elicited the response – was unequivocal; “This is previously for the indefinite future.
most excitement in the industry, due not ring-fenced money”. There is the possibility that the BBC’s
to the potential scale involved. So what does “investing” money £100m diverse content fund over three
While the £100m “diverse content” mean if it is not “ring-fencing”? We years might be the equivalent of an
fund may sound impressive, in reality currently have no idea. And, having additional £33.3m a year. But it may
it has remained very difficult to work had multiple private conversations literally mean the equivalent of zero
out what this policy really means in thereafter with other industry insiders, extra funding. I suspect the answer is
practice. I am still none the wiser. somewhere between zero and £33.3m,
For instance, Ofcom, in its annual And this lack of clarity leads to some but, for a publicly accountable organi-
diversity report, said that the BBC had fundamental questions: how much of sation, it has been incredibly opaque
“ring-fenced” £100m over three years, the BBC’s existing productions currently about where the real number lies. �
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 17� The BBC is far from being the only around the term BAME, as it enables
broadcaster that is less than clear companies to enact policies that do
about its programme finance com- not address their specific concerns
mitment in its policy announcements while at the same time announcing
following the global Black Lives Mat- that they are fighting racism.
ter protests. The only exception was Channel 4’s
For example, while Channel 4 said it “Black to Front” day, about which I
would double the number of diverse- should confess a vested interest. As
led indies it commissions from, it gave the head of external consultancies for
no indication as to whether there the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media
BlackStageUK
would be a doubling in programme Diversity, I advised Channel 4 on its
spend on the diverse-led indies. Black to Front day and recommended
Whether you have made the cake that it focus on black representation,
Blackstage
bigger or are simply dividing the origi- as opposed to broader “BAME” diver-
nal cake up among more people is sity, in response to Black Lives
important (as my five-year-old son under-representation. Productions are Matter.
would point out from the children’s able to be classified as “diverse con- So, how do I answer Television’s
table). tent” if they meet criteria around seemingly simple question: How
And there was a complete lack of socio-economic diversity, disability effective have the broadcasters’
any mention of programme finances and non-white representation (of responses to the Black Lives Matter
in ITV’s statements around its Diver- which black is obviously just a part). protests been over the past 12 months?
sity Acceleration Plan, published on 9 This means that it would be possi- It would be churlish of me not to
July 2020, at the height of the Black ble for all the production companies recognise and applaud the fact that
Lives Matter protests. to meet the criteria set out by the BBC the vast majority of them rolled out
Now to the second commonality for “diverse content” without employ- new policies. There seems to be a
– and the other reason to be cautious ing a single black person – for genuine desire to shift the dial when
about the announcements – they instance, by meeting socio-economic it comes to diversity in general, and
were not specifically targeted at black diversity behind the camera. Again, there has been a substantive change
people. George Floyd and the Black while this is as unlikely as the £100m in the level of conversation around
Lives Matter protests had a very spe- fund meaning zero additional fund- diversity.
cific focus; anti-black racism. These ing going into additional diverse However, most of the policies have
were not protests about inequality in content, it serves to highlight the been unclear about the most impor-
general, or even general racism. And wooliness around the policies. tant aspect of the television industry
yet, while all the broadcasters It also seems to highlight the broad- – programme finance. And the poli-
acknowledged the importance of the casters’ lack of understanding of what cies are not focused on the funda-
reaction to George Floyd’s death, in the 2020 protests were really about. mental issue raised by the protests
instigating their policy announce- And it reflects the current dissatisfac- – anti-black racism.
ments they did not seem to recognise tion that many black people have So, I guess I will need to resort to the
this central point. journalistic cliché of “we will have to
We see this in Sky’s policy wait and see” after all, because I hope
announcements, for example. All of ‘WHETHER YOU this coming year will see the wooli-
its three stated policy goals – to
improve black and minority ethnic HAVE MADE THE ness removed, the grown-up conver-
sations begin, and clarity provided.
representation at all levels, to make a CAKE BIGGER Only then can these policies begin to
difference in communities impacted
by racism, and to use the power of OR ARE SIMPLY be effective in ensuring what the press
releases purported they would be
Sky’s voice and platform to highlight DIVIDING IT UP – making sure Black Lives Matter. n
racial injustice – address issues
broader than anti-black racism and
AMONG MORE Marcus Ryder is the head of external
black under-representation. PEOPLE IS consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry
Similarly, the BBC’s £100m fund was
not targeted at addressing anti-black
IMPORTANT’ Centre for Media Diversity and Chair
of RADA.
18Do you need
£4,000
for a history of
television project?
Apply now for Grants will be given to assist in the
completion of new or unfinished
long-standing member of the
RTS. The Shiers Trust grant is now
the 2021 Shiers projects, work or literature specific
to the objectives of the Trust.
in its 21st year.
Trust Award ‘Literature’ is defined as including Application procedure
audio-visual media such as DVDs Applications are now invited and
and websites. It is essential that should be submitted to the
The Trust can make a applicants read all the conditions Trustees by 31 October 2021 on
grant of up to £4,000 and criteria, which can be found the official a
pplication form.
towards publishing online at the address below.
work on any aspect George Shiers, a distinguished www.rts.org.uk/
of TV history US television historian, was a shiers-trust-award
Image: Barbara Blake-Hannah, the first black female reporter on British television, who worked on Thames Television’s Today, in 1968
© Shutterstock 1970Love Island
ITV
Bouncing back
from lockdown
Four RTS bursary scholars recount how their careers
have taken off after being derailed by the pandemic
Charly Humphreys least! The day after I submitted my
final assignment, I jumped on a plane
to the location for one of my favourite
F
ifteen months ago, if someone shows. I was so excited to see the
had told me I’d be working in secrets of its success from the inside.
Mallorca on one of the world’s Initially, I was one of a team of chape
biggest reality shows, I’d have rones at a beautiful resort in Mallorca,
rolled my eyes and said, “You’ve got to looking after two wonderful contribu-
be kidding!” tors. Inevitably, things were different
In my final year studying live events this year due to the Covid restrictions. I
and television production at the Uni- was responsible not only for supporting
versity of the Arts London, and with the contributors’ general well-being but
Covid-19 still rearing its ugly head, I also for making sure that coronavirus
told myself to stop worrying too much guidelines were adhered to at all times.
about the future and focus instead on The job was an absolute dream after
my degree. The virus had imbued me my old student life in London, where
with a strong sense of how unpredict- I’d spent so much time isolating since
able life could be. the start of the pandemic. Travelling
Then, a couple of months ago, I and meeting new people are two of
received an offer to work on Love Island. my favourite things. It’s been such a
‘THE JOB WAS My mentor, the brilliant Lauren Evans at
ITV, had passed on my CV to the team
positive feeling to experience that part
of life again.
AN ABSOLUTE that makes Love Island. Lauren is the Soon after beginning my chaperone
DREAM’ talent manager at ITV Entertainment.
I was thrilled and ecstatic, to say the
gig, I switched roles and moved to the
production base to assist with admin,
20production and location duties. I
worked closely with the production
Mahnoor Akhlaq
co-ordinator, from whom I learned so
O
much about what it takes to make Love nce they’ve completed uni-
Island the show we love. versity, every student’s big-
I acted as the line of communication gest worry is “What’s next?”.
across departments. This suited me I experienced that feeling
down to the ground. I met and made but, coincidentally, my interview for
friends with a lot of the Spanish and the BBC Len Tingle placement – a
English production staff. two-month paid internship at BBC
I thrive in busy environments buzzing Yorkshire – took place on the same
with lots of people and felt completely day I handed in my final assignment.
in my element. This role gave me such Tingle was BBC Yorkshire’s political
an in-depth insight into how each editor for 17 years until he died, aged
department operates – and how much 63, in 2018.
collaboration goes into making factual I was really hoping I would get the
entertainment shows such as Love Island. placement as it was the perfect step
I feel very fortunate to have been after completing my journalism degree
able to experience working on Love
Island. I’ve watched every series and
at the University of Leeds. Subject to
Covid-19, I still hope to be studying
‘I’M PASSIONATE
never missed a single episode. abroad in September, which is why ABOUT SHARING
My involvement has provided me
with an incredible footing for whatever
I didn’t apply for any graduate jobs
this year.
LOCAL STORIES’
my next job is, and made me much It was the third time I had applied
more confident in my ability to succeed for the placement, so I had high hopes. The networking opportunities
in TV. During my first year at uni, I made it helped me to build my confidence,
I owe huge thanks to my mentors and through to the interview stage. I didn’t contacts and gain a better understand-
to the RTS for supporting my journey, get the placement, but I was told to ing of how the industry works. I also
and for all the invaluable advice, tips and apply again the following year. Which met my mentor, the BBC journalist
guidance that has got me to this point. I did but, due to the pandemic, the Mobeen Azhar, who has been amazing
Coming from a small town near placement was cancelled. and supportive throughout my final
Birmingham, with no creative connec- When I received the phone call to year and gave me invaluable advice for
tions whatsoever, I might not have had tell me I’d been accepted I almost my interview for the placement.
the opportunities or confidence to couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I I chose journalism as a career
allow me to begin my postgraduate was over the moon! because it allowed me to combine my
career with a such a bang. Without the Royal Television Society’s creative skills with my interest in cur-
I have no doubt whatsoever that all support, I probably wouldn’t be in the rent affairs. I was also more driven
of the workshops, networking events, position I’m in today. The RTS has after I learnt about the lack of diversity
panel discussions and peer catch-ups supported me in so many different in the industry, which needs to change.
that the RTS bursary scheme opened ways. I am a Pakistani woman born and
the door to have all encouraged me to I can’t put into words how grateful raised in Bradford, a city that does not
recognise my strengths. I’m so excited and lucky I am. The bursary helped always get the best representation in
to see what comes next. me to pay for equipment, such as a the media. I want to help change that
laptop, camera and microphone. It also narrative. I think it is important that
Charly Humphreys worked on Love Island supported me while I undertook cities such as Bradford keep talent in
this summer. unpaid work experience. the city, which is why I do not want to
relocate after I graduate.
I am lucky to be joining the industry
at a time when more opportunities are
emerging in the North. I am excited to
be working in regional news in York-
shire as I am passionate about sharing
local stories about the place where I live.
Due to the pandemic, half my degree
took place virtually. As a result, I did
not gain the same practical experience.
Being able to work across TV, digital
and radio, with an amazing team, will
help me brush up and develop these
skills. I will be making the most of the
next eight weeks.
BBC Yorkshire report
contributed to by
Mahnoor Akhlaq is on the Len Tingle
Mahnoor Akhlaq
BBC
journalism placement at BBC Yorkshire.
Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2021 21You can also read
