Archive for June, 2009

Jonathan Ross has criticised the standard of weekend television in the UK, highlighting shows fronted by Graham Norton and Torchwood star John Barrowman.

Speaking on his Radio 2 show on Saturday, Ross poured scorn on Norton’s family series Totally Saturday, saying the entertainment show was so poor it made Barrowman’s Tonight’s The Night look impressive. Barrowman’s show sees ‘local heroes’ and ‘enthusiastic amateurs’ perform on stage with their favourite pop stars.

He said he missed shows like The Two Ronnies, and added: “Where’s that now? What have we got on TV over the weekend? We had had Graham Norton’s Totally Saturday. Well that’s not good enough.

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Torchwood star John Barrowman has accused the BBC of “punishing” the hit sci-fi drama after the corporation slashed the number of episodes in its new series from 13 to five.

The Dr Who spin off has been hugely popular with viewers since premiered in October 2006, moving from BBC3 to BBC2, and now BBC1 for the new series. However, its run has now been cut to five hour-long episodes - eight fewer than in the previous two series.

Barrowman, who plays leading character Captain Jack, said he was frustrated that the BBC had decided to slash the number of episodes as it promotes the show to BBC one.

“I’m going to get a little political and I’ll probably get into trouble for it, but … we were the most successful show on BBC3, ever [averaging 1.3 million a week; the opener drew 2.4 million],” he told the Radio Times.

“We moved to BBC2 because the ratings were so good; the ratings were great again [averaging 3.1 million] and we were beating shows that had been on BBC2 for a long time. The decision was made to go to BBC1 – and then we were cut. From 13 episodes down to five.

“The five episodes, the miniseries as I call it, are incredible – I have no doubt about that – but personally, I felt like we were being punished. Other shows move from BBC3 and 2 to 1, and they don’t get cut. So why are we? It felt like every time we moved we had to prove ourselves.”

However, Russell T. Davies, the show’s director, supported the change. “Part of us thought, ‘We could do another 13 episodes, we’ve learnt how to do that, and the second series was better than the first.’ But why not change it?

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The BBC sent 407 of its staff to cover the Glastonbury festival over the weekend - almost as many as it flew out to the Beijing Olympics. The corporation block booked a number of hotels within a 10-mile radius of the music festival for those on its payroll.

Presenters and camera crews as well as a clutch of the corporation’s top executives received free passes to attend Glastonbury in a “work capacity”. One of the executives, Mark Byford, the BBC’s deputy director-general, spent £240 a day on a chauffeur to ferry him from Waterloo Station to the festival. Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, also attended this weekend.

One BBC source estimated the cost of coverage to be £1.5 million, excluding any fee paid to the festival organisers. “We really don’t want anyone making unfortunate comparisons with Beijing,” he said.

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The BBC has announced that it will begin broadcasting programmes in High Definition on terrestrial television from December.

Freeview HD, initially comprising of high definition services from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, will be launched on what is currently known as multiplex B. The roll-out of the service is planned to coincide with the digital switchover, starting with the Winter Hill transmitter which serves Liverpool and Manchester. Regions that have already made the switch to digital television will also receive the HD service from December.

In a posting on the BBC’s Internet blog, Graham Plumb, Head of Distribution Technology at the corporation said,” The plan is still to launch Freeview HD on December 2nd at the Winter Hill transmitter serving Manchester and Liverpool. The plan has always been to roll Freeview HD out around the country following switchover and Winter Hill was selected as the first achievable transmitter. There will need to be a retrospective upgrade of regions that have already switched.”

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The BBC has commissioned six more episodes of Last of the Summer Wine, the world’s longest-running sitcom, blowing off speculation that the series was due to be axed.

BBC1 controller Jay Hunt today confirmed that the whimsical comedy would return for a 31st series, which would go into production in the summer for broadcast in 2010. The main cast members, including Peter Sallis, Russ Abbot, Frank Thornton, Brian Murphy, June Whitfield and Burt Kwouk, will also return. The new series will once again be filmed in and around the Yorkshire town of Holmfirth.

In an interview with The Mirror last month, Roy Clarke, who created the 36-year-old series, fuelled speculation that the series could be axed because of poor viewing figures. “We don’t get enormous ratings these days. No one would be surprised if it goes,” he told the paper.

Mark Freeland, the BBC’s head of comedy, said: “I am pleased that Roy Clarke’s much loved and unique comedy is once more returning to BBC1.” Clarke added: “It’s like going home again.”

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Communications regulator Ofcom today said that BSkyB should cap the cost of its premium sport and movie channels and make it available to more broadcasters to increase consumer choice.

In its latest consultation on the pay-TV market, Ofcom said that offering Sky’s premium content to other retailers on a wholesale basis was the best way of ensuring fair and effective competition.

The regulator also outlined plans to investigate Sky’s television rights agreement with the FA Premier League. It is concerned that new platforms for watching league games, such as the internet, will be cut off to consumers without cheaper access to content.

Ofcom said that its proposals should not have a disproportionate impact on Sky’s profits, since the prices put forward in its latest consultation would still allow the company to reap a reasonable return.

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King of Pop Michael Jackson has died.

The singer suffered a heart attack at his Los Angeles home and arrived at hospital in a coma. He was just weeks away from the start of a 50-date comeback tour in London.

Paramedics were reportedly called to the scene around 12.26pm (19.26 GMT), but Jackson was not breathing when they arrived, and did not respond to CPR. The 50 year-old singer was rushed to the University of California Los Angeles medical centre, before he was pronounced dead at 2.26pm (21.26 GMT).

Jackson’s mother Katherine and sister La Toya had rushed to the singer’s bedside at the hospital, where hundreds of tearful fans have gathered.

Speaking to those gathered outside the hospital, the star’s brother, Jermaine Jackson, confirmed the news of his death.

“My brother, the legendary King of Pop, passed away on Thursday June 25 at 2.26pm.

“We believe he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home, however the cause of his death is unknown until the results of the autopsy are known. The personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitated him.”

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The BBC will today release the expenses claims of its 10 executive board members for the last five years as the corporation responds to calls for greater transparency within the media.

This is the first stage in a plan to publish the salaries and expenses claims of its top 50 executives and top 50 decision makers.

Speaking to an audience in Manchester, BBC director general Mark Thompson said today that “public expectations about openness, trustworthiness and every kind of value for money are becoming more trenchant, more insistent and more vocal than ever before”.

In a move that reflects the publishing of MP’s expenses, the BBC will demand under the Freedom of Information Act a line-by-line account of the expenses of its 10 top executives going back five years.

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Irish Pay-TV broadcaster Setanta went into administration yesterday evening after several days of rescue talks to secure funding fell through. Around 200 staff will be made redundant as a result.

Accountancy firm Deloitte has been confirmed as the administrator for the business’s UK division. Setanta is still engaged in talks to try and secure the future of its Irish and north American operations, which are believed to make a modest profit, Deloitte has said.

Neville Kahn, one of the joint administrators, said: “After a huge effort by the Setanta board, management team and its backers, it has not been possible to save the GB business, which will be wound down in due course.”

Setanta Sports News, a joint venture with Virgin Media which is produced by ITN and employs about 60 additional staff, was the first channel to stop broadcasting at 6pm yesterday evening. Setanta Sports 1 and 2, which are wholly owned by the broadcaster, went off air shortly afterwards.

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A new reality show based on the 1993 film Mrs Doubtfire is to air on CBBC. Undercover Dads, which is aimed primarily at children, will see 13 fathers dressing up as nannies in order to find out what their children really get up to.

Each of the fathers will be sent to “nanny boot camp” where they will learn how to dress, walk and talk like a lady for the 13-part series. The dads will spend 5 hours in make-up, and will use prosthetics to appear as a fictional TV expert called Mega Nanny in their own home for two days. According to the show’s producers, the disguise will enable fathers to bond with their children and get to know them better, without giving away their true identity.

Each father will be set a series of challenges over the two days which they must complete in order to win prizes for his family. However, if he lets slip his true identity he will lose all the prizes he has won.

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