Stephen Fry has admitted that he illegally downloaded an episoe of House, the hit US show which stars his former comedy partner Hugh Laurie. First rule of Fight Club, Stephen - never admit to nothing. You learn that on day one. 
The Qi host told an audience in London that he had used the bittorrent system to acquire a copy of Laurie's show. Speaking at the iTunes Festival at London's Roundhouse, Fry said: 'The last thing I illegally downloaded. Was it a gay sex romp? It was actually the season finale of House.' The website stuff.tv said Fry had quickly pointed out he had legally downloaded the entire series but was in Indonesia when the final episode went out and was unable to obtain a legitimate copy. Asked how he felt about his own work being pirated, Fry, who has written about technology for the Gruniad, said: 'I'm against cynical bootlegging but I work in a very mollycoddled, overpaid business.' Welcome to the Twenty First Century, Stephen!
The BBC's drama controller, Ben Stephenson, has announced five new dramas set for BBC1 in 2010. Stephenson said that the new commissions would 'demonstrate the BBC's renewed commitment to drama series and serials and give us a reason to be proud of all the talent coming out of Britain at the moment.' The first of his five commissions, Silence, is a four-part coming of age drama from Company Pictures, written by Fiona Seres. The plot focuses on an eighteen-year-old deaf girl who is an unwitting key-witnesses a murder. There is a new six-part detective series from Neil Cross - a writer on both Spooks and The Fixer. Luther (working title), will showcase detective John Luther struggling with his personal demons while attempting to track down a killer each week. In a twist on the traditional format, the killer's identity will, Columbo-style, be known to the audience from the opening scene. A new take on the old Sherlock Holmes concept appears in a new, and much-anticipated, three-part series, Sherlock, created by Doctor Who scripters Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis and made by Hartswood Films. In contrast, Stephenson has also ordered a two-episode adaptation of Kay Mellor's stageplay A Passionate Woman. The first episode tells the story of a mother's affair in the 1950s while the second, set in the 1980s, shows the consequences of that liaison. Finally, Tiger Aspect will produce a five-part series entitled The Deep, set in the Arctic. Written by Beautiful Creatures author Simon Donald, it focusses on the crew in an oceanographers submarine who become trapped beneath the ice with no power, limited oxygen and no communication after catastrophe strikes. But it soon becomes apparent they are not alone. The dramas will all be broadcast on BBC1 in the first half of next year. Stephenson said: 'It is a credit to the writers and producers of this country that so much astonishing work is coming through. All of these pieces start and end with a writers startling vision. Following on from the success of Peter Bowker's Occupation and Russell T Davies's Torchwood, I hope these new commissions demonstrate the BBC's renewed commitment to drama series and serials and give us a reason to be proud of all the talent coming out of Britain at the moment.'
A prop used in a forthcoming episode of Spooks sparked a security alert near a London station which disrupted train services for more than an hour. An over-zealous passer-by spotted the item - described as 'an oil drum with wires protruding from it' - in a locked yard close to Deptford train station on 1 July.
Southeastern train company said services were suspended until midnight. The drama, which revolves around MI5, is shot at a studio in Bermondsey. A spokeswoman for the production firm, Kudos said: 'A prop used on Spooks was stored securely in the production's private courtyard. A member of the public looked into the yard and, on seeing the prop, decided to alert the emergency services. As soon as the Spooks production team were contacted, they confirmed the package was just a prop and not dangerous.' A spokesman for the train company said the alert delayed about a dozen trains travelling between Charing Cross and Dartford, Dover and Hastings. Some trains were stopped on the tracks while others were delayed for up to forty minutes at the station.
This Life, Between the Lines, The Cops and Cathy Come Home producer Tony Garnett has launched an attack on the BBC that Broadcast magazine describes as 'blistering' but, which to this blogger, reads like nothing more than the bitter moanings of a jaded old has-been. Garnett accused the corporation of smothering creativity and 'packing in junk' in a cynical bid for ratings.
In a lengthy article penned by the awful - and now, seemingly unemployable - aged Communist and circulated by e-mail, Garnett argued that the corporation has introduced so many layers of management it has ended up 'like McDonalds' and is churning out high-volume dramas 'as though they were soap flakes.' That's a mixed metaphor you're using there Tone, I'm afraid - McDonalds don't make soap products, that's Proctor and Gamble you're thinking of. Rather, they make burgers. And nuggets. Which is possibly appropriate. Anyway, the corporation has lost its ability to deliver its raison d'être (which seems, in this particular case, to be French for 'shows that I produce') because of too many 'well-meaning' executives whose job is to 'put spanners in the works,' he added. In what he claimed was a sketch of the BBC's drama commissioning process, Garnett stated that development is typically strung out over two years and is riven by discussions between internal and external producers about how they can side-step other staff. He also suggested there is a general unwillingness to take risks on new talent, and that notes are handed out by channel controllers who have little experience of drama. 'Detailed supervision by more and more layers, reporting to more and more senior executives, does not result in higher standards,' said Garnett. 'Working in art, film or commercial cinema is like dancing through a minefield, and every broadcaster is now racing down-market in a desperate attempt to survive. But what is happening at the BBC is the real scandal: it is bigger than all the rest combined, it is free from direct commercial pressure and its public service obligations carry cultural responsibilities. There are no excuses.' I'm sorry, I've just got absolutely no time at all for any of this crap bleating which amounts to nothing more than an example of cosy nostalgia for an era that's now long gone. But, still he went on. And on. And on. 'Over the last decade or so the BBC, in perhaps its worst public service dereliction, has skewed its money and airtime decisively towards high-volume junk which runs across the year. In addition to EastEnders and Casualty it now has Holby City and numerous other lengthy series. There are very few single pieces or mini-series, the kind of original writers' work where a voice can communicate directly with an audience.' I must say, I particularly enjoyed the criticism of 'high-volume drama' though. That's a corker. Sorry, remind me what you spent most of the early-to-mid nineties producing for the BBC, Tony? This Life wasn't it? Between the Lines? Ballykissangel? Are you disowning them? 'The BBC has the duty and the resources to make a full range of programmes,' he continued. 'But in this shift in balance they expose their opportunistic cynicism. Ratings are their default argument, as though this were the only criterion.' So, your argument - if I understand it correctly - is, essentially, the same as that of Ofcom and some extreme right-wing Tory MPs then, Tony? That the BBC should only be making programmes that nobody wants to watch. Interesting. Or could these comments, possibly, have anything to do with this report in the Gruniad a few months ago which suggests that Garnett's World Productions is in big trouble and close to going bust, possibly because it appears no TV network wants anything that they're pitching? 'By opting to get an audience the easy way they short change both the audience and the programme makers,' Garnett concluded. 'Better to pack them in with junk. Cost per thousand viewers cannot lie. But a high volume show is a branch of manufacturing.' Oh, sod off back to the glorious sixties you utterly depressing little man. A BBC spokeswoman said: 'We welcome open and honest debate about the state of drama and the creative process but we believe the quality and range of drama on the BBC speaks for itself.' For which, read 'don't expect to be seeing something Tony Garnett has any involvement in turning up anytime soon on the BBC. Which is, we suspect, the real reason behind this crass tirade.' The BBC is the biggest supplier of drama in the country, she went on, 'making hundreds of hours of original drama each year across four channels. BBC drama works with hundreds of new and established writers every year.' She cited the recent examples of Occupation, Guy Hibbert's Five Minutes of Heaven on BBC2, and Torchwood. She also noted a string of forthcoming dramas, including the sixth series of New Tricks and the third series of The Street, adding: 'Each are full of creativity and individual voices.' And, thankfully, free also of bitter old Reds. Well, except The Street, I guess!
The Qi host told an audience in London that he had used the bittorrent system to acquire a copy of Laurie's show. Speaking at the iTunes Festival at London's Roundhouse, Fry said: 'The last thing I illegally downloaded. Was it a gay sex romp? It was actually the season finale of House.' The website stuff.tv said Fry had quickly pointed out he had legally downloaded the entire series but was in Indonesia when the final episode went out and was unable to obtain a legitimate copy. Asked how he felt about his own work being pirated, Fry, who has written about technology for the Gruniad, said: 'I'm against cynical bootlegging but I work in a very mollycoddled, overpaid business.' Welcome to the Twenty First Century, Stephen!The BBC's drama controller, Ben Stephenson, has announced five new dramas set for BBC1 in 2010. Stephenson said that the new commissions would 'demonstrate the BBC's renewed commitment to drama series and serials and give us a reason to be proud of all the talent coming out of Britain at the moment.' The first of his five commissions, Silence, is a four-part coming of age drama from Company Pictures, written by Fiona Seres. The plot focuses on an eighteen-year-old deaf girl who is an unwitting key-witnesses a murder. There is a new six-part detective series from Neil Cross - a writer on both Spooks and The Fixer. Luther (working title), will showcase detective John Luther struggling with his personal demons while attempting to track down a killer each week. In a twist on the traditional format, the killer's identity will, Columbo-style, be known to the audience from the opening scene. A new take on the old Sherlock Holmes concept appears in a new, and much-anticipated, three-part series, Sherlock, created by Doctor Who scripters Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis and made by Hartswood Films. In contrast, Stephenson has also ordered a two-episode adaptation of Kay Mellor's stageplay A Passionate Woman. The first episode tells the story of a mother's affair in the 1950s while the second, set in the 1980s, shows the consequences of that liaison. Finally, Tiger Aspect will produce a five-part series entitled The Deep, set in the Arctic. Written by Beautiful Creatures author Simon Donald, it focusses on the crew in an oceanographers submarine who become trapped beneath the ice with no power, limited oxygen and no communication after catastrophe strikes. But it soon becomes apparent they are not alone. The dramas will all be broadcast on BBC1 in the first half of next year. Stephenson said: 'It is a credit to the writers and producers of this country that so much astonishing work is coming through. All of these pieces start and end with a writers startling vision. Following on from the success of Peter Bowker's Occupation and Russell T Davies's Torchwood, I hope these new commissions demonstrate the BBC's renewed commitment to drama series and serials and give us a reason to be proud of all the talent coming out of Britain at the moment.'
A prop used in a forthcoming episode of Spooks sparked a security alert near a London station which disrupted train services for more than an hour. An over-zealous passer-by spotted the item - described as 'an oil drum with wires protruding from it' - in a locked yard close to Deptford train station on 1 July.
Southeastern train company said services were suspended until midnight. The drama, which revolves around MI5, is shot at a studio in Bermondsey. A spokeswoman for the production firm, Kudos said: 'A prop used on Spooks was stored securely in the production's private courtyard. A member of the public looked into the yard and, on seeing the prop, decided to alert the emergency services. As soon as the Spooks production team were contacted, they confirmed the package was just a prop and not dangerous.' A spokesman for the train company said the alert delayed about a dozen trains travelling between Charing Cross and Dartford, Dover and Hastings. Some trains were stopped on the tracks while others were delayed for up to forty minutes at the station.This Life, Between the Lines, The Cops and Cathy Come Home producer Tony Garnett has launched an attack on the BBC that Broadcast magazine describes as 'blistering' but, which to this blogger, reads like nothing more than the bitter moanings of a jaded old has-been. Garnett accused the corporation of smothering creativity and 'packing in junk' in a cynical bid for ratings.
In a lengthy article penned by the awful - and now, seemingly unemployable - aged Communist and circulated by e-mail, Garnett argued that the corporation has introduced so many layers of management it has ended up 'like McDonalds' and is churning out high-volume dramas 'as though they were soap flakes.' That's a mixed metaphor you're using there Tone, I'm afraid - McDonalds don't make soap products, that's Proctor and Gamble you're thinking of. Rather, they make burgers. And nuggets. Which is possibly appropriate. Anyway, the corporation has lost its ability to deliver its raison d'être (which seems, in this particular case, to be French for 'shows that I produce') because of too many 'well-meaning' executives whose job is to 'put spanners in the works,' he added. In what he claimed was a sketch of the BBC's drama commissioning process, Garnett stated that development is typically strung out over two years and is riven by discussions between internal and external producers about how they can side-step other staff. He also suggested there is a general unwillingness to take risks on new talent, and that notes are handed out by channel controllers who have little experience of drama. 'Detailed supervision by more and more layers, reporting to more and more senior executives, does not result in higher standards,' said Garnett. 'Working in art, film or commercial cinema is like dancing through a minefield, and every broadcaster is now racing down-market in a desperate attempt to survive. But what is happening at the BBC is the real scandal: it is bigger than all the rest combined, it is free from direct commercial pressure and its public service obligations carry cultural responsibilities. There are no excuses.' I'm sorry, I've just got absolutely no time at all for any of this crap bleating which amounts to nothing more than an example of cosy nostalgia for an era that's now long gone. But, still he went on. And on. And on. 'Over the last decade or so the BBC, in perhaps its worst public service dereliction, has skewed its money and airtime decisively towards high-volume junk which runs across the year. In addition to EastEnders and Casualty it now has Holby City and numerous other lengthy series. There are very few single pieces or mini-series, the kind of original writers' work where a voice can communicate directly with an audience.' I must say, I particularly enjoyed the criticism of 'high-volume drama' though. That's a corker. Sorry, remind me what you spent most of the early-to-mid nineties producing for the BBC, Tony? This Life wasn't it? Between the Lines? Ballykissangel? Are you disowning them? 'The BBC has the duty and the resources to make a full range of programmes,' he continued. 'But in this shift in balance they expose their opportunistic cynicism. Ratings are their default argument, as though this were the only criterion.' So, your argument - if I understand it correctly - is, essentially, the same as that of Ofcom and some extreme right-wing Tory MPs then, Tony? That the BBC should only be making programmes that nobody wants to watch. Interesting. Or could these comments, possibly, have anything to do with this report in the Gruniad a few months ago which suggests that Garnett's World Productions is in big trouble and close to going bust, possibly because it appears no TV network wants anything that they're pitching? 'By opting to get an audience the easy way they short change both the audience and the programme makers,' Garnett concluded. 'Better to pack them in with junk. Cost per thousand viewers cannot lie. But a high volume show is a branch of manufacturing.' Oh, sod off back to the glorious sixties you utterly depressing little man. A BBC spokeswoman said: 'We welcome open and honest debate about the state of drama and the creative process but we believe the quality and range of drama on the BBC speaks for itself.' For which, read 'don't expect to be seeing something Tony Garnett has any involvement in turning up anytime soon on the BBC. Which is, we suspect, the real reason behind this crass tirade.' The BBC is the biggest supplier of drama in the country, she went on, 'making hundreds of hours of original drama each year across four channels. BBC drama works with hundreds of new and established writers every year.' She cited the recent examples of Occupation, Guy Hibbert's Five Minutes of Heaven on BBC2, and Torchwood. She also noted a string of forthcoming dramas, including the sixth series of New Tricks and the third series of The Street, adding: 'Each are full of creativity and individual voices.' And, thankfully, free also of bitter old Reds. Well, except The Street, I guess!Just to continue this train of thought a bit further, Matthew McIntyre made a very good point over on Fortress of Solitude when he noted that 'telling people how to do their job seems to be arrogant, pointless and counter-productive. If you make a valid point about the state of BBC drama then it's up to them to work out how to try and address it. I think that some of the criticism in this Guardian article by Gareth McLean [from 2008] crossed the same line.' Quite. I criticise the BBC as much as anybody - I'm a licence-fee payer and I, therefore, have that right - but I am not blind to the realities of the modern world. Whenever I hear somebody saying 'the BBC should be making this type of show because of its Public Service commitments' my response is, usually, 'you mean a type of programme that you like (or, in this particular case, you make) but bugger all other people want to see?' It's very interesting how often the 'Public Service Broadcasting' argument is used in the TV industry to, essentially, push a nice bit of self-interest. I think Gareth's article touches on some interesting points and he's nowhere near as blinkered and myopic as Garnett quite clearly is, but - again - it seems to be the case that he talked to a bunch of people who were bitter because they've been told to go away and rewrite a script that they've worked for eighteen months on by Ben Stephenson. Who's only in his early thirties and, therefore, clearly 'knows nowt about owt!' I mean, why mention his age in the article otherwise? That, like Garnett's rant, has the toxic stink of 'bitter angry hack writers' smeared all over it!
And, speaking of Gareth McLean, I've always rather rated him, personally; he was just about the first British TV journalist to understand and to articulate - in what we might call the 'quality' press anyway - that the cult of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was something beyond mere teenage-fluff-and-nonsense. Frankly, that cuts him a lot of slack as far as I'm concerned. However, I'm told a little story which may well change that opinion: Apparently he was on the BAFTA panel for selecting TV comedies this year and he wouldn't countenance Gavin and Stacey being nominated because - get this - he considered it 'so bourgeois.' Now, if he'd said that he didn't think it was especially funny, or that there were better nominees or even that just he didn't get and/or like it, then fine. I wouldn't have argued with any of those - there's a lot of truth in all three statements. But 'so bourgeois.' What the hell does that actually mean? (I know what the word 'bourgeois' means, obviously, before you all start writing in with the dictionary definition. I did take that O Level.) So, if that's true - and I'm assured that it is - then, as far as I'm concerned, Gareth's used up all of his Buffy-bonus-points in one go and, from now on, he's batting on the same level as everyone else! Thanks to Sideshow Bob for bringing that gem to my attention.
On a similar theme Chris Moyles has also attacked the BBC - what is this, 'piss off your employer' week? I must've missed that memo - but this time for making 'dull programmes on purpose so as not to offend anyone.' Ah, everyone's a critic, these days! Speaking in the Radio Times, the obnoxious breakfast host said radio shows were 'so formulaic' that the likes of he and Jonathan Ross stand out for being different. Moyles is, of course, no stranger to controversy. Earlier this year, he was censured by Ofcom for making apparent homophobic remarks about Will Young. He was also previously been forced to grovelling apologise for swearing at a caller live on air. Moyles said: 'The BBC is in a very weird state where they just don't want to upset anybody.' Unlike you, Christopher, who seemingly take great delight in upsetting everyone. How's that lifestyle choice working out for you, anyway?
Former EastEnders star Michelle Collins has revealed that she has auditioned for a role on ABC's Desperate Housewives.
The actress, who played scheming Cindy Beale in the Walford soap, told BBC1's Breakfast that she may soon be heading to Los Angeles. 'I've got an American visa now so I've spent quite a bit of time there,' she admitted. 'I went to a casting for Desperate Housewives, but I haven't got it yet. As I've told people about it, they're amazed and have been telling me that someone like Cindy from EastEnders would be great for that show. I have to remind them I’m not Cindy, I'm Michelle.' If I were you, love, I'd've kept my mouth shut until I'd actually been given a job. The forty six-year-old also said that she had tried out for other US shows, including Bones and CSI. As a big fan of both, is it so very wrong of me to hope that they also turned her down flat? 'I'm just doing what a lot of British actors are doing there at the moment - "the LA thing." I'd like to think there's been interest in me. But I'm a single parent so obviously that would be my biggest consideration before going for anything in America.'Amanda Redman has revealed that she fears losing out on lucrative TV roles because of her age.
The forty nine-year-old actress admitted that she may struggle to find work again once her BBC1 crime drama New Tricks comes to an end. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, she explained: 'I don't stop worrying about it. Outside the roles are not there. In our industry there is never going to be anything other than young and beautiful. That is great, but there is room for the rest of us. People do get interesting as they get older!' Well, with Liz Smith having just announced her retirement there's at least one gap in the market for those 'dotty old lady' roles. I think Amanda would be quite good at those. Redman added that she tries to boost her future career prospects by making daily visits to the gym. 'I do three hours every day. I do get addicted and I hate it but I go because I have to,' she said. 'As you get older, TV becomes more difficult. The shots of your arms, tops and lines are magnified. It is not how you see yourself in the street.'BBC1's award-winning drama The Street will not return for a fourth series, show creator Jimmy McGovern has announced. The story broke in the Gruniad who were, of course, weeping into their muesli over it and keen to draw some links between it and Tony Garnett's whinging on the shocking state of, you know, everything (see above). The scriptwriter told Radio4 that the decision was due to cutbacks at ITV Studios in Manchester, where the anthology drama was filmed. 'It's finished now because ITV have closed down that unit,' McGovern explained. 'I am sure that's why Michael Grade left - because it was a content-led revival, he said, and they have closed down the producers of the best content.' On the possibility of recruiting another producer for the drama, McGovern insisted: 'I wouldn't want to. All the people have gone. You live and breathe with people, you walk into busy rooms and see people working hard - the casting, the make up, the wardrobe, even the receptionists - and the next minute they are all gone. It's so sad - one of the best dramas ITV has ever made.' A BBC spokeswoman told the Gruniad: 'This is a decision Jimmy McGovern has taken as a result of recent changes at Granada. We respect that decision and we are currently in talks with him about future developments.'
ABC is reportedly being sued by a TV writer who claims that the network has 'ripped off' his ideas and storyline for Lost.
Anthony Spinner, who has been writing and producing television episodes since the 1960s, but who last wrote anything that was actually made over a decade ago, said that he offered ABC a pilot based on an aeroplane crash-landing in the jungle. According to Spinner, he presented the network with the format on three different occasions - in 1977, 1991 and 1994 - only to be knocked back each time. You've thought he would have taken the hint the first time, wouldn't you? In the suit filed in Los Angeles on 10 July, the producer insisted that his idea was plagiarised and is seeking damages and a cut of the royalties from the series. And yet, he waited until the show had been on air for almost six years before saying anything? How very mysterious. Still, this is Lost we're talking about, mystery and it go hand in hand.League of Gentlemen producer Jemma Rodgers has returned to the BBC to become executive editor of comedy for BBC Scotland. Rodgers spent eight years in BBC production before going freelance in 1998 as associate producer on the first series of the black comedy, which she continued to produce for its second and third years. She later spent twelve months at Tiger Aspect, where she co-wrote and produced Double Take with Alison Jackson, before running her own company, Junction Films, the independent behind Irvine Welsh's spectacularly bad Channel 4 comedy drama Wedding Belles. Her other credits include Murphy's Law, Hat Trick's Holocaust drama God on Trial, the thoroughly wretched Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings, Little Miss Jocelyn and a one-off episode of Pulling.
The BBC Worldwide chief executive, John Smith, is confident a deal to form a joint venture with Channel 4 will be signed within weeks following the tabling of a new streamlined proposal that he claims has gained traction with both parties. Both broadcasters have been locked in at times fraught discussions to thrash out a commercial partnership deal to secure the future of Channel, 4 which claims it faces a funding gap of as much as £150m from 2012. Smith, who would not elaborate on specific stumbling blocks, said the new proposition would pull in parts of Channel 4's operation, including ad sales as well as using its strong heritage in genres such as gardening, property and food. '[I feel we are] weeks away from being able to agree – longer for a legally binding contract – a term sheet [document outlining main points of the deal]. I'd like to think we will do it irrespective of politics. If it makes commercial sense I always believe we should do it.'
ITV has scrapped this year’s National Television Awards, pushing back the ceremony until January 2010. But the commercial broadcaster has promised that the 'new deal' will see the ceremony refreshed, by moving it to the larger O2 arena in London and handing presenting duties from veteran Trevor MacDonald to The X Factor's Dermot O'Leary for the next two years. MacDonald has hosted the event for the last thirteen years but said: 'I think it is the right time to relinquish my role as presenter.'
