Exploring consent Michaela Coel - June 2020 - Royal Television Society
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June 2020
Michaela Coel
Exploring consent
Television www.rts.org.uk September 2013 1
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Journal of The Royal Television Society
June 2020 l Volume 57/6
From the CEO
It has been a busy few Valley have each organised online modern relationships and the thorny
weeks for the RTS. discussions about how broadcasters question of sexual consent.
We’ve held awards have responded to the crisis. Televi- With the lockdowns easing, global
ceremonies at both sion’s news pages carry reports of stockmarkets have been rebounding.
ends of the UK and these events, which emphasise the Leo Barraclough considers the most
hosted a stellar array challenges of working remotely. likely media mergers and acquisitions
of digital events. Last month’s RTS discussion on the in the months ahead.
Congratulations to all the winners impact of Covid-19 on TV and related Finally, huge congratulations to Tim
of the RTS Scotland Awards, whose industries was stimulating and pro- Davie on his new DG role. The BBC
streamed ceremony was presented by vocative. It rightly generated head- has an impressive leader familiar with
Scottish actor and comedian Karen lines, so a big thank you to panellists commerce and public service, creativ-
Dunbar. Well done, too, to all the vic- Lindsey Clay, from Thinkbox, Claire ity and business, normal times and
tors at the RTS Devon and Cornwall Enders, Damian Green MP and Sean times of crisis.
Student Television Awards. McGuire, from Oliver & Ohlbaum.
The pandemic has had a profound Don’t miss the report in this issue.
impact on newsrooms everywhere, Our cover story looks at the brilliant
and our centres in Devon and Corn- Michaela Coel’s new BBC One drama,
wall, the Isle of Man and Thames I May Destroy You, which explores Theresa Wise
Contents
Cover: I May Destroy You (BBC)
4 Brian Woods’s TV Diary
Documentary-maker Brian Woods survives sleepless
nights to create a unique portrait of coronavirus Britain 16 Mr Fix-it
Roz Laws talks to Jay Blades, presenter of zeitgeist show
The Repair Shop, whose own life story offers inspiration
for these troubled times
5 Rising star
Matthew Bell asks Lily Newmark – Ruthie in Sex Education
– about her role in Netflix’s new fantasy drama Cursed
18 Getting inventive in lockdown
Julie Graham shares how she created an original online
drama with a little help from some famous friends
6 Working Lives: Make-up artist
Strictly Come Dancing make-up artist Lisa Armstrong
is interviewed by Matthew Bell
20 Our new normal
Steve Clarke listens to Andrea Scrosati, the COO of
Fremantle, as he outlines the shape of the post-lockdown
8 Comfort Classic: The Sweeney
Matthew Bell salutes Britain’s best cop show, which
world for producers
painted a gritty, vibrant picture of a now-vanished city
22 The people’s writer
Sally Wainwright, busy on season 2 of Gentleman Jack,
9 Ear Candy: Grounded with Louis Theroux
Kate Holman downloads a binge-box of the great
tells the RTS why her work has to be grounded in reality
interlocutor’s encounters with locked-down celebs
24 Predators prepare to pounce
Leo Barraclough explains how the pandemic is
10 Personal and provocative
As Michaela Coel’s new drama I May Destroy You hits
our screens, Matthew Bell hears about her ‘vomit drafts’
an opportunity for certain media companies and
other investors
12 The economic impact of Covid-19
An RTS panel examines the fallout from the crisis
on television businesses
26 The Clinton conundrum
An emotional new documentary provides a fresh take
on the polarising figure of Hillary Clinton. Caroline Frost
speaks to its director, Nanette Burstein
14 Crisis shows need for quality journalism
ITN Chief Executive Anna Mallett tells Steve Clarke that
her doctorate is less relevant than her people skills 29 Our Friend in Belfast
Vikkie Taggart gives the lowdown on her new normal,
running Belfast indie Stellify Media from home
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 2020.
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 June 2020 3
TV diary
Documentary-maker Brian Woods
survives sleepless nights to create a
unique portrait of coronavirus Britain
L
ockdown begins five ■ We need to get three types of editors. The Other Planet in Leeds has
weeks early for me. material: footage that we will send given us all its edit suites, so we can
Not due to Covid-19 shooting producer-directors (PDs) cut socially distanced. PDs watch
but because, on to film properly; footage that people screens in other suites on Zoom.
18 February, I become will shoot on their phones, but set
a dad. Welcome, Ros- up in advance, with guidance and ■ Saturday 4 April. We’re way
coe. I plan to avoid direction from us; and all the other behind schedule; Channel 4 is
looking at email for the first month. user-generated content (UGC) that worried – 3,185 clips have been
Three weeks later, on 11 March, I will be a surprise – it will be what- uploaded by the public, and every
give in. Louisa Compton, editor of ever people send in. single one has to be watched.
Channel 4’s Dispatches, wants quick By the early hours of Sunday
ideas on coronavirus. I send her a ■ We bring in PDs we know and morning, we have a great part one
barmy notion about shooting a film trust to work alone; they are based – filmic, funny, beautiful, moving.
in one day, editing it in a week, and in Glasgow, Belfast, London, Wales, Somehow, 30-ish hours later, the
broadcasting seven days after filming. Norwich, Birmingham, Leeds and other three parts are just as good.
rural Yorkshire. A team of producers
■ It is 16 March, my 57th birthday. focuses in parallel on specific UGC ■ Monday 6 April, 2:00pm, I head for
Louisa calls as I am driving Roscoe sequences, while Harry Lock works home. I’ve not slept much, but the
to hospital for a jaundice check (he through the night creating a public adrenaline buzz gets me back to Lon-
turns out to be fine). C4 likes the “in- upload website. don safely.
a-day” idea, but can we shoot it one Our absolute deadline is that the film
day and broadcast the following night? ■ Friday the 3rd dawns. I film the has to be uploaded by 5:00pm, other-
Only a newsperson would ask this. lack of rush-hour traffic on the A4, wise it will be dropped. At 5:21pm, I
Anna Hall, our creative director, and but much of the remainder of the get a WhatsApp: “Red Bee confirms
I confer – we just can’t do it justice day is strangely quiet. After two that it has a complete recording.”
in a day, but suggest a compromise: frantic weeks, all I can do is wait.
shoot on a Friday, broadcast the fol- Someone sends in a video of Lean ■ At 8:30pm, 32 of us convene
lowing Monday. on Me – it’s brilliant. We check the on Zoom for a pre-transmission
rights and find that Bill Withers’ party. Anna and I both make little
■ On 23 March, Britain goes into passing is on the lunchtime news. We speeches. Mine is to the effect that I
lockdown, and Channel 4 commis- send out an appeal for people to sing had hoped we could pull it off, but,
sions the film. The Monday chosen along to Lean on Me, and this becomes in the end, what we produced aston-
for broadcast is 6 April. We have two the last three minutes of the film. ished me and is one of the best films
weeks. I have ever been involved with.
Our team at Candour Productions ■ Three weeks into lockdown, I feel
in Leeds evacuates the building and like a naughty schoolboy driving to Brian Woods is founder and director of
we quickly learn out how to use Leeds along deserted motorways. True Vision (London and Cambridge) and
Zoom, to try to figure how to make We have 48 hours to cut the film, Candour Productions (Leeds). A Day in the
this project happen in lockdown. and a fantastic team of shift-working Life of Coronavirus Britain is on All4.
4
didn’t feel too far removed from our
Lily Newmark
own reality – it’s just that the clothes
as Ruthie in
are a bit different and it was more
Sex Education
normal to carry a sword.”
Not that Newmark got to wield a
weapon, which was a serious disap-
pointment. “My character, Pym, is not
a fighter. It’s a great shame because
I’ve been wanting – not to start a
fight – but to get into combat scenes
and I haven’t had the opportunity.”
The coronavirus lockdown has
been a “strange but not too unfamil-
iar” experience for an actor: “You find
yourself in periods without work
where you have to keep yourself
busy.” As befits a creative person, she
has gone far beyond perfecting her
cooking: “I built a retirement home
for my cat out of some old boxes and
papier mâché because his back legs
aren’t working so well.”
Newmark should have been filming
series 2 of Sky One drama Temple, in
which she plays the daughter of Mark
Strong’s subterranean surgeon, who
runs an illegal medical clinic beneath
Rising star
the eponymous London Tube station.
When it starts shooting, she hopes
the actors will have the freedom to
perform. “I would hate for a series to
be compromised in terms of its pro-
Netflix
duction values or performances
because of new [production] regula-
tions. But the priority is people’s
In the limelight health and safety and, if that means
waiting longer in order to so some-
thing in a more authentic way, then
Matthew Bell speaks to Lily Newmark – Ruthie we’ll just have to wait.”
in Sex Education – who has a major role in She adds, laughing: “Temple is pretty
much set in a sort of underground
Netflix’s new fantasy drama Cursed lockdown so perhaps this [crisis]
L
could inspire performances to be
ily Newmark is opted for theology at university, but more authentic.”
increasingly hard to “decided that wasn’t going to make Despite her enforced lay-off, now is
miss on screen, dividing me my happiest self. It’s anthropol- a good time for young actors, rich in
her time between TV ogy, either way: it’s studying people drama on both traditional TV and the
– Sex Education, Temple as an actor or studying people in US streamers. “There’s no lack of
and Les Misérables – and terms of their religious beliefs.” content and it’s not even as if it’s filler
UK film – Nick Hornby adaptation She will be back on our screens – there’s a lot of good writing, espe-
Juliet, Naked, the critically acclaimed Pin shortly in one of Netflix’s big summer cially from England,” she says, name-
Cushion and Misbehaviour, set during releases, Cursed, a 10-part reimagina- checking the “amazing” Laurie Nunn
the 1970 Miss World competition. She tion of the legend of King Arthur. who penned Sex Education, in which
even had a blink-and-you-miss-it role “I’ve been wanting to do fantasy for Newmark played Ruthie.
in Solo: A Star Wars Story. so long,” she says, having read The “Perhaps if I’d started 10 years ago,
Since leaving the East 15 Acting Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Harry I would have had to go to LA or New
School four years ago, the 26-year-old Potter as a teenager. “I should take it York,” she says, “but I’ve been very
Londoner has racked up 15 credits to up again, especially now. It’s a good happy to stay in London.” She has a few
add to the part in NBC’s Emerald City time to escape into another world.” projects of her own up her sleeve: “It’s
that she nabbed while still studying. Cursed, though, is an all-too-familiar funny, but one of them I’ve been work-
Newmark had acted in youth the- world. “[The writers] wanted to reflect ing on for a few years is about solitude
atre, though she didn’t consider “it the world we live in now – it has the and self-isolation. It feels like the
could be my profession until the end same themes of obliteration of the moment’s passed where that’s some-
of school”. Even then, she almost natural world and senseless war. It thing people might want to watch.” n
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 5
WORKING LIVES
Faye Tozer and
Giovanni Pernice’s
Strictly Come Dancing
Halloween routine
BBC
Make-up artist
L
isa Armstrong won the integrity – what goes on in the make-up eyelashes, nail polish, body shimmer
RTS Craft & Design Award room stays in the make-up room. and lip gloss. You then adapt it as you
for Make-Up Design – get to know a person. So, when I work
Entertainment & Non So you need personal as well as tech- with Alan Carr, I always make sure I’ve
Drama at the end of last nical skills? packed my glasses cleaner.
year. She wowed the Yes, you need to form a personal con- Make-up artists always bring more
judges with her work on BBC One nection and gain trust – being made than they need, so we’re always moan-
smash hit Strictly Come Dancing, “con- up is an intimate experience. The per- ing about lugging suitcases about.
sistently impressing audiences and former might be nervous and you’re We’re the go-to people for plasters,
fans, never failing to entertain and the last person they see before they go toothpaste, tissues and deodorant.
constantly exhibiting an amazingly out to dance. You need to make them
varied array of skills and techniques”. feel good about themselves so they can How big is the make-up team
perform well. on Strictly?
What makes a good make-up artist? Myself, five make-up artists, a hair
You have to have a talent and an eye What do you bring to work with you? supervisor, five hairdressers and four
for it – a good artist pushes bounda- Everything you need for the job. For assistants – although, as we lose celebs
ries. But you also need confidence and Strictly, I need three cases, full of glitter, during the series, the team slims down.
6
How did you become a make-up artist?
Lisa Armstrong I realised I had always loved make-up:
with her RTS Craft
I did my own make-up for dancing
& Design Award
competitions as a kid; in the band, I
wanted it all: all the colours, lip gloss,
eyelashes and diamante jewellery. I
went to the Glauca Rossi School of
Make-Up in London and got a diploma.
I knew people in the industry and
found make-up work for magazines,
and had a column in Cosmopolitan Hair
and Beauty answering readers’ questions.
How did you make the jump to TV?
I was doing make-up for singers as
well, such as Pop Idol winner Michelle
McManus, and then I met Ozzy and
Sharon Osbourne at a shoot. Sharon’s
normal make-up artist had another
job, so I did her make-up on The X
Factor. That was my first TV show.
Right time, right place?
Yes, but you’re only as good as your
last job. I was part of the make-up
team on The X Factor, loved it and
learned so much, before becoming hair
and make-up designer on Strictly. This
will be my 13th year on the show.
What advice would you give to some-
one starting out now?
Richard Kendal
Go to college and then practise your
craft. Even if you want to work in TV,
explore every avenue – it’s important
to learn how to do theatre or fashion
model looks, and to understand wig-
Is it hard work? Halloween routine a couple of years making and prosthetics. Throughout
On a Saturday, we start at 8:30am and back. She was half woman, half skeleton: your career, you will learn from the
wrap at 11.30pm. During the day, the from one angle, she was beautiful and, people you work with.
celebs and their partners are constantly then, when she turned in her routine,
rehearsing and whizzing around the you saw the gory side of her face. The Are there any tricks of the trade you
dance floor: the rollers are flying out, routine was amazing and it was all about can share with us?
the lip-gloss is getting smudged and the make-up, costume, lighting and Always do the eye make-up first – we
the eyelashes are hanging off. camera departments working together. use a lot colour and textures here and I
Dancers, especially the boys, sweat don’t want it falling on to a perfect,
like you wouldn’t believe. The team is How has lockdown been for you? made-up face.
constantly on the go. We do the live I’ve not done anything for months
show and then, after a break, record the – people are having to do their own What are the best and worst aspects of
results show. And then we’re back in make-up. When Piers [Morgan] did his the job?
the make-up room to clean everything for Good Morning Britain, I texted him Strictly’s the best show in TV entertain-
ready for the following week. and asked: “What the hell’s happened ment – you can be so creative. The
to you?” People are now appreciating only downsides are the long hours and
Which other departments do you what make-up artists do. the lost weekends. But – you know
work with? what? – who cares! I love the job.
Costume, staging and lighting. You’re What did you do before make-up
running up and down the corridor, came calling? What other types of show would you
talking with the costume department I was a dancer and went to the Brit love to work on?
to ensure the dancers look just right. School in Croydon, and then joined Period drama would blow my mind
You work with each other, not against the pop group Deuce. We toured the – it would be way outside of my com-
each other. We are a big family. country for a couple of years but, when fort zone. n
The lighting and the staging needs to that came to an end, I was at a loss.
highlight the make-up, as it did with I was 21 and thought, “What the hell do Make-up artist Lisa Armstrong was inter-
Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice’s I do now?” viewed by Matthew Bell.
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 7
COMFORT CLASSIC
ITV
The Sweeney
F
rom a distance of close to
half a century, London is
Matthew Bell salutes show Z Cars). It ran for four series on ITV
from 1975 to 1978. Two cinema spin-offs,
almost unrecognisable. Britain’s best cop show, with added sex and violence, were
Cortinas and Consuls released towards the end of the TV run.
squeal around a semi-
which painted a gritty, Regan, played by John Thaw, dishev-
derelict city, pockmarked vibrant picture of a elled, fag on the go, whisky bottle in his
by Second World War bomb sites. office top drawer, was the archetypal
Houses and shops are dilapidated, a now-vanished city 1970s cop. His sidekick, detective ser-
permanent pall of smoke hangs in the geant George Carter, played by Dennis
boozers; people look old, even those credit, banks, bookies and security vans Waterman, was barely more presentable,
who aren’t. Everything is grey. were the targets. Trying to stop them yet – and it is one of the series’ endur-
Everything except detective inspec- were the Sweeney. (“Sweeney Todd” is ing mysteries – women, frequently posh
tor Jack Regan’s iconic brown suit and cockney rhyming slang for the Flying ones who should have been way out of
green kipper tie. And he was always Squad, a specialist police unit that tack- their league, fell for them.
hungry for nicking villains: “We’re the led serious crime.) It was cops vs rob- In real life, many Flying Squad officers
Sweeney, son, and we haven’t had any bers, with both sides tooled up – ideally were bent. Indeed, while the series was
dinner – you’ve kept us waiting.” with a sawn-off shotgun – and ready to on air, the squad’s commander, detec-
In the 1970s, the armed robber was shoot it out. tive chief superintendent Kenneth
at the top of the criminal ladder and The Sweeney was the brainchild of Ian Drury, was convicted of corruption and
London was at his mercy. In a city Kennedy Martin (brother of Troy, who imprisoned for eight years.
without CCTV that ran on cash, not created the long-running BBC cop Regan and Carter were honest,
8
though not averse to cutting corners
Ear candy
if it meant feeling a collar. They loved
nothing more than a dust up – if they
deserved it, villains were given a right
hiding.
But The Sweeney was not a hackneyed
cop show. Behind the car chases, punch-
ups, birds and boozing, there was pow-
erful drama, with beautifully drawn
characters and memorable dialogue.
Regular writer Trevor Preston gave
Regan, who was raging against the
unfairness of a cop’s life, these lines:
“It’s a bloody holiday camp for thieves
and weirdos – all the rubbish. You age
prematurely trying to sort some of
them out. Try and protect the public,
and all they do is call you fascist. You
nail a villain and some ponced-up,
pinstripe Hampstead barrister screws
it up like an old fag packet on a point
of procedure, then pops off for a game
of squash and a glass of Madeira. He’s
taking home 30 grand a year, and we
BBC
can just about afford 10 days in East-
bourne and a second-hand car. It’s all
Grounded with
bloody wrong, my son.”
The series employed some of the
best British character actors: the
established – Brian Blessed, Warren
Louis Theroux
Mitchell and Diana Dors – and the
up-and-coming, such as Hywel Ben-
nett and Maureen Lipman. Villains
and their families were portrayed as
humans rather than cartoons.
I
Everyone remembers Harry South’s
funky, brass-heavy theme that plays n his new podcast, documen- likes of Boy George, Helena Bonham
over The Sweeney’s opening credits. The tary-maker Louis Theroux Carter, Lenny Henry, Rose McGowan
poignant minor-key end theme is just uses his trademark infectious and KSI to the podcast.
as good, evoking the pathos that fills so curiosity to explore the lives The celebrities share stories from
many of the show’s characters, includ- of some of the world’s most their lives and careers. We learn of
ing Regan’s. recognisable faces. It is his McGowan’s experiences of growing up
The 53rd and final episode of the first foray into the world of in a cult, how the alternative comedy
series, “Jack or Knave?”, sees a disillu- celebrity since the TV series When Louis scene changed Henry’s life, and why
sioned Regan resign after being falsely Met…. As he and his guests navigate the YouTuber KSI was already fully adapted
accused of corruption: “You want me new territory of remote interviewing, to working online even before the lock-
to crawl back to work and be terribly his signature silences could be mistaken down started.
grateful that I didn’t get nicked for for a Zoom glitch or a phone delay. From Boy George “isolating” alone
something I didn’t do. Well, you can Theroux kicks off the series with to Bonham Carter on the challenges
stuff it!” Hailing a cab, he’s driven a conversation with his professional of co-parenting, Theroux’s guests offer
away, slowly, down the Hammersmith rival, documentary-maker Jon Ronson. an intimate look at their daily lives and
Road, to the accompaniment of South’s They discuss their shared TV experi- how they have adapted to the new
melancholic music. A perfect ending to ences and some of Ronson’s notable normal.
British TV’s greatest cop show. n career moments. These include trying Don’t miss Theroux’s bonus “lock-
to organise a night in a haunted house down kitchen disco playlist”, which
The Sweeney is on ITV4 and also avail- for Robbie Williams. includes some surprising rap entries.
able on Amazon Prime. Theroux has since welcomed the Kate Holman
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 9
Michaela Coel in
I May Destroy You
BBC
Personal and
provocative
‘M
ichaela doesn’t revealed two years ago while giving the
skirt issues – she
Michaela Coel’s new MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh
goes straight at drama I May Destroy International TV Festival.
them.” Executive Coel found the experience of writing
producer Roberto You is certain to I May Destroy You cathartic and, ultimately,
Troni is talking
about Michaela Coel’s fearless new
provoke audiences. She liberating. “Anything cathartic is hard,
but it was also really glorious. It was
drama I May Destroy You, which explores tells Matthew Bell why horrible, dark and beautiful. I was able
sexual consent in contemporary London. to reflect on the pain, which meant I
The 12-part BBC One/HBO series is, her ‘vomit drafts’ have a had survived it,” the London-born
to an extent, based on personal experi-
ence – like her character, Arabella,
life of their own actor and writer tells Television. “To
finish draft after draft and get to the
Coel was sexually assaulted after her end, sort of metaphorically finding my
drink was spiked, an experience she way out, was a beautiful experience.”
10In the series, Arabella is suffering from about different ideas and approaches. As creator, writer, star and co-director,
writer’s block and unable to complete She’d go away and rewrite. And we did Coel describes the task of bringing I May
her second book. This isn’t a problem this process over and over again. Our Destroy You to screen as like “creating
that afflicts Coel, who describes her function was to help Michaela tell her Mount Everest and then climbing it”.
writing process as akin to producing story,” recalls Clarke. “While I was learning my lines in the
“vomit drafts”. “I was constantly whittling away, evening, I was also rewriting the script.
It was executive producer Phil Clarke’s responding to their questions, under- I was then getting up in the morning,
confidence in her writing – as head of standing where I wasn’t being clear,” doing my make-up before we began
comedy at Channel 4, he had commis- shooting, and then I had to go on set
sioned her sitcom Chewing Gum – that and figure out how a sequence would
led Coel to Various Artists Limited, the ‘I WAS ABLE TO work and what it would look like.”
indie he founded in 2017 with fellow
Channel 4 commissioner Roberto
REFLECT ON THE Coel says that, during the shoot,
“memories of something that was
Troni and Peep Show writers Sam Bain PAIN, WHICH deeply traumatic” were erased by the
and Jesse Armstrong.
MEANT I HAD joyful experience of working closely
SURVIVED IT’
“It’s the reason I came to Phil. I did with the production crew: “I imagine
my ‘vomit drafts’ for season 1 of Chewing that when you climb Everest you feel
Gum,” she recalls “and the call was made this same overwhelming sense of love,
that I had to find a co-writer. I remem- euphoria and gratitude.”
ber being in Boots and getting the call recalls Coel, “and then going back and The production hired Sex Education’s
and the earth fell from beneath me – trying again.” intimacy co-ordinator, Ita O’Brien, and
I was crying in the middle of Boots. While scripts were being honed, HBO used closed sets to shoot scenes with
“Phil read it and said, ‘What do you came on board. The BBC and US net- explicit sex and sexual violence. It also
need a co-writer for?’ He understands work’s versions are identical. “It’s a offered therapeutic support to the cast
my babble.” very modern situation, working to two and production crew.
Coel, Troni and Clarke approached broadcasters – it ran very swimmingly,” “Because of the nature of the mate-
Piers Wenger, controller of BBC drama says Clarke. “[They] were respectful rial, there was a lot of discussion with
commissioning, who, without a treat- of each other; [neither] was trying to the cast, even before filming started.
ment, let alone a script, snapped up elbow their way to the front. There was There were rehearsals and workshops
I May Destroy You. literally not one bit of argy-bargy.” with Ita,” explains Troni. “In the old
“Amid all the dramas about consent Julie Harkin assembled the cast, days, there were those terrible stories
we’ve been pitched in the wake of the including Weruche Opia (Sliced) and about people turning up on the day
#MeToo or Time’s Up [movements], Paapa Essiedu (Kiri), which reads like and being told, ‘You’re doing a sex
this stood out,” says Wenger, who met a who’s who of up-and-coming black scene – take your clothes off.’
Coel when she was making BBC Two acting talent. “Nothing was sprung on people.
drama Black Earth Rising. “Michaela’s “Julie’s a very established casting There are amazing roles in I May Destroy
way of seeing the world is unlike any- director but really has an eye on You, but we didn’t want to put the actors
one else’s. That really comes through emerging talent. She and Michaela in positions that they were uncomfort-
in the finished show: it’s funny, incred- were talking the same names immedi- able with.”
ibly idiosyncratic, very personal, but ately,” recalls Troni. “We’ve all worked I May Destroy You is powerful but also
with so much to say about the world.” with those casting directors who just frequently disturbing. Is the BBC anx-
The series, adds Wenger, “constantly pull out the tried and trusted.” ious about its reception? “There is
trips you up and challenges you”. Along with Noughts + Crosses, Steve nothing sensationalist about it; it’s
Coel thinks the “idiosyncratic” con- McQueen’s upcoming Small Axe and rooted in the everyday [world] of dating
tent reflects her writing style. “When I the adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel apps and hook-ups, the things you do
write, I don’t plan in advance where I A Suitable Boy, I May Destroy You is making in your twenties and thirties,” replies
am going,” she says. “Imagine you are 2020 “an outstanding year for on-screen Wenger. “It’s exploring both the fun
walking your dog and your dog is drag- diversity” on the BBC, says Wenger. “It’s and the dark side of those experiences.
ging you in all these directions – that’s about opening up the talent pool and It’s rare that you get in one story the
the script. Sometimes, as I’m typing, my showing [BAME] actors that there are two extremes.
jaw drops because I didn’t know I was opportunities in Britain and at the BBC. “Michaela shows how society lets
going to go [to a particular place]. We need to earn their trust because I down the victims of sexual assault and
“I spend a lot of time alone, away don’t think that comes automatically.” it feels like uncharted territory. It is
from my phone, and I travel. Even if Coel co-directed with Sam Miller, strong, there is no doubt about it, but
it’s just a train to Kent to sit in a cheap who helmed Luther. “Sam led the way; isn’t that what great drama does? It
Airbnb, it means my variables are con- he’s a very experienced director and allows us to see the world from fresh
stantly changing. I’m constantly trying brought visual flair to the show. perspectives.”
to live a life that throws up things I Michaela was keen to direct but real- Clarke adds: “There’s nothing gratui-
can’t predict.” ised it was going to be a learning curve tous. If people feel uncomfortable, that’s
Coel drafted and redrafted, using for her. They formed a partnership on up to them, but my feeling is that the
Clarke and Troni as her sounding set and made it work; they got the best more honest and braver we are at
boards. “We’d question her and talk out of each other,” says Clarke. tackling these… subjects, [the better].” n
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 11The economic
impact of Covid-19
I
ndependent producers are
the most vulnerable to the eco-
An RTS panel examines bailouts from the entire country and
the TV industry is not high on the list
nomic carnage unleashed on the the fallout from the of [those] who tug the heartstrings,
television sector by coronavirus. even within the DCMS sector,” he said.
That was the consensus of a crisis on TV businesses “However, I take the point that less has
lively RTS webinar examining been ring-fenced for the creative sector
the impact of Covd-19 on the UK’s TV the UK had never experienced “a than in other countries and the [select
and related content industries. How- downturn this deep” and predicted a committee] will continue to talk to the
ever, despite this worrying situation, “fairly profound structural shift” in the Government about this.”
there was agreement that all the British sector. He was unsure whether the TV Lindsey Clay, CEO of Thinkbox,
broadcasters would survive the advertising market – already down by which represents UK commercial
downturn. around 50% year-on-year – would broadcasters, was optimistic about the
Of the four panellists, Claire Enders, ever recover. future of TV advertising. She reminded
founder of Enders Analysis, used the Even an apparently secure business everyone of its unique ability to reach
most colourful language to describe such as pay-TV sport faced an uncer- mass audiences safely and its impor-
the plight of what, a few months ago, tain future, he said: “Will people still tance in driving economic activity. “It
was a thriving creative sector respon- be happy to pay out large monthly is irreplaceable,” she opined. She won-
sible for global hits and envied by amounts for Sky Sports in the future?” dered, however, if ITV was “really big
programme-makers around the world. As for the TV industry receiving state enough to take care of itself”.
She said the UK’s independent pro- aid, Damian Green MP, a member of Asked to vote on the shape of the
duction community was “on its stom- the Commons Digital, Culture, Media eventual economic recovery, the web
ach” and contrasted how its peers in and Sport Committee, said the sector inar audience thought the most likely
the US and Europe were being treated was not high on the list of those likely outcome was a W-shaped recovery.
compared with our own Government’s to receive a subsidy. The companies that survived would be
attitude to indies. “ITV is big enough to look after those that were vertically integrated,
Her primary concern was for the itself,” maintained the MP. Nor did he such as ITV and the BBC, said Enders.
future of suppliers left “pitifully and share McGuire’s negativity regarding The audience was also asked to vote
badly afflicted” by the Government’s the future prospects for live TV sport. on the likely winners and losers from
response to the pandemic. He predicted huge audiences would the crisis. Netflix would be the biggest
She warned that up to half of the UK return once live professional sport winner, according to 68% of those
creative sector, including theatres and resumed. taking part in the snap poll.
museums as well as independent pro- The MP also drew attention to Chan- Clay suggested that, as competition
ducers, risked going under. cellor Rishi Sunak’s “unprecedented” increased in the SVoD space, more
Enders highlighted the “incompara- Job Retention Scheme, but admitted content owners would withdraw their
bly greater” scale of state-funded sup- that the broadcasting sector was not programmes from Netflix to enable
port in France, Germany and Italy. among its priorities. them to show these on their own
These countries had all agreed to pro- “Every minister is facing calls for platforms. “Third-party series such
vide a financial lifeline for their audio- as Friends and The Big Bang Theory are
visual industries. Similarly, the US was some of Netflix’s most popular shows,”
providing state funds to ensure that she said. “Once more content owners
Hollywood survived. ‘SMALLER withdraw their shows, Netflix will look
The UK was “in a completely differ-
ent environment”, she said. “It’s extraor-
PRODUCERS AND less attractive.”
Enders disagreed. She insisted that
dinary that our fiscal envelope does not FREELANCERS… the secret of Netflix’s success was the
seem to have any material impact at all.”
She forecast a “great depression” in the FACE A FUTURE huge sums it had invested in original
series. “That is Netflix’s magic sauce:
UK once the Government’s furlough THAT IS MORE $50bn spent on content in the past
scheme ended, compounded by what
she thought would be a hard Brexit. FRAGILE THAN eight years. Given how much Netflix
spends, I’m always surprised that it’s
Sean McGuire, Managing Director of
consultancy Oliver & Ohlbaum, said
EVER’ only responsible for 9% of all video
viewed in the UK.”
12Clockwise from left:
Damian Green MP,
Kate Bulkley,
Claire Enders,
Sean McGuire
and Lindsey Clay
RTS via Zoom
There was agreement that another help to safeguard the future of smaller McGuire was sceptical about the
outright winner of the pandemic would producers and freelancers, who faced a current configuration of PSBs, which,
be the recently launched streaming future that was “more fragile than ever”. he claimed, was shaped by the “con-
service Disney+, which was already “It is essential that the next Director- siderable lobbying efforts” of the
in 50 million homes worldwide. General builds on the move to Salford incumbents. “There was already a
The biggest loser was likely to be by spreading the BBC’s activity as much concern that Ofcom was going to use
Channel 4, according to those partici- as possible around the UK,” he said. its PSB review to try to preserve the
pating in the webinar vote. Enders Regarding news, Green said that the current ecology, but that isn’t the right
agreed that Channel 4 was vulnerable pandemic had led to an increased question,” he argued. “We need to
but suggested that it had options in the appreciation of trusted PSB news think about what public service broad-
event of a prolonged economic crisis, organisations, not least Channel 4 News, casting entails and what is the best
such as selling its London HQ, relaxing which had emerged as the most structure within which to deliver it
quotas, closing some of its channels or trusted news service in the UK. “The over the next decade.”
merging with Channel 5. public are now more savvy about Enders praised Ofcom for delaying
Turning to the BBC, Green supported structured disinformation,” he added. its PSB review. Such an investigation
the continuation of the licence fee as a Clay said that regulators must not should wait until next year: “You do
means of funding the corporation. “It be allowed to be sidetracked by the not look at the future when you’re in
shouldn’t work in theory, but it does in coronavirus crisis from continuing the eye of the storm.
practice,” he said. their examination of how the Silicon “Survival is all that matters at the
Enders said she was pleased that the Valley behemoths distorted the UK moment and you won’t find a chief
pandemic had proved the overwhelm- advertising market. executive or regulator who thinks any
ing worth of the BBC, with the result Green suggested that there should be different.” n
that the debate over a subscription a wide-ranging look at the existing
model for the BBC was, in effect, dead. PSB system following the crisis. “The Report by Steve Clarke. The RTS webinar
Green suggested that the BBC could root of it should be about applying ‘The industry impact of Covid-19’ was
be persuaded to commission shows economic and cultural theory to con- held on 21 May and chaired by journalist
from a more diverse range of suppliers sider how many PSBs we need and and media commentator Kate Bulkley.
in order to help independent producers: how best to fit them within the struc- The producers were Jonathan Simon,
the corporation’s “firepower” could ture that we have,” he said. Keith Underwood and Nigel Warner.
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 13ITN Chief Executive Anna Mallett tells Steve Clarke that
her doctorate is less relevant than her people skills
Crisis shows need for
quality journalism
A
nna Mallett, CEO
of ITN for the past
12 months, could be
forgiven for looking
a little wearied. Even
before coronavirus
struck, the news organisation was
working full tilt, covering such seismic
events as Brexit, the Conservative Party
leadership contest and a particularly
fractious pre-Christmas general elec-
tion. And now this.
But Mallett, a former BBC executive
who began her TV career researching
Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast’s knobs and
knockers item – it was a holiday job
– positively radiates energy during our
45-minute Microsoft Teams interview.
This is perhaps just as well. In com-
mon with most of ITN’s peers, the com-
pany is operating with around a third
fewer staff, owing to social-distancing
rules and employees home isolating. Of
course, audiences for ITN’s daily news
programmes – for ITV, Channel 4 and
Channel 5 – have soared as the UK
turns to trusted sources of information
during the pandemic.
Success of this kind must be a tonic
to any boss, especially to one relatively
new to the job. She was appointed as
John Hardie’s successor in December
2018, the first woman to run Britain’s
biggest commercial news provider.
She started work the following April.
Hardie had successfully diversified
ITN’s business, boosting its production
activities to embrace sport, TV com-
mercials and factual programmes for
a range of broadcasters, including the
BBC, Channel 5 and Netflix.
Mallett recently announced rising
revenues at ITN Productions: in 2019,
they jumped 20% to a record £18.2m,
after producing some 664 hours of con-
tent. This includes the award-winning
Channel 4 News/ITN Productions docu-
mentary for C4 and PBS Frontline, For
ITN
Sama. Crucially, new long-term news
14‘KEEPING YOUR
contracts have been secured with SERVICES ON for running ITN during such challeng-
ITV and Channel 5; the latter has also AIR AND TEAM ing times. She describes her strategy
extended its deal for ITN to make the
daily Jeremy Vine show. ITN’s news-
SAFE IS THE at ITN as: protecting the core business
– the contracts with ITV, Channel 4
supply arrangements with ITV, Chan- CONSTANT and Channel 5 – while growing the
nel 4 and Channel 5 account for
two-thirds of the company’s revenue.
CHALLENGE’ production business, where innovation
is key – “Our advertising division
And if ITN didn’t outperform the created the world’s first live ad that
BBC at February’s RTS Television Jour- utilised 5G” – and delivering big
nalism Awards, few would deny the Her career at the national broad- events “brilliantly”. “We had a few
excellence of much of its recent out- caster included a period as controller of those last year, including the Tory
put, whether on ITV during last year’s of business strategy, where she was leadership debates and the general
general election or on Channel 4, with responsible for the BBC’s overall com- election,” she says. “That’s where ITN
its coverage of Brexit and now the mercial strategy, as CEO of the com- comes into its own. We need to make
pandemic in its extended bulletins. mercial facilities operation, BBC those big events count.”
“It’s that range and dynamism that Studios and Post Production (now BBC Her skills as a lobbyist shouldn’t be
makes ITN unique,” says Mallett. Studioworks) and, latterly, COO at BBC underestimated, either. In a recent
“We’re creating content every day. In Studios, setting up the production giant submission to the House of Lords Com-
this building we have three different with Mark Linsey, a seminal moment munications and Digital Committee’s
news services, serving three different for the Beeb. inquiry into the future of journalism,
audiences.” She adds: “I’ve always “I think that was the biggest change ITN stressed that “high-quality, regu-
loved TV and working in content and the BBC has ever made,” she recalls. lated, impartial provision from multiple
been enthusiastic about storytelling.” “That kind of transformational change sources is essential to a pluralistic news
A Durham University geography really excited me. The world’s chang- environment in delivering choice and
graduate – she did her doctorate at ing – you’ve got to be agile, you’ve got alternative viewpoints that form part of
Oxford on John Martin, the 19th-cen- to adapt. It was great to be part of that, our democratic process, and this should
tury landscape painter and engineer although not always straightforward. be protected at all costs”.
– her first full-time job was working Understandably, change brings a lot “As we face a global pandemic, this
for the Boston Consulting Group, where of concern and there was a lot to review could not be more urgent,” says
she stayed for seven years and special- work through.” Mallett. “All our news programmes are
ised in media and retail. It sounds like valuable experience seeing sharp increases in viewing
“If you’re interested in understanding figures as people seek out reliable,
business, that’s a great place to start trustworthy information.
your career.... It’s important to be logical,
thoughtful and analytic, as well as
Mallett on ‘That audiences are turning to the
established, professional sources of
having the right kind of emotional
intelligence.” Spotting her obvious
lockdown life journalism at times of crisis serves to
underline their enormous value to soci-
leadership qualities, Boston sent her ety and underscores a need for action to
to Harvard Business School. TV: ‘I really enjoyed Normal People. protect the public service broadcasters
At the BBC, where she worked for It was done very sensitively. You and quality journalism in the future.”
13 years, her reputation was that of a really got a feeling for those char- As a response to the impact of the
caring boss. She began her BBC career acters’ emotions. I haven’t read the health emergency, Mallett has put in
in 2006 as a strategist, initially working book but I’m keen to now.” place a series of cost-saving measures,
on an attachment in news. There, she including a recruitment freeze, targeted
assessed which stories might work Books: ‘At the moment, I’m reading restructuring and furloughing staff.
best in a BBC One 10:00pm slot. At the Just William to my little boys, who What, then, is her biggest challenge as
time, a row was raging because the are eight, 11 and 12. I’m keen that ITN continues to navigate and report on
Director-General, Greg Dyke, had they develop a love of reading. Part the crisis? “Ensuring you keep your
decided to move the BBC Nine O’Clock of that involves me reading to them. services on air and keeping your team
News to go head-to-head with ITN’s One of them is very enthusiastic safe. That is the constant challenge.
News at Ten. about William and all his escapades.’ “Things change all the time, so, for
Subsequently, Mallett landed a per- example, with the recent relaxation in
manent job in the BBC’s strategy team Music: ‘I do like classical music. I lockdown, more people will be out and
during the Mark Thompson era. “The find that very relaxing, but I’ll listen about. Do we need to change anything?
benefit of working in strategy is that to anything. My eldest son sings “People really want that trusted
you do see the wood from the trees in a rock band, so I get quite a lot news but at all times it’s our responsi-
and, quite quickly, begin to understand of that. I like a bit of Bach. I once bility to protect our teams, whether
some of the big issues. You also get to read that, if you listen to Bach, you they’re going into difficult situations,
meet a lot of different people across become more intelligent.’ such as ICU units, or travelling into
the BBC.” and being at work.” n
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 15Mr Fix-it
BBC
J
ay Blades, TV’s favourite furni-
ture restorer and the king of
Roz Laws talks to buy furniture polish, but not any more.
I had to buy some ingredients. The
“make do and mend”, has just Jay Blades, presenter only vinegar I had was what I put on
surprised himself with his own my chips, so I had to get distilled white
skills. “I’m blown away!,” he of zeitgeist show The vinegar, but it wasn’t hard.
declares from his workshop
near Ironbridge in Shropshire.
Repair Shop, whose “The show is partly about using old
remedies and going back to the Sec-
The reason for his delight? He’s own life story offers ond World War, when it was hard to
thrilled to have made some home- get hold of things. And showing people
made furniture polish. inspiration for these how to adapt if they don’t have a drill or
At a time when many of us are
learning new skills, Blades – best
troubled times tools. You can make some things with
cardboard if you don’t have timber.
known for presenting the breakout hit “Like many people in lockdown, I’ve
and RTS award-winner The Repair Shop Blades is showing people basic DIY been getting around to doing DIY jobs.
– is joining in for his new 10-part BBC skills and learning how to make every- I’ve oiled all the squeaky doors in my
One show, Jay Blades’ Home Fix, day things we’re used to buying in the house. I’m over the moon with my
screened every weekday morning. shops. He describes it as “Blue Peter furniture polish. It smells beautiful, too,
We speak as he takes a break from meets Saturday Kitchen”. like oranges. I’m going to make dish-
filming Home Fix in his large workshop, “If you can buy it, someone has washer tablets next.”
with a lone cameraman standing four made it – it hasn’t just magically Blades’ TV shows are tapping into
metres away and zooming in for appeared – and there’s no reason why the mood of the nation, with the way
close-ups. you can’t, too,” he explains. “I used to they help other people, champion
16skills and encourage restoration, rather prize at the RTS Programme Awards of his fellow craftspeople, his “location
than a throwaway culture. 2019 plus a Rose d’Or, and Best Daytime family”, and their time together at the
The Repair Shop offers soothing and Programme at this year’s Broadcast Weald and Downland Living Museum
uplifting television that seems perfect Awards. A Christmas special attracted outside Chichester.
lockdown viewing, helping us navigate 5.5 million viewers, which prompted All the repairs take place in the
a new normal. schedulers to give series 6 a peak-time 17th-century thatched barn except for
It’s where damaged but cherished slot. Filming took place five days a shot blasting and sandblasting, which
family heirlooms are brought back to week from last April until January this aren’t allowed in the listed building.
life. We marvel at the skill and patience year, so there are plenty of episodes Repairs can take up to two weeks of
of craftsmen and women – furniture full-time work.
restorers, horologists, metalworkers, Blades also reveals that “it may look
ceramicists, toy restorers and more ‘THE REPAIR warm in the barn but it’s one of the
– and are moved at the emotional sto-
ries behind the objects. SHOP’ IS ABOUT coldest places I’ve ever been, unbe-
lievably freezing. In winter, you’ll
They range from musical instru-
ments and clocks to a First World War
LOVE, KINDNESS notice us getting bigger, because of all
the layers of clothes we wear.
soldier’s helmet, penny farthing bike or AND COMMUNITY “We are cheered up by our show
a toy Dalek. mascot, Rocky the robin. He often flies
No wonder around 7 million have in when people arrive with their
been watching The Repair Shop in its yet to be rolled out, at both 8:00pm objects and seems interested in what’s
new, prime-time slot of 8:00pm on and in daytime. going on.”
BBC One, making it one of the biggest Blades was running a charity, Out of Blades is known for his sharp sense
quarantine hits. the Dark, teaching teenagers furniture of style, including his trademark flat
“The Repair Shop is great for now,” restoration as an alternative to petty cap, which he rarely removes other
agrees Blades. “People tell me that they crime, when he was featured in a than to “take his hat off” for a particu-
love the way it makes them feel and Guardian video. larly good transformation. “It’s my
how it makes them remember. It takes He was approached to appear on the brand,” he chuckles. “The cap and the
us down memory lane, but with a BBC’s Money for Nothing, and then glasses, which I do actually need –
modern twist. It goes back to an era invited to present The Repair Shop, without them, everything is blurry.”
when people used to fix things before which was devised by Ricochet’s crea- Blades’ main job is to help the own-
this consumer society. tive director, Katy Thorogood, after she ers tell the touching stories of their
“It resonates with viewers during the had a chair restored that was owned by treasured objects.
crisis, when people are doing nice things her late mother. Blades still appears on “I don’t get too emotional, the things
for people they don’t know. This virus Money for Nothing. I’ve had to deal with in my life have
has taught us to get back to being “When I was growing up on a coun- made me tough,” he says.
human. That’s what The Repair Shop is cil estate in Hackney, I could never “But sometimes the stories get to
about – love, kindness and community. believe I’d one day be on three shows me. The widower who brought in the
We’re working together to restore peo- on BBC One. It’s unreal,” he muses. jukebox so he could hear Moonlight
ple’s memories, and that’s beautiful. It has been a struggle to get to this Serenade, the song he danced to on his
“I knew from early on that it was point. Blades, now 50, left school at 15 wedding day – that really hit me. And
going to be something really special. with no qualifications. He worked in a Albert, with his transistor radio that
Bringing so many different craftspeople sausage factory and on a building site held precious memories of his wife.
together in the same building is an un- before teaching himself furniture res- Then, there was the family whose
usual concept, but a refreshing change.” toration, until his life fell apart almost mother brought a pump organ from
It seems to work across all demo- four years ago. Jamaica, and the man handing a
graphics, too. Celebrity fans range from His charity and his marriage col- bargeware teapot down to his grand-
Stephen Fry and Richard Osman to lapsed at the same time and he ended daughter after his daughter’s death.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock from Little Mix. up homeless. A friend in Wolverhamp- “They were particularly emotional
The Repair Shop, which is produced ton came to his aid. He has been in the stories, but I managed not to show my
by Ricochet, had a low-key start as an West Midlands ever since, setting up feelings. It’s not about me, and the show
afternoon show on BBC Two in 2017, his shop and coming out of a “very isn’t at all exploitative – we never want
but was swiftly recommissioned. By dark place”. to milk it. I don’t have a script, we want
series 4, in 2019, it had switched to BBC The Repair Shop has had a lot to do everything to be natural.”
One. It won the Daytime Programme with that. He talks with great fondness And naturally good, you might say. n
Television www.rts.org.uk June 2020 17‘W
hen the going
gets tough, the
tough get
going.” The
1980s Billy
Ocean lyric,
no doubt part of the soundtrack to the
teenage lives of the six menopausal
women in new, Brighton-set “drama-
with-funny-bits” Dun Breedin’, could be
the mantra of its creator, Julie Graham,
who starred in ITV’s Benidorm
She and Andrew Green, a co-founder
of Blonde To Black Pictures Two, made
the series featuring a cast of six – plus
extras – on six different sets, with no
crew, just basic lighting and sound and
a camera kit consisting mainly of
iPhone 7s, while keeping to lockdown
guidelines. And all in three weeks.
Produced by Jackie Green and Claire
Baylin of Manic Butterfly Productions,
Dun Breedin’ recounts the lives, loves
and losses of six friends, putting wom-
en’s sexuality, agency and worth under
the spotlight.
The star-studded cast includes East-
Enders’ Tamzin Outhwaite, Tracy-Ann
Oberman and Alison Newman, along-
side Coronation Street’s Angela Griffin
and Denise Welch.
In April, Welch, with her “presenter’s
hat on”, joined Graham, Griffin and Dun
Breedin’s Bafta-nominated director,
Robin Sheppard, whose credits include
Tim Whitby/Getty Images
Harlots and Benidorm, for a lively RTS
North West online discussion. Graham
said: “I was developing it as an eight-
part, half-hour series when [Andrew]
had this mad idea to start filming it
virtually, in 10-minute chunks, and
Julie Graham
putting it out almost like tasters.”
Getting
The 12 10-minute episodes began
streaming on 30 April on YouTube,
landing every subsequent Thursday
at 3:00pm. Viewers are encouraged to
donate to the Trussell Trust, which
supports food banks.
inventive in
“What was wonderful was that every
single person I got in touch with said
yes,” said Graham. “It’s amazing that
everybody wanted to put their neck on
the line [in the sense that] it was an
lockdown
experiment and a huge learning curve.
“We just wanted to do something
creative. For actors, [lockdown] has
been very frustrating.… We can’t just go
out into the street and start acting at
people, we’d get carted away. I wanted
to do something that would utilise the
Julie Graham shares with the RTS how she time in this very strange world that
created an original online drama with a we’re living in.”
“I’d been playing the part of ‘Isola-
little help from some famous friends tion Ange’ in a series called
18You can also read
