The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society

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The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
March 2019

The age
of angst
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
Journal of The Royal Television Society
                                                                                                                   March 2019 l Volume 56/3

    From the CEO
                        The awards season is                 Nightingale, who made effortless                               RTS Futures event, which showcased
                        very much upon us.                   work of presenting all 20 awards.                              the new drama Flack, on UKTV’s W
                        The RTS Television                     I had another wonderful evening                              channel. The first episode was pre-
                        Journalism Awards are                thanks to the hospitality of the RTS’s                         viewed to much applause. This was
                        always keenly con-                   North East and Border Centre. Its                              followed by a Q&A session featuring
                        tested and this year                 awards ceremony was held in Gates-                             Flack creator Oliver Lansley.
                        was no exception.                    head and MC’d by Jason Cook, the                                 Full reports of both these evenings
        I am thrilled that a record 580 guests               South Shields comedian and Hebburn                             are in this edition of Television.
     attended the ceremony at the London                     writer, who was brilliantly funny.                               Female writing talent is to the fore
     Hilton in Park Lane. No wonder the                        Norwich University of the Arts                               in this issue. Caroline Frost’s heartfelt
     stage was so crowded when Sky News,                     hosted RTS East’s annual awards,                               piece takes the brilliant Fleabag as a
     not for the first time, was announced                   which I also had the pleasure of                               starting point for an exploration of
     News Channel of the Year.                               attending. Congratulations to all the                          how angst is inspiring some truly
        Another mob of overjoyed journos                     winners.                                                       great television.
     and their producers descended to                          Our events programme continues                                 And we have an interview with Lisa
     collect the prize for Daily News Pro-                   with vigour. I am a huge fan of Sky                            McGee, creator of the hilarious RTS
     gramme of the Year. The category was                    Atlantic’s Save Me. So it was fascinat-                        award-nominated comedy Derry Girls.
     won by Channel 4 News, a prolific win-                  ing to hear Stephen Graham talk
     ner on the night.                                       about this show and some of the other
        I’d like to say a huge thank you to                  highlights of his career at a joint RTS-
     all the juries who made this evening                    Premier Communications event held
     possible. And special thanks to jury                    last month.
     Chair Sue Inglish and to Mary                             We also organised an outstanding                             Theresa Wise

Contents
 5            Ian Katz’s TV Diary
              Ian Katz has a night to remember at the RTS Television
              Journalism Awards – and celebrates a Channel 4
              art-house hit
                                                                                        16                The Derry girl who created a comic gem
                                                                                                          Breakout comedy hits are rare, but Lisa McGee wrote
                                                                                                          one. She explains to Shilpa Ganatra how she did it

 6            The comedy of catharsis
              As Fleabag returns, Caroline Frost unwraps the female
              angst that inspires so many funny shows today
                                                                                        18                A new era for BBC Three
                                                                                                          Tara Conlan profiles the channel’s new controller, Fiona
                                                                                                          Campbell, as the service raises its profile on BBC One

10            Is Alexa too smart for our own good?
              Alice Enders and Joseph Evans ask if voice-activated
              speakers threaten the privacy of our homes
                                                                                        20                In a class of their own
                                                                                                          Kudos and the Royal Court Theatre are nurturing young
                                                                                                          dramatists from under-represented backgrounds,
                                                                                                          discovers Steve Clarke

12            Sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ PR
              Flack’s creator was determined to write a series about
              a complicated woman, hears Steve Clarke                                   22                True grit
                                                                                                          Matthew Bell enjoys an RTS event showcasing the
                                                                                                          career of the prolific British actor Stephen Graham

15            Our Friend in the North West
              Cat Lewis proposes a strategy for building a vibrant
              production sector across the UK                                           25                RTS Television Journalism Awards 2019
                                                                                                          Hosted by Mary Nightingale and sponsored
                                                                                                          by GuestBooker, the awards were presented on
                                                                                                          27 February at the London Hilton, Park Lane –
                                                                                                          the winners and nominees over six pages

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 2019.
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 March 2019                                                                                                                                                    3
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
RTS NEWS                                                                                    Your guide to
                                                                                            upcoming events.
                                                                                            Book online at
                                                                                            www.rts.org.uk

                                      RTS MASTERCLASSES                      programmer. 6:30pm for 7:00pm        Wednesday 12 June
National events                       Tuesday 5 November and                 Venue: Atos, Midcity Place,          RTS Scotland Television
                                      Wednesday 6 November                   71 High Holborn, London              Awards 2019
RTS AWARDS                            RTS Student Masterclasses              WC1V EA                              Venue: The Old Fruitmarket,
Tuesday 19 March                      Venue: IET, 2 Savoy Place,             ■ Daniel Cherowbrier                 Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1NQ
RTS Programme Awards 2019             London WC2R 0BL                        ■ daniel@cherowbrier.co.uk           ■ April Chamberlain
In partnership with Audio Network                                                                                 ■	scotlandchair@rts.org.uk
Venue: Grosvenor House Hotel,         RTS AWARDS                             MIDLANDS
86-90 Park Lane, London W1K 7TN       Monday 25 November                     Thursday 4 April                     SOUTHERN
                                      RTS Craft & Design Awards 2019         Big Telly Quiz 2019                  April 2019, date TBC
RTS FUTURES                           London Hilton on Park Lane             Venue: TBC                           Meet the Professionals
Wednesday 3 April                     22 Park Lane, London W1K 1BE           Monday 7 October                     Venue: Bournemouth University,
Pitching script to screen                                                    RTS Midlands Careers Fair            precise venue TBC
With Shiny Button MDs Andy                                                   Venue: TBC                           ■ Stephanie Farmer
Brereton, James De Frond and          Local events                           Friday 29 November                   ■ SFarmer@bournemouth.ac.uk
Tom Davies, and Big Talk devel­                                              RTS Midlands Awards 2019
opment producer Lara Singer.          DEVON AND CORNWALL                     Venue: TBC                           THAMES VALLEY
6:45pm for 7:00pm                     Wednesday 27 March                     ■ Jayne Greene 07792 776585          Wednesday 20 March
Venue: London Transport Museum,       ­Student Television Awards 2019        ■ RTSMidlands@rts.org.uk             AGM and 21st-century TV sport
Covent Garden Piazza, London           6:00pm                                                                     – a whole new ball game!
WC2E 7BB                               Venue: Jill Craigie Cinema,           NORTH EAST AND THE BORDER            Speakers: Richard Bagnall, head
                                       University of Plymouth, Drake         ■ Jill Graham                        of engineering, live operations
RTS SCREENING                          Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA              ■ jill.graham@blueyonder.co.uk       and channels, IMG; and Charles
Thursday 25 April                      ■ Jane Hudson                                                              Balchin, head of programmes
Our Planet screening and Q&A           ■	RTSDevonandCornwall@rts.           NORTH WEST                           and head of development, IMG.
See Netflix’s new natural history         org.uk                             ■ Rachel Pinkney 07966 230639        6:30pm for 7:00pm start
Our Planet, followed by a Q&A                                                ■ RPinkney@rts.org.uk                Venue: Henley Rugby Club, Dry
with Keith Scholey and other          EAST                                                                        Leas, Marlow Road, Henley-­
members of the creative team.         ■ Nikki O’Donnell                      NORTHERN IRELAND                     on-Thames RG9 2JA
Venue: TBC                            ■ nikki.odonnell@bbc.co.uk             Tuesday 26 March                     ■ Tony Orme
                                                                             Student Television Awards 2019       ■ RTSThamesValley@rts.org.uk
RTS AGM                               ISLE OF MAN                            Hosted by BBC NI Newsline pre­
Tuesday 25 June                       Monday 25 March                        senter Jo Scott. Keynote speech      WALES
All RTS members welcome. 6pm          Brothers of Italy premiere             by UTV’s Eden Wilson. Held in        ■ Hywel Wiliam 07980 007841
Venue: RTS, 7th floor, Dorset Rise,   Fact-based drama Brothers of           partnership with Northern Ireland    ■ HWiliam@rts.org.uk
London EC4Y 8EN                       Italy was shot on the island in 2018   Screen. Sponsored by Stellify
                                      by Hoofprint Productions. 7:00pm       Media, Westway Films and Perfor­     WEST OF ENGLAND
RTS AWARDS                            Venue: Studio Theatre, Ballaker­       mance Film and Media Insurance.      Sunday 24 March
Friday 28 June                        meen High School, St Catherine’s       Venue: Black Box, 18-22 Hill         RTS West of England
RTS Student Television                Drive, Douglas IM1 4BE                 Street, Belfast BT1 2LA              Awards 2019
Awards 2019                           ■ Michael Wilson                       ■ John Mitchell                      Hosted by Susan Wokoma.
Sponsored by Motion                   ■ michael.wilson@isleofmedia.org       ■	mitch.mvbroadcast@                Drinks reception 7:00pm, cere­
Content Group                                                                   btinternet.com                    mony 8:00pm. In association
Venue: BFI Southbank, Belvedere       LONDON                                                                      with Evolutions Bristol
Road, London SE1 8XT                  Wednesday 20 March                     REPUBLIC OF IRELAND                  Venue: Bristol Old Vic, King
                                      Podcasting masterclass                 ■	Charles Byrne (353) 87251 3092    Street, Bristol BS1 4ED
RTS CONFERENCE                        With Josh Adley, from Wisebud­         ■ byrnecd@iol.ie                     ■ Belinda Biggam
18-20 September                       dah, in conversation with Olly                                              ■ belindabiggam@hotmail.com
RTS Cambridge                         Mann, host of The Media Pod-           SCOTLAND
Convention 2019                       cast. 6:30pm for 7:00pm                Tuesday 16 April                     YORKSHIRE
Venue: King’s College CB2 1ST         Venue: Atos, Midcity Place, 71         ­Student Television Awards 2019      Friday 14 June
                                      High Holborn, London WC1V 6EA           The awards are supported by         RTS Yorkshire Centre Awards
STEVE HEWLETT MEMORIAL                Wednesday 3 April                       STV, which will film the awards     Ceremony: 7:00pm
LECTURE 2019                          Production focus: Timewasters           ceremony and show the event         Venue: The Queens Hotel, City
Tuesday 24 September                  With: Daniel Lawrence Taylor,           and the winning films on its        Square, Leeds LS1 1PJ
Speaker Mark Thompson                 actor and writer; and George            digital platform. 6:00pm            ■ Lisa Holdsworth 07790 145280
Venue: University of Westminster,     Kane, director, writer and editor.      Venue: Argyle Street Arches,        ■	lisa@allonewordproductions.
London W1W 7BY                        Chair: Justin Johnson, BFI lead         253 Argyle Street, Glasgow G2 8DL      co.uk

4
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
TV diary
                                                  Ian Katz has a night to
                                                   remember at the RTS
                                                    Television Journalism
                                                 Awards – and celebrates
                                                 a Channel 4 art-house hit

   S
                      urprise hit of the week    OK to listen to Jackson’s music again.    with seven wins for Channel 4 News
                      is 100 Vaginas, in which   At an event to launch the channel’s       and another for Dispatches’ Myanmar’s
                      the artist Laura Dods­     2019 slate, a few weeks back, this was    Killing Fields.
                      worth photographs          suddenly rendered a more than aca-           Channel 4 News’s Cambridge Ana-
                      the genitalia of           demic question.                           lytica investigation is rewarded with
                      100 women and then           After watching a shocking clip in       a clutch of awards. I had an inkling of
                      talks to them about the    which James Safechuck describes           what a remarkable story it was when,
    images and how they feel about their         how Jackson enacted a “marriage”          during a meeting at a Hollywood
    bodies. It’s a great film – bold and         ceremony with his 10-year-old self,       studio last year, a senior executive
    political and warm – but firmly at the       the crowd of journalists stood in         burst into the office and declared:
    art-house end of the channel’s output.       shocked near silence. Until, that is,     “I heard there was someone from
    Everyone is delighted when it attracts       the venue’s ambient soundtrack was        Channel 4 here, and I just wanted to
    an audience of more than 1 million.          quietly restored. As the murmur of        thank you for saving democracy!”
      The show’s title has been the sub­         conversation rose again, an unmistak-        My favourite moment of the eve-
   ject of some controversy. When I met          able refrain was audible just above it:   ning is when Channel 4 News investi-
   Dodsworth at a party a few months             “Billie Jean is not my lover.…”           gations editor Job Rabkin, who led
   earlier, she rebuked me about it,                                                       the Cambridge Analytica investiga-
   pointing out rather sternly that her          ■ Another screening, this time for        tion, has to get special dispensation
   photographs were of vulvas, not               the new series of the joyous Derry        not to have his photo taken after
   ­vaginas. I sheepishly explained that I       Girls. I have a running joke with         receiving the award for International
    didn’t think 100 Vulvas would bring an       ­S­aoirse-Monica Jackson (age 25)         Coverage. He has to rush back to his
    audience to the film. What did she            that we have acquired some cryo­         table in time to collect the next
    suggest? “My Beautiful C***,” she replied     genic freezers to ensure that she and    award, this time for Home Coverage.
    without hesitation, or the faintest hint      the other “girls” will be able to play
    of a smile.                                   15-year-olds for the next 20 years.      ■ At the weekend I flip on Radio 4.
                                                     Each time I make it she forces a      It’s Weekend Woman’s Hour and I am
   ■ For weeks now, my Twitter feed               small grin, possibly because she         delighted to find that they’re talking
   has been dominated by abuse from               thinks I actually mean it, possibly      about our 100 Vaginas film. Except
   fans of Michael Jackson, enraged               because it’s not remotely funny. I       that the discussion seems to be
   by the Channel 4/HBO film Leaving              make a mental note: Don’t Mention        mostly about why it was not more
   Neverland.                                     the Freezers.                            accurately titled 100 Vulvas.
     None of them has seen it yet, but                                                        Laura Dodsworth generously sug­
   many appear to be devoting much of            ■ This is the season of black tie,        gests that the channel feared it might
   their lives to marshalling “evidence”         rubber chicken and fixed grimaces.        have been confused with a film about
   that proves the claims made by the            Awards dos run chewing your own           Swedish cars. The presenter is unim­
   two boys (now men) in the film can-           limbs off a close second in the list      pressed. “It’s just an indication of how
   not possibly be true. There have been         of things best avoided on a week-         far we still have to go,” she concludes,
   menacing legal letters from the Jack-         day night – unless, of course, you’re     wearily.
   son estate, too.                              winning.
     Already, there has been a lively              Happily, Channel 4 cleans up at the     Ian Katz is director of programmes at
   debate about whether it will ever feel        RTS Television Journalism Awards,         Channel 4.

Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                  5
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
Pure

                   The comedy of
                     catharsis
‘I
              promised myself that I wasn’t                                               what comedy-drama led by women
              going to say anything rude                  Screenwriting                   could look like, a whole bunch of
              but I have actually been wet                                                young female writers have been
              dreaming about getting a Bafta
              for the whole of my life.” With
                                                  As Fleabag returns,                     inspired to explore their most flawed,
                                                                                          Instagram-unworthy selves.
              typically cheeky verve,           Caroline Frost unwraps                       And their efforts are bearing multi-
    Phoebe Waller-Bridge accepted her                                                     ple screen fruits. Besides Fleabag, we’ve
    Bafta for her performance in Fleabag         the female angst that                    recently seen Desiree Akhavan star in
    back in 2017. Now, with the follow-up
    series on our screens, fans will be clam-
                                                   inspires so many                       her self-penned The Bisexual on Chan-
                                                                                          nel 4, exploring a young woman’s sex-
    ouring for more of her stunningly clever      funny shows today                       ual experimentation. While, on the
    tightrope act.                                                                        same channel, Pure follows a young
       On the one hand, there is the potty-­    aching grief and guilt at past wrongs.    woman living with the chaos of a par-
    mouthed taboo-busting of family meals       But if Waller-Bridge, also an RTS award   ticular strand of OCD that involves
    laced with inappropriate comments,          winner, is the British flag-bearer for    constant intrusive sexual obsessions.
    masturbation to inappropriate icons         this kind of witty female angst, she is      They will soon be joined on screen
    and anal sex with inappropriate men.        by no means alone. Since 2012, when       by Narcissist in the Mirror, which began,
       On the other, underneath all that        Lena Dunham dazzled audiences with        like Fleabag, as a one-woman stage
    bravado, the social alienation and          Girls, her self-willed conception of      play performed by its writer, in this

6
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
case, Rosie Fleeshman. A stream of            it’s totally OK to say who you are and       and wonders about the effect this
            consciousness from a competitive,             what you want.”                              must be having.
            over-thinking, underoccupied young               They agree, however, that this can           “It means we’re always looking at
            woman that does exactly what it says          have negative effects when it plays out      our own identities, asking, ‘Who am I?
            on the tin, it has been optioned for                         on social media, espe-        What groups do I identify with?’ I
            a TV series by Lime                                                   cially when it       don’t think my parents ever had to do
            Pictures.                                                                   comes to       that. It’s dangerous, really,” she says.
              So, if these                                                                 this        “You end up curating your identity,
            young                                                                                      creating the best Instagram version of
                                                                                                       yourself. And life isn’t like that, it’s
                                                                                                       messier and dirtier.” Which is where
                                                                                                       all this great writing comes in.
                                                                                                            These shows have clearly hit a spot,
                                                                                                           but are they purely personal confes-
                                                                                                            sionals well told, or the overdue
                                                                                                              outpouring of a generation’s col-
                                                                                                               lective angst?
                                                                                                                   Clive Crump, a counsellor for
                                                                                                                 a youth charity YCT, attests to
                                                                                                                 the numbers of young women
                                                                                                                  seeking help for anxiety and

                                                                                                           BBC
                                                                                                                  depression: “Feelings of loneli-
                                                                                                                  ness [and] disconnection are
Channel 4

                                                                                                                 common. Stress and burn-out
                                                                                                                 are a big problem for young
                                                              ‘IF YOU CAN                                       women in hardworking jobs
                                                              LAUGH AT                                          and higher education, all driven
                                                                                                              by a desire for success and often
                                                              SOMETHING,                                     self-generated pressure.”
                                                              IT DISARMS                                      Psychotherapist Karin Peeters

                                                              ITS POWER’                                 goes further and describes a com-
                                                                                                       mon “existential loneliness”: “They’d
                                                                                                       never call it that, they say they feel
                                                                                                       different, not fitting in… anxious, low,
            women are                                                                                  down, not good enough, misunder-
            setting the                                                                       gener-   stood, overthinking.”
            tone for our era,                                                              ation’s        Some counsellors believe that hav-
                                                          Fleabag
            why has this happened                                                     frequently       ing more female protagonists on
            now?                                                              self-­destructive        screen is helpful for young women,
               Screenwriter Kirstie Swain, who            pursuit of “significance” – and even         although they also advise caution.
            adapted Pure for Drama Republic from          for the writers themselves.                  Peeters says, “A good consequence is
            the book by Rose Bretécher, credits             “We’re all striving for purpose and,       that people feel less alone, they’ll rec-
            those who came before, such as Dun-           the bigger the planet gets, the more         ognise themselves and feel validated
            ham and Waller-Bridge, but also the           contact we make, the more insignifi-         in their feelings. [But] a negative con-
            solidarity of social media for helping        cant we feel,” says Fleeshman. “If you       sequence is that young women who
            to balance the playing field.                 grow up as a baker in a small town,          are particularly vulnerable might take
               “We now have a platform to ask,            you’re the town’s best baker, but move       something so deeply to heart that it
            ‘Why are there no women in that               to the city and it all changes. Social       might make them feel worse.”
            show?’, and it starts with little things      media amplifies that to a huge scale.           Psychologist Karen Kwong is also
            like that,” she reflects. “Small voices can   You’re swimming around in it, looking        positive: “They can teach us some
            sound louder. Plus, you can connect           for meaning.                                 lessons on how we all face challenges
            with like-minded people. You can find           “Nobody ever feels good at anything,       on a daily basis. These characters are
            your tribe.”                                  because it’s so easy in a minute to find     more real than Daenerys (Game of
               Fleeshman agrees that there is             somebody, two years younger, doing           Thrones) or Serena van der Woodsen
            strength in the numbers: “Women are           something better than you.”                  (Gossip Girl).”
            making each other braver to write               Swain comments on the pressure                If that’s the case, bearing in mind
            about this stuff. Other people [are]          put on young social-media users to           the terrible statistics for male mental
            trying and succeeding, they’re saying         create profiles for themselves online        health in this country, surely we need �

            Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                     7
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
‘YOUNG WOMEN
    SPEAKING
    OPENLY AND
    HONESTLY
    STILL HAS THAT
    SHOCK FACTOR’

    � to hear from young men, too. In
    words that I never thought I’d use, I
    ask Swain whether men’s voices are
    in danger of being drowned out on
    screen?
       Instead of screaming me down, she
    reflects on decades-old stereotypes:
    “Traditionally, men’s shows are more
    action-minded. These shows we’re
    making are very emotional and
    introspective.
       “Traditionally, men haven’t explored
    those subjects. But that doesn’t mean
    they shouldn’t. Interesting stories
    come from difficult places. Men are
    just as emotional as women, they just
    haven’t had the chance to access it. I’d
    like to hear from them.”
       For years, male TV comedy has
    hovered around the Men Behaving Badly
    model, but we’re seeing an increasing
    number of interesting evolutions. Aziz
    Ansari has collected Emmy honours
    for creating Netflix’s Master of None,
    centred on his confused but reflective
    male character, Dev, and Kwong cites

                                                                                                                                       Channel 4
    Rob Delaney’s character in Catastrophe
    as “wonderfully portrayed and charac-
                                                  Sharon Horgan in Catastrophe
    terised – dark humour, angst and all”.
       For Fleeshman, the reason that
    we’re noticing all these funny female        camera; and Marnie’s priceless throw-     Pure’s dark central concern, a serious
    voices is that “young women being            away lines. But the real power of these   and life-inhibiting condition that, she
    outspoken, speaking openly and               shows lies in the juxtaposition between   nevertheless realises, lends itself all
    honestly, still has that shock factor”.      the gravity of some of the topics and     too readily to humour.
       It’s true. One of the most distinctive    the disarming wit with which they’re         “Comedy releases a tension. Mental
    things about this particular wave is         handled. And many female writers          health is a difficult thing to talk about
    the taboo subject matter, the stuff that     have embraced this new field, blur-       – you pussyfoot around, not wanting
    was off limits until very recently.          ring the lines between drama and          to offend anyone,” she says. “But if you
       For Swain, “It’s not about shocking       comedy, to reveal big truths through      can laugh around the subject, without
    people. It’s about telling stories that      deceptively light lines.                  making it the punchline, it’s a way in.
    we haven’t been able to tell before.            “There’s nothing funny about trying       “And if you can laugh at something,
    It’s only because we haven’t heard it        to be like every other woman is sup-      it disarms its power. We could have
    before that it seems shocking, but it’s      posed to be,” says Fleeshman. “The        made a bleak or really earnest show,
    always been there.”                          fun comes in accepting my flaws, and      but we wanted to find some joy in the
       Catastrophe, Fleabag and Pure all boast   all those other things I don’t like       pain, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
    great performances and are strong for        about myself – my jealousy, my ugli-      Laughter is what gives it hope.” n
    a number of reasons: the chemistry           ness. When you accept yourself, you
    between Sharon Horgan and Delaney;           can take the piss out of yourself.”       Caroline Frost is a former Chair of the
    Waller-Bridge’s sardonic asides to              For Swain, comedy was a way into       Broadcasting Press Guild.

8
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
RTS LONDON PRESENTS
Production focus: Timewasters

                        3 April
6:30pm for 7:00pm at Atos, 71 High Holborn, London WC1V 6QS
                           With:
      Daniel Lawrence Taylor, actor and writer
       George Kane, director, writer and editor
                        Chair:
         Justin   Johnson, BFI lead programmer

                           Booking:
        rts.org.uk/event/production-focus-timewasters
The age of angst - March 2019 - Royal Television Society
Is Alexa
                                                                         too
                                                                        smart
                                                                       for our
                                                                         own
                                                                       good?

     S
                    mart speakers such as the                            listening out for their wake word and,
                    Amazon Echo and Google            Voice control      so far, without much of a consumer
                    Home accelerated their                               backlash over privacy. However, while
                    prodigious rate of adop-
                    tion in the UK in the last
                                                    Alice Enders and     most people find a “hands-free” option
                                                                         a useful way to operate these devices,
                    quarter of 2018. Forecasts     Joseph Evans ask      smart speakers are in a class apart.
     suggest that they will shortly be in a                              Unlike the smartphone, they are a
     fifth of British homes.                       if voice-activated    pointless purchase if you don’t feel
        But this trend of rising adoption
     could soon hit a wall. Surveys suggest
                                                 speakers threaten the   comfortable about using a voice assis-
                                                                         tant. The logic of a smart speaker is that
     that the majority of Britons fear that      privacy of our homes    it is left constantly on, the voice assis-
     their privacy may be compromised if                                 tant primed to receive its wake word
     they invite voice-activated speakers                                – “Alexa” in the case of Amazon’s Echo.
     into their homes.                                                      This is not the same as an always-on
        The context is the omnipresent                                   device that records the chatter amid
     nature of voice interfaces on smart                                 the clatter of dishes in the kitchen, say,
     devices. The virtual assistants that                                to be stored on a server to haunt the
     power voice interfaces, such as Apple’s                             user with dark secrets gained by
     Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, are used by                                eavesdropping. Even so, high-profile
     many Britons to operate their smart-                                bugs and false positives, where con-
     phones and tablets. Always at our                                   versations were recorded by mistake,
     sides, these devices are also frequently                            have not helped allay the public’s fears.

10
Currently, Amazon is far ahead of         both companies, Google is, if anything,      to get the speaker into as many homes
         Google in the number of homes served         more exposed to customer suspicion           as possible and for it to be used as
         by its speaker. At three times the price     simply because its status as a business      widely as possible. Eventually, affiliate
         of Echo, Apple, meanwhile, has never         driven by data is better understood by       fees from third parties should be a
         sought to win over the mass of homes         the public. It therefore needs to be         fairly flexible way for Amazon to
         with its HomePod speaker. However,           unimpeachable on the privacy front.          extract value from its position between
         for privacy-conscious customers, its         Scandals such as the early versions of       businesses and customers.
         speaker is more suitable. It does much       the Home Mini recording without                 But, in the short term, data collection
         more of its processing within the device     being woken up are exactly the sort of       seems to be the primary commercial
         or on a paired iPhone, limiting the          thing it needs to avoid.                     aim. Amazon’s strength here is
         upload of conversations to the Cloud.                                                     enhanced by the billing relationship it
            On the face of it, there seems to be no                                                already has with every Echo owner via
         commercial advantage to a company
         such as Amazon in recording all con-
                                                      ‘THE STRATEGIC                               their Amazon accounts.
                                                                                                      Amazon and Google have built these
         versations – they might only terminally      GOAL OF THE                                  devices to gain entry to the home, and
         confuse poor Alexa – instead of sticking
         to the plot of listening for wake words      SMART SPEAKER’S                              they compete against each other by
                                                                                                   offering low prices – to the benefit of
         to record instructions, transmit them to
         the server and promptly fulfil them.
                                                      SUPPLIER IS TO BE                            purchasers. The revenue potential of a
                                                                                                   powerful platform position inside the
            By pushing customer adoption of its       THE GATEKEEPER                               home is only likely to be realised in the
         platform, Amazon is looking to future-
         proof its business through data collection
                                                      TO THE HOME’                                 future. And it will require the user to be
                                                                                                   ever more intensively engaged with the
         and by controlling a so-called discovery                                                  device, to the point where it becomes
         layer between customers and services.                                                     used for many purposes. At that point, a
            Google has a similar objective for its       Voice-activated speakers will be able     user will be communicating a great deal
         low-priced smart speaker, Home – but         to do more than respond to commands          of information about who they are and
         Amazon Prime’s 10 million UK homes           to magic up a radio station, answer a        what they like to Alexa and Echo.
         give it a huge marketing advantage.          homework question, play this show or            Consumers are increasingly aware
            Google is interested in smart home        text that person. They will be capable       that they are often the product, not the
         devices (it bought the smart thermostat      of responding to more sophisticated          customer, in the online economy – they
         maker Nest), but a future income             instructions, such as: find me some-         pick up on the steady stream of data
         stream from Home is less obvious than        thing to watch tonight, book me a table      breaches, hacks and scandals, and are
         for Amazon, since Google’s core busi-        for lunch, or tell me what’s going on in     understandably nervous about installing
         ness is search advertising, rather than      Parliament. In other words, Alexa and        a connected microphone in their
         families buying goods and services.          her cousins will be capable of making        homes. The abuse of Facebook personal
            Currently, data collected via Echo is     personalised decisions on our behalf.        data by Cambridge Analytica is only the
         probably Amazon’s single most impor-            The key strategic goal of the smart       most prominent of these scandals.
         tant benefit, because the data can be        speaker’s supplier is to be the gate-           Although Britons are not as touchy
         used for so many different ends. The         keeper to the home. The lower it prices      as Germans, say, when it comes to
Amazon

         company can learn more about custom-         its devices (such as speakers or tablets),   privacy, they are certainly more alert
         ers’ demographics, interests, habits and     the more people will buy them, giving        than US internet users, for whom
         tastes from the following: the requests      Amazon a foothold in the home that is        Amazon first developed the Echo.
         people make for information, such as         a gateway to its storefront, including          We don’t expect the average Brit to
         “What is today’s weather forecast?”;         for media. In this respect, Amazon           acquire all things new and shiny just
         the times of day that they are at home;      treats its devices as wedges that open       because they are labelled “smart”. Ama-
         the number of people in a household;         up the home to those of its services         zon has a pressing need to build trust,
         people’s media preferences, including        where it makes the real money.               because the present absence of trust is
         their favourite music and news choices;         To the extent that Echo owners ask        a barrier to Echo’s success. The com-
         and personal contacts, if the user con-      Alexa to select or recommend video or        pany does inform users on data policy,
         nects their phone to the speaker.            audio content, Amazon gets to influ-         as part of its obligations under the Gen-
            This data could eventually support a      ence the process. Amazon could choose        eral Data Protection Regulation that
         richer experience than just responding       to prioritise its own original content or    came into force in May 2018 – but
         to instructions. Machine learning-­based     sell access to other content providers.      compliance is in its early days.
         intelligence will extend beyond trans-       We suspect that few Echo owners are             Much remains to be clarified for
         lating natural language and images to        currently asking Alexa for TV recom-         potential owners of these devices. We
         machine-readable information, and            mendations, but this is part of the long-    expect the UK regulator, the Informa-
         start to deliver recommendations, sug-       term vision for voice user interfaces.       tion Commissioner’s Office, to contrib-
         gestions, reminders and notifications.          Third-party service providers and         ute to reversing the climate of mistrust
            One again, data is the key driver for     app developers promise a rich and            by pursuing compliance with core
         Google, as it can feed voice requests        varied suite of services to users. For       principles that apply to the gathering
         into its enormous data engine and so         the moment, though, Amazon is not            and processing of personal data. n
         improve the effectiveness and target-        charging third-party services for
         ing of its adverts.                          access to Echo users.                        Alice Enders and Joseph Evans are ana-
            Although the motivation is similar for       This makes sense for now: the aim is      lysts at Enders Analysis.

         Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                   11
Content

          Flack’s creator was determined to
          write a series about a complicated
              woman, hears Steve Clarke

     Sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ PR
                                                                               UKTV

                                               Anna Paquin as Robyn in Flack

12
G
                  Q magazine described           what they do. They’d be mysterious
                  the new Anna Paquin            and interesting because of it.”
                  drama, Flack, as “so             Lansley’s setting for his show was
                  ­terrible it might just be     the world of public relations, celebrity
                   unmissable”. The verdict      and media. “I thought it was quite a
                   of the Daily Telegraph’s TV   fun world to play in,” he said.
critic was “sharp and whizzy”, while the           He had experienced this part of
Observer hailed it as a “terrific and bit-       celebrity culture when, as an actor, he
tersweet comedy”, “in turns woefully             played the late DJ and TV presenter
tender and snort-funny”. Whatever you            Kenny Everett, in a BBC Four biopic.
think of the female-skewing Flack, one           Lansley was the focus of the film’s PR
thing is clear: it’s not a show to ignore.
   This must be a huge relief to UKTV
                                                 campaign.
                                                   “I was given this lovely lady PR. That
                                                                                              The notes:
– Flack was made for its W channel
– and to the writer of the programme,
                                                 was the first time I saw how it worked,”
                                                 he recalled. “I was fascinated by it. We
                                                                                              how to cope
Oliver Lansley. He toiled for seven long         think of PR as Ab Fab, white wine and
years to get it on to TV, he revealed            air kissing, but it always struck me as      Oliver Lansley described the
during an RTS Futures panel discus-              a more robust world than that.”              experience of working with two
sion that was preceded by a screening              He added: “My reference for Flack          channels and umpteen executive
of episode 1.                                    was always The Thick of It, but with         producers who constantly sent him
   By the way, the RTS audience loved            glossy magazines.”                           notes on his scripts.
the section they saw of what is                    Ironically, given its complex journey,         ‘If every one was a knife in your
unquestionably a highly entertaining,            the show got off to a racing start. Within   side, you’d bleed to death very
glossy, zeitgeisty series.                       six months of being commissioned by          quickly,’ he said. ‘You have to be
   TV dramas featuring strong, compli-           an unidentified British broadcaster, a       able to see through the notes to
cated female characters are all the              pilot episode was in the can. So were        what helps the script.
rage: just think of such era-defining            six scripts.                                     ‘Sometimes, you’ll get a note and
pieces as Fleabag and Killing Eve.                 But the show was then summarily            it’s not necessarily a great note,
   In Flack, Paquin plays Robyn, a smart,        dropped. At this stage, Flack was a half-    but it will identify something that
scheming, self-destructive PR (she               hour comedy and none of the four             needs changing.
snorts coke like Keith Richards once             stars cast in W’s series were yet cast           ‘Early on in the process, there is
did), trying to pull herself together after      – Paquin, Rebecca Benson, Sophie             this resistance and defensiveness
her mother’s suicide. In the debut epi-          Okonedo and Lydia Wilson.                    against it.
sode, she saves the reputation of a gay            Subsequently, the series morphed               ‘You think, “I’ve written this and
Premier League footballer who’s picked           into a one-hour drama before becom-          this is how it’s going to be.” You’ve
up a rent boy, and a sex-crazed TV chef.         ing the show that ended up on W – a          got to let go of that and use the
   The idea for Flack was conceived              45-minute comedy drama (excluding            notes to your advantage.
by Lansley as a response to several              commercial breaks) that premiered                ‘You need to find that central line
high-profile dramas based around                 in February.                                 in yourself to go, “Yeah, OK, that
complicated men – think Tony                       “I don’t think Flack’s gestation is        can be better.” But you’ve got to
Soprano and Walter White.                        typical,” said Mark Talbot, head of          pick your battles and be as objec-
   Lansley told the RTS audience that            comedy development at producer               tive about it as you can.
he wanted to write a show featuring a            Hat Trick. “It’s not the way that most           ‘You do have to get used to it
complicated woman: “Five years ago, a            shows get made.”                             because, if you want to write for
book came out about the golden age of              Hat Trick had taken the show to its        telly, you are going to get a lot
television called Difficult Men. It focused      US agents after the series was dropped       of notes.’
on showrunners and leading men such              in the UK. It was in the States that Anna        Yasmine Akram, also a writer
as Tony Soprano, Walter White and                Paquin got involved. More development        on Flack, added: ‘It’s exactly that
Don Draper.                                      work was undertaken, this time for a         – don’t take it personally. If there’s
   “They were complex, male protago-             US company. Again, the programme             a specific note on the dialogue, I’ll
nists. I wanted to write a female char-          was rejected.                                take it on.…
acter who could be on the cover of a               Undaunted, its creators returned to            ‘It’s a weird thing, as a comedy
book called Difficult Women.                     the UK, where, eventually, it was suc-       writer, you assume that people
   “We’ve come on a lot since then but,          cessfully pitched to UKTV’s head of          understand the musicality of com-
at the time, if female characters were           scripted, Pete Thornton. “He loved it        edy and that they’ll know how to
complicated they were often apologis-            and he had all six scripts to read,          use the joke.
ing for themselves or they were                  which worked in our favour,” said                ‘It’s weird to watch when an
over-explained.                                  Talbot. “Although UKTV had come on           actor doesn’t get it.’
   “By contrast, male characters do              board, we needed extra financing. �

Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                    13
‘SOME
     BROADCASTERS
     MIGHT HAVE GONE,
     “OH NO, WE CAN’T
     DO DRUG TAKING”’
     � We took it back to the US and
     pitched it to some American chan-
     nels. Pop said yes.”
        The green light was given in
     November 2017 – seven years after

                                                                                                                                       Paul Hampartsoumian
     the lunch where the idea was first
     discussed. Filming commenced in
     January 2018.
                                                  From left: Pete Thornton,
        “Flack felt spot on for W,” said
                                                  Mark Talbot, Yasmine
     Thornton, who had been at UKTV for
                                                  Akron and Oliver Lansley
     only six months. “At the time, I was
     not thinking of making a drama, but
     W is aimed at career women, metro-
     politan thirtysomethings.
                                                The treatment: hard graft
        “Some broadcasters might have
     gone, ‘Oh no, we can’t do drug taking.’    Pete Thornton, UKTV’s head of                Oliver Lansley suggested that it
     For us, as long as it was justified and    scripted, said: ‘Writing treatments is    was ‘really easy to write a treatment
     felt like it was properly integrated, we   really hard. This is comedy drama but,    about a big idea. You can write it in
     thought this was something that felt       particularly for comedy, a treatment is   a page.…[But] the best shows are
     very real. People do talk like that and    a hard ask.                               not based on one-line ideas. They’re
     behave in that way some of the time,”          ‘You’re never going to set out your   much, much bigger. I hate treatments.
     he said to audience laughter.              world in a couple of pages. The aim is    I would rather write a script than a
        “The hybrid version that we ended       to be informative, be brief and, at the   treatment and it would probably take
     up with was perfect,” said Lansley.        same time, hilarious.’                    me as long.…
     “The show embraces both the worlds             He added: ‘Writing a treatment           ‘It’s always so reductive. If you
     of English and American celebrity.         involves a hell of a lot of work and      describe a character in two lines
     We jump between the two.”                  you’re normally paid 10% of your script   they’re bound to sound awful....
        He described the process of having      fee for it, which is not very much.          ‘A treatment is a document to
     the show rejected so many times by             ‘There’s a paragraph on all the       make someone want to know more.
     different broadcasters as “devastat-       characters, an episode outline and,       If you go into a room and start telling
     ing”. “If you write, you develop a         maybe, some examples of dialogue.         a story and they want more of the
     relationship with the characters           It’s probably a week’s work.’             story, you’ve got a good chance.’
     you’ve created. To have this whole
     series sitting there was devastating.
     It’s very hard to carry around all these
     characters in your head.”
                                                The pitch: time to tell your story
        Ultimately, however, the longer Flack
     was worked on, the better it got. “Per-    Mark Talbot, head of comedy devel-        commission you. But if you’re newer
     sonally, I think we’ve ended up with       opment at Hat Trick, said: ‘When I go     and haven’t had anything on TV, a
     the best version of both the earlier       in and pitch a show, I always try and     channel will need to know that you
     versions,” said Talbot. Lansley agreed:    tell a story and explain why it’s rele-   can definitely write.
     “We’ve made a much better show             vant to what’s going on today. Talking       ‘You’ll need to have a script. Chan-
     because of the journey we went on.” n      about difficult women is a good way       nels will want a sample script and a
                                                into a pitch.                             treatment.
     The RTS Flack screening and script            ‘If you’re an established writer who      ‘If you are newer, I would just write
     writing Q&A was held at the London         has written nine series of Peep Show,     a script. That makes it easier for me
     Transport Museum in Covent Garden on       you can probably go in and pitch          to sell you.
     19 February. The session was chaired by    a show without any script or any             ‘If I think a script is brilliant, I’ll
     journalist Emma Cox and produced by        treatment and they’re still likely to     believe in it for seven years.’
     UKTV’s Ali Laurie and Gem Pinkney.

14
OUR FRIEND IN THE

                NORTH WEST
                                                       Cat Lewis
                                                      proposes a

   A
                        s TV producers,               strategy for                                     commissioners were part of the mix.
                        we’re facing more
                        global competition
                                                   building a vibrant                                  The work of North West-based inde-
                                                                                                       pendent production companies such
                        than ever before.          production sector                                   as mine has been transformed by
                        Whenever they                                                                  being in the same city as commis-
                        wish, viewers can            across the UK                                     sioners, albeit only for children’s
                        watch one of                                                                   programmes and BBC Learning.
   many programmes from around the                                                                        Through the anchor tenancy of the
   world on Netflix or Amazon, rather                                                                  BBC, MediaCity is now one of the
   than one of our shows. Or they can                                                                  most successful regeneration projects
   stream or download dozens of feature                                                                in Europe. It employs more than
   films available via their TV sets.                                                                  8,000 people, many more than
      I genuinely believe that the best                                                                worked there when the Manchester
   response to this difficult situation is                                                             docks were at their peak.
   to embrace the creativity of the                                                                       This is why the Government is so
   whole country, and not just rely on                                                                 keen for Channel 4 to help create
   London-­based programme-makers.                                                                     similar success stories in Leeds, Bris-
      Since the 1950s, British TV has been                                                             tol and Glasgow.
   a national industry, engaging with                                                                     Public service broadcasters need
   diverse talent across the UK. This                                                                  to be much more strategic about what
                                                                                          Nine Lives

   system created some of our very best                                                                they commission from outside Lon-
   shows, from Coronation Street to Happy                                                              don. Production companies in the
   Valley, and all of Russell T Davies’s                                                               nations and regions need more
   work, including his forthcoming                                                                     returning series – but an economic
   series, Years and Years.                    work together to keep their local talent                report commissioned by Ofcom and
      Over in France, you’ve only ever         employed, trained and promoted. And,                    published in December 2018 reveals
   been able to work in TV if you live in      together, they can create clever solu-                  that 86% of today’s returning series
   Paris. I believe this is one reason that    tions to tackle any skills gaps.                        are made in London.
   their TV industry is not world leading.        Ofcom must ensure that its updated                      More worryingly, in 2017, 75% of
      Here in the UK, Channel 4’s crea-        “made outside London” criteria                          new series were commissioned from
   tion of a new HQ in Leeds, plus two         encourage programmes made by                            companies based in the capital.
   hubs in Bristol and Glasgow, comes as       operationally independent companies.                       Channel 4’s decision to create a
   Ofcom is tightening the criteria for        These firms should use local talent at                  returning weekday live series broad-
   what counts as a production made            all levels of seniority so they are not                 cast from Leeds is excellent news. It
   outside of London. This signals the         reliant on London for post-production.                  promises an amazing opportunity to
   start of a new meritocratic and more        Otherwise, there’ll be no investment                    nurture the next generation of
   diverse era.                                in facilities outside the capital.                      programme-­makers in the north.
      Key to creating sustainable produc-         Crucially, there has to be enough                       In an industry based on relation-
   tion centres is ensuring that there are     production in the nations and regions                   ships, in which London plays such
   strong talent bases of freelance pro-       to keep everyone employed. As we                        a dominant role, it’s also a very good
   gramme-makers who can not only              are an informal, relationship-based                     decision to put the opportunity out
   work in TV, but enjoy fulfilling careers    business, Channel 4’s decision to                       to tender. Tenders level the playing
   outside London. That’s why the net-         move commissioners outside London                       field and should be used more widely
   working sessions the RTS organises          is hugely important.                                    as a way in which PSBs can create
   across the UK are so important.                Many of us hope that the BBC will                    more returning series in the nations
      The more communication there             soon do the same. When Caroline                         and regions. n
   is between those who work in our            Thomson, the former head of opera-
   industry, the more likely it is that com-   tions at the BBC, created MediaCity,                    Cat Lewis is Chair of the RTS in the
   panies in the nations and regions can       she very deliberately ensured that                      North West and runs Nine Lives Media.

Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                             15
The Derry girl who
        created a comic gem
     P
                      eek around the corner of                                                    “In Derry, putting on plays in pubs
                      Badgers Bar in Derry and               Screenwriting                     doesn’t earn you anything, so I did odd
                      you’ll see the larger-                                                   jobs when I could. When I moved to
                      than-life faces of Erin,                                                 London and got my first writing pro-
                      Clare, Michelle, Orla and    Breakout comedy hits                        ject, that was me, I didn’t need another
                      James plastered over the    are rare, but Lisa McGee                     job – but I was so lucky,” she reflects.
     wall. As far as signs of a show’s success                                                 “Being able to write full time is so rare,
     go, they don’t get much bigger than a        wrote one. She explains                      and it’s getting rarer, I understand from
     five-metre-high mural.
        From the moment the profane and
                                                   to Shilpa Ganatra how                       talking to younger writers.
                                                                                                  “The National Theatre thing was so
     brilliant Derry Girls burst on to our                she did it                           amazing. They just went, ‘You don’t
     screens last year in a haze of teenage                                                    need to worry about earning money,
     escapades, nostalgic music and 1990s         it’s a shock how famous they are.            we’re going to pay you and give you a
     artefacts – such as pastel printed wall-     They’re stopped all the time. It’s differ-   space, and you have that time to get
     paper, Baby-G watches and armed              ent even for me – I was in TK Maxx           something written.’”
     soldiers on the streets – it captivated      with my husband recently and some-              It was at this point that she wrote
     its audience.                                one stopped me and asked me if I             her first TV scripts. They included
        The first episode drew in 2.5 million     wrote Derry Girls. It’s very strange.”       RTÉ’s restaurant drama Raw and the
     viewers and prompted a commission               Straight-talking and focused, she is      recently revived play Girls and Dolls.
     for the second series that is currently      a Derry native who began her word-           From there, she turned her hand to
     airing on Channel 4.                         smith career writing for local theatre       episodes of The White Queen, Being
        “It still hasn’t sunk in,” says writer    companies. Acquiring both an attach-         Human and Indian Summers.
     and creator Lisa McGee. “It was sup-         ment at the National Theatre and an             In 2013, Channel 4 premiered her
     posed to be a niche comedy, but now,         agent, she moved to London, where            own series, London Irish. Set in the cap-
     when I go round Derry with the cast,         she is now based.                            ital, the show about a group of Irish

16
twentysomethings divided opinions. By        excruciating situations. Derry Girls mines                   “TV hasn’t quite caught up just yet
                contrast, Derry Girls, which she dreamt      similar territory – with one big differ-                  – I think there needs to be a lot more
                up when she was pregnant with her first      ence: the central characters are female.                  content and choice,” she says. “We’ve
                child by writer/actor Tobias Beer, won         Lately, both the number and quality                     picked out some examples but, if we
                rapturous reviews. It became Chan-           of female-led comedies have improved.                     were to talk about male-led shows, we
                nel 4’s biggest comedy launch since Max      Women’s roles have shifted from being                     could be here all day. That’s the point
                and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere in 2004; the     predominantly nagging other halves or                     that we need to get to, where there’s
                series now airs on Netflix in the US,        mums (the Men Behaving Badly model),                      lots of examples.”
                where it has attracted a cult following.     to a smattering of awkwardly written                         She adds: “Everyone’s now saying
                   Loosely based on McGee’s childhood        lead females (Fox’s New Girl) plus more                   that it’s a problem that there are no
                at a Derry convent school, in between        believable shows, such as Motherland                      female writers, there’s not enough
                the gags and the set-ups, the series         (written by Sharon Horgan and Gra-                        female leads, and there’s not enough
                highlighted the ubiquity of the Trou-        ham Linehan), Drifters (by Jessica                        female comedy.
                bles in everyday life and, by extension,     Knappett), Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-                           “Eventually, people are going to have
                its normalcy.                                Bridge), GameFace (Roisin Conaty)                         to put their money where their mouth
                   Of course, Northern Ireland of yore       and Catastrophe (another of Horgan’s                      is to challenge this. Channel 4 is very
                wasn’t all IRA bombs and angry men           co-creations). But there’s still a way                    good about that.”
                on TV, it was also aunts trying to get to    to go, warns McGee.                                          It doesn’t help, however, that, after
                the hair salon on time despite bomb                                                                    cancelling Birds of a Feather and Bad
                scares and pupils having the hots for                                                                  Move, ITV has dialed down the amount
                the soldiers doing checks on the                                                                       of original scripted comedy it commis-
                school bus.                                                                                            sions to zero. “That decision is disap-
                   While the last season felt like a                                                                   pointing,” remarks McGee. “Comedy is
                self-contained six-parter, its continua-                                                               not something on the side; it’s skill. I
                tion sees the gang back together, and                                                                  write drama as well, and comedy is
                trying to chase boys (and girls) and                                                                   different and very tough. The thing
                causing headaches for their parents                                                                    that I love about comedy is that people
                and teachers.                                                                                          will re-watch it for years.
                   This time, the backdrop of the Trou-                                                                   “Comedy usually works because you
                bles has evolved from tragic conflict to                                                               recognise something about your life,
                a desire for peace – even if the girls’                                                                like in The Royle Family. There’s an inti-
                version is desire for “a piece of fine                                                                 macy to comedy, and it’s more than
                Protestant arse”, as Michelle, the bolshie                                                             just being entertained. But it’s also true
                one, puts it.                                                                                          that the family can watch comedy
Public domain

                   “This year, I felt less worried about                                                               together and it’s a shared experience.”
                the jokes I was making because, last                                                                      How does she feel the genre might
                year, nobody batted an eyelid at things                                                                progress in the years ahead?
                I thought were pushing it, such as the                                                                    “There might be more long-form
                Orange Order episode,” says McGee.                                                                     comedies,” she says. “There are really
                “This year, there’s an equivalent Protes-                                                              interesting things happening with
                tant gang of boys going through a simi-                                                                shows such as Search Party (shown in
                lar time as the girls, so I could explore                                                              the UK on E4), where it’s a comedy, but
                and not worry too much – because both                                                                  it’s [also] a drama, slower and more
                sides of the community got it, and that                                                                twisty-turny.
                made me feel a bit more confident.”                                                                       “I think we’re going to be looking at
                   What doesn’t change is their hap-                                                                   comedy being more multi-faceted, and
                lessness – an important point for                                                                      [mixing with] other genres such as
                McGee given the unrealistic character-                                                                 thrillers.”
                isation of girls-next-door to date.                                                                       Perhaps this vision is an insight into
                   “Even in TV shows that I loved, I                                                                   the shows McGee is currently develop-
                found the characters that were sup-                                                                    ing. She’s working on three dramas to
                posed to be losers were always way                                                                     balance out the comedy-heavy year
                cooler than me. Like, I loved My                                                                       she had writing series 2 of Derry Girls.
                So-Called Life, in which Claire Danes is                                                                  “After I write a comedy, I immedi-
                supposed to be a teenage loser, but she                                                                ately want to write something dark
                looks like a fashion icon and she gets                                                                 because it’s the opposite,” she explains.
                off with Jared Leto.                                                                                   “So, I have three different ideas at
                   “I wanted my characters to be com-                                                                  three different stages, but Derry Girls
                plete disasters because I think that’s                                                                 has been a priority for me, so I’ve just
                what most teenage girls feel like.”                                                                    been working on them in the
                   Two of Channel 4’s most successful                                                                  background.”
                                                                                                           Channel 4

                comedies ever, The Inbetweeners and                                                                       With a third series of Derry Girls look-
                Peep Show, were edgy shows that                                                                        ing likely, the dramas may well have to
                extracted comedy gold from                   Derry Girls                                               wait a little longer. n

                Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                                 17
A new era for
                           BBC Three

     B
                     BC Three                                                                                  itself in a really com-
                     is at a cru-                                                                             petitive environment,”
                     cial point in                                                                          says Jessel.
                     its history.                                                                            “Fiona is what I’d call a
                     With a new                                                                         ‘real person’ – someone with
                     controller, Fiona                                                               ideas and personality,” adds
     Campbell, a budget raised to £40m                                                            Simon Dickson, the former Chan-
     and a regular slot on BBC One on                                                         nel 4 deputy head of documentaries
     Mondays to Wednesdays, the corpora-                                                     and co-founder of Hospital producer
     tion hopes that it can stem the tide of                                                 Label1. “She’ll find her feet quickly and
     younger viewers washing up on the                                                       usher in a new generation of shows
     shores of Netflix and YouTube.                           BBC Three                      that will sit nicely both on TV and
        The BBC One decision was contro-                                                     online. The key will be commissioning
     versial, because it meant slicing 10 min-                                               factual programmes that combine
     utes off the News at Ten to make way for    Tara Conlan profiles the                    audacity, insight and fun. She has a
     shows such as Fleabag and Stacey                                                        nose for those things and I’m sure
     Dooley’s Glow Up. Some journalists          channel’s new controller,                   she’ll do a cracking job.”
     fumed, but the move was applauded by
     those who have been urging the BBC to
                                                  Fiona Campbell, as the                        Brought up in Belfast, Campbell says
                                                                                             she understands why some younger
     do more for younger audiences.              service raises its profile                  viewers feel disenfranchised by tradi-
        Campbell, who comes from a news                                                      tional broadcasters. Rather than dwell-
     and factual background, acknowledges              on BBC One                            ing on the decision to close BBC Three
     the annoyance expressed by some                                                         as a TV channel in 2016, she empha-
     viewers but says that “now is the time      the sensibilities of her channel’s audi-    sises her belief that making shows that
     to think about the global digital envi-     ence, says executive producer Adam          reflect viewers’ own experiences and
     ronment people can spend time with”.        Jessel. He worked with Campbell on          locality will help draw in Millennials.
     Those rivals for attention include not      the ground-breaking Britain’s Gay Foot-        She explains: “BBC Three has done
     just streamers but other options such       ballers and the BBC iPlayer box set         well and garnered a lot of awards and
     as, “the Top Shop app, which I spend        Unsolved, when she was BBC Three            a lot of talent. We don’t want to let go
     way too much time on”.                      head of documentaries and features.         of that [but the channel can also] be
        The first female controller of BBC         “She’s a dynamic, innovative thinker      uniquely British and uniquely closer to
     Three (Sam Bickley was acting con-          who’s got all the credentials for the job   that young audience than anyone else
     troller in 2014) is firmly in touch with    and will make BBC Three a space for         in this country, never mind the world.

18
“We can make content that’s really       looked into the importance of local                              location making things and I was more
honed to their passions and life expe-      media for local identity and fuelling                            interested in being out there on loca-
riences in a way that other channels        economic growth.                                                 tion than in being in the spotlight. I’ve
don’t… because they have commercial           She got work experience on Italian                             travelled the world, been to Kosovo,
concerns.”                                  TV journalist Gianfranco Funari’s                                interviewed the Taliban, covered the
   As a former BBC News digital direc-      show, which led to a piece on Roger                              Iraq War… [which] brings a totally dif-
tor, she is interested in social media      Bolton’s Right to Reply and The Money                            ferent kind of dimension to your life.”
and consumption data. She highlights        Programme. Her next step was being                                  Campbell suggests that being taught
how Abused by My Girlfriend amassed         hired for Panorama by the late Steve                             by nuns at her primary and secondary
                                                                                                             schools shaped her, as “you learn to
                                                                                                             rebel against nuns from an early age”.
                                                                                                                She deals with a stressful job and
                                                                                                             juggling being a mother by doing spin
                                                                                                             classes to loud music. Music, she thinks,
                                                                                                             is key to attracting younger viewers.
                                                                                                                BBC Three has 1.4 million subscrib-
                                                                                                             ers to its YouTube channel and an 8.5%
                                                                                                             reach among 16-to 34-year-olds.
                                                                                                             Campbell’s predecessor, Damian Kava-
                                                                                                             nagh, set a target of increasing reach to
                                                                                                             that demographic to 10% by 2020.
                                                                                                                Some wonder if she may get over-
                                                                                                             sight of a TV channel, too, after Ofcom
                                                                                                             CEO Sharon White said last year that
                                                                                                             BBC Three was “probably” shut down

                                                                                         All pictures: BBC
                                                                                                             “too early”, but that was “a decision for
                                                                                                             the BBC”.
                                                                                                                Avalon co-founder Jon Thoday – who
                                                                                                             made a joint bid with Jimmy Mulville in
  Jerk                                                                                                                                            Jerk
                                                                                                             2015 to buy BBC Three’s TV incarnation
                                                                                                             before it closed – thinks that the corpo-
1.7 million viewers and a huge Twitter      Hewlett, when he edited the current                              ration should hand over one of UKTV’s
peak when it aired on TV after debut-       affairs flagship.                                                free-to-air channel slots.
ing on BBC Three online.  The figures          “Steve and Jane Corbin taught me so                              “When I heard that the BBC was
also revealed how the show won a lot        many things. Jane taught me the art of                           buying out Discovery… I thought it
of female, north-western and Scottish       never taking no for an answer. Steve                             must have decided that channels were
viewers.                                    was an amazing editor,” she recalls.                             a good thing [and] it should give one of
   Campbell thinks her BBC Three can        “All through my subsequent career,                               the slots to BBC Three,” said Thoday. “I
“excel” by having “content that talks to    Steve was there to give advice and                               think we were right [about not closing
people of mid and lower income of           have a sense of humour and remind                                the TV channel] and it’s still a shame it
both sexes”. She wants to reflect “the      me not to take myself too seriously.                             did that. The BBC still needs to spend
reality of the younger experience”,            “I then learnt a lot by going to Watch-                       more money on younger audiences,”
adding that, “for women who are in          dog, under Steve Anderson and Anne                               he said, because Netflix’s massive
relationships in this country and who       Robinson,” where she learnt to self-                             promotional spending cuts through to
don’t live in London or Manchester          shoot and film undercover.                                       youngsters.
and perhaps have less money at their           Her next move was to Channel 4 News,                             The latest young talent coming
disposal, it’s bloody tough.                where she worked as a commissioning                              through on BBC Three is on show in the
   “I’m also interested in local. More      editor in a “very fun, supportive envi-                          Tim Renkow comedy Jerk, female grime
than 30 members of BBC Three staff          ronment” under Dorothy Byrne. Subse-                             constructed reality series Galdem Sugar,
are in Birmingham, sitting alongside        quently, she returned to the BBC and                             and Heartbreak Hotel, which follows
the English digital news journalists. I’m   rose to head of current affairs.                                 every move and message of 10 young
doing a lot of thinking about the role of      Navigating the BBC bureaucracy is                             Brits who travel round Greece together
BBC Three outside London, because           not easy but Campbell has become so                              to heal their broken hearts.
then it’s closer to what’s happening,       adept that one former colleague once                                Young programme-makers are very
where people live.”                         did an impression of her by kicking in                           much on Campbell’s radar, who pays
   Although she chaired the 2016 Edin-      a door. Her explanation is that she has                          back the wisdom passed on to her by
burgh International Television Festival,    “a low boredom threshold, so I do tend                           Hewlett by mentoring. “We’ve all got
Campbell prefers to keep a low profile.     to be, ‘Are we going to do this or are we                        to spend a bit of time helping the next
She followed a “random” route into          not going to do this and, if we are, let’s                       generation along and giving them
media. While doing a masters in inter-      just get on and do it now.’ That tends to                        career advice,” she says. “I’ve noticed
national and regional development in        be my attitude, probably because I shot                          some of them are quite stressed. The
Italy, she became interested in the         film myself when working in digital…                             importance of supporting the next
sector as, “coming from Northern Ire-       and a 24/7 news environment.”                                    crowd coming through cannot be
land… where our GDP was so crap”, she          “I spent a lot of my career on                                underestimated.” n

Television www.rts.org.uk March 2019                                                                                                                     19
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