Whenever it can, TMINE lets you know what TV the BFI will be presenting at the South Bank in London
I’m not going to pretend that I’m going to be doing this as often as I used to, particularly since the last one of these was in November 2020, but I will when I can. And if there’s not much on.
This December, there’s a showing of Doctor Who‘s City of Death, previews of The Tourist, the Ghosts Christmas special and this year’s Ghost Story for Christmas (The Mezzotint), and a collection of Christmas specials past, as well as some slightly odd music-related treats. Plus more!
Wow. I never thought this would happen. But it’s been confirmed by proper actual news sources that Russell T Davies is returning to Doctor Who for its next season, replacing Chris Chibnall (bah!) as showrunner, just in time for its 60th anniversary in 2023.
Given that I gave up on Chibnall’s run and stopped watching Doctor Who purely because of his writing, whoever took over from him was always going to be of interest to me. Most bookies were suggesting Mark Gatiss or similar, but Russell T Davies? Wow. No one had that.
Now, you only have to go over TMINE’s Doctor Who reviews to know it wasn’t the biggest fan of Davies’ largely logic-free approach to writing. But it was always fascinating to watch and he set up the foundation for the show that helped it to last 15+ years on the BBC. So, it’s going to be fascinating to see what he does with it now, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps better resources and more experience.
It should also be noted that rather than being a purely BBC Studios production, it’s now going to be a co-production with Julie Gardner’s Bad Wolf. Gardner, of course, was possibly almost as instrumental in Doctor Who‘s successful return as Davies was, so the BBC is getting a two-for-one deal here.
Every so often, TMINE flags up what new TV events the Royal Television Society is holding around the UK
Yes! More RTS events!
Cracking the Format – alchemy or science?
Date: Thursday 9 July Timings: 1pm-2pm
An exploration of the elements that make a successful and long-running format from the teams developing some of the most vibrant formats on TV today. We ask what makes a hit format? How do you keep it fresh? And what’s the appetite for formats in the current COVID climate?
RTS Southern presents a webinar with:
Rob Butterfiield and Hannah Lamb from Ricochet, the creators of formats such as the hugely successful Repair Shop (now in its fifth season for the BBC), Cowboy Builders (ten series for Channel Five) and Food Unwrapped (with a mighty 165 episodes ready to watch on All4).
Sarah Freethy, an Executive Producer tasked with creating branded formats for Woodcut Media and the development brains behind The Hotel Inspector (Channel 5), Country House Rescue (Channel 4) and The Food Hospital (Channel 4).
Claire Masters and Chris Riley from Topical TV a production company which specialises in building long running formats with many returning over 100 episodes. Currently Topical is producing two long running shows for the BBC – Caught Red Handed and Close Calls on Camera both in their ninth series.
The webinar will be chaired by Derren Lawford, Creative Director of Woodcut Media known for the international hit series such as Fiennes: Return to the Nile, Britain’s Most Evil Killers, Paranormal Captured and How Hacks Work.
Michael McCarthy in conversation with Richard Sillitto. Michael shares anecdotes and behind the scenes stories in a relaxed conversation with his longtime colleague, Richard. He covers the changing world of TV since he first started at TV Centre in 1961.
The RTS Lifetime Achievement Award was recently presented to Michael McCarthy, veteran Sound Designer whose career has spanned six decades, and a range of changing technologies. Michael’s credits include Doctor Who, Morecambe and Wise, Miss World, The Two Ronnies, Top of the Pops, Lennie Henry, Who Dares Wins, The National Lottery and many, many more. Michael has delivered pristine sound on many iconic moments of TV, from ‘Four Candles’ and ‘All the Right Notes But…’ through to the strange microphone on Blankety Blank.
Richard Sillitto’s sound credits include Dancing on Ice, Strictly Come Dancing, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Would I Lie to You.
The first two showrunners of 21st century Doctor Who have already offered some solace in this time of quarantine. Now Doctor Who herself and the current showrunner, Chris Chibnall, have done the same.
Jodie Whittaker has made this nice little video to soothe children in distress:
There happen to be some important nuWho anniversaries happening around now. Apparently, it’s some anniversary or other for Day of the Doctor and Steven Moffat has written a new introduction for it featuring Dan Starkey as Strax (who introduced the cinema version, if you recall).
The observant may notice a few references to/potshots at the most recent season of Doctor Who…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fx8N5y3JlA
Meanwhile, coming up on Thursday, Russell T Davies will be live Tweeting for the 15th anniversary of Rose. There’ll be some extra material released on the day, too.
