|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:33:00 GMT -5
Article - TVR top 20.pdf Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:33:45 GMT -5
Article - NETWORK RATINGS.pdf Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:34:09 GMT -5
charles rea.pdf Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:37:40 GMT -5
Constance Chapman OBITUARIES Constance Chapman was an accomplished and highly versatile actress whose career received a remarkable boost in 1969 when she appeared to great acclaim at the Royal Court with Bill Owen in two of David Storey’s gritty North Country plays, In Celebration and The Contractor. Both were directed by Lindsay Anderson, who subsequently directed Chapman and Owen in the 1976 film version of In Celebration as well as in the original play’s sequel, The March on Russia (Lyttelton, 1989). Prior to experiencing this kind of Indian summer in her professional life, Chapman had enjoyed spells in various repertory companies – including 12 years with the Rapier Players in Bristol – and had good roles at Bristol Old Vic. She spent most of the late fifties and early sixties working in radio and television. Chapman was born in Weston-Super-Mare on March 29, 1912, and attended Redland High School in Bristol before making her stage debut in a local production of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever (1938). After her critical triumphs at the Royal Court she was much in demand. Among her many theatre credits were Aunt Juliana in Hedda Gabler for the RSC (Aldwych and world tour), Marjorie in Just Between Ourselves (Queen’s), Mrs Helseth in Rosmersholm (Haymarket), Ivy in The Family Reunion (Vaudeville), Harvest (Ambassadors), A Little Like Drowning (Hampstead) and Salonica (Bristol Old Vic). She also made several feature films. In addition to the various celluloid versions of her stage successes, she was seen on the big screen in The Raging Moon (1970), Doomwatch (1972), O Lucky Man! (1973) and Clockwise (1986). Her extensive television credits included Born and Bred, Our Winnie, A Taste for Death, Murder Being Done and Mrs Hartley and the Growth Centre. Chapman also made notable guest appearances in popular series such as The Avengers, Rumpole of the Bailey, Only Fools and Horses and Casualty. Most recently she played Nanny Ba-Ba in a BBC TV production of The Beggar Bride. Chapman died, aged 91, on August 10. Her marriage to Travers Cousins ended in divorce. They had two sons. John Martland
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:38:19 GMT -5
CRAIG HUNTER.pdf Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:39:03 GMT -5
Elisabeth Sladen
Who’s that girl? As the thinking boy’s pin-up of the seventies, Elisabeth Sladen played one of Doctor Who’s most popular sidekicks. Douglas McPherson gets hot under the collar as he talks to his dream assistant about landing her own series after 30 years Thirty years ago, Elisabeth Sladen was every schoolboy’s fantasy girlfriend as Doctor Who’s plucky, denim-clad assistant Sarah Jane Smith. Today, the actress says archly: “I’ve realised that the schoolboys are older now.” Certainly, those schoolboys who grew up to work in the media got all excited when the seemingly ageless Sladen revived Sarah Jane for a one-off appearance in the new Doctor Who last year. And we’ve sorry, they’ve – been positively salivating since the alienfighting investigative reporter landed probably the most belated spin-off series in TV history, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is currently airing at 5pm every Monday on BBC1. “In the last few days I’ve had more interviews, feedback and heard stuff I wish I’d known people had thought at the time,” Sladen says. “In the seventies, the assistant was incredibly low key. It was totally the Doctor’s show. The BBC only ever wanted the Doctor for promotion and you’d sometimes wonder if you had anything to do with its success at all.” Although Sladen did only three seasons of Doctor Who the first time around, the character of Sarah Jane has never fully gone away. As well as returning for TV specials, The Five Doctors and Dimensions in Time, she starred in a pilot for a never made spin-off series, K-9 and Company, in the eighties and, more recently, several audio plays for BBC Radio and Big Finish Productions. Since the relaunch of Doctor Who, Sladen has contributed commentaries to DVD releases of some of her old episodes – a job which has given her a renewed appreciation for fan favourites like Genesis of the Daleks. “You notice things like the lighting, the scenery, the costumes and the music that you didn’t have time to notice because you were so busy trying to get it right yourself. They are really classy programmes and, considering the budget and the pace we worked at, I think some of the effects were extraordinary.” Today’s health and safety officers would blanch at the way Doctor Who was made in the seventies. “I nearly drowned in Wookey Hole,” says Sladen. “I never had a stunt double – I was talked into most things. I remember once doing about 21 jumps on to boxes. The stunt man said, ‘You’ll love this’, and I’d forgotten I’d have to do it more than once.” As for the famous wobbly sets, she says: “You knew the take they were going to use was the one where the stun gun worked. So if you bumped into something less than steady, that happened.” Having cut her teeth in rep, Sladen began her television career with guest appearances in Coronation Street, Z-Cars and Doomwatch – in which she played a terrorist. When she got a message to meet Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, she assumed it was for another guest role. It was only when she was thoroughly grilled by Letts and the show’s star, Jon Pertwee, she realised she was being interviewed for assistant. From the beginning, Sarah Jane was intended to be unlike previous companions – for one thing, she had her own job. “I don’t know if women’s lib was mentioned,” Sladen muses. When she opened the first script, however, it became clear that fleshing out Smith’s character would fall totally on the actress. “All it said was, ‘Enter, Sarah Jane’. It didn’t say anything about her, and I nearly had the abdabs,” she recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, they want me to play me’, and I’d never done that before. “But I was very lucky because the first story, The Time Warriors, was written by Robert Holmes, who had a very dark, Gothic wit and he gave me a very strong story. Set in a medieval castle, it was almost a theatrical part. So that was an area I was comfortable in and could respond to and it allowed the character to become very strong and be very bold.” Sladen found an instant rapport with Pertwee, who relished the role of Doctor Who. “Jon was still known for his funny voices but his personality was a dandy. Jon adored the heroic and Who was his chance to do that. Who was Jon’s Romeo, his Ben-Hur. He loved that side of it. He was very much the Doctor with the little chick under his cloak as you would imagine in medieval times.” While Pertwee is remembered as one of the classic Doctors, he found he wasn’t indispensable when he asked for a rise and was turned down flatly. He left the series in a huff, a decision Sladen says he always regretted. Sladen, meanwhile, struck up an equally effective chemistry with Pertwee’s successor, the famously long-scarfed Tom Baker. “I’d met him for one promotional call before we started shooting, but we just clicked. We’re both from Liverpool, so I don’t know if that’s got anything to do with it. Tom’s way of working and his Doctor was so different, it allowed my character to be different. That was a bonus I hadn’t expected.” Deciding to quit at the height of Sarah Jane’s popularity (her departure made front page news), Sladen went on to the sitcom Take My Wife and spent two years presenting the children’s series Stepping Stones, but says she has no regrets about being forever Sarah Jane in the eyes of many. “How lovely is that?” she says. When Sladen was invited to revive Sarah Jane for the new series of Doctor Who, she admits she was reluctant – until she met producers Russell T Davies and Phil Collinson. “Everything they felt about where Sarah Jane would be in her life was exactly where I felt she would be, because I’d often thought about that over the years as fans would say, ‘Where do you think Sarah Jane would be right now?’. So after we got over that hurdle, I was in.” With The Sarah Jane Adventures, Sladen has become the assistant finally promoted to the top job, with a trio of school-age assistants of her own. She denies becoming the new Doctor Who, however. “I hesitate to say that because I feel like I’ll be stamped down,” Sladen says modestly. “I see Number One on the call sheet and I disregard it, because I don’t feel like that at all.” As to whether Sarah Jane will be fighting Daleks and Slitheen for years to come, Sladen leaves us with a typically Doctor Who cliff hanger: “We’ll wait and see.” The Sarah Jane Adventures is on BBC1 at 5pm on Mondays
Elisabeth Sladen in her BBC1 show, The Sarah Jane Adventures
Elisabeth Sladen and Yasmin Paige in BBC1’s The Sarah Jane Adventures
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:40:47 GMT -5
Sexy science Liz Thomas discovers how the science world is hoping TV drama can boost its image and appeal to youngsters choosing career paths Science is in crisis. Very few are studying it at school, or at university, and no one’s applying for jobs in the field. The government and teachers have tried to up its appeal but it’s just not working, so now the boffins are turning to television drama to help make science sexy again. A recent report claimed that there are so few people taking an interest in the area, that subjects such as physics are in danger of dying out because there is a shortage of people to teach it and a shortage of people wanting to take it. It is, of course, all about perception and according to many in the scientific and television community, drama on screen is the medium to change the views of the masses. Producer Andree Molyneux points to the US, where reportedly the military are spending huge amounts to send scientists to LA screenwriting schools in a bid to get more heroes in labcoats with top billing. Over here she points to the huge success of shows such as Cracker and Silent Witness in persuading people to think about alternative roles. Indeed, the author of this piece can confess that as a teenager in the late nineties, the dark musings of Robbie Coltrane helped cement my choice of undergraduate degree. Molyneux says: “Silent Witness was first broadcast by the BBC in 1995. In 1995 there were no degree courses specific to forensic science in the UK. In 2006, as a result of pressure from prospective students, there will be 475 courses containing a forensic element on offer at 63 universities across the country.” Her point is that TV drama can, over time, make things seem appealing and highlight issues, experiences and career paths that audiences may not otherwise have considered. She adds: “A twice-weekly series with characters in engaging and unusual work in an environment unfamiliar to most viewers could have the power to draw in the young people we need as our future engineers, technologists and scientists. But if it is to accomplish anything, it must first have good stories to tell and be great entertainment.” Andrew Millington, director of science lobby group PAWS, argues that the subject has never been more relevant with advances in genetics, technology and changes in global weather and drama is best placed to show the creative and glamorous side of many leading jobs. He says: “Science can enliven the output of a modern TV drama department. We must recognise the power of television to shape attitudes and TV drama is known to influence the choice of careers for many young people.” Former EastEnders scriptwriter and Holby City co-creator Tony McHale agrees that drama can help attract people to new areas but argues it is essentially an enigmatic character in an seemingly edgy job that can increase the appeal of a profession. He says: “There are lots of hospital dramas on television but it would be interesting to know if that encouraged more people to become doctors and nurses. Perhaps it is the more glamorous murder mystery type shows with charismatic characters, which make audiences sit up and take notice, that have the pull.” However, McHale concedes that television drama could be more adventurous when it came to devising concepts for shows. He explains: “In the seventies we had Doomwatch with Robert Powell and it really was very good and tackled serious scientific issues. There was also Edge of Darkness – so it has been done.” The writer has created a thriller serial based around a group of scientists all living and working together in a complex developing alternative energy and has delivered the idea to a number of broadcasters. Millington believes more writers need to be taking the challenge and portraying scientists, engineers or those that work in technology as “ordinary people doing something different, rather than extraordinary people” in a way that could “transform perceptions of a large tranche of the population”. Unexpectedly, it is ITV that is heading the field on the matter and doing so with star quality. One of the highlights of the network’s upcoming season is Eleventh Hour starring that stalwart of science fiction Patrick Stewart and actress du jour Ashley Jensen. The one-time Star Trek actor plays Professor Ian Hood, a physics professor and special advisor to the government. Shot in a style similar to 24, complete with real-time countdowns, the four-part series is edgy, exciting and tackles serious modern issues such as cloning, bioterrorism – in the form of a deadly smallpox outbreak – and global warming. Stewart says: “These are a lot of things people feel strongly about and each story is going to be quite controversial. It is all about the real world, the world of today. We discuss these issues and tackle the science through dialogue rather than shunting over it and taking it for granted.” The consensus from the broadcasters is that if a science story with strong exciting characters and storylines came up, then it would be commissioned. Given the proliferation of hospital and detective dramas on screen, this is perhaps just lipservice but everyone agrees that creative, inspired and original writing could help push boundaries. In fact, PAWS is putting its money where its mouth is and has established a number of script development packages to help the creative juices flow. The organisation is offering grants of £2,000 and £5,000 to writers and producers to help turn their ideas into television treatments. A separate fund has been set up to raise the profile of women in science and engineering – a demographic which is hugely under-represented in the area. • For more information call Omni Communications on 020 8214 1543
Boffin buddies – Ashley Jensen and Patrick Stewart in Eleventh Hour on ITV1
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:42:41 GMT -5
John Barron
A past president of Equity, John Barron enjoyed a 60-year career on stage and television. Tall, booming and generally cast in eccentric roles, he was best known to TV viewers for his role as “I didn’t get where I am today...” CJ, the tyrannical head of Sunshine Desserts in David Nobbs’ successful comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. The role was Barron’s favourite and made him a household name. “CJ was the perfect gift for an actor,” he remarked, “quite simply because he was so appalling”. The series, which starred Leonard Rossiter in the title role, ran from 1976-9 and was sold to America and Europe as well as regularly topping the ratings in Britain. John Barron was born in London on December 24, 1920, the son of an actress and a naval officer. He studied acting at RADA in 1938 and served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. On demobilisation he worked in repertory at Croydon, Leicester and Brighton. He appeared in several West End productions and gained early experience of television appearing in plays televised live from the Intimate Theatre at Palmers Green, north London. He first came to television viewers’ attention in Emergency Ward 10, Glencannon and All Gas and Gaiters, before playing the warped scientist Devereaux in the sci-fi serial Timeslip, the Minister in Doomwatch and the Vicar in Potter. He also appeared in several television classic dramas including productions of Othello and The Taming of the Shrew. From 1972-6 Barron was a fixture in Granada TV’s afternoon courtroom drama Crown Court. It was while filming an episode of the series that he was invited to play the role of CJ in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. In 1996 he reprised the role of CJ in the BBC’s ill fated The Legacy of Reginald Perrin. He also appeared as the Deacon in the cult series Whoops Apocalypse (1982). Among his numerous film credits were Sink the Bismarck!, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Thirteen For Dinner and Jigsaw. A member of the Garrick Club, Barron died on July 3, aged 83. His first wife, the actress Joan Peart, died in 1989 after 40 years of marriage. He married, secondly, the actress Helen Christie. She died in 1995. He is survived by a stepdaughter of each marriage.
Patrick Newley
|
|
|
Post by DR. QUIST on Sept 2, 2010 5:46:24 GMT -5
simon oates recommends.pdf Attachments:
|
|