BBC and Channel 4 should ‘merge’ to survive, Sir Phil Redmond says
One of Britain’s most legendary TV dramatists, Sir Phil Redmond, is no stranger to tackling difficult issues on screen.
Courting controversy famously with his hard-hitting storylines on his children’s show Grange Hill for the BBC in 1978, before he switched over to Channel 4 to give it its two most prominent soaps, Brookside (1982) and later Hollyoaks (1995).
He’s been a pivotal figure at Channel 4 from its inception, widely considered to be a father to the channel.
Sir Phil Redmond says the BBC and Channel 4 should team up to survive
While he’s been responsible for putting some of TV’s most impactful storylines to air for them – from the first lesbian kiss, to bodies buried under patios – off-screen nowadays, he’s equally radical about what should happen.
“Channel 4’s job in 1980 was to provide a platform for the voices, ideas, and people that weren’t able to break through into television. They did a fantastic job. I was part of that, and now it’s done.”
It’s not that he wants to kill off Channel 4 but – as broadcasting bosses gather for Edinburgh’s annual TV Festival – he believes they urgently should be talking about mergers.
A suggestion which goes down about as well as you might imagine, he says, when he brings it up with those at the top.
He laughs: “The people with the brains think it’s a good idea, the people who’ve got the expense accounts think it’s horrendous.”
Some of the original Grange Hill cast collecting a BAFTA special award in 2001. Pic: Shutterstock
A ‘struggling’ BBC trying to ‘survive’
With charter renewal talks under way to determine the BBC’s future funding, Sir Phil says “there’s only one question, and that is what’s going to happen to the BBC?”
“We’ve got two public sector broadcasters – the BBC and Channel 4 – both owned by the government, by us as the taxpayers, and what they’re trying to do now is survive, right?
“No bureaucracy ever deconstructs itself… the BBC is struggling… Channel 4 has got about a billion quid coming in a year. If you mix that, all the transmissions, all the back office stuff, all the technical stuff, all that cash… you can keep that kind of coterie of expertise on youth programming and then say ‘don’t worry about the money, just go out and do what you used to do, upset people!’.”
Brookside’s lesbian kiss between Margaret and Beth (L-R Nicola Stapleton and Anna Friel) was groundbreaking TV. Pic: Shutterstock
How feasible would that be?
Redmond claims, practically, you could pull it off in a week – “we could do it now, it’s very simple, it’s all about keyboards and switches”.
But the screenwriter admits that winning people over mentally to his way of thinking would take a few years of persuading.
As for his thoughts on what could replace the BBC licence fee, he says charging people to download BBC apps on their phones seems like an obvious source of income.
“There are 25 million licences and roughly 90 million mobile phones. If you put a small levy on each mobile phone, you could reduce the actual cost of the licence fee right down, and then it could just be tagged on to VAT.
“Those parts are just moving the tax system around a bit. [Then] you wouldn’t have to worry about all the criminality and single mothers being thrown in jail, all this kind of nonsense.”
Original Brookside stars at BAFTA – L:R: Michael Starke, Dean Sullivan, Claire Sweeney and Sue Jenkins. Pic: PA
‘Subsidising through streaming is not the answer’
Earlier this year, Peter Kosminsky, the director of historical drama Wolf Hall, suggested a levy on UK streaming revenues could fund more high-end British TV on the BBC.
Sir Phil describes that as “a sign of desperation”.
“If you can’t actually survive within your own economic basis, you shouldn’t be doing it.
“I don’t think top slicing or subsidising one aspect of the business is the answer, you have to just look at the whole thing as a totality.”
Mark Rylance (L) and Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light. Pic: BBC
Since selling his production company, Mersey Television, two decades ago, much of his current work has focused on acting as an ambassador for the culture and creative industries.
Although he’s taken a step away from television, he admits he’s disappointed by how risk-averse programme makers appear to have become.
“Dare I say it? There needs to be an intellectual foundation to it all.”
The Hollyoaks cast in 1995. Pic: Shutterstock
TV’s ‘missing a trick’
He believes TV bosses are too scared of being fined by Ofcom, and that’s meant soaps are not going as far as they should.
“The benefits [system], you know, immigration, all these things are really relevant subjects for drama to bring out all the arguments, the conflicts.
“The majority of the people know the benefits system is broken, that it needs to be fixed because they see themselves living on their estate with a 10 or 12-year-old car and then there’s someone else down the road who knows how to fill a form in, and he’s driving around in a £65k BMW, right? Those debates would be really great to bring out on TV, they’re missing a trick.”
While some of TV’s biggest executives are slated to speak at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Redmond is not convinced they will be open to listening.
“They will go where the perceived wisdom is as to where the industry is going. The fact that the industry is taking a wrong turn, we really need somebody else to come along and go ‘Oi!'”
When I ask if that could be him, he laughs. Cue dramatic music and closing credits. As plot twists go, the idea of one of TV’s most radical voices making a boardroom comeback to stir the pot, realistic or not, is at the very least food for thought for the industry.
Edinburgh TV Festival runs from 19 – 22 August.
Entertainment
Jessica Chastain criticises decision to delay release of The Savant after Charlie Kirk killing
Jessica Chastain has criticised Apple’s decision to delay the release of political thriller series The Savant after the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The actress, who is also executive producer of the show for the tech giant’s TV+ streaming service, said she was “not aligned on the decision to pause the release”.
In a post on Instagram, she said the programme, in which she plays a woman who tries to draw out potential terrorists online, is “so relevant” and she has never “shied away from difficult subjects”.
Chastain portrays a military veteran who works at the Anti-Hate Alliance, where she secretly visits 4Chan-like message boards and poses as a white nationalist to identify possible terrorists.
“‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honouring their courage feels more urgent than ever,” Chastain said.
“I remain hopeful the show will reach audiences soon. Until then, I’m wishing safety and strength for everyone.”
She listed several acts of political violence in the US in recent years, including a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer, the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump last year and also the killing of controversial influencer Kirk.
Read more:
The string of bloody political violence in the MAGA era
Apple said it chose to postpone the show after “careful consideration” but did not give a reason why.
Kimmel’s comeback show brings in record ratings
Meanwhile, millions of people tuned in to watch Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after he returned to TV after Disney suspended him for nearly a week after he made comments about Kirk.
Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late night show. Pic: AP
ABC said 6.26 million people watched Kimmel as he said it was “never my intention to make light of” Kirk’s death. It was the late-night show’s highest-rated regularly scheduled episode.
Read more:
Explained: Why Jimmy Kimmel was taken off air
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Kimmel returns – and not everyone’s on same page
“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said as he choked up.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make”.
Kimmel had been accused of being “offensive and insensitive” after using his programme, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of capitalising on the killing.
Entertainment
Claudia Cardinale: Star of The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West dies aged 87
Acclaimed Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, who starred in The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West, has died aged 87, according to French media reports.
The actress, who starred in more than 100 films and made-for-TV productions, died in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent told the AFP news agency.
At the age of 17 she won a beauty contest in Tunisia, where she was born to Sicilian parents, and was rewarded with a trip to the Venice Film Festival, kick-starting her acting career.
She had expected to become a schoolteacher before she entered the beauty contest.
Claudia Cardinale at the Prix Lumieres awards ceremony in Paris in January 2013. Pic: AP
Cardinale gained international fame in 1963 when she starred in both Federico Fellini’s 8-1/2 and The Leopard.
She went on to star in the comedy The Pink Panther and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West in 1968.
She considered 1966’s The Professionals as the best of her Hollywood films.
Read more from Sky News:
Boris Becker on life in UK’s prisons
Trump backs Ukraine to retake territory
When she was awarded a lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002, she said acting had been a great career.
“I’ve lived more than 150 lives, prostitute, saint, romantic, every kind of woman, and that is marvellous to have this opportunity to change yourself,” she said.
“I’ve worked with the most important directors. They gave me everything.”
Cardinale was named a goodwill ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the defence of women’s rights in 2000.
She is survived by two children.
A convicted killer who turned up at Cheryl Tweedy’s home for a fourth time has been jailed.
Daniel Bannister, 50, was sentenced to 12 months after admitting a single charge of breaching a restraining order.
He was also given a new restraining order, which warns him against contacting the former Girls Aloud singer.
“You are causing her anxiety,” Judge Alan Blake told him.
“She does not wish any contact with you. You have shown defiance to the court order. You need to draw a line under that behaviour.”
Bannister turned up at Tweedy’s rural home for the fourth time on 19 June.
Reading Crown Court heard he arrived in a taxi just before 10pm and rang the intercom twice before peering over the gate.
Bannister believed the singer had invited him to her home over Microsoft Teams, the court was told.
Daniel Bannister. Pic: Thames Valley Police
Tweedy said she was “stunned” when Bannister visited her home yet again and had been forced to hire security.
“Each time he returns the worry of his intentions intensifies,” she said in a victim impact statement.
“I’m worried, nervous and on edge every time I open my gate. No person should have to feel this way.
“Daniel has made my young child scared,” she added.
Read more:
Epping hotel asylum seeker jailed
Jaguar Land Rover production shutdown extended
Bannister was initially jailed for four months in September last year – and handed a three-year restraining order.
But he breached it by turning up at Tweedy’s home in December.
In March, he was jailed for 16 weeks at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court for repeatedly going to Tweedy’s Buckinghamshire home while under the restraining order.
During that appearance, the court heard that Tweedy “immediately panicked” and was “terrified” when she saw him outside her home, fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son Bear.
Bannister killed Rajendra Patel, 48, at a south London YMCA shelter in 2012 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Mr Patel died from an injury to his leg, a court heard.
Tweedy’s former partner Liam Payne died last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment12 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024