In celebration of its 35th year on air, the team have planned a competition to find a new writer with first hand medical experience.
Applicants will be tasked with writing part of a Casualty episode based on a brief about clinical Lead Dylan Keogh having a hellish day in the emergency department.
Writers are invited to submit a spec script and the prize winner will receive a script commission and development opportunities with ITV.
The competition, which first launched in 2007, is designed to find the next generation of writing talent and entrants are asked to “think big, think bold, think how they can make their ideas stand out in a competitive marketplace.”
“It’s important for me to have something to say. We’ve all written stuff that’s competent and empty,” said Sophie Petzal, whose television breakthrough came on CBBC dramas such as Wolfblood and Dangermouse. More recently she has written episodes for Sky Atlantic’s Riviera and BBC Two’s The Last Kingdom, and has original scripts in development with Company Pictures.
BBC Two sitcom Boy Meets Girl will be the first UK programme to show a transgender person in a lead role.
It is a conventional love story where transgender actress Rebecca Root who plays Judy, a transgender woman, falls in love with Leo, played by Harry Hepple.
Together the couple battle any prejudice against their relationship.
Apparently, I've not contributed a diary since 2010. Perhaps I only get invited in election years. In May 2010, I was also asked to review the different channels' election coverage by The Guardian.
On that occasion, I called it decisively for Sky News. ITN was fine but less dramatic. And the BBC, with its ship-of-fools party and an over-academic Vernon Bogdanor and a swingometer that couldn't cope with a three-way race and, and, and...
