BBC

Working Lives: Meet the sustainability manager for the BBC

Plastic pollution at Manta Point, off the coast of Indonesia (Credit: Jukka Saarikorpi)

Richard Smith has been the BBC’s sustainability manager for 10 years. He was previously an on-screen reporter for BBC regional news programmes, including Midlands Today. As home affairs correspondent for BBC South East, he reported on drugs, asylum seekers and homelessness, and won an RTS award.

Based at MediaCity UK in Salford, Smith heads a team working to raise awareness of environmental issues within the television industry and reduce the carbon footprint of programme production.

Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry join the new series of Doctor Who

Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry (credit: BBC)

The two British TV icons have landed major roles in what showrunner Chris Chibnall has called “one of [Doctor Who’s] biggest ever stories to kick off the new series”.

As for whether Fry and Henry will play friends or enemies remains under wraps.

Reprising her role as the Thirteenth Doctor at the helm of the TARDIS will be Jodie Whittaker, alongside her usual time-travelling team with Tosin Cole as Ryan, Mandip Gill as Yaz and Bradley Walsh as Graham.

Sound masterclass with Matt Bacon and Kate Davis

Matt Bacon and Kate Davis (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

Davis received a Bafta nomination this year for her work on the BBC Four documentary Amy Winehouse: Back to Black. Bacon specialises in formatted and entertainment series such as Channel 5 reality show The Bachelor and the BBC’s Masterchef.

Editing masterclass with Emma Lysaght and Matthew Gray

Matthew Gray and Emma Lysaght (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

How to get into editing: Emma Lysaght: “I left school at 16. My father was a film editor so I grew up watching my dad cut film. It was something I’d always wanted to do.

“It was quite a male environment, I was very nervous and very shy. I didn’t get into the cutting room until I was 19. My dad knew of one female editor.

“She needed an assistant so I stepped in and became her assistant. Within the first few months I was cutting news for Channel 4, which was very pressurised but you know exactly what you’ve got to do in those three minutes.

Making professional productions on the go

Deirdre Mulcahy at the University of Westminster (Credit: RTS London/Phil Barnes)

The freelance producer and trainer gave a demonstration of the smartphone’s filming capability at an RTS London event in early November.

“No matter how big the tool, it comes down to the person who is actually using [it],” said Mulcahy. “Storytelling is about where the focus is – and understanding how you shoot.”

RuPaul's Drag Race UK creators discuss bringing drag to screens at RTS Futures event

Sally Miles, Fenton Bailey, Ruby Kuraishe, Scott Bryan, Navi Lamba and Bruce McCoy (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

Drag queens and TV are like peanut butter and jelly – the perfect combination,” added the show’s creator Fenton Bailey.

McCoy and Bailey – executive producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race, both here and in the US – were talking at a lively RTS Futures event in November that looked at how the show was brought to the UK.

UK broadcasters launch streaming service BritBox

(credit: BritBox)

The new streaming service offers content from ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

BritBox, created by ITV and the BBC, marks the UK’s entry into the paid streaming market alongside international giants such as Netflix and Amazon.

Priced at £5.99 per month, BritBox will offer the biggest collection of British boxsets such as Broadchurch, Doctor Who, Gavin and Stacey, Wolf Hall and Downton Abbey.

James Nesbitt to star in new BBC One crime thriller Bloodlands

James Nesbitt (Credit: BBC)

Nesbitt plays a Northern Irish police detective, Tom Brannick, who is dragged into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse when a car containing a suicide note is pulled out of Strangford Lough.

Brannick connects the note to an infamous cold case that is deeply personal and puts him on the hunt for a legendary assassin.  

Nesbitt commented: “It’s great to be back making a drama in and about Northern Ireland, which now has a film and television industry as good as any in the world.