Speaking to the RTS he said: “It meant that people came to me with their ideas. Steve Coogan came to me with Philomena (Coogan and Pope’s screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and won best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival).
“Success gets you meetings, but it still doesn’t get something past the finishing line if it’s not good enough…It also means you can be more ambitious and more expansive.”
It may be Carolyn McCall’s first RTS Cambridge but she knows what she wants from the convention’s speakers. They should be positive and provocative. She also wants to hear from the voices of the people who consume the content.
“There is no point going into the Cambridge Convention with an attitude of ‘It’s all doom and gloom’. Yes, there are challenges but the opportunities for content creators have never been greater,” she emphasises.
OK, in the spirit of apologetic full disclosure, this ain’t a normal week for me. It’s August. Piers and Susanna are off (deservedly – thought I’d better slip that in) on their French car factory-style summer sojourn. I’m also sneaking in a bit of R&R and extra-curricular that the normal 100-hour week doesn’t allow.
At Latitude, the hybrid Glasto crossed with church fête Suffolk festival, where, among the middle aged of the mojito-fuelled mosh pit, I bump (literally) into my ex-ITV boss Peter Fincham for our annual blokey embrace.
The contemporary crime series, created and written by Robert Murphy (DCI Banks), gives viewers a new story each episode.
A classic crime story is at the heart of the series and the first episode features two crime mysteries investigated by chalk and cheese duo, the wildly ambitious DCI McDonald (Tala Gouveia, Cold Feet) and the shy, modest DS Dodds (Jason Watkins, The Crown); the pair form a quarrelsome but effective partnership.
Although he assures me he’s “too old to play Tim [again]”, you can see the similarities he shares with his famous character.
He is affable and self-deprecating, joking that he thinks the real Steve Fulcher, who he plays in upcoming ITV drama A Confession, was happy for him to play him - although might have wished for “someone taller, maybe?”
With more than 80 film and TV credits to his name, Freeman has starred in everything from cult classic TV series to huge blockbuster franchises.
The novel, written only months before Austen’s death, was never finished and consists of just eleven chapters.
The adaptation has been extended into an eight-part series starring Rose Williams (Curfew), Theo James (The Divergent series), Anne Reid (Last Tango in Halifax) and Kris Marshall (Death in Paradise).
Williams plays Charlotte Heywood, an impulsive and unconventional young woman who moves away from her rural hometown to the coastal resort of Sanditon, which is trying to reinvent itself as a fashionable retreat.
With so many shows available, viewers are spoilt for choice.
To help you decide what to watch this month, we've compiled our top TV picks for August.
For an example of the passionate perfectionism of drama producer Damien Timmer, look no further than the press screening of the first episode of ITV drama Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman.
In recent years, Channel 4’s new national HQ in Leeds and the BBC’s relocation of 2,300 posts to Salford have dominated our perception of out-of-London programme production.
This is perhaps not surprising: the corporation has the largest Ofcom quota for UK production outside the M25 – 50% – followed by Channel 4 and ITV, who both have 35%, and Channel 5, with 10%.
Robert “Judge” Rinder was speaking about his career – from would-be actor to television presenter via the Bar and British Overseas Territories – with Granada Reports presenter Lucy Meacock at an RTS North West event at the Lowry in June. He has fronted the ITV daytime show Judge Rinder, in which he arbitrates over civil cases, since its launch in 2014.
