Sky

The programme will support six screenwriters from Black, Asian and other racial and ethnic backgrounds by employing them in a Netflix or Sky writers’ room for their first television credit.

Fellows will also receive a bursary and an industry mentor while attending monthly development events and workshops.

K Ali said: “I am thrilled to be working alongside Netflix and Sky to launch our new Screenwriting Fellowship.

Colin Hardy, director of four episodes in series one, will return to lead direct and executive produce series two, as well as directing four further episodes. 

Marcela Said (Narcos Mexico) and Nima Nourizadeh (Little America) will direct two episodes each.

Hardy said: “Helping Gareth and the team bring the first series of Gangs of London kicking, screaming and exploding to life was an invigorating high-dive into the world of cinematic television.

Going boldly where no woman has gone before, Sky’s new drama Intergalactic follows the exploits of a group of female prisoners who commandeer their penal transport to escape to the free world of Arcadia. 

But their journey is made trickier as one of the convicts is Ash Harper (played by Savannah Steyn), the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Commonworld’s establishment. With Ash imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit, her own quest is the search for the truth. Imagine Orange Is the New Black, but set in space. 

The prospect of a brand-new Michael Winterbottom drama starring Kenneth Branagh as a pandemic-­beleaguered Boris Johnson has already got mouths watering among audiences and critics alike, and This Sceptred Isle is just one of Sky’s bumper line-up of 125 new Sky Originals promised for 2021.  

Keeley Hawes, Rita Ora and Dame Judi Dench are among the other big names bringing star power to Sky, with the broadcaster announcing 30 exclusive original films and 30 documentaries, all part of an impressive roster that promises 50% more original content than last year.  

It is just over two years since Comcast bought Sky for a massive £30.6bn, but it is only now that the company has appointed one of its own senior executives to run the European pay-TV giant. Last month, the dynamic Dana Strong, head of Comcast Cable’s consumer services business, was announced as the successor to Jeremy Darroch, who led Sky for 13 years and was chief financial officer before that.

After an unparalleled and challenging year, the BBC leads the way with 23 nominations across the 19 categories including ‘News Channel of the Year’, and ‘Breaking News’ for the coverage of Boris Johnson being rushed to hospital with Covid-19. ITV and Sky News follow garnering 10 nominations each, both including ‘Scoop of the Year’ and ‘Television Journalist of the Year’, for which the nominees are Alex Crawford for Sky News, Clive Myrie for BBC News, and Robert Moore for ITV News.

There has long been a technology skills gap in TV due to the competitive recruitment of graduates in related fields, and despite the best efforts of employers, that gap remains.

As Freeview’s Head of Technology Partnerships, Alex Russell, acknowledged, “It’s certainly true that companies like Google and other tech giants can pay higher graduate salaries. As a smaller company though we offer a different sort of environment with the same benefits around flexible working, an exciting range of projects, a great pension. It’s just about getting ourselves noticed.”