Television Magazine

The corporation is bringing £25m to the region over five years, including spending on new programming and talent.

Production companies have been encouraged to pitch, putting the North East at the heart of their concepts. Representatives from successful commissions sat on the RTS panel, alongside the BBC commissioning editor Helen Munson.

Munson said: “These are network programmes that we’re making, and they absolutely stand up with the other programmes that we have on BBC daytime. There is no denying the quality is here.”

Few novels have excited as much love and devotion as Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies, a funny, tender but heart-rending tale of male friendship. Now, only two years after its publication, an adaptation is coming to the BBC, an astonishingly quick turnaround for television drama.

The first in-person IBC since before Covid demonstrated two big themes. First, the industry’s post-pandemic recovery was threatened by the worldwide cost-of-living and energy crises. Second, Covid had accelerated the adoption of Cloud-based working practices such as remote production – with perhaps five years of technical advances squeezed into two years.

When Wales play their opening World Cup game in Qatar later this month, few supporters will be cheering on the national team as fervently as Siân Doyle, the Chief Executive of S4C. She needs no reminding of the campaign’s significance to the Welsh-language channel, which, in a happy coincidence, celebrated its 40th anniversary on 1 November.

One of the best things about being the ­political editor of a rolling 24-hour news channel is breaking news. Nothing feels as vital or as exhilarating as a big political moment, be it a knife-edge vote or the election of a new party leader, and there’s no greater privilege than being the person to relay that news to viewers and dissect what it means.

What does the job involve?

I source the off-screen talent for ­productions across Arrow Media and Arrow Pictures, including runners, researchers, assistant producers, ­directors, series producers and executive producers. I also recruit people to permanent positions in the company; we have about 25 core staff. My role includes all aspects of HR.

Do you recruit on-screen talent?

No, talent agencies and broadcasters tend to look after the on-screen talent.

What was your route into becoming a talent manager?

The £6bn post-pandemic boom in TV and film production is welcome news amid the uncertainty caused by the freeze to the BBC licence fee and the planned privatisation of Channel 4. 

The global expansion of content platforms and the UK’s fantastic reputation as a country that delivers excellent programmes means that there is more TV and film being made here than ever before. But there is a problem: we are predicted to have a shortfall of 40,000 creative-sector workers by 2025. 

British telly was a right old cockney knees up in the 1980s, with Peckham’s Only Fools and Horses bossing it on the BBC and Shepherd’s Bush’s Minder the guvnah on ITV. 

Both drew huge audiences but the TV critics were a little sniffy about Minder, preferring John Sullivan’s sitcom to the comic tales of ex-boxer and old lag Terry McCann and wheeler-dealer Arthur Daley. 

What does the job involve?

Ultimately, my job is to plan ahead, working closely with the producers, key stakeholders at Vertigo and the broadcaster, from programme development to delivery, making sure the financials, compliance and the right creatives are in place to bring the creative vision to fruition.