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WPC 56: Women in policing in the 1950s

2013-03-19T13:32:26+00:00

When I was first asked to pitch an idea for an original police series, which became WPC 56, I immediately knew I wanted to write about the 1950s.

The music and fashions of that decade were marvellously distinctive and it was a time of massive social change.

Britain was just getting back on its feet after the ravages of World War II, it was the beginnings of mass immigration, the birth of youth culture, the Cold War, and the feminism of the 60s was still a long way off.

The idea of a young woman wishing to buck the trend and join the police force, a traditionally male profession at that time, seemed to me to be rich in story potential.

'Never forget that your sole responsibility is to support the men'

Once I'd fallen in love with my subject matter, I knew I had to do it justice by doing as much research as I could.

I began with visiting the Metropolitan Police Museum which opened to the public in 2009 and is located at the Met's recruitment centre near Earls Court in London.

It is a small but fascinating collection of artefacts taken from a vast array of such treasures collected by Scotland Yard over at least a 100 years of policing – uniforms, weapons, photographs and archive footage.

I was even allowed to try on a genuine WPC's uniform jacket from the 1950s. While I was there I chatted to a couple of lovely retired policemen who were only too happy to tell me stories of the WPCs they worked alongside, mostly in the 60s and 70s.

One anecdote that stuck with me ended up in episode one, where the male officers give Gina Dawson a 'Brinford Branding'.

This was apparently a real tradition in some police stations, where new recruits were rubber stamped on the backside by their new colleagues, and the women had to endure the initiation too (although they proffered their thighs as a compromise).

The retired officer described the women as being "game" for it, but I wondered if it was really good fun to them, or if they were merely anxious to fit in.

PC Eddie Coulson (Chris Overton) stamps WPC Gina Dawson (Jennie Jacques)

Also I was told some female officers volunteered to work undercover as decoys, and occasionally were attacked before the male officers could intervene.

This was echoed in a book I read called The Gentle Arm Of The Law by Jennifer Hilton, a WPC in the 1950s.

She gives a vivid, firsthand account of walking along a canal at night in the hope of drawing out a reported rapist. She escaped unscathed but found the experience understandably frightening.

I was struck by the irony of the so-called "fairer sex" electing to take such risks, and yet they were generally considered less brave or capable than the men.

I interviewed Sioban Clark, Chairman of the Metropolitan Women Police Association and she told me about the impossible choice women had to make between love and career – if a female officer chose to marry or have children she would automatically lose her job.

These were some of the realities I wanted to reflect in the BBC One series.

WPC Gina Dawson in her office, the broom cupboard

The fact that women police were treated as an isolated section of the police force meant that even when they worked alongside the men, their ranks and responsibilities were considered separate.

They weren't fully integrated into the main force until the early 70s, and they didn't drop the prefix for Woman Police Constables until 1999.

No matter what her rank, a female officer in Gina's time was expected to do the typing for even the lowliest male colleague.

Reading firsthand accounts and listening to hours and hours of transcripts of police women and men, there were of course many differing experiences, and certainly not all of them were bad.

However, most would agree that making tea for the men was simply part of the job!

Dominique Moloney is the creator of WPC 56, and wrote episodes one, three and five.

WPC 56 continues daily until Friday, 22 March at 2.15pm on BBC One. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Pointless: How I became the co-host

2011-07-06T11:57:21+00:00

So Pointless started at 5.15pm on BBC One on Monday, launching with a week of celebrity programmes.

We've already done over 100 shows on BBC Two and now we're making the big leap up to BBC One. Very exciting.

In one swoop I will go from being "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC Two," to "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC One".

If you haven't seen it - for example, you might have a job - Pointless is a quiz show where you win by giving obscure answers to simple questions.

We also like to have some fun along the way.

The wonderful Alexander Armstrong is the host and I'm his 'pointless friend', providing extra facts, trying to tell jokes, and adding to the Brokeback Mountain-style sexual frisson of the show.

I had never appeared on TV before. My background is behind the camera.

First as a writer on shows like Have I Got News For You and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and then as a producer on shows as varied as Deal Or No Deal, Total Wipeout and 8 Out Of 10 Cats.

My new TV presenting career came as an unexpected but lovely surprise. So how did it happen?

Well, my day job now is creative director of Endemol UK, and part of that role is trying to sell new shows to TV channels.

The Endemol creative team had come up with the format for Pointless and we headed off to the BBC to do a run through of the show for the brilliant Liam Keelan and Pam Cavannagh, who run the whole of BBC Daytime.

In this run through, the executive producer of Pointless, Tom Blakeson, played the role of the host, and I played the role of co-host.

Liam and Pam were sufficiently impressed/hoodwinked that they bought the show. Hooray!

Alexander was the perfect choice as host - warm, witty, clever, sickeningly talented and handsome - but Liam and Pam wondered if I might like to be the co-host for real?

I pretended to consider the offer for nearly two to three seconds, but inside I couldn't have been more excited.

I love television, I love its presence in the corner of every living room in Britain, I love the sense of belonging that television uniquely can bring.

To me, actually appearing on TV - in a quiz, my favourite thing, filming at BBC Televison Centre - is a dream come true.

Excuse me while I get teary-eyed for a bit. I just hope you enjoy the show as much as we enjoy making it.

So, that's the story so far. Now, though, it's the move to BBC One, to the slot filled so brilliantly for so long by Anne Robinson. We're not the Weakest Link... hello.

Richard Osman is the co-host of Pointless Celebrities and Pointless.

Pointless Celebrities is a week of special episodes on BBC One at 5.15pm until Friday, 8 July. The regular quiz show Pointless resumes on BBC One at 5.15pm on Monday, 11 July.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Anne Robinson says goodbye to the Weakest Link

2011-04-23T09:30:00+00:00

After 11 years fronting the Weakest Link, Anne Robinson has today announced that she has decided to relinquish her title as the Queen Of Mean and step down as its presenter.

You can read more about her decision to leave the show in an interview in today's Guardian.

The Weakest Link has been a hugely important and much-loved part of the BBC's schedules for well over a decade, but without Anne's iconic persona and acerbic wit (some of which I've been on the receiving end of as a commissioner), we have decided that we won't be recommissioning any new episodes following her departure.

I was working on BBC Two as its scheduler when Anne first started her incredible run of Weakest Link programmes.

By the end of its final series an amazing 1,693 episodes will have gone out with over 15,000 contestants who will have been asked over 235,000 questions.

I remember seeing the pilot episode and not being at all convinced she was right for the show.

Luckily, Jane Lush, who was the controller for daytime then, and head of entertainment David Young had other ideas and the rest is history.

Of course the series has not been without its controversy, with some of Anne's remarks at times causing a media storm, not least in Wales.

Like me, Anne's from Liverpool, but that hasn't stopped her aiming a few quips at Scousers and it's that side of her which would be impossible to replace.

Fans of Anne will, of course, continue to be able to see her in Watchdog.

I'm also pleased to announce that Anne will be back in the daytime schedules next year as we have just recommissioned another run of My Life In Books.

In terms of what will replace the Weakest Link, well, that's all still up for debate at the moment.

However, we've been really pleased with how some of our new quizzes on BBC Two have been doing, such as Pointless with Alexander Armstrong. A twittering Stephen Fry has already confirmed himself a keen viewer.

I, for one, am incredibly grateful to Anne in making this quiz such a brilliant watch over the years.

If you'd like to take a trip down memory lane, you can take a look at the very first episode that went out, on the Weakest Link site.

We're planning some special episodes to see the series out, which will be filmed in Glasgow in December 2011, and the show will continue to be on air until Spring 2012.

Liam Keelan is the controller of BBC daytime.

The Weakest Link is on BBC One on weekdays at 5.15pm. For further programme times, please visit the upcoming episodes page.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

32 Brinkburn Street: I designed the set

2011-03-28T10:07:55+00:00

32 Brinkburn Street is a new BBC One daytime drama timed to coincide with the 2011 census. It is set in two time periods, 1931 and 2011, with each episode covering 24 hours.

The drama follows the lives of two generations of one family who live in the same terraced house in Manchester, comparing and contrasting the problems they face and how they deal with them.

This was a wonderful production to work on as a designer.

Initially, the producer, director and I proposed a colour tone to run throughout the entire piece. It was important that the drama would flow when cutting between the two time periods.

The colour palette, and some lovely transitions by the director, Dan Wilson, ensured that the drama felt like one piece rather than two stories merely stitched together.

The street location in Droylsden, Manchester was chosen before I was on board but the main house was found by the director, location manager and myself simply by knocking on doors in that street.

At the very last minute, just when we thought that the house we needed didn't exist and we were unhappily considering various alternatives, we happened across resident Derek's house which had the perfect layout to suit our script.

We were so happy as the entire drama hinged on finding this house!

The street itself is very well preserved; it even still has Victorian street lamps so this made my life a lot easier!

The residents gave us a warm welcome even when we knocked on their door at eight in the morning to ask if we could put up period netting in their window as their house was in shot!

And Derek was amazing; we removed almost all of his belongings, even his bed, so that we could recreate 1931 in his house - we did walk his dog though!

As you can imagine, a lot more of my time went into creating 1931 than it did 2011 as it had to be thoroughly researched first.

My starting point was Manchester library and its archive of photographs of Manchester residents.

There were some really good street scenes and I was able to get a good sense of the time and the people who lived in it.

Another fantastic source particularly for referencing a working class home in this period (it was a little later, 1939) was a photographic book by Bill Brandt, Homes Fit For Heroes.

Most design books representing this era tend to illustrate the current trends of the day which would really only have been relevant to the wealthy (influences which would eventually filter through to the masses but many years later) whereas this book showed how working class people of this time really lived, in a minimalist, practical way.

If you look closely, you'll see objects in practical places gleaned from Bill Brandt's images to give the sets a sense of being lived in.

Gracie's handbag is kept on a nail by the cooker where she can see it, scissors and shoe brushes are on a nail by the fire where they can be found easily every day.

The period props were sourced from a few places in Manchester (prop houses, coin collectors etc) but in particular we used a prop house in Lincolnshire which has several floors of props covering several periods.

You travel from the 1920s to the 1960s by simply opening a door. They can supply almost anything from wallpaper to carpet, to washing powder boxes to lollipops.

It's an amazing place to wander around and I could easily have spent all day exploring except that we (me and my production buyer, Ron Pritchard) had one day to travel four hours each way and to choose props for seven weeks of filming!

We had to choose our props wisely in order to keep to our budget and I chose not to use authentic period wallpaper as this is particularly expensive.

Instead I searched around to find modern wallpaper of the correct tone for our piece and which had a flavour of the period - rather than merely being a historical reproduction.

This would then be aged down - a painting term meaning to dirty the walls with dark washes of paint and which can be done lightly or heavily depending on the effect I'm after, ie, the attic set needed to feel like it hadn't been lived in for decades and was subsequently heavily aged down.

The most interesting space to design was the 1931 kitchen set; I inherited the blueprint of the space from Derek's 2011 kitchen but after that point I could take it anywhere.

Ron and I happened across a range that matched Derek's and which our special effects team brought to life with fake coals and gas bars, an item which brought a lovely atmosphere to the set.

By having a fire fuelled this way, we ensure that the size of the flames can be controlled at all times and that the correct safety measures are put in place, such as having fire extinguishers to hand and keeping the gas bottle at a safe distance outside the studio.

Dennis Henshaw (the construction manager) and his team did a wonderful job in bringing my drawings to life and helping to transform Derek's house into Gracie's house.

I was very fortunate to have a fantastic art department supporting me and a wonderful crew to work with making this one of the most enjoyable productions to date!

Andrea Hughes is the production designer on 32 Brinkburn Street.

32 Brinkburn Street begins on Monday, 28 March at 2.15pm on BBC One and BBC One HD. For further programme times, please see the upcoming episodes page.

Karen Laws, the writer of 32 Brinkburn Street, has written a post about the creation of the drama on the BBC Writers' Room blog.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The Indian Doctor is returning to BBC One

2011-03-25T10:17:44+00:00

A record number of you (well over 400) posted your appreciation on Sanjeev Bhaskar's post on this blog for our recent daytime drama The Indian Doctor, so I'm absolutely delighted to tell you first that I have just recommissioned it for a second series.

I can also reveal that our wonderful World War Two period drama Land Girls is also returning for a third series.

I commission programmes on BBC One and Two daytime, and it's fantastic to see a series resonate so strongly with you, our viewers.

Bringing more drama to daytime is something I care passionately about.

Sanjeev Bhaskar, who played Prem Sharma in The Indian Doctor, replied to your comments on this blog, saying he was humbled and overwhelmed by your support, and I know he is delighted that the series is returning.

The Indian Doctor also impressed the critics, winning a coveted Royal Television Society award last week, which all the team are absolutely thrilled with.

There is a long way to go before The Indian Doctor hits your screens again - probably early next year - so we're still busy working out the new storylines.

However, many of the characters will be returning. You can catch a taste of the first series here:

In the meantime, we also have two new dramas starting on BBC One afternoons which you might be interested in catching.

Next Monday, 32 Brinkburn Street kicks off.

Starring Eva Pope and Jack Deam, the drama is set around a dark secret at the heart of two generations of the same family, living in the same house in 1931 and 2011.

Moving between two very different eras, we've worked hard to bring something unique.

If you want to know more about Brinkburn Street, then take a look at the set designer Andrea Hughes' post, which is coming up on this blog on Monday.

Andrea gives a fascinating insight into how she researched and found inspiration for the 1931 set.

I think the series trailer here sets the scene perfectly:

Finally, from Monday, 4 April we have Justice, a new fast-paced contemporary drama set in Liverpool, starring Bob Pugh, Gary Mavers and Gillian Kearney (plus legendary boxer John Conteh - watch out for him).

Inspired by a real community justice centre in Liverpool, you can see a sneak preview on the BBC Press Office website.

I know many of you who commented on Sanjeev's post (julieapp #1, traceyanne #377, WiganBob #394 and maurobsop #416 to name a few) were disappointed that our dramas aren't shown in peak hours, so please don't forget to set your recorders, or catch it on iPlayer.

Also check your TV guides, as many of our dramas do get repeated later on - Land Girls is being repeated soon on BBC One - so keep a look out for that.

Liam Keelan is the controller of BBC Daytime.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Land Girls: My Tiger Moth adventure

2011-01-17T10:07:57+00:00

When I read the opening of episode one of the new series of Land Girls, I was chuffed to bits with all its action, suspense and romance.

The land girls are together working in the fields, a Tiger Moth flies in close over their heads and lands nearby, the pilot turns out to be John, the husband of my character Joyce.

He's on leave from RAF Bomber Command (and he's alive, phew).

Cue movie-style kiss and swells of stirring music as he whisks her off for a romantic afternoon. Not a dry eye in the house. Plus I get to go up in a plane.

Kind of. Apparently the budget doesn't quite stretch to me actually taking to the skies, but I did have fun being taxied around a field for a bit.

I think 'plane day' was my favourite day of filming this year. It really was as exciting and as romantic to be a part of as I think the final product looks.

There had to be absolute silence when the pilot was gearing up to fly in so that he could talk to people on set via radio.

It's quite something standing with 30 people spread out across a field in total silence for a good 10 minutes, then hearing in the distance the rumble of a plane engine getting louder and louder.

I was thinking, "Here we go... Oh crap, what's my line? What am I doing? Beck, don't mess this up."

It was a cracking day, lots of jokes (courtesy of Sue Cookson who plays Esther), some running about, and a real team effort to make it come together.

And, I should say, particularly enormous kudos to the make-up department.

Open-topped plane, plus wig, could have equalled havoc. It was certainly no mean feat to stop it ending up on John's face behind me. Or in a bush somewhere.

Joyce goes through the mill in this series. Her positivity, patriotism, and make-do-and-mend attitude (all things I loved about her when I first read the script for series one) are really put to the test.

To be quite honest, by the end of it, she's almost a different woman to the girl we first met. And that's not to say that she's lost those qualities, it's just that this series forces her to be far braver than she was and much more mature.

Where there was perhaps naÃ¯ve optimism, there's now a more deep-seated hope and faith that things will be ok.

That's what I find most interesting about this series - we see the characters taken way out of their comfort zones and confronted with situations that push them to their limits.

And, more often than not, they respond in ways that surprise even themselves.

It was tough-going filming this series, particularly for those behind the scenes who put in long hours of intense, concentrated work.

But I think it's paid off - they do make it look absolutely beautiful. I'm really proud of the work that everyone involved has put in, and I hope you enjoy the show.

Becci Gemmell plays Joyce Fisher in Land Girls.

The second series of Land Girls starts at 2.15pm on Monday, 17 January on BBC One and BBC One HD, and is repeated on BBC HD on the same day.

For further programme times, please see the upcoming episodes page.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The Indian Doctor: Filming in a Welsh village

2010-11-15T10:05:28+00:00

The Indian Doctor is about Prem Sharma, and his wife, Kamini, who arrive in Britain in the summer of 1963. Rather than the bright lights of London, they are posted to a small Welsh mining village, taking over from the previous doctor there, who has unexpectedly passed away.

There, they encounter the curious villagers and the local English colliery manager, Richard Sharpe. He is most worried about a missing diary, belonging to the previous doctor, that may have incriminating evidence against him, linking the awful conditions in his mine and unusually high rates of lung disease.

I first got involved after the producers Deep Sehgal and Tom Ware approached me about 18 months ago. I thought too that it would make a really watchable drama.

I was particularly drawn to the 1960s and that, historically, many doctors from the Commonwealth were invited to Britain to support the relatively new NHS.

Of greater irony was that it was Enoch Powell who was seen to be doing the inviting.

Many members of my family arrived here at that time, so I recalled their stories and plundered their memories to get an idea of the kind of attitudes they faced but more importantly, what their emotional responses were.

I also spoke with a retired Indian doctor who did arrive in the 1960s and practised in a Welsh village (where he still lives), which was invaluable.

The biggest problem, he told me, was understanding the accent (ironically!) and the colloquialisms the locals used. Most Indians had learned very traditional English and had only heard the Queen's English at that.

Though the story does involve race, I don't think it's about racism. It's more about curiosity and preconceptions.

I experienced a degree of racism, particularly when I was at school in west London but I got it from both sides - the Asians and the white kids. There was a lot of racial tension at the time.

Racism, though born mainly out of ignorance, is just another form of bullying. So anyone who's been victimised or intimidated for something that they have no control over, should be able to relate to that.

The difference in our Welsh village is that it is small enough for people to get to know the Indian doctor and so even if people do have ignorant notions about him, the opportunity to dispel them is that much quicker.

The predominantly Welsh cast and crew seemed to have worked with each other many times before, especially on Welsh language dramas, so were very familiar with each other.

They were incredibly welcoming and warm towards me which made going into work every day a total pleasure. The crew were amongst the finest I've ever worked with.

I became aware of a collective approach to problem solving that doesn't happen very often in filming. Usually, different departments have to solve their own problems but here everyone pitched in.

I'd worked with Ayesha Dharker (Kamini) in a couple of movies and a mini-series and Mark Williams (Richard Sharpe) too. In fact all three of us were in Anita And Me.

Ayesha is one of the most instinctive and subtle actresses I've ever worked with so I always feel I have to raise my game with her. Mark is a man who can just about play anything. Supremely gifted, razor wit and annoyingly intelligent.

Off set, he's incredibly funny but also interested in everything. Having been involved with Harry Potter for the last 10 years, he's as comfortable conversing with kids as he is with grown ups. I think I fall somewhere between the two.

When you're filming, the script is a fairly organic thing (challenging to the writer!).

There are things that you discover aren't clear or don't work only when you get to the location or the set. Bill Armstrong had delivered a great script with lots of interconnected stories, the overwhelming majority of which is what we filmed.

The most important thing is for the actors to own the dialogue so minor tweaks were made with the blessings of the directors (Tim Whitby, Deep Sehgal), sometimes on the day. This is normal though.

There were so many highlights - it was probably the best telly experience I've had in the last five years. I tried to learn two Welsh words a day. Everyone from the make up department to sound and cameras pitched in with suggestions - that was fun.

No lowlights I can think of at all, but the 'oddlight' was driving to Cardiff from London and having to pay the toll when you cross the Severn Bridge. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was entering a giant theme park called Wales.

Daytime drama has always had an odd association to it. I suppose people immediately think of an Australian soap and assume that this can be the only tone.

However, recent compact dramas with strong writing and experienced actors, directors and writers such as Missing and Land Girls do suggest that the production values are much higher than merely a soap, which in itself suggests a production line approach to drama.

The main challenge for a daytime drama (apart from having to do everything on a miniscule budget compared to primetime dramas) is having to take into account the range of viewers that may be sitting in front of the box at that time of the day.

I record a lot of programmes, or watch them on iPlayer, so when they're on means a lot less to me than it used to. We would have, no doubt, approached some of the subject areas differently if the show was going out at 9pm, but I hope with the same charm and attention to detail.

I'm really proud to have been involved in such a collaborative, fun effort. All the credit goes to the people behind the cameras. Even the catering was great.

It was probably the most ego-free environment that I've worked in for ages, so perhaps proud is the wrong word. Privileged would be better.

Sanjeev Bhaskar plays Dr Prem Sharma in The Indian Doctor.

Series one of The Indian Doctor was broadcast on BBC One from Monday, 15 November 2010.

The whole first and second series will be available to watch and download in BBC iPlayer until Thursday, 28 April 2016.

Comments made by writers on the TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Moving On: Exploring a different face of addiction

2010-11-05T09:50:41+00:00

I can't remember exactly where I was when I had the idea for Letting Go (episode five of Moving On). I think, like lots of stories, I'd been carrying it around for a while. It was partly influenced by a group of people that I'd been working with.

As a writer I do work with different community groups. I've worked in prisons, with vulnerable young adults and with terminally ill people. For the last three years I've been working with drug and alcohol users who are in active addiction.

To begin with I had quite fixed stereotypical ideas about addicts and addiction and how it affects their lives and families. But the more I got to know them, the more I found that there was no such thing as a typical addict. Yes, some of my writing group are ex-offenders or street homeless, but others are ex-dentists, ex-engineers, social workers and teachers, some are still in employment.

Although I wanted to write an addiction story, I didn't want to write a drug story. Then I talked to a mother whose daughter is now at university but sadly after two breakdowns the mother herself is emotionally broken and will never return to work.

I talked to other mothers, spouses and fathers who had done everything to try to help the addict in their family and when they couldn't they themselves became ill.

These people are the focus of my story. I made Lee a heroin addict but he could easily have been a drinker or a gambler. This isn't his story, it's Kirsty's. The story about a woman who became addicted to fixing another adult. I wanted to reach out to anyone in the same situation, to show them that like her they can get off that chaos train.

Moving On is a collection of contemporary dramas which show a defining moment from where the characters move on in life. In my story Kirsty is forced to accept that she has become obsessed with someone else's life and isn't living her own.

Jimmy McGovern came up with the series idea and he had a very clear vision about the type of stories he wanted. Jimmy wanted contemporary social issues about real people. Then, as writers, we were asked to go and think about stories that we were passionate to write.

I submitted my idea and thankfully it was chosen for the second series. This was the third time that I'd worked with Jimmy and it's always a pleasure. He never tells you what to write or how to write it. What he does is ask all the right questions such as why is this character doing this? Why is this scene set here?

That's brilliant for a writer, it's exactly what we need. It makes you continually question whether you've got it right. In the past I've had script consultants who just want to rewrite your script their way so the end result is something that isn't very satisfying.

With this script I definitely felt it was mine, Jimmy worked with me, helping me to write the best script that I could.

Jimmy's also fab on the details, plot points, things like punctuation, which is great for me as I went to a trendy 1970s comprehensive that didn't teach grammar or spelling. Sadly my own education was quite poor.

Moving On did have a family feel, all 10 writers were invited to all the read-throughs. Which meant that we all got to support each other and hear every script and drink the odd glass of wine or two.

I've been asked a few times recently, why as a full-time writer, do I want to work with people in addiction - because it can be difficult. There are two reasons. The first being that my writing groups are people first and addicts second. And just like any other writing group there are people who are intelligent and sensitive and produce some outstanding writing.

Secondly I do passionately believe that people who work in the arts, whether it be painting, writing, music or dance, should try to reach out to as many people as possible. I have no big aspirations to be remembered as a fantastic writer but if I died tomorrow I'd like to think that I did at least try, through my art, to make people's lives better.

I have two favourite lines in the script. The first is when Lee is talking about heroin and his journey from loving it to hating it he says, "In my worst nightmares I watch it eat me."

It seems to me that drug addiction is like a slow death, like being eaten alive.
The other line is when Kirsty asks the dentist, "What sort of person judges people by their teeth?"

It sums up how we all judge each other all the time, fat or thin, old or young, affluent or not. We don't take the time to look at what's on the inside and I'm as guilty of that as anyone.

Karen Brown is the writer of Letting Go, episode five of Moving On - a 10-part drama written by a combination of new and established writers exploring contemporary social issues.

The series began on Monday, 1 November at 2.15pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Karen's episode, Letting Go, is on Friday, 5 November at 2.15pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

For further broadcasts, please see the upcoming episodes page.

The changing face of BBC Daytime: Moving On, The Indian Doctor, Land Girls and more

2010-07-06T14:07:04+00:00

BBC Daytime has gone through a pretty significant shift in terms of our programmes over the last couple years, so it was interesting to read the BBC Trust's thoughts on Daytime in their Strategy Review and particularly where they think there's room for improvement.

While some headlines are bound to focus on the criticism, it's worth having a look at how far BBC Daytime has changed in recent times, where this overlaps with the Trust's argument for greater distinctiveness and how this all compares to our commercial competitors.

Going back to February 2008, BBC Daytime no longer continued to broadcast the Australian soap Neighbours. At the time this felt like a major loss to the schedule -after all it was the highest rating show in Daytime and had been part of the schedule for more than 20 years!

Although it didn't feel like it at the time, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to BBC Daytime as it freed up schedule space and, more importantly, money to invest in making daytime feel much more distinctive than our rivals.

So what's been done in the intervening period and what more is being done to address the Trust's particular emphasis on thinking there are too many property and collectibles programmes.

It's fair to say the three genres we've focused upon more than any other since 2008 are current/social affairs, consumer and UK-originated drama. In fact, we have increased consumer, social and current affairs programmes in Daytime by 140% - a rise from around 80 hours to almost 200 planned for 2010.

Among the many examples we're rightly proud of are Rip-Off Britain, a consumer series fronted seasoned journalists Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford and Jennie Bond, Missing Live, a campaigning series to reunite missing people with their families and which was commended in the House of Commons, and the award-winning The Estate We're In, which is on air at 09.15 at the time of writing, and which Philip Johnston in yesterday's Daily Telegraph called "a programme for our time... it touches on Broken Britain and the Big Society".

Another big push has come in the area of UK-originated drama. For some years we've been the only broadcaster to produce drama in Daytime and Doctors has a long history of covering a broad range of social issues, winning several awards along the way. Have a read of Diane Keen's post on this blog about the show's 10th anniversary on this blog.

Over the last year this has been joined by event drama which I really believe has changed perceptions of what we do in Daytime.

Missing, starring Pauline Quirke, undoubtedly raised the issue of missing people to a wider audience and drew greater attention to the campaign overall. Jimmy McGovern's single plays Moving On touched on many issues our audience really care about and is back this autumn with double the number of episodes.

Finally, Land Girls was a first for BBC Daytime in that we'd never before produced a period drama in that part of the schedule - this too was paired with a factual series (The Week We Went to War) and was recognised with a Broadcast award earlier this year.

Several of the programmes I've mentioned, including Land Girls and Moving On, have received such acclaim that they've been repeated in peak-time. Factual programmes such as Fake Britain, Real Rescues and Dom's on the Case: NHS have also been promoted to peak time and have performed very well for the channel.

The Trust rightly gives us credit for the range of programmes in Daytime: we launched more than 50 different shows last year compared with fewer than 10 on each of our commercial rivals.

A large influx of new programmes, such as those mentioned above, does of course mean we have to lose others from the schedule to make space. Most recently Car Booty has been decommissioned alongside property series such as The Unsellables.

The Trust has also acknowledged that Daytime has already started the process of changing its mix of programmes - the challenge remains to continue to provide the broadest range of programming of any broadcaster.

Despite challenging budgets (a daytime series budget is roughly a quarter of a peak time series) the aim in daytime will always be to produce the highest quality programming other broadcasters wouldn't go near.

Sanjeev Bhaskar's new drama The Indian Doctor, set in Wales in 1963 and part of a wider season of programming on 60s, is one example in the autumn.

The next series of Moving On kicks off with John Fay's Sauce For The Goose, a powerful study of senile dementia with a stunning performance from Anna Massey.

It's followed by Shaun Duggan's Losing My Religion, a riveting film about Catholic hypocrisy and it concludes with Esther Wilson's I Am Darleen Fyles, the two stars of which are actors with serious learning difficulties.

And, as Jimmy McGovern said, "This series just wouldn't have been possible without BBC Daytime's commitment to commissioning drama that takes risks. Drama with something to say. Drama that is inexpensive. Drama that is excellent value for money."

Expect many more to follow.

Liam Keelan is the controller of BBC Daytime.

How healthy are BBC One, Two and Four?

2010-07-05T13:00:56+00:00

Today the BBC's governing body the BBC Trust has published its report on three of the BBC's television channels, BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four.

These reports are essentially health checks done every five years to ensure that the channels are delivering the kind of programmes that audiences expect of them.

The way it works is quite simple.

We submit a report on each channel to the Trust, analysing its performance, the range of programming provided and an outline of its achievements and strategy for the future.

The Trust examines these reports, canvasses the views of licence fee payers and then publishes its findings. You can read the reports we submitted for each channel - part one is here:

(BBC Trust Review Exec Submission 1 [pdf]) and part two is here: (BBC Trust Review Exec Submission 2 [pdf]). There's a summary of the report at the beginning of each one.

Also you can read the Trust's conclusions on their website.

I've had a chance to read these reports in full and I'm pleased to see that the Trust has recognised all the good work that the channels have been doing to deliver great programmes to you on all channels. On BBC One, dramas like Five Daughters and Luther have been truly distinctive offerings this year.

Both have had a passionate reaction from the audience as seen on the posts on this blog by Five Daughters executive producer, Susan Hogg and Luther scriptwriter, Neil Cross.

Elsewhere on the channel we've had programmes like The Day The Immigrants Left, Bang Goes The Theory and Modern Masters that are offering viewers the kind of unique peak viewing that you just wouldn't see anywhere else.

This is what the Trust want to see even more of but I'm pleased they can see how much we are already doing here.

On BBC Two and BBC Four the Opera season, Gareth Malone Goes To Glyndebourne and Wonders of The Solar System have proved to be hits with audiences and critics alike.

More recently I've been watching the Fatherhood season on BBC Four which is the kind of distinctive programming that only BBC Four would offer and that the Trust is challenging us to provide more of in order to increase the 'reputational dividend' for the BBC still further.

Richard Klein, controller of BBC Four, has written on this blog about the Fatherhood season, as has Andrew Martin, presenter of Disappearing Dad.

Another area where the Trust has asked some searching questions is our daytime output.

We've made great headway in introducing more current and consumer affairs into the daytime schedules with programmes such as Rip Off Britain, Crimewatch Roadshow and The Estate We're In (which won a Royal Television Society award and the second series of which is airing today) alongside new dramas Land Girls and Missing.

There is even more that we plan to do here; new Missing Live, a week of programmes around Remembrance Sunday, a new series of Jimmy McGovern's Moving On and a 1960s season of programmes including drama The Indian Doctor with Sanjeev Bhaskar - just the sort of quality programmes that sets us apart from all other channels in daytime.

So overall I am pleased to see that the Trust has endorsed our determination to bring audiences programmes that surprise and delight in a truly distinctive way.

There is plenty more to do and you will see this coming over the next year or so with new dramas such as Outcasts and Sherlock and factual programmes such as Frozen Planet, the Battle of Britain season and a major new literature series, Faulks On Fiction.

But in the meantime I encourage you to have a read of both reports and let us know what you think.

Jana Bennett is the director of BBC Vision

A decade of Doctors

2010-03-24T15:20:37+00:00

In September of 2002 my agent called and said I'd been asked to go and meet the producers of a show called Doctors. I must confess I'd never seen it, so I sat down and watched the show, trying to familiarise myself with the characters.

Immediately, I realised that the main character (Mac) was played by the actor Christopher Timothy. We'd first met when we did a film together, Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush. I was offered the part of Julia, Mac's ex-wife, and told the character would be in the show for three months.

Almost eight years later, I'm still doing the show and Julia has certainly seen some changes both in her personal and professional life. Over the years she's remarried Mac, lost him again and gained a second surgery - I know which one I'd rather have!

She's been accused of blowing up the old surgery, been in prison, been almost strangled to death by a boyfriend, opened a super practice involving two separate surgeries, moved house and been proposed to by one of the most gorgeous guys on the planet (actor Ray Fearon) and turned him down! What was she thinking, the soppy twit! I mean how many times is THAT going to happen!

On a more personal note, I've watched as Doctors has grown up into a fully fledged stand-alone drama, garnering awards all over the place including best storyline for Vivien's rape at The Soap Awards last year, as well as best single episode at The Soap Awards in 2004, 2007 and 2009, best newcomer at the Soap Awards in 2005, and Michael McKell won best actor and I won best actress at the Royal Television Society Midland Awards in 2008.

It's not bad for a half hour daytime show which has never been actively promoted in a very big way and functions on a tiny budget. That means that all you guys out there who are so loyal to the show have helped, in no small way to make this possible.

I've been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work with some wonderful, talented actors while doing this show. Some are very well known indeed. This week I'm filming a big storyline with Susannah York, and people like Sylvia Syms, Eric Sykes, Brian Blessed and Barbara Dickson are just a few others who I've been lucky enough to appear with.

I remember the time Barbara came in to play one of Julia's best friends. We were filming in a rather dingy bar in the centre of town and the only place we could sit in-between scenes, wrapped in several layers of blankets because it was the middle of winter, was the loading bay next to the rubbish bins - how glamorous is that?

I also get to work with the best bunch of people in the world. The crew, the people in the production office, make-up artists, costume designers, writers, producers, runners, the art department and many, many more that make up the whole unit, not to mention the regular actors in the show.

In fact we all have lots of laughs every day. To be honest, if we didn't I don't think any of us could sustain the long hours and often trying conditions that we have to film in.

I remember one day in particular when Chris and I were filming all day in a sauna and spa. For some reason we both got the giggles so there were more retakes than there should have been and, consequently, when we finally got out we were both wrinkled like prunes which made us laugh even more, which resulted in even more retakes.

It's being part of such a close-knit team that makes it all possible. Nothing is ever what it seems and because we work three months ahead, we often find ourselves filming a summer scene, in summer clothes in the middle of January, in a snow storm and standing on three inches of ice!

Whenever I get some time off, I travel. It's a passion of mine and the extraordinary thing is that wherever I go in the world, people know me and tell me that they watch Doctors because this show is syndicated and goes out on BBC Entertainment (previously BBC Prime) in dozens of countries all over the world.

One lady who lives in Zambia said that because they get so many power cuts there, she was missing the show so she went out and bought a generator, costing huge amounts of money, just so that she wouldn't miss any episodes! Apparently, all her friends go over to her house to watch the show. How's that for dedication?

During the 10 year run of Doctors some big events have taken place. Pebble Mill Studios was pulled down six years ago and we moved to the BBC Drama Village at the University of Birmingham. The transition was seamless and the show carried on as normal with a new surgery and new surroundings.

Three years ago it was decided that we would run through the entire year instead of being taken off for during the summer. This meant we needed to produce more episodes a year, 234 to be exact, so as there are only seven days in a week, the only way was to extend the days in order to shoot longer. Hence the advent of the dreaded triple banking.

That means three separate crews shooting three half hour episodes each, all filming at the same time! Yeah, I know, it takes some doing to remember where you are in each separate storyline, while shooting nine episodes at any given time and out of sequence, but we eventually got the hang of it.

Triple banking equals speed, so I guess we are allowed to feel proud of what is delivered to your screen five days a week, especially this special 10th birthday week. Here's to the next decade of Doctors!

Diane Keen plays Julia Parsons in Doctors

BBC Daytime's not-so-hidden gems

2010-03-15T10:06:55+00:00

It's been an interesting start to the year for BBC Daytime: A Broadcast award for our WWII-based drama Land Girls, a Strategic Review discussion around a significant increase in daytime funding and then a sideswipe from ex-communications minister James Purnell on the value of BBC Two daytime.I must admit I was more than a bit taken aback by the piece in the Guardian, given the range of what we do in daytime with what are in TV terms quite modest budgets.

Overall, we have around £80 million across both channels, which runs from 9.15am all the way up to early peak slots such as the The One Show on BBC One and Eggheads over on BBC Two, with both channels covering almost every genre you can imagine.

To give you an example of the variety of output in BBC Daytime, last week we had a current affairs series Fake Britain, gaining more than 1.6m viewers at 9.15 in the morning, a tremendous achievement against Jeremy Kyle on ITV1.

This week-long event series saw Dominic Littlewood follow the law enforcement agencies as they confront the gangs responsible for bringing counterfeit goods into the country with often tragic consequences. One of the main aims of the series was to show viewers how to avoid the being duped by bogus products and salesmen, so it's great to see the reaction it has had.

Another example would be Missing Live which starts this week at 9.15am and is paired with a two-week run of the Missing drama, starring Pauline Quirke, at 2.15pm.

The previous series was great to have on BBC Daytime, successfully reuniting many missing people with their families and even being commended in the House of Commons for being exactly the kind of programming only the BBC can provide.

This pattern of pairing afternoon dramas with factual programmes in the morning has been hugely successful for us. When you look at the feedback and audiences to Missing or Land Girls and The Week We Went to War, I'm convinced this is due in no small part to the fact that we've given these events so much space in the schedule, showing how much we believe in them.

BBC Two daytime also has its fair share of events. Great British Menu is about to return at 6.30pm and this year the professional chefs are competing to cook at a banquet celebrating the wealth of produce grown, reared and fished across the UK. Earlier this year, Michael Portillo followed the Victorian guidebook of George Bradshaw in Great British Railway Journeys, which received great plaudits and will return early next year.

I'm pleased that BBC Daytime has been identified in the strategic review as an important part of the BBC's future and if it is decided to increase our level of funding for in daytime, I'd hope you'd see a lot more of this kind of programming across BBC One and Two.

While we might not always get it right, and it would be interesting to hear what you think, I've always thought BBC Daytime's strength is based in the range of what we do and this is ultimately why programmes such as Missing and Rip Off Britain can sit happily alongside Bargain Hunt, Doctors and Eggheads.

Liam Keelan is the controller of BBC Daytime