TV blog Feed

Must-see telly moments – on BBC iPlayer now

2016-05-23T15:40:46+00:00

Featuring new drama, old friends and some surprising animal partnerships – all available to enjoy until Thursday, 16 June in BBC iPlayer.

A reminder of the days when supporting Leicester City FC wasn’t quite so popular

Will the boys warm to Nina? – Love, Nina, BBC One

If Hippos did spa days…

Watch as barbel fish nibble them clean – Natural World, BBC Two

And Bill Bailey on sloths, who travel “at a pace a snail would consider reckless”

Find out about their unlikely partnership with moths – Natural World, BBC Two

Hairy Bikers Si and Dave get dressed for the occasion at Radio 1

Watch as their rudest lines are played back to them – Innuendo Bingo, BBC Radio 1

Who knew donkeys were such good acting coaches – and selfie pros?

See what it takes to play Shakespeare’s comic character, Bottom – The Best Bottoms in the Land, BBC One

And finally, old friends Barbara Windsor and Pam St Clement are speechless watching their final EastEnders scenes together

See the old friends reunited – on and off-screen – Peggy Mitchell: Last Orders, BBC iPlayer

And if you want to see what comedian Marcus Brigstocke picks out on BBC iPlayer this week you can watch Frank Skinner On Demand With...

Get outta my pub! Stars' Twitter tributes to EastEnders' Peggy Mitchell

2016-05-17T16:30:47+00:00

It's official. One of the most famous women to ever cross Albert Square will be doing so for the last time in a special episode of EastEnders on Tuesday, 17 May.

No-nonsense mum to Grant and Phil, Peggy Mitchell is also one of the best-loved Queen Vic landladies in the soap's history. So in tribute to Peggy - and to the always bubbly Barbara Windsor - these famous faces have been trying out her infamous line: "GET OUTTA MY PUB!"

Actor Dominic West gives a convincing rendition from the comfort of The One Show couch

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/status/732157173711667200

While Graham Norton gets straight to the point

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/BBCOne/status/732555178985971713

Even the cast of new Doctor Who spin-off, Class got involved

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/bbcthree/status/732245958461820929

Meanwhile, Carol Kirkwood is predicting a Peggy storm

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/bbcweather/status/731138187247128580

And news of Peggy's departure even reached Brentford's premier radio station

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/bbcthree/status/732219434970927108

We reckon EastEnders' casting agents would be impressed with Dermot's attempt

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/BBCRadio2/status/732137554665836548

This lot tried out a new catchphrase for the day

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/BBCTwo/status/732551244271624192

And Lord Sugar showed how a fellow east-Londoner does it

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/bbcapprentice/status/732209300844597250

But of course, no-one nailed it quite like the EastEnders cast themselves

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/BBCOne/status/731128613920210944

Watch Barbara Windsor's take on the line over the years

Peggy Mitchell's final episode of EastEnders is broadcast on Tuesday, 17 May at 7.25pm on BBC One. It will be available to watch in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast.

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

Five things to watch: Is the next Monet among us?

2015-02-27T17:14:00+00:00

1 Banished Thursday 5 March, 9pm, BBC Two

“This is not England. This is a godforsaken corner of a godforsaken country.”

Set in New South Wales, Australia, Banished retells the story of the penal colony founded after the arrival of male and female British convicts and their masters in 1788.

Starring Russell Tovey, MyAnna Buring and Julian Rhind-Tutt, the drama – written by Jimmy McGovern – delves into subjects of love, faith, justice and morality in a paradise setting that doubles as a human prison.

2 The Big Painting Challenge Sunday 1 March, 6pm, BBC One

If EastEnders stalwarts Pam St Clement and Rudolph Walker turned up and asked us to paint their portrait, we wouldn’t know where to begin. But not so for the nine budding artists competing in The Big Painting Challenge, who this week are tasked with capturing the actors’ best sides on canvas (no pressure, then).

Presented by Una Stubbs - herself an amateur artist - and art lover Richard Bacon, the contestants must complete a series of tasks that are then critiqued by judges Lachlan Goudie and Daphne Todd, OBE, as they compete to be crowned Britain’s best painter.

Easels at the ready!

3 Suffragettes Forever Wednesday 4 March, 8pm, BBC Two

Historian Amanda Vickery tells the untold stories in the battle for women’s rights, a fight which is centuries old.

In this second episode, she explores the paradox British women felt under the reign of a female queen, Victoria, who did not support the campaign, and the women who refused to accept a subservient life.

4 The Casual Vacancy Sunday 1 March, 9pm, BBC One

The drama adaptation of JK Rowling’s famous novel continues, and all is not what it seems in the idyllic parish of Pagford.

As the election to choose a new councillor nears, tensions rise – even more so when a so-called ghost continues to make their political opinions known. But who is behind the stunt?

You can also watch the first two episodes on BBC iPlayer

5 The Gift Tuesday 2 March, 9pm

Warning: you’ll need a box of tissues to make it through this one.

The programme that sees normal people reunited in emotional reconciliations concludes this week. The final episode sees a former prisoner seeking to make amends with his victims, while a mother thanks the woman who drove her 50 miles every day to visit her premature baby at the hospital.

We challenge you not to get a lump in your throat.

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

What happened when the EastEnders cast watched back their best - and most cringeworthy - moments?

2015-02-10T14:48:28+00:00

You can catch some of EastEnders’ best loved actors cosied up on their Walford settees cringing and laughing over some of their most memorable scenes together. It’s in an exclusive six-parter on BBC iPlayer, all to celebrate EastEnders’ 30^th birthday. So what could have gone on behind the scenes with some of Walford’s finest? Director and producer Matt Taylor told us the story…

EastEnders is a juggernaut and continuously rolls on, and episodes don’t get repeated as such, so the 30th anniversary felt like too good an opportunity to miss.

Most actors are happy talking about their own work, so with Back To Ours, it was just about finding the right people at the right time. Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace were the guinea pigs with this project, essentially making a pilot, so they took the risk. Once I had a short clip from this episode to show people, most apprehensions were gone, as they could see clearly what I was after. Samantha Womack and Rita Simons nearly bit my arm off to be included!

The Mitchell sisters are just as close in real life

On set, it was about making the actors feel relaxed and confident so that they could chat truthfully and openly, although certain storylines may have been expected, the actual chosen footage was kept under-wraps until ‘action’ was called.

We filmed between two-three hours with each pairing and often did more than one showing of a clip. The first time around gave us genuine reactions, on the second take we could expand those thoughts and stories. But sometimes the cast became so engrossed as viewers, they forgot to chat!

Occasionally, I would be needed to steer the conversation back on track or help to give their comments context that we’d all understand, but mostly once they started it was very hard to stop them chatting, especially Pam St Clement and Barbara Windsor - they are probably still there!

Jessie Wallace's famous 'Yes I am!' scream was originally a whisper

Making each episode was a long process. Matthew Campbell the EastEnders archivist would draw up a massive long-list of moments for us from the EastEnders database. Assistant producer Katy Reid would then work through the endless clips, helping to reduce the long-list, before we’d work together in creating a final running order, shaping something that flowed and felt like a rounded show. I was keen not to ask the actors for their thoughts at this stage as I felt that may give us a too polished response.

Samantha and Rita’s reaction to the frozen lake scene was totally unexpected – and hilarious. It would be easy to mistake them for real-life sisters. The screen kisses generated a far more school playground level of embarrassment than I ever expected.

Meanwhile, Nitin Ganatra and Himesh Patel might be father and son on-screen but they are clearly mates with an added mentor relationship off-screen. The story of Himesh first meeting Nitin with an autograph request is sweet and told brilliantly.

Nitin says he often forgets that Tamwar isn't his son in real life

Adam Woodyatt’s relationship with ‘his house’ – ie Ian Beale’s set - was fascinating. He’s essentially grown up on set and he feels a real ownership towards it. He would refer to times when the house dimensions or layout were ever so slightly different, or, as you can see in his episode, where he believes Ian’s belongings (props) should be! Kat and Alfie’s place has actually burned down since filming, so that was lucky!

Barbara Windsor and Pam St Clement are TV legends, so it was so nice to see them working so naturally together, with such a genuine friendship built around the shared experience of working in Walford. It also became very old-school showbiz at times, especially when Christopher Biggins called Barbara for a chat!

Pam and Barbara have a strong friendship after their Walford experiences

The clips had an equally strong reaction for people who had worked on those episodes too. During Pat’s death scene, we were concentrating on Pam and Barbara’s responses to this story and out of the corner of my eye I could see one member of the production team in floods of tears!

The audience responses have been fascinating – it’s given EastEnders viewers a chance to feel like they really know the people behind the characters just that little bit more.

Matt Taylor is the director and producer of EastEnders: Back To Ours.

EastEnders: Back To Ours is available until Thursday 26 February on BBC iPlayer.

More on EastEnders: Back To Ours:

Digital Spy: Barbara Windsor and Pam St Clement join EastEnders: Back To Ours
Daily Mail: Goggle-box style EastEnders

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

Five things to watch this week: one clueless adult and a night in with EastEnders

2015-02-09T13:42:16+00:00

1 Uncle Tuesday 10 February 10pm, BBC Three

The most dysfunctional, morally dubious uncle in the country is back – and this season Andy (comedian Nick Helm) and his nephew Errol have even more woes to keep them entertained/depressed.

With a spot of writer’s block, a restraining order, shared custody and a dead-end job to contend with, will Andy ever write that hit song? (Spoiler alert: er, probably not.)

2 Asylum Monday 9 February 9pm, BBC Four

When a government whistleblower takes asylum in a Latin American embassy as he fights extradition to America and the possibility of a death sentence, he doesn’t expect it to be quite so, well, boring.

Stuck inside the fictional El Rican embassy, Dan Hern (played by Ben Miller) is already losing all patience with his lawyer – who seems mostly concerned with what his last meal would be – when another political refugee, internet pirate Ludo Backslash, is also granted asylum.

Childish, embarrassing and technology-mad, he quickly becomes Dan’s companion from hell. But with so much at stake, who will break first?

3 Alex Polizzi: The Fixer Tuesday 10 February 8pm, BBC Two

If there’s one thing we know about Alex Polizzi, it’s that she means business. Small businesses, to be exact.

She’s on the road helping Brits whose businesses are on the brink of breaking down. This week, she casts her eye over Wakefield-based events company Balloonin Marvellous, whose future looks anything but...

4 An Idiot’s Guide to Politics Wednesday 11 February 9pm, BBC Three

Jolyon Rubinstein (yes, that guy off BBC Three’s The Revolution Will Be Televised) is on a mission to get the Facebook generation more engaged with politics, after discovering that more than three quarters of under 25s don’t plan to vote.

Using a lie-detector and a statue of Ed Milliband as Wallace (without his Gromit) – Jolyon aims to get young people to like politics, and make it their favourite topic. Here’s hoping he doesn’t tumblr at the first hurdle…

5 EastEnders: Back To Ours Available now

Ever wonder how famous EastEnders pairings really get on off-screen? Or what they think of some of their most memorable moments in Albert Square?

Rita Simons and Samantha Womack (Roxy and Ronnie Mitchell) cringe as they relive underwater scenes, sexy wedding dresses and the trauma of filming a live episode, all under the watchful eye of EastEnders: Back To Ours cameras.

Meanwhile, Nitin Ganatra and Himesh Patel (who play father-son duo Masood Ahmed and Tamwar Masood) also cosy up on the sofa over some of their biggest soap moments – and Nitin reveals he sometimes forgets Himesh isn’t actually his son. Aww.

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

Making Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me

2012-03-20T10:37:37+00:00

When we approached Rita about making Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me, she was initially unsure about the amount of exposure it would bring her then five-year-old daughter Maiya.

Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me

Maiya was diagnosed with hearing loss at six months old and Rita and her family have recently found out that she will probably lose her hearing completely.

In the end Rita came to the conclusion that if she could break some of the stigma about deafness and raise awareness that deaf people can achieve whatever they want in life, it was worth doing the documentary.

Rita also, by her own admission, had been sticking her head in the sand about Maiya's condition and she finally felt ready to look into what was available for Maiya's future.

As the producer and director I was mindful about how our presence in the family home might affect the children and if it might put new emphasis on Maiya's hearing loss.

But once I got to know the family I became very comfortable with the role we played in their life for the four months we filmed with them.

Maiya and her twin sister Jaimee are fun, strong, characterful children who love being filmed and by the end of filming were directing me half of the time.

"Have you filmed me doing a handstand yet?"

However, we were always careful not to film sensitive scenes about Maiya's hearing loss when the children were around.

When Rita and Theo first found out from specialists that Maiya will probably lose her hearing altogether Maiya actually had her hearing aids out and wouldn't have been able to hear anything.

Maiya gets her hearing tested

Ninety per cent of deaf children are born into families who have no previous experience of deafness, so Rita and Theo are representative of many parents with deaf children.

It was a rollercoaster of emotions for them.

Everyone wants to do the right thing for their children, but choosing a route of treatment seems a big gamble as you never know until afterwards if you've made the right decision.

Rita is starting to understand about what life might be like for Maiya as a deaf adult and is starting to learn about how deaf people communicate.

There are many choices but Rita takes quite a black and white view for Maiya - to keep her in the hearing world with artificial sound like hearing aids or cochlear implants, or immerse her into the deaf world with sign language.

However, there is huge middle ground and most people use a mixture of ways to live and communicate.

There are so many different options and paths available to deaf people now that as Maiya grows up I'm sure she'll work out the right fit for her and Rita and Theo will support her in that.

Filming with deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) was a challenge as I don't know BSL. I can now sign what my name is, that I work as a director and that I'm filming with an actress from EastEnders who has twin daughters - but that can only get you so far!

We had many moments of communication breakdown that we had to overcome, but we managed it.

What most people don't realise is that BSL is not just a translation of English, it's a totally different language with different grammar.

For me as the English language speaker it was a bit like trying to communicate with someone who only speaks Mandarin, and it made me realise how difficult communication can be for deaf people.

As we show in the documentary, Rita and her family took a BSL lesson. As an actress, Rita was actually very good at sign language as it's a visual language and she picked it up very quickly.

However, at age five, Maiya was more interested at playing dressing up games than BSL, but I do think that as she gets older the family will look into learning sign language again.

When we started filming Rita said to me that I'd never see her cry about Maiya as she takes a very practical approach and won't let herself become emotional about it.

However, when she went to visit the deaf school and saw a big group of deaf children rehearsing a school play I turned round and saw tears streaming down Rita's face.

Rita visits the deaf school

The impact of seeing so many children like her daughter was very emotional for her and I think it hit home that Maiya is deaf and does have to overcome challenges on a daily basis because she can't hear like other people.

Rita and Theo are united in their approach to parenting Maiya, but they have very different personalities.

Theo is more reticent in making decisions whereas Rita is very decisive, but the balance between the two of them makes them a good partnership.

Rita and Theo have been together since they were teenagers and although having a deaf child inevitably makes parenting more stressful it hasn't put a strain on their marriage and they are very happy.

Rita wanted to find out about cochlear implants so she met eight-year-old Jack who has the same level of hearing loss as Maiya and was having a cochlear implant operation.

One of the most stressful parts for me was filming Jack's activation appointment.

Rita and Jack's parents were incredibly stoical about it but I absolutely hated it when Jack took a while to start hearing through his implant.

You may like to know that two months on Jack's parents Tracy and Mick have told me that he's getting on brilliantly and that he can hear all sorts of sounds that he couldn't hear before.

Sophie Leonard is the producer and director of Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me.

Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me is next on at 10.40pm on Tuesday, 20 March on BBC One and BBC One HD. It was first broadcast on Tuesday, 20 March at 12.35am on BBC One and BBC One HD with signing in British Sign Language.

For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

If you would like further information about deafness and the issues raised in the programme, please visit the information and support page.

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

Eastenders: E20

2011-09-23T10:45:00+00:00

I've been playing Tamwar Masood on EastEnders for four years.

Together with Charlie G Hawkins, who recently left EastEnders after playing Darren Miller for eight years, I have written the second online episode of EastEnders: E20 series three.

The latest additions to the Albert Square spin-off: Faith (Modupe Adeyeye), Donnie (Samuell Benta) and Ava (Sophie Colquhoun).

I had always written ideas and scripts since my GCSEs, having studied drama and creative writing, so I was thrilled when my application to write for E20 was successful.

Writing was always something that Charlie and I thought about and talked over, but E20 was our first real attempt at writing together.

We were huge fans of both series one and two, and were chuffed when we heard the producers liked both of our applications.

Luckily we already knew Emer Kenny and Arinze Kene as they had both been actors on EastEnders - Emer played Zsa Zsa Carter, and Arinze played Connor.

They had both previously written for E20, so they helped familiarise us and helped us adjust between the two shows, but all the writers were fantastic at bumping ideas together.

Performing is obviously something we've both done for a long time with EastEnders, so the things we've learnt there have helped us overcome a lot of the challenges that acting entails.

But there are many differences in terms of writing, particularly the challenge of finding the balance between your ideas and the direction the producers want to take the series in.

It's our job to accommodate their ideas and our own in the best way - a challenge that can be tough, but just as rewarding.

When writing our episode, both Charlie and I actually made a conscious effort to avoid using our own characters because we like to think of ourselves as actors and writers as separate entities.

There's always a danger that writing what you'd like to perform might overshadow what's best for the episode.

Of course we have our own favourite characters from the main show and it was great to work out where we could potentially use some of them in our episode, but we were conscious of not using them just for the sake of it.

It is important that they fit in to the narrative of the episode, because in our capacity as writers the priority is E20 and the brand new characters that drive the series.

Introducing E20's three brand new characters

However, there's no denying it's great being able to use characters from EastEnders!

Sadly our EastEnders filming schedules meant that we just didn't have time to get involved with the bags of extra online content which sits online alongside the 15 episodes.

It's fantastic, so viewers should definitely look forward to that as well as the main drama.

We've been fortunate enough to have worked with a really great team who work hard on every aspect of the story of E20.

Can't wait for you all to see it!

Himesh Patel plays Tamwar Masood in EastEnders which continues on BBC One and BBC One HD on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. You can catch up with episodes on the EastEnders website.

Series three of EastEnders: E20 launches this week. Episodes are available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on the E20 website, with an omnibus on BBC Three on Fridays at 8.30pm.

Find out more about this unique commission from BBC Learning on the About the BBC Blog.

If you are aged 16-22 and are interested in writing a future episode of E20, you should submit a piece of fictional writing for a character you have created. You should write either a blog entry, a diary extract or a monologue for that fictional character (no longer than 400 words) and send it to: EastEnders: E20 Script Development, BBC Elstree Centre, Clarendon Road, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 1JF

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

EastEnders: I worked on the car crash scripts

2011-04-18T10:36:17+00:00

I was lucky enough to spend three months working on EastEnders as part of the BBC Production Trainee Scheme.

I was working as their assistant script editor, and was also shadowing an experienced script editor to follow a week's worth of scripts from commissioning through to filming.

These episodes will just have gone out on TV, so I'm only allowed to talk about them now!

EastEnders is a truly unique environment. It's hard to describe the atmosphere, but because the set and production offices are all in one location, there's a constant buzz about the place, and a real sense of community.

It becomes normal to pass the actors on the way to the canteen, or in the production office as you nip into a meeting.

There's a real sense of the EastEnders 'company'. It feels to me like an old-fashioned repertory theatre company - pretty distinctive in this day and age.

My job was to monitor character and story continuity across all scripts. This involved a lot of reading - at any one time I could be reading up to 20 new drafts each week, tracking each character's pick-up from their last appearance to make sure it all made sense.

Luckily, I absolutely love reading scripts and could quite often be found at my desk laughing out loud, gasping with shock or even shedding a tear. I felt privileged to be reading scripts from a show I've watched since I was a kid.

I also had to write long-term character and story trails, charting storylines across several months of scripts to help script editors and writers have as much context for storylines as possible.

Attention to detail is taken very seriously at EastEnders and all this work helps keep the richness to the scripts.

All the characters are treated as real people, so everything - from what their usual drink in the Vic is, to what hours they work - is recorded and tracked. This level of detail is what helps Albert Square feel vibrant and alive.

One of my favourite parts of the job was going along to the monthly long-term story meetings where everyone sits round a big table to discuss the upcoming stories and the Writers pitch new ideas.

It was amazing to see how passionately everyone would debate things, and to see storylines develop in front of me.

After this meeting the story team would go away and work on the ideas that had been given the go-ahead.

Then, once the writer delivers a draft of their script, this is discussed at a script meeting.

If anything isn't working these notes are fed back to the writer who then works on another draft.

It might be that a particular character's voice isn't quite coming through, or that a storyline doesn't quite flow from the previous block of scripts, and the script editor's job is to work with the writer to help fix this sort of thing.

The scripts I was shadowing really started to come to life in the production meetings with the designer and director.

You will have seen that there is a dramatic stunt sequence when Max and Abi are involved in a car crash. Hearing the director discuss how he intended to stage this was fascinating!

Everything, from what cars would be involved, to what Abi and Max's injuries would be, to how they were going to schedule the shoot around the stunt, was discussed.

These dramatic sequences really lift a script off the page and after hearing the director talk about it, I knew this episode was going to be memorable.

The filming of these episodes only began in my final week on EastEnders, but I made sure I got to go along and watch some!

It really was one of the highlights of my time on the show. I just couldn't believe I was on the EastEnders set!

Watching Jo Joyner, Jessie Wallace and the rest of the cast film a hen party scene was one of those surreal "pinch yourself" moments!

Reading these scripts for the first time gave me goosebumps, so I can only imagine how they came across on screen. By the time you read this, I'll know! How exciting is that...?

Samantha Psyk was a trainee assistant script editor on EastEnders.

EastEnders continues on BBC One and BBC One HD on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with an omnibus on Sundays. You can catch up with episodes on EastEnders website.

More information about training for a career at the BBC is available on the BBC Production Trainee Scheme website.

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

The BBC One HD channel is ready for launch

2010-10-21T13:04:25+00:00

High Definition (HD) from the BBC will take another giant step forward in just a few weeks time. Back in May, I shared our plans on this blog to offer BBC One in HD. I can now share with you the news that BBC One HD will become available from the evening of Wednesday, 3 November, on all HD platforms (Freesat, Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media).

The channel will show exactly the same programmes as BBC One in standard definition, but wherever a programme has been made in HD you will be able to experience it in all its glory.

We'll open with The One Show, of course, at 7pm, which shifted to HD this summer. Over the weeks ahead you will also be able to enjoy a new science series from Aardman, led by old friends in Wallace And Gromit's World Of Invention, and the arrival of Film 2010 in HD.

There will also be food, from Jimmy's Food Factory and Nigel Slater, and entertainment with the continuation of The Apprentice and Strictly Come Dancing, Children in Need night, and The Royal Variety Show. Holby City, which has just started its HD life on BBC HD this month, will shift to BBC One HD from November.

Following the dramatic fire at the Queen Vic which led to the departure of everyone's favourite landlady, Peggy Mitchell, the iconic pub is now HD-ready, having been gloriously restored and placed under new management.

I can also reveal that viewers will be able to enjoy all the drama of Christmas Day in Albert Square in HD, as EastEnders broadcasts in HD for the first time.

You can enjoy a taste of what BBC One HD will have to offer - together with the first glimpses of Albert Square in HD - in the video below.

Those shows which aren't made in HD - including initially EastEnders - will still be on BBC One HD but will be 'upscaled'. This means the number of lines in the Standard Definition (SD) picture are almost doubled - from 576 to 1080 - to use the space that an HD picture would occupy. As the original material is SD, the picture quality is not as good as HD.

We also won't be able to bring you regional news programmes or, if you are in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, your own versions of BBC One in HD, and the programmes shown on them.

I'm sorry, this is something that we are working on, but the requirements of HD channels mean that we have to start with just a single version. Of course, you'll still be able to see your national and regional programming on your standard definition BBC One channel

Please don't think BBC HD is disappearing. BBC One HD is allowing us to grow the choices we can offer to you in HD, and BBC HD will be able to grow up alongside it. BBC HD will continue to be the home of many of your HD favourites (including Top Gear, Wimbledon, and our golf coverage).

We're also moving new programming into HD, and I'm delighted to share with you the news that we will be taking the opportunity to bring you the last couple of races of this year's Moto GP in HD as a trial run for the sport on the channel.

BBC HD will still offer children's programmes at the weekend, and great drama, comedy, music and factual programmes from BBC Two, Three and Four throughout the week. The channel will give you a chance to catch up on BBC One HD programmes you may have missed.

Programmes coming from the BBC's other channels to BBC HD will include programmes from BBC One Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which can't be shown on BBC One HD. And we also expect to offer some classics from the archive of HD programmes we've shown since BBC HD launched.

With more hours to accommodate the growing number of HD programmes across the two channels, we'll be able to be more consistent about the HD schedule, showing programmes at the times they are going out elsewhere (which I know is often a source of frustration).

So get ready for November - I'll be keeping you up to date with our progress on Twitter at naglerhd - and start adding the new channel numbers to your favourites.

BBC One HD will be available - from November 3rd - on Freesat channel 108, Freeview channel 50, Sky channel 143 and Virgin Media channel 108. BBC HD will be available - from November 3rd - on Freesat channel 109, Freeview channel 54, Sky channel 169 and Virgin Media channel 187.

Danielle Nagler is head of BBC HD.

You can read more about EastEnders' move into HD on the EastEnders' blog.

For a list of frequently asked questions and answers please visit the BBC One HD FAQ page.

BBC One is going High Definition

2010-05-28T10:26:17+00:00

For some time now, the number of programmes we make in High Definition (HD) has been growing. Last month, we began broadcasting Ashes To Ashes, Doctor Who, Graham Norton, and Young Musician Of The Year for the first time, as well as Springwatch's first appearance in HD, which starts next week.

I can now let you know that by the end of the year, you will also be able to enjoy EastEnders, Holby City, QI, Weakest Link and The Apprentice in HD from the BBC, as well as a whole range of returning programmes and new shows.

To ensure that we have space to bring you these programmes in HD, we are also planning to begin broadcasting BBC One in HD this autumn.

That means that in the future - once you have a fully-connected HD set in your home - you will be able to enjoy all the BBC One programmes made in HD (including the vast majority of programmes shown in the evenings) without the need to change channels.

And if you don't fancy a BBC One programme, BBC HD which will operate for longer hours than it has done previously will be able to offer you an alternative including Top Gear, Later With Jools Holland, and new drama, comedy, factual and children's programmes.

These two HD channels from the BBC will be available whatever digital television platform you choose, provided, in the case of Freeview, that HD has rolled out to your area.

I don't know when we will reach a point at which all the BBC's channels are available in HD. To an extent, that may depend on you - whether you choose to buy a new HD set, or to connect up the set you already have but don't use for HD, and ultimately how far you feel that HD is the way you want to watch television.

But I do hope that giving you a choice, night after night, of different HD programmes from the BBC will help you to find something to enjoy in the best quality television can currently offer. If you'd like you can read the full story on the BBC Press Office website.

As the countdown to the World Cup gathers pace, HD is blasting out of pretty much every newspaper, billboard, and television display around. Those of you who have not yet succumbed are no doubt wondering what all the fuss is about.

The BBC will, of course, be offering a large number of ball games over June and July this year - including football from South Africa, tennis from South London, and golf from St Andrews - all on BBC HD, with every ball, every blade of grass, and every bead of sweat more visible than ever before thanks to high definition.

But for those longing for the summer of sport to be over before it has even begun, today's news hopefully makes clear HD from the BBC can offer a whole lot more.

And while we are getting ready for BBC One HD - and the new programmes that will be on it - don't forget that you can sit back and enjoy the summer on BBC HD now.

Danielle Nagler is controller of BBC HD

After EastEnders live episode - Stacey Slater disappears!

2010-02-22T09:02:59+00:00

Well, I'll settle for that! A near faultless performance from cast and crew alike, and a brilliant actress delivering the killer cliffhanger to 16.6m stunned viewers. It was everything I could possibly have hoped for - a truly memorable event to mark 25 great years of EastEnders. I'm very proud of everyone involved.

Forty eight hours after EastEnders Live, I'm trying to put things in perspective. I said in my earlier blog that all the best EastEnders moments of the last 25 years involved some kind of creative risk. Going live was a massive risk, but seeing it pay off so successfully, getting us our highest ratings in seven years, has made all the stresses worthwhile.

The biggest burden for me has been keeping the secret. I've been reading the comments on my blog and I can reassure Bridget, sweet alternative, Jon and others, that the cast and crew really didn't know until the night.

The moment I told Lacey Turner (Stacey) that she was the killer, with less than an hour to go before the performance, was very exciting. She was shocked, and momentarily disorientated, but went with it immediately. We'd talked before about how it could be her, and she knew what she needed to do. I also told Jake Wood (Max), not that he was the killer, but that he would be supporting Lacey in the final scene in which she would be revealed as the killer. Watch it here:

I never told Charlie (Bradley) - he, along with the rest of the cast, learnt it as the episode progressed. We've always managed this story on a need-to-know basis.

So how did we film all the episodes after the 'reveal' without them knowing? Peter - you've pretty much worked it out. Well done! Here's my more detailed explanation, although I have a feeling that Peter probably puts it better:

By the end of Friday only two characters are in on the secret - Stacey and her confidante Max - and it seems that Bradley is assumed to be the true killer of Archie. Monday's episode (22 February) picks up with Stacey and Max both distraught at the loss of Bradley, and to some extent blaming themselves for what's happened.

But the audience now know something more than the actors did when playing those scenes - that Stacey is the killer and Max knows it. Here's where it gets tricky! With the greatest respect to those two brilliant actors, their sadness and guilt plays both ways. Upset at their loss and at encouraging Bradley to run, or upset at their loss and the fact that Stacey's actions may have led to it - these two sets of feelings and emotions more or less look the same.

It's this kind of split intention (where we've given an actor an intention to play which could mean one thing or another) which we have used heavily during this period with a number of characters. With Stacey and Max, it's all helped by the fact that Stacey mysteriously disappears quite soon too.

We won't be filming new scenes on Monday (although we are doing some sound editing), but we will be dropping some quickly shot material in before too long. So I can assure viewers that the story doesn't become conveniently forgotten about, but rather stays active.

None of the writers, directors or actors working on the episodes that have been filmed up to now (about two months' worth) have known the truth. It's made it very tricky, as we've asked them to follow and work on our storylines without every being truly able to explain to them what's going on. But they've gone along with it, trusting our assurances that it would all make sense in the end. Another big risk! But I think this one will pay off too.

Zara, gorde21, emma, Angie Linford, Mark, Ash, mac, julie and others - thank you! I'm delighted you enjoyed the episode.

To Elizabeth - I do hope you don't abandon us. There's plenty of warmth and hope in the months ahead in EastEnders, and not too many tragedies. Although something rather unpleasant does happen to Sugar the dog, now I think about it... Oh, what is it with this programme and death?

Finally, to Ex-Tender, I reckon the music in the Bradley montage might have been One Day Like This by Elbow (but I didn't produce the Aftermath show, so I'm not 100% certain!).

Thanks for reading, and thanks so much to those of you who took the time and trouble to comment.

Diederick Santer is executive producer of EastEnders

Who killed Archie? Even EastEnders actors don't know

2010-02-18T10:12:52+00:00

EastEnders has never played it safe - whether that's by breaking taboos, like giving Mark Fowler HIV when no one else would talk about it, or by allowing a load of teenagers to take over the show as we did with our spin-off series E20 a few months ago - and we're certainly taking a big risk by deciding to do our first ever live episode for our 25th anniversary on Friday, 19 February.

But it's our risk-taking spirit which has brought us our biggest successes and which has made us the greatest British soap of the last 25 years.

I've been executive producer of the show for nearly three and a half years, overseeing all aspects of the show's content and production, and it is an enormous personal privilege for me to steer the show that I've been watching since I was 15 to its quarter century. This anniversary will be a celebration for the audience of all that is great and has been great about EastEnders over the last 25 years.

We'd mapped out a big whodunnit story (Who Killed Archie?), featuring many of our biggest characters and crossing with Ricky and Bianca's (second) wedding, to play leading up to the anniversary night. But we only decided to do a live episode after we worked out the best way to protect the secrets of the story. The cast, the crew and the audience won't learn the identity of the killer until the night. In addition, of course, it's a new and exciting way for the audience to experience EastEnders and a bracing challenge for our cast and crew.

When I first told the cast about it, their responses were very clearly divided between great enthusiasm and deep worry. In the end, if things go wrong (which of course they won't!) the egg will appear to be on their faces. But as time has gone on, they've all become excited by the challenge, and by the opportunity to work in a different way, albeit for one night only.

We'll be rehearsing loads. Run through after run through, drilling our team like an army, building up confidence, ironing out the glitches, perfecting the action.

Simon Ashdown, who has written the script, will be on hand throughout the rehearsal process, working with director Clive Arnold and line producer Sue Mather to get the very best fit between the creative and the practical. It's very complicated.

Usually when a character walks from the interior of the Queen Vic out onto Albert Square, we film it on separate days - the interior in the studio, the exterior on our 'lot'. But for the live we can't do this - to move an actor from one set to the other requires other scenes in between to cover the action. To sort out these issues, there have been a number of people walking briskly around the site holding stopwatches.

I'm so excited about the big night. I'm confident that the performance will go well, and I'm really intrigued to see what the audience make of the outcome. What I'm also really looking forward to is finally not having to live with the worry of knowing who the killer is any longer. There's very few of us who know, and we've had the story mapped out in our heads (not on paper!) for about a year. We live in constant fear of giving it away, talking in our sleep, nodding at the wrong moment.

None of the actors know who did it. We'll be rehearsing a number of scenes in which a variety of outcomes are revealed, but I won't be telling the cast and the crew which one we're doing until the night, moments before we start transmitting.

It's our biggest ever risk, and our biggest ever night, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

UPDATE 17:12 - PS - I'll be writing here on the TV blog again after the live episode - come back on Monday to see how it turned out!

Diederick Santer is executive producer of EastEnders