Media Centre Round Up #12 (week ending Fri 5 April 2013)
Ben Murray
Editor, BBC Media Centre
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Because of the Easter bank holiday, today’s post looks over the last two weeks of Media Centre activity.
The big news was, of course, that the BBC has a new Director-General. On Tuesday 2nd, Tony Hall began his tenure as head of the organisation at a time when the media landscape is witnessing radical and fast-paced change, presenting us with many challenges but just as many opportunities. It’s an exciting time.
And talking of excitement, last Saturday it was confirmed that David Tennant and Billie Piper are set to return for a special episode of Doctor Who alongside incumbent, Matt Smith, and his Companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman, as part the celebrations of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary later in the year.
And there’s more drama news as BBC One announced the re-commission of murder-mystery, Shetland, this time for a six-part series; while singer Pixie Lott has been cast in the channel’s popular crime thriller, Inspector George Gently.
On the comedy front, BBC One has announced the commission of a new sitcom from David Walliams. Provisionally called Big School, it will star Walliams himself alongside Catherine Tate, Philip Glenister and Frances de la Tour, and is due to start filming shortly. Meanwhile, Radio 1Xtra has also launched its first comedy season, the details of which can be found in the announcement here.
Last week I caught an old episode of Classic Albums on BBC Four which featured Pink Floyd’s legendary record, The Dark Side Of The Moon. In a programme packed with insights and anecdotes about the production process, it was clear that the conceptual approach the band employed achieved a kind of dramatic cohesion, which was no doubt part of its brilliance.
Tom Stoppard and cast from Dark Side
It made perfect sense when, the following day, Radio 2 announced the commission of a radio play to mark the 40th anniversary of the album. Called Dark Side and written by Sir Tom Stoppard, it will air on the August bank holiday, and is a fantastical, psychedelic story based on themes from the record and features a cast which includes Iwan Rheon, Amaka Okafor, Bill Nighy, Rufus Sewell, and Adrian Scarborough.
In fact, the album featured at number four in the station’s recent countdown of its listeners’ top 100, which was announced on Monday. Coldplay took the top spot and there was a wide selection of choices across the genres reflecting the breadth of the station’s output. The full list is available on the Radio 2 website, but here’s a few of my own favourites from it:
16. Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
38. Prince – Purple Rain
45. Joni Mitchell – Blue
49. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
51. Carole King – Tapestry
Finally, sticking with the music theme, and going back to an announcement we made a few weeks back now, Thursday night saw a rare screening of the David Bowie documentary Cracked Actor as part of Alan Yentob’s Imagine strand. It’s a fascinating glimpse of the artist as a young man, touring America in the post-Ziggy era, and definitely worth a watch. It’s on the BBC iPlayer here.Ben Murray is Editor of the BBC Media Centre.
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