A quick round-up of BBC-related announcements, blog posts and press write-ups this week, plus a look forward to some selected highlights on TV and radio.
THIS WEEK
Jacqueline Bisset won Best Supporting Actress in a TV series, mini-series or TV movie at the Golden Globes for her role in the BBC drama Dancing on the Edge broadcast in March 2013. Elisabeth Moss secured Best Actress for the BBC Two drama Top of the Lake. Later in the week BBC Films’ Philomena,Saving Mr Banks & The Invisible Woman received six Oscar nominations.
Saturday was 60 years to the day since the first weather forecast on TV. About the BBC carried a couple of blog posts about BBC weather: one from department Head Liz Howell; the other featuring an interview with weather forecaster Peter Gibbs. In a documentary voiced by former Radio 4 continuity announcer Charlotte Green, Timeshift told the story of TV weather forecasting on BBC Four. The programme is available for three more days via BBC iPlayer.
Also on Saturday, the first episode of The Voice series 3 aired, attracting an average 8.4 million viewers up 2.2 million on the series 2’s opening show.
Director of News and Current Affairs James Harding gave a speech entitled ‘Journalism Today’ on Tuesday 13 January.
BBC iPlayer came top of the YouGov BrandIndex ratings for 2013 for the second year running. Ariel reported on a review conducted by BBC’s Marketing and Audiences department detailing that BBC Sport was the most watched broadcaster in 2013.
Earlier this week BBC One announced plans for an ambitious contemporary re-telling of the Easter Passion. Entitled The Great North Passion– a live broadcast scheduled for Good Friday 2014 – is the work of a partnership between the BBC and The Cultural Spring. Also announced this week … an all-female DJ line-up for two nights in March on Radio 1 to coincide with International Women’s Dayand Freedom 2014 - a new season of hard-hitting investigative programmes from around the world.
Following the death on Thursday of regular Five Live contributor Steve Evans from Wolverhampton, who had terminal stomach cancer and spoke about entering his ‘final phase’ on Tuesday in his final interview for the network, presenter Richard Bacon paid tribute to him on 16 January.
The press reported on the death of Only Fools and Horses actor Roger Lloyd-Pack on Thursday.
COMING UP
Two new series start on BBC One on Sunday. Call the Midwife returns at 8.00pm followed by The Musketeers at 9.00pm.
Winterwatch returns to BBC Two this week. Episode 1 is on Monday at 8.30pm. Read more on the Nature UK Blog. Also on BBC Two start on Monday at 7.00pm, a week-long search gets underway for Britain’s best interior designer in The Great Interior Design Challenge.
On radio, BBC Radio 1’s Stories rapper Professor Green and 19 year old ‘Emma’ share their experiences with suicide and its effects in ‘Suicide Survivors’.
Round-ups are published weekly on Fridays.
