Blog posts by year and monthOctober 2010
Posts (11)
Turn Back Time: Researching your High Street through the ages
How do you think the British high street has changed over the last 150 years? In an era of online shopping and out-of-town retail centres, what skills, services and trades have disappeared from our high streets? Do we have a chance to bring back to life what we have now lost? These were questi...
World's Strictest Parents: Looking after two troublesome girls
I came to be a part of The World's Strictest Parents as a challenge thrown at me by one of my friends, who thought I brought up my four kids based on strong locally grounded beliefs, and felt that I could test myself out with some kids who did not know what these were and see how they coped with...
Renaissance Revolution: Applying cutting edge techniques to art
When Renaissance Revolution was pitched to me, I was intrigued by the idea from the production company Blakeway Productions of using cutting edge graphic techniques to present classic artworks on television. Other television genres such as science and history programmes have made excellent use o...
The BBC One HD channel is ready for launch
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 platf...
Holby City goes into High Definition
I've worked on Holby City off and on since series four - a whole nine series ago. I came in as a script editor, moving across from the daytime soap Doctors. I thought all my Christmases had come at once, working on a show with such a stellar cast: the wonderful Hugh Quarshie and the gorgeou...
My debut on Film 2010 With Claudia Winkleman
Some people are born performers. I, on the other hand, was a shy child, who it only seemed natural would then spend his career shut away on his own hunched over a laptop - working first as a film journalist, then a novelist and then a bit of both. But life is a strange old beast - and with t...
My role in lesbian drama Lip Service
I was trying to read the scripts for Lip Service, between scenes, covered in raspberry syrup, sat on a really cold and dirty set of a horror movie I was doing called Prowl in Bulgaria. And two thoughts crossed my mind: Wow, Frankie is an awesome part, and... that'll never happen. So with...
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Writing for my childhood heroes
Set your sonic lipsticks to thrill - The Sarah Jane Adventures is back. And I don't care if I've already seen the scripts (even written some) - I'll be on the edge of my seat watching them all over again. Just as I adore Doctor Who, I love this show. When I was a kid Lis Sladen was my Doctor'...
My inspiration to write Single Father
I'm excited about Single Father going out on TV but also a bit nervous and a bit protective. I haven't felt like this with other things I've written. Maybe it's because I've spent five years on it but also because I never tire of watching David Tennant, Suranne Jones and all the actors zinging t...
The Song Of Lunch: Making a poem into a drama
One of my oldest friends, Martin Goodman, now the professor of creative writing at Hull University, thrust a little book into my hands about six months ago saying he thought the poem contained within, The Song of Lunch, would make a great film. Martin had just taken over the professorship fr...
