Insiders: The TV Podcast

• Attenborough and the alchemy of on screen talent, Netflix’s push into the world of unscripted, and why we keeping sending comedians to do travelogues?

  This week, as Sir David Attenborough’s new doc arrives on the small screen, Peter and Jimmy discuss the lightning-in-a-bottle that is on screen talent, and explore the peculiarly British appetite for eccentrics on TV. As Netflix set out their ambition to create “unscripted universes” on the platform, we unpack what that really means, and why, as the cost of making high end drama keeps rising, big returnable unscripted formats look all the more appealing. And we ask whether the time has come for the PSBs to consider merging in order to compete with the financial heft of the streamersPlus, Jimmy remembers a lunch with Boris Johnson, Peter commissions listeners to help devise a cooking-dating crossover format, and Richard Osman, renaissance man. Jimmy Mulville is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hat Trick Productions. His list of hit shows includes Have I Got News For You (series 69 now airing), Father Ted, Derry Girls, Outnumbered, and Episodes. In the US Hat Trick launched Whose Line Is It Anyway in 1997 which ran on ABC for seven years and was the first British series to be recreated for American network television by a British producer.Peter Fincham ran TalkBack, where he executive produced many of their biggest shows including I’m Alan Partridge, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and Da Ali G Show. He went on to be Controller of BBC1, then he was Director of Television at ITV, before returning to the independent sector as the co-CEO of Expectation, the company behind Clarkson's Farm and Alma's Not Normal.Our email address is [email protected], or you can get in touch via our socials at @InsidersTVPod. New episodes every Friday.Insiders: The TV Podcast is an Expectation and Hat Trick co-production.The producer is Owen Braben. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The future of soaps in the era of streaming, the joys of SXSW London, and the murky world of BBC nations and regions commissioning.

  This week, as the BBC invites indies to pitch for Casualty (made, and soon to be set, in Wales), we unpack the controversy around the nations and regions tender process, and the ways in which producers occasionally push their luck when it comes to the definition of a "regional" production. We talk the future of soaps, and ask how they adapt to a streaming world. And with SXSW arriving in London this week, Peter and Jimmy take the opportunity to remember TV conferences they’ve known, loved, and really enjoyed being part of. Which, frankly, doesn’t take them very long at all. Plus, herding geese in the Cotswolds, cancelling The Bill, and all the gossip from Charlotte Moore’s leaving do. Jimmy Mulville is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hat Trick Productions. His list of hit shows includes Have I Got News For You (series 69 now airing), Father Ted, Derry Girls, Outnumbered, and Episodes. In the US Hat Trick launched Whose Line Is It Anyway in 1997 which ran on ABC for seven years and was the first British series to be recreated for American network television by a British producer.Peter Fincham ran TalkBack, where he executive produced many of their biggest shows including I’m Alan Partridge, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and Da Ali G Show. He went on to be Controller of BBC1, then he was Director of Television at ITV, before returning to the independent sector as the co-CEO of Expectation, the company behind Clarkson's Farm and Alma's Not Normal.Our email address is [email protected], or you can get in touch via our socials at @InsidersTVPod. New episodes every Friday.Insiders: The TV Podcast is an Expectation and Hat Trick co-production.The producer is Owen Braben. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Channel 4’s controversial plans for in-house production, word clouds with Ant and Dec, and the comedy of Ken Dodd’s tax affairs.

  This week, Jimmy and Peter ask what Channel 4’s plans to push into in-house production could mean for the UK indie sector. They discuss the BBC’s latest report into the state of British comedy (and whether they might perhaps be better to just commission more comedy, rather than write reports about it). And they talk the art of note giving, and ask whether there’s ever a good way of telling a star they’re anything other than fabulous?Plus, buying Baywatch, the perils of slippery glass bridges, and why you should hire unhinged lunatics. Jimmy Mulville is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hat Trick Productions. His list of hit shows includes Have I Got News For You (series 69 now airing), Father Ted, Derry Girls, Outnumbered, and Episodes. In the US Hat Trick launched Whose Line Is It Anyway in 1997 which ran on ABC for seven years and was the first British series to be recreated for American network television by a British producer.Peter Fincham ran TalkBack, where he executive produced many of their biggest shows including I’m Alan Partridge, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and Da Ali G Show. He went on to be Controller of BBC1, then he was Director of Television at ITV, before returning to the independent sector as the co-CEO of Expectation, the company behind Clarkson's Farm and Alma's Not Normal.Our email address is [email protected], or you can get in touch via our socials at @InsidersTVPod. New episodes every Friday.Insiders: The TV Podcast is an Expectation and Hat Trick co-production.The producer is Owen Braben. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Special Episode: Remembering Alan Yentob

  With the sad news of the death of Alan Yentob, Peter and Jimmy take the opportunity to remember their old and much-loved friend, to celebrate his life and work, and to pay tribute to the huge impact he had on the world of British television. There's also, inevitably, a plug for the River Cafe in there. We think it’s what Alan would have wanted. Insiders: The TV Podcast is an Expectation and Hat Trick co-production. The producer is Owen Braben. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Gary Lineker’s departure from the BBC, the shakeup at ITV Daytime, and Peter does a turn (and gets us a plug) on the Today Programme.

  This week, Peter and Jimmy unpack the end of Gary Lineker’s time at the BBC, and ask whether the corporation has a more wide-ranging problem when it comes to managing big talent. And we talk the latest changes to the ITV daytime schedule across Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women, and ask what the channel are really trying to achieve. Plus, Jimmy’s final day at Goodison Park, the (perhaps overdue) demise of Granada Men and Motors, and the commandment at the BBC that seems to require everyone to say “it’s all about the iPlayer” in every single meeting.Jimmy Mulville is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hat Trick Productions. His list of hit shows includes Have I Got News For You (series 69 now airing), Father Ted, Derry Girls, Outnumbered, and Episodes. In the US Hat Trick launched Whose Line Is It Anyway in 1997 which ran on ABC for seven years and was the first British series to be recreated for American network television by a British producer.Peter Fincham ran TalkBack, where he executive produced many of their biggest shows including I’m Alan Partridge, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and Da Ali G Show. He went on to be Controller of BBC1, then he was Director of Television at ITV, before returning to the independent sector as the co-CEO of Expectation, the company behind Clarkson's Farm and Alma's Not Normal.Our email address is [email protected], or you can get in touch via our socials at @InsidersTVPod. New episodes every Friday.Insiders: The TV Podcast is an Expectation and Hat Trick co-production.The producer is Owen Braben. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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