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Familiar Face Returns To Coronation Street
A familiar face returns Coronation Street this week when
Sunny Jim makes a dramatic appearance.
Actor Kenneth Cope made his Coronation Street debut in the 1960s and is set
to return to the street to play the same role after 42 years away.
Cope played Minnie Caldwell's lodger Jed Stone, who she called Sunny Jim,
and was last seen in the soap in 1966 being sent to prison for handling
stolen blankets. The actor will again play the part
of Jed Stone - now an elderly tenant who stands in the way of Tony
Gordon's expanding business empire.
His storyline will feature being evicted from his home by
ruthless developer Tony, played by Gray O'Brien.
Cope joined the cast of Coronation Street to play lovable rogue Jed in 1961.
He left in 1966.
The actor has also appeared in several Carry On films, Brookside and had a
leading role in 1960s cult television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
19:50
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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Most Memorable Soap
Death
Brookside's body under the patio storyline has been voted the
most memorable soap death of all time - in a survey conducted by Woodland
Burial Parks.
The dramatic scene from 1993 where Mandy Jordache stabs violent husband
Trevor before burying his body under the patio came top in a poll of 3,000
soap fans with 12 per cent of the votes.
Tiffany Mitchell running into the path of Frank Butcher's car in EastEnders
in 1998 came second with Dirty Den - the only Eastenders character to have
suffered two deaths in the hit soap - takes third and fourth place.
Den was first killed in a canal-side shooting back in 1989. But this later
turned out to be faked, with Den returning in 2003 only to be killed off by
new wife Chrissie with a doorstop two years later.
A spokesman for Woodland Burial Parks said: "Despite Brookside not being
on-air since 2003, people still remember the soap"s gripping storylines -
especially the dramatic death scene in 1993.
''Soaps are a massive part of our everyday lives and hard-hitting storylines
like the ones in this poll do remain with us for long time."
Nana Moon's peaceful death in EastEnders came fifth, followed by Mike
Baldwin dying on the cobbles of Coronation Street in rival Ken Barlow's
arms.
Emmerdale's 1993 plane crash, which killed four regular characters and left
Chris Tate paralysed, came in at number seven, while eighth place went to
the death of Corrie murderer Richard Hillman, after he drove his family into
a canal in 2003.
EastEnders' fatal stabbing of Dennis Rickman on New Year's Eve, 2005, is at
number nine in the poll, and Charlie Stubbs' 2007 murder in Coronation
Street completes the top 10.
Other soap deaths to feature in the poll include Steve Owen killing Saskia
with an ashtray in EastEnders, at number 15, and Coronation Street's Alma
dying of cervical cancer at number 20.
17:29
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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BBC
Romanian Language Service To Close
BBC World Service is to close its Romanian language service.
The news and current affairs service, which broadcasts for
almost four hours a day on radio and also runs a complementary website, is
proposing to cease broadcasting on August 1 after 68 years of broadcasting.
This decision, which has been endorsed by the BBC Trust and the FCO, comes
after consideration of audience need to continue broadcasts, the changing
media landscape in Romania and the declining impact of the service.
Broadcasts in Romanian for the Republic of Moldova will also cease, as the
Moldovan side of the operation cannot be sustained without the
infrastructure of BBC Romanian.
The closure will affect 46 staff (30 in Bucharest in Romania; four in
Chisinau in Moldova and 12 in London) and will save £1.3 million per annum.
BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman said: “Like the other European
services we closed three years ago, BBC Romanian had its roots in the Second
World War. It has served its audiences with distinction through the
Communist era to the present day.
“The contribution of all BBC Romanian staff has been immense: serving
Romanians with innovation and commitment for 68 years. The quality of the
current output is of the highest standard. But Europe has changed,
fundamentally, since the early nineties; and with the rapidly declining
audiences in Romania we can no longer justify continuing the service. It is
widely acknowledged that BBC Romanian’s presence has contributed to the
building of freedoms now enjoyed by Romania’s citizens. We believe this will
be a lasting legacy.”
17:13
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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Next Generation
BBC iPlayer
The BBC today unveiled its new-look BBC iPlayer which fully
integrates radio and TV in one interface, as the service records over 100
million requests to view programmes in the six months since its launch.
The new-look service, which launches in beta tomorrow, will 'dual run'
alongside the existing iPlayer for the next few weeks.
Erik Huggers, the BBC's Group Controller for Future Media and Technology,
said: "The next generation of BBC iPlayer allows UK licence fee payers to
catch up on their favourite BBC TV and radio programmes in one place – a
completely unique on-demand service.
"Audiences are now able to experience the full range of BBC content – some
250 TV programmes currently available each week as well as all the BBC radio
networks – in a new and more accessible way, and all for free.
"On-demand radio from the BBC has been a phenomenal success since it was
first launched in 2002, with around 600 million hours listened to via
streaming or the 'listen again' function.
"The full integration with iPlayer is a natural evolution for the audio
service and an exciting step for audiences."
12:15
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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Calls For
Heinz Ad To Be Reinstated
At least 205 people have so far complained to the Advertising
Standards Authority about an advert featuring two men kissing.
An ASA spokesperson said they had also received around 50 emails and calls
from people who are upset that Heinz decided to take the ad off the air.
Gay equality organisation Stonewall said the complaints were part of an
orchestrated campaign, similar to the one that targeted their "Some People
Are Gay: Get Over It" billboard adverts.
Another orchestrated campaign, this time an online petition demanding that
Heinz reinstate the advert, has already collected 1,300 signatures.
"We originally only intended it to gain a few signatures more than 200, for
argument's sake," said petition creator Sam Bannister.
"But as the day has worn on we ended up with nearly 1,000 in the space of 12
hours."
The petition reads: "We feel that the decision to withdraw the advert is
wrong in the face of a small number of narrow-minded individuals.
"By doing so, Heinz have given the impression that they would prefer to
cater for the homophobic than the free-thinking, and the decision has
provoked upset, brand distrust and outrage among the LGBT community and
outside of it.
"Do not bow down to these homophobic individuals."
The ASA said that 200 of the complaints related to the gay
kiss in the advert, and that it would not make a judgement on whether or not
to investigate a potential breach of taste and decency rules until the end
of next week.
11:58
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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Emmerdale Actress
Quits Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallett
has quit the ITV1 soap, according to a newspaper report.
The 25-year-old has played Jo Sugden for three
years and has most recently been embroiled in a domestic abuse
storyline with husband Andy.
She reportedly wanted to leave last year, but was
persuaded to stay on by Emmerdale chiefs.
Roxanne now plans to move to London and tackle
West End stage roles.
11:38
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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BBC
Worldwide Buys Australian Venture
BBC Worldwide has bought out its partners to take full
control of Australian joint venture subscription channel UKTV as well as
confirming it will launch two new services in the country.
The BBC's commercial arm currently holds a 20 per cent stake in the general
entertainment channel, which broadcasts shows such as Little Britain and
Last of the Summer Wine, but has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to buy out
partners FremantleMedia and Foxtel to take full ownership from July 1.
BBC Worldwide said the move formed part of its strategy to "bring the very
best of British programming from the BBC and other production houses to a
global audience".
In addition, BBC Worldwide has also formed a strategic alliance with
Australian pay-TV provider Foxtel to roll out two new channels - BBC
Knowledge and CBeebies - from its BBC-branded global portfolio in the middle
of next year.
Darren Childs, BBC Worldwide channels' managing director, said that the
commercial arm would also look to launch other channels from its portfolio,
which includes BBC Lifestyle.
"We felt we needed a bigger stake in the Australian pay-TV market. Our
content has a huge amount of affinity with Australian audiences, but we only
had a small equity stake in UKTV. By taking full control, it will allow us
to launch and develop new services," said Childs.
"The agreement demonstrates our commitment to Australia and follows the
ground-breaking launch of the BBC HD service on Foxtel - the channel's first
launch outside the UK," he added.
"Having five channels will allow us to showcase the breadth and depth of BBC
programmes, in many cases for the first time, to Australian audiences. In
addition, we will continue to seek new opportunities for future growth in
this region."
11:28
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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Own TV Show For UK
Author
Nottinghamshire-based author Philip Gardiner is to have his
own programme on the soon to be launched Edge Media TV channel on the Sky
digital and Freesat platforms with Virgin Media to follow.
The new show will be called Gardiner’s World and will see the author
interviewing cutting edge researchers and authors on history, propaganda and
secret societies. He will also be featuring fresh musical talent and other
entertainment in this alternative chat show.
"This is a very exciting opportunity for many in this field who otherwise
have to be content with doing the odd lecture or radio interview. Mainstream
TV steers clear of such controversial work, even though much of it is based
on good solid research." said Gardiner.
One of Gardiner’s first guests will be the author, Crichton Miller, who has
made a major discovery regarding the origin and use of an ancient navigation
device that we know today as the Celtic Cross.
"Miller’s cross discovery is provable and he has obtained British Patents to
prove that it does in fact work. This is the kind of hard evidence I’m
looking for and the kind of discoveries that people will find fascinating
and yet never see on their TV screens." said Gardiner.
09:40
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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North Wales
Digital Licence
Ofcom has awarded the new local Digital Audio Broadcasting
(DAB) radio multiplex licence for North Wales to the sole applicant MuxCo
Wales Limited.
The company is proposing to provide six local digital sound programme
services, in addition to BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, as follows:
Classic Hits - Coast FM
Current and Classic Hits - Champion FM
Full Service - Wales Live
Religious - UCB UK
Traffic and Travel - Traffic Radio (English Language)
Traffic and Travel - Traffic Radio (Welsh Language)
MuxCo Wales Limited also proposes to provide "a wide selection of speech and
music podcasts provided by a range of companies".
The company proposes to commence its service with all six local digital
sound programme services within two years, using a network of two
transmitters which it estimates will provide total 'outdoor' coverage of 50
per cent of the adult (aged 15+) population of the licensed area.
07:30
June
25 2008 - waveguide.co.uk
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