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Emmerdale
Executive Producer
ITV drama executive Keith Richardson is ending his 24 year
association with rural soap Emmerdale.
Richardson is stepping down as Emmerdale's executive
producer, although he will remain as controller of drama for ITV subsidiary
Yorkshire TV.
ITV's head of continuing drama series, Steve Frost, will take
over the running of the programme. Frost is a former Emmerdale series
producer and executive producer of Coronation Street.
He will continue in his ITV Network Centre commissioning role
and carry on splitting his time between Leeds and London, although some of
his current responsibilities will be shared among other executives in the
drama department.
Following the change at the top of the show, Emmerdale series
producer Anita Turner has also decided to leave. ITV said a new producer
would be sought to replace her.
The changes follow a revamp on the show initiated by Turner.
19:20
January
15 2009 - waveguide.co.uk
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Terry Pratchett
Bestselling author, Sir Terry Pratchett, is 60 years old and
has recently been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease - a
two-part BBC Two programme will look at his condition.
As part of BBC Headroom, BBC Two's documentary strand focusing on mental
health and wellbeing, in which high-profile personalities tackle a subject
matter of personal importance to them, this two-part programme sees
Pratchett as he journeys into his uncertain future living with Alzheimer's –
a world, ultimately, without words.
Having sold almost 60 million books worldwide Pratchett is a man whose
imagination is in constant overdrive. The prospect of living without
memories or words frightens him: "I used to be a high-speed touch typist. I
laughed in the face of the spell checker. But then, one day last year, it
all started to go wrong."
The first film begins early in 2008, soon after his diagnosis. As he battles
with tying his tie and struggles to cope at a public reading of his new
book, he explicitly discusses his anger at being diagnosed with an illness
for which there remains no cure. The film follows Pratchett as he tackles
the disease head on, tries out some alternative treatments and confronts
leading scientists about how close they are to "the secret cure, bubbling in
a cauldron".
In the second film, Pratchett contemplates his future and the difficulty of
facing the inevitable "end game". Terry travels across the pond to learn,
first hand, how Americans are dealing with what one contributor calls the
"tsunami of Alzheimer's" that is threatening their health care, to find out
if they are closer to beating the disease.
He confronts his probable future by visiting a care home devoted to
residents with dementia, whilst evaluating the difficult dilemma thousands
of carers are faced with when dealing with a loved one who can't look after
themselves.
The programmes will be broadcast next month.
17:20
January
15 2009 - waveguide.co.uk
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Fantasy Island
Actor Dies
Mexican-born actor Ricardo Montalban, best-known for his role
as Mr Roarke in Fantasy Island, has died at the age of 88.
Montalban died at his Los Angeles home Wednesday morning, said his
son-in-law, Gilbert Smith.
Born in Mexico City, Montalban began his career in the early 1940s, playing
bit parts on Broadway and lead roles in films from his native country. He
was already a star of Mexican movies when MGM brought him to Hollywood to be
a romantic lead in 1947.
While he enjoyed a long career in film, he became an icon both as the
white-suited Roarke, the star of the high rated ABC drama, and as Kahn,
Captain Kirk's nemesis in the 1982 film "Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn."
Younger audiences know him as Grandpa Cortez in the Spy Kids films.
Montalban won an Emmy Award in 1978, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from
the Screen Actors Guild in 1993.
07:45
January
15 2009 - waveguide.co.uk
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