EastEnders Actress Suspended

EastEnders actress Shona McGarty has been suspended from the BBC One soap for regularly missing her scheduled start times.

Twenty-year-old McGarty has played troubled Whitney Dean since being introduced as Bianca's adopted daughter in 2008.

A BBC spokesperson said: "Shona has been suspended for repeatedly being late for filming."

The actress has reportedly been suspended for four weeks without pay.

After arriving in Albert Square, McGarty's character was involved in a controversial storyline about sexual grooming, which attracted 200 complaints but was cleared by media regulator Ofcom.

She has also been caught up in plots about prostitution and shoplifting as well as a particularly tangled web of relationships.

In May, McGarty was quoted in one paper as saying she wanted to leave the show to pursue a singing career.

July 16 2012 - waveguide.co.uk

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Viewers Switch Off Superstar

Viewers are continuing to switch off Andrew Lloyd Webber's talent hunt Superstar on ITV1 - the audience has almost halved.

The ITV series - to find a leading man for his revival of stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar - found itself beaten by BBC One's Countryfile on Sunday, which drew almost double the viewers.

Saturday night's edition of the show was the least-watched yet with an average of just three million viewers, while BBC One had 4.3 million for an edition of National Lottery: Secret Fortune.

Eleven performers are battling it out to take the lead in a touring version of Jesus Christ Superstar, which will visit a number of arenas later this year.

July 16 2012 - waveguide.co.uk

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BBC Annual Report

The BBC has reduced its star pay by £9.5m, spending just over £203m in the past financial year on salaries for its presenters and "talent", according to its annual report.

The report showed that 16 individuals were paid more than £500,000 in the financial year 2011-12, three fewer than the year before.

Meanwhile, director general Mark Thompson earned £622,000 in the past financial year - down from £779,000.

Thompson is stepping down from his role in September and will be succeeded by the BBC's current director of Vision, George Entwistle.

In total, the combined salaries of the BBC's executive directors fell from £5,714,000 in 2010-11 to £2,560,000, largely due to the number of board members being reduced from 13 to seven.

Two of the seven who stepped down are still on the BBC payroll - Lucy Adams, who is the corporation's head of business operations, and Peter Salmon, the director of BBC North.

Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, said: "We have continued to push hard on value for money, encouraging the BBC to drive down senior management pay and draw up a plan for living in more financially constrained times."

The annual report also looked at the BBC's productions. Spending on the BBC's TV channels decreased by £37.1m in 2011-12, down to £2.3bn.

But radio spending increased by £2m to £640.1m.

Drama output across BBC television fell by 156 hours, although there was a significant increase in drama on BBC radio - up 419 hours.

But new British drama programming increased by 144 hours.

Lord Patten said: "One of our main priorities is ensuring the BBC produces genuinely distinctive programmes, and progress has been made here, although there is more to do."

Entertainment programmes increased by 470 hours, while the same genre also went up on radio by 568 hours.
Factual content on TV increased by 307 hours, while music and arts fell by 90 hours.

Televised sports decreased by 389 hours and there were 602 hours less of sports coverage on BBC radio.

Staff numbers were reduced by 342. There were 470 senior managers in the BBC last year, a reduction of 70.

The BBC also announced that it has exchanged contracts for the sale of Television Centre in west London to property developers Stanhope Plc for a total price of £200m.

The BBC put Television Centre on sale in June 2011 and has operated on the site since 1960.

July 16 2012 - waveguide.co.uk

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Doctor Who

Doctor Who discovers what puts the evil into evolution when he takes on pre-historic beasts in his newest adventure.

Details of the next series of the timelord’s adventures which were announced today reveal Matt Smith’s hero will star in episodes called Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and a western-themed story called A Town Called Mercy.

They will follow the first episode of the new series, which returns in the autumn, that reunites him with his oldest enemies in Asylum of the Daleks.

Series chief Steven Moffat said: “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – what more do you need? The Doctor will come face to face with some of the most monstrous creatures evolution has ever produced, on some of the most monstrous sets we’ve ever built. We took one look at Chris Chibnall’s brilliant script and said to ourselves ’We’re going to need a bigger corridor’.

“And Toby Whithouse’s A Town Called Mercy takes us into a genre Doctor Who hasn’t attempted since the sixties – it’s a full-blooded western. We knew from the start we need some serious location shooting for this one, and given the most iconic American setting imaginable, there was only one place to go - Spain.”

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship stars Fast Show funnyman Mark Williams as the father of Arthur Darvill’s Rory and Sherlock star Rupert Graves.

The new series of Doctor Who returns later this year followed by a Christmas special and another eight episodes next year.

July 16 2012 - waveguide.co.uk

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