Silent Witness Broke Guidelines

A brutal scene depicting a violent sex attack in BBC One drama Silent Witness is ruled to have broken TV guidelines on offence.

The BBC Trust's editorial standards committee said the "wrong editorial judgment" had been made and the episode was not suitable for its time slot on the channel.

The edition of the crime drama - which stars Emilia Fox as pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander - drew a large number of complaints when it was screened on April 22, 2012 as the programme overran and viewers tuning in for the BBC News At Ten were confronted with the gruesome incident.

A total of 632 complaints were made about the violent content which featured the twitching, moaning body of one character seen in a pool of blood in a toilet cubicle. His attacker was then seen preparing to resume the attack, although the gory detail was not shown.

But viewers were made aware of what had happened when a reference was made to the attack during the programme, the first of a two-part story called Redhill.

In its report, the committee said: "When the prison officer emerged from the toilet holding the bloodied stick with a pool of blood on the toilet floor, viewers were left in no doubt that an act of sexual violence was being carried out. The committee felt that this level of explicitness of sexual violence would have exceeded viewers' expectations of this long-running series.

It went on: "The committee concluded that the final scenes in the toilet block were in breach of the guidelines on harm and offence as they exceeded audience expectations for this series as they depicted a sadistic method of inflicting pain, injury and death.

And the Trust committee said the violent content was "too explicit for this series, on this channel in the first hour after the watershed".

February 26 2013 - waveguide.co.uk

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BBC Strike Ballot

Broadcasting union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists are to ballot thousands of BBC journalists and technical staff or strike action over increased workloads, stress, and job losses.

Earlier this month, many BBC journalists completed a 24-hour strike in a dispute over redundancies.

The corporation is cutting about 2,000 jobs over five years as part of its Delivering Quality First programme.

Most redundancies are expected to come as a result of natural wastage and a freeze on recruitment, but the NUJ said 30 compulsory redundancies were being disputed.

NUJ members went on strike on 18 February 18 after failing to reach an agreement with management over the redeployment of those 30 staff members.

February 26 2013 - waveguide.co.uk

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Peter Capaldi In The Musketeers

The Thick Of It's Peter Capaldi is to portray another ruthless figure after being cast in a new BBC adaptation of the classic story of The Three Musketeers.

Capaldi will play Cardinal Richelieu in the 10-part series.

The BBC One series, to be called The Musketeers, will star Luke Pasqualino - who has appeared in Skins and The Borgias - as D'Artagnan.

The rest of the crack team of Musketeers will be played by Tom Burke (Athos), Santiago Cabrera (Aramis) and Howard Charles (Porthos).

The Alexandre Dumas book has been brought to life a number of times, including big screen versions in 2011 and 1993, as well as a US animation series screened regularly during children's TV show The Banana Splits.

The new version is being made by the BBC, together with its commercial operations BBC Worldwide and BBC America.

Creator and executive producer of the new series, Adrian Hodges, said: "I'm thrilled to be working with such a dynamic, talented and attractive ensemble cast on our new version of The Musketeers.

"This series is all about passion, romance, heroism and action, and I can't think of a better group of actors to embody those diverse qualities."

Filming begins next month and the series - set in 17th-century Paris where the Musketeers are King Louis XIII's personal bodyguards - is to be screened next year.

February 26 2013 - waveguide.co.uk

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Newsreader Recalls Childhood Abuse

The Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow has recalled how he was abducted and abused by a member of staff at his school when he was six years old.

In a blog post on the Channel 4 website, Snow said the Jimmy Savile scandals had forced him to confront his own experience.

Snow praises the "courageous individuals" who have come forward in the wake of the scandal.

Snow had previously written in his autobiography about the 1953 incident but said the "swirl of allegation and denial" at the current time forced many to "relive the abuse inflicted upon them".

"I know this in part because in a small way I too was a victim as a child," he said.

"This is a dramatic moment in the affairs of men and women; we shall all be tested. But don't underestimate what this time means to the abused.

"I know, I was six years old when a member of the domestic staff at the school, where my father taught, abducted me.

"He took me to his room and undressed me, and then himself. Thank heavens someone saw the abduction and eventually a member of staff intervened and rescued me.

"I remember to this day fretting over not being able to do my braces up. And I admit that I have found Savile regurgitating the guilt and confusion that I felt."

The news anchor, 65, stressed the importance of treading with "diligence and great care" in handling allegations of sexual assault.

February 26 2013 - waveguide.co.uk

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Good Life Remake Impossible

It would be impossible to remake hit 1970s show The Good Life because society has changed too "radically" for rich and poor people to be neighbours, its star Penelope Keith has said.

Keith, 72, shot to fame in the sitcom as snobby Margo Leadbetter, opposite Paul Eddington as her henpecked husband and Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal as self-sufficient neighbours Tom and Barbara Good.

The actress, whose co-star Richard died earlier this month, told the Radio Times: "There was a move afoot for Paul Eddington and I to have a series together.

"But I remember realising very strongly that the reason why The Good Life worked was because its four characters were juxtaposed with each other. Plus I think the great secret with television situation comedy is to know when to stop.

"And as time went on, life changed radically, so I don't think you would have believed the idea of the Goods, who had no money, living on the same street as a neighbour who was running a big business.

"The Leadbetter characters would be on over £100,000 easily, so it wouldn't have worked, no.".

February 26 2013 - waveguide.co.uk

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