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4 episodes with Jed Mercurio
3 episodes with Jed Mercurio
3 episodes with Jed Mercurio
3 episodes with Jed Mercurio
3 episodes with Jed Mercurio
5 episodes with Jed Mercurio
2 episodes with Jed Mercurio
3 episodes with Jed Mercurio
2 episodes with Jed Mercurio
Tim talks to legendary TV scriptwriter and producer, the man behind the monster hit Line Of Duty, Jed Mercurio. Jed tells Tim about his journey from military medic to becoming one of our most celebrated TV drama writers. They discuss the tough world of TV commissioning and the tricky balance between being commercially minded and creatively challenging. Follow Tim on X, Threads and Instagram @timreid69 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When Reid and Maria visit Kokorov at the palace it's clear he and the Ambassador have a special relationship. Could Maria and Natsev be on course for a similar alliance but along different lines? New alliances formed and previous suspicions now confirmed, it's time for Maria to make a decision about her next steps.Maria...Sinead Keenan Reid...Kevin McNally President Kokorov..John Albasiny Maria's Father...Piotr Baumann Gilroy...Sean Rigby Natsev...Avital LvovaAll other roles by Eddie Toll, Anna Krippa, Ani Russo and Hana Zidek Written by Chris Brandon Produced by Claire Broughton Direction, Sound Design and additional production by John Wakefield The Executive Producer is Jed Mercurio.With thanks to Theresa Bubbear and Leigh Turner for their testimony and Tanya Nedashkovskaya for her translations.A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4
When Reid tells Maria she is to be recalled to London she's incredulous, but he is firm, her recent injuries mean she is better off, in his opinion, back in London. When she arrives however she's met by an unexpected government official, Gilroy, who has some questions, and information, that challenges, and in some ways confirms Maria's most recent suspicions.Soon she's travelling back out of the UK to the embassy, to an unexpected welcome.Maria...Sinead Keenan Reid...Kevin McNally Adam...Declan Rodgers Gilroy...Sean Rigby Maria's Father...Piotr Baumann Natsev...Avital LvovaAll other roles by Eddie Toll, Anna Krippa, Ani Russo and John AlbasinyWritten by Davy Banks. Produced by Claire Broughton Direction, Sound Design and additional production by John Wakefield The Executive Producer is Jed Mercurio.With thanks to Tanya Nedashkovskaya for her translationsA Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4
Matthew Bannister onPope Francis, the first Latin American Pope who was noted for his humility and modest lifestyle.Paddy Higson, the TV and film producer once described as “the mother of the Scottish film industry”. Jed Mercurio and Clare Grogan pay tribute.And David Sassoon, the fashion designer who dressed royalty and film stars. Dame Zandra Rhodes tells us about his life.Interviewee: David Willey Interviewee: Rogelio Pfirter Interviewee: Frances Higson Interviewee: Clare Grogan Interviewee: Jed Mercurio Interviewee: Dame Zandra RhodesProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Pope Francis, St Peter's Basilica, Vatican, BBC News, 25/04/2025; Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio appears on balcony of St Peter's Basilica addressing large crowd after being elected Pope Francis, BBC News, 13/03/2013; Pope Francis visits Lesbos, Greece, BBC News, 05/12/2021; Pope Francis speech, BBC Parliament, 25/09/2015; Pope Francis Speech, BBC News, 29/07/2013; Pope Francis Speech, 21/04/2025; Pope Francis speech, BBC News, 24/04/2025; Gregory's Girl, Film Promo, Director: David Forsyth;, 1981; Paddy Higson interview, Singular Scots, BBC Radio 4, 05/09/1991; That Sinking Feeling, Film Promo, Director: Bill Forsyth, 1979; Cardiac Arrest, Series 1, Promo, BBC ONE, 21/04/1994;
After Adam's concern that Reid is shielding certain parties with his assessment of the crash report, Maria leaves hospital to confront him. At the embassy, Reid is scathing, Maria is new to this, there are many factors at play and even a suggestion of another country's involvement could be catastrophic. Challenged by Maria as to how he can be sure, Reid sets her up with a meeting to speak to those fears head on. Maria...Sinead Keenan Reid...Kevin McNally Adam...Declan Rodgers Bolin Wu...Lobo Chan Maria's Father...Piotr Baumann Paul...Edward Hogg Nick Kim...Vincent LaiAll other roles by Eddie Toll, Anna Krippa and Ani Russo Written by Davy Banks. Produced by Claire Broughton Direction, Sound Design and additional production by John Wakefield The Executive Producer is Jed Mercurio.With thanks to Tanya Nedashkovskaya for her translations.A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4
Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat about all things on and off the telly. This week Nat can't stop watching Celebrity Big Brother and is cheering on her mate / EastEnders co-star Patsy Palmer. Jo has also persuaded Nat to watch her favourite drama ever called Bodies - a Jed Mercurio series set in a hospital. Plus they've been watching a new comedy drama on the BBC called Austin.What they can't stop watching, what they definitely aren't going to bother with, new releases and comforting classics – TV is timeless and no telly is out of bounds. As well as having a natter about what's on TV, they share backstage goss from the world of telly, whilst also cracking up about the more humbling moments in their lives. Self-confessed TV addicts and stars of two of the biggest shows on our screens, EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey, Natalie and Joanna are the perfect companions to see what's occurring on and off the telly.Timecodes for shows discussed today are:18:10 - Celebrity Big Brother 29:37 - Bodies 34:50 - AustinGet in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to 03306 784704.Hosts: Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page Producer: Georgia Keating Executive Producer: Richard Morris Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries Sounds Editor: Arlie Adlington Music by MCassoOff The Telly is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Sounds.
Maria Kossecka, newly appointed Deputy Head of Mission, attends a rally with her boss James Reid, to see Milan Ogrisovic, the front runner in the forthcoming presidential elections. His supporters are numerous and vocal about his message of unity and his pro European views. When Reid asks Maria to attend a dinner with Ogrisovic that night, she is apprehensive - it's her first major engagement. Little does she know that the week's events will soon overshadow those fears.Maria...Sinead Keenan Reid...Kevin McNally Paul...Edward Hogg Ogrisovic...Laurentiu Possa Kathy...Kiran Sonia Sawar Galina...Anna Krippa Natsev...Avital LvovaAll other roles by Eddie Toll, Ani Russo and John AlbasinyWritten by Chris Brandon. Produced by Claire Broughton Direction, Sound Design and additional production by John WakefieldThe Executive Producer is Jed Mercurio.With thanks to Theresa Bubbear and Leigh Turner for their testimony and Tanya Nedashkovskaya for her translationsA Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4
Maria Kossecka - newly appointed Deputy Head of Mission in a former Soviet State - arrives in the country on the eve of a contentious presidential election that seems likely to install a pro-Western candidate. However, after spending an evening where she and her new boss, Ambassador James Reid, entertain this new man of the hour, Maria wakes to find he has been killed - his plane brought down in what looks like a targeted attack. As the British are unexpectedly tasked with overseeing the investigation into the crash by the incumbent president, Maria is forced to manage a complicated tangle of evidence, conspiracy, and competing interests inside and outside the country. Will she manage to find out the truth before civil unrest in the country threatens to escalate out of control? And what will this mean for British interests in the region?Written by Chris Brandon and Davy Banks, Discretion is a reminder of the necessity of diplomacy on a global stage. The Executive Producer is Jed Mercurio.Starring Sinead Keenan and Kevin McNally.Discretion is a Hat Trick Production for BBC Radio 4.
It's episode 150, so it's time we finally talked about the movie called Frankenstein! No, not that one. No, not that one either... Okay, so there are a lot of movies called Frankenstein, but this week, we're talking about the lesser-known BBC TV movie set in modern (2007-modern) times. Join us as we look at this still quite relevant, melancholy reinterpretation complete with gender-swapped mad scientist, evil unhoused guys, evil government agents, and a fairly gross tank full of genetic goo. Please rate, review, and tell your fiends. And be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future installments. Join us on Patreon at patreon.com/thefrankencast. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @thefrankencast or send us a letter at thefrankencast@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you! Your Horror Hosts: Anthony Bowman (he/him) & Eric Velazquez (he/him). Cover painting by Amanda Keller (@KellerIllustrations on Instagram).
Luke's not well enough for a full trip to March of 1999 aboard the Time Machine. So Dawn Glen bravely joins Matt to examine the TV landscape 25 years ago this month. First, Channel 4 launches HBO's Sex and The City. On ITV, gentle Brummie comedy The Grimleys starred written by Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio. Channel 4 launches female led sketch show Smack the Pony whilst the BBC waves goodbye to one of their biggest hits of the decade, as Noel hosts one final (slightly bitter) House Party.
This week Kelly-Anne Taylor is joined by the Scottish actor, Martin Compston. Born and raised in Greenock, Scotland – he first made his name starring in the Ken Roach film, Sweet Sixteen (which won the Best Screenplay Award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival). It was his role as Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott in Jed Mercurio's Line of Duty that made him a household name. In this episode, he talks about how that role changed his life, what it's like living in Vegas – and why he's doing less on-screen nudity. Plus, he chats about his latest travelogue Martin Compston's Norwegian Fling and what it was like running with wolves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The writer of Line of Duty, Jed Mercurio, a former doctor, turns his attention to the impact of the Covid pandemic on NHS staff and patients in the ITV drama Breathtaking. Tom Sutcliffe talks to him and co-writer Prasanna Puwanarajah, who's also an ex-doctor, about the power of drama depicting recent events. The Arts Council England has come in for criticism for new guidance about “overtly political” art, guidelines that some artists felt could amount to censorship. Darren Henley, the Chief Executive of Arts Council England, explains their position on freedom of expression. Front Row also reviews the major new exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind at the Tate Modern, which looks back over the career of this groundbreaking conceptual artist. We also review the new Apple TV+ series, The New Look, starring Maisie Williams and Juliette Binoche, about the lives and rival careers of pioneering fashion designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel in Nazi-occupied and post-war Paris. . Our reviewers are Ben Luke, critic and podcast host for The Art Newspaper, and Justine Picardie, author of Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life, and Miss Dior: A Wartime Story of Courage and Couture.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paul Waters
Another busy week in front of the TV with some great recommendations. The Burning Girls (Paramount+ series) arrives in time for Halloween. Payback (BritBox series) is a British crime drama from Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio. Surviving Summer (Netflix, two series) is a family drama from Australian producer Joanna Werner. Never Let Him Go (Disney+ documentary) comes from ABC News in the US and Blackfella Films in Australia. Also this week The Burial (Prime movie) and Andrew talks about his visit to Broken Hill for a new documentary he is filming. James reveals his highlight of the week was Damian Lewis in a leather jacket and Slayer T-shirt as the metal band blazed away on the soundtrack in the third last episode ever of Billions (Stan).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this weeks ep of FNI Wrapchat Paul Webster got to chat with the talaented Director of "Ballywalter" Prasanna Puwanarajah, Ballywalter is in Irish Cinemas from the 22nd of September. A bitter-sweet comedy drama set in Ballywalter, Northern Ireland. Patrick Kielty (RTE's new Late Late Show host) is deeply touching in director Prasanna Puwanarajah's debut feature. Ballywalter, opened at the Belfast Film Festival in 2022. It subsequently played at the Cork International Film Festival 2023, CIFF23 Solas Nua in Washington DC (where it won the Audience Award), and the Galway Film Fleadh 2023. Releasing in UK and Irish cinemas on 22nd September 2023, the film was written by Stacey Gregg, stars Seána Kerslake and Patrick Kielty, and was produced by Empire Street Productions (BFI, Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen). Prasanna, Jed Mercurio and Rachel Clarke recently adapted Rachel's COVID-19 pandemic memoir Breathtaking for ITV, which wrapped filming earlier in 2023. Prasanna and Jed are also developing an adaptation of their 2021 graphic novel Sleeper. Prasanna's debut play Nightwatchman premiered at the National Theatre in 2011, where he has also worked as an actor. He directed Moth at the HighTide Festival, and at the Bush Theatre, where it was a TimeOut Critics' Choice in the summer of 2013. In 2019 he directed Venice Preserved at the Royal Shakespeare Company. His production of The Reluctant Fundamentalist was nominated for The Carol Tambor Award and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expressions Award at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, with lead actor Akshay Sharan winning The Stage Debut Award. Eileen (Seana Kerslake) is a caustic, unrepentant university drop-out whose dreams of a successful life in London have fallen by the wayside. Back at home with her mum, she makes ends meet by working as an unlicensed driver in her ex-boyfriend's minicab. Shane (Patrick Kielty) has exiled himself in Ballywalter following the break-up of his marriage, but now he's trying to get his life back on track by enrolling in a stand-up comedy course. When Shane calls a taxi to get him to his classes, Eileen answers and a surprising connection is made. As the two spend time together shuttling back and forth, a beautiful friendship develops, leading them both to a moment of realisation. Shane reintegrates, and Eileen makes peace with herself and who she really is. Finally, she can stop running and just drive. Ballywalter is a life-affirming story about the unexpected connections that can change the course of our lives. We're proud to support Minding Creative Minds here at Film Network Ireland. And will regularly be supporting their good work and will run an advert on our podcasts to raise awareness of their support structures on Wrapchat. Please visit https://mindingcreativeminds.ie/what-we-do/ GET YOUR TICKET FOR FNI FAST FEST THIS OCT 20TH TO 22ND. https://wearefni.com/fastfest/ Moreover, If you enjoy our podcast and events why not deep dive into our back catalogue and pop over to support us on buymeacoffe.com/fni and become a member, to get the most out of FNI. FNI Wrapchat is Produced by PBL, @paulbutlerlennox Paul Webster @paulwebsterfilms and Edited and Mixed by Mark Monks @mark_monks99 in the heart of Dublin City Centre at the Podcast Studios. @thepodcaststudios Check out Film Network Ireland at https://wearefni.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/filmnetworkireland https://twitter.com/fni_film Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this weeks ep of FNI Wrapchat Paul Webster got to chat with the talaented Director of "Ballywalter" Prasanna Puwanarajah, Ballywalter is in Irish Cinemas from the 22nd of September. A bitter-sweet comedy drama set in Ballywalter, Northern Ireland. Patrick Kielty (RTE's new Late Late Show host) is deeply touching in director Prasanna Puwanarajah's debut feature. Ballywalter, opened at the Belfast Film Festival in 2022. It subsequently played at the Cork International Film Festival 2023, CIFF23 Solas Nua in Washington DC (where it won the Audience Award), and the Galway Film Fleadh 2023. Releasing in UK and Irish cinemas on 22nd September 2023, the film was written by Stacey Gregg, stars Seána Kerslake and Patrick Kielty, and was produced by Empire Street Productions (BFI, Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen). Prasanna, Jed Mercurio and Rachel Clarke recently adapted Rachel's COVID-19 pandemic memoir Breathtaking for ITV, which wrapped filming earlier in 2023. Prasanna and Jed are also developing an adaptation of their 2021 graphic novel Sleeper. Prasanna's debut play Nightwatchman premiered at the National Theatre in 2011, where he has also worked as an actor. He directed Moth at the HighTide Festival, and at the Bush Theatre, where it was a TimeOut Critics' Choice in the summer of 2013. In 2019 he directed Venice Preserved at the Royal Shakespeare Company. His production of The Reluctant Fundamentalist was nominated for The Carol Tambor Award and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expressions Award at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, with lead actor Akshay Sharan winning The Stage Debut Award. Eileen (Seana Kerslake) is a caustic, unrepentant university drop-out whose dreams of a successful life in London have fallen by the wayside. Back at home with her mum, she makes ends meet by working as an unlicensed driver in her ex-boyfriend's minicab. Shane (Patrick Kielty) has exiled himself in Ballywalter following the break-up of his marriage, but now he's trying to get his life back on track by enrolling in a stand-up comedy course. When Shane calls a taxi to get him to his classes, Eileen answers and a surprising connection is made. As the two spend time together shuttling back and forth, a beautiful friendship develops, leading them both to a moment of realisation. Shane reintegrates, and Eileen makes peace with herself and who she really is. Finally, she can stop running and just drive. Ballywalter is a life-affirming story about the unexpected connections that can change the course of our lives. We're proud to support Minding Creative Minds here at Film Network Ireland. And will regularly be supporting their good work and will run an advert on our podcasts to raise awareness of their support structures on Wrapchat. Please visit https://mindingcreativeminds.ie/what-we-do/ GET YOUR TICKET FOR FNI FAST FEST THIS OCT 20TH TO 22ND. https://wearefni.com/fastfest/ Moreover, If you enjoy our podcast and events why not deep dive into our back catalogue and pop over to support us on buymeacoffe.com/fni and become a member, to get the most out of FNI. FNI Wrapchat is Produced by PBL, @paulbutlerlennox Paul Webster @paulwebsterfilms and Edited and Mixed by Mark Monks @mark_monks99 in the heart of Dublin City Centre at the Podcast Studios. @thepodcaststudios Check out Film Network Ireland at https://wearefni.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/filmnetworkireland https://twitter.com/fni_film
Today we welcome a man who's been a doctor, an RAF pilot, and who every actor in the UK wants to be best friends with; Mr Line of Duty it's Jed Mercurio. Jed, Martin & Gordon chat about his past lives in hospitals and jets, as well as casting Martin, the team's favourite curry spot, learning of Martin's native accents and is there any news on another series of Line of Duty?Make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star review! If you'd like to share the times you've been a resourceful rascal, or want to get in touch, send an email to Hello@RestlessNativesPodcast.comPlease review Global's Privacy Policy: https://global.com/legal/privacy-policy/
Episode Notes We're back. This is a lost episode we didn't release due to audio quality. We've done our best to recover it, and hopefully, it sounds okay. Ascent by Wesley Robins and Jed Mercurio. This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ. To book a place on their beginner's course here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/martials-arts-course-for-beginners-bjj-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-tickets-515729981257 Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@seethroughpanel Use my special link https://zen.ai/8-eGgE8Oov567U6ejorYZg to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan. Support Graphic Novel List by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/see-through-panel Find out more at https://see-through-panel.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Graphic Novel List.
Discussing their roles as baddies, culprits, cops and goodies in TV & Film.Todays Sponsors:AG1: drinkAG1.com/HOWTOWOWCarFest: https://carfest.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Simon and Rachel speak with the screenwriter and novelist Jed Mercurio. A former hospital doctor and Royal Air Force officer, Jed made his entry into television after he answered an advert in the British Medical Journal seeking advisors for a hospital drama. Although he had limited experience, he was soon scripting the BBC series "Cardiac Arrest". Jed's subsequent television credits include "Bodies", "Lady Chatterley's Lover", "Critical", "Strike Back", and "The Grimleys", and his most recent creations, police dramas "Line of Duty" and "Bodyguard", both topped the ratings for UK television drama. Jed's screenwriting work has achieved award wins or nominations at the Emmys, Golden Globes and BAFTAs, and he has also published several novels, including "Ascent" in 2007 which focuses on a Soviet fighter pilot turned cosmonaut. We spoke to Jed about moving from the air force and medicine into writing, working on novels as well as screenplays, and creating "Line of Duty". You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.
Did you have an amazing Christmas? We hope so. We're back this week with another bonus corresponding to your correspondence. We're chatting having a tug to Lorraine Kelly, asking Jed Mercurio to go for a piss and more. Make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star review! If you'd like to share the times you've been a resourceful rascal, or want to get in touch, send an email to Hello@RestlessNativesPodcast.com
Vous savez quand on vous rabâche les oreilles dans les gares pour vous enjoindre de ne pas oublier vos sacs car un colis abandonné = une intervention de l'équipe de déminage = du temps perdu ? Eh bien après avoir vu Trigger Point, vous n'oublierez plus jamais un bagage. Le nouveau thriller d'action de Canal+ arrive ce jeudi 10 novembre. Lana Washington est membre de l'équipe de déminage de la police londonienne après avoir servi dans l'armée avec récemment des tours en Afghanistan. L'intervention du jour se déroule dans une cité londonienne et semble assez classique, son partenaire Nutkins et elle réussissant à désamorcer la bombe. Seulement voilà, il semblerait qu'il n'y en avait pas qu'une seule. Retrouvez les deux premiers épisodes de Trigger Point dès le 10 novembre à 21h sur Canal+ et sur myCanal. https://youtu.be/WdZVKfm8yUI Le premier épisode de Trigger Point nous fait comprendre rapidement que des bombes, il va y en avoir beaucoup. La série d'ITV avec une première saison de 6 épisodes a été créée par Daniel Brierley, un nouvel auteur, et produite par Jed Mercurio derrière Line of Duty et Bodyguard, deux séries britanniques qui ont su se démarquer dans le genre. Si vous avez aimé ces deux titres, n'hésitez pas un moment à plonger dans Trigger Point qui saura satisfaire votre envie d'adrénaline. Cette fois-ci, ils vous proposent un thriller avec des potentiels terroristes, toujours ancré dans la vie de tous les jours mais au lieu d'agents spéciaux type MI5 ou CIA, on accompagne une équipe de déminage, et ça change. Vicky McClure de Line of Duty campe une Lana Washington rongée par le deuil, la culpabilité du survivant et l'envie de vengeance (et Ewan Mitchell qui se fait plus connaître grâce à son rôle de Aemond Targaryen dans House of the Dragon joue son frère). Ce qui est intéressant dans Trigger Point, c'est qu'on n'est pas dans les situations où les personnages vont faire des blagues sur quel fil couper avec une musique intense au moment de désamorcer la bombe, non, au contraire, couper le fil semble être le dernier de leur souci mais analyser, comprendre une bombe et assurer le bon déroulement d'une intervention seront leurs priorités. Cela rend l'ensemble très réaliste, soutenu par une enquête pour débusquer les coupables écrite avec beaucoup de justesse. Au final, on appréciera l'absence de sensationnalisme malgré la présence de quelques explosions, le suspens tient sur toute la saison et c'est plus que suffisant pour tenir en haleine le spectateur pendant 6 épisodes. [bs_show url="trigger-point-2021"] Complot, action, tension sont au rendez-vous dans Trigger Point, disponible sur Canal+.
This week's guest is the king of the TV conspiracy thriller Jed Mercurio – the brains behind Line of Duty, Bodyguard and most recently, Bloodlands starring James Nesbitt. In this episode, Jed tells Kelly-Anne Taylor about the TV he watched as a young boy growing up in a working-class family in 1970s Staffordshire, why he felt more comfortable flying a plane for the RAF than writing his first script and how his years as a junior doctor gave him his big TV break. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we chat about Jed Mercurio's Bodies, Only Murders in the Building and The Secret! You can hear episodes early by supporting us on patreon.com/shrinepod Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/shrineofduty. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The creator of Line of Duty and Bodyguard calmly explains how the tensest scenes on TV are made, how to run an independent production company and how his background as a medic comes in useful on set.Music by Lee Rosevere. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Former Presidential close protection officer and medal of valor recipient Evy Poumpouras is joined by Jed Mercurio the man behind Line of Duty, Bodyguard, Trigger Point and Bloodlands. Rory Bremner hosts a deep dive into the reality behind protecting high-profile targets, from mind games and meticulous planning through to the importance of how to get off the ‘X'. Series Producer: Paulo Garrett. A Cup and Nuzzle Production. From Spyscape, the home of secrets.
Writer Jed Mercurio, the creator of hit television series including Line Of Duty and Bodyguard, talks to John Wilson about the cultural influences and experiences that have inspired his own work. Born into a working class Stafforshire family, Mercurio went to medical school, then trained as an RAF pilot. After responding to an advert for consultants to work on new hospital drama Cardiac Arrest, Mercurio became the script writer for that ground-breaking series, which intended to be a more realistic depiction of the NHS than had been on screen before. He further drew on his medical background for the series Bodies, adapted from his novel of the same name. Jed chooses the 1980s US police TV series Hill Street Blues as a big influence on his own screenwriting, which is characterised by long-running rather than just episodic narratives, and surprising plot twists. He also reveals how the 2005 killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot by police after being mistakenly identified as a suspect following the London terror attacks, prompted him to develop the idea for a drama about undercover police investigations and corruption. Producer: Edwina Pitman
It's time for Episode 111 of Adapt or Perish, which also happens to be our very romantic Valentine's Day episode. We wanted to celebrate the day with a very awkward look at the classic Lady Chatterley's Lover. Enjoy! In this episode, we discuss: D.H. Lawrence's original 1928 novel L'Amant de lady Chatterley (1955), directed by Marc Allégret, written by Allégret, Gaston Bonheur, and Philippe de Rothschild, and starring Danielle Darrieux, Erno Crisa, Leo Genn, and Berthe Tissen Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), directed by Just Jaeckin, written by Jaeckin, Marc Behm, and Christopher Wicking, and starring Sylvia Kristel, Nicholas Clay, Shane Briant, and Ann Mitchell Lady Chatterley (1993), directed by Ken Russell, written by Russell and Michael Haggiag, and starring Joely Richardson, Sean Bean, James Wilby, and Shirley Anne Field Lady Chatterley (2006), directed by Pascale Ferran, written by Ferran and Roger Bohbot, and starring Marina Hands, Jean-Louis Coulloc'h, Hippolyte Girardot, and Hélène Alexandridis Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015), written and directed by Jed Mercurio, and starring Holliday Grainger, Richard Madden, James Norton, and Jodie Comer Footnotes: E.M. Forster's Maurice John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus (2006) Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, and Cannon Films Wrotham Park, filming location for both Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981) and Lady Chatterley (1993) You can follow Adapt or Perish on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and you can find us and all of our show notes online at adaptorperishcast.com. We're also on Patreon! You can find us at patreon.com/adaptcast. We have multiple reward levels, which include access to a patron-only community and a patron-only, biweekly bonus show! We hope to see you there. If you want to send us a question or comment, you can always email us at adaptorperishcast@gmail.com.
In this episode of Turn Up For The Books, the creator of Line Of Duty - Jed Mercurio - discusses his love of graphic novels and libraries. He explores the category of Power, Politics and Protest - from the Novels That Shaped Our World list - and gives us an insight into his writing and collaborative processes. Dan Smith, Irenosen Okojie and Simon Savidge also talk to Jed about the importance of libraries, which books they think are missing from this category and whether Line Of Duty will be coming back...
Following the success of UK police drama Line of Duty, a new TV show has arrived, promising to shed more light on counter-terror policing.Trigger Point is a new ITV thriller set in London, following the Metropolitan Police's bomb disposal unit.It has been compared with Line of Duty, in part because it features LOD writer Jed Mercurio as producer, and actor Vicky McClure is the main character, who played Kate Fleming in the drama.We speak with the writer of Trigger Point Daniel Brierley about these comparisons, what the new thriller has to offer, and why we love police dramas in the UK. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In a week where: Prince Andrew is now just Andrew after getting stripped of his Royal & Military titles. Australia rejects Novak Djokovic's visa again and deports him. A volcano in Tonga erupts and causes a tsunami. BBC license fee will be frozen and scrapped in 2027. All UK COVID restrictions could end in March. In the first of two Film/TV segments: (3:41) Jed Mercurio, best known for spearheading "Line Of Duty" is charging £80 for his BBC Maestro lessons. Is it worth it?In Society: (17:11) The rich and powerful, we know them, we may even love a select few of them. But one thing is for sure, they LOVE to abuse their privilege.In Politics: (30:24) Priti Patel continues to be a demon as the Police Bill still looms over us all. It's now gotten to the point where Patel is using the LGBTQ+ community to make the bill look more palatable.Lastly, in the 2nd Film/TV segment: (47:28) Nadine Dorries is performing slow-cooked cultural terrorism as she announces the BBC License fee will be frozen for two years and could be scrapped by 2027. So by the end of the decade, we genuinely could lose the NHS & the BBC.Thank you for listening! If you want to contribute to the show, whether it be sending me questions or voicing your opinion in any way, peep the contact links below and I'll respond accordingly. Let me know "What's Good?"Rate & ReviewE-Mail: the5thelelmentpub@gmail.comTwitter & IG: @5thElement_UK5E Community DiscordWebsite: www.the5thelement.org.uk/5epnIntro Music - "Too Much" By VanillaInterlude - "Charismatic" By NappyHighChillHop MusicOther Podcasts Under The 5EPN:Diggin' In The Digits5EPN RadioBlack Women Watch...In Search of SauceThe Beauty Of Independence
It's a new year & there's a new crime thriller on the horizon! Brendan, Hannah and Rebecca are back to cover ITV's Trigger Point. The Jed Mercurio-produced drama sees bomb disposal specialists Vicky McClure & Adrian Lester team up to save London in the wake of a terrorist campaign, right up our street! The show kicks off this Sunday, 23rd January at 9pm on ITV. Shrine Podcasts will have new episodes out every Wednesday morning at 6am. Support us on patreon.com/shrinepod for early access! Alternatively, keep us in muffins here: http://supporter.acast.com/shrineofduty.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/shrineofduty. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Made up of World War Two airmen, the Guinea Pig Club has left a lasting legacy on future RAF generations and were instrumental in helping Sir Archibald McIndoe develop pioneering plastic surgery techniques. In episode two, actress Fiona Dolman explains how the Guinea Pig Club inspired the CASEVAC club. A club established for those who have been seriously wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, RAF Benevolent Fund Ambassador Mike Goody sits down with the award-winning TV writer Jed Mercurio to talk about his experience as a CASEVAC club member.
Featuring Paul Ready aka Motherland's 'Kevin' NB: Some swear words appear in this episode. We blame the parents. This week, Esther & Susie enjoy moaning about / robustly discussing parenthood. They mull over the physical, emotional and mental punishment inflicted on parents by their tiny bosses / children. And of course, how lovely they are. No topic is off limits as our hosts relive their finest parenting moments. Strap yourselves in - parenthood is always a bumpy ride. Special guest this week is actor Paul Ready. A star of theatre, film, radio and television, Paul is best known for playing Rob Macdonald in Jed Mercurio's Bodyguard, Harry Goodsir in The Terror and Kevin in hit BBC comedy, Motherland. He is also a dad. With the help of some cracking audience questions, Susie & Esther chat to Paul about parenting, school plays and of course, Motherland. Paul is a super guest - enjoy! Sketches, a You Bash, and the sharing of your (the Limited Time Only audience's) funniest parenting stories complete episode 5. Thank you for listening. Useful Links Millpond Sleep Clinic Mastitis La Leche - Breastfeeding Support BBC Motherland Limited Time Only is a podcast for anyone who feels that there aren't enough hours in their life. We are actors & writers, Esther Stanford & Susie Riddell and each week we'll bring to your ears a joyful mix of chat, comedy sketches and interviews with interesting people. Limited Time Only: a pick-me-up in podcast form. Episode and more info available at http://limitedtimeonlypodcast.com/ Follow us on Instagram @limitedtimeonlypodcast Follow us on Twitter @limitedtimepod Follow us on Facebook Limited Time Only Podcast Email us at hello@limitedtimeonlypodcast.com Theme Tune & Additional Music by Joel White aka Small Plates Listen to his music on Soundcloud Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com/
Manjinder Virk is an actor, writer and director. As an actor she can currently be seen on The Beast Must Die with Jared Harris and Cush Jumbo on Britbox, and is shooting Jed Mercurio's Trigger Point for ITV. On film she stars in the documentary The Arbor, for which she received acting nominations from the BFI and British Independent Film Awards. As a writer director one of her works, a short film Out of Darkness won Best of Fest award at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival in 2013.In this, the first episode of season 3, host Emma Lister and Manjinder discuss how her dance training enriches her acting, why she feels it's important to be creative without judgement and what life event inspired her award winning short film. Manjinder's interview is another link in our ‘artist chain' after having been nominated by Rhoda Ofori-Attah in season 1!Watch Manjinder's film Out of Darkness HEREManjinder's Instagram: @manjinder23Twitter: manjinder_virkThe 3 Questions...Was there a piece of art that changed everything?Derervo, clown troupeIs there a piece of art that you didn't love, but you respect or think has value?Comedy as a genre Who should we check out that we may not know about?Artists and writers: Amber Lone, Sue Vincent, Rhiannon Tisse
Una serie de Jed Mercurio (el creador de Line of duty) que sobre la base de un hecho policial, entra en el corazón de los acuerdos de paz en Irlanda hace 20 años. Buena, pero confusa.
Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends August 27th 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:https://www.stephenspencerassociates.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/customerexperiencespecialist/ Stephen Spencer + Associates is a collaborative consulting and training organisation with a simple purpose: to help you extract maximum value from your customers' experience of you. Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in, or working with, visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Stephen Spencer, Founder of Stephen Spencer + Associates, a collaborative consulting and training organisation. We discuss why customer experience is so important right now, how to maximize interactions to drive value, and what attractions can do to foster a more innovative culture. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching, "Skip the Queue".Kelly Molson: Stephen, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, it's really lovely to see you again.Stephen Spencer: It's an honour and a pleasure, thanks very much, Kelly. Kelly Molson: So many people have recommended that we speak to each other. But, as ever, this podcast, we're going to go straight into our icebreaker questions. So, I would like to know, what is the worst job that you have ever had?Stephen Spencer: Oh, that's easy. One Easter, when I was a student, I worked for an employment agency, so it's a different job every day. And, the worst job was cleaning out the undercarriage of a private jet that belonged to an Arab Sheik. There's a bunch of us put in a van, we had to wear so much protective clothing, and visors, and things over our heads, that you literally couldn't see, and then you had high-pressure hoses. And, you could just glimpse the luxury within the jet through the open door, but we were underneath just spraying out the oil, and grease, and dirt, and god knows what else. It was a horrendous, horrendous day. I sort of thought, "My life is over before it's begun. If this is how I'm going to spend my life..."Kelly Molson: You were so close to the luxury, you could almost touch it.Stephen Spencer: It was. You could see it was all very beautifully, ornately designed, in keeping with the culture inside. But, underneath it was just a regular old, filthy old bit of kit. Kelly Molson: I feel like that sums us all up, right? Inside, we're all just regular, normal, filthy old people. Stephen Spencer: Well, you speak for yourself. I thought we were all looking up to the stars. "We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up to the stars." That's the quote, isn't it?Kelly Molson: Maybe, I'm trying to keep real, Stephen. I've gone a bit retro with this one, so I'm hoping that you remember this program. Do you remember a program called Stars in Their Eyes? Stephen Spencer: I do.Kelly Molson: Excellent. Okay. So, let's go back. If Stars in Their Eyes was a thing now, who would you perform as?Stephen Spencer: Oh, it's easy, Elvis. Absolutely. Elvis is my go-to for karaoke. Funnily enough, I've been a massive fan of Elvis since the day he died, because he wasn't obviously relevant in 1977, but the day he died I spent the whole day playing all his music. I just got absolutely hooked. And years later, there's an attractions connection here, I got to meet and work with a heroine of mine, the late Debo, Duchess of Devonshire, at Chatsworth. I discovered that she was a massive Elvis fan. And, what I didn't know, but later read in her autobiography, was that she too became a fan the day he died, because she saw all the programs and heard all the music. Anyway, yes. No contest, I would be Elvis.Kelly Molson: What song? You said he's your karaoke go-to, what's your karaoke song?Stephen Spencer: Funnily enough, it's a song that he did I think very well, but not originally his song, it's My Way. Which, kind of also is my personal theme tune. Kelly Molson: I love this.Stephen Spencer: I never do things anybody else's way, it's always my way. But, not in a command and control way, just, "This is my way, and if it facilitates stuff, that's great, if you don't like it, there are lots of other people who will do it your way.Kelly Molson: Excellent answers, I'm enjoying this very much. Let's move on. I would like to know what your unpopular opinion is.Stephen Spencer: Well, I think my unpopular opinion is that Line of Duty is increasingly disappearing up its own fundament.Kelly Molson: Oh, gosh.Stephen Spencer: ... Or should we say, that Jed Mercurio has believed his own hype. The last series was a sort of ragbag of references to the previous series, a completely flimsy plot. I'm not just saying the ending was disappointing because it was, spoiler alert...Kelly Molson: You can't do that, what if no one's... Stephen Spencer: I said spoiler alert, people could have switched off at that point. The thing that got me slightly suspicious of Jed Mercurio was The Bodyguard, that one-off series that he did. Where, we were expected to believe that a man wearing an explosive vest would be allowed to walk from one end of London to the other to go and visit his wife and children, rather than being taken out before he could put the entire population of Central London at risk. I just thought, "This is ridiculous." So, I spent part of lockdown watching all the previous series of Line of Duty, and the early ones, absolutely brilliant. Stephen Spencer: But I tell you a series that's better than Line of Duty, and that's Spooks. There was never a bad episode of Spooks. I think it was nine series, we watched about 100 episodes, and there wasn't a single bad episode. And also, they constantly refreshed the central characters. Whereas we all love Ted, obviously...Kelly Molson: Who doesn't?Stephen Spencer: ... And Kate, and Steve, it is inconceivable that that man would still be in that job, considering everything that he's, for the best of intentions, done and got himself mixed up in. It's ridiculous. Kelly Molson: Oh my gosh, Stephen.Stephen Spencer: I'm sorry if that's an unpopular opinion.Kelly Molson: I think it is an unpopular opinion.Stephen Spencer: Now we can nearly go back to the pub, or we can go back and sit outside, we need to keep ourselves warm, there's no point in everyone just sitting around saying, "Did you see Line of Duty, it was really good wasn't it?" No, let's actually be real here.Kelly Molson: I think this is really going to split our listeners. I do know that there was a lot of people that were really unhappy about the ending. And, if I'm completely honest, I was one of them. However, I have loved every single minute of Line of Duty. And, I did love the final season, if it is the final season, we're not quite sure.Stephen Spencer: I don't think it will be. Clearly, if they want to do another series, there's more to uncover. Maybe they shouldn't bring it back. Unfortunately, it's a bit like what happened to Doctor Who, which was amazing when it was rebooted with Chris Eccleston. I'm not talking about the latest incarnation of the Doctor, I'm all for that, but it's just the fact that the writing got more and more self-indulgent. And, if you're writing Doctor Who and it's unbelievable, you really should take a look at yourself, I would suggest. Kelly Molson: Okay, let's move on. So, Stephen Spencer + Associates, it's a collaborative consulting and training organisation. You've got a simple purpose, and that is, "To help extract maximum value from your customers' experience of you." A few topics that I really want to cover today, but let's start with the biggest one which is, why is customer experience so important right now?Stephen Spencer: I think right now, clearly, it is really important because it has changed so much, and the changes are going to be with us for the foreseeable future. We've had this dramatic, probably five years of accelerated adoption of online and, as we're doing now, remote meetings and so on, people shopping from home, in a year or less. So, straightaway, businesses don't have that personal contact with customers that previously they could have actually exploited or at least known what was going on. Stephen Spencer: Secondly, there's still going to be an element of public health and social distancing, people are going to be nervous. There's going to be a need for businesses to continue to demonstrate that they're providing a safe, healthy environment for customers, which risks creating an experience that's compromised. Stephen Spencer: And thirdly, I think, for the foreseeable future, there's probably going to be less customers around. There may well be fewer staff serving them. And, there's probably going to be less money in the system as well. For many attractions, obviously, the international market is going to take, quite possibly, two to three years, if not longer, to recover. That's what all the predictions say. So, it means we've got to do more with less. So, fundamentally, how do we focus in on every customer's experience, and maximize every interaction so that we get maximum value out of it, both for the customer and for the business?Kelly Molson: Maximizing interactions. And, I guess, it's understanding what elements of the experience drives the most value. How do attractions do this at the moment? What are the steps that they need to go through to look at how they can make that happen? Stephen Spencer: Well, I think something that could be done a lot better in many attractions, and I've worked in many attractions and with many attractions, is a much more joined-up approach between marketing and operations, and possibly finance and strategy as well. The challenge with being a Customer Experience Consultant is a lot of what you're saying, sounds like stating the bleeding obvious. But, the reason you have to state it is because it passes a lot of organisations by, for all sorts of reasons, good and not so good. But, really, really understanding who are your customers, breaking them down into recognisable subsets.Stephen Spencer: I'm a great believer in developing customer personas. And, one of my favourite ways to do this working with organisations is, "If this group, or this couple, or this individual was a celebrity, or a band, or a team, or a character in a soap, who would they be?" You find as soon as they've identified that person, then they can really start to put layer, and layer and a layer of, "How would we treat this person? What would this person want from us? What kind of communication would they appreciate? What would make them go, "Wow"?" Stephen Spencer: And, I think what often happens is, the marketing focus tends to be on idealised segments, and the reality on the ground is real people. What really works is when marketing gets out there, and gets stuck in, and talks to the customers, and sees who's coming in, and there's a complete consistency between strategy and execution. Because, at the end of the day, whatever you do, the most powerful thing you can do for a customer is speaking to them and treat them the way they would want to be treated. And, the only way you can do that is if you are able to look and listen, and observe, and take that time to engage, and, again, keep listening, and give that customer the response they're looking for. Stephen Spencer: You see it time and time again, the most high-tech attractions, attractions that have incredible properties, whether it's heritage properties or brands brought to life in amazing ways, it's still the human interaction that's the most powerful thing. So, understanding, which is important also, to give your team the confidence to talk to customers in the right way, understanding who they are, is fundamental for me, and that being consistent through the whole organisation. Kelly Molson: How does that change? We're recording this, it's the 11th of May today, so next week, the 17th, most indoor attractions will be able to open. We're still looking at capped capacity, we're still looking at a reduction in operation staff, probably front of house staff, for attractions. How do you look to monitor that now? And, how does that change as restrictions start to get relaxed and you get more, and more, and more people through the doors? How does that process change? What can people do? Stephen Spencer: I think, given what I've said, the most important thing you can do is to maximize your customer's every interaction. Many people know this, some people won't know this, in customer journey mapping, which is the classic way to think about your customer's experience, you identify all the touchpoints, so all the interactions between the customer and the attraction. Obviously, starting with before they ever visit, so advertising, or the website, or review sites, whatever it is. And, you map all those touchpoints. Then, you identify, what we call, the moments of truth, which are the real make or break touchpoints. So, the points at which you could really deliver on the value proposition or not. Stephen Spencer: By doing that, and then matching that customer journey to those customer profiles, you can start to say, "Right"... I think, for example, the work that people like BVA BDRC and Decision House have been doing, in terms of sentiment research, really plays into this as well. Because, they've identified some COVID personas, in terms of where people are at, in terms of their willingness to go back, their nervousness, or confidence about interacting again. So, you build all this in. Stephen Spencer: So, what I'm saying is, bring your team together and say, "Let us work through the experience that we're going to give to our visitors when they come back when we're able to reopen. I hope that attractions have already been thinking about how they add something extra, really make visitors feel, not just welcomed back, but that there's something extra special that's been laid on to welcome them back. And again, that doesn't have to be something very expensive, it doesn't have to be something high-tech, but it just has to be something that is appropriate to the brand and relevant to the customer. Bearing in mind, obviously that we're talking, for most attractions for the foreseeable future, it's the local/staycation market, rather than international. So again, just a great opportunity to say to the team, "Everything's changed. Everything's new. Isn't it exciting? We're opening up again, maybe we've done some work behind the scenes, a new exhibition, new information that we've had the chance to research about our site that we can share. Whatever it is. Let's now plan the reopening or the next stage of reopening, almost as if we're planning a family Christmas or a celebration. And, think what we can do." Just get everybody involved, and everybody shares the excitement. Stephen Spencer: We know that there are challenges for teams coming back who've been maybe furloughed, or new staff being recruited in a lot of cases as well who have never had the experience of working at the attraction before. And now suddenly We're reopening, it's a big deal. But, some of us weren't here before, some of us are nervous about being back. It's all a bit strange. Some of us have been here the whole time and we're knackered. So actually, that is another reason to bring people together, not just for, what I call, pre-opening training, which is almost like going through the motions, but to make it really, really special.Stephen Spencer: We've been recently working with a museum that actually was closed already before the pandemic for a major refurbishment, and also rebrands, and a repositioning of the museum. And, we created, first of all, with a workshop that we ran for all teams across all departments, a fact-finding workshop. And then, translating that into pre-opening training that was much more about exactly what I've been talking about, "What are we going to do? How do we take this great new shiny vision that we've got and turn it into customer interactions? Who are our customers? What do we know about them? What do we need to do? What would we do if it was our granny, or our brother, or our friend coming, what would we do?" And, just turning it into a mission that is translatable to everybody's role and everybody's capabilities.Kelly Molson: I love that idea, that you position it as a real celebratory event. It's such a nice way of looking at it. And, what does that mean to people? Like you say, for attractions, you've got such a different range of people that will visit, what does that celebration mean to them? How do you apply it to that individual person? I think that's such a nice way of framing it. Also, one of the things that attractions have been really good at as they've been talking about reopening and that process of how they do that, is most attractions haven't been talking about reopening and going back to normal. They've actually been embracing the idea that they don't have to go back and do the things that they used to do, they can embrace something different. And, like you say, they might have a new attraction, they might have a new collection, they might have something new that they've got to celebrate. But, even if you don't, you still can improve that customer experience by shifting the way that you do things. Kelly Molson: And, that's the next thing that I want to talk about. How do attractions reimagine what they've been doing and be a bit more innovative moving forward from being able to open again?Stephen Spencer: For just the reasons that you said, I've always been slightly wary of the expression, "Build back better" because, superficially, great. But actually, I think it implies that we're trying to get back to what we were doing before but just a little bit better. Well, I don't know about you, but before the pandemic and before I knew there was going to be a pandemic, I had this feeling, and I think a lot of people did, that we couldn't go on the way we were going. Whether it was overtourism, obviously there was a lot of inequality and division in the world, we were literally on course to destroy the planet. And, it just felt like this isn't great. And then, we had that period of reflection in the first lockdown when if you had a garden, if you had access to green space, you had time on your hands, it was just wonderful to be able to reflect on, "Wouldn't it be great actually if the birds every year we're able to be born into a world that was that much cleaner? Or if the canals in Venice, bring it back to tourism, ran clear all the time, rather than views of Venice being dominated by these enormous ships?"Stephen Spencer: So, I've really tried to talk about building forward better, because I think it is about this process of true innovation, which is actually creating something new and different. So, to do that I think you have to be really, really clear on, what is your purpose? What is your reason for being? What is your vision? Organisations and consultants use smoke and mirrors to talk about purpose, and mission, and vision. But, when I talk about mission, I'm really referring to why we're in business, what we're trying to achieve. It's different for the public sector, and private sector, and third sector organisations. For the private sector, it may be about share price, or it may even be about selling the business at some point in the future. For museums and charities, it's about a very long-term project.Stephen Spencer: And then, vision, I say, "Why is that of interest to the customer, the visitor, the person that you're aiming that experience at?" And, within purpose is also values, and I think it's a great time to revisit mission vision values and say, "This is what we believe. This is the difference that we want to make in the world. Now, how do we go about it?" An example of that, back in 2012 I was helping to launch the Emirates Air Line cable car, in the run-up to the London Olympics and Paralympics. It had a very complex structure because it was ultimately owned by Transport for London, TFL, and then Docklands Light Railway, DLR, and then it was operated by the cable car company Doppelmayr. The front of house team was Continuum, which I was working for. The sponsor was Emirates. There was a security company and a cleaning company. I think there were about eight different stakeholders. Stephen Spencer: And, we had to design what the passenger experience would look like. And, we created, what we call, a passenger charter, which is basically everything you need to know as a new employee, and they're all new employees, and they're all coming from Newham in Greenwich. Most of the recruitment had already happened in Newham in Greenwich for the Olympics. So, we were sort of hoovering up what was left in a way. And, I mean that actually very positively, because what we got was a whole load of people who'd never worked in customer-facing roles before. Some of them had really interesting and quite often harrowing backstories about how they came to even be in London. And, there were 40 ethnic backgrounds across 100 initial recruits. And then, as I say, all these different brands. Stephen Spencer: So, how did you bring it all together? We came up with the very simple, what we called our vision statement, "Inspiring Journeys", and so everything had to be measured against inspiring journeys. So, the uniforms, they looked, rather than TFL uniforms, they looked like airline uniforms. But, when it came down to more mundane things like selling a ticket, issuing a refund, handling a lost property inquiry, we did not use the TFL standard procedures, which were, to put it mildly, bureaucratic and not very customer-friendly, because it wasn't inspiring journeys. We talked earlier about pre-opening training, when we ran pre-opening training on the passenger experience and presented each of the new recruits with their passenger charter, they were whopping, and cheering, and yelling, and stamping their feet at the end of these workshops. I've never had a reaction like it.Stephen Spencer: I had people asking me to autograph the charter for them because they felt it was such a special thing that they were doing. And within three months... Bearing in mind, we opened literally... It was such a steep learning curve. We had 30,000 passengers a day, almost from week two. We were moving ropes and stanchions around. I had to move 1000 people while they were all standing in these ropes and stanchions because it wasn't working, the queuing system. Again, that goes back to every interaction. You don't just look at a load of cattle in a pen and say, "Okay, that's the guest." You think about, "Hmm, the way they're queuing, it's not right, it's not working." The end of that story is that we came top of the TFL passenger survey for London within three months. From a standing start, never had a cable car before, these people had never worked in customer-facing roles before, but they all got what we were trying to deliver.Stephen Spencer: So, for attractions, obviously, not everyone can open a cable car, but you can go back to, "What is your essence?" This museum I was talking about earlier, they were founded in the 19th century and had quite a set offering, and they have re-imagined it for the 21st century in a way that makes it accessible to everybody. It's totally accessible. There's no one who can't actually find an angle for this to be relevant to them. So, I think it starts with that. We've created, not just for COVID, but for the long term, what we call our innovation toolkit, which facilitates this process. And, the middle part of the process is the fun part, because it's the brainstorming, it's the innovation facilitation. Where we say, "You've clarified your purpose. You've clarified your vision. You've also identified your assets. Because you've got some challenges, you've got some burning issues you have to deal with, whether it's financial or other issues that you have to deal with right now because otherwise, you'll be out of business. But, beyond that, you've identified what are your core assets. Now, we need to think about who are the potential audiences for those assets. And, of course, some of them, who were there before, are not there for the foreseeable future, or they've changed. So, we look at trends as well as segments. Stephen Spencer: Then, we look at all the different business models, all the different revenue models that you could... It doesn't have to be purely revenue, but because we're very much about sustainability and recovery, I think it's important that we identify every revenue opportunity. And we say, "If you take your asset where you're particularly strong, and you apply it to these audiences where it really resonates, and you've got these potential business models that you could..." I'm talking for attractions, it could be anything from a virtual curator tour to a new family play area, to a new petting zoo, it could be anything. Virtual, physical, or a combination of the two. Stephen Spencer: And then, you do some evaluation based on effort vs reward. There's a simple matrix that just allows you to prioritise your long list down to a shortlist, and now you can start to work out, "Which of those ideas can we turn into reality?" Some of them we can probably do very quickly, some of them are medium-term, others are longer-term aspirations. But, what should come out of that is something completely new. Because, you didn't start with, "This is what we do now, how can we make it a bit better?" You started with, "Why do we exist? We don't exist in a vacuum, so for whom does that matter? And what could we do?"Kelly Molson: One of the things that you talked about earlier was about getting the whole team involved, from marketing to operations, to front of house, in that whole customer experience journey. How do you do that from an innovation perspective? What can attractions do to foster a more innovative culture within their organisation so that people feel that they're part of that process, they can input to it? Stephen Spencer: I think one of the exciting things that definitely happened in the last year was that organisations had to become less siloed. Kelly Molson: Definitely.Stephen Spencer: You see lots and lots of organisations for all sorts of reasons, some of it historical over very long periods of years, but others quite new. When we had the cable car, we found that there was a different culture on the north side to the south side. The team members started saying, "Can we work on the south side today?" And when you probed and said, "Why?", "Oh, it's like being on holiday over there, it's lovely." And, part of the reason was because the management team was on the north side, so there was a bit more scrutiny, a bit more structure. And, we were like, "Crikey", that shows how quickly culture forms because that was within three months that happened. Stephen Spencer: So, not being siloed is a really difficult thing. But, because of COVID, so many organisations had to think across all departments, across all of those touchpoints, because they had to plan safe and also viable visitor experiences, visitor journeys. I think it's really important to keep that going. It's really important that departments all work together. The organisation and it surprises people when I say this, that I've worked in that was the least siloed was actually The Royal Collection. I'm very old, so I was lucky enough, one of the perks of age, to be around when Buckingham Palace first opened to the public, so I got to do the shop. We had a single mission at that time, which was to raise £37 million to restore Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992. I realise for many of your listeners it will be a revelation that Windsor burned in 1992 because they probably weren't even born, but look it up in the history books, it happened. And, it was really important that we raised this money, because the Government had tried initially to say the Government would pay, and there'd been a public outcry, and so it was declared that the Royal Household would raise the money itself. And so, opening Buckingham Palace to the public was one of the ways that it did this. Stephen Spencer: What I found was, we worked in an office where it didn't matter which department you were in, curators, curatorial people, marketing, commercial people, we were quite a small team, but we literally worked all cheek by jowl. So, you could pop into the office of the keeper of Queen's pictures and say, "I want to crop this picture to put on a range of stationery. I can't quite decide which bit to crop." In a lot of organisations, I know the curator would say, "You can't crop it. Don't put it on a range of stationery, it's not appropriate." Whereas, in an organisation where you might think that would be the reaction, it would just, "Yeah, I'd take that bit, because that's really fun if you do that. Look at the expression on that woman's face, that will really capture people." They loved helping. Stephen Spencer: Part of the reason was because we had a single objective, "We've got to raise £37 million, everything we do has to be commensurate with who we represent." Sorry, I always get a bit... It was such a powerful mission that we're all on. We didn't have big budgets. I was talking about the Duchess of Devonshire earlier, she was one of our trustees, and back before the current Queen's Gallery, the old Queen's Gallery was a real Heath Robinson affair. The shop was awful, it was a brightly lit Formica unit, harsh, totally unsuitable environment for what we were trying to do. Back in the day it turned over about £400,000 a year, even however bad it was. But, the Duchess kept saying, "This shop is a disgrace. It absolutely is a disgrace. Something needs to be done." We didn't have a big budget, but we had to do something because we had Debo on our case. So, we were given 25 grand, and it was about 1500 square feet of shop, and it needed everything doing, so it wasn't a lot of money.Stephen Spencer: We managed to get an off-cut of a carpet that was being woven as part of the restoration of the castle, which literally an off-cut carpeted the entire space. We borrowed some antique furniture. We found a fantastic designer called George Carter, who can make things look amazing with paint, and just great design, and great lighting. We transformed the shop, and the following year it took one and a half million pounds. The point was, we did not have a big budget. We had to use our ingenuity to find somebody who could do something on a very small budget, relative. We had to really translate what we thought a shop that was attached to Buckingham Palace should look and feel like, so that we could showcase products that people would want to buy. Because, they clearly couldn't get them anywhere else, and because they felt they were almost buying literally a product from the Royal Palace. That's what actually is important, that people are excited, people are emotionally stimulated. Stephen Spencer: On that customer journey, there is... Somebody I really admire called Colin Shaw, who is a bit of a guru of customer experience, and he talks about the peak and the end experience being the two most important for the overall creation of emotion and memory. And, of course, creating the right emotions, the right memories, is so important because so much now is dependent on word-of-mouth, and recommendation, and of course loyalty as well. So, the peak experience, if you go to The Tower of London, visiting the Crown Jewels. Is that a fantastic experience, or is it absolutely awful because you had to queue for an hour and there was no entertainment or cover, and it was raining, and you were shoved through, and everyone was rude to you, it just felt like it was a blur? Or, was that experience facilitated because there was entertainment for the queue, maybe Henry VII's jester was wandering up and down, and when you got inside you were allowed the time to interact with the exhibits, and you came out saying, "Wow, that was incredible"? Obviously, straight into the shop. Stephen Spencer: And then, the end experience, which of course for different attractions might mean different things. It might be the toilets. Really important, Duchess of Devonshire took us into her toilets, the gents toilets at The Orangery Restaurant at Chatsworth, to show us the mint and hand-painted tiles. And, told us, "The toilets are the most important part of the experience", and I've never forgotten that. But, it might be whether somebody says, "Thank you", or wishes you a safe journey, or crouches down to the children's level to talk to the children to find out what they thought of the experience. It's that that sends you off... We always talk about first impressions last, but last impressions are incredibly important. It's like when you have a lovely meal in a restaurant and you build up a rapport with the waiter or the waitress, and at the end, somebody else brings you a bill, and it's like, "Oh". It's like you're having dinner in a friends house and suddenly a complete stranger came to bring you your coats, and you didn't get to say goodbye to your friends. So, it's really powerful, but yet actually really quite simple. Stephen Spencer: Going back to what we started with, you go back to, "Who are my customers? What do they want? What's that emotional journey, as well as that physical journey? How well does it deliver on the brand promise, the value proposition? What are those memories that we're creating, and those emotions?"Kelly Molson: It feels like, from that story that you just shared as well, that the one thread that runs all the way through this, from all of the things that we've covered today, is about everybody in that team having one shared vision. Stephen Spencer: Yes.Kelly Molson: That everybody has that one shared vision. And, that is the core that runs through everything that you do from a customer experience.Stephen Spencer: Yeah. I was incredibly fortunate in my career to go and study at the Disney Institute. The Disney Institute, they don't currently, but they did run programs in the UK, and I know quite a few colleagues who've been on them. They weren't as good, because you weren't at Disney. Going to the Disney Institute is a totally immersive experience. But, the point is, the person in the laundry, the cleaner, it doesn't matter who you talk to, they have the same vision. And, that's how it always was from when Walt was around. They went through a wobble after Walt and then his brother Roy died. There's a really interesting book by Michael Eisner, who now runs Portsmouth Football Club, but he turned Disney around in the 90s about that. It is that idea that everyone has the same vision. Everyone knows and has the same vision of who the customers are. Everyone knows what we should be doing for them.Stephen Spencer: If you follow that up as far as possible with empowering people to do the right thing, which is probably a whole other podcast, that is very powerful too. Because, if people are on the same page they will know what is the right thing, and it's giving people confidence. We recommend teaching people storytelling techniques and communication techniques, as well as just teaching people about service standards. If you teach people that actually this is a skill, and it's a science, and it's an art... Going back to my earliest days in customer experience, we used to talk about French waiters and the fact that they have this immense pride in being a waiter. It's a profession, it's not a job that you just do while you wait for something better to come along. Stephen Spencer: So, if you can convince the people on the front line that they genuinely are as important... I go back to this museum that I was talking about earlier, that's their new approach, is that front of house and back of housework together. Back of house will regularly appear at the front line and talk to visitors. Is one team, because everyone's role is equally important. I don't know many organisations that really, really practice that. A few that might preach it. And, I'm not saying that it's not difficult to do, it's jolly difficult to do. It's jolly difficult, because if you're the leader of the organisation you have other pressures on you that quite often people out in the organisation don't know about or see. But, by the same token, I also learnt that delegation is just the greatest skill to learn, because the more you delegate, if you do it right, the more you empower people, the more you build them up, the more you develop them, the more you allow them to reach their full potential. And then, when the going gets tough, people don't stand back and say, "What are we doing now, Boss? What's your plan?" Everyone just instinctively gets stuck in. As we know, in visitor attractions, you never quite know what's going to happen from day to day. If everyone gets stuck in no matter what, it's more fun, it's definitely more productive, and it's definitely better for the customer. Kelly Molson: I think that's a very good note to end our podcast interview on.Stephen Spencer: I thought so, a little sound bite there.Kelly Molson: I've got one more question for you before you go, where can people find you? If they want to find out more about what you do and what you offer, where's the best place that they can find you?Stephen Spencer: Absolutely. The website is stephenspencerassociates.com. On social media, is Positive Stephen. On LinkedIn, we have a company page, and I'm on there as well. Do have a chat. We may have something specifically that we can offer, our Toolkit we're very excited about, and we'll be rolling that out over the next two to three months to show how it can work in different sectors. As you can tell, I just love talking about this stuff. So, if somebody just wants to have, let's say, a discussion about Line of Duty vs Spooks, then call me.Kelly Molson: Okay. If you want to do that, listeners, we will put all of Stephen's details in the show notes. So, if you missed the website address don't worry, just head to the show notes and they will all be there. Kelly Molson: We always end the podcast by asking if you have a book that you would recommend, so something that you love, or something that's helped shape your career in some way? Whatever you like. Stephen Spencer: Absolutely, I'll show it to you, although the listeners won't be able to see it. It's a book called The Pursuit of Wow! By Tom Peters. I didn't know who Tom Peters was, in 1997 I was very lucky to go on a five-star fam trip to Atlanta to find out about the merchandise mark there, and the facilities for retail buyers. But also, we were shown the very best of Atlanta from Martin Luther King's church, to the Jimmy Carter Library, to CNN, Coca-Cola. We had breakfast with Tom Peters. Stephen Spencer: For those who don't know, Tom Peters wrote the first business bestseller called In Search of Excellence, in 1982, which identified, "What are the traits that make companies successful over the long term?" They're still the traits that we would talk about today. Tom's still going strong. He blew me away with the power of his message and his delivery. It was very much about, We need to get back to, and he still talks about this today, people being the most important raison d'être for any organisation. The little things being the big things, so the details being the really crucial things that make or break experiences, make or break the business. He's passionate about women, as he says, "Women buy all the stuff, they make all the decisions, they're far better leaders than men." He's been saying that for about 30 years.Stephen Spencer: The Pursuit of Wow!, which is a book I went to buy when I'd heard him speak, I was just like, "Wow, I need to know more", is literally about how you can take any experience, however small, whatever size your budget, whatever sector you're in, and you can turn it into a, "Wow!" Experience. In other words, "Why should anyone be excited by this?" How many meetings have we sat in where we've planned things that, quite frankly, we're not excited about, so why should anybody else be excited about it? So, although it was written 20, 25 years ago, it is still my favourite book of Tom's. Stephen Spencer: His brand new book, which is just out, is called Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism, so you can tell he's still talking about the same things, and this is his post-COVID. He's 78 now. I've met him a couple of times, I've interacted with him on social media. And, I said to him, "I can no more believe that you're 78 than I can that Captain Kirk is 90." I got some smiley faces in response. Stephen Spencer: He's basically saying what I'm saying, which is it comes downs to customers interacting with people, and everything else is the luxury that you're afforded by either the fact that you have a site that is already set up, or you have big budgets. But, it will stand or fall on that human interaction. So, that's a message for everyone.Kelly Molson: Absolutely. I very much like the sound of Tom. Stephen Spencer: You'd love him, honestly, he's brilliant. Kelly Molson: I'm going to go and follow him.Stephen Spencer: Yes.Kelly Molson: Listeners, if you are interested in winning a copy of that book, as ever, if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with the words, "I want Stephen's book", then you will be in with a chance of winning it. Stephen, thank you so much for coming on today, I think this was an excellent discussion. I'm intrigued as to what the response will be for your unpopular opinion. Kelly Molson: I do hope that people take you up on your offer to have a chat, because I think that there's some really exciting concepts that you talk about there, and I think that they should be at the heart of what attractions are looking to do now they're reopening. So, thanks for coming on and sharing that.Stephen Spencer: An absolute pleasure, Kelly, thank you so much for having me.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review, it really helps others find us. And, remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.
Becoming a children's author and illustrator (part 2): The legendary children's author Julia Donaldson & new children's author and illustrator Ted Chaplin talk to We'd Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan about how to create really good stories for young readers. Julia is the former Children's Laureate and the author of A Squash And A Squeeze, The Gruffalo, The Smartest Giant in Town, Stickman and more than a hundred books read by and to children, again and again and again. Many of them illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Now Julia is curating an online course to pass on her advice - and the advice of other experts - to other people who would like to become children's authors. It's under the auspices of the BBC Maestro series. You can find more details by following this link https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/julia-donaldson/writing-children-s-picture-books - 27 lessons lasting 6.5 hours, costing £80 In the meantime, Julia some surprising revelations for We'd Like A Word listeners. But what about Ted Chaplin - he's been at the top of the movie animation tree for a long time - working Farmageddon (Shaun the Sheep), Early Man, the Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists, Captain Scarlet, and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (but it wasn't his fault - if you've seen the film, you'll know what we mean). But now he's moving into writing and illustrating children's picture stories. It's been more than a year since presenters Paul and Stevyn have been able to get together face-to-face to interview a guest - due to covid - but in this episode we meet in Ted Chaplin's workshop, (which is a lot tidier looking than Steve's, I can tell you). We see Ted's work-in-progress - including a very very cute sloth-like creature. We also talk about Jed Mercurio, The Scarecrow's Wedding, Korky Paul, Strictly Come Dancing and the Great British Bake-Off, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Wolly Bear Caterpillar, the Gruffalo, Princess Mirabelle, the Beth and Ginny stories, The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows, Hamnett by maggie O'Farrell, Scopp by Evelyn Waugh, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Brian Blessed, The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists, Aardman Animation, The Imaginarium and Andy Serkis, the Highway Rat, David Tennant, Axel Scheffler, secret codes in movie making, Doctor Who and Star Wars, The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Rockabye Rumpus, Oi Frog by Kes Gray, Running on the Cracks, Enid Blyton, Kenneth Grahame, Richmal Crompton's Just William books, The Borrowers, E Nesbit, Judith Kerr, Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, smashing a Blue Peter trophy, Pride and Prejudice, favourite writing or drawing implements, Mr Men, Spot the Dog, Captain Scarlet, Cat Deeley, Black Panther, the Hulk, Ant and Dec, bums and farts, a Kookaburra and Faber pencils. We'd Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, audiobook creators about books - fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com - which is where you'll find information about Paul & Steve & our guests. We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is wedlikeaword@gmail.com - & yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - your questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. And if you're still stuck for something to read, may we recommend Blackwatertown by Paul Waters or The Diabolical Club by Stevyn Colgan.
Becoming a children's author and illustrator (part 1): The legendary children's author Julia Donaldson & new children's author and illustrator Ted Chaplin talk to We'd Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan about how to create really good stories for young readers. Julia is the former Children's Laureate and the author of A Squash And A Squeeze, The Gruffalo, The Smartest Giant in Town, Stickman and more than a hundred books read by and to children, again and again and again. Many of them illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Now Julia is curating an online course to pass on her advice - and the advice of other experts - to other people who would like to become children's authors. It's under the auspices of the BBC Maestro series. You can find more details by following this link https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/julia-donaldson/writing-children-s-picture-books - 27 lessons lasting 6.5 hours, costing £80 In the meantime, Julia some surprising revelations for We'd Like A Word listeners. But what about Ted Chaplin - he's been at the top of the movie animation tree for a long time - working Farmageddon (Shaun the Sheep), Early Man, the Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists, Captain Scarlet, and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (but it wasn't his fault - if you've seen the film, you'll know what we mean). But now he's moving into writing and illustrating children's picture stories. It's been more than a year since presenters Paul and Stevyn have been able to get together face-to-face to interview a guest - due to covid - but in this episode we meet in Ted Chaplin's workshop, (which is a lot tidier looking than Steve's, I can tell you). We see Ted's work-in-progress - including a very very cute sloth-like creature. We also talk about Jed Mercurio, The Scarecrow's Wedding, Korky Paul, Strictly Come Dancing and the Great British Bake-Off, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woolly Bear Caterpillar, the Gruffalo, Princess Mirabelle, the Beth and Ginny stories, The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows, Hamnett by Maggie O'Farrell, Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Brian Blessed, The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists, Aardman Animation, The Imaginarium and Andy Serkis, the Highway Rat, David Tennant, Axel Scheffler, secret codes in movie making, Doctor Who and Star Wars, The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Rockabye Rumpus, Oi Frog by Kes Gray, Running on the Cracks, Enid Blyton, Kenneth Grahame, Richmal Crompton's Just William books, The Borrowers, E Nesbit, Judith Kerr, Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, smashing a Blue Peter trophy, Pride and Prejudice, favourite writing or drawing implements, Mr Men, Spot the Dog, Captain Scarlet, Cat Deeley, Black Panther, the Hulk, Ant and Dec, bums and farts, a Kookaburra and Faber pencils. We'd Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, audiobook creators about books - fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com - which is where you'll find information about Paul & Steve & our guests. We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is wedlikeaword@gmail.com - & yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - your questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. And if you're still stuck for something to read, may we recommend Blackwatertown by Paul Waters or The Diabolical Club by Stevyn Colgan.
Becoming a children's author and illustrator (part 3): The legendary children's author Julia Donaldson & new children's author and illustrator Ted Chaplin talk to We'd Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan about how to create really good stories for young readers. Julia is the former Children's Laureate and the author of A Squash And A Squeeze, The Gruffalo, The Smartest Giant in Town, Stickman and more than a hundred books read by and to children, again and again and again. Many of them illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Now Julia is curating an online course to pass on her advice - and the advice of other experts - to other people who would like to become children's authors. It's under the auspices of the BBC Maestro series. You can find more details by following this link https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/julia-donaldson/writing-children-s-picture-books - 27 lessons lasting 6.5 hours, costing £80 In the meantime, Julia some surprising revelations for We'd Like A Word listeners. But what about Ted Chaplin - he's been at the top of the movie animation tree for a long time - working Farmageddon (Shaun the Sheep), Early Man, the Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists, Captain Scarlet, and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (but it wasn't his fault - if you've seen the film, you'll know what we mean). But now he's moving into writing and illustrating children's picture stories. It's been more than a year since presenters Paul and Stevyn have been able to get together face-to-face to interview a guest - due to covid - but in this episode we meet in Ted Chaplin's workshop, (which is a lot tidier looking than Steve's, I can tell you). We see Ted's work-in-progress - including a very very cute sloth-like creature. We also talk about Jed Mercurio, The Scarecrow's Wedding, Korky Paul, Strictly Come Dancing and the Great British Bake-Off, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Wolly Bear Caterpillar, the Gruffalo, Princess Mirabelle, the Beth and Ginny stories, The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows, Hamnett by maggie O'Farrell, Scopp by Evelyn Waugh, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Brian Blessed, The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists, Aardman Animation, The Imaginarium and Andy Serkis, the Highway Rat, David Tennant, Axel Scheffler, secret codes in movie making, Doctor Who and Star Wars, The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Rockabye Rumpus, Oi Frog by Kes Gray, Running on the Cracks, Enid Blyton, Kenneth Grahame, Richmal Crompton's Just William books, The Borrowers, E Nesbit, Judith Kerr, Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, smashing a Blue Peter trophy, Pride and Prejudice, favourite writing or drawing implements, Mr Men, Spot the Dog, Captain Scarlet, Cat Deeley, Black Panther, the Hulk, Ant and Dec, bums and farts, a Kookaburra and Faber pencils. We'd Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, audiobook creators about books - fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com - which is where you'll find information about Paul & Steve & our guests. We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is wedlikeaword@gmail.com - & yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - your questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. And if you're still stuck for something to read, may we recommend Blackwatertown by Paul Waters or The Diabolical Club by Stevyn Colgan.
Jeremy sits down with Jed Mercurio, writer of Line of Duty and other hit dramas, to talk TV, police, conspiracies, and writing. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Torkil blir totalt overrumplet når serieskaper Jed Mercurio plutselig er med i praten. Det blir en lang prat om Line of Duty med skaperen av serien når Torkil får summet seg litt. Så snakker vi en del om den glimrende festivalen Oslo Pix som du kan se live og digitalt akkurat nå. RØPEALARM: Mellom 23:15 og 32:40 avsløres detaljer fra slutten av sesong 6 i Line of Duty Rekkefølge: Åpning: Line of Duty-ettersnakk 09:00: Stor overraskelse: Jed Mercurio, serieskaper, er med pr telefon 32:50: Gritt (norsk film på Oslo Pix) 38:00: Trust me (dokumentarfilm på Oslo Pix) 41:30: The jungle prince (podkast fra New York Times) 44:40: Beharie – Won't you let me go Mail oss: kulturstripa@nrk.no. Hør episoden i appen NRK Radio
My guest is Jed Mercurio the creative force behind the epic police drama Line of Duty. Series six of the wildly successful show will debut on May 18th here in the U.S. exclusively on Britbox. (https://www.britbox.com/us/ )Last year when we spoke to Jed Series five had just come off of rave reviews for the BBC 1 and massive ratings but that was just the start of things to come for Line of Duty. The new season comes following a ratings run that outperformed Bodyguard, Downton Abbey and ended with the series breaking a modern-day BBC viewing record (12.8 million) that dates back nearly two decades.Line Of Duty now shares this record rating honor with The Great British Bake Off (15.9million in October 2016), EastEnders (16.4million in February 2010), Gavin, and Stacey (17.1million in December 2019), and The X Factor (17.7million in December 2010). To put things into perspective Line Of Duty’s success means the top ten most-watched drama series of the century are evenly split between BBC1 and ITV.In case you have not seen the show it is set in the fictional police anti-corruption unit AC-12, Line of Duty is a cat-and-mouse thriller that takes a probing look into modern policing and corruption. In the newest season, AC-12 faces their most enigmatic adversary yet - Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Davidson (Kelly Macdonald). With her unconventional conduct in a high-profile murder investigation raising suspicions, the team begins to challenge the facts of the case and question whether Davidson is really doing everything in her power to find the perpetrator – or if there is another factor in play. For the many fans of Line of duty here in the U.S. watching on Britbox, you will recall that season five drew to a close, we think that fans are going to be quite surprised by how the sixth series begins but I can tell you that you will not be disappointed.There is no question that Mercurio has proven anything by bringing Line of Duty to the small screen it is that he is a master of the plot twist and keeping views guessing which is what makes the show must-see TV. Make no mistake about it Line of Duty series six is going to be another well-written, well-acted and well-produced roller coasters ride and you would be wise to take the trip because it is well worth the time.Promotional consideration for Stream On with Jim Williams comes from Sling TV. They are far and away; the best live streaming service on the planet.Cord cutters and cord nevers want a place to keep up with live TV with sports or news. Well, we have the best possible option at the best cost in the business.Check them out at https://www.sling.com/It doesn’t matter if you like sports, or news, or entertainment they have it all in one place at a price that will have you cutting the cord today! Check out www.slingtv.com for their outstanding live service today and start saving money.Have questions or comments?No problem just ask away on social media Twitter @JWMediaDC Instagram – Jimwilliams200 Email at jimwilliamsmedia@gmail.com
Comedian Mitch Benn joins Steve Anglesey to talk about the battle over fishing rights and why it's hard for Remainers to not say "we told you so". Plus, how Keir Starmer can improve and Jed Mercurio's not-very-subtle digs at Boris Johnson. Then Belfast Telegraph journalist Gail Walker joins to preview the DUP's leadership election, and what it means for Unionism.
Craig talks to creator Jed Mercurio about the “big reveal”, if he sees this as the end of this AC-12 story arc and of course - what’s the deal with the locks?? Then Sarah Millican joins Craig to give their reactions to the final episode of series 6.
The Seamus Heaney Centre Podcast is produced in a small back room by Ian Sansom, Stephen Sexton, and Rachel Brown. With thanks to our producer Chantal Ailsby, and to Nick Boyle for his music. This is one of a series of masterclasses with novelists, poets, playwrights and screenwriters, designed to support a life of writing. Special thanks to the Queen's Annual Fund. Jed Mercurio is one of the few British screenwriters to work as a showrunner. His most recent productions, Bodyguard and Line of Duty, have broken audience records in the UK. His other credits include Lady Chatterley's Lover, Critical, Strike Back, Bodies, The Grimleys and Cardiac Arrest. He is a former hospital physician and Royal Air Force officer, having originally planned to specialise in aviation medicine. Line of Duty and Bodies are both winners of the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series; Line of Duty won the 2018 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Drama Series and Mercurio won Best Writer. The first four seasons of Line of Duty have so far been nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards. Mercurio is a four-time nominee as Best Drama Writer for both the Royal Television Society and Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
A Stab In The Dark: A UKTV Original Crime Podcast with Mark Billingham
In this brand new episode of A Stab In The Dark, award-winning crime writer Mark Billingham chats to acclaimed screenwriter and showrunner Jed Mercurio. Line Of Duty has become the nation's top-rated cop show, and here Jed discusses the show's success, and gives valuable behind-the-scenes insight into the characters, the scripts and the plots. He also gives us a sneak preview of series six. Elsewhere, our man with the spyglass, Paul Hirons, chats to the star of The Sopranos, Vincent Pastore. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Jed Mercurio's new drama Bodyguard follows Richard Madden as a troubled war veteran assigned as protection officer to the Home Secretary played by Keeley Hawes. TV critic Alison Graham reviews this latest offering from the writer of police thriller Line of Duty.As a One Direction themed fanfiction is now being turned into a feature film; we ask if fanfiction has finally gone mainstream with books journalist Sarah Shaffi and fanfiction writer and novelist RJ Anderson. The Lovely Bones is a bestselling novel by Alice Sebold about a young girl who is brutally murdered and looks down on her grieving family from heaven. Playwright Bryony Lavery discusses turning this well loved book into a theatre piece.For our Inspire season we commissioned three artists to make a piece of work. Tonight we catch up with crime novelist Vaseem Khan to see how he's getting on. Presenter: Sharmaine Lovegrove Producer: Hannah Robins.
Kirsty Young's castaway is Jed Mercurio. Creator of Line of Duty, and an award-winning TV writer, producer, director and novelist, he is one of the few British script-writers to work as an American-style show-runner. A former hospital doctor and RAF officer, he has been ranked among UK television's leading writers by TV industry magazine Broadcast. His Italian parents moved to the UK after the Second World War and he was brought up in Cannock in the Midlands. Keen on science as a child, with dreams of becoming an astronaut, he studied medicine at Birmingham University. While there, he applied for the RAF medical doctor programme and learned to fly. While he was working as a hospital doctor, he answered an advertisement in the British Medical Journal seeking advisors for a medical TV drama. Despite negligible writing experience, he went on to script the BBC medical drama Cardiac Arrest. Its continuing success led him to leave medicine and embark on a successful career as a scriptwriter. His chief works for TV are the series Line of Duty, Bodies, The Grimleys and Cardiac Arrest. He's also written books: Bodies; Ascent; American Adulterer, and for children, The Penguin Expedition. Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
An in depth conversation with the writer behind Line of Duty, Bodies and Critical. In this interview, recorded by BBC Writersroom for The BBC Academy podcast, Henry Swindell, senior script executive for BBC Northern Ireland, talks to Jed about his career and how he creates his stories and characters.
TV dramatist Jed Mercurio, producer Caryn Mandabach and writer-director, Dominic Savage talk to Anne McElvoy about creating successful dramas including The Line of Duty and Peaky Blinders. Novelist Sarah Waters discusses her play with Christopher Green called The Frozen Scream and latest novel The Paying Guests. And New Generation Thinker Sarah Peverley looks at Christmas customs in Medieval England.
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