Newcastle and the North East portrayed in the MEDIA - in Films, TV Programmes, Music, YouTube Videos, etc

[Newcastle Historian]

BBC boss Peter Salmon on plans for the future
May 25 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal


Peter Salmon, the BBC's first Director North, will give the Royal Television Society North East and Cumbria Annual Lecture tonight at the University of Sunderland. Here he writes about the BBC’s commitment to be closer to audiences across the North of England and plans to give northern towns, cities and places much greater exposure on screen.

AS a son of the North, I’ve always thought the most stirring clause in the BBC Charter is the promise to reflect the nation back to itself.

That doesn’t mean people living in London patronising regional viewers with programmes about flat-capped northerners with whippets or Welshmen who sing in choirs.

It means recognising that “the audience” is a set of different communities who often come together in shared tastes and enthusiasms, but at the same time may have different needs and different cultural identities.

And now, with the opening next year of MediaCity at Salford Quays, the BBC will really be putting its money where its mouth is. What will come out of that mouth is a distinctive new northern voice for the Corporation.

We are in a process of unprecedented editorial devolution. The BBC aims to shift half of all its network production out of London by 2016.

In the biggest single move in its history, no less than five departments – Sport, Children’s, Learning, Radio Five Live and parts of Future Media and Technology – will transfer from London to Greater Manchester.

An enormous range of television, radio and online content, including some of our most loved shows like Match of The Day and Blue Peter, will be made in the North.

This is no empty political gesture, making Salford a kind of London of the North, but a real opportunity for creative talent here.

The project’s arteries will feed into all corners of the greater North, invigorating the creative industries throughout the region, and channelling new blood back into the output as a whole.


REST OF ARTICLE HERE - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-e...1634-26512991/

[Tyr]

How is that Roman film working? The wall has changed quite a bit in 2000 years....

The last post is great news.
You hear a lot on TV from Asian actors and the like going 'you know...when I was a kid there was no one like me on TV so when random character xxx popped up it was awesome!', I feel much the same, no northerners on TV excepting the occasional repeat of Auf Wiedershen on sky and THOSE TWO.
Would be nice to see a change.

[Elswick]

This programme has been commissioned and will be filmed in the area in the autumn . .


ITV puts faith in Vera as successor to Frost
20 May, 2010 | By Jake Kanter

ITV has earmarked an in-house detective drama as a successor to A Touch of Frost and is taking the format to a full eight-hour series before the pilot has even aired.

ITV Studios completed the pilot of Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn, earlier this year. Director of television Peter Fincham and director of drama commissioning Laura Mackie were sufficiently impressed to order three additional instalments before scheduling the test episode.

The 120-minute pilot episode will now form part of a 4 x 120-minute series of self-contained stories, which will TX in a primetime slot on ITV1 next year.

The pilot is based on crime writer Ann Cleeves’ novel Hidden Depths, and the new instalments will be adapted from her other novels, Telling Tales and The Crow Trap, while a third episode will be originally scripted.

Blethyn stars as Cleeves’ central character: an obsessive, workaholic detective called Vera Stanhope. Each instalment will see her fight personal demons and tackle a new crime in modern-day Northumberland and Newcastle.

“With the demise of A Touch of Frost we are keen to introduce new crime dramas into the mix and to create the iconic detectives of the future,” said Mackie. “Brenda’s portrayal of the sharp but shambolic Vera Stanhope is a wonderful addition to our slate.”

The drama will be produced by Elaine Collins - who developed the pilot as a script executive - and will be series produced by ITV Studios’ creative director of drama Kate Bartlett and fellow executive Kate Lewis. Bartlett is keen to appoint a different director to each episode to ensure they are distinctive.

Filming commences in July and Northern Film & Media is understood to have contributed some funding.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/c...014199.article

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[Newcastle Historian]

.
Previous coverage of this story, on this thread . . .
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=190

Today:

Pilot is scrapped for independent regional TV news
June 9 2010, The Journal.


Recommend PILOTS for Independently Funded News Consortia to replace ITV’s regional news in the Tyne-Tees and Borders region are to be scrapped by the new government, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has confirmed.

A consortium involving Journal publishers Trinity Mirror had been selected to run the pilot in the North East, but funding for the project will now be used to support the roll-out of superfast broadband instead.

Labour had planned the trials to replace loss-making regional ITV news services.

But Mr Hunt warned in January that the Conservatives would scrap the “outdated“ plans to use public money to fund regional news on ITV.

Three pilot schemes had been proposed – the other two being in Scotland and in Wales – which were expected to get under way later this year.

Last night Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey said: “Given the Conservatives’ stance on Independently Funded News Consortia while in opposition, today’s announcement has not come as a surprise.

“However, as part of one of the successful IFNC bidding consortia we’re naturally disappointed that the Government has called time on these plans.

“We believed that the IFNCs’ capacity to tap the talent and expertise of regional media companies to provide a viable alternative to the BBC’s local news made sense for everyone.

“We look forward to seeing the results of the independent commercial assessment of local television but it’s worth noting at this point that we don’t see ‘City TV’ as a viable proposition. Our research suggests that the costs are too high and the revenues too low to support a sustainable business model.”

Mr Hunt also said he would ask media regulator Ofcom to look at the case for removing all cross-media ownership rules at a local level and at options for supporting new local TV stations in towns and cities.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will set out a local media action plan in the autumn, following an assessment over the summer by Nicholas Shott, head of UK investment banking at Lazard.


ARTICLE HERE - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-e...1634-26615684/

[paddytoonleics]

Nice to see the Tyne Bridge in the latest Premier Inn ad...when Lenny Henry mentions amazing city breaks, they whip back the curtain to reveal a cracking view! Blink and you miss it like, so keep your finger hovering to pause the Sky+, but it's nice it's there all the same

[toonlad]

I guess this was not shown in the NE, but its a beautiful advert for our region: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvTPcYl6CMQ

[anonymous1]

Originally Posted by toonlad

I guess this was not shown in the NE, but its a beautiful advert for our region: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvTPcYl6CMQ

where was it shown? It is very nice. We did have a similar one on locally, with Sting in, but that wasn't by the same people, I don't think.

I chuckled when I read the comment "Well he does, sort of. I think it's Robson Green talking in his posh Geordie voice." I'm pretty sure it's Sean Pertwee, and doesn't even sound geordie.

[Newcastle Historian]

Originally Posted by toonlad

I guess this was not shown in the NE, but its a beautiful advert for our region: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvTPcYl6CMQ

Excellent clip toonlad!

Moved your post about it here, to the "Tyneside Media" thread, from 'Skybar'.

[Newcastle Historian]

ITV to film new detective series Vera in North East
Jun 22 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal

NB - We had discussed the filming of 'the pilot' of VERA already, on this thread, HERE . . .
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...7&postcount=53
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=202

A MAJOR new television detective series is to be filmed in the North East this summer following the chance purchase of a book in an Oxfam shop.

ITV, whose decision to axe Wire In The Blood caused dismay in the region’s TV sector last year, has commissioned three feature-length episodes of a detective drama called Vera.

Starring award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn in the title role of Detective Vera Stanhope, they will be shot at various North East locations from a base at the former Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, which is now owned by North Tyneside Council.

The three two-hour dramas will be shown early next year along with a pilot episode, made here last year, which impressed bosses at ITV.

The commission was hailed yesterday as more “wonderful news” for the North East broadcasting sector, but it is also thrilling for Whitley Bay author Ann Cleeves who wrote the novels on which the series will be based.

She said: “I did a short film for Border TV that I wrote but that was more like a competition. This is the first option on one of my novels that has been taken up so it’s all very exciting.”

She said ITV decided to pursue the project after one of its executives, Elaine Collins, bought one of the Vera Stanhope novels, The Crow Trap, in an Oxfam shop in London.

Ann, whose first novel was published in 1986 and who first introduced Vera Stanhope in The Crow Trap, published in 1999, said Vera’s progress to the small screen was “a really lovely story”.


REST OF ARTICLE (TWO PAGES INCLUDING DISCUSSION, ALSO, ON 'TRACEY BEAKER', 'JOE MADDISONS WAR', AND 'GEORGE GENTLY') HERE . . . http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-e...1634-26697084/

[Newcastle Historian]

Bus tours of Newcastle Film and Music Locations Launched
Jul 8 2010 by Barbara Hodgson, Evening Chronicle



RED bus tours of the region’s hotspots are usually top of the to-do list for tourists, but a new addition to the route is just the ticket for local people too.

Tyne Idols Tours, taking in musical and film locations across Newcastle, are being launched next weekend, and even if you thought you knew your local cultural history, you could be in for a few surprises.

You’ll find out, for instance, which Beatles hit was written in a hotel in Grey Street, and where Bryan Ferry and The Animals’ Eric Burdon showed off their artistic talents by painting a New York scene inside a former nightclub.

While a traditional red Routemaster bus is currently being re-branded and fitted out with a PA system, a preview tour yesterday gave a taste of what to expect.

And the local Fab Four behind the venture are music fans Paul Irwin and Chris Wilson; pop historian and producer Chris Phipps and former Lindisfarne drummer Ray Laidlaw.

Laidlaw and Phipps will share the role of guide on the tours, which will start on July 18 and run on Sundays through August.

So, you can expect a few inside stories and anecdotes among those fast and furious facts and surprises. It was Phipps at the microphone yesterday as it set off on the round trip from Central Station.

“Heritage isn’t just stately homes and castles,” he pointed out. “Heritage is popular music, like folk songs from the last century to fantastic songs by Dire Straits, Sting and Maximo Park – they are monuments of the region as well.

“This is a celebration of that, and there’s something for everybody.”

And a celebratory mood sets the tone of the tour which, alongside popular venues, takes in lesser-known locations such as the site of the long-gone New Orleans Jazz Club – now Sachins restaurant on the quayside – and the famous Club A Go-Go in New Bridge Street.

A quick detour across the river includes Gateshead Quays and the Get Carter car park then, back in Newcastle en route to the city centre, it passes the Akenside in Dean Street, which doubled as the nightclub run by Sting’s character in 1988 film Stormy Monday.

Phipps has stories at every turn – like where the Gallaghers had a scrap in the early days of Oasis – and no doubt Laidlaw will have his own to tell when his turn comes.

But it’s not just a blast from the past for locals with memories of places like Rockshots and The Mayfair.

The cultural scene is constantly evolving, says Phipps, with old buildings taking on new roles, except for the former Tyne Tees TV studio on City Road – now a pile of rubble – where in the 80s Phipps worked as producer on The Tube, the seminal music show credited with reviving the career of Tina Turner and launching that of French & Saunders.

Theatre gets a look-in too, as do the city’s recording studios and independent record shops on the three-hour tour which includes stops at two watering holes – The Free Trade and The Bridge – as well as a look inside City Hall and The Journal Tyne Theatre (gigs permitting).

Amongst those on board yesterday was local writer Peter Mortimer: “It makes you proud to live here,” he says.

The £15 tours (£12 concessions) will initially run for a limited period: twice daily on Sundays until August 15, but other dates may be added. If they’re a success, organiser Paul Irwin, of East Coast Taxis & Tours, suggests they could become a permanent feature of the cultural calendar.

Visit www.tyneidols.com or call 0191 290 4539.


ARTICLE HERE - http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north...2703-26810991/

[Newcastle Historian]

Charlie homes in on new film
July 11th 2010, by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun


SCREEN star Charlie Hunnam is going back to his roots . . . to make a movie about his dad.

The Newcastle-born actor, who rose to fame after starring in the controversial TV series Queer As Folk, now lives in Hollywood where he has a regular appearance in the hard-hitting series Sons of Anarchy, which centres around motorbike gangs.

But he’ll be swapping bikers for Byker, Newcastle, very soon, after revealing how he’s heading home to make a film based on his dad Billy’s life growing up on Tyneside.

Charlie, 30, will write the script for the low-budget project – the second script he has penned recently.

Later this year he’ll see the script he titled “Vlad” – the true story of the historical leader Vlad the Impaler, the real-life inspiration for Dracula – turned into an £85m movie called Blood by Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company.

The former Heaton Manor School pupil said: “I am going to sit down and write something, a very, very small story.

"I am going to write a very small and easily financeable story about my dad, actually, growing up in Newcastle. So I’m going to go and spend some time with my dad and write that story.

“I am thinking I may be able to produce that in a more hands-on way in terms of hiring the director that I want and hiring an actor to play my dad and stuff, and actually fully produce that film, which would be great.


FULL ARTICLE HERE - http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/nort...9310-26826543/

[Newcastle Historian]

TV show hope for old La Sagesse School
July 12th 2010, by Amy Hunt, Evening Chronicle



MORE hit TV shows could be shot on Tyneside, following the return of a popular children's series.

The new series of Tracey Beaker Returns will be filmed at the former La Sagesse School in Jesmond, Newcastle, if council chiefs give the go-ahead next week.

Former Toon chairman Freddy Shepherd, who owns the former school, which closed in 2008, says he would welcome other filmmakers who wanted to use the historic site as a location.

Scores of children descended on the Jesmond Towers Estate, on Bemersyde Drive, last summer to shoot scenes for the hit children’s TV show.

Filming was allowed to take place without permission, because it was a one-off.

But now Mr Shepherd’s firm, Shepherd Offshore, has applied for a three-year licence so that filming can take place there.

It would mean the BBC could shoot the 13-part series over 13 weeks this summer.

Freddy’s brother, Bruce Shepherd, said: “This is a fantastic historic building which we’re keen to show off to its full potential.

“We have already showcased it in the last series of Tracey Beaker and look forward to seeing it on screen again.

“Given that permission would last for three years, we would be pleased to hear from anyone else who wanted to use the site for filming.”


FULL ARTICLE HERE - http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/ne...-908168541.jpg


( NB - Tracy Beaker originally discussed last December, on this thread HERE - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=115 )

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[TownPlanningNE]

La Sagesse School gets filming go-ahead
Jul 19 2010 by Amy Hunt, Evening Chronicle
FILMING has been approved on the site of an historic former school.

A shoot is due to start imminently at the former La Sagesse School in Jesmond for the new series of Tracy Beaker Returns.

Previous episodes of the popular children’s series were filmed there last year.

And permission given to the owner of the Jesmond Towers Estate, former Toon chairman Freddy Shepherd, means other shows can be shot on the site, on Bemersyde Drive.

Members of Newcastle City Council’s planning committee approved an 18-month licence for filming at the former school, which closed in 2008.

Mr Shepherd, who bought Jesmond Towers for £5m in February last year, has already indicated he would be happy for other filmmakers to use the site as a location.

Children and film crews descended on the Jesmond Towers Estate last summer to shoot scenes for Tracy Beaker Returns.

Rest of article: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north...2703-26882646/

[bigchrisfgb]

Blaydon races is used as a tune on the new Delux advert, alongside pictures of Beardsley playing for Newcastle.

I'm not too sure if it is shown in only the North East but I saw it on Nat Geo, so I'm assuming it's a national advert.

[Newcastle Historian]

The End of North East Film and TV making?
July 28th 2010 The Journal


THERE are films that tie up all the loose ends before the closing credits roll, sending people away happy. Then there are those that leave cinema audiences wondering.

If the abolition of the UK Film Council, announced this week just before MPs rose for their summer break, were to be written up as a screenplay, the plot would fall into the second of those categories.

For yesterday no-one seemed entirely clear what the knock-on effect of the abolition – announced along with others in the cultural sector – might have on the recently resurgent film industry in the North East.

The UK Film Council decision, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt explained, was in keeping with the Government’s commitment “to increasing the transparency and accountability of its public bodies, while at the same time reducing their number and cost”.

There was talk of establishing “a direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute” instead.

But where would this leave Northern Film & Media and the eight other regional screen agencies which support film and new media projects around the country?

Northern Film & Media, which moved not so long ago to offices in Hoults Yard, Walker, Newcastle, gets a large chunk of its funding – £595,331 this year, to be precise – from the UK Film Council.

In addition, possibly to add to the discomfort of its 17 employees, it is due to receive a further £567,00 during the current year from One North East, which is itself being wound up in 2012.

A further £430,000 comes from the European Regional Development Fund via One North East.

It is hard to find anyone working in the North East film or moving image sector with a bad word to say about Northern Film & Media.

When, last year, the region found itself with no programmes on the TV networks, chief executive Tom Harvey put his head above the parapet, calling on the BBC in particular to give North East licence fee payers their just deserts.

Since then BBC North, newly domiciled in Manchester/Salford, has been conspicuously supportive of our media companies and professionals, putting the chance of new website commissions their way and locating children’s series Tracy Beaker in the region.


FULL ARTICLE HERE - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-e...1634-26944833/

[Newcastle Historian]

Veteran broadcaster Frank Wappat bows out
August 17th 2010, by Kerry Wood, Evening Chronicle



A WELL-KNOWN broadcaster who has been on the airwaves for 40 years is retiring due to ill health.

Frank Wappat is leaving BBC Radio Newcastle after suffering a stroke, which has left him with a condition known as Aphasia.

He first suffered a stroke more than a decade ago and now lives in Blyth with his wife Susan.

Frank said: “Thanks to the dedicated staff of Wansbeck Hospital I’m back on my feet and adjusting to life at home.

“The reality is that I can no longer give 110% to my radio shows, so I have sadly resigned from my broadcasting commitments.

“No-one likes to make tough decisions and this one has been the hardest of my life.”

Following his first broadcast via the pirate station Radio 390 on the Thames Estuary, Frank started at the Tyneside station in 1970.

He has gone on to become its longest-serving presenter drawing in thousands of followers along the way.

For the last few years, listeners will know him best for his work producing and presenting two BBC Newcastle shows - Sunday morning’s Inspirational Show from 6am to 7.30am and the award-winning Frank Wappat Music show from 7pm to 10pm.

BBC Newcastle managing editor Andrew Robson said: “Frank has had an unprecedented career at BBC Newcastle spanning 40 years, a legendary record unlikely to be beaten.


FULL ARTICLE HERE - http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north...2703-27077552/

[Nick8700]

Hello all

First off Im a long time avid reader. I've lived in the area for 11 years now and it one of the most fascinating places I've lived.
Such a rich and interesting city.
I hope to now become a regular poster

Now I'm wondering if anyone can help with a request.
I work in the North East TV and Film industry and I'm currently working on a documentary about the North East Hip Hop community (which many of you may not of realised existed!)
Right now I'm working on a 10 minute pilot for the documentary. For it I'm trying to find archive footage of Newcastle from the 80s and 90s.
Professional archive companies are far too expensive for me so I'm trying to get in touch with a private archive holder to source the footage.
Can anyone help me? I'm not looking for anything in particular, just video/film/digital footage of the city and its people.
Format isn't an issue.

If anyone is interested in the film I'm making, have a look at the 'Pitch' video I made earlier in the year.

http://www.vimeo.com/10563267

Any help would be greatly appreciated and credited.

It has never occurred to me to ask here until tonight.

Thanks all. I look forward to many discussions to come.

[Andym]

Nick, cant help you with footage but if you want to get to the start of hip hop in newcastle i would contact mark rae (via his website,myspace or facebook). he heads grand central records and fat city (late of manchester) and has produced the pharcyde, jeru the damaga, beatnuts and many other american hip hop artists as well as doing his own stuff under the rae and cristian moniker and now lives in LA. hes originally from cramlington and he was one of the first hip hop crowd i can remember in newcastle running nights like feva at manhattans and other gigs at the old riverside club in the early eighties which had a loyal following. im sure hes the type to help you out (hes a lapsed mate of mine). i used to have a stake in bass generator records on dean street and we used to turn over a lot of hip hop records in the early nineties and the main people involved were guy kneeling, andy stenhouse, tony hylton, chill bill, little will, who were all people putting on hip hop nights at that time. we promoted british hip hop showcases at the riverside with lots of live uk artists but i dont know all the details as it wasnt my area of particular musical interest. any of the contacts above could help you further-i believe they are all still in the newcastle area.

[hollow man]

I saw that Centurion movie the other night. Pretty good for a low budget film; some beautiful shots of the Scottish countryside but Newcastle isnt mentioned at all in the film and Hadrians wall only fleetingly at the end.

[AngerOfTheNorth]

Originally Posted by hollow man

I saw that Centurion movie the other night. Pretty good for a low budget film; some beautiful shots of the Scottish countryside but Newcastle isnt mentioned at all in the film and Hadrians wall only fleetingly at the end.

Where did you see it?