Tolstoy’s celebrated novel War and Peace has recently been enjoying some fresh attention thanks to a number of adaptations. BBC Radio 4 broadcast a ten-part adaptation of the novel. Later this year, the…
On the defensive: the BBC’s director-general, Tony Hall.
Lewis Whyld/PA Wire
The BBC’s long-running political panel show, Question Time sets out to be topical, relevant to its audience and spiced with a dash of controversy. So, as you’d expect, when it was broadcast from Wrexham…
Curtis is one of few BBC film-makers given great artistic freedom.
Steve Rhodes
Most broadcasters – especially those who work at the BBC – must produce their programmes to conform to strict guidelines. They must be within five seconds of the required length, they must comply with…
Westminster: a cradle of democracy?
Tim Ireland/PA Wire
The BBC is marking 750 years since the first elected parliament at Westminster with a dedicated “Democracy Day”. Though Westminster is recognised as the cradle of representative democracy, there are indications…
A Dahl for Christmas.
Endor Productions/Nick Briggs
Roald Dahl hated adaptations of his work, and often I agree with him. The original books have such a place in so many people’s hearts and open up the imagination so much that once on screen they can feel…
Crowd in Downing Street during the war.
Library of Congress
The audio drama evangelist and bloodhound in me has caught scent of the fragrant odour of a renaissance. The immense popularity of Serial, with its style of journalistic storytelling and dramatic sensation…
The BBC, like the ABC, has faced significant pressure to change in response to repeated debates over how it should be funded.
EPA/Andy Rain
2014 is turning into a grim year for public broadcasting. In June, Hubert Lacroix, the president of Canada’s public broadcaster CBC, announced an unprecedented series of job cuts. One-quarter of the staff…