All posts tagged: BBCs

Gary Lineker to leave BBC’s Match Of The Day at the end of the current football season | UK News

Gary Lineker to leave BBC’s Match Of The Day at the end of the current football season | UK News

Published by skeptic

Gary Lineker is to leave Match Of The Day after 25 years, Sky News understands. The former England striker will step down at the end of the current football season in May 2025. It is understood he will stay at the BBC until the end of the next World Cup which is being held in the US, Mexico and Canada in 2026. Image: Gary Lineker on Match of the Day in 2018. Pic: BBC/Pete Dadds His departure from the long-running show was earlier reported by The Sun. Lineker has hosted the Premier League highlights show since 1999, after his predecessor Des Lynam moved to ITV. Lineker was briefly removed from Match Of The Day in March 2023 following controversy over comments he made on social media criticising the then Conservative government’s asylum policies. The row prompted the BBC to launch an independent review of its social media guidelines and Lineker returned to screens soon after. But the 63-year-old may stay on at the BBC after 2026 working on podcasts – an area where Lineker has …

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light review – The BBC’s Tudor drama beheads expectations

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light review – The BBC’s Tudor drama beheads expectations

Published by skeptic

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The course of English history is often mapped out against its Kings and Queens. The Normans, bringing European modernity to a savage isle; the Plantagenets, turning the nation into an international superpower; the Victorians, industrialising our country into a formidable, globe-spanning empire. It is an easy taxonomy, but one that elides the fact that eras are shaped as much by the power behind the throne as by the royals themselves. That’s where Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, the second and final chapter in the BBC’s adaptation of the late Hilary Mantel’s historical novels, comes in. Anne Boleyn is dead. After an affair – then marriage – that changed the country, Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) is now wed to Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips) and feverishly anticipating the birth of a male heir. Slinking about behind the king, working as …

How BBC’s breaking news alerts are giving voters – and political parties – an electoral buzz | General election 2024

How BBC’s breaking news alerts are giving voters – and political parties – an electoral buzz | General election 2024

Published by skeptic

The most powerful person in British media during this election, in terms of having the most direct access to voters, is no longer the editor of BBC’s News at Six or the person who chooses the headlines on Radio 2. Nor are they a newspaper editor, a TikTok influencer, or a podcaster. Instead, they’re the anonymous on-shift editor of the BBC News app, making snap judgments on whether to make the phones of millions of Britons buzz with a breaking news push alert. The BBC does not publish user numbers, but external research suggests about 12.6 million Britons have its news app installed. BBC newsroom sources say the actual number is higher and the assumption is that about 60% of users have notifications enabled. This means that on a conservative estimate, a typical push alert is reaching the phones of 7 million Britons – more than any other broadcast news bulletin in the UK. Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former director of communications, said influencing the BBC’s coverage was the main objective for all political press …

BBC’s new noir drama about a missing boy sounds seriously intense – details

BBC’s new noir drama about a missing boy sounds seriously intense – details

Published by skeptic

We love a good BBC drama, and the network has recently revealed that two new shows will be out later this year – and they both sound seriously good. Having already aired in Sweden, the two Swedish crime dramas sound right up our street! End of Summer is based on police officer Anders de la Motte’s bestselling novel, and follows a woman who believes that her younger brother is still alive two decades after his disappearance – and that she has seen him.  WATCH: In the meantime, check out BBC’s Blue Lights The official synopsis reads: “The story begins in summer of 1984 with 5-year-old Billy disappearing in rural Sweden, and the inconclusive police investigation that follows, shattering the family. Two decades later, Billy’s sister Vera, meets a hauntingly familiar young man, which forces her to unravel the truth behind her brother’s disappearance.” Intriguing! © ProductionEnd of Summer poster The second show coming to the BBC is Jana – Marked for Life, also based on a bestselling novel, this time by Emilie Schepp. The story …

8,000 complaints made about BBC’s Gaza coverage since October

8,000 complaints made about BBC’s Gaza coverage since October

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Tim Davie at the Culture, Media and Sport Committee at the Houses of Parliament on 20 March 2024. Picture: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire More than 8,000 complaints have been made about the BBC’s coverage of the Gaza war since Hamas attacked Israel in October, with accusations of bias split evenly in either direction. Concerns were raised about the perception of bias in the corporation’s reporting of the conflict, which has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed, as top BBC staff faced questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday. The broadcaster’s director of editorial policy and standards David Jordan told the committee of MPs: “As of this morning, we had just under 4,000 people complaining that our… output, rather, our coverage, was biased against Israel and over 4,000 that was biased in favour. “They are actually pretty similar, which reflects the differing opinions in the country as a whole on that.” BBC director-general Tim Davie was asked about BBC Arabic staff retweeting remarks that were called “essentially pro-Hamas” by Conservative MP Damian Green. …

BBC’s Doctor Who to incorporate AI

BBC’s Doctor Who to incorporate AI

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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is set to trial artificial intelligence (AI) within the world of its flagship icon Doctor Who. The publicly funded broadcaster will be using generative AI to promote the ‘Whoniverse’ collection on the company’s streaming platform iPlayer. Head of Media Inventory at the BBC, Dan Houston told the Radio Times that “experimentation is at the heart of how we approach marketing at the BBC. Testing and learning on how we let audiences know what BBC content is most relevant to them and we know they might love underpins our digital marketing strategy.” Doctor Who to use artificial intelligence The senior BBC executive would continue that there is “a rich variety of content in the Whoniverse collection on iPlayer to test and learn with, and Doctor Who thematically lends itself to AI, which is a bonus.” With a new season of Doctor Who on the way this tech driven test will be used as a benchmark for future instalments of the Tardis travelling doctor. Houston said “We’re going to take it one …

BBC’s Ros Atkins on AI, switching off (or not), and staying curious

BBC’s Ros Atkins on AI, switching off (or not), and staying curious

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Ros Atkins. Picture: Jamie Simonds /BBC After our interview, Ros Atkins goes viral on X (formerly known as Twitter) with a thread about his journey back to London from Penzance. It chronicles his will-he-won’t-he make it trip home on a rail replacement bus that made a wrong turn, and has over half a million views. Quite an achievement on a busy November news day. It’s even got a headline – ‘The bus that turned west’. It’s a lesson in the art of story-telling – a technique he talks about in his book The Art of Explanation. It’s impressive to see it unfold in real time. Atkins is analysis editor for BBC News, and an occasional drum and bass DJ. He’s well-known for his clean, factual explainers on BBC news programmes. He’s in Penzance to promote the book and says it’s been “frantic”. We sit in the empty ticket office at Penzance train station with 20 minutes until his bus leaves. He’s said that explanation is an art not a science, so I’m feeling the pressure …

BBC’s The Split confirms new spin-off series – details

BBC’s The Split confirms new spin-off series – details

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The BBC has confirmed a spin-off series for its hit legal drama, The Split, which came to a close with its third season in 2022.  The new six-parter, titled The Split-Up, is created by Ursula Rani Sarma (Smother, Delicious) and executive produced by Abi Morgan, who created the original series.  WATCH: Did you watch the final season of The Split? The plot centres around the “high-stakes world of Manchester’s divorce law circuit“, where one family of lawyers, the Kishans, dominate the scene. The new show is set to explore “the weight of parental expectations, the forces that keep families together and the truths that tear them apart”.  While the first series, which starred Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan, focused on the complex world of London’s divorce law circuit and the lives of the three Defoe sisters and their mother, the new series will follow Manchester-based “British-Asian high net worth family law firm”, Kishan Law.  MORE: Nicola Walker dramas that are a must-watch: Annika, Unforgotten, River & more © Photo: BBCNicola Walker starred in the original series …

BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg Corners Minister Over ‘Broken’ Housing

BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg Corners Minister Over ‘Broken’ Housing

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The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg put a difficult question to minister Michael Gove this weekend when she asked him him who “broke” the housing sector. On her show Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC journalist asked the the levelling up and housing secretary: “You yourself said the system is broken. Who broke it?” Gove quickly blamed a growing population, a squeeze on mortgage finance, and a shortage of new homes being built. And when Kuenssberg referred to those in charge of the sector and how they might be responsible too, the housing secretary replied: “Oh, of course!” The host asked Gove if he would end the Section 21 no-fault eviction notices before the next general election. “Yes, we have a bill,” Gove said. He confirmed it would be outlawed and the courts would have money to enforce it. She also asked him about the “really, really stark” numbers who are currently living in temporary housing right now. According to London councils’ data released last August, one in 50 Londoners are homeless. “Is it acceptable to have …