ITV Studios London Screenings Special

This week, we get an inside look at ITV Studios’ biggest event of the year at London Screenings, where global buyers gather to shop for the TV hits of the future. 

In this special episode, Justin speaks to ITV Studios executives Ruth Berry, Julian Bellamy, Cecilie Olsen and Kate Barnes about the company’s latest formats, dramas, and unscripted shows, including high-profile titles like Cold Water, Code of Silence, and The Guest.

From the 70th anniversary of ITV to the rise of digital-first content with Zoom 55, this episode explores the evolving strategies that are shaping ITV Studios’ future. Guests include David Ireland, the creator of Cold Water, actor Andrew Lincoln, who discusses his return to British drama and Jimmy Doherty on his new show Jimmy Doherty's Big Bear Rescue. Plus, Eve Myles gives us insight into The Guest, and Seb Illis from Plimsoll Productions reveals details about Extreme Planet Earth. 

Sign up for The Drop newsletter

Transcript

Hi, I'm Justin Crosby and welcome to this week's TellyCast London Screening Special as buyers from all around the world descend on London to shop for the TV hits of the future. I'm spending the day with ITV Studios as they're presenting their new formats, dramas and unscripted shows. First up we have Ruth Berry and Julian Bellamy to tell us all about it.

Ruth, Julian, how are you? Welcome to Telecast. Great to be here. Looking forward to the day. Yeah. Great Great. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, you've got an amazing action packed day here at ICV Studios, uh, with all the showcasing all of your unscripted, your drama, uh, and formats as well, of course. So, uh, lots to look forward to in the show, uh, we've got coming up.

Um, first of all, Julian, um, ICV's 70th anniversary is in 2025. Um, Tell us about how you're going to be celebrating that and, uh, and, and really where ITV Studios sits after those 70 years. Yeah, I mean, we're really celebrating it throughout the year. I mean, we're marking We're marking it here, actually, uh, you, when you walk into, uh, into the Odeon Leicester Square, you can see lots of posters, lots of, sorry, lots of, uh, signage about it, um, you know, and we'll be doing other things across the year.

I mean, when you, when you take a step back and you, you, you, you, you, you have a, you know, you think about, you know, what an extraordinary thing it is to have such a renowned. TV company like ITV that's been broadcasting and producing all of these extraordinary and memorable and wonderful shows for seven decades.

Um, you know, iconic shows, you know, Poirot, Cracker, Love Island, The Voice, I'm a Celebrity, hundreds and hundreds more. Um, it's, I, I think it's really quite an extraordinary thing actually. It's something I think everyone at ITV Studios takes a huge amount of pride in. And how do you see its legacy continue to evolve?

Because we're in a, I suppose the industry always changes, but we're probably seeing almost a more rapid period of change, I think, certainly in the last 12, 12 months or 24 months. How do you see your legacy from an ITB students perspective going forward into the future? Yeah, it's a really interesting question because, you know, look, we are, as you say, living in this extraordinary Uh, time, huge amount of disruption, a lot of change, a lot of technologically driven change.

And yet, through it all, those core touchstones of what makes memorable Great Tellers and Remain, it is still, in the end, about great storytelling. You know, great creative talent, great storytellers, great writers, great ideas. And, you know, the ingredients of a hit show are are still fundamentally the same today as they were a few years ago, many years ago.

And I suspect going forward, they'll be the same, uh, in the future. Well, you mentioned a few, you know, household names when it comes to both drama and, uh, and factual content. Um. What do you see now as ITB Studios biggest strengths here in 2025? Oh, I think our, our, the biggest strengths of, of ITB Studios are really in the end.

When you boil, uh, things right down to their, their, their core element, they're about two things. They're about great creative talent, and they're about great IP, you know, and those two things in the end really mark out. studios from a lot of the competition. We have, I would say an unrivaled lineup of creative talent across scripted, unscripted entertainment, factual.

And then we have this extraordinary catalog, um, uh, you know, that has, that's been built over literally decades that now amounts to something like 90, 000 hours of content. Um, and that really, I think sets us apart. Yeah. And how does how's the how's the business continue to evolve? Uh, you know, we talked a little bit about disruption, and that's, as I say, is seemingly speeding up.

Um, and I know Zoom 55 is a key part of how you're approaching the future. And Ruth, I know we're going to talk about that in a second. Um, overall, how do you how do you see the business evolving? evolving, uh, over the next five years or so, it's probably difficult to talk about a period longer than five years.

Maybe, maybe that's too long. It is. I mean, we've got a very clear strategy. We've got a very clear approach on these things. You know, you want to work with it and attract and retain the very best creative talents. I think actually in many ways, that's going to become more important than ever. Um, we want to find new ways of breaking big new shows in, in, in entertainment and drama.

Um, we need to protect and nourish those big brands that are so important to us. You know, uh, when you think the voice is in what, 75 different markets, it's the world's number one entertainment brand. It's so important for us to make sure that that's as strong as possible. And then you have to underpin the whole thing.

With a real determination to embrace technological change in all of its manifestations through the process of development, production, distribution, and actually new ways of monetizing our catalog and our IP. And that's where, as you say, things like Zoo55 are really now a key plank of our strategy going forward.

Well Ruth, coming to you, we'll touch on Zoom 55 in a bit more detail in a second. But, um, first of all, ITV Studios Festivals, um, it's been established as one of the highlights of London Screenings Week. Um, Is it fifth year? Or is it, I don't know how many years you've been doing that. Could be more actually by now.

It could be more by now. It probably is for about seven years or so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, what can attendees or the buyers from around the world that are coming to ITV Studios Festivals today, what can they expect from the day? A huge treat is the short answer. Um, I'll give you a slightly longer one. So I think, yeah, it's a really great day for us.

Um, and honestly, bringing together all of those sort of masterpieces that we've been working on for years and with the great talent that Julian's alluded to. Uh, bringing it all together in one place is fantastic. So I think today we're launching ten new formats. We're launching 12 new dramas. We've got 26 returning dramas and then 27 new non scripted shows.

So throughout the day, we've got sessions on each of those three genres where we'll take the clients through the new shows. We can show them clips. We'll have creatives and talent with us throughout the day on that journey. We've got two drama world premieres today. So a huge amount to look forward to.

So something like Cold Water, Cold Water. With Andrew Lincoln, um, from Sister Pictures. Is, is looking absolutely phenomenal. So they'll be able to watch a full episode of that. Um, and also a brilliant show called The Hack, which we've started talking about recently. Which is a brilliant blend of bringing together the story of phone hacking scandals.

With a, a crime that was associated in the collision of those two narratives. As they come together through the series. Um, is absolutely, uh, fascinating. As well as the new formats, we've got some brilliant things. I'm sure one that will land firmly with you, Justin, is Bullseye. Yes. Uh, bringing back the brilliant, um, darts show.

So we're very excited about that. Um, we've got things like celebrity sabotage, which looks fantastic around celebs. It's sabotaging members of the public. Um, and lots, lots more. As well as I think the other thing, or key highlights for me on the, the non scripted side is, is two natural history shows. So brilliant one, um, Ages of Ice, which is from Northern Pictures, ABC and PBS, uh, which really is a story of the scientists.

sort of getting, uh, across the ice, which can tell us so much about what's happening in the world and what we should expect for the future of our planet, um, and then extreme planet Earth, which, um, is still mesmerizing me because every time I speak to the guys at Plimpsol who were making that for ITV, uh, and ARD in Germany, there's something new they found out about a species.

that we didn't know before, and I think that's what makes natural history so powerful. So, the story in that that I absolutely love is, um, we're seeing hurricane season getting stronger in the Caribbean, and there is a species of lizard that, through those hurricanes, clings on to the vegetation for dear life.

Um, and within one generation, we've seen them evolve into having longer fingers. So they can cling on, uh, harder and, uh, and live, and then pass on that stronger gene into their, uh, offspring. So, really, really amazing content. Well, that's, that's TV almost expanding science and scientific knowledge, isn't it?

In terms of the way that, uh, we're looking at things in a, in a different way. And I know we've got Seb Ellis from, uh, uh, from Plimsoll coming on the show later on. Oh, great! We've also got, uh, Andrew Lincoln. I picked the show as well. Yes, you did indeed. Um, so talking about Zoo55 and, uh, the digital side of, uh, ICB Studios.

Um, so, um, Give us an update on that. I know you, you, uh, announced the business back at Mipcom and, uh, Martin Tricky has just joined the business as well, um, who's, uh, been a major hire for you. He's, I think, you know, seven weeks into the role or something, so he's still quite new, but tell us about the role you think Zoom 55 will have in driving ICB Studios forward.

Yeah, look, it's really exciting. I think it's sort of one of the most exciting changes, I think, that we've, we've seen. Made in the, in the last couple of years. And I think the TV business is evolving very rapidly. You mentioned that earlier and what we see is audiences fragmenting into lots of different platforms and ways of enjoying and entertaining themselves with content.

And, you know, Julian mentioned just the vast breadth and depth of the world that we are fortunate enough to work in within ITV studios. And I think, you know, a couple of years ago, it sort of dawned on me that, you know, how sustainable would all Those 90, 000 hours being a B to B licensing world and actually should we think about finding new audiences in different ways and going a bit more D to C and this wonderful growth in online video was happening at the same time.

So how do you marry those things up? And we started publishing content onto the Internet and the success just kept on coming. So So you 55 is really a manifestation of the success we were having in publishing content online and then creating its own digital studio. So I think you'll see a continuity of that.

Um, we've got 160 owned and operated social channels across all the major platforms live today. And we're launching almost channels week by week at the moment driven by that fantastic archive. So you'll see that grow. Um, our fast channel portfolio equally growing. So again, looking at that catalog and how do we create more fast channels and work with the Samsung's and Pluto's and to bees and Roku's and our broadcast partners.

I mean, we provide fast channels to virgin to seven in Australia, and we'll do more of that. Um, and then our gaming portfolio as well. So We integrated one of the ITV companies called MetaVision into C55 when we launched in January. Um, and they launched a Roblox Hell's Kitchen game, uh, literally only a matter of weeks ago.

We've had, I think, 30 million, um, uh, people engage with that game in a matter of weeks. So, I think that's a really exciting journey for us. And I often think to myself, if there is an audience for Love Island, I think Who have never watched a long form episode. Um, uh, shame on them by the way, but who may never have watched a full, a full length episode on television, then that's still a fantastic audience for us.

That is an audience who's engaging with our, our IP. That's an audience who still wants the love Island water bottle, who still wants, you know, experiences and, and wants to engage in that IP and play the love Island game and all those sorts of things. So zoo 55 really is about how we adapt and evolve.

The business into where our future audiences are, um, how we compliment the existing audiences that we have and I think that becomes really exciting. So we're learning as we go, but, um, watch this space because I think the, the opportunities there, uh, certainly for, for a business of our size and scale are, are really exciting.

Yeah, fantastic. Well, I know you've got a very busy day ahead. So, uh, and I know we're really tight on time. So thank you, Ruth, Julian, for joining us on telecast. Thank you very much and best of luck with ITV Studios Festivals. Thanks for having us. Thank you. So my next guest on this week's show is Kate Barnes, SVP of Global Content Scripted at ITV Studios.

Kate, good to see you again. How are you? Well, thank you. Good. Fantastic to see you here at ITV Studios Festivals. Probably the biggest day of the year for ITV Studios in London. It's a fantastic event. I mean, you know, we're in this. Huge, brilliantly noted cinema, um, with hundreds of buyers all coming in today to show us, show off some of our great new dramas.

It's really exciting. We've been working towards this for many, many months. The producers have been, you know, cranking it through edit to get, um, delivery on time so that we can put it on the big screen. So yeah, it's really exciting. Well, welcome back to the show. We, uh, we spoke to you last at, at Mipcom.

Uh, we had a co production panel, which was, which was great. Um, So, uh, let's talk about drama. Let's talk about your new thrillers because you've got three thrillers, uh, to talk about. Um, Cold Water, Code of Silence, and The Guest. So, um, let's start with Cold Water. Tell us a little bit about that. Well, Cold Water is absolutely fantastic.

It, um, it's a thriller for ITV that's come from Sister Pictures, who are absolutely fantastic. You know, they make, um, you know, Black Doves. They made, um, you know, Chernobyl. They really, really know how to make sort of high end, um, gripping drama. And Cold Water is just, is absolutely sort of in their, in their wheelhouse, one of those.

Brings Andrew Lincoln back to, um, the UK TV screen for the first time in, I think, 15 years? It's been a while, hasn't it? Yeah, yeah. But it's brilliant to have him back. It's so good to have him back, and he puts in an absolutely amazing performance. So, um, It's a, it's a really, it's, it's quite dark, it's a little bit funny, it's, um, it's a really, really gripping thriller that you're just, you know, it keeps changing, it keeps twisting, you never know quite where you are, um, so, um, Andrew plays, um, a, a, a middle aged, uh, guy, a, a, a family man, um, who basically is having, you know, He's uncomfortable with his life.

He's uncomfortable with the man that he's become and who he is and after experiencing quite Sort of witnessing a very brutal really attack in a playground in London. He decides to move his family to a quiet, sort of a dill, sort of beautiful town called Coldwater, um, to sort of start again and be the man that he hopes he's going to be.

And when he's there, he moves in, um, and his neighbours, um, seem very charming, very gregarious, um, the wife is a vicar, and, um, Tommy is a very charismatic, um, uh, uh, husband, and he starts to be really, um, sort of, He's fascinated by Tommy. Tommy's everything that he would want to be. But very quickly, it starts to unravel.

And Tommy's played by Ewan Bremner, right? Ewan Bremner. From Trainspotting, that we remember him from. Absolutely. And part of the joy of the show is actually the relationships and the performances from the four stars. Um, Andrew and Tommy are fantastic. Andrew, I'm sorry, Ewan of course. and then the wives are absolutely amazing, played by Eve Miles and Indira Rama, and they are just brilliant, and the four of them together just put in such a fantastic performance, um, that it's just, it's just gripping and brilliant, and it's just got everything that you want from a thriller.

So ITV Studios has got a strong track record in scripted, um, what themes, uh, you know, influence the current slate, or your brand new slate? And can you talk to us about the, the, the, The dreams or the trends that you're seeing in the market and and what's influenced the slate that you're revealing today?

No, absolutely. Um, I think that you know, um every channel that we speak to every platform that we speak to, you know, they know that their audiences are really gravitating towards, um, to thriller, to, um, Pacey drama, to, um, something that could be familiar, but it's basically very original and it's very, very different.

And that's really sort of, uh, obviously influenced by producers and then the sort of, uh, projects that we've invested in and the projects that, um, we're so proud to bring to the market. And so, Thrillers is absolutely at the top of everybody's wish list at the moment and, and that's why it's so fantastic that we've got three really brilliant ones, um, that we're bringing to the market today.

And, and, you know, that, the, the pace, um, the action, the intrigue, the escapism really that the thriller provides, um, wrapped up within a crime genre, which is a perennial for everyone, but in a, in a different, in a different guise. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's talk about the second of those, which is Code of Silence.

So, um, what's, what's Code of Silence all about? Okay. Code of Silence is from I'm a Screen for ITV and it's the first ever, um, commissioned show where the lead protagonist is deaf. Um, and so we have the fantastic Rose Ailey Ellis as the star, um, and she plays a young woman who is sort of struggling financially, she's got, um, two jobs, um, sort of struggling to make ends meet, and one of her jobs is, um, as a, um, she works in the, uh, in the canteen of a police station, um, and one day, um, the police have some surveillance footage of um, some, um, some criminals, but they can't hear anything.

They can only lip read. And they sort of yank her in and say, can you help us? Can you tell us what they are saying? Because we need to find out, we need to know what's going on. And so she starts getting embroiled in this crime. And it starts off just helping, and then she sort of gets a bit too close. And, and she her personal life and her work life starts becoming broader and so she gets in the two involved.

But it's a fantastic drama, it's obviously a first, um, for the UK, uh, you know, for the UK TV and we are so proud of it. It's a fantastic thriller, it's a fantastic performance, um, but it's also fabulous that it, you know, that it, that Rose is, uh, is playing this lead role. And so the third thriller that we're going to talk about is The Guest.

Yes. Uh, so Kate, talk us through The Guest. Well, The Guest comes from, um, Key Street Productions, who is, you know, anyone who's watched Fool Me Once or any of those, you know, dramas on Netflix know that Key Street are absolutely, they're the queens of producing sort of tight, um, thriller, um, uh, dramas. So the guest is their, their new show.

Um, it, um, is, uh, it's sort of interplay about a relationship between two women, two very different women, um, Eve Miles and, uh, Gabriella Kirby playing the two roles of Ria and Fran. Um, uh, Fran is, um, sort of a rich, uh, woman. Uh, she runs her own business. She's very confident. She's very elegant. She lives in an absolutely stunning house.

And Ria is a young woman who's very much on her own. Her mother, she's, her mother died many years before, and she's sort of struggling to make ends meet, um, as a cleaner. And she meets Fran, uh, er, in a, in a supermarket, um, sort of gets offered a job, it's all sort of seems terribly lucky, terribly wonderful.

She gets a job with Fran, Fran takes her under her wing, and it all seems to be going really, really well, and Rhea is really fascinated by this woman who seems so different to her, but as with most things, it's not quite as simple as it seems. Fran maybe has other reasons for wanting Rhea there, and this sort of very close female relationship, uh, very quickly turns quite cat and mouse, and so it's this Again, it's four episodes of just really, really tight on the seat of your, you know, edge of your seat sort of thriller where you don't quite know who's playing who, what's going to happen next, what's going to be revealed.

There's a bit of manipulation in there as well. A lot of manipulation, um, a bit of murder, a bit of manslaughter, a bit of, you know, lots, lots going on, but yeah, it's a, it's a really, it's a really brilliant piece and to, again, to some fabulous performances by the lead role. Kate, I know you've got lots of, uh, different people to speak to today on, again, as we said at the beginning, the busiest day of the year for you, so, um, thank you so much for joining us again on Telecast.

No, very much. So my next guest on this week's show is David Ireland, the writer and creator of Cold Water. Welcome to Telecast. Thanks for having me. So tell us about Cold Water then. Just give us a bit of a whistle stop tour of, uh, of the drama series and, and, uh, and, yeah, and how you came to write it. Well, it's just, it's really just, it's a thriller about a man who moves his family from London to the Highlands of Scotland after a violent encounter in a play park in London, but he finds that, he's trying to escape the violence, um, and urban decay of London, but he finds that Coldwater, the tiny town that he moves to, is much more violent and mysterious than London.

Not quite the respite he was looking for. Not the country living. Yeah, okay. Um, so what was the inspiration then behind it? Because I know you're a playwright essentially. And this is, I know, your second project for TV. Um. Tell us about your inspiration for Cold Water. Where did that come from? Well, it really came from, I wrote most of the first episode I wrote in 2020.

Um, and it was during the lockdown and I would write it. I would be looking after the kids all day and then I'd go up into my office to late at night to write it and I was having trouble sleeping like the character in the show is. Um, and uh, I think there was, there was several things at play. Um, There was, I was, I was running a lot, running obsessively, um, as the character does.

Uh, and I was reading the bible a lot, and praying a lot. And I was reading true crime books a lot, um, and I was, me and my wife were thinking about should we move to the countryside? We were talking about moving to the countryside. Um, so all those elements, which were things in my life, were things that found their way into the episode.

That's a heady mix. Yeah, yeah. And they're all there, so it's quite, it's quite a lot, you know, it's, it's quite a combination. Um, so, and also I love, I love things like, I love any kind of drama or thriller. where a character moves from the city to the countryside, you know, the sort of fish out of water, violent sort of things like straw dogs and Eden Lake.

Anything where a city person finds trouble in the woods is something I love. Yeah, I mean, it's a very, very, I mean, that metropolitan mindset and then the small village mindset is very, very different, right? And I think everybody who lives in a city has maybe got that grasses greener thought of, oh, look at that beautiful little idyllic town.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if we lived there? It kind of comes from a love of and a fear of the countryside with me, you know? Right. It's all there. The love and the fear is all there. So how did it develop then from those initial concepts that you had during lockdown? How did it develop into, into this, you know, full scale thriller project?

Yeah, well, well, I, I, um, pitched the idea to Sister, the producers, and they loved it. Um, and so they commissioned the first episode and then it just kind of, you know, And it also became more about, I think a lot of it is about a marriage, you know, it's about two marriages really. Um, it's about a marriage between two very good people whose marriage is falling apart, and then two not very good people, two quite evil people who have a beautiful marriage and really love each other.

Um, and that was interesting, that wasn't something that I was thinking about when I was writing the first episode, but that was something that came out. Um, more and more in subsequent episodes that it was really about, it was a portrait of two marriages, you know. When you're writing a project, how much of that, you know, develops as you're writing it?

Because I think it's a fascinating, uh, subject to think that you're setting out and writing and just, you know, Just these different twists and turns occur to you and, and almost, you know, the idea sort of takes over your fingers if you're typing away. Is that, is that how it? I think if you're doing it right, you kind of start off, for me anyway, you start off with an idea of where it's going to go.

But then the characters take on a life of their own and they start telling you where to go, you know. Um, and sometimes when the actors become involved as well, they have ideas for The characters and so on and where she could go like Andrew Lincoln has been very, was very involved in the development of the story and the development of his character.

And then also in Dira Vorma and Eve Miles and so on and Ewan Bremner. They had thoughts about their character and they did their own research and. Taking a twist and a turn, which the series does, um, Ewan Bremmer's character is, I mean, he's, he's an amazing character. Obviously all of the principal actors are, but, uh, Ewan, certainly in the clip that I've seen is, is, uh, is fantastic.

I mean, uh, uh, what was it like to work with, uh, with Ewan on the project? Well, it was amazing. Both Ewan and Andrew were people that I'd grown up watching, you know, like we're around the same age, but when I was a young actor Um, like you and Bremner and Andrew were, were two actors I really wanted to be.

Like anybody of my age can remember Trainspotting. Um, one of the great performances, you know. Um, and so it was real kind of, it was very intimidating, um, to meet him. But, um, but he was really down to earth and really nice. Um, and he really kind of brings, Tommy's a very dangerous guy. Possibly a psychopath.

Um, and he really brings a sort of depth and subtlety to that. You know, like he doesn't play him like a comic book villain. But he finds all the humour, you know, like he finds all the comedy. But he plays it very real and very subtle. Slightly unhinged and menacing, but also kind of quite relatable in a way.

Yeah, yeah, well this is the thing, you know, he's, he's, um, John, who Andrew Lincoln plays, really wants to be his friend. You know, he's very charming. And yeah, he manages that very well. And that's, again, coming back to the moving to the country thing. You're automatically looking for friends, aren't you?

You're trying to build a network around you. Yeah, yeah. I wish you all the very best with Cold Water. It's a fantastic drama series and I'm sure it's going to have a lot of success with it. So, so much for joining us. So we chatted earlier on today with Andrew Lincoln, who's executive producer and the star of Cold Water.

Here's what he had to say about the show. How are you doing, Andrew? Great to see you. Yeah, good to be here. Thanks for having me, Justin. I'm well. And, well, tell us about Cold Water, which is your return to British drama, essentially. And, uh, we're very excited about that. But, uh, tell us about Cold Water and what it was that attracted you to this project.

Well, it was, um The script came to me, well funny I should rewind a bit, because I came back from America about five years ago and was looking to sort of produce and sort of look for, you know, projects that I might sort of step back and sort of help produce basically and um, or direct even. And a friend of mine, a dear friend of mine, Liz Lewin, who I'd worked with on Teachers and This Life many moons ago, I sort of always ping, I pinged out a message to her and I said who should I be reading?

Um, who's interesting? What, are there any scripts out there? Any young voices? Or new voices that I hadn't heard of? And he, uh, and she sent me this script called The Lovers by David Ireland. And I loved it. And she was working at Sky at the time. Sky Comedy. And it was a sort of referendum on, uh, England. And Northern Ireland, and it was a love story, but it was really funny.

And I went, this guy is serious. And that's when I started investigating him a bit further. And then, fast forward, you know, four years. Uh, Jane Featherstone and Chris and Alice and Lydia at Sister Productions sent me this script. And I saw David Ireland on the front, and so I opened the script. And, um, I hadn't read anything quite like it.

And it made me nervous and sort of frightened me because it was quite an exposing Part because something terrible happens you have an inciting incident at the beginning And he does something which is the opposite of how you would wish to behave And I thought this would be possibly the best It's like a juxtaposition to, to what you've done for the last decade, isn't it?

Yeah, I, it was also, it was also about a marriage. It was, it's about lots of things that I'm interested in and the writing was so good. It made me laugh in all the wrong places, you know. It was awkward and, and strange and, and it also just had this, this real, I felt quite moved but at the same time quite, Freaked out by how unpredictable the story was.

It just kept moving in different directions. And I, and I, and it surprised me. And I think it's been a while since, you know, you read a lot of scripts and there's a lot of formulas out there for how to write a script. And this, this seemed like he was writing about lots of things and he was just throwing it out there.

And I thought it would be. Difficult, but also quite exciting. Yeah. We chatted to Eve Miles, star of The Guest, earlier on today. Here's what she had to say about the show. Eve, how are you doing? Straight from Cardiff, great to see you. Straight from Cardiff, yeah. Very pleased to be here, And, uh, we've, you've been so busy and appearing in so many high quality thrillers, uh, many of which are ICV Studios projects and we can talk about those a little bit later, but we're here to talk about The Guest.

We are. Uh, and ICV Studios has, uh, has announced The Guest recently and we're here to showcase it. So, first of all, tell us about The Guest and, uh, how you got involved in the project. Well, The Guest is a four part psychological thriller. led by myself and the brilliant Gabriella Creavy, um, a story about two women from opposite sides of the track.

It's about wealth, friendship, relationships, loss, fear, manipulation, and ultimately murder. So, um, when these scripts came in, uh, I instantly said a hard yes. And when was that? What really excited you about the script? It was the team behind it, um, first and foremost, because, um, I knew about, uh, Key Street's involvement, um, beforehand, before I read the scripts.

And then meeting that, marrying that with the scripts, it was, um, a chemistry set that I had to be a part of. It was, um, it was truly refreshing and, um, fearless and, uh, a story of which I hadn't quite come across before. And, uh, is it, is it, uh, as an actor, when you see that sort of script and you know the quality of the production behind it, is that just that something that makes you jump at it and something that you can feel you get your teeth into if you like?

Yeah, my, my kind of instinct was, was bouncing all over the place that this is absolutely the next project. Um, as you say, the, the, the team behind it are, you know, notoriously, uh, producing phenomenal work and, um, And to be working with Gabriela also, in such an intimate, visceral, female led thriller, was something that I had to be a part of.

And tell us about Fran, your character. Um, just, she's a very layered character if you like. Yes. Um, yeah, tell us a little bit about Fran. Okay, well, Fran is, uh, a relentlessly ambitious upper class. Wealthy businesswoman. With obviously, you know, No Drama would be a thriller without dark secrets, and she has plenty of them.

And in a chance meeting one afternoon, she meets Ria, who is absolute antithesis to Fran. Working class, unemployed cleaner, um, who's just desperately trying to make ends meet. Um, she takes her under her wing and, and from that moment on, Fran and Ria's lives change forever. She is not what you expect. She is, um, as you say, incredibly layered, um, and surprising.

And that relationship between, um, Fran and Ria is really central to the, to the show, isn't it? Um, uh, how, can you talk through how, how to capture that sort of intensity? Because it really is quite intense. And, and how that relationship spirals into something different throughout the show. Well, the relationship spirals really quickly.

The show starts, um, with a bang. Um, we haven't sort of hung around with the show, um, to get these, these women into, into the trouble they get themselves into. It's, it's kind of an instant effect. That's down to, you know, Matthew Barry's incredible writing. We've just leaned into that and trusted that, and also with the director, Ashley Way, um, who is, you know, always brilliant, and always supportive and reliable, um, has helped myself and Gabby be really brave with these two characters.

and be fearless and, and to follow our instinct and just to, just to really go for it. And, um, and as you say, it is, it's an incredibly intimate female drama, this. Surprisingly so. So I'm here with Cecilia Olsen, SVP of global content, non scripted ITV studio. Cecilia, hello. How are you doing? Well, good afternoon, sir.

Nice to see you and be here with you today. Yes, it's wonderful to have you here and talk about unscripted and formats. ITV's Huge slate that you're announcing today and you're revealing. Um, let's talk first of all about some of your biggest brands. And there's a few anniversaries I think on the, uh, on the horizon this year.

Um, 20 years have come down with me and 15 years of The Voice I think as well. So, uh, uh, amazing performance for some of your biggest brands. Absolutely. I think it really speaks to the sort of, Breath and death that we have in our catalog that our biggest selling brands are still selling really, really well.

I think there's new territories that happen all the time, and I'm excited that audiences still love, um, you know, people singing, people performing on stage, people performing in the kitchen, because that's really what Come Dine With Me is all about. But it's also about people, I think, feeling that they can connect with the people on screen because you might be the next superstar singing, good luck, and I might be the next person winning Come Dine With Me.

Yeah, well, it is relatable, I think, and do you think that's the key then to what makes them so enduring? Um, absolutely, because I think the trick when it comes to formats is that you yourself recognize yourself on television. I think that's why so many territories in the world spend their money on buying formats, even though their budgets may not be, uh, you know, the megabucks that you have in certain territories.

Like, you know, the Americans spend more than maybe Australians or the Brits would do, for example. But, you know, there's, there's absolutely legs in all of these formats, in all across Europe, in the Nordics, you know, across the, the Baltics, etc. Because everyone, everywhere can try and work hard to make budgets work for them.

And that's the beauty of these formats and why they travel so well, because they're scalable. Now, um, you're bringing back bullseye. With Freddie Flintoff, which, you know, I'm a huge fan of. I'm a northerner. I remember the original bullseye and, uh, and, uh, you know, darts is having resurgence as a sport as well.

Why This show. And why now, because it's fun and it's absolutely the whole idea of bringing back nostalgia and and watching things on television that feels a little bit like a warm bath when now the world might not feel so good. And it's just literally entertainment, pure fun. I mean, who doesn't feel that they could answer a few questions, throw a few darts in the UK for the Flintoff is a big thing.

You know, darts is a big thing across the world. It's now absolutely growing. And I think it's because it's a really nice, relatable story. Again, you sitting at home might be able to answer questions and throw a dart. So why not? It's brilliant. It's awesome. It is, and you just see the thousands and thousands of people at Alexandra Palace for the World Darts Championships around Christmas and New Year.

It's testament to how big The sport is and has become, um, now you position yourselves at ICB studios is there is the house of love when it comes to dating formats. Tell us about the new formats that you're launching today. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. House of love again. This is about what we all dream of in our life.

We all dream of finding that. special someone that can share your life with you, whether it might be people who are your parents, so like my mom, your dad, again, there's more commissions, or it might be the new show that we have called The Dating Pool, which is slightly the younger audiences all finding love in the back of a car, or it might be that you have twin love, which is an extraordinary format really, where you have 10 sets of twins all being coupled up, but at the very start of the series, they get cut in half, so five of the boys and five of the girls.

Times two in two different places, get to see if they will indeed find love. And again, it's, it's universal. And of course, the last one, but not least, uh, Date My Nan. When Nan gets a makeover and is ready to find love. Yeah. There's so many other unscripted titles that you're launching as well. Um, I don't know how many, it's probably over 30 or around 30.

Um, what, uh, we can't talk through them all, but what are the key themes then that you see running through your So what's really important to us that I TV is that we have a really strong worldwide sales team and they sell to all the different platforms and channels and broadcasters all around the world, all of which, of course, have different needs.

And so for that reason, our catalog need to cater for that. And so we have a very specialist team in the non scripted side who helps curate our content. And so for us. It's actually something for everyone, whether it might be crime and crime slots, which resonates in certain parts of the world actually came into the danger zone.

It's a really strong series that's being produced for the BBC at the moment. We're very excited by him again. The idea of him and what he's doing at the moment is that he As a celebrity in the UK, uh, says that, you know, and he grew up himself, he might have been led into a world of crime, but he didn't, and he actually, uh, you know, became a footballer, but now he's using all of that and his background to really immerse himself in different parts of the world, places like, well, the favelas in Brazil, okay, we get that, that feels scary already just thinking about it, but in Stockholm, in Sweden, I mean, what's going on there?

Turns out it's a really dangerous place for guns. And you think, whoa, what's the story about that? But then that's the beauty of Ashley Cain because he really gets behind and he doesn't judge them. He just wants to try and understand what it is about these people that make them do or make them feel that they have to do bad things where they are in Stockholm, which is a bit bizarre.

And that was crime. But on the flip side of that, of course, we have more happier, lighter tone shows where you can do. batch from scratch cooking where again you have a television series that really helps families today save money when cooking and it's extraordinary the people that were part of the show how much money they saved and how much time they saved and how much better they fed themselves and their families in the making to of course Fred Searoo who you might know as a guy who's very much front of the house now he loves Cycling and there's another series with him where he's taken on a cycling trip in Northern Ireland and he's cycling he's meeting people He's checking our culture and it's just a Frenchman on tour like, you know tour de France now we got tour de Fred.

Yeah So natural history is obviously a really key part of your unscripted slate tell us about The some of the new titles that we can expect to see from ITV studios. So we're super excited about a natural history slate. It's something that we've been working on for quite a few years. And of course, Plimsoll is not very much part, um, as well as OSF as part of our family.

Uh, but you know, we don't stop there. We also work a lot with independent producers. So from Plimsoll in itself, we have a BBC commission called the secret garden, which is absolutely about the quintessentially of the animals that you never actually think you know, You know, we're seeing you don't actually because the minute you close your door to the back garden, they come out to play.

And who are all these animals? But another one that we're also very, very excited about, which is made for ABC in Australia and PBS in America from Northern Pictures, who are Emmy award winning is ages of ice. So I think for us as I TV studios again talking about the breadth and depth of all the things that we want to try and make our production.

Bias want to see for their audiences. Is that because ages of ice is really to try and understand what's happening to the planet today and how important the ice and the melting of the ice and what that means for us as humans. Are we going to be extinct? Are we going? What are we going to find ourselves living in in a few years time?

So as a three part series, it talks about what we can learn from the earth in the past. What's happening to us now? I mean, did you know, for example, that Italian scientists in the Alps are putting up Terrapolin blanket on top of the iceberg there from stop it from melting faster than it normally would.

Wow. That's kind of cool, isn't it? Yeah. And then, of course, looking into the future and, um, how do we travel to space? In fact, it's water that's going to fuel the rockets making us travel into space. Wow. Okay, well, um, there's, well, there's so much to unpack there that I know we don't have time. Um, but what I do want to, uh, talk about is true crime.

Yep. Uh, true crime is really an enduring, uh, genre for ITV students for, and for the, uh, for the industry as a whole. Um, tell us about some of the key true crime Shows that you've got coming out and and why does true crime so enduring a format? So true crime is an interesting genre in itself I think I mean for us We had great success last year with a cut of his penis the truth behind the tabloids that the Bobbitt story and really how this particular lady You know, did what she did and was, uh, but it was her husband.

Everybody was rooting for at the time. And of course, actually she was a victim and now it was important to understand what that was. And it was important to understand what people around the world felt when they learned about her story truly. But also last year we launched TikTok, uh, murders. which we have continued with this year as a second series, which is made for ITV.

But we also have a huge amount of crime stories which are being made for Channel 5. And I think what it is that fascinates people the most when they watch crime is they want to try and understand why there's evil in the world. They want to try and understand that people get caught and they're trying to understand why people are being, um, you know, why they're doing what they're doing.

So another series that we're coming out with now is I'll be watching you, which is really about government and politicians and and police officers who should not be able to be in a sense of power, but what they are, where they're actually placing cameras filming. Well, suspects, really. I mean, innocent victims in their most intimate moments.

So, for example, you have a landlord, and he plays cameras in his And the people that were renting his flat's apartments, to watch them, and that's not cool. And it's this sense of voyeurism that they have, and I guess we're watching them watch that, and we just want them to be caught. Because again, talking about happy television, and you know, warmer television, what I think is fascinating about crime, is that people who are evil get caught, and for that reason, something good is happening in the world.

And so there's also a number of titles from French producer Pernell Media, aren't there? Tell us a bit about those. Well, I'm excited that you asked me a question about Pernell, because I think they're a fabulous producer. And not only do they produce documentaries and documentary series and historical series, they've actually also turned their hand to scripted dramas now, but maybe talk about that in a different session.

Um, but yes, so for the more historical side of things and for our bias of history and ancient history, This year, we're bringing you the rise and fall of the Inca Kingdom. Now, this little kingdom that happened in the Andes, you know, really went on to become one of the greatest kingdoms that the Americans ever saw.

And the question is, how did they do that? And you know, you've made a lot of people go and see the Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu, which I hopefully pronounced right. But in this series, you know, you see how that was built and you recreate how that looked. And I think that would be an extraordinary feat for the human eye to actually witness.

Um, so I'm excited about that. And the other one that we're also doing with them is the, uh, Genghis Khan and, and, and him and what he was and his empire and how he really, really ruled all of, uh, Europe. And I think what's interesting about Genghis Khan is that he people saw him as a really evil ruler and maybe not a very nice person, but actually he was a really clever politician.

He was a really good builder of cities. Uh, and so now in, in Mongolia, there's lots of excavation going on and, and they're finding cities that scientists have simply never seen before, which shines a spotlight on his kingdom and his ruling.

Haven't there been, uh, having access to archaeological digs and finding out new, uh, uh, new facts about lost civilization. So, uh, well, that's going to be fascinating. Yes. Cecilia, thank you so much for joining us. It's been fantastic. And, uh, all the best for ITV Studios Festivals in the unscripted and formats area.

Thank you for having us again. Lifted Entertainment is ITV Studios in house entertainment production label, specializing in large scale, high profile, unscripted formats. It's best known for producing hit shows such as Love Island, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, Dancing on Ice, and Anton Deck's Saturday Night Takeaway.

With a track record of delivering some of the UK's biggest entertainment brands, I'm delighted to be joined by MD Richard Cowles. Richard, how are you doing? Hi, good to see you. You too. Um, welcome to ITV Studios Festival's, uh, event. And, uh, welcome to Telecast. It's great to have you on the show for the first time.

Um, So, first of all, tell us about Lifted Entertainment briefly. Give us a bit of an idea of the background to the company. Yeah, so Lifted, we specialise, as you said earlier on in your introduction, we specialise in unscripted television. Um, we do everything from, uh, University Challenge and Countdown, all the way through to I'm a Celebrity, Love Island, and kind of all the entertainment shows that you can imagine in between.

And we sort of, uh, We specialise in, uh, creating our own formats and developing our own formats and then selling them out to the market. Obviously we created I'm a Celebrity, we created Love Island, but we also make other people's formats. We make The Voice really successfully for ITV, um, so we just love doing unscripted TV.

And, uh, there's a number of different shows you're announcing today, and, uh, some I know that you can speak more about than others, but, um, but first of all, really excited to talk about Celebrity Sabotage. Um, talk us through that, first of all, you know, it sounds like an amazing new format, but, uh, walk us through it.

So Celebrity Sabotage, I mean, I think it's, Celebrity Sabotage is one of those, uh, formats that's come out of development of lots of other formats, and what we do more generally. We were really excited. to create an idea that could be a Saturday night show but didn't necessarily fit the mold of a normal Saturday night show shiny floor.

This is all filmed on location, um, it takes its DNA from the sort of things that we've been doing over the last 20 years on Saturday Night Takeaway, um, and what we've been developing. We had an idea called Secret Game Show which was a similar sort of And we've taken all of that learning and created a, uh, basically, um, it's a prank show, uh, but it's not a hidden camera show.

So, uh, the premise is that we take a, um, a group of ordinary people who are coming along and I think they've applied for a, um, a reality game show. And that could be a business show, it could be a DIY show, it could be an SAS show, all familiar genres in Unscripted. And they come along and they, uh, think they're taking part in that show.

What they don't know is that there is a team of celebrity saboteurs who, trying not to get cool, are there to, um, ruin absolutely everything that happens. So, the more successful they are in ruining the filming and the format that they think they're taking part in, the more money they actually win for the contestants of that show.

We filmed a pilot, it was with a business format, which felt very familiar but also was different, and it was really, really a lot of fun, and it was, At the reveal at the end, the, uh, the cast had no idea what had been going on. All they knew was that it was, uh, a real, uh, it all made sense. It's one of those things where it all clicked into place once they saw it happen.

But the celebrities did a very good job of not getting caught. What sort of, um, what sort of personality traits does a celebrity need to be a successful saboteur? Uh, they need to be mischievous, which I think is a common trait. Yes. Uh, they need, they need to, uh, have a real sense of fun. And, and, and all of the people that we had in the pilot, and we had some really great names in the pilot.

Um, what they all did is that they took it on with relish, and they took it on, um, And they just absolutely engaged with the idea of, and because it's all benefiting the people that they're tricking, and I think that was at the heart of this, it's a, it's a warm format. I think sometimes hidden camera, and it's not a hidden camera show, but sometimes these sort of prank shows can feel quite cruel.

And what's great about this show is that there's a real warmth at the heart of it. So despite whatever pranks they're pulling, and despite the fact that the contestants are sort of perhaps for a moment being slightly embarrassed. At the end, they're getting a big paycheck. Yeah, yeah, okay. And tell me about Lifted's, uh, approach then to developing these sort of primetime formats.

Because, you know, you've had amazing success, uh, right around the world with your formats. I mean, how do you go about developing a new, brand new show like Celebrity Sabotage? Um, I think we have to sort of, um, we have a fantastic develop team, uh, led by Kat Hebden. Um, and, you know. I think everyone that works in development knows there are more sort of losses than wins.

So it's a huge amount of resilience, going out there, pitching again and again. But I think we all know when we've got an idea. that, that sort of goes beyond what is a sort of a one liner. And everyone gets excited in the room. So I think we concentrate on what we're really good at and what we've got experience in.

And that's quite broad. You know, we do go from quiz to shiny floor singing shows, uh, to, um, reality shows. So we've got a very broad range and depth of experience and a, and a development team that sort of develops that. But we've also got a lot of experience in our producers. and production management in, um, the wider team.

And so we draw that in. We try and make it beyond the development team, um, who obviously do the day to day heavy lifting on it all, but bring in the experience that we've got working on programs. And people love to come up with new ideas. Yeah. It's an ideas industry and everyone loves to have their ideas heard.

Um, and then when you hit on something, everyone knows. It's an amazing thing when you, When you find a format that everyone gets excited about, you kind of go, okay, there's something here and then you can really dig into it. Yeah. And then, then eventually it becomes part of the public discourse, really, which is the exciting pay off, isn't it?

Well, with I'm a Celebrity and Love Island, it's been fantastic in that way, in terms of, and I think, you know, we have to pay respect to the commissioners. It's a leap of faith for them and then we're trying to persuade them, but they have to be, to come along on the ride. And certainly with Love Island, at the beginning it wasn't an immediate success, um, but it took that kind of, knowledge and, uh, you know, just trust and faith to kind of go, do you know what?

We'll give this another go because there's something here. And now what? 27 territories later, it's a, it's a massive global. I mean, it is a massive leap of faith and a lot of people putting their jobs on the line often when they make these sort of decisions. Um, okay. And I know you're going to be dragged away now because there's so many things that you've, uh, people that you've got to, uh, speak to today, but, um, just finally the neighborhood, that's another new show.

Tell us a little bit about that one. So the neighborhood, we're only really soft launching, um, uh, at the moment because it's not airing until 2026. Um, but again, this is one of those ideas which we've really been excited about. And whenever we talk to producers within the label or as we're sort of crewing up.

They have got so excited because there's just such a richness of it. What it is, it's a, a street sized reality game show, and we take real households. So we would take you and your family, or we would take a group of students, or we would take anyone that lives together and we take them. lock, stock and barrel with their front room and we put it in our neighborhood and we make them compete against each other.

It's a co production between Lifted and The Garden and we both bring different sensibilities, um, and it's really, really worked well. We've developed them with, we've developed the idea with them and what we love about it is there is a real richness. There is the games, And there is that, there's the outward facing, like, the Cowes family, what we present to the rest of the neighbourhood, and then what we discuss behind closed doors, as a group of people who already know one another, will have opinions, uh, and I think there's a real kind of, um, interesting dynamic that we've not necessarily seen before.

And we've got Graham Norton hosting who, uh, just personifies the, the sort of the cheekiness, the mischievousness, um, but also kind of just the accessibility of the show. Yeah. Uh, he's a very infectious, uh, personality, isn't he? He's fantastic. He's fantastic. And if you sort of listen to sort of, uh, Graham on his radio show when he does that sort of the agony aunt type kind of thing, you know that he's invested in people and in, There's sort of the, the interrelation between and the dynamics between groups of people and I think that's at the heart of this job.

Fantastic. Well, Richard, thank you so much for joining us on Telecast. It's been great to meet you and, uh, good luck with those formats. Thanks so much. Great to meet you. So my next guest on this week's show is Jimmy Doherty and we're going to be talking about Big Bear Rescue Which is Jimmy's new show for Channel 4.

It's the 3 by 60. Yeah Jimmy's for those who don't know who you are many people do particularly in the UK but internationally as well Tell us a bit about yourself and and your backstory Right, so, um, I've always been interested in nature and wildlife. At the same time, I'm very, very interested in food production.

And that took me down the pathway of starting a rare breed pig farm. And that was turned into a TV show in the UK that ran for about three years. three or four seasons. And as well as running the farm at that stage, I then became a TV presenter. Um, and I've made various series, uh, for the BBC, Channel 4, Discovery, for ITV, ranging from natural history, science, um, a lot of cooking shows, uh, and also a lot of food and farming shows.

And so this, uh, so your farm, which is, uh, is it near Ipswich It's just outside Ipswich, so it's in Suffolk. Um, so about an hour, about an hour's train ride from London. Okay, and, uh, it's expanded somewhat from being a rare pig breed farmer. People always say to me, Oh, you've got all these weird animals, aren't you just a farmer?

It's like, well actually, I've always farmed with nature in mind. Um, and it's all trending now, they call it regenerative farming. And, and 25 odd years ago, that's what I set out to do, is farm with nature in, uh, in mind, and working with nature rather than against it. Um, and as we developed and, uh, we grew and grew, we opened up.

to the public, an area where they come and visit the pigs and the cows and the chickens. And that became a farm park. Um, and then I just started collecting animals from various different places. So the RSPCA, so the RSPCA would say, uh, there's two rescue emus in someone's shed in Ipswich, and, or there's these lizards that have just been rescued, or we've, we found a snapping turtle the other day that someone had dumped in the canal.

And you end up with a menagerie, and it's like, well actually, we need to do this properly. So we got our zoo license about 10 years ago and now we have everything from camels to tropical butterflies and monkeys and every single species tells a different story. And one story they have in common is there always been no hopers or last chances and that is the story of these polar bears and the wolves and the brown bears that we rescued.

And so it's really a wildlife park now essentially, right? It's a wildlife park and, uh, in this show, uh, we, you follow us actually going to rescue these polar bears that were in terrible danger. They, uh, were going to be euthanized and we basically got a phone call saying, can you help from, uh, one of the world experts in polar bears?

And we said, yes, we can. I don't know how we thought we were going to do it and, but I said, if we're going to do this. Polar bears in captivity, it can be quite contentious. And the alternative is them being put down. So I said, if we're going to build this, we're going to be the best. And so we took all the recommendations from experts.

The Born Free Foundation, that's an organization against animals in captivity, published a book of what they think polar bears need in captivity. So we used that as our launching pad. And we built Europe's largest polar bear reserve. Um, and we now have the largest group of female polar bears, I think, in, in the world.

Wow. How many is that? Only four females. Four? Wow. Yeah, yeah. Four females. And so they're all females, basically? Yes, we have, they're almost like my Spice Girls. Right. They're, um, they're, they're, they're incredible animals. But, so we decided, so, it's not just about saving these individuals, because we're, there's one episode on the Arctic wolves that we had to rescue.

Right. And there's one episode on Diego, the brown bear, that was going to be put down from Sweden. Um, but with the polar bears, we thought it's great saving them, but what we want to do is then tell the story of the tundra and climate change, and why we need to care, not just for the individuals, but also for the wider environment.

Now, the task of relocating polar bears, brown bears, And, uh, uh, wolves, arctic wolves is, I mean, that's no mean feat. I mean, okay, there may be a manual, if you like, um, in order to, to, to, you know, to, to, to use practical advice. But actually when they arrive and when you actually relocate them, I mean, what's the challenges involved in that?

It's, it's, it's so challenging and even when you're building the enclosure. So like the, the, the pools, the ponds, the lakes that we built. One is 16 meters deep. So you can't swim to the bottom, hold your breath and swim to the bottom. And it's that deep to keep them cool. The wire that you need. The security.

You can't use fence posts, so you've got to use telegraph poles. Um, the logistics of that is incredible. They're moving a polar bear. How do you move a polar bear? How do you get it to go into a crate? So we had to go through all these tasks and the bears were trained over time to go into a crate. We had to find a transportation, uh, company that specialized in moving large carnivores.

Um, they, they went on the, uh, the, uh, the shuttle, the Eurostar. I mean, that was like a scene out of James Bond. Uh, it was, and then finally when they got to the UK, they were driven here and unfortunately one of them didn't make it. It had a, had a medical condition. So it's the rescue missions aren't always successful, but the alternatives, you have no doubt.

No other things, but the training of staff, I had to put a whole team together. We've got a hundred people working at the wildlife park, but a specialized team, a firearms team, um, the security. You're dealing with the world's largest land carnivore. And when you see them, it's easy to think, Oh, I'd love to give it a cuddle.

It's the last cuddle he'd ever give it. Yeah. Well, they're looking at you thinking lunch, right? They are. But, but that was, that was one species. And we built wolverines. Uh, enclosures at the same time. When I was in Sweden, looking at the polar bears, one of the keepers, she came up to me and said, I want you to meet one of my other bears, Diego the brown bear.

Please rescue him, because I will have to shoot him, and it'll be me that does it, and I'm the one that reared him as a cub when he was brought in from captivity. And I was like, please don't tell me that. Yeah, because once you hear that and once I saw him there's no going back But the problem is I'd spent all my money a million quid.

Well, I was gonna ask you I mean the not only is it's a huge must be huge personal and financial risk for you to relocate these You know these incredible wild animals And as I say, you know, they're, they're, uh, they are carnivores and you know, they're, they're not, they're not cuddly bears. Um, I mean, how do you, how do you go about calculating what the risk is versus the reward?

Well, it's really difficult in that respect. And, and I think you put a budget together and you have contingency plans when you go over that budget, cause you go over that budget pretty quickly. Um, But once you got the ball rolling, you have to continue. And, and the maintenance of the bears isn't that bad.

It's, it's the construction of it. Uh, it was the, it was the biggest thing. And when it came to Diego, the brown bear, we'd run out of money. So we now have a conservation charity that was started. And I was blown away by the community's response. Because when they heard about Diego, we had people doing all sorts of things to raise money.

We had a little girl locally who did a sponsored bike ride and raised 1, 500. A little boy did a sponsored walk around the town and gave us 500. And I got Daniel Craig's James Bond watch and a little message from him and we auctioned that. Ed Sheeran's guitar, I auctioned that. We sold everything and we managed to raise enough to build Diego's enclosure.

And then the community turned up and visited. They may come and see you. And that obviously helps with maintaining them. And now, not only having a wildlife park, Rescue the Bears, we now have a charity that allows us to rescue other animals. So we're setting up a turtle sanctuary in Sri Lanka. We're looking to help sponsor a bear reserve in Romania.

Um, there's, uh, a coral, uh, reef, uh, um, uh, project we're gonna work with. So, it's now launched us into a whole area. And, and the next big thing are the Asian brown bear, uh, the Asian black bears that we want to rescue. So the, the, when you think you've just got to the finish line, there's a whole new race ahead of you.

Um, I mean, looking at wildlife conservation as a whole, I mean, is this an increasing issue that we're seeing, that zoos and parks around the world are starting to close down for various different reasons, whether that's changing consumer attitudes or demand? Um, but that presents an issue, whether you've got an orca or whether you have a, a polar bear.

And animals in captivity contentiously, uh, subject matter. And some people, I hate zoos. Animals in captivity, it's like, brilliant. What are you going to do with them then? What are you going to do about the wild? It's, it's not there anymore. All these natural history films we see, and I'd make TV. And the Serengeti goes off a mark.

That doesn't exist anymore. These places are shrinking, and conflict between, uh, humans and wildlife is getting worse and worse. The old vision of zoos, and there've been terrible zoos out there, don't get me wrong. All about entertainment. Those days are over, and if they still exist, they'll be out of business soon.

The future of zoos, and all zoos and wildlife parks around the world, work as a conglomerate. I've just been to a big international conference in Australia, all that the whole world zoo community attend. The projects that are happening are remarkable. Rewilding of animals. Animals that would have been, wouldn't have existed today have been maintained in captivity.

And the future of cryopreservation as an avenue that we're involved with holds an amazing opportunity to save species. But at the moment, captive populations are the only way to do it. Preserve the wild, and let's do what we can, and, but at the same time, let's not throw the baby out of the bath water. Uh, and after all, the polar bears that I've got, if I could turn them to the wild, I would, in a heartbeat.

Had they space? No. Would they survive? No. What do you want me to do with them? Shoot them? The whole reason I did this was to save their lives. But by doing that, we can tell their story. Not only in captivity, but also in the wild. And have the potential to educate. And just really get people involved with the natural world and their impact on it.

Now you've had them in captivity for a while. How long have you had them? Two years. About two years. Is it possible to create a bond with them? Yes. Yes it is. And, it's so interesting you ask that question because I was talking to a couple of our rangers the other day and I asked them, with the brown bears, who's your favourite?

Is it Broomhilda or Diego? And their answer was like, well, I like Diego because Diego likes me. He doesn't, doesn't like him. Uh, and the bears favourites, so it's not just the humans getting their favourites. So in a way, do they, do you choose the keeper, or does the bear choose the keeper? So there's a real strong relationship.

And training is really important, because, same with the polar bears. How can you tell if it's got a toothache? Or how can you tell if it's got something stuck here? Or, you need to take a blood sample out of its paw. So, you can't tranquilise that bear every time you want to do that. That's not, not really good practice.

So you train them to open their mouth. So if I do that to a polar bear, our polar bears know to come and open their mouths. And we've got a special area they can put their head into and open their mouths, and we can inspect. Or we'll say, put your paw out. Put your left one out. And they'll put their left paw out, and they will allow us to take a blood sample.

So we can analyse. their white blood cells to see what their immune system's like. We weigh them all the time, train them to get the scales so we maintain their diet. So the diet is perfect. Um, and with the brown bears, we can say, you can turn to the left, turn to the rights. I was super intelligent. And we do that with all our animals.

The camels, the monkeys, whatever it is, because you need to be able to give them the best husbandry but with the less interference as possible. Yeah, I suppose it's a balance between stimulation. I'm going to do this now, see if you open your mouth. So, um, so Jimmy, tell us about what you're hoping that this series will achieve, what people will take from it.

Yeah, it's an interesting question. It's unlike any show I've ever done. And I've done hundreds of series, and because this is a, it's something that's, I'm not saying TV's not real. It's nothing scripted. There was no storyline written. I haven't got a piece of camera to read out. I'm not introducing something or talking about a recipe.

It's literally following us as we go along. And it's only when I look back and watched it the other day, I was like, Oh my god, and you don't realize the rollercoaster ride, not only the bears have gone through, but all, all my team that have gone through. The tears, the sadness in it, the happiness, the joy, the elation is incredible.

But I think also, when you watch it, you'll come away with a, a There's such a good, feel good feeling, but a better appreciation of the natural world and why we need to care. So, Jimmy, you talked about the problem globally of, uh, of zoos, et cetera, and, uh, uh, animal conservation and, and, uh, rehoming animals.

Presumably, this is a bigger problem than ever. Is, uh, so that would mean there's potentially more stories to tell? There's endless more stories to tell, and I, I was brought up Always to believe that if you can help, you should help. And there are more animals to rescue. Um, and we're going to go with that and do that.

We are looking at some big cats at the moment that need help and, uh, black bears in Asia that need help. And then there's lots of. Tiny baby turtles and beaches in Sri Lanka that need help. Alright, well, uh, we'll hope to see those as well as many other stories in the future. But in the meantime, well done on this series.

Congratulations. Thank you so much. It looks amazing and, uh, and all the best. So my next guest on this week's show is Seb Illes from Klimt Sol Productions. He's series producer on Extreme Planet Earth, which is coming soon to ITV and ARD in Germany. Seb, how are you doing? Very well, thanks for having me.

Welcome to Telecast, great to have you on the show and uh, uh, Plemsoil Productions obviously one of the the leading natural history producers in the world and uh, this is a new show from you, you guys that is uh, well, I mean setting the next standard really of natural history storytelling. So um, tell us about Extreme Planet Earth.

Well it's one that we're, we're really excited about, you know, it feels like a really timely series, um, it's basically, it's animals and extreme weather. But it's, it's You know, what it says on the tin, it's basically, we think, an incredibly relatable subject. It's a very accessible way to look at climate change without sort of lecturing people.

So we're looking at a sort of symptom of climate change, big weather events, through the eyes of animal characters, basically. Okay, and, and, with many other, uh, natural history major productions, this one has been a number of years in the making. Um, before we start to talk in detail about, uh, about the series itself, yeah, tell us about the genesis of Extreme Planet Earth and, and, you know, and the three years.

Of of its making and where you shot and how yeah, well, um, as you say, yeah three years in the making It sounds like a long time. Actually, it's pretty standard for shows of this, you know, many take longer Um, and the reason is that is is you need to spend as much time in the field filming as you possibly can to get the animal behavior Um, so with this one, we we thought we would um The added challenge of trying to get animals behaving in weather, which is, which is not easy, you know, so, so, uh, from the get go, it was, uh, you know, the research was focused on a, on a number of things, really, you know, first and foremost, we want people to be, you know, entertained watching it.

We want them to really enjoy looking at the animals that are there. So, uh, you know, you need to have charismatic animals that people love to see. We've got all the sort of what I would consider crowd pleasing animals, whether that's, you know, polar bears, the big cats, we've got a number of big cats, you know, lions, snow leopards, leopards, uh, we've got, um, apes, we've got chimpanzees, we've got, uh, little elephants, we've got elephants, we've got the Bornean pygmy elephants, which are So cute.

Um, they're, they're much, much smaller than the African elephants. They're sort of, you know, they're only about eight foot tall cause they have to cope with living in the rainforest. Um, but the one thing that all of the stories have in common is, is they're facing extreme weather in one or a consequence of extreme weather.

So, you know, fires as well as floods and, and, and hurricanes and tornadoes and what have you. So, Um, coming at it through the animal's eyes, uh, you're, you're really living it with them and, and you're really sort of, you know, seeing the, the, the, the consequences and the, the sort of individual struggles, I suppose.

Yeah. And, uh, so how do you approach producing this sort of scale of show when there are those sort of twin tracks of messaging, if you like, which is climate change and also conservation? Yeah. Um, do you. Do you go where the climate change is, is most visible? Is that, is that where you start from? Yeah, well, the visible thing is an interesting one, isn't it?

It's sort of, you know, a lot of people would look out the window and go, well, I can't see any climate change. And then you go, well, do you remember that time when you got a year's worth of rain fell in an afternoon? Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I knew that, you know, but it's, but so it's sort of, you know, it's all around us.

Um, I think for many people, it's a very off putting phrase, climate change, immediately people get on the sort of back foot and you can sort of. So, um, you know, we're not yet in the edit. I'm not sure we'll even use that phrase. You know, I think there's a there's a what will be showing is the consequence of just a very small rise in temperature and what that means.

So, for example, a one degree rise in temperature allows the atmosphere to hold 7 percent more rain. So more moisture, rather so, which is why you get these colossal rainfalls sort of happening. So, um, we're not, uh, we're not. Coming at it as a sort of lecture and telling people off. We're not going to be telling people what to do.

But I think everybody can relate to big weather. You know, they can, whether they want to read into the sort of science of climate change is, is less so perhaps. But everybody can read about the fires in LA. They can read about the sort of, you know, snow in the southern states. The floods in Spain. Floods in Spain, floods all around Europe.

You know, wildfires in Greece and Portugal. Wildfire, you know, it's, it's something you can't really escape. And it's kind of top of the news agenda. Always, you know, there's always some kind of weather event happening. So, um, whether that is means that people are desperate to learn more of the science, they'll certainly be very aware.

It's a very, it's very much at the forefront of everybody's mind. So actually coming at it through lovable animals, um, seeing what they're seeing, there was someone told me there was some quite interesting research that you're more likely to be. Um, affected by, uh, sort of seeing an animal's plight than a human's plight a lot of the time, which is sort of slightly, I dunno what that says about us, but it's quite interesting.

I think so, um, we're hoping, you know, the stories will really speak for themselves rather than us have to sort of, you know, deliver some kind of a climate change election, which is certainly not what the series is. Yeah. But, but what this is, is it's about adaptation, isn't it? It's about. How the natural world adapts to these, uh, varying changes that are coming thick and fast, essentially.

And, uh, and, uh, you know, tell us, uh, give us some examples of, uh, of how that actually plays out in the series. Yeah, so, uh, you're right. It's about sort of, it's more sort of adapting sort of strategies rather than adaptation in the evolutionary sense, I suppose. But there is, there is an exception to that, which I'll, I'll mention in a moment.

But the A lot of it is we're not looking at what, uh, we're looking at what individuals are doing to overcome certain things. And there are certain animals who are changing their strategy. So for example, polar bears, the sea ice is, is forming later and melting earlier than in previous years. And a polar bear would typically hunt on the sea ice platform, but they'll hunt for seals.

And, uh, that gives them their, their platform to hunt on. If there's no platform, then they're forced to look elsewhere. So we've got an incredible sequence. Of polar bears stalking and going for reindeer a bit like a big cat would but polar bears aren't built for that sort of hunting they're not they're not designed for chasing their sort of ambush predators and their marine predators really they sort of swim up and they'll go for for the um seals but um so seeing them running you know like a big cat chasing down reindeer is extraordinary um we've been filming uh a sort of flamingo colony in in the yucatan peninsula in mexico They've been nesting there for years.

You know, the typically Caribbean flamingos will come together. They'll nest because they're safety in numbers. Um, they'll all have one egg a year. And with these big storms, hurricanes forming earlier than before, um, you know, the colony is much more at risk. So this sort of sea surge can come and take out, uh, you know, some years pretty much the whole colony.

Um, but they've actually adapted now. out there. to not just have one egg a year, you know, they're breeding, courting and breeding again, and laying another egg, it's sort of after the season, which gives them a better chance of survival. So there's little interesting things, where they're, you know, examples of them changing, sort of, you know, sort of, their, their, their sort of ingrained behaviour, I suppose.

So the way, um, that natural history storytelling has changed is constantly evolving as well isn't it and and a way to hook in the audience and as you say it's not about lecturing it's about entertaining um tell us about your approach to storytelling for this series as well because I know it's it's it's it's uh can be character based as well can't it?

Yeah very much so I think um you know there's an expectation that the cinematography with all natural history is going to be exceptional you know and it and it and it is. Um, I think with the storytelling, we're always looking for different ways to make the series feel more modern. Um, perhaps to sort of, you know, help people watching who aren't necessarily a big fan of the animals in the way that the people making the programs are.

So, um, it's really sort of tapping into those emotional highs and lows. And, um, with this series, you know, we thought, gosh, well, we want to feature some big weather. You know, it's important that we're going to have these big weather. We want to see the biggest sort of, you know, We want to see tornadoes, and we want to see hurricanes, and we want to see, like, wildfires, and, um, and what have you, floods.

Um, but obviously you can't have maybe ten sequences where that happens in every sequence in a way that you might do in a traditional natural history series. So we debated a lot at the beginning, and how we've ended up doing it now is we're focusing on three characters in each episode, and we'll be sort of interweaving their stories.

So, it'll give you a chance, we hope, to sort of, like, really fall in love with the character, really get invested in them. You'll get a sense of that weather coming, almost like another character in itself, you know. So, you'll have the sort of, you know, you'll meet them before whatever weather event happens, and then you'll see the sort of, you know, them dealing with it, sort of, whatever that particular event is, be it a flood or a fire, and then the aftermath.

And, um, and that will be from a storytelling perspective. It allows the viewer to really invest in it from a program maker perspective. It allows us to really sort of, you know, look at the difference of emotions that you'll be sort of feeling and you'll be able, you know, we'll be able to showcase these incredible sort of resilience that the natural world has when faced with, with disaster.

But also there's a point where, um, you know, grit and determination and resilience and all those wonderful traits that we as humans can all learn from the animals. There's a point where you, that doesn't get you any further, you know, and actually at that point, um, it's an opportunity for us to sort of showcase some of the amazing work that the humans are doing around the world.

So actually, it's a sort of slightly different way of approaching, um, a pure natural history series, is we will, at certain points, introduce a human elephant, uh, elephant. We will at a certain point, um, introduce a human element and, um, and I think it's important to do so because we can't just pretend, oh, it's all going to be all right because they're really brave and they're going to be fine.

You know, there, and there, but there are remarkable, uh, sort of work going on around the world, whether it's people rescuing, uh, wombats and koalas after, after, uh, bushfires or relocating snow leopards or, you know, the sort of efforts to sort of replant coral reefs, um, post marine heat waves. So, so there's.

We're sort of leaning into those stories rather than sort of shying away from them. And talk about these extreme weather events. Obviously, natural history photography is an extremely specialized skill. Um, as this series also features major weather events, That presumably also has a certain specialism like capturing weather from a production perspective.

Are those interchangeable? Do you, do you, you know, have you got the same crew members are capturing both, uh, both, uh, animal footage, but also the weather footage as well? Well, it's a real mixture, you know, and as you say, it's a real sort of specialism and there are people who specialize in, in filming storms.

So we, we sort of engage with them pretty early on. Um, so we've had people specializing in, in, in just doing that for us. Um, we have also, you know, we've had, uh, having fewer characters has enabled us to spend more time in the field, which is really key, you know. So, um, I'm just, the shoot that's coming to mind is our flamingo shoot, you know, that was getting the, the edge of, um, hurricane Beryl, which was the earliest category, category five, hurricane on record.

And our crew was out on the, on the, in this lagoon, in, in Yucatan. with horrific sort of wind and rain and storm surges. And, um, but with the colony, cause the colony weren't going anywhere. So, so, you know, they couldn't, and there's this extraordinary footage of Miguel, our cameraman, he's in a little hide and all of his kit cases are floating around and he's trying to change a battery.

And then the directors on the beach, looking at him in the distance with sort of howling gales going, Oh, I hope he's okay. And, uh, so, you know, what the crew have gone through on this series compared to other series that, you know, Often there is a certain sort of, um, you know, character that enjoys that sort of, you know, they're prepared to be more uncomfortable than many people with the teams that make these programs.

But this one is taking it to a, you know, next level, I would say. Yeah. Do we get to see that in the series? Do we get to see any of the behind the scenes production experiences? Yeah, we do. So, um, the first five episodes are what I would say pure sort of blue chip. So that's basically, it's the animal stories.

Um, we have a sixth episode, which we'll be looking at. Some of the scientists work, some of the sort of conservation work, some of the sort of, you know, latest, um, stories of, you know, these phenomenal work that people are doing around the world, sort of, you know, in, in the realm of, of, of weather and animals.

Um, but also we'll have some behind the scenes, because it's quite funny, I think, for people to sort of see what, what the guys went through, um, a lot of the time. And there's, you know, people, people, people, Terrible altitude sickness. We had a cameraman with heatstroke in Zambia. We had awful seasickness filming sea otters in storms in California.

Uh, I mean, I'm saying this with a smile on my face because it wasn't me, but there was, um, the shoot in Botswana was, was, you know, nudging 50 degrees most days, you know, terrible sort of dust storms. Um, But the result of that is the visuals for the series are spectacular. Yeah, well it almost sounds like an extreme natural history production.

Yeah, yeah, no it is. But it's um, you know, we knew it from the start that was going to be the case. And you know, it's a story we're already passionate to tell and try and make that sort of bigger message accessible. But very much, you know, the tone of it's going to be hopeful. I don't want anybody coming to this thinking, you know, this is going to be Too dark for me to watch.

It really won't be. It's a really accessible, very sort of, you know, family sort of friendly kind of show and, um, but hopefully people will come away from it and just think, wow, okay, that's cool. Well, it certainly looks spectacular. 6x6D, uh, for ITV and ARD in Germany so far. I'm sure we've seen lots of international sales for the show, so congratulations on this.

It's a real achievement, I think. Thanks very much. Well, that's about it from the ITV Studios Festivals event here at the London Screenings. I hope you enjoyed the show. Telecast was produced by Spirit Studios and recorded in Leicester Square. We'll be back next week with another show.