Feb
03



BBC lead the way in nature programmes

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David Attenborough cropped BBC lead the way in nature programmesThe BBC has an impressive ability to find things to films that have never been shot before.

Planet Earth had several impressive examples of this such as the goat being hunted by a snow leopard on a vertical cliff face. When Frozen Planet came along viewers are once again being treated to something they have never seen before.

Frozen Planet seems to be a culmination of the BBC’s vision and it is all the much better for being shot in crystal clear high-definition. The images on the television show are beautiful, dramatic, and intimate all at the same time and the narration and soundtracks are spectacular. The classical music that accompanies the television show is performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Many incredible scenes from nature are captured in Frozen Planet including the way Emperor penguins transfer the eggs between the parents and also how a polar bear brings its cubs out into the wild. As well as animals, plants and the wild feature just as strongly and the power of the Arctic winter is captured clearly. Images such as waterfalls being formed from melting glaciers leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

David Attenborough is a perfect choice for the narrator of this television show and he has an amazing ability to describe the action that is happening on the screen in a fantastic way. His ability to be such a fantastic narrator to this kind of television programme has made him one of the greatest figures in British television.

Each series that Attenborough has been involved with has brought such critical acclaim that he has become a national treasure. The final episode of Frozen Planet has been delayed from airing in many countries because it has been deemed too controversial. Attenborough’s statements about the future of the planet are profound

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Feb
03



Sky launch online TV for UK customers

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120px Sky logo.svg Sky launch online TV for UK customersThe entertainment company Sky have recently announced a plan that is expected to benefit many people living in Britain. The company have said that they are going to allow their customers to start viewing some of the most popular television shows on the internet.

The company has said that it is eager to embrace the fact that people are using the internet for home entertainment.It is expected that the internet television service from Sky is going to launch in the first six months of this year.

It is going to offer a large choice of content which is going to be easily accessible by customers. Anyone with a high-speed internet connection is going to be able to enjoy the service which is going to offer a large number of television shows as well as blockbuster movies.

There is going to be no minimum contract with the service and it is expected to be very affordably priced. It is going to be available on many devices that are connected to the internet including laptops as well as smart phones. Many televisions are now coming with the ability to connect to the internet and these are also going to be up to receive the broadcasting.

More information about the service is expected from the company in the next few months as the launch date comes closer. The move by the company seems like a beneficial one for both consumers and the company as Sky going to be able to reach a wider audience and consumers are going to get a wider range of television shows to watch. It is expected that the entire process will be very simple to use.

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Jan
27



Leveson inquiry turns to TV reporting

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itn Leveson inquiry turns to TV reportingThe Leveson inquiry into media ethics is continuing its investigation, and recently heard evidence from some of the most important figures in British television. Among those who have appeared before Lord Leveson in the last few days are Mark Thompson, BBC director general, Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, John Battle, ITN’s head of compliance and Channel 4 News’ Jim Gray.

Although it was the phone hacking scandal and the tactics employed by the tabloid media that created the need for a government inquiry in the first place, the remit has been widened to cover the whole media and all tactics employed by news gathering companies.

Mark Thompson of the BBC was the first to appear, admitting that the organisation had used private investigators on over 200 occasions, at a cost of more than £300,000, since 2005. Thompson defended the tactic, telling the inquiry that some news and consumer stories had required surveillance of individuals in order to establish certain facts.

He went on to say that tactics such as secret filming were only ever used when other methods had failed, but vehemently denied that his organisation had ever employed phone hacking or used money to get information from serving police officers; the two tabloid tactics at the heart of the Leveson inquiry.

Thompson did admit that one of the investigators the BBC had used in the past was Steve Whittamore,who was convicted of illegally accessing private data in a previous case.  Meanwhile, Jim Gray of Channel Four News told Lord Leveson that they have only ever used private investigators on two stories, at a total cost of less than £2,000, and that these were employed to track down individuals whose input was essential to a news story or current affairs programme.

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Jan
26



We each watch four hours of TV a day

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tvfuture 300x226 We each watch four hours of TV a dayNew numbers show that television viewing figures in 2011 have matched the previous high recorded in 2010. Research carried out by BARB, the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, found that the average Briton watched just over four hours of TV each day, 90% of it at the time of the original broadcast, despite more and more channels offering on-demand television via the internet.

However, the amount of TV that was watched through services such as Sky+ and the BBC’s iPlayer had increased from 2010′s figure of 7.6% to 9.4% over the last 12 months.

According to Lindsey Clay, an analyst at the television industry’s marketing organisation, Thinkbox, this rise shows just why more and more channels across the UK are getting involved in TV on-demand. Clay added that better technology means people are now able to connect all the gadgets in their home, allowing them to watch internet broadcasts on their quality flat-screen TVs, rather than a low-definition computer monitor.

The BBC iPlayer service had its most successful year on ever, with over 180 million requests for programmes from subscribers using everything from internet-connected televisions in their homes to smartphones while they were out and about.

Their busiest day was the bank holiday on January 1, 2012 when there were almost 5.5 million broadcasts in just 24 hours. The popular comedy-drama Sherlock was the most popular individual show on iPlayer that day, with a massive 620,000 hits.

Top Gear’s annual festive special, which this year visited India, was the most popular programme  during the Christmas period, with over 1.5 million iPlayer requests; a figure that was no doubt inflated by the controversy that surrounded the broadcast.

iPlayer’s 187 million programme requests in 2011 was a huge 29% increase on its performance in 2010, indicating that demand for on-demand TV, especially when it involves popular, quality programming, is here to stay and will only become more popular throughout 2012.

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Jan
20



Noteworthy Events invite you to Experience Downton Abbey

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Noteworthy Events invite you to Experience Downton Abbey 300x196 Noteworthy Events invite you to Experience Downton Abbey

Noteworthy Events invite you to Experience Downton Abbey

There are millions of worldwide fans of the hit television period drama ‘Downton Abbey’, and they now have a chance to discover the truth about the building where the show is filmed,  Highclere Castle. This magnificent castle is the location for all the external scenes of the hugely successful and Emmy winning series.

For £7900, die hard ‘Downton Abbey’ fans can step into the life led by the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon in a specially designed package that has been put together by NoteWorthy Events. There will be a maximum of four devotees staying there at any one time and they will truly get to see how the other half lives.

  • Arrive atHighclereCastleto be greeted personally by the eighth Earl & Countess of Carnarvon under the soaring Gothic columns of the entrance toHighclereCastle. Your day begins with tea and coffee served in the Countess’s private morning room.
  • Continue with a tour of the State Rooms with either the Earl or the Countess. Walking through the vaulted salon to the drawing room evokes a curious mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar. The setting is unmistakablyDownton, but the tables and mantelpieces are crowded with framed photographs of the Carnarvon family, with an occasional royal thrown in for good measure!
  • Enjoy a private lunch in the State Dining Room accompanied by fine wines chosen by the Earl from his own wine cellar. See a glimpse of the fictionalCrawley’s home, while truly getting a taste of being ‘to the manor born’.
  • After lunch, be transported in one of the Earl’s private 4×4 off-road vehicles toBeacon Hill. The 5th Earl of Carnarvon (who funded and assisted Howard Carter’s investigations, culminating in the discovery of Tutankhamen’s fabulous tomb in 1922) is buried at the summit and see the remains of an Iron Age fort. If the weather is inclement, enjoy an escorted tour of Highclere’s Egyptogology Exhibition. Housed in the cellar, guests have the opportunity to view ancient artifacts from earlier digs as well as a reconstruction of the entrance to the young pharaoh’s tomb with peepholes to peer through as Carter did when he broke a hole in the door to the burial chamber with the Earl behind him. Written on the wall is Carnarvon and Carter’s thrilling exchange: “Can you see anything?” “Yes, wonderful things!” What a good way to describe a visit toHighclereCastleitself!
  • The visit ends with the serving of High Tea, at which guests have an opportunity to gain an intimate and informal insight into the working life of the Countess.
  • To commemorate the visit, guests receive complimentary copies of Lady Fiona Carnarvon’s books, including a new biography “Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey,” with an opportunity to have a personal dedication written by the Countess herself.

This exclusive Highclere Castle package must be booked in advance and is subject to availability. For those wishing to experience the wonders of Edwardian life a little longer, NoteWorthy Events offers a variety of independent travel components: hotel stays, chauffeur-driven cars or specially designed sightseeing excursions that can be added to this specially designed Downton Abbey experience.

NoteWorthy Events designs award-winning, exclusive journeys for first timers and sophisticated travelers to the United Kingdom. Work with one of NoteWorthy Events’ experts to create a custom designed, privately guided tour that features elegant journeys to historic cities and castles, gourmet dining experiences, relaxed getaways and exhilarating sporting events. Call +44 (0) 20 3051 5165 to speak with a travel specialist or go to www.noteworthyevents.com to search for extraordinary journey ideas to create a personalized travel experience to your choice destination in the United Kingdom.

 

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Jan
20



Richard Wilson brings out his inner Victor Meldrew

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a 284x300 Richard Wilson brings out his inner Victor MeldrewVictor Meldrew was the main character in One Foot In The Grave and in today’s automated world you could imagine him having a really hard time. You could picture a scene from the show were he would be struggling with an automated checkout, being outraged that you could do everything without the need for interaction with another human being.

It was not so surprising then to hear this sort of rant from the man who brought the character to life. Richard Wilson is that actor, and he was recently on television venting his rage at a world that has become so automated that it seems to cause us just additional stress.

In the interview he was stating how we wasted enormous amounts of energy and time as well as money on automated services that do nothing to benefit us and actually make our lives more difficult.

He says that all of the technology is just so corporations can save a large amount of money and not actually improve the customer situation. He even went on to describe voice automation systems that you get over the telephone as being racist, and this brought a nice amount of humour to his ranting.

He went on that he was stuck with tickets for Johnny English when he wanted to book tickets for another film simply because the machine couldn’t understand his Scottish accent. He also stated his frustration at how companies are making themselves do less work, as consumer are having to do more for them, just so they can save money.

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Jan
18



BBC say that Sherlock will return

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sherlock1 300x168 BBC say that Sherlock will returnThe dramatic conclusion of the second season of Sherlock led to the announcement by the BBC that the television show will be returning for a third series. The creators recently confirmed that the BBC1 drama will be returning despite an initial statement that it might not be.

The creator of the series is Steven Moffat and he had previously said that there would not necessarily be a third season of Sherlock. However, after the conclusion of the second, he stated that he was joking and it would definitely be returning.

Nearly eight million people watched the series finale and this is down about 1 million from those who watched the first episode of the season on New Year’s Day. The episode that aired on Sunday evening was called The Reichenbach Fall which is named after the book that Conan Doyle first published in the late 19th century.

The creative directors of the television show have said that they have complete freedom from the original books so they don’t have to keep everything as it once was. It is currently unknown when the next season will be broadcast but many people expect that it won’t be until next year.

Both of the stars have busy schedules and are filming major Hollywood movies. Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars as Sherlock Holmes, has recently been cast in the new Star Trek movie as the villain. Martin Freeman, who plays Dr Watson is currently filming the Hobbit, the shooting of which is taking place in New Zealand.

The second season of Sherlock was met with critical acclaim and the end of the final episode was particularly appealing to viewers. Mr Moffat originally said about the episode, before announcing that it would return, that he was unsure whether he would keep Sherlock alive or kill him off before the end of the series.

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Jan
14



3D TV is not making the impact that was predicted

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3dtv 300x300 3D TV is not making the impact that was predictedFirst came the news that 3D films are losing fans at the cinema, and now a French TV company has decided to close down its 3D channel after just 18 months on the air.  Only 20,000 people signed up for the 3D channel launched by Canal Plus, despite an aggressive marketing campaign and significant discounts on subscription rates. Television companies in the UK will no doubt be monitoring these developments closely, as the initial excitement generated by 3D TV fades away.

UK audiences have shown more interest in 3D programming than their European counterparts since the technology became widely available and more affordable. Yet even here, experts are predicting that 3D shows will only ever be a gimmick and are unlikely to become part of our regular viewing habits.

The number of 3D subscribers in the UK is much higher than the failed Canal Plus numbers, though this is more to do with the fact that BSkyB offered the service free of charge to existing customers in a bid to attract interest in the service from both consumers and programme makers.

Unfortunately, the restrictive choice when it comes to 3D television, with viewers only able to watch a handful of films, documentaries and sporting events, means that the service has yet to really take off in terms of viewing figures.

Another common complaint about 3D television is that the technology is not yet advanced enough to compete with cinema screen visuals; the standards by which many people judge the quality of 3D images. While more advanced TVs and 3D-related gadgets are available, they are out of reach financially to most consumers while the price of a 3D cinema ticket is not.

Virgin Media, which initially launched its own 3D service, has since scaled back on marketing this product, preferring to promote its service allowing subscribers to watch content from the internet on their televisions, which has proved to be much more popular.

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Jan
13



Netflix may have a real effect on UK TV viewing

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netflix 300x224 Netflix may have a real effect on UK TV viewingFilm fans can now subscribe to the leading US online film provider, Netflix, after the company launched a new service in the UK costing less than £6 per month. Thanks to deals with all the major studios, as well as most British television stations, Netflix subscribers will be able to access recent and classic films as well as watching TV programmes on demand on their television, PC or tablet computer.

Netflix is the largest firm to offer films and TV on demand through the internet in the UK, and has  only a few competitors on this side of the Atlantic, such as Lovefilm. In the US, Netflix can boast almost 25 million subscribers and a stock market value of $5 billion; and boss Reed Hastings is hoping to see a similar level of success now that he has launched the scheme in Britain and Ireland.

LoveFilm does already have a substantial customer base in this country, having started out as a postal DVD rental company which has now branched out into streaming online films and TV series. In an effort to attract some of Lovefilm’s loyal customers, Hastings and Netflix are offering new subscribers one month free with no restrictions on how many films they watch in that time.

However, LoveFilm is not taking the arrival of Netflix in the UK lying down, choosing the day of Hastings’ launch to announce their own streaming-only subscription, priced at £1 per month cheaper than the US company’s rival service.

Part of the success of Netflix in the US is that they are the only company that provides such a wide choice of films and TV shows online; and it is that innovation that helped them to add a further 5 million subscribers in the first six months of 2011 alone. It remains to be seen if UK customers can be lured away from LoveFilm by this newcomer to the British market.

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Jan
07



We deduce BBC series Sherlock is back

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sherlock 300x167 We deduce BBC series Sherlock is backThe hit BBC series Sherlock made a welcome return to our screens recently, with the screening of the first episode in series two, “A Scandal in Belgravia”. Tying up the nerve-racking cliffhanger from the previous series neatly within the first few minutes allowed Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the long-suffering Watson (Martin Freeman) to dive headlong into a new mystery – and also allowed the show’s creators to introduce one of the most-loved characters from the original Conan Doyle stories.

Irene Adler, the token love interest in the Sherlock Holmes stories for over a century, was here played with a sexuality and sensuality by actress Lara Pulver that would have had Sir Arthur turning in his grave. The scenes between Adler and Holmes were masterfully acted and it was almost fun to watch the normally unflappable Sherlock looking extremely uncomfortable.

The introduction of Irene Adler brought a new complexion to the show, and although the way her story ended made great dramatic sense, it is nevertheless a shame that Pulver is not to become an integral part of the cast for future episodes.

The writers included their usual appreciative nods towards the original Holmes stories – indeed “A Scandal in Belgravia” is very similar to the title of the story which inspired the early part of this first episode “A Scandal in Bohemia” – but the most dramatic and entertaining aspects of the show remain the modern interpretations of Holmes as a character and his relationship with Watson and the others who are drawn into his circle.

There were glimpses of the writer’s efforts to make Holmes a little more human in this new series, while their exquisite comic timing remains well and truly intact. The scene where Sherlock finds himself donning the fabled deerstalker cap before setting off in pursuit of another villain was, as ever, brilliantly conceived.

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