And this time when I did Parkinson I got into a nice car having
And this time, when I did Parkinson, I got into a nice car having woken up in a nice flat. I thought, ‘Yeah, why shouldn’t I be here?’ “‘The Kumars at No 42′ starts on 27 May on BBC2 at 9pm. On the same evening Sanjeev Bhaskar opens in ‘Art’ at the Whitehall Theatre, London W1 (020-7369 1735). A TV shopping channel has emerged as a surprise contender for the licences vacated by ITV Digital, as the bidding process was extended yesterday. It is now working up a full bid, which could be a stand-alone proposal or in conjunction with the free-to-air broadcasters, whom it is now talking to.The Independent Television Commission, the regulator that awards commercial TV licences, announced that its specially speeded up 6-week bidding process for the digital terrestrial licences would not allow enough time for technical tests.The new licences, for three DTT multiplexes, were to be awarded on 13 June That will now be pushed back to 4 July.
The extra time will also allow the terrestrial broadcasters, who have failed to agree on a joint submission, time to resolve their differences.There are about six or seven parties that put in expressions of interest for the licences last weak, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and SDN, the Welsh service. MGt, a Scottish call centre group, has also come forward, and Crown Castle, the TV transmitter company, is said to have expressed interest too.One of the major problems that dogged ITV Digital was inadequate signal strength. The testing, which is being carried out by the Digital TV Group, a technical advisory group, will see if reducing the number of channels on the multiplexes will improve the signal.The Digital TV Group will report back to the bidders, who have to put in final proposals by 13 June, and to the ITC, which will be advised by Logica, the IT consultants.. More than 100 viewers have complained to the BBC about the new spy drama Spooks because of a scene in which an MI5 agent was tortured in an industrial deep fat fryer. She was finally shot in the head by her captives as she lay injured. The BBC defended the scene, saying it was shown at about 10pm, well after the watershed.
A warning about the nature of the scenes was screened beforehand.Although the death of the character was gruesome, the camera panned away for the most graphic moments of her suffering. Viewers saw Helen’s head being forced near the fryer but did not see it pushed inside.Instead the horror was played out through the reaction of the other characters, including her partner, played by Matthew Macfadyen. A BBC spokeswoman said: “The complaints were within the context of the dangers that anyone working for MI5 have to face. The drama was implied rather than shown.”Spooks, watched by eight million people, has been heavily promoted by the corporation.
