Jump to content

Deadline (1995 TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deadline
GenreDocumentary
Directed by
  • Bernard Hall
  • Leanne Pooley
Composers
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6[1]
Production
Executive producers
  • Brian Hill
  • Ruth Pitt
EditorStuart Briggs
Running time
  • 1x50 mins
  • 5x25mins
Production companyReal Life Productions
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release20 March (1995-03-20) –
1 May 1995 (1995-05-01)

Deadline is a British fly-on-the-wall documentary series following the journalists at Yorkshire Television's local news service, Calendar. It was broadcast as a series of six episodes on Channel 4 from 20 March to 1 May 1995 as part of its Whose News? season.[2]

Production

[edit]

Yorkshire Television agreed to allow access to Channel 4's fly-on-the-wall documentary series following ITN's refusal to take part in the project.[3] Most of the Calendar team took part in the documentary rather than be accused of hypocrisy; Christa Ackroyd says, "how could I, a TV journalist whose job it is to persuade others to appear on camera, refuse to take part when the tables were turned?".[3]

The documentary crew spent three months following the newsgatherers at Yorkshire TV.[4] Some material was removed from the broadcast version. Journalist Alan Hardwick was captured making some, what The Guardian's media editor labels "fairly abusive", remarks about criminals.[3] Ackroyd reports that some people refused to sign release forms, and 'no filming' areas were established.[3]

Yorkshire TV were unhappy at the documentary's press release, which began: "Coming up in just a moment, the biggest petunia in the world – and the man whose grown it. But first, the Bradford murder." Channel 4 thought that the sentence reflected Calendar's diverse content, but Yorkshire were concerned that it made them look silly. The press was requested not to use the offending words.[3]

Episodes

[edit]

The first episode focussed upon the media coverage of the disappearance of schoolgirl Lindsay Rimer in November 1994,[2] whose body was recovered shortly after the episode was broadcast.[5] This first episode also covered more trivial stories, such as the launch of a new cheese, and a live interview with Coronation Street actress Lynne Perrie, who was promoting her autobiography.[2]

Reception

[edit]

Tom Sutcliffe, in The Independent, expressed concern over the length of the series, suggesting that it might become "too much of a good thing" and the focus upon a regional news service ("a little local runabout", writes Sutcliffe) rather than "the great national juggernauts".[2] Much of Sutcliffe's criticisms were about the journalistic practices and integrity of the Calendar team; he questions its staging of police briefings, and the decision to devote airtime to the launch of a cheese.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Television: Monday". The Observer. 19 March 1995. p. 98.
  2. ^ a b c d e Sutcliffe, Thomas (21 March 1995). "REVIEW : Drop the dead donkey, we'll run with the cheese". The Independent.
  3. ^ a b c d e Brooks, Richard (20 March 1995). "Focus on the newshounds". The Guardian. p. 14.
  4. ^ Episode 1, Deadline, 20 March 1995, Channel 4
  5. ^ Rimer, Geri (4 November 2006). "I don't know what happened to my daughter". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
[edit]