ITV Launches Autumn Schedule As ITC Issues Stay Unresolved
ITV’s ongoing tussle with the ITC over news programming (see ITV’s Battle With The ITC Could End In Court) has attracted a lot of the wrong sort of attention to its programming. The channel is rumoured to be considering High Court action over the Commission’s insistence that it moves its nightly news to an earlier slot.
Perhaps as a result, the launch of its autumn schedule at London’s BFI Imax cinema today was keen to make entertainment, not factual programming, the star, with the biggest announcement being the increase in weekly outings of Emmerdale to five.
Coronation Street is also set to take up some scheduling time with its 40th birthday celebrations spawning an orgy of nostalgia and self-examination. It may be as well for ITV to keep soaps in the limelight, as the factual programming line-up may not stand up to close scrutiny.
Last year’s ITC annual report on the channel was muted in its praise for the channel’s factual output. “The schedule tended to rely on ‘caught on camera’ programme formulae known to be crowd pleasers but offering little either new (in style or content) or challenging.” it said.
The ‘crowd pleasers’ are set to return in autumn, with House of Horrors, Journeys From Hell, Motorway Life and Weddings From Hell. Other populist choices include two programmes based around royalty, more focussing on celebrities, and three different award shows.
More heavyweight offerings include a documentary on Michael Heseltine and programmes to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain. However, with the exception of Dynasties, which examines the unhappy fortunes of families such as the Kennedys, ITV appears to be living up to the commission’s claim that it is “reluctant to consider much outside of the UK as of documentary interest.”
Away from factual programming, ITV should please its audience with the autumn line-up. Favourite faces such as Robson Green, John Thaw and Ross Kemp pop up at least once in the drama selection. A promising new comedy drama from Kay Mellor, Fat Friends, will join the acclaimed Cold Feet, back for a third series.
The big names are also back in entertainment, with ITV stalwarts Des O’Connor, Michael Barrymore and Cilla Black providing the requisite glitz factor. Frank Skinner has gone the way of Des Lynam and begins a chat show in his new commercial TV home, while ratings winner Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? continues in its quest to make pub quiz champions rich and prove that greed makes for addictive viewing.
Finally, and perhaps taking advantage of its freed up 9-11pm slot while it still can, film offerings from ITV this autumn will include The Full Monty, One Fine Day,The Lost World and Volcano.
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