ITV Autumn 99 Schedule – The Bigger Picture
Continuing the trend of hiring ever more elaborate surroundings to present its programmes schedule, the ITV Network unveiled its autumn offerings yesterday at the brand new IMAX Cinema in London (it can surely only be a matter of time before they hire out a space shuttle).
David Liddiment, director of programmes at ITV, opened the presentation by saying: “It’s only four months since we launched our new look ITV schedule, but we are already reaping the rewards of change. We are currently above our published target of a 39% share of the peaktime audience for the year, we’ve reversed the decline of the past three years, and we are attracting more viewers to our peak programmes.”
So what is on offer in the coming months? Well, judging by the gushing praise that Mr Liddiment gave it, pride of place in the schedule would appear to go to Alan Bleasdale’s adaption of Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist, which features a cast including Julie Walters, Robert Lindsay, Lindsay Duncan and Sam Smith as Oliver.
Other drama highlights include Sean Bean playing a criminal on the run in Extremely Dangerous, John Thaw in The Waiting Game and Trial By Fire starring Juliet Stevenson as a Crown Prosecutor. Michelle Collins and Geraldine Somerville star as housewives who turn to crime in Daylight Robbery (which sounds suspiciously like Lynda La Plante’s Eighties hit Widows) and In The Name Of Love stars Tara Fitzgerald who has a one night stand with an ex-lover and ends up being stalked by him.
Probably hoping not to have the same critical backlash as with Barbara, ITV has produced some new comedy shows. Among them we have Joanna Lumley playing a soap opera doctor in Dr Willoughby, Michelle Collins, Anton Rodgers and Nicola Pagett residing in a picture postcard village in Up, Rising and Timothy Spall playing a self employed builder in The Thing About Vince… .
ITV sees fit to inflict not one but two Stars In Their Eyes specials on us, the first being a head to head between winners from over the past ten years (Champion of Champions) and second a Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes (hopefully this time without Carol Voderman). There’s also the return of the irritatingly addictive Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.
Factual programming includes Real Life, a documentary strand of programmes reflecting everyday life; Manhunt: The Search For The Yorkshire Ripper in which the investigating officers speak for the first time; The Second World War In Colour which unearths previously unseen footage from around the world. There are also two new fly-on-the-wall documentary series: The School, offering a serving of life in a Luton comprehensive school and Shampoo, which is set in a Liverpool hair salon. This autumn will also see the debut of OK TV!, the television incarnation of celebrity gossip magazine, OK! (see ITV To Launch OK Masthead).
Children’s programming highlights include a new version of Watership Down featuring the voices of Rik Mayall, Jane Horrocks and John Hurt, along with The Fox Busters which has the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Joanna Lumley and Jane Horrocks as aeronautically-gifted chickens.
Sporting and film highlights include the newly-expanded UEFA Champions League, The Rugby World Cup and the premieres of Tomorrow Never Dies and The Nutty Professor.