Zinc Media Regulatory News (ZIN)

16 Feb 2009 07:00



16 February 2009

Ten Alps plc achieves critical success in factual TV 

Ten Alps plc (AIM:TAL), the factual media company producing online, TV and print, began 2009 with its most creatively successful period ever in factual TV.

Twelve new documentaries have aired so far in 2009, including the critically-acclaimed 'Iran and the West' (BBC2), made by Brook Lapping, a Ten Alps company.

The Spectator: 'Brilliant new documentary series.'

The Telegraph: 'As gripping as a Hollywood thriller.'

The Times: 'Brilliantly illuminated the shadow dance of international diplomacy.'

The Guardian: 'Proper, grown-up television; an extraordinary story, one that changed the world, told by the people who created it... It's humanised history, the best way for history to be'.

On Channel 4 tonight at 9pm is 'The Gangster and the Pervert Peer,' about the relationship between the Kray twins and Tory Lord Bob Boothby.

This follows three consecutive Dispatches investigations made by Ten Alps company Blakeway: 'Congo's Forgotten Children,' 'Unseen Gaza' and 'Too Old to Work.'

BBC2 aired 'The Great Crash' about Wall Street in 1929, and Money Programme 'The Media Revolution - Title Fight.'

On ITV were 'Planning Wars' and 'Extreme Slimmers', followed by 'Teen Mum High' (BBC3), and the forthcoming 'Dog that Saved our Marriage,' will be aired on Sky.

Ten Alps-owned companies Blakeway, Films of Record and Brook Lapping each have a strong brand in a particular area of factual TV, and share production facilities in Kentish Town and Manchester. Last week Ten Alps added current affairs producer Below the Radar in Belfast to the group. There is a good slate of programmes in production.

Meanwhile Ten Alps this week starts a year-long project to negotiate residual rights and digitize its 500-strong back-catalogue of documentaries, so that the company's entire historic output can be available, and hopefully monetized, online.

Alex Connock, Ten Alps CEO said:

 "A few years ago, TV festival agendas were full of concern about dumbing down - but to a degree the opposite happened. Global economic crisis provided not only gripping subject matter, but also proof of demand for credible, high-end TV journalism. 

That skill also enhances our credibility in other growth areas, such as online TV provision."

Brook Lapping

The 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran has been marked with 'Iran & the West' on BBC2 on 7, 14, 21 February.

Presidents Carter, Rafsanjani, Khatami and Putin, foreign ministers Albright, Powell, Straw, Beckett, Dumas, Brzezinski, Scowcroft, Fischer, Yazdi and Zarif, revolutionary guard leaders Rezaee and Rafiqidoust, along with other ministers, advisers and participants in the principal events tell what happened behind closed doors as killings, deceptions and outrages - as well as peace talks and close efforts at co-operation - were planned and executed. 

Fourteen international broadcasters are showing the series.

Meanwhile Brook Lapping is finishing off 'China's Capitalist Revolution,' 90 minutes for BBC2 to be broadcast later this year for the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square disaster, telling how Deng Xiaoping converted the Communist Party of China not merely to capitalism but to the most rapid capitalist growth in history.

Blakeway

Blakeway's output this year included '1929: The Creat Crash' on the biggest financial catastrophe since records began, for BBC2. The Financial Times reviewer described it as: 'fascinating, not least thanks to contributions from several first-hand witnesses'. 

And for Channel 4's Dispatches: 'Unseen Gaza' where Jon Snow investigated the challenges of the getting the full story, 'Too Old To Work' revealed ageism rife amongst employers and recruitment agencies, and 'Congo's Forgotten Children' examined how the children of Congo are being affected by the fighting tearing their country apart.

Blakeway North's 'Extreme Slimmers,' which was pick of the day in The Sun, Mirror, Telegraph aired on ITV1 while media revolution - 'Title Fight,' an investigation of the book business was a Money Programme for BBC2. Blakeway North are in production with a three part international series for BBC2 with George Alagiah and, for Sky Real Lives, 'The Dog that Saved our Marriage.'

Films of Record

'Planning Wars' for ITV explored the growing battles developers face with campaigners and protestors, from Heathrow's third runway to countryside windfarms.

Observational documentary 'Teen Mum High' has been repeated on BBC3 and looked at life in a pupil referral unit for school age girls who are either pregnant or have recently become a mum.

In production are (working titles) 'The truth about Crime,' 'Number Plates,' 'Bin Men,' 'After the Break,' 'Great Ormond Street,' 'Health and Safety' and 'Mansion.' 'Malaria Fever Road' will be repeated as part of Comic Relief .

Radio

Radio 2 broadcast Ten Alps Radio's 'I Hope we Passed the Audition' for the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' final public performance (on the roof of Apple HQ in Central London). This was Radio Times Pick of the week.

'Crying, Waiting, Hoping: the story of Buddy Holly's last tour' also aired on radio 2.

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